{"id":7546,"date":"2025-02-22T17:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T17:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?page_id=7546"},"modified":"2025-03-20T18:43:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T18:43:01","slug":"2025-saturday-3-30pm-stephen-alford","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?page_id=7546","title":{"rendered":"2025 Saturday – 3.30pm Stephen Alford"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil<\/span><\/p>

with Stephen Alford <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Date:\u00a0 Saturday 7th June 2025<\/strong><\/p>

Venue:\u00a0 Montgomery Town Hall<\/strong><\/p>

Time:\u00a0 3.30-4.15pm<\/strong><\/p>

Tickets:\u00a0 \u00a39.00<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Spying is often known as \u2018the second oldest\u2019 profession \u2013 and with good reason. As long as there have been competing states or nations, spies and their spymasters have sought to defend their interests.<\/p>

As a statesman and spymaster at the heart of the Tudor and Stuart state, Robert Cecil was one such vital figure, managing the succession from Elizabeth I to James I and IV and warding off military and religious threats, including the Spanish Armada and the Gunpowder Plot.<\/p>

Historian Stephen Alford knows how the outcome for British history could have been very different. Hear from him as he explores how Cecil\u2019s sureness of purpose, his espionage network and good luck conspired to keep England uninvaded and to create a new \u2018British\u2019 monarchy which has endured to the present day.<\/p>

Stephen Alford<\/strong> is an historian and academic, currently Professor of Early Modern British History at the University of Leeds. He previously taught for fifteen years at Cambridge University, where he was a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of History and a Fellow of King’s College. Stephen is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the author of several books, including The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth<\/em> and All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil<\/em>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Back to programme listing<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0 All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil with Stephen Alford Date:\u00a0 Saturday 7th June 2025 Venue:\u00a0 Montgomery Town Hall Time:\u00a0 3.30-4.15pm Tickets:\u00a0 \u00a39.00 Spying is often known as \u2018the second oldest\u2019 profession \u2013 and with good reason. As long as there have been competing states or nations, spies and their spymasters have …<\/p>\n

2025 Saturday – 3.30pm Stephen Alford<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7546","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nMonty Lit Fest 2025: All His Spies with Stephen Alford<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tudor intrigue courtesy of Elizabeth I\u2019s spymaster and statesman, Robert Cecil, from a top historian of the period.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?page_id=7546\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2025 Saturday - 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