Two illustrious Old Monmothians will be talking about their lives, influences on their careers and views on world tensions at Haberdashers’ Hall in London next month.

Professor Richard Carwardine and Patrick Worsnip will be interviewed by Charlotte Hume, another former Monmouth pupil, on Monday 24th February.

It will be the fourth ‘In Conversation with…’ event organised by the Monmouth Schools’ Charitable Trust and is open to all alumni, Haberdashers and friends.

Professor Carwardine was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2019.

A leading expert on President Lincoln and the American Civil war, he attended Monmouth School from 1958 to 1965.

Professor Carwardine has spent his life as an academic.

He was Rhodes’ Professor of American History from 2002 to 2009 and President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, from 2009 to 2016.

In 2004, his analytical biography of Abraham Lincoln won the Lincoln Prize (awarded by the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College for the best book on the Civil War era).

And his book called Lincoln’s Sense of Humor was awarded the Abraham Lincoln Institute’s Annual Book Award in 2018.

He has been working on a study of religion in American national construction between the Revolution and the Civil War.

Professor Carwardine is a Haberdasher and his interests include theatre, rambling, rugby and cricket.

Mr Worsnip was a pupil of Monmouth School between 1959 and 1966 and read Classics and Modern Languages at Merton College, Oxford.

He worked as a correspondent and editor for the Reuters News Agency for 40 years; postings that included the Soviet Union where he developed a friendship with the human rights activist, Andrei Sakharov.

He also had postings in Italy, Poland, Iran, Lebanon, UK and USA.

Since retiring in 2012, Mr Worsnip has devoted himself to translation from Italian and Latin, and to magazine articles on Italian poetry. He divides his time between Cambridge and Umbria, Italy.

Next month’s intriguing session with be chaired by Charlotte Hume, a pupil at Monmouth School for Girls between 1979 and 1986.

She studied at St Hugh’s, Oxford, before becoming a journalist and ITN broadcaster.

Charlotte currently works as a Crisis Communications Consultant, is a published author and a Haberdasher.

Wine will be served from 6pm on the evening with the main event running from 6.30pm to 8pm.

To book a place and, for more information, please e-mail: development@habsmonmouth.org