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Dunkirk and Blitz: Making History Matter

Jewish Book Week 2025

Wed 5 Mar
Words

Dunkirk and Blitz: Making History Matter

Jewish Book Week 2025

Speaker Joshua Levine
Chair Katie Razzall

Author Joshua Levine explores the making of two cinematic landmarks, ‘Dunkirk’ and ‘Blitz’, the personalities that shaped them, and his role as a historical adviser.


Joshua Levine, the author whose work inspired Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and guided Steve McQueen in creating Blitz, has been celebrated for uncovering the human truths behind familiar narratives. Both films, like Levine’s bestselling books, have been praised for their depth and authenticity. Now, Levine joins the BBC’s Culture and Media Editor, Katie Razzall, to discuss the film’s accuracy, the significance of history, and Levine’s perspective on how the past should—and should not—be presented.

This event will last approximately 1 hour, without an interval.


About the speakers:

Joshua Levine is a historian and author whose book on the Dunkirk evacuation inspired Christopher Nolan to make his acclaimed film – Dunkirk.  Joshua became the historical consultant on the film, and his subsequent book reached number one in The Sunday Times bestseller list and number two in the New York Times list. Another of his books, The Secret History of the Blitz, has been used by Steve McQueen as the guide for his latest film, Blitz. Many of its stories feature in the film for which Joshua has been the consultant. His book Beauty and Atrocity was shortlisted for the Writer’s Guild non-fiction book of the year, and he has written and hosted radio and television documentaries. He has recently written the script for a film based on another of his books – Operation Fortitude – that will begin filming shortly.

Katie Razzall is Culture and Media Editor at BBC News. She co-presents The Media Show on BBC Radio 4, BBC News and World Service and is a regular presenter on Newsnight.

An award-winning investigative journalist, Katie was nominated for a BAFTA for her Newsnight report on how Covid spread through a chain of care homes, and won an RTS award for her coverage of the Grenfell Tower fire.

She investigated and presented the Radio 4 podcast and BBC Two documentary Thief At The British Museum and was shortlisted for the Arts and Entertainment journalist of the year at the British Journalism Awards. Prior to taking up her current role, Katie was UK Editor at Newsnight. She began her career as a trainee at ITN and went on to become a producer, then reporter and presenter at Channel 4 News.

Spending three weeks travelling by train around India with Jon Snow for a series of reports was a career high that is still hard to beat.

Plan your visit

Getting here
Kings Place is situated just a few minutes’ walk from King’s Cross and St Pancras stations, one of the most connected locations in London and now the biggest transport hub in Europe.

Our address is:
90 York Way, London, N1 9AG.

The Venue 
Our performance spaces are situated on the lower ground floor. Hall One, Hall Two and St Pancras are located in level -2, reached by stairs, escalator and lift from the ground floor entrance level.

Event Times 
Door times indicate auditorium entrance times only. Visitors are welcome to enjoy the Kings Place seating areas, gallery-level art, canal-side terrace, café, restaurant and bar throughout the day and evening.

  • Our events begin promptly at the advertised start time. Typically, there is no support unless otherwise stated.
  • We recommend arriving in good time before the performance. The Hall doors will open 30 minutes before the performance to allow time to take your seats, or to choose a space for standing shows.
  • Latecomers will be admitted at a suitable break in the performance where possible

Access

We aim to make your visit to Kings Place as comfortable as possible. For more information about the accessibility of Kings Place, including details about our Access Scheme, please visit this page.

If you would like to discuss your access requirements with a member of our team, please get in touch with the Box Office team at info@kingsplace.co.uk. 

 

Food & Drink

Rotunda Bar & Restaurant
Rotunda, situated on the ground floor of Kings Place, offers a unique dining and drinking experience alongside Regent’s Canal. The concert bar in the venue foyer will also be open for select events.

Green & Fortune Café
Recently re-furbished and now open with a new look, the Green & Fortune Café is open for selected concerts. Serving hot and cold food and drinks, including sandwiches, salads, soup, stew and a pie of the day, alongside a choice of cakes made by the on-site bakery team. See here for selected concert dates and standard opening hours.

Date:Wed 5 Mar
Start time:8.30pm (Doors: 8pm)
Venue:St Pancras Room
Price:£5.00-£10.00
+ 12.5% (£6 cap) Transaction fee.
+ £1 Building levy. More info
Availability:Tickets available
£5 Under 30s tickets at JBW
A limited number of £5 tickets for attendees aged under 30 are available for this show. To purchase an 'Under 30s' ticket, please choose the 'Under 30s' price type when selecting your ticket(s). If the option does not appear, this means all 'Under 30s' tickets have sold out. Please note that proof of age may be requested at the venue.
Unwaged tickets at JBW
Tickets at a special rate of 50% off are available to those in receipt of Pension Credit, Universal Credit, Income Support or Job Seekers allowance. Please contact info@jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk to book a concession priced ticket.
SAVE 15% when you book 3+ JBW events
Discount automatically applied when 3+ events have been added to your online basket. This offer applies to all in-person paid events at Kings Place (not online, off-site or free events). Offer excludes Under 30s & Unwaged Tickets.

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