On Wednesday 8 July the Historical Association held its annual awards evening. This year the event was held the RAF club on Piccadilly. Despite a tube strike, the event was full with people receiving awards, supporting the recipients and HA guests.

The highlight of the evening was Professor Margaret Macmillan, who received the Medlicott Medal for outstanding services to history. She spoke on the relationship between People and History and address the patterns for exploring historical themes but also the incredible role that individuals in a moment in time can have an enormous impact. We are happy to share with you this incredible talk - listen and be inspired to reflect - Who, when, what now?

Margaret MacMillan Medlicott lecture 2025: People & History

Margaret MacMillan is currently Warden of St Antony's College Oxford. Her work on twentieth-century history, particularly the history of the First World War, has received international recognition. Her recent book, The War that Ended Peace: How Europe abandoned peace for the First World War was a major critical and public success. In the run up to the anniversary of the outbreak of war in 2014, Margaret MacMillan chronicled the world in 1914 in the gripping BBC series, 1914 Day by Day.

In this filmed interview she tells us about how she feels to have received the award who her history heroes are, the role of the historian and what she is working on next:

Other awards

Barbara Mitchelhill and Mary Hooper, the Young Quills winners for Historical Fiction this year, received their awards.

Honorary Fellowships were announced for:

• Professor Jackie Eales
• Professor Anne Curry
• Beverley Forrest
• Simon Harrison
• Sue Temple
• Eleanor Yates
• Elaine Muirhead
• Professor John Charmley
• Professor Peter Mandler Professor Arthur Burns
• Professor Mark Ormrod
• Professor Lawrence Goldman
• Paula Kitchin
• Dr Robert Guyver
• Andrew Wrenn