Gale Pettifer is a writer and history lecturer, with an interest in political and environmental history. She is a practicing New Forest commoner with the ancient Right of Pasturage, meaning she can depasture cattle, ponies and donkeys onto the unenclosed New Forest, in southern England. Her speaking credits include the Chalke Valley History Festival; the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP), Exeter; the Royal Southern Yacht Club; and The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre, Havant.