National Service
Paul Thompson
- Organisation:
- Guarderobe
- Region:
- Anywhere
- Notice Period:
- Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Professional
- Fee:
- Paid: £80 plus travel
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 12th February 2026
- Tagged:
- National Service | Raf | Army | Blanco
Find out about National service, 1948 – 1963 from the perspective of either an RAF conscript or an Army conscript. We will recreate a “bedbox” of kit and you can find out the art of polishing boots with spit and polish; “blancoing” your web kit and of course “square bashing”, from an RAF drill corporal or an army sergeant costumed speaker.
Views: 11 | Enquiries: 0About Paul Thompson
Guarderobe offer professional Historical talks in costume with (sometimes original) replica objects from prehistory, Early Roman, Late Roman, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Anglo Saxon, Vikings, Normans, early Medieval, 15th century, Tudors, The Gun Powder Treason, English Civil War, Victorian Surgeon, Victorian Life, WW1 In the Trenches, WW1 Home Front, and several WW2 topics including RAF, Army (Early War, D-Day, Far East) and Civil Defence. We do not use slides but do need some tables and an audience.
We are both archaeologists and have worked in museums and in the field for many years so bring much experience, knowledge and some humour to topics. We have been giving talks for over 30 years in the Midlands.
Other Talks on SpeakerNet by Paul Thompson
- The Vikings
- WW1 - Life in Trenches.
- Lyudmila Pavlichenko, WW2 lady sniper and Coventry
- Arming the Knight
- Roman Soldier and Citizen
- Powder Treason! Guy Fawkes
- Life in and out of the Tudor Court
- Roman Burials
- Roman Gladiators
- Roman Festival of Saturnalia (Christmas)
- George and Arthur: Late Roman Britain
- WW2 D-Day: Them and Us
- The Medieval Household
- The Medieval Household at Christmas
- The Tudor Household at Christmas
- Hastings 1066 Soldiers
- Burying your Anglo Saxon Ancestors
- Tommy and Dennis: A remarkable lady who fought in the Trenches
- Stille Nacht: 1914 Christmas Truce
- Keep the Home fires burning
- Border Reivers!
- The ABC of ARP
- Seen and not heard
- The Medieval Barber Surgeon
- The Tudor Barber Surgeon
- Medieval Death and Burial
- Bodices and Bloomers
- Robin Hood: fact and legend
- The Victorian way of death
- Beware the Resurrection Men
- The Greenfly and the Rose: SOE in WW2
- The Late Victorian Soldier
- Ancient Egyptian life and death
- Trouble and Strife. The English Civil War – in Coventry
- Vikings: The Norse Code
- Chocks Away! ~ WW2 RAF Pilot, Plotter, Bomber and Police
- Heavy Metal: Bronze Age Life
- The Ancient Greeks: Part 1 Archaic Period
- The Ancient Greeks: Part 2 Classical Period to 30BC
- The Ancient Greeks: Part 3 the Ptolemaic Period 332 to 30BC
- Armour through the Ages
- The Victorian Surgeon and Medicine
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