BORIS Johnson, Joanna Lumley, Ian Hislop, Dan Snow and Paddy Ashdown are among the household names appearing at this year’s Daily Mail Chalke Valley History Festival.

Tickets for the week-long event, which takes place near Ebbesbourne Wake from Monday, June 24 to Sunday, June 30, went on sale this week and are expected to be in high demand. Due to its success, the festival will double in size this year to include an air show, schools festival and a larger living history programme with a First World War trench and battle arena.

Many of the country’s top historians and authors will be appearing at the festival giving a series of talks and presentations on a huge range of historical topics.

Other well known names include Tom Stoppard, Neil Oliver, Antony Beevor and Max Hastings.

The air show on the afternoon of Saturday, June 29 will feature Spitfires, Hurricanes, Mustangs and Messerschmitts with displays by The Old Flying Machine Company and the Great War Display Team.

Flying legend Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown, a test pilot who has flown more types of aircraft than anyone else in history, will also be appearing and giving a talk.

Families visiting the festival will see the past being brought back to life with a large living history programme. Sword school and archery sessions will be back by popular demand and there will be firing demonstrations, drills and skirmishes, and a re-enactment of the Battle of Vitoria on Sunday, June 30.

Co-chairman of the festival James Holland said: “The aim of the festival is to inspire and excite people about our incredibly rich and varied history.

“It’s wonderful to be able to have some of the most brilliant historians in the land coming to the festival, but it’s going to be thrilling to see some of the most iconic aircraft that have ever flown performing here too.”

Festival goers will be able to go to book signings, listen to talks by the team behind the discovery of Richard III, enjoy a new history quiz show and watch a performance of Horrible Histories’ Barmy Britain which is coming to Wiltshire from the West End.

Teenagers are being invited to take part in a historical writing competition which will be judged by a panel of popular writers including Sebastian Faulks and Charlie Higson.

And the schools festival for pupils in years 10 and 12 will take place over two days with eminent historians giving talks on a wide range of topics.

Tickets for the Daily Mail Chalke Valley History Festival along with full details of the programme are available at cvhf.co.uk.