A spotlight will focus on the Secret Life of Arthur Ransome and the Russian Revolution at this year’s Chobham Festival, writes Francis Batt in The Villager.

Chobham Festival poster

A century on from the start of the Russian Revolution the festival’s ChobLit book event at St Saviour’s Church, Valley End, near Chobham in Surrey, will yield a big surprise about a much loved ‘children’s author’ and his suspected involvement.

The event happens on Sunday September 16th at 3pm and focuses on Arthur Ransome, the classic children’s author of books such as “Swallows and Amazons”.

Historian Paul Crisp will delve into the author’s involvement in espionage and the possibility he was a double agent, spying for Russia as well as for Britain. Ransome was a bohemian character with radical leanings and spent much of the 1914 to 1918 Great War in Russia and on the Eastern Front.

Tickets for this event are £10 and the price includes prosecco and cake.

Find out more about all the festival events at www.chobhamfestival.org.uk – Box Office, 01276 857222.