Tessa Dunlop Keynote Speaker

RTS West of England Personality Award (2005)
Sunday Times bestseller – The Century Girls (2018)
Author of Lest We Forget (2025), marking VE Day 80

Tessa Dunlop's Biography

Dr Tessa Dunlop is a royal and social historian, Royal Television Society award-winning broadcaster and Sunday Times bestselling author whose storytelling bridges academia and prime-time media. A familiar face on BBC2’s BAFTA-winning Coast, she first captured national attention when the RTS named her West of England Personality of the Year in 2005. Audiences value her rare combination of rigorous scholarship and on-screen charisma.

An Oxford-educated historian (BA, Modern History) with an MA distinction and a 2020 PhD examining Romania’s international identity during the First World War, Tessa translates deep research into compelling narratives. Her expertise spans modern Britain, Eastern Europe and rural affairs, and she has fronted history programmes for BBC, Channel 5, Discovery, History Channel and Radio 4, while contributing columns to almost every national newspaper.

Tessa’s bestselling titles include The Century Girls, The Bletchley Girls, Army Girls and Elizabeth & Philip. Her memoir To Romania With Love (2012) and a twice-weekly Global podcast, Where Politics Meets History, showcase her ability to connect past and present for mainstream audiences around the world.

In April 2025, Tessa published Lest We Forget: War and Peace in 100 British Monuments, a landmark work commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two. Drawing on veteran testimony, oral history and archival research, the book explores how monuments reflect Britain’s evolving relationship with conflict and remembrance.

On stage, Tessa equips organisations with historical perspective that informs leadership, strategy and resilience. She weaves century-spanning stories of change into actionable insights on identity, gender dynamics and the evolution of institutions, leaving audiences enlightened, inspired and ready to rethink the future.

The Power of Storytelling in Business: Lessons from World Wars I and II

Sunday Times best-selling author and historian Dr Tessa Dunlop explores the power of props, ad campaigns and personal brands behind Britain’s victory in two World Wars. From Edith Cavell, the woman who rallied men beyond the grave, to Abram Games, the graphic designer whose posters reset Britain’s image, our wartime stories were heavily curated and very successful. They provide an inspirational blueprint for today’s business worldseeking to connect with customers, build brands and stay ahead of the competition.

Leadership and legacy: What business can learn from some of World War II’s ‘great’ men.

Sunday Times best-selling author and historian Tessa Dunlop separates the myth from the man in the story of World War II.Interrogating the reputations of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, General George S Patton and Field Marshall Bernard LawMontgomery she will expose the elusive alchemy behind ideas of exceptional authority and leadership. Off setting individual track records against the reality of war, she will shed light on how both now and then, troublemakers can become winners and adversity lead to triumph.

Harnessing Womanpower now and then. How Britain really won World War II and what business can learn from it.

Sunday Times best-selling author and historian Dr Tessa Dunlop will highlight costly early resistance towards the recruitment of women in World War Two. Against the odds, a female workforce from Bletchley Park to the Auxiliary Territorial Service eventually saved the day and serve as an important reminder that complex problems often have simple solutions. She will explain how gender roles have subsequently evolved in the military and what companies can learn from the Armed Forces’ mistakes and successes.