The Battle of Isandlwana (The Day of the Dead Moon)

Douglas Rattray brings The Battle of Isandlwana (The Day of the Dead Moon) to the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) on Thursday 29 October. It's an immersive account of the Battle of Isandlwana, one of the most dramatic and devastating encounters of the Anglo-Zulu War, and Rattray continues the storytelling tradition established by his father, David Rattray.

Rather than a dry military history, the talk focuses on the human experience of the battlefield. Rattray brings to life the decisions, the courage, the confusion and the profound cost of conflict, looking not just at the course of the fighting but at the individuals who lived, fought and died there. It's the kind of thing that works better as a story told in a room than as a list of dates and manoeuvres.

The evening is presented by Fugitives' Drift Lodge and is open to everyone, rather than being organised by the Society itself. The venue is the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR, with the Exhibition Road entrance being the one to use.

It runs from 7.00pm to 8.30pm, though the talk itself is an hour long, with doors opening at 6.00pm if you want to get settled early. Tickets start from £36.00.