Alice Loxton talks about her new book 'A History of Britain in 21 Paintings', with a Q&A and book signing.
Alice Loxton is coming to Waterstones in Nottingham on Tuesday 10 November, starting at 6:30 pm. She's there to talk about her new book, A History of Britain in 21 Paintings, so it's a night for anyone who likes history told through art rather than just dates and battles.
The book is exactly what the title says: Loxton travels across Britain in search of twenty-one paintings, and the range she pulls together is wide. She starts with the wall art of St Cadoc's Church near Cardiff, moves through L.S. Lowry's detail of daily life, and reaches The Rainbow Portrait of Elizabeth I and Millais' Ophelia. The evening follows that same thread, with Loxton talking through the work and the history behind it, followed by a Q&A where you can ask your own questions and a book signing afterwards.
If you haven't come across her before, Loxton is a historian and presenter with more than three million followers on social media (@history_alice). She's worked with the National Trust, the Royal Academy, English Heritage, the National Gallery, Tate, the King's Foundation and 10 Downing Street. In 2025 she judged the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and in 2026 she judged the Art Fund Museum of the Year Award. She's written three bestsellers, including the Somerset Maugham Award winner Eleanor: A 200-Mile Walk in Search of England's Lost Queen and Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives, which was named Blackwell's Book of the Year in 2024.
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Tickets start from £5, and the whole thing kicks off at 6:30 pm at Waterstones on Bridlesmith Gate (1-5 Bridlesmith Gate, NG1 2GR) in the city centre. Between the talk, the Q&A and the signing, it's a full evening in one go.
