THE second year of the BBC’s hugely popular History Weekend is to take place in Malmesbury from October 16 to October 19.

Following a sell-out first year in 2013 the event will return with almost twice the number of speakers and talks, with two new venues added to last year’s list.

The guest speakers will give talks about their areas of historical expertise in venues across the historic north Wiltshire town.

This year’s line-up has several famous names, including former leader of the Liberal Democrats Lord Paddy Ashdown, acclaimed author and two time winner of the Man Booker prize Hilary Mantel and historian and broadcaster Dan Snow.

Talks will take place in Malmesbury’s 12th Century Abbey, in a marquee set up in the Abbey’s Cloister Gardens, at The Old Bell hotel and in Malmesbury Town Hall.

There will also be a history bookshop, courtesy of Waterstones Cirencester, where speakers will be signing books throughout the weekend.

The town’s Tourist information centre will be open Saturday to help find their way around and give information about the town’s own history.

As well as this a day of free parking has been allocated across the town on October 18 to allow people to come to talks more easily.

Malmesbury Mayor Sue Poole urged people to respect the day of free parking allocated on the Saturday, particularly in Cross Hayes, and asked that people stick to no more than two hours in free spots to allow people to come and go as normal.

She said: “We’re really looking forward to it. Last year was a bit of an experiment and the liked it so much they’re coming back even bigger and better.

“We’re just really excited about the whole thing!”

Tickets for each talk can be ordered online, available at a discounted rate to BBC History Magazine subscribers, at http://www.historyweekend.com/