Channel 4 television presenter, Marc Morris will be a special guest speaker at the Athelstan Museum in Malmesbury on Saturday to share his insights into the Anglo Saxons and the so-called ‘Dark Ages’.

The talk, at 3pm in The Rausing Building, is entitled Marc Morris: The Anglo-Saxons and Marc will explain how, in the early fifth century, Britain left the Roman Empire and swiftly fell into ruin.

Into this violent and unstable world came the Anglo-Saxons – foreign invaders who established themselves as the new masters of a newly-forged kingdom called ‘England’ – a country of shires, sheriffs, bishops and boroughs with boundaries much the same as they are today.

Sharon Nolan, chair of the trustees of the Athelstan Museum, said: “We are thrilled to host this talk by Marc and we’re grateful for his time and we hope everyone who attends will enjoy the insights he shares.”

Marc’s talk aims to separate truth from the legend and to tell the extraordinary story of how the foundations of England were laid.

As well as being a British historian and television presenter of the Channel 4 series Castle, Marc is also the author of several books about the Kings and people of the Middle Ages including the recently published The Anglo-Saxons.

He has been acclaimed as “a genius of medieval narrative”, applauded for his in-depth research and his book called “an absolute masterpiece” by TV historian and journalist, Dan Snow.

There will be another opportunity to see Marc in October when he will return to speak during Wessex Week, which is a celebration of Anglo-Saxon history held each year in Malmesbury and features talks, walks, music and other events.

Tickets for Marc's talk on Saturday cost £10 and bookings can be made at athelstanmuseum.org.uk.