Yahoo News Al Murray and James Holland ride through London on World War II-era ‘tank’
Comedian Al Murray and historian James Holland rode through Central London on a World War II-era armoured vehicle on Wednesday. The co-hosts of the World War II-themed podcast, We Have Ways Of Making You Talk, drove from Westminster to the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth on a 17pdr SP Achilles.
The pair made the journey to mark the general sale of tickets for their festival, We Have Ways Fest.
Asked about the armoured vehicle, Murray, known for his character of The Pub Landlord, told the PA news agency: “Strictly speaking it’s not a tank.” He added: “The bread and butter of the festival is people being picky about things like this.”
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Holland, who is the brother of fellow historian and The Rest Is History podcast host Tom Holland, clarified that “it’s got a high-velocity anti-tank gun on a tank chassis”.
The two-day festival, described by Murray as a “safe space” for World War II enthusiasts, will take place in September 2025 near Silverstone race circuit.
Murray billed the festival, the fifth held by the podcasting duo, as “a weekend of talks, of tanks, of convivial company, aircraft flying through the sky and the history of the Second World War”.
The festival falls in the year marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the World War II.
Holland said the end of the war needs to be viewed through a “different prism” on this anniversary.
“I think we do need to see it as a warning from history,” he said. “We need to actually learn those lessons and consider those lessons a bit more seriously rather than just flag wave and look at it through a sort of prism of nostalgia.”
The historian said the parallels between the current decade and the 1930s “worries me a lot”.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin voices have frequently threatened the West with its nuclear arsenal.
Looking back at World War II, Holland warned: “This was catastrophic for the world. These are the consequences of a global war. There is a much more serious lesson to be learned in 2025 and everyone just needs to wake up.”
