Academic joins forces with graduate to broadcast online battlefield tour

A University of Wolverhampton academic is joining forces with one of the University’s War Studies graduates to deliver a free online battlefield tour which will be broadcast on YouTube on Sunday 26 March 2023 at 7.15 pm. 

Dr Spencer Jones, Senior Lecturer in Armed Forces & War Studies in the University’s Department of History Politics and War Studies, will be teaming up with Dan Hill who completed a Master’s degree in First World War in 2019.  He now owns his own company, Battle Guide Virtual Tours, and the two will be jointly presenting a free virtual battlefield tour exploring the famous 1914 Battle of Mons, lifting the lid on the opening engagement of British Forces on the Western Front in the First World War. A Live Question and Answer session will follow. 

Dr Jones said: “This virtual tour gives us an opportunity to showcase some of the best online history teaching, using a mixture of lecture, video and animation and I’m really pleased to be joining one of our former students to deliver this."

Dan Hill is a military historian from Hertfordshire and leads the Battle Guide Virtual Tours team. As a battlefield guide he leads people to some of the world's most fascinating historic locations to share the stories of history. 

Dan said: “With the restrictions imposed by lockdowns during the pandemic came a need to change but not a loss of desire to learn. Along with a team of colleagues, many of whom are also alumni of the Master’s degree courses in History (First World War) (Second World War) - a mark of quality and academic rigour across the military history community - Battle Guide Virtual Tours combines the latest technology in mapping, drone, 360 video and LiDAR scanning. 

“Along with the team we created a series of virtual tours, where those taking part can experience battlefields in a brand-new way in the company of a global expert, regardless of where they call home. 

“To date we have delivered more than 100 virtual tours to hundreds of thousands of viewers. 

“Studying with the world-leading War Studies historians at the University of Wolverhampton was a great way to increase my knowledge and gave me the skills to examine historical sources with real academic scrutiny. My time at Wolverhampton was not only well spent in terms of learning how to think critically but it also had a real and measurable application in my day-to-day work with Battle Guide Virtual Tours.” 

The Department of History, Politics and War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton has the longest running Undergraduate War Studies programme in the world and its fully online Master’s Degree course in Military History is the first of its kind in the UK.  

The University’s Centre for Historical Research produces research that is rated 4-Star (‘Internationally Excellent’) according to REF2021’s Project Leader.   

Anyone interested in courses being offered in the Department of History, Politics and War Studies should check out the website or register for one of our forthcoming Open Days. 

ENDS