The Parachute Regiment played a prominent role in the Falklands War, fighting with distinction at Goose Green and Mount Longdon, and receiving both of the Victoria Crosses awarded for the conflict.

For her 2018 book, 'Our Boys: The Story of a Paratrooper', Professor Helen Parr drew on the experiences of those who were there and the personal story of her uncle David, who was killed during the fighting.

In this talk, she will demonstrate how the achievements of the Paras transformed their public image, and how the conflict started to shift Britain's relationship with its soldiers, and our attitudes to war.

Professor Helen Parr is a historian of Modern Britain currently based at Keele University. Her most recent work was a social and cultural history of the Parachute Regiment and the 1982 Falklands War, 'Our Boys: The Story of a Paratrooper' (Allen Lane, 2018).

'Our Boys' won the Templer Medal Book Prize, the Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History, the Longman-History Today Book Prize and was longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing.

Richard Vinen is a Professor of History at King’s College London. He specialises in 20th-century history focusing on Britain and Europe.

Professor Vinen has written several books, including 'The Long ’68: Radical Protest and Its Enemies', 'The Unfree French', 'Thatcher’s Britain: The Politics and Social Upheaval of the Thatcher Era' and 'National Service: A Generation in Uniform 1945-63'.

The Parachute Regiment and the Falklands War