DAN Snow has just embarked on his HistoryHit 2018/19 tour of the UK and clearly opens each evening with a quick reminder of 'what happened on this day.'

At a full Regent Centre in Christchurch on Thursday there were a couple of big ones.

Exactly 104 years since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo - the first shots of the Great War. And 99 years since the signing of the Versailles Treaty.

Snow, the son of broadcasting legend Peter (of BBC's Newsnight and election Swingometer fame among much else besides) told of growing up in a family immersed in and obsessed with history.

"Some people say I have only got where I am today because of my dad," he joked. "Well yeah, that's probably true."

The evening with 'The History Guy' was a series of anecdotes, stories and videos on the somewhat range of subjects that Snow has investigated, made programmes about. From war heroes, to the civil war, the Royal Navy and the British Empire and a fascinating insight into the much troubled but stunningly beautiful Democratic Republic of Congo (which quite by chance I had watched the previous night.)

The wonderful thing about history, as Snow pointed out at the start, is that it shapes and informs the present.

I have fond memories of many general election nights and Snow senior's constant reminder that his swingometer was "just a bit of fun, just a bit of fun."

History is fun too, but of course, so much more than that.

Andy Martin