The term 'October Surprise' has come to be associated with US elections, representing shock events, media revelations, or strategically employed campaign tactics which occur close enough to the November polling date to change the course of the election.

Join members of the History Department on the eve of the 2024 election as they put the twists and turns of the 2024 election campaign into historical context by exploring four previous October Surprises:

• Dr Christopher Fuller -The 1980 Carter/Reagan Election and the Conspiratorial Origins of the "October Surprise"

• Professor Kendrick Oliver - The October Surprise That Wasn't: Did Richard Nixon Sabotage the Vietnam War Peace Process in Order to Win the 1968 US Presidential Election?

• Dr Thomas Ellis - Mugwumps, Migrants and Machine Politics: October Surprises in the Gilded Age

• Dr Charlotte Lydia Riley - "When You're a Star They Let You Do It": The Access Hollywood Tape and the Trump/Clinton Election

The event will finish with a Q&A session on the 2024 election, and electronic audience voting on predicted results.


Venue: Lecture Theatre A, Building 65 (Parkes), Avenue Campus

Check-in: from 18:30, just outside the Avenue Cafe' in front of the side entrance from the car park to Building 65.

PLEASE NOTE: a few additional tickets will be available on the day at the ticket desk, on a first-come-first-served basis.

Accessibility: Venue has full wheelchair access and hearing loop is available. Priority seating for deaf, hard of hearing and visually impaired in the first front row. If you require additional support, please ask a member of the Festival team on site.