Trevor Booker: The History Tour Guide Bringing the Past to Life

The History Behind the History Tour Guide

Known as Trev, to say he’s lived through the many strands of history wouldn’t do justice to the experiences, the stories, the snapshots, the raw feeling, and the connections to so many people, places and moments in time he has.

“37 and half years in the RAF and wherever I was stationed I always took an interest in the historical sites there.”

Trevor Booker, History Tour Guide

With a focus on the events of WW1, WW2 and the Cold War (he lived and worked in the German capital before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall) his knowledge database and recall of poignant moments and shocking acts in those historical areas is second to none.

A member of the international Guild of Battlefield Guides since 2002, he’s toured extensively for the past 20 years for a variety of tour operators (one being Rayburn) as well to constantly update and refine his historical knowledge.

How it all started…

With such a tremendous amount to dive into, it’s best to start at the beginning, where his passion for history is clearly and visually so apparent. 

Joining the RAF in 1961, he’d go on to serve for a HUGE 37 years, seeing sites and battlefields across the world. But it was when he served in the Middle East in the 60s that he began developing his researching skills and honed his history toolkit by visiting battlefields and historical sites – which he continued throughout his career, the places he visited and the areas he was stationed. 

Meaning for a large part of his career, he was developing his talents in absorbing moments in history to be able to tell the next generation, so they can be educated and engaged and ultimately, learn lessons from the mistakes of the past. 

 ‘I leave the student with the grave for 5 minutes to get a connection with their relative.’

Trevor Booker, History Tour Guide

Another is taking them to the grave of known sportsmen or writers of the time, or the influences behind famous works of literature, like the grave of the soldier who inspired Peter Pan. One more is breaking down perceptions of German burials to British graveyards, really opening whole new lanes of thinking of entire classes. 

Trev brings the past to life by showing the past is largely made up of individuals the students can connect with.  

‘Sachsenhausen in Berlin and when your visit with students they realise what man did to man – it links in with a visit to the Wannsee Conference too.’

Trevor Booker, History Tour Guide

A real poignant and standout site tour with Trev is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews. Here, at a huge place with uneven flooring and a variety of massively shaped concrete blocks, he asks students to walk around the site for 10 minutes and reflect.

Knowing the memorial is symbolic, students come back with thoughtful and searching answers on the atrocities and people represented in the site.

It gets the students engaged, talking with Trev and each other, and learning and feeling something that no classroom textbook ever could.

The Cold War & Trev’s Time in Berlin

The vast pool of military historical knowledge doesn’t stop there though as Trev’s real hands-on experience with moments from the past can be fully realised with his stays in the German capital before and after the fall of the war – so for a part of the Cold War. 

One of his last posts as Command Medical Administration Officer saw him in Germany and Berlin, where he crossed the Wall, meaning his visits were recorded and documented (after the fall of the wall he discovered there’s a file storied on him). 

‘Definitely history matters. You can’t alter it – it’s happened. What you’ve got to do is learn from it.’

Trevor Booker, History Tour Guide

This gives him a special place to fully immerse students in a time full of spies and shadowy tactics – a time of espionage and state monitoring. Not only retelling history and bringing it back to life, but a part of history too.