VISITORS to the Old Town Festival can give an emperor's thumbs-up or thumbs-down to a gladiatorial tussle.
Around 10 Gladiators will be joined by four Roman soldiers in full uniform to re-enact what was a traditional Roman blood sport.
The organisers of the festival had originally planned to stage a re-enactment by members of the Sealed Knot, the English Civil War Society, but the organisation cancelled so the Romans were brought in.
The group will march in the parade and will carry out demonstration fights during the main festival day on Saturday, July 3.
Swindon has extensive Roman connections. Even now archaeologists are carrying out excavations at Groundwell Ridge to uncover Roman remains.
The Old Town Festival begins on Tuesday, June 22, and concludes on Sunday, July 4. It features a wide variety of events from jazz performances to a hot air balloon launch to a young Pop Idol event.
The festival office is now open in the former Victoria bookshop on Wood Street and a festival programme featuring information about Old Town and a full timetable of events should be going on sale next week.
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