Last week I rounded off my visit to the Oxford Literary Festival (more pics here) with a talk given by Richard Fortey about the story behind the work of the Natural History Museum. Continue reading »
Oxford Festival 08
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“There aren’t many novels about people simply growing old” declares novelist, columnist and critic Philip Hensher in an upper room off Christ Church Quad. Continue reading »
Every good schoolboy knows that the indominatable British mainland has only been conquered twice - first by the noble Julius Caesar; secondly by those perfidious French. Lisa Jardine wants us to call it three.
As Tom Tower rang it’s 101 chimes, Jardine explored the conclusions of her book, Going Dutch for a curious Oxford Festival audience - making the case for 1688’s Glorious Revolution as “the invasion we’ve chosen to forget”. Continue reading »
‘Climate Xchange – Re:versing the Damage – Notes from the Climate Journey’ was described in the OLF programme guide as a ‘creative journey through climate change’. This lead me to suspect an audio/visual aspect to the event. To some extent this was true. Continue reading »
In the impressive surroundings of Christ Church’s Great Hall, bestselling historian Max Hastings admits to feeling a great sense of privilege that he’s able to “spend hours on end in the four corners of the Earth” listening to the personal testimonies of history’s survivors.
While there’s clearly enormous amounts of library work compacted into his comprehensive histories, vivid eyewitness accounts have always been central to Hasting’s books - and latest title Nemesis is no different, attempting to recreate the experiences of civilians and soldiers of all the sides entwined in World War II’s pacific battlefields. Continue reading »
I was pretty surprised to run into Dragon’s Den winner (and forthcoming Collins author) Levi Roots at an event with Dragon Peter Jones - and even more surprised to find them deep in conversation with legendary four-minute-miler Sir Roger Bannister. Things have clearly moved quickly for the musician, entrepreneur and now celebrity chef since the dragons bought into his Reggae Reggae Sauce…
While Roger disappeared (at speed) I dragged Levi into the Green Room for a chat about his million selling sauce, his new book and the forthcoming Reggae Reggae Car - click the button to listen in. Rastafari Bless!
100 books, 15 minutes and an eager Oxford crowd: today the Fifth Estate Estate rolled onto the Literary Festival Site to give away a boot-full of the finest literature - and the good people of Oxford turned out to cheer us on.
Lit fans old and young scooped up modern classics from our beautiful new Perennial Collection, leaving our alarmingly yellow vehicle considerably lighter within a speedy quarter hour. Our JG Ballard, William Burroughs, Carole Shields and quite a lot more disappeared rather swiftly into the throng outside Christ Church college, and even The Times turned up for a gander… Continue reading »
I always thought I had the measure of symmetry. Don’t get me wrong - I’ve never been a fan of algebra, and I’m regularly stumped by long division, but symmetry? Shapes and mirrors, right? I think I even know what tessellate means.
And yet part way through his enthralling lecture on the history (and future) of symmetry, mathmetician and author Marcus de Sautoy asks how many symmetries a Rubik’s cube has - and not only do I not have an answer, I don’t even understand the question. It’s 2.1×1024, by the way, and I couldn’t have been more confused if he’d told me the answer was brown. Continue reading »
Lionel Shriver loves snooker. Apparently she’s been a fan for fifteen or twenty years. In her new book The Post-Birthday World Shriver makes one her main characters a snooker player. For her lead character, children’s illustrator Irena, this man represents the exotic.
“I’ve come to read smut!” Shriver announced to the audience sat in the stately Upper Library of Christ Church. Eyebrows were raised. This would be exotic. Shriver began with a tally of how many people had read new book: a few. How many had read her most famous book We Need To Talk About Kevin? Almost everyone. Continue reading »
The Fifth Estate Estate is finally here - and it’s got its own page. Click over for more pictures - and find out what all those scribbles are…
We’ve loaded her up with a boot-full of books, and we’re in a generous mood. Over the next few days we’ll be cruising the mean streets of Oxford with our windows down and our system on, well, medium, blessing the city with the gift of free literature. So if you spot us around give us a wave - you might just get a book out of it.
“So you’ve come to the funny one?” said the girl taking my ticket to the talk led by the team behind TV’s trivia riot,Q.I.
While John sat through the horrors of rising tides and shrinking lakes on “a creative journey through climate change” just the other side of a creakingly timbered ceiling, I took the chance to hear QI creator John Mitchinson’s tour through the weird and wonderful of the animal kingdom, from pigs that glow in the dark to woodpeckers with ears on their tounges. I think I picked the right one. Continue reading »
Charlie Higson, still perhaps best known to adults for his comedy, has for the past three years been responsible for the Young James Bond series of novels and judging by the number of children who arrived to see him speak yesterday, it would seem Higson has found himself a whole new audience. Continue reading »
An interesting morning down here at the Oxford Literary Festival. Dreaming Spires sit gloomily beneath leaden skies, it’s grey and peaceful. The streets bustle in an orderly fashion, birds sing. Right now the only thing upsetting me is a rogue car alarm, set off at the smallest provocation. But that didn’t stop some half-decent history… Continue reading »
Is it me, or has a strange thing happened to literary festivals?
Led by the relentless expansion of the legendary Hay, the last few years have seen the British lit fest leap out of its intellectual niche - and into the true mainstream of press, radio and television. Many of the country’s major music festivals now proudly boast their own literary tents; and with broadsheet sponsors, even television rights, a new audience seems to be discovering the nation’s foremost literary events.
