BUXTON FESTIVAL BOOK WEEKEND Friday 18–Sunday 20 November
MELVYN BRAGG
MATTHEW PARRIS
SIMON JENKINS
THE ODDITORIUM
LITERARY LUNCH
Box Office: 01298 72190 buxtonfestival.co.uk
GERMAINE GREER
WILLIAM SITWELL
DAVID TEMPLEMAN
MATTHEW DENNISON
BEN FOGLE
HELEN KEEN
BUXTON POETRY COMPETITION
MARINA WARNER
CLARE HARTWELL
Friday 18 November MELVYN BRAGG Now Is The Time 12 noon–1pm Pavilion Arts Centre Tickets: £10.50 Melvyn Bragg talks about his latest gripping novel, which brings an extraordinary episode in English history to fresh, urgent life. At the end of May 1381, the 14-year-old King of England had reason to be fearful: a vast force of common people invaded London, led by a former soldier, Walter Tyler, and the radical preacher John Ball. They believed they were rescuing the King from his corrupt ministers, and that England had to be saved. And for three intense, violent days, it looked as if they would sweep all before them. Now Is The Time depicts the events of the Peasants’ Revolt, of an epic struggle between the powerful and the apparently powerless.
WILLIAM SITWELL Eggs or Anarchy 2pm–3pm Pavilion Arts Centre Tickets: £10.50 Food writer William Sitwell (best known for his appearances on Masterchef) tells one of the great, British stories of the Second World War – the heroic tale of how Lord Woolton, Minister for Food, really fed Britain. As a nation at war, with supply routes under attack from the Axis powers and resources scarce, it was Woolton’s job to fulfil his promise to the British people, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill in particular, that there would be food on the shelves each week. This is the story of how he battled to save his own career while using every trick in his entrepreneurial book to secure supplies. If Britain had gone hungry the outcome of the war could have been very different.
BUXTON POETRY COMPETITION Prize Giving 4.30pm–5.30pm Pavilion Arts Centre Free entry Join us as we celebrate the talented winners of the 2016 Buxton Poetry Competition, along with judges and guests as they present their winning poems on the subject of ‘Hidden’.
TO BOOK buxtonfestival.co.uk or 01298 72190
Friday 18 November An Evening with BEN FOGLE In conversation with Mike Neary 7.30pm–9.30pm Pavilion Arts Centre Tickets: £18.50 Presenter, writer and adventurer Ben Fogle’s passion for animals and wildlife has taken him all over the world, and he has presented numerous programmes including the BBC’s Animal Park, Wild in Africa, Countryfile, Crufts, One Man and His Dog and Extreme Dreams. He writes regularly for the Sunday Telegraph and has written numerous bestselling books. He campaigns tirelessly for conservation, the environment and animal welfare, is an ambassador for WWF, Médecins Sans Frontières and Tusk, a fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society and the President of the Campaign for National Parks. His latest book Land Rover is the celebration of Ben’s journey across the length of the British Isles in an old Series 1 Land Rover, spending time with Defender enthusiast Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the Royal Marines and the Dartmoor search-and-rescue teams. His journey continues via the Bristol dockyard where thousands of Defenders are dispatched around the world and onto the Western Isles of Scotland and Islay, the island used as a testing ground by Spencer Wilks in 1947 to put several of the early Series Land Rover prototypes through their paces.
TO BOOK buxtonfestival.co.uk or 01298 72190
Saturday 19 November GERMAINE GREER The Disappearing Woman 10am–11am Pavilion Arts Centre Tickets: £10.50 Forty years ago it seemed that women were about to take their rightful place in the world, in parliament, in the church, in the judiciary, in the workplace – but when you open any newspaper you find that news is still made by men in suits. The female most likely to be seen in the sports pages will be a horse. Women are disappearing too because flesh is not allowed. As soon as girls accept the size, role and shape of adult women, they begin to disappear. With each stage of their lives, as they become successively wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, they become less visible. Virtually obliterated are the threequarters of care home residents who are women. Germaine Greer attempts to explain this state of affairs and to suggest some strategies for change.
TO BOOK buxtonfestival.co.uk or 01298 72190
Saturday 19 November SIMON JENKINS England’s Cathedrals 12 noon–1pm Pavilion Arts Centre Tickets: £10.50 England’s cathedrals are the nation’s glory. They tower over its landscape, outranking palaces, castles and mansions. They attract roughly half the nation’s population each year. For a millennium they have been objects of pilgrimage for those seeking faith, consolation and beauty. Still at the start of the twenty-first century, they remain unequalled in their size and splendour. In a real sense they are still what they were when first built a millennium ago, a glimpse of the sublime. In England’s Cathedrals, Simon Jenkins not only offers a companion to England’s Thousand Best Churches, he takes us on an enthralling tour of the nation and its history, through some of our most astonishing buildings.
MATTHEW PARRIS Scorn: The Wittiest and Wickedest Insult and Invective in History 2pm–3pm Pavilion Arts Centre Tickets: £10.50 There’s no pleasure like a perfectly-turned put-down (when it’s directed at someone else, of course!) and writer, columnist and former MP Matthew Parris presents a selection of the funniest, sharpest, rudest and most devastating insults in history, from ancient graffiti to the battlefields of Twitter. Scorn shows that abuse can be an art form!
HELEN KEEN The Science of Game of Thrones 4pm–5pm Pavilion Arts Centre Tickets: £10.50 Award-winning comedian and popular-science writer Helen Keen (Radio 4’s It Is Rocket Science!) uncovers the astounding science behind the world’s most popular television show, answering questions such as: Do dragons actually exist? What really happened when royal families interbreed? How does wildfire win wars? Can you really kill someone with molten gold? Is it possible to crush a person’s head with your bare hands? Join Helen as she sifts the fact from fantasy, discovers the truth beneath the togas, and reveals a world more fantastical than Daenerys Targaryen’s wildest dreams. A myth-busting, mind-blowing, jaw-dropping and fun-filled expedition that is perfect for nerds, fans, and geeks everywhere. So pour yourself a bowl of brown, climb on your beast of burden, and prepare yourself for an amazing adventure. It’s time to see the Seven Kingdoms as you have never seen them before.
TO BOOK buxtonfestival.co.uk or 01298 72190
Saturday 19 November THE ODDITORIUM 7.30pm–9.30pm Pavilion Arts Centre Tickets: £16 An evening of engaging and surprising talks by the writers of The Odditorium. The Odditorium is a playful re-telling of history told not through the fish-eye lens of its victors but through the fascinating stories of lesser known creative mavericks, tricksters, subversives and pioneers who changed our world. You’ll learn about the antics of tricksters, polymaths, mavericks and inventors. From heroic failures to great hoaxers, each character carved their own path, united by dogged determination, obsession and a good dollop of eccentricity.
Our host for the evening is David Bramwell, a regular on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4, creator of the bestselling Cheeky Guides and author of travel memoir and The No9 Bus to Utopia. Joined by writers James Burt, John Higgs and Jo Keeling, David shares stories of our most daring literary hoaxes; discusses the life of AvantGuard artist Elsa Von Fray; explores the fate of doomed Antarctic explorer Apsley Cherry-Garrard; and unearths the world’s largest underground temple.
‘ a remarkable storyteller.’ David Bramwell Radio Times
SPECIAL OFFER Book for Helen Keen and The Odditorium at the same time and receive a 25% discount off both shows
Eyewitness Accounts with Scott in the Antarctic
TO BOOK buxtonfestival.co.uk or 01298 72190
Sunday 20 November DAVID TEMPLEMAN Mary Queen of Scots: The Captive Queen in England, 1568–87 10.30am–11.30am and 2pm–3pm The Pump Room Tickets: £10.50 Join us in the newly refurbished Pump Room to find out what really happened to Mary in her captivity years. David Templeman, Elizabethan historian, launches his new book and guides us on a journey around Carlisle Castle, Bolton Castle, Tutbury, Wingfield Manor, Chatsworth, Sheffield Castle and Manor Lodge, Buxton and Workshop Manor. Rather than the benign period portrayed by her biographers, the talk conveys intrigue, passion, plots and escape attempts.
ULYSSES’ HOMECOMING
MONTEVERDI
lA Calisto HANDEL XERXES
CAVALLI
La Calisto, Cavalli -17 November, 7.30pm Ulysses’ Homecoming, Monteverdi -18 November, 7.30pm Xerxes, Handel -19 November, 7.30pm www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk or 01298 72190
Sunday 20 November LITERARY LUNCH Matthew Dennison on Beatrix Potter, Marina Warner on Fairy Tale and Clare Hartwell on Derbyshire – Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England Join us for a slap-up Literary Lunch in Buxton’s historic Old Hall Hotel. After your delicious lunch, sit back with a coffee to be enlightened and entertained by our three speakers. 12 noon–3pm Old Hall Hotel Tickets: £62 Beatrix Potter is one of the world’s bestselling, most cherished authors, whose books have enchanted generations of children for over a hundred years. Yet how she achieved this legendary status is just one of several stories of Beatrix Potter’s remarkable and unexpected life. Inspired by the 23 ‘tales’, Matthew Dennison explores Beatrix Potter’s multi-faceted life and character: repressed Victorian daughter; thwarted lover; artistic genius; formidable countrywoman; canny businesswoman.
Described as ‘county of contrasts’, home to an amazingly diverse assortment of landmarks, Derbyshire includes an array of distinguished country houses including Haddon Hall and Hardwick Hall. 17th-century highlights include the adventurous architecture of Bolsover Castle and the Baroque splendours of Chatsworth, while the dazzling Neoclassical interiors of Kedleston Hall are the summit of the county’s many Georgian achievements. Clare Hartwell, author of the Pevsner Architectural Guide to Derbyshire gives us an architectural insight into the county we love.
Few forms of literature have greater power to enchant us and rekindle our imagination than a fairy tale. But what is a fairy tale? Where do they come from and what do they mean? What do they try and communicate to us about morality, sexuality, and society? . Marina Warner has loved fairy tales over a long writing life, and she explores here a multitude of tales through the ages, their different manifestations on the page, the stage, and the screen.
TO BOOK buxtonfestival.co.uk or 01298 72190
MENU Pumpkin and Parmesan Soup Confit of Duck Terrine with Spiced Fig Spinach and Salmon Tartlet with Crisp Salad 222 Roast Sirloin of Beef with Yorkshire Pudding and Rich Roast Gravy Fragrant Tomato and Courgette Curry with tomato Quinoa Baked Cod Tapenade All served with Roast Potatoes and Seasonal Vegetables 222 Fruit Stuffed Baked Apple with Caramel and sauce Anglaise Sticky Toffee Pudding with Crème Fresh Plum and Apple Crumble with Vanilla ice cream 222 Coffee or Tea with Petit Fours