RAWORTHS HARROGATE LITERATURE FESTIVAL Bill Oddie – Unplucked 6.30pm | Tickets: £12 | Unreserved The Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival, launched in 2012, has become the hot ticket on the national Festival circuit thanks to its stellar line up of literary names in beautifully intimate settings. Hosted over a long weekend in the Victorian grandeur of Harrogate’s Crown Hotel, you’ll experience inspiring talks and stimulating debate – all in a convivial atmosphere. Socialise with fellow book lovers, relax in style, and soak up our eclectic programme designed to entertain and inspire.
THURSDAY 2 JULY Raworths Literary Lunch 12pm Tickets: £35 Including Lunch Join us for a delicious three course lunch and hear from our guest speaker, Ultimo lingerie founder Michelle Mone, one of the most successful businesswomen of her generation. Her new book My Fight to the Top is a riveting tale of how an enterprising spirit, determination and savvy know-how combined to create the UK’s most successful intimates brand. in association with
Emma Bridgewater - Stories from the Kitchen Dresser 3.30pm | Tickets: £10 | Unreserved Emma Bridgewater’s cheerfully distinctive kitchen pottery has found its way onto the dresser shelves and kitchen tables of homes all over Britain and beyond. Toast & Marmalade: Stories from the Kitchen Dresser, gives a very personal insight into the creation of Emma’s unique Bridgewater designs, the challenges faced in starting her own business, and how it all stemmed from a failed attempt to find a birthday present for her mother…
Paul Heiney – One Wild Song 5pm | Tickets: £10 | Unreserved Countrywise presenter Paul Heiney was rocked to the core when his son Nicholas, a keen sailor, committed suicide aged 23. A grieving Heiney decided to set out – alone – on a voyage he would have liked them to have embarked upon together, around the sailor’s Everest, Cape Horn. This is the story of Paul’s journey, both physical and emotional, as he navigated one of the most dangerous stretches of water on Earth to reconnect with happier memories of his son.
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Needing no introduction, Bill Oddie is a British television institution. Join the Springwatch superstar as he muses on his career in natural history, from encounters with orca in Argentina and Iceland, to an invisible tiger in India. He’s even rowed with the neighbours in London over a noisy flock of parakeets. Witty and wise, this is Bill Oddie as you know and love him!
Noddy Holder – The World According to Noddy 8pm | Tickets: £12 | Unreserved Noddy Holder, MBE, is coming to Harrogate with observations on marriage, techno-mowotsits, music, fashion, Christmas and travel – all the subjects dearest to his heart. The former Slade frontman (and roadie for Robert Plant) is the consummate host, having MCed quiz shows, acted on television, presented radio programmes and even starred as a puppet named Banger on Bob the Builder. Enter Noddy’s world, and enjoy the ride!
FRIDAY 3 JULY Will Hutton – Good for Business 12.30pm | Tickets: £10 | Unreserved Will Hutton, bestselling author of The State We’re In, Executive Vice Chair of the Work Foundation and columnist for the Observer, talks about ‘ending the mercenary society and building a great country’ in new book How Good We Can Be. A compelling and sharply insightful talk that will examine the state of Britain today and looks forward to the Britain of tomorrow.
Peter Moore – The Weather Experiment 2pm | Tickets: £10 | Unreserved
Edith Bowman’s Great British Music Festivals 3.30pm | Tickets: £12 | Unreserved After a lifetime of attending festivals, former Radio 1 and BBC broadcaster Edith Bowman packs her wellies and braves the unpredictable British weather to explore the country’s best, and sometimes lesser known, music festivals. From the muddy fields of Glastonbury, to the sunny hills of Portmeirion and Festival No 6, join Edith on an immersive journey as she travels the length of the UK in search of the ultimate festival experience.
Dennis Skinner – Sailing Close to the Wind 5pm | Tickets: £12 | Unreserved Enjoy a close encounter with the Beast of Bolsover, who – as his memoir suggests – has sailed close to the wind many a time. Labour stalwart Dennis Skinner has been an MP since 1970, and has seen it all in politics, surviving entry to the EEC, miners’ strikes (something very close to Skinner’s own heart), struggles with the IRA and parliamentary disapproval of his fiery wit. Co-author Kevin Maguire of the Mirror will be interviewing, in what promises to be an evening of revelation.
Judy Finnigan in Conversation with Richard Madeley 6.30pm | Tickets: £15 | Unreserved Audience favourites Judy Finnigan and Richard Madeley return to Harrogate to talk about Judy’s second novel. I Do Not Sleep explores the power of a mother’s love and the loss of a son. Five years ago, Molly Gabriel’s 20-year-old son, Joey, disappeared while sailing. His empty boat was found washed ashore on the rocks – but his body was never found. Still grieving, Molly has returned to the sands of Cornwall to find out the truth about what happened. Not your average book club night!
Dom Joly – Here Comes the Clown 8pm | Tickets: £15 | Unreserved
In 1854, when a politician suggested to the Commons that Londoners might soon know the weather 24 hours in advance, the House roared with laughter. Peter Moore tells the surprising and rather swashbuckling story of a group of mavericks who pioneered the modern science of weather forecasting, from James Glaisher, who explored the upper atmosphere in a hot-air balloon, to Admiral Robert FitzRoy, master sailor, scientific pioneer and founder of the Met Office.
Comedian Dom Joly’s come a long way since his primary school days. Hard to believe, but he worked as a diplomat and a journalist before hitting the big time with Trigger Happy TV. Suddenly he was famous, the money was rolling in, he bought a biplane (Joly doesn’t fly) and things got a little weird. This is showbiz as only Joly can tell it – hilarious, irreverent, and yep, just a bit weird. Expect – well, frankly anything!
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SATURDAY 4 JULY Robert Douglas-Fairhurst – The Secret History of Wonderland 11am | Tickets: £10 | Unreserved To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst examines the peculiar friendship between Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell, the child for whom he invented the Alice stories. Douglas-Fairhurst analyses how the two Alice books took on an unstoppable cultural momentum in the Victorian era, and why 150 years later they continue to enthral and delight us.
Robert Sackville West – The Disinherited 12.30pm | Tickets: £10 | Unreserved The Disinherited by Robert Sackville West is the kind of country-house scandal his family does so well – the stuff of costume drama, and also totally true. It’s the story of Henry Sackville-West, claimant to the wealthy Knole estate and family title, and his older sister, Victoria, who on becoming Lady Sackville and mistress of Knole by marriage, consigned her brothers and sisters to lives of poverty and disappointment. With insider access to all the skeletons!
Matt Haig and Cathy Rentzenbrink - Reasons To Stay Alive 2pm | Tickets: £10 | Unreserved What does it mean to feel truly alive? Aged 24, Matt Haig’s world caved in. He could see no way to go on living. This is the true story of how he came through crisis, triumphed over an illness that almost destroyed him and learned to live again. A moving, funny and joyous exploration of how to live better, love better and feel more alive, Reasons to Stay Alive is more than a memoir. It is a book about making the most of your time on earth. Matt will be In Conversation with Cathy Rentzenbrink, Books Editor at the Bookseller magazine, whose memoir The Last Act of Love is released this Summer. Introduced as ‘The Story of My Brother and His Sister’, this is a powerful, moving and ultimately and miraculously - uplifting story of loss, grief, survival and hope.
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