Watermark 2015

wm



WATERMARK MARCH 2015

WORDS BY THE WATER THEATRE BY THE LAKE KESWICK Interviews, images and insights into one of the country’s finest literature festivals Created by students of the University of Cumbria

01

wm

WATERMARK

EDITOR’S LETTER

W

CONTENTS

elcome to this 2015 edition of Watermark, a magazine produced by the students of the University of Cumbria to celebrate – and hopefully enhance – the extraordinary experience you are about to have at Words by the Water.

Students from across a range of courses including Journalism, English, Graphic Design, Wildlife and Adventure Media have pooled their talents to give you insights into some of the stand-out sessions coming up over the ten days, and illuminating some of the events you might not know too much about yet.

The students would like to thank Kay Dunbar and her team at Ways with Words for their cheerful support of their work, and our writers are particularly grateful to the festival authors and speakers who generously agreed to be interviewed. All of these people have made this an exciting learning experience for us.

We are taught that in the end our aim is to inform, entertain and perhaps even educate our audience, so we hope that you’ll find Watermark a good, entertaining read which, like the festival itself, gives you plenty of food for thought. Enjoy.

02

4

Day by Day

6

Books on TV

7

Chinaphobia

8

Cumbrian Nature

9

True or False

10

War Zones

12

Wild and Free

13

Brain Myths

16

Lakes’ Writers

17

One of Us

18

What is Normal?

19

Human Behaviour

Student Editors Samantha Sy Will Brown Photographers Alistair Warwick Christine Warwick Katie Moore Executive Editor Tony Randall

Designers Zac Street www.zacstreetdesign.co.uk Megan Brown www.meganbrowndesign.co.uk Robyn Bamber www.robynbamber.com Charlotte Hepworth www.charlottehepworth.com Created By Students From BA [Hons] Graphic Design BA (Hons) Journalism BA (Hons) English & Creative Writing BA (Hons) English BA [Hons] Wildlife Media BA [Hons] Adventure Media

wm

Steve and Kay Dunbar, directors of the festival

WORDS BY THE WATER WATERMARK talks to Kay Dunbar, director of the festival

S

o here we are again at Words by the Water, thanks to director Kay Dunbar’s small but perfectly proportioned family business. This is the Cumbrian version of what she does – creating some of the finest pocket-sized literary festivals in Britain.

This year, the 14th year of WBTW, more than 12000 people are expected to arrive at the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick over the 10 days. Odd really, in an age when corporate logic demands the death of idiosyncrasy and expects ruthless economies of scale, that a celebration of some our most famous cultural artists still gets along nicely in a little theatre beside a lake in the middle of nature, and everyone – everyone – is welcome to join in.

Dunbar has made a habit of this. The one-time university lecturer and her husband Steven run similar festivals in the splendid English middle class surrounds of Dartington in Devon and Southwold in Suffolk.

Through their company, Ways with Words, she has found a way to sustain what she is doing and keep everyone happy. The writers are happy and feel loved, and keep accepting her invitations. The publishers are happy with the exposure their talent receives. The venues are happy and grateful to see the ticket holders flocking in, and the audiences are happy, ecstatic at times, jostling shoulders and chatting with names they normally only see in Waterstones.

“We are fortunate,” says Dunbar, a day or two before leaving her office in Totnes to make the trip to the Lakes. “We have several advantages. We’ve been

going for a long time now and the authors believe in us, they think our festivals are ... very superior really.

They are in lovely places, they are well run, they have a good reputation. We are always there for them, we make ourselves available. We haven’t grown to a size where you can’t do that any more.”

The authors agree. Penelope Lively has reflected on “the care that is taken looking after both the writers and the people coming to the festival, and the interesting mix there always is”.

Words by the Water began in 2001 in a hybrid way. Its programme was split between children’s sessions in the day and adult events in the evening. It also existed on two sites, the first weekend staged in Kendal’s Brewery Arts Centre. “It gradually became more difficult for schools to come out, so we dropped the children’s events. It was also difficult to be in two venues, so we decided to keep everything in one place. I do like that, it gives it a buzz, a feeling of community.”

Since then WBTW has been a festival which makes tweaks and minor shifts, rather than dramatic changes. It allows for what Dunbar calls “a building up of trust over time.

“The authors tell their friends about us and say, ‘you must do that festival!’. That’s what happened with Michael Buerk and Kate Adie. Alan Johnson came to us more recently and he is faithful to it, and

the 14th edition

Melvyn [Bragg] now feels he should be here every time. He is a wonderful president.”

Star names like those are obviously good for the reputation, but a look through the programme reveals that the diversity and richness of the event often comes from unexpected directions, from authors and thinkers who sometimes only a few in the audience will really know very much about. That is a clue to what Dunbar has long claimed to be the real purpose of festivals of literature – their educative nature.

“We see that people come to the festivals and want to hear about philosophy, psychology, politics.

They are things they love to learn about.”

If that is the purpose then Words by the Water is serving it. It may be 14 years old, but the festival is no uncommunicative adolescent. It is open, full of ideas and driven by a desire for mutual understanding – much like a good book. It is fun as well, and as Michael Buerk, one of this year’s writers at Keswick has also pointed out, “the festival audience is smashing to talk to”.

“We have several advantages.

We’ve been going for a long time now and the authors believe in us, they think our festivals are ... very superior really

Tony Randall

03

wm

WATERMARK’S FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

DAY BY DAY

Sunday 8th March

Monday 9th March

Tuesday 10th March

In the studio, David Bainbridge starts us off with The Shape of Women, looking at how the female body has evolved, and asks the question: why do women think about their bodies more than men?

There’s a natural follow-up as Eric Chaline explores the idea of getting (and keeping) fit, and how our reasons for training in the gym have changed over time. Later in the day we’re opened to the idea of challenging the body as Richard Askwith gives tips on how to get outside with his talk on Wild Running, and Emma Barrett discusses how some people thrive at the limits – embracing physical challenges and regularly risking their lives.

In the main house, we’re focusing on the written word. With talks from Melvyn Bragg, Margaret Drabble, Cate Haste and Mark McCrum, we’re told about the challenges of writing and publishing.

Jacqueline Rose tells us the stories of several women, with feminism being a big focus, and the BBC’s James Naughtie talks about emotions in the political world – a strong theme in his novels. The day ends with A Magical Life, a talk by Ben Okri that promises to be enchanting, poetic and transforming.

Food Glorious Food. Some of us eat to live, whilst others live to eat. Monday 9th March presents us with an exploration of culinary delights.

Why not start the day with a Poetry Breakfast at 10:15am, where everyone is welcome to share a poem or two. Bring your own or one of your favourites from another author.

The Peacock Dinner at 12:15 in the Main House, is where Lucy McDiarmid promises to explore the relationships between seven revered male poets who gathered around a table in 1914 to eat a peacock.

For those of us who appreciate a more scientific approach to food, Charles Spence will be discussing gastro-physics and asking “What makes for the perfect dining experience”?

Gillian Riley combines the history of food with what art can tell us about our culinary past by looking into how artists have portrayed tools and processes of food preparation over the ages.

Enjoy a mid-afternoon session with Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi who live by the motto “eat and drink because life is a lightning flash”. They take us on a journey to Venice where they have brought ancient, local street food back to life.

Keswick is host to many fine eateries, so don’t forget to sample the local fare, today is certain to give you an appetite.​

Tuesday promises to be a day of both extraordinary and ordinary delights. The Main House paving the way with John Tusa, former Managing Director at the BBC, defending the arts by discussing creativity past and present, explaining why the arts deserve special treatment.

Juliet Barker informs us of the extraordinary, ordinary men and woman of the peasant’s revolt, full of history, violence and dramatic shocks. Then David Crystal enlightens us on the fascinating world around the development of the everyday English language.

Catherine Anderson will deliver a moving account of her late partner Angus McDonald’s photographic journey round India’s Disappearing Railways. The photo-journalist and travel writer died whilst travelling Burma in 2013.

The Studio today is filled with light-hearted humour. Fish and Chips is the hot topic on Panikos Panayi’s lips, discovering its not so British roots. Next is the rise of the now household staple, the television, with behind the scenes, dishy stories from Joe Moran.

Judith Flanders explores The Invention of Home as a relatively new concept, the way we know it today.

Finally James Ward will change the way you look at your desk forever. Plunging deep into the world of stationary, answering questions you’d never thought to ask before.

Richard Berry

Bryony Hunt

Katie Halsall

04

wm

Wednesday 11th March

Friday 13th March

Saturday 14th March

Sunday 15th March

A day for the great tales and locations of Cumbria – a collection of talks that will draw you into the lives of some of the greatest names in literature, culture and adventure.

We are given a delightful mix of little known stories, from the paradoxical tales of noted literary translator C K Scott to a peek into the decadent world of Faringdon House, which in the 1930s hosted such eccentrics as Salvador Dali and Cecil Beaton. We can have a glimpse inside Greta Hall, former home of Lakeland poets Coleridge and Southey, courtesy of its current owner Jeronime Palmer.

The history of a generation of climbers is told with emphasis on the tragic story of the death of Alex MacIntyre, with tales of luck, friendship and the frailty of life, ranging from the Lake District to Annapurna.

And for those who want a broader knowledge of what makes Cumbria’s locations so great, there is a talk on the greatness of Cumbria itself from Michaela Robinson-Tate and Phil Rigby. If you’re in the mood for a good yarn with the backdrop of the Cumbrian countryside as its setting, this day is recommended.

A day of politics, wartime, tragedy, and psychology.

Catherine Hall talks about her book Realities of War, expect fascinating insights from a female war photographer’s perspective, exploring the repercussions of conflict both emotionally and psychologically. Another strong and heartfelt session awaits as Marion Coutts discusses her account of the death of her husband, the brilliant art critic Tom Lubbock, whose illness meant he lost his ability to speak just as their small son was learning to talk.

Francesca Martinez’s What the **** is normal? will have plenty to say about how the world treats those it considers to be ‘different’. Francesca, labelled ‘one of the circuit’s most brilliant comedians’, is here for the people who “struggled to fit in”, and moments of uncomfortable reality are sure to be shot through with well targeted humour. Perhaps it’s a natural fit with Vincent Deary, who asks whether you are living the life you want to lead? Vincent illuminates the curious ways our environment, habits, experiences and memories daily re-make who we are.

Finally comes Rory Stewart, Conservative MP for Penrith and the Borders, known as an astute observer of foreign affairs. If you’d like help unravelling the terrifying intricacies of middle eastern politics, this might be a good place to start.

Her neighbours call her the mad cat lady. In her 90-minute slot Susan Calman imparts reassuring words of wisdom offering self-contentedness, whether your neighbours affectionately identify you as a mad cat lady or not!

If, like Professor John D Barrow of the University of Cambridge however, you are not content to simply boil, fry or scramble an egg but instead have the urge to find out exactly why an egg is the shape it is, be sure to first attend his talk in the morning that blurs boundaries between mathematics and the arts.

Also on offer are discussions on normality, reality TV, life, current issues, faith, the efforts of women in World War One, politics and charity.

Final day of Words by the Water, the talks in the Studio are based on travel, kicking off at 10:45am in the Studio where Andrew Martin attempts to recreate five famous British train journeys in Heroic Days of Rail.

Following on from Andrew is Levison Wood, who talks of his walk along the Nile, where he discusses the dangers encountered, characters met and the extreme high and lows of his 3000-mile hike through six African countries. This may be a highlight of the day at 12:15pm!

The afternoon in the studio focuses on talks on the moorlands from Cornwall to the Borders, St Malo to Nice by Bike and finally closing the day with Rose Mitchell who talks about the language of maps.

The main house holds a mixture of talks throughout the day. Learn about the BBC, past present and future at 11. Followed by Peter Stanford, who investigates how the name Judas came to be synonymous with betrayal and human evil. In the afternoon, Salley Vickers talks about her new collection of short stories and finally Matthew Dennison explores the life of Vita Sackville-West.

Dalton Richards

Thursday 12th March

Tamar Benner Margrave

Louise Groom

Michael Bain

The main stage brings us what it means to be British, and some of the history that goes with that. Nations and nationalism can be contentious subjects, expect some furrowed brows.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown talks about the way England has been shaped by immigration over 500 years, Giles Radice discusses what happens when political leaders are forced to work consensually – there’s a novel idea. Max Adams offers us a chance to trace some of our cultural roots through the country’s trees.

A highlight of the day may well be Baroness Williams and Mark Bostridge talking about Vera Brittain and the First World War. Bostridge was Vera’s biographer, Shirley Williams is her daughter.

That talk is followed by the film Testament of Youth, based on Brittain’s memoirs.

The studio provides us with a more intimate history of Cumberland, covering writers, drovers and the work of the county’s women during the First World War. Daniel Joynes

05

wm

BOOKS ON TV

As Joe Moran comes to this year’s festival to discuss the social impact of the humble television, Jake Turner turns his attention to the battle between books and the box

KEEP WATCHING, KEEP ON READING, STOP FIGHTING W

hether we are curled up in one with a good book, or on the edge of its seat as we watch our favourite thriller, the armchair, as well as being the universally recognised artifact of the home, is also the site of two of our best loved pastimes.

Professor Joe Moran will no doubt explain the inexorable assault of TV on our nation’s consciousness during his Words by the Water talk on Tuesday, but do not be fooled by any illusion that TV’s rise has now plateaued into cultural egalitarianism: television watching and reading are, it would seem, bitterly at odds.

When these two activities are brought together as a single entity, there is much debate, often outright hostility, thrown towards the union.

“Baz Luhrman tramples on Fitzgerald’s exquisite prose,” muttered the critic Philip French of The Great Gatsby (2013). Or, says A O Scott of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001): “Given that movies can now show us everything, the manifestations that Ms. Rowling described could be less magical only if they were delivered at a news conference.”

We have book fans screaming in agony because something was missed, and then we have the television fans retorting that it was cut for a reason. Fifty Shades of Grey presents one possible solution: by making the book so terrible in the first place the audience won’t care what kind of abuse (BDSM or otherwise) the prose is subjected to.

This has been an ongoing battle for years, of course. It seems hard to imagine a day when both sides of the coin will be entirely satisfied with the

‘Joe Moran will no doubt explain the inexorable assault of TV on our nation’s consciousness’ end product of such ambitious, some might say, foolhardy ventures as squeezing Anna Karenina into the eye-wateringly tight corset of two hours plus.

Even the well-known TV classic novel adaptations, which span multiple episodes and run through several hours of content, can’t escape the claws of criticism.

However, underlining this endless debate seems to be a fact everyone is missing: the fact that we’ve seen both versions, we’ve done our own investigations – even if it was only for argument’s sake.

Take Jane Eyre. I watched it on television several years back and all that I really took from it was an

over-long love story. But I felt an instinctive need to inspect the source material, if only because I didn’t understand why it was so popular. I read the book, and my mind was changed completely.

Game of Thrones, The War of the Worlds, Birdsong: all had the same effect on me. Watching the film had me craving to see how they were originally designed.

And it seems in that sense that, far from heralding cultural degeneration, television has become a gateway to the past.

It’s no little remarked upon mystery that the number of people who read these days is dwindling, whilst 96% of UK homes own a television according to the latest TV Licensing statistics.

In that regard, it seems to me the adaptation is an unrivalled agent of publicity for the book in the 21st century.

It is a fact so obvious it seems to go unsaid and unrecognized: that at the end of it all, whether an adaptation is faithful or unfaithful, good or bad, it keeps the book alive; and that both television and literature are in harmony, not in conflict at all, mutually provoking our instinctive nature to find out more, to guide us back to where it all began...

Joe Moran, TV Times Tuesday 10th March, 12.15pm Studio

Sy meets the owner of Keswick’s Greta Hall, a Seven kids, running Greta Hall, Samantha place the poets Coleridge and Southey once called home talking about the poetic giants?

All in a day’s work for Jeronimé

J

eronime Palmer’s session at Words by the Water promises to be absorbing fare, she’ll be telling stories about one of the most famous houses in the Lakes, Greta Hall.

It’s her family home now, and a guest house too, but once upon a time it was the magnet that drew together the great Romantic poets of England.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey both lived there, and Southey stayed from 1803 until his death in 1843. In the meantime the guest list was fantastic, the Wordsworths, Byron, Keats, Shelley and Sir Walter Scott all stopped by.

But for Palmer, it’s “the women who lived here” that have captured her imagination. “Their own backgrounds, roles within the household, skills, hopes, problems, what they wore, cooked, how they managed their children, the household” – Palmer homes in on these women and will be talking about one of them in particular during her session.

When it comes to my personal space I am fairly reserved, and I would assume most people are. I asked Jeronimé what made her decide to open her home to the public.

“We appreciate that Greta Hall is a national treasure as well as our home,” she said. “It’s a building with immense literary history and was a place of meeting for so many great minds. It’s not a building we can keep to ourselves.

06

“When Southey and Coleridge lived here it was full of children, visitors and animals … just as it is today.

“Our guests, whether they are here to work, study or holiday do seem to enjoy the house almost as it would have sounded 200 years ago. Obviously, and perhaps it goes without saying, our guests enable us to manage the upkeep of Greta Hall, which as it’s a listed building is quite significant.”

So which of those great literary figures influenced her the most?

“Southey. His poetry is often denounced by purists as at most competent and uninspired. I appreciate that perhaps his legacy is in the histories and biographies he wrote, however I think his poetry is quite wonderful ... although I do often take just a few verses out of context.

“My favourites are those poems he wrote about the little things in life we overlook, The Bee, The Spider, Gooseberry Pie. Larger poems like The Battle of Blenheim are reminders of man’s continued warmongering.”

Jeronime Palmer The Great and the Good of Greta Hall Wednesday 11th March Studio

wm

CHINAPHOBIA wm

wmCHINAPHOBIA

AN OCCIDENTAL FRAYLING Historian and writer Sir Christopher Frayling charts the progress of Chinaphobia, and finds that old fears of ’The Yellow Peril’ still resonate in the West, writes Matt Butler

C

hinaphobia, sinophobia, the Yellow Peril, call it what you want, but if you think that the ages old prejudice against people originating from what is now the world’s fastest growing power is a thing of the past, Christopher Frayling has come to Keswick to tell you the opposite.

The eminent professor’s latest book, The Yellow Peril: Dr Fu Manchu & The Rise of Chinaphobia, argues that racism against Chinese people in modern-day Britain still exists, but is now so deeply ingrained that, alongside other fuelling factors such as the Chinese people’s unwillingness to “make an ordeal” of their startlingly commonplace discrimination, it largely goes unnoticed.

He emphatically demonstrates that intolerance against Chinese migrants in Western culture, both immigrants new to the area and people that were born here, remains alive beneath the surface – never having really left society but instead becoming more hidden and ignored.

During the early 20th century racism against Chinese people was widespread. There was a fear instilled in the public that the Chinese had intentions to destroy the world, or more specifically, the ideologies of the West. An academic who specialises in Chinese history, Julia Lovell, describes how: “In the early decades of the 20th century, Britain buzzed with sinophobia. Respectable middle-class magazines, tabloids and comics alike spread stories of ruthless Chinese ambitions to destroy the west.

The Chinese master-criminal (with his crafty yellow face twisted by a thin-lipped grin, dreaming of world domination) had become a staple of children’s publications.”

The rhetoric that was spread throughout Western ‘civilisation’ was largely unwarranted – China being in a weak economic position at the time – but was largely fuelled by the fear that Chinese immigration towards America and other Western countries instilled. We see echoes of this now in the way right-wing groups express their distrust and jingoism towards groups such as the Muslim community in today’s society. The difference is that racism against these groups is restricted and generally considered a social taboo, whilst ‘Chinaphobia’ barely registers.

Grayling notes that the term ‘the Yellow Peril’ was coined by the German Kaiser Wilhelm in

1895, and was used to propagate a universal disdain for the Chinese among many countries in Europe as well as America, which had already legislated against the Chinese by this point.

The rhetoric against Chinese people started when several US states began to ban or restrict the immigration of the Chinese and their right to buy or hold property rights. Society may have progressed since then, at least overtly, but Frayling argues that the ideas that were held at that time are still active today, even if they operate at a more subconscious and unnoticed level than before.

Contrary to other more notable and more widely fought movements for racial, religious and sexual equality, the movement for Chinese equality has never really taken hold, and never been taken seriously enough for the racism against the group to be seen as taboo. One of Frayling’s book’s central themes, among many other cultural images that he draws on, is Dr Fu Manchu, the Chinese supercriminal used several times in British literature during the 20th century. The epitome of Western sinophobia, the enduring depiction of Fu Manchu – with his iconic moustache and dragon-claw fingers – demonstrates that Chinese people have been, and continue to be, stereotyped and prejudged as much as any other race.

Alongside his accounts of culturally normalised racist attitudes and popular culture references, Frayling carefully and fascinatingly explicates thought-provoking ideas about the shocking acceptance and ignorance that surrounds racism of Chinese people in British society.

Sir Christopher Frayling’s ‘Chinaphobia’ Friday 6th March, 5.30pm Main House

0077

wm

CUMBRIAN NATURE

WONDERS ON THE WESTERN SHORE Louise Groom reads up on Cumbria’s astonishing coastal wildlife, and finds plenty of cliffhangers

T

he Cumbrian coastline is a scenic journey from north of Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness, it’s a stretch that runs close to the waters of the Solway and Morecambe Bay, both sites of special scientific interest, and passes reminders of an intriguing industrial history that can be revealed in local museums and heritage centres.

And it’s beautiful. When Patrick Barkham discusses his book Coastlines during the festival, he will be telling a story about walks that cover the most stunning 742 miles of coastline in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Cumbria’s coast fits right into that so, given that Words By the Water is a Cumbrian celebration, let me zero on the coastal glories of the county, and most especially its wildlife.

Because our seaside supports a varied range of habitats. Around 80 per cent of Cumbria’s coast is classed as being of international wildlife importance.

Habitats that are noteworthy are intertidal mud and sand flats, immersed at high tide. Characteristic

fauna include shellfish (small pink Baltic Tellin and the Edible Cockle), lugworms and ragworms. It’s a delightful pantry for feeding birds and fish, and saltmarshes support important numbers of passing birds and wintering waterfowl.

The sand dune systems act as a stronghold for natter jack toads and other rare animal and plant species. Intertidal scars, the areas of exposed boulders and rocks, support an animal and plant community which includes brown seaweeds, edible mussel and barnacles. These are also an important habitat for crabs and fish. The intertidal area is predominantly found in the large estuaries of the Solway, Morecambe Bay and Duddon estuary.

Wonderful wildlife awaits the coastal walker. The path at St Bees hosts the largest sea bird colony on the West Coast! Here you can see over 5000 pairs of birds nesting here each year. But let’s not forget the captivating marine life that swims beneath. The clean waters can be explored by boat from Whitehaven where you might spot basking shark, Common

and Atlantic seals, porpoises and maybe the rare dolphin.

The Solway is well known for its birds; insects and snails that live in the mudflats provide food for wading birds and it’s a popular area for migratory species such as whooper swans and barnacle geese.

The Solway is also home to a number of less evident wildlife but just as important marine species. Pam Taylor, of the Solway First Partnership says most of us don’t know about them. “The Solway has grey seals, common dolphins, harbour porpoises and rare fish such as the sea lamprey,” she says. “You can go and see the barnacle geese but it’s much more difficult to see the marine mammals and fish.”

Where to see the birds A number of birds can be seen on the estuaries and salt marshes. Resident species include: cormorant, curlew, herring gull, oystercatcher, redshank, ringed plover and shelduck. A good place to go is Morecambe Bay for these species.

Sea cliffs are full of noise and movement from March to Midsummer. St Bees is the most important breeding cliff for sea birds in the northwest of England. A number of birds breed at St Bees such as guillemot, kittiwake, razorbill and everyone’s favourite, the puffin. A number of species can also be seen from the cliff top: gannets, skuas, terns and grebes just to name a few.

Coastal dunes such as those between Silloth and Maryport, Walney Island and Sandscale Hews attract birds for breeding. There are dune nesters such as arctic tern, little tern and great blackbacked gulls.

On the south of Walney Island in the winter there are large numbers of seabirds such as red-throated divers, scaup and red necked grebes.

All year round ringed plover, redshank, greenshank and oystercatcher can be seen. Eider ducks nest on the south of the island from mid April. On the north part of the islands birds to look out for include curlew, shelduck, oystercatcher and dunlin.

Foulney Island is another great place to watch for birds. In the spring you can see three different species of tern, arctic, common and little. Wading birds are regularly seen in big numbers along the 150 miles of Cumbrian coast, the most common seen in Cumbria being the oystercatcher, my personal favourite. They stand out with here bright orange bills and black and white plumage, spending winter in big flocks around Morecambe Bay. Sniff the wind, head out for a day by the Cumbrian coast, and see what you can spot.

Patrick Barkham Britain’s Coast Wednesday 11h March, 4.15pm Main House

THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD It took 500 million years to create the Lake District.

Tamar Bennett Margrave charts every one of them

S

outh of the equator. Mud. Black mud.

Drifting. Slowly Drifting. Down. And down.

And down. And down. And down. And down, into the dark depths of a deep, deep sea. And so the Skiddaw slates formed and our story begins, 500 million years ago.

Then a colossal collision. Rock against rock.

Continent against continent. Folded, faulted, and forced upwards by molten magma 400 million years ago. Forced up from the dark depths of a deep, deep sea, up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, to form mountains of humongous Himalayan heights.

And so our story continues. Driving winds and downpouring rains. Driving winds and downpouring rains. For 150 million years, driving winds and downpouring rains and the humongous Himalayan heights are diminished. Diminished into low lying hills. Diminished into low lying hills and engulfed by the embrace of a tropical sea. A tropical sea that filled with sediment. Sediment that became colonised by a swampy carboniferous forest. A carboniferous landscape that was once again folded and faulted.

08

Folded and faulted and folded and faulted as it floated further and further and further on its constant journey north.

A constant journey north and a continually changing landscape. A landscape 250 million years ago, of sand dunes and salt lakes. Sand dunes and salt lakes scoured by rain and shaped by wind.

Scoured by rain and shaped by wind, scoured by rain and shaped by wind for a further 60 million years.

And further more. Further north. Further and further and further until two million years ago the landscape reached a latitude of 54.5000 north. Then an ice age. Glaciers against rock. Frost against rock.

Melt water against rock. Shaping, sculpting, and shifting rock, to form the Lake District of today.

Today. Today “all the world comes to the Lakes”. It has taken 500 million years for the Lakes to be here, as it is today, at 54.5000 north. It has taken 500 million years and some mud, a continental collision, magma, wind, rain, tropical seas, sediment, swamps, forests, folds, faults, sand dunes, salt lakes, glaciers, frost and meltwater along the way, but today,

all the world comes to the Lakes.

Dog Walkers, climbers, walkers, photographers, ramblers, mountain bikers, birdwatchers, families, paddlers, the list goes on. And on. And on and on and on and on and on. And there’s a guidebook for each and every one of them.

If you would like to discover how such guidebooks have influenced our views on the Lake District throughout the miniscule amount of time in which we have been dog walking, climbing, walking, photographing, rambling, mountain biking, birdwatching, paddling and everything else in between, then be sure to listen to Mark Flinn in the studio on Thursday.

Mark Flinn All the World Comes to the Lakes.

Thursday 12th March, 6pm Studio

wm

TRUE OR FALSE

Nanook, a fraud captured in freeze frame The most famous Eskimo in history was a sham, but did it ever really matter? Richard Berry on the fine line between truth and constructed reality

A

t the beginning of Robert J. Flaherty’s lauded 1922 documentary film Nanook of the North we are told: “Less than two years later I received word that Nanook had ventured into the interior hoping for deer and had starved to death.”

But that’s a lie...

Nanook, perhaps the most famous Eskimo ever, was actually called Allakariallak, and he died at home, probably of tuberculosis.

Such “realities”, including those that are constructed, those which are genuinely factual and some which are purely fictional, are aired on our television and cinema screens day in and day out, and presented to us as documentaries we are invited to believe in.

For the most part, we accept these stories as fact, but is that actually what we are getting? How do we know? Does it matter? It’s a subject which comes right up to date in the relatively new genre of reality TV, and during this year’s Words by the Water it’s a subject which falls under the scrutiny of Michael Buerk.

Buerk’s talk, Inside the Human Zoo: What’s Real about Reality TV? tackles the questionable world of this genre.

While many feel that reality TV – or “factual entertainment” in alternative industry jargon – does not exactly fit the documentary label, by the very title of the genre one would be forgiven for believing that what you are watching is, well, real.

In a recent interview, Buerk gave us an insight into where both his heart and mind sit on the issue.

“Oh, I think it’s hateful,” he said, then “ no, not hateful, but questionable.”

During the session at Words by the Water, Buerk will be exploring the unreality of reality TV and while he doesn’t promise any definitive answers, it should certainly be thought provoking.

Many scenes in these so called factual accounts are, like Nanook, constructed realities bordering on docudrama, having been created from the mind of the filmmaker based on the events of the time, often using the actual people reenacting the scene. Should we go along with it? Or are we too trusting of what we see on the box?

The question falls into the territory of Professor Geoffrey Hosking (see below) in his talk on The Nature of Trust. He takes the issue to many levels, targeting institutions, politicians, banks and the history of trust and distrust in society.

But does truth even matter? In the end maybe it’s up to us. Even now, knowing what seems to be the truth about the making of the film, Nanook of the North remains one of my favourite documentaries and I think that it has captured a time in history in an entertaining way. Film critic Roger Ebert summed it up for me: “It has an authenticity that prevails over any complaints that some of the sequences were staged.”

Maybe we see what we want to believe, even if we don’t believe it.

Michael Buerk, Inside the Human Zoo: What’s Real about Reality Television?

Saturday 14th March, 2:30pm Main House

TRUST IS THE BOTTOM LINE Geoffrey Hosking is gripped by the story of Russia. He tells Samantha Sy how it led him to big questions about trust as a global social phenomenon

G

eoffrey Hosking is fascinated with Russia and the old Soviet Union. He once wrote: “I have spent most of my life studying Russia. That has naturally meant studying power politics, the actions and intentions of rulers and their officials. But over the years I have become increasingly aware of another dimension to Russian society ...”

He was talking about the structures that existed in that nation, or more so the lack of them, and what they said about trust.

In his 2010 title Trust: Money Markets and Society

(Manifestos for the 21st Century) and more recently Trust: A History (2014), he took the question further and applied it to the operations and structures of trust in any society.

The first book described the mutual trust that is essential to a globalized economy, and without which disaster would follow. He explores how social and economic trust in the United Kingdom and the Unit-

ed States waned in the 1990s, and exploded into a major crisis of economic distrust in the form of the credit crunch that began in 2007.

Hosking argues it was the result of a bubble of trust misplaced in financial markets and state welfare systems by individuals, companies and governments alike.

“Economics is crucial to our life,” he told me, “we need to exchange goods and services confidently.

Our economic system has gone very wrong in recent decades, and has begun to promote distrust rather than trust ... Economics should certainly be about production and exchange, but also about the support of social solidarity, since we need peace to conduct most forms of exchange.

“That is why capitalism depends on trust: who will invest in a company they do not trust – unless of course they are advised by untrustworthy financial advisers?”

Writing as far back as 2002, Hosking empha-

sised Confucius’ argument that government cannot survive if it loses the trust of the people and it will need to build that trust. “Confucius once remarked that rulers need three resources: weapons, food and trust. The ruler who cannot have all three should give up weapons first, then food, but should hold on to trust at all costs.”

Does Hosking himself trust the financial markets and state welfare systems?

“In the UK we can no longer trust the state welfare system as we used to,” he said, “because the coalition government has imposed cuts which hit some of the most vulnerable people in our society, the disabled, the unemployed, lower earners, young people generally, immigrants and those who need to defend their legal rights.

“As for financial institutions, they have given ample proof of their untrustworthiness: the greedy and reckless behaviour of their managers and their heedless pursuit of ‘shareholder value’ and ‘tax efficiency’

has led them to rate short-term financial advantage higher than the financing of longer-term productive activity, which would benefit society, as well as them, personally.”

Hosking hopes his readers will gain a sense of how important “trust in the trustworthy” is, but also how fragile it is. “Because a serious breakdown of trust leads to hatred and violence on a scale which we in the West have almost forgotten”

Geoffrey Hosking The Nature of Trust Saturday 7th March, 3:45pm Studio

09

wm

WAR ZONES

HALL

OF MIRRORS Award winning British writer Catherine Hall is at the festival to talk about her third novel, The Repercussions. Samantha Sy asks her about her fascination with writing about the past

T

he Repercussions is a novel about war. It moves from the present day of the photographer Jo’s life to the past, in the form of diary of her great-grandmother Elizabeth’s life. It presents the reader with the tragic psychological and emotional consequences of war, and the changes it forces on the lives of the people experiencing it.

Hall examines war from the point of view of those who fought and those left behind, and contrasts the cultural restrictions of Elizabeth’s life with the freedom which Jo expects in hers.

Hall, who was born in the Lake District, worked in documentary film production and international peacebuilding before becoming a freelance writer and editor. The Repercussions, like her previous novels, Days of Grace and The Proof of Love, focuses on the past.

“I’m really, really interested in how the past informs the present,” she says. “I’m quite interested in psychoanalysis and I have been for a long time.

So from that interest I am really interested in how things that have happened in the past keep having repercussions on into the present.”

Now she lives in London. She moved there for University, but overall she “wanted to be where the action was”. She also wanted to be “somewhere where nobody knew you ... I just like that idea of being anonymous”.

I asked her if the varying cultures in London influenced her.

“Yes, definitely ... one of my favourite things about London is just everything is normal ... if you look at anybody in the street you never know what their real story is and I kind of like that. You could be looking at someone who looks completely ordi-

10

‘I saw 25 dead bodies, some were skeletons ... some still had babies tied to their backs, and I thought, this is what war actually means’ nary but they’re not, or they’ve got a background or they’ve got a reason why they’re in London, and that’s what I really like.”

Hall says she first “understood what war meant” when she made a trip to Rwanda with a photographer. “I saw 25 dead bodies. Some were preserved, some were skeletons. It was just horrible. Some of them had their hands tied behind their backs while some still had babies tied to their backs, and I thought this is what war actually means ... making that character in the book definitely came from things that I had seen myself.”

What were her reasons for making Jo a war photographer?

“I started to think about what it must be like for a photographer, who basically sees more wars and even see them more close up than most soldiers, so they have a very specific experience of war, and I found that really fascinating.”

Speaking with Hall, it’s not hard to see connections between her and Jo. Had she deliberately projected some of herself onto her character?

“She has a lot of things in common with me, definitely ... not that things that happened to her happened to me, but there were similar things.

The Repercussions deals a lot with race, sexuality and class, highlighted in Hall’s representation of Jo and Elizabeth. The writer explains to me how she thinks society has changed since World War 1, and says that “race, sexuality and class have all changed for the best, there’s been a lot of fighting for it, it hasn’t happened easily.

“I’ve always been interested in old ladies and finding out their stories. I think one of the stories from talking to them is quite a lot about how toxic shame is, and how shame can really prevent people from reaching their potential in life.

“That sort of fits in with the theme of the past, so if you’re feeling terrible about what happened in the past that can really mess up your present and your future, I think that’s probably where it comes from. I’m definitely interested in the past, the present and the link between the two.”

I asked her what she hoped her readers would get from the book.

“I wanted to make people think about war and what it means and what it means for ordinary people who go through it, not in a dramatic way, but just how that is.”

Catherine Hall Realities of War Friday 13th March, 10.45am Studio

wm

TRUE OR FALSE

War Poem Matthew Poynton

He killed a man who had a wife and a child And in the eyes of the law this was justified.

He was given a medal and a pat on the back.

The man taken home in a dirt covered sack.

The man’s little girl waited for daddy to come home, But the bullet through his head turned him to stone.

She cried and cried because she didn’t understand, Why daddy had been killed by the strange man.

“Why didn’t he like daddy? What did he do?”

And her mother replied “it’s not “what” but “who” Your father had different beliefs to this man, And the man wants to take away our land.

He wants us to obey his every word and beliefs, And that’s why they refuse to leave us in peace” “Well then mommy can’t we stop this man?

Can’t we kill him and drive him back to his lands?”

“Killing them won’t bring back your father my dear, And killing a man is never right, even out of fear.

You see men will kill and they will call this law, But there can be no happy outcome when they play at war”.

11

WILD AND FREE

wm

WHY DO WE RUN? There’s running, and then there’s Wild Running. Katie Halsall discovers the difference

T

he loud shrill of the alarm jerks you awake and you are momentarily disorientated by the darkness of the room before you manage to shut it off groaning. How can it be morning already? Pulling on your trainers, you grab a banana – eating it quickly before you head outside for your morning run. The streets are empty, but your mind is full. Thinking about what happened at work the day before, the jobs that you told yourself you would get done, that second chocolate bar you shouldn’t have eaten, how glorious the morning sun feels on your face as it eventually rises into the sky.

Ask anyone why they run, and you’ll likely get a different answer – a different story, a different feeling.

In his talk about Wild Running, Richard Askwith will be telling us how to get out into the natural world, and sharing his experiences. Leaving the concrete jungle behind and instead running through open fields and up rocky fells – running free.

Running became his way to get a grip on life as it was something he could control. He stated that “Health and fitness were welcome bonuses, but the main point was to create a corner of the world which I could control, where the more I put in, the more I got out.” Soon enough, however, he discovered the thrill of running and the challenges that may appear along the road. “I realised that, with sufficient determination, I could achieve things that I’d previously thought were impossible. Whether it was a new distance, a new target time or a new off-road endurance challenge, I loved having an extra sense of purpose in my daily routine.”

Now, as a man in his mid-fifties, running is less about the results, and instead he’s “motivated by

the raw pleasure of getting outside, in nature, and relishing the sensations of being alive, running and immersed in the landscape. It’s not about outcomes any more. It’s about running in the moment.”

For most people, increasing fitness or losing weight is the initial motive to start running. It’s free, can be done at your own pace and is something that most people can put a little time aside for. It becomes a stress reliever, and helps not only your physical health but your mental health too.

To begin with, it can be difficult to find the moti-

I realised that, with sufficient determination, I could achieve things that I’d previously thought were impossible vation. The thought of running in the cold or in the rain when you could be snuggled up in bed catching that last half hour of sleep before work, or even coming home after a long day of work and not wanting to go back out again can be a challenge in itself. It’s exhausting, it pushes your body and it aches your muscles, but that runners high that you experience at the end makes it all worth it, and more often than not, mentally you will feel better afterwards. As you run, all responsibilities disappear and you can focus instead on how you feel.

The challenge is often what keeps a runner going – pushing your body to its limit as you train to run further than before. Increasing stamina to complete that seemingly unreachable 10k or marathon, and relishing in that sense of accomplishment when

all the training pays off. The need to break a specific time can become an obsession and, as soon as you hit it, another time goal will take over your mind. You forget about your surroundings and instead focus on the clock.

You may run without a GPS watch and without an app on your phone that counts every mile and minute that you run. Instead, you run to connect to the nature around you. As you move from the busy streets into the rural countryside you will hear bird song instead of the sound of traffic and chatter, and feel the wind rushing around your body as you run over hills and along muddy paths, dodging stray fallen branches and dog walkers. A primal urge stirs from within as you become detached from reality, yet deeply connected to the world that surrounds you.

You love running for the things that it does to your body and mind when you’re outside.

Ultimately, “why do we do this to ourselves?” is a common question that even runners will ask themselves, and the answer is simply because it brings joy.

There’s nothing better than the achievement you feel after completing a run – be that an easy mile or a gruelling ultra-marathon – or being able to drop all your stresses and focus on yourself, ignoring the world around you. It is something that only a runner can truly understand.

Richard Askwith’s Wild Running Sunday 8th March, 3.45pm Studio

Take it to the limit, one more time Michael Bain explores the passions that drive the explorers

I

s it to seek out adventure in a distant place? To find ourselves amongst the blue oceans and starlit skies, to push our limits to the raggedy edge, or to simply escape from the manic pressures of our day to day lives?

What is the driving force? Can it be something as simple as sheer curiosity? In the beginning perhaps. Perhaps it was simple hunger that drove early humans across the globe in search of greener lands.

That expansion made humans the dominant form of life upon this planet However, as we occupied and multiplied across the earth, the idea of travel and exploration became much more than just a sense of curiosity. It evolved into a sense of adventure.

Emma Barrett is appearing at this year’s festival, in her book Extreme, which she co-wrote with Paul Martin, the American astronaut Scott Carpenter is quoted: “I volunteered for a number of reasons,” says Carpenter. “One of these, quite frankly, was that I thought this was a chance for immortality.”

Immortality. Impossible? Some say not, if your name is remembered throughout history for the deeds or actions you have done. Is this the answer?

To put one’s body through extremes, just for the sense of achievement? It is that human condition that for the past few centuries has seen man conquer the extremes of the world.

12

Edmund Hilary, the first man to summit Mount Everest, said that “ever since the morning of May 29, 1953, when Tenzing Norgay and I became the first climbers to step onto the summit of Mount Everest, I’ve been called a great adventurer.” Is it a quest for fame?

Before the festival began I spoke to Emma Barrett about this compulsion. Why are humans built this way?

“There’s a multitude of different reasons,” she says, “and most people are motivated by more than one thing. Some include the desire to master skills and achieve high levels of performance, challenging themselves by testing the limits of their ability, the chemical rush of adrenaline, as a social experience, as escape from personal problems or everyday tedium, and to push the boundaries of scientific knowledge.

“In our research for the book we did not find any compelling evidence that there were specific personality traits common to all people who engage in extreme activities. This is not surprising when you consider how varied extreme environments are.”

But what about the personal hardship, pushing our bodies to the limits?

“Again, there isn’t a simple answer. First, many people are not so much about pushing their bodies

to extremes as testing their minds. There are physical challenges in most extreme environments but they vary in how tough they actually are.

“In many ways it’s the mental challenges that are more daunting, dealing with fear, putting up with other people, living in isolation. Second, many people push their bodies to extreme limits on these ventures because there is no alternative if they want to achieve their goal.

“So punishing their bodies is a by-product if you like. Third, for some people it is about the pain and hardship – redemption through suffering, seeing how much they can take, or simply masochism.”

Is that the answer? That there is no answer. No straightforward explanation for the human condition. I guess in the end we all have our own reasons for choosing to escape into a world of expressive curiosity. And we all find our own way into the unknown.

Emma Barrett, Thrive at the Limits Sunday 8th March, 5.15pm Studio

wm

LADIES, THIS IS WHY WE RUN The festival discusses plenty of questions about body care and body shape.

Jessie Sumner tells a story for women, but most of all, the food-loving women

T

he end of day one is finally here, and I can honestly say that the box of chocolates sitting upstairs on my desk is looking more appealing by the minute.

The truth is, for the past four years I have been constantly on and off diets, and slogging my guts off in the gym to try and rid myself of the dreaded podgy belly that every woman loathes. It’s been an emotionally and physically torturous journey since the very start.

With complete honesty, I’m my own worst enemy. I make a promise to myself that today will be the day that changes the rest of my life, and that this summer I will finally feel confident enough to wear a bikini. And every time I make that promise, within a few days I’m back to where I started.

‘The goal shouldn’t be to be thin, it should be to be fit, and from becoming fit you will achieve your goals’ I think it’s important to say that I’m not a large girl; to the eye, people would say I’m a healthy weight for my height and build. I am very fit, as I love sports, and sticking to an exercise regime doesn’t phase me in the slightest. However, I suffer with one distinct feature that many women can relate to. The “skinny fat”.

For those of you who have never heard of the skinny fat, it basically means that you appear really slim and flat in your clothes, but when you’re in your undies, you see looser skin around your stomach area. I exercise a lot, but mainly all cardio, and I don’t eat very much really, but what I do eat are the wrong foods. If I want to finally feel confident in a bikini this summer, then my exercise and eating habits need to be modified.

Welcome to Ironing Out the Creases, the journey from fit to flat.

It’s been a whole one week and to be frank, it feels more like one year. Yesterday was Sunday, which means it was a treat day and I indulged in a small bar of chocolate. Although now I’m wishing I hadn’t, as today I’m left with some serious chocolaty cravings. I have never been a fan of dieting, I mean, who is?

It’s horrible. Just two evenings ago my mother had offered to take me out for dinner as I was visiting home from university. We ate in a lovely quaint pub

not far from my home, however the delights of fine dining were swiftly dampened for me when I realised I should really be picking my food from the “under 500 calories” menu.

I’d like to say that it ends with dieting, but the truth is, if you want to work off your belly the food you eat sure helps to fuel your body for a particular reason, and that reason is exercise.

Over the years I have come to realise that although going for a run between four and five times a week helps, it’s not enough. Doing just cardiovascular exercise every day soon starts to have no effect on your body image, you need to mix up your exercise.

Cardio, strength, and resistance training combined together on a weekly basis will have a far better effect on your bodily appearance.

I started off by constructing my own exercise regime influenced by the advice of some of the most successful fitness trainers for women’s health. And I purchased Charlotte Crosby’s 3 minute Belly Blitz’ fitness DVD! You should know that I personally felt fitness DVDs were a waste of time. I have brought numerous DVDs in the past and breezed through each one.

Maybe it’s because I already have a stronger level of fitness than they are working too. That is, until I tried this one.

After just one week of eating the right foods and five days out of seven kicking out my moves to the Crosby DVD, I can feel the difference. My clothes are slightly looser, my stomach slightly flatter, my body is more than slightly sore: no pain, no gain.

Too many people simply want to be thin without having to do anything, and so they starve and deprive their bodies of the food it needs. The goal shouldn’t be to be thin, it should be to be fit, and from becoming fit you will achieve your goals.

This is just the start of my fitness journey. For three weeks I have cut running out of my exercise regime because I have been overcoming an injury, my first taste of plantar fasciitis, and pray that after a good rest it will keep itself at bay on my next run.

I have goals, starting with the Edinburgh Marathon in May. I’ve found another promising workout guide and eating plan and will be re-introducing running into my weekly exercise routine. I have a blog, and over the next 13 weeks leading up to Edinburgh I will be documenting and writing about my fitness journey.

Running a marathon is not just about fitness for me; it is a dream I have had for a long time. Hopefully this will be the step that takes me towards accomplishing my life goals.

I wonder what I will learn throughout this journey, the people I will meet and the stories I will tell afterwards.

David Bainbridge, The Shape of Women Sunday 8th March, 10.45am Studio

13

BRAIN MYTHS YOUR HEAD IS FULL OF THEM

wm

14

BRAIN MYTHS

Samantha Sy looks forward to hearing psychologist Christian Jarrett debunk some commonly held beliefs about what’s going on inside your head

B

est known for his book Rough Guide to Psychology: an introduction to human behaviour and the mind (2011) which made the shortlists for some hefty book awards, psychologist, Christian Jarrett has returned with a warning: Ignorance about the way our brains work is harming us.

The brain is arguably the most amazing and complex organ of the body, but Jarrett’s case is that a lack of understanding has led us to buy into a vast range of myths about it. Ideas such as “the bigger the brain, the smarter you are”, or “we only use ten percent of our brain” may sound plausible, or for some of us even probable in the latter case, but, says Jarrett, they are myths.

Jarrett debunks both of those examples and many more in his book Great Myths of the Brain (2014), presenting an examination of more than 50 assumptions surrounding the function of the human brain which he claims are simply incorrect.

These assumptions vary from immortal myths – such as the universally understood idea that right-brained people are more creative than left-brained folks – to topics about technology and food, including the notion that brain training and brain food will make you smart.

Our ignorance around brain myths is damaging, he says. “Brain myths are harming our children, our health, business and real neuroscience”. In an article for Wired, he provides 10 examples of ways in which these brain myths are harming us. One of which is education.

“Many school teachers around the world believe neuromyths, such as the idea that children are left-brained or right-brained, or that we use just 10 per cent of our brains. This is worrying. For example, if a teacher decides a child is ‘left-brained’ and therefore not inclined to creativity, they will likely divert that child away from beneficial creative activities.”

Brain myths crop up almost everywhere – in film, television, books and even in conversation. Jarrett’s books are fascinating, at least to this reader, particularly when “obvious” givens about the brain are shown to be nothing of the sort.

Jarrett shares his understanding of the brain, mind and behaviour in a simple book that helps our understanding of the brain even with little prior knowledge of its intricacies. As the American psychology professor David G. Myers comments, “Jarrett takes us on a neuroscience journey, from ancient times to the present. He exposes things we have believed that just aren’t so ... we can become wiser – by being smartly sceptical but not cynical, open but not gullible.”

Christian Jarrett; What do we really know about the Brain?

Saturday 7th March, 5.15pm Studio

SORRY, BUT THIS IS MINDLESS A sceptical Olivia Taylor takes the right-brain left-brain test.

Is it just neuroscience for dummies?

I

am right-brained. This is according to an online test I took involving a rotating woman, and correctly identifying some colours.

This 30-second test can supposedly tell me what careers I am suitable for, as well as letting me know that I am a “believer” (though in what I am not quite sure).

Although at least it’s not telling me that I live by the motto “why fix it if it ain’t broke”, you know, like it’s saying scientists (left-brained of course) do.

Hmm I’m not so sure that I can believe this ...

Christian Jarrett (a left brainer if ever I saw one) states on the web site Psychology Today that “the leftbrain right-brain myth will probably never die, because it has become a powerful metaphor for different ways of thinking”. Oh wait, a myth? ... well, there go my chances of becoming a famous artist. Thanks a lot, 30-second test.

But then he only has a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, is a chartered psychologist and is an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, so what would he know? Oh and he has just published a book called Great Myths of the Brain, which includes a dismantling of the left-brained right-brained myth.

I’m fascinated by this. Why is this myth is so easily believed and why will it “never die”? The truth is that it is not that far from the truth. Different sections of the brain (as we all know, or think we know) do have different functions.

For example, when we listen to someone speaking, part of our brain translates what we say (in the left) and another part of the brain (in the right) translates the emphasis that are put on words, but then we have to stick these things together to understand the meaning and much more besides. I think.

It is easy to see how simplifying these facts can lead to the over-simplistic left- and right-brained myth. Even so it is simply not true: the brain is too complex and does far too much to be split into “creative” and “logical”.

Also, people have a strange tendency to use all of their brains. Or so I understand.

This myth has become so widely believed that even the Daily Mail (yes, even the Mail) has published it as fact.

People are selling courses and techniques that will “expand your right brain”. Even worse, as Jarrett points out, it’s believed by lots of teachers and therefore is affecting the way children learn. And it’s interwoven into the fabric of some cults.

Is this really a problem? I believe so, especially when people are duped into believing that their “inactive side of the brain” restricts them.

If you would still like to take the test and find out what you are mythically “destined” to do, take a look at: http://braintest.sommer-sommer.com/en/

wm

Mental Health Matthew Poynton

She stands outside the house but doesn’t want to go in, When she awakes in the morning her heart aches, the pain begins, She looks out the window, but she can’t see the clouds, Her body manoeuvres lifeless as she’s overwhelmed through the crowds, She prays for something that can mend her mind and heart, Waiting for an answer she drops to the floor and falls apart, Her bedroom is not a place of comfort but a place to hide the tears, Her mind is a place that harbours, breeds and reproduces the fear.

The girls at school don’t understand and they drag her further down, She thinks about them,she wants to hurt them as she walks through town, She wants to give up almost every second of every single day, If she was braver she knew she would take off and run away, She feels so small; she doesn’t quite know what to do, She contemplates the end that some often do, Bed covers over her head, wants to disappear, Thinking of her parents future tears, Her stomach full of that release, She smiles as it tastes so sweet, She finally lets go of her fears, Closes her eyes; And disappears.

15

wm

LAKES WRITERS

THE POETS HIDDEN BY WORDSWORTH’S WALL Penny Bradshaw is a lecturer in English at the University of Cumbria who is especially interested in bringing some of the lesser known lights of the Romantic period back into view.

Emily Butt talks to her

D

r Penny Bradshaw is no stranger to Words by the Water or the Lake District, nor is she a stranger to the lesser known Romantics of the Lakes. She recently edited and introduced a new edition of Ann Radcliffe’s Observations During a Tour to the Lakes, the subject of her talk at the festival.

“I am interested in what the Romantic poets were saying, not just Wordsworth,” she says.

“I’ve always been interested in the voices that have been silenced in history.”

Bradshaw’s project follows her earlier published work The Lake Poems of John Wilson. These are important steps in recovering lesser known poets. Many members of the Lake District Writers fraternity (a somewhat reductive engenderment as Bradshaw’s work shows) have been forgotten – it was while researching these forgotten gems of Romanticism that she came across Ann Radcliffe.

Radcliffe is a writer more well known and well studied as a Gothic novelist. Largely omitted alongside more prestigious literary figures’ accounts of the Lakes, Bradshaw is keen to recover Ann Radcliffe’s often evocative impressions of the area.

“At this point in history some of the most famous writers of the period went to the Lake District for inspiration.” This was a time when the Lake District was still a place of imaginary discovery and possessed creativity like no other time.

If this kind of historical literature sounds like your sort of thing, I asked what advice she would give to a beginner.

“First of all, I would encourage anyone to look into this area, as you can get a real sense of how the

16

Lake District was constructed in an imaginative way, beyond Wordsworth. The problem, however, is that the tourist industry tends to enforce Wordsworth’s view of the Lakes.”

Indeed, to get stuck into a deeper understanding of the area’s literary heritage, we should begin to think in a different way, to read more widely and get behind “the Wordsworth wall”.

Dr Bradshaw has a soft spot for the Lakes: “As a child I used to holiday there. My father actually bought me my first copy of Wordsworth poetry in the Lakes.” Personally and professionally, she finds the landscape highly in inspiring.

Smith’s response to the Lakes was very different from Wordsworth’s, which is interesting because this was a time of discovery and her response was experimental. She introduced new kinds of travel writing but also a new and fresh response to writing the landscape.”

What interview would be complete without a few rapid fire questions?

What were your summer reads?

“Clara Benson - Mystery at Underwood House and Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude.”

What book have you read that has stayed with you?

“Jane Eyre. The Rochdale fetish lives on!”

Who is your most inspirational literary figure?

“Charlotte Smith. She is a little known Romantic poet now, but she used to be famous. She actually influenced Wordsworth! She had a difficult life of marrying young, having twelve children and began writing in order to provide for them. These were awful circumstances and sadly she has been undeservedly forgotten.

Penny Bradshaw talks on Ann Radcliffe’s Tour Of The Lakes Thursday 12th March, 3pm Studio

wm

ONE wm OF US

Å

sne Seierstad is used to reporting on the daily traumas taking place in war torn countries around the world, but perhaps it isn’t surprising that she says her latest book, One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway, is “the hardest book I have ever written.”

The atrocity it painstakingly examines, the massacre of 77 Norwegians, the majority of them teenagers, by the self-proclaimed “Commander Anders Breivik of the Norwegian anti-communist resistance movement”, was a stark reminder that the dominant, media -inculcated image of terrorism as “Eastern and savage” is not only misleading, but incendiary as well.

As other recent news stories, such as Samantha Lewthwaite, aka the “White Widow” have shown, the Terrorist can easily be “one of us”.

Breivik himself cites the “Islamisation” of Europe as one of the primary motivations for his appalling attack – he too somehow believed himself to be on the front-line of the “War on Terror”.

Åsne Seierstad is a Norwegian freelance journalist and writer known for her reporting from war zones, and particularly her story of life under the Taliban – The Bookseller of Kabul. Her newest work, writes Matthew Poynton, hits much closer to home In this light, Seierstad’s return to her home country of Norway (Breivik’s first attack, a van-bomb which killed eight people, happened in Oslo, Seierstad’s city of birth) in her latest book is an extension of the humanitarian “myth-busting” of her previous writing, from the Kosovo War in With Their Backs to the World: Portraits of Serbia, to the life of a family in Post-Taliban Afghanistan in the bestselling The Bookseller of Kabul.

She told The Guardian: “For almost 20 years I had been covering crises, wars and conflicts on the other side of the world, when the catastrophe struck at home. Tragedies always happened elsewhere. Norway was a place I loved, where I had my family, where I went skiing, where I recharged my batteries.

“In July 2011, I had just come back from events in Egypt, to rest on an island on the southern shore of Norway with friends and family. I was taken totally off guard, and my shock [that] something like this could happen at home was a great as anybody else’s.

“The next day I realised he had lived in my neighbourhood. It was impossible to

understand. It took me a long time before I decided to write about it.”

The philosopher and literary theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, in an essay written in response to the 9/11 attacks and America’s subsequent “War on Terror”, pondered: “how [to] respond in the face of the impossibility of response?” Breivik’s attack raises the question once more. “One cannot remain silent,” Spivak says.

Seierstad’s journalistic endeavour for the “whole story”, interviewing Breivik’s family and friends as well as portraying the lives of his victims, is neither silent nor sensationalist.

It demonstrates literature’s most essential albeit frequently most unsettling function – to tell the complex story behind the too-simplistic image.

Åsne Seierstad Friday 6th March, 7pm Main House

THE TERRORIST WHO LIVED ROUND THE CORNER 17

wm

WHAT IS NORMAL?

Following the success of her stand-up tour What The **** Is Normal? Francesca Martinez turned her show into a book.

Rachael Davison talks to the comedian about our delusions of normality

WHAT THE FRAN IS NORMAL? Francesca, what prompted you to write the book at this time?

I started doing the show in 2011, I really loved performing it, it was so personal to me. It was a real joy to be able to perform such an intimate show, and audiences really seemed to respond very well to the content, and I guess the question of ‘What is normal?’

I got the sense that it was such a relevant question. It had nothing to do with if you were disabled or not, and had relevance to everyone living in this culture. That idea really fascinated me because I wasn’t expecting it to be so universal. So many people began to write and talk to me and say “the show really changed the way I think about myself ”.

I began to think about doing it as a book, it turned out to be such a great experience. The book is very autobiographical in one sense, but it also allowed me to explore the ideas that I was very passionate about. The core ideas and perspectives can change your whole life. I thought that was a beautiful concept.

We are told by society that happiness and peace

18

comes from external achievements and factors like, beauty and wealth and fame and power. In fact, I think it’s quite the opposite, I don’t think those things affect your inner state much at all. Happiness can be achieved through self-appreciation of life.

Do you have any more plans to write?

I am planning to write more, I’d really like to write fiction in the future. I think writing a novel is the ultimate challenge. I think my next book will be non-fiction, similar to this book in terms of mixing personal experiences with a universal issue. I’d like to look at the idea of success and what success is, and how society uses ideas of success to control people and disempower them in some way.

Do you have any favourite quotes from the book?

I don’t know if I have any favourite quotes, but I like the idea of when I talk about the giant unhappiness machine that is our culture.

It really struck me when I realised that being unhappy wasn’t an unfortunate by-product of our

culture, it is the exact point of our culture. That realisation really shook me for a while, because I thought, what an awful desire to cultivate. But actually it’s very helpful to realise that, because it made me understand why things worked the way they did, and also how to rebel against that.

What do you want most for people to take away from the book?

My number one aim was to make people happy about themselves when they read the book, and give them a tool kit to fight back against the onslaught of pressures to conform.

Francesca Martinez, ‘What the **** Is Normal?’

Friday 13th March, 8-9pm Main House Francesca Martinez talks to Peter Stanford, ‘Normal As A Four Letter Word’ Saturday 14th March, 12.45pm Main House

wm

HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

LET’S GET THE ICE CREAM AND PUT A SAD FILM ON

M

ichael Trimble notes a fundamental difference between crying in humans and crying in animals in his book Why Humans Like to Cry. It is emphasised through the example of our more closer to home animal relatives, apes.

He says that tears of animals are only drawn from physical pain. Animals cry when they are hit.

“Crying tears emotionally is an exclusively human expression,” he told me. It’s something we humans have developed through our history as a social signal or “expression” for sadness.

Of course, being human, we find new ways to indulge ourselves in this “expression”. We have created varying art forms such as theatre, music and poetry in which artists make it their business to “moves us to tears”.

“I regularly go to the opera,” he says. “which is one forum where it is acceptable even for grown men to cry.” However, as he argues in his book, it is done in such a unique way that “crying in such settings

Matthew Poynton on a tragically apposite talk from Frances Larson, Sunday Times book of the year winner in 2009 for her An Infinity of Things, who will be discussing her new book Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Found

Crying is an intriguing aspect of human behaviour – did you know that we actually enjoy it? Samantha Sy talks to Michael Trimble about his book Why Humans Like to Cry

brings pleasure”. Trimble surveys the world to ask which of the arts are more likely to lead us to cry.

Of all the contenders, music comes out strong all of the time.

Why Humans Like to Cry was developed through his lifelong research interest in neuroanatomy, and his research on the behavioural consequences of neurological disorders have significantly helped his cause.

He studied the differences between the arts, and

displayed the underlying neuroanatomy that distinguishes chimpanzees from humans. He blends the beauty of aesthetics, the complexity of neuroscience and evolution with the one common goal: explaining emotional crying.

“At the present time we are continuing our research, exploring what it is about music that leads to tears, how composers ‘do it’ in other words, like Puccini raising the emotional tension so that tears flow.

“We are also looking at international comparisons, for example the effects of traditional Japanese music verses western music in Japanese people.”

Everyone knows that some of us cry easily at films, or find an emotional connection with music, but few of us question why we humans deliberately create art forms that provoke us to start boo-hooing.

When I asked what the professor hoped his readers would gain from his book, he referred to the “evolutionary back drop” to the question of why only humans cry emotionally.

“I therefore set our emotional responses to artistic creativity to an evolutionary setting, and explore what it is about the human brain that distinguishes us from that of other living primates.

“However, in a broader context, I explore crying to human tragedy along with with crying to tragedy in the theatre, opera and the cinema, emphasising links going back thousands of years.”

Bring a box of tissues.

Michael Trimble Why We Like to Cry Saturday 7th March, 10.45am.

Studio

GOING HEAD TO HEAD WITH OUR HISTORY

T

he anthropologist Frances Larson’s latest study charts the history of a macabre, yet grimly fascinating subject. The first line reads thus: “Josiah Wilkinson liked to take Oliver Cromwell’s head to breakfast parties”.

Were all meals a justification for parties in those days? In case the verbal description of Wilkinson’s “prized possession” doesn’t sate our curiosity, there’s an accompanying photograph to oblige.

Larson has said that she “is interested in the stories objects tell, and how the material world has shaped people’s lives, relationships and ideas.” Like it or not, the severed head is one grim object which we cannot excise, either from our past or our present.

Larson speaks of the shrunken heads on display at the Pitts Rivers Museum in Oxford (the subject of her first book Knowing Things, co-written with Chris Gosden), prepared by the Shuar tribe a century ago.

There’s something grotesquely comic about Larson’s account of “professional” executioners, often drunk, citing their “double-vision” as an excuse for a botched job.

What might strike us as less easy to fathom,

along with the image of the heads of traitors displayed along London Bridge, is that beheading was viewed in early modern England as less painful and more honourable than other methods of execution.

As Grand Guignol as the subject might be, it is also a highly pertinent and culturally significant one. Recent demonstrations of decapitation, which remained a method of punishment in Britain up until 1747 and in Germany as late as 1938, affirm the inexpressible, horrific potency of the practice.

Larson’s study may begin in the past, exploring events which, though bloody, are detached from our present consciousness, but our cosy distance doesn’t remain intact for long. She takes the reader through a timeline of beheading which becomes increasingly disturbing, because closer, as it proceeds. It is all the bleaker because we know where it is heading.

In 2004, Nick Berg became the first American to be beheaded in Iraq. His execution by jihadists was the most searched clip on the internet for a week, showing how beheading is far from being contained within the coliseums in the 21st century, but can be accessed by anybody with a computer. Jihadists have

identified the horror which these images instil, and exploit it to abysmal effect.

On a ‘lighter’ note. Larson also documents the modern American fashion for ‘cephalic isolation’. For just $50,000 you can have your head severed (after death, I imagine) and cryogenically frozen, in the hope of future reconciliation. But, just for the record, Walt Disney was cremated in 1966.

Frances Larson, ‘Heads Lost and Found’ Saturday 7th March, 2.15pm Studio

19

wm

20

HUMAN BEHAVIOUR