Previous events
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OCT 08
Henley Literary Festival: Michael Heseltine
From resigning as Thatcher’s Defence Secretary over Westland, to being one of the most vocal Conservative critics of Brexit, via surprise comebacks 25 years apart under Major and Cameron, Lord Heseltine has been ploughing his own furrow politically for decades – all while creating the renowned Thenford Arboretum. MP for Henley for 27 years, the former...
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OCT 03
Barnes Book Festival: Michael Heseltine
Lord Heseltine’s new memoir looks forwards as much as backwards and sets out an urgent agenda for the policies that he believes are needed to unite the United Kingdom and restore hope. He meets with Lord Patten to review his time in politics over sixty years, reflecting on his achievements in government, the implications of the Westland helicopter affair...
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JUL 14
Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution: Martyn Whittock
The medieval “Rus” state (origin of both Russia and Ukraine) was founded by Vikings, who met Islamic traders on the Volga, besieged Constantinople, appeared in Baghdad on camels, and converted to Orthodox Christianity in 988. Then, in the 1240s, “Kyivan Rus” was devastated by the Mongol invasions and the political centre of gravity shifted to Moscow. The...
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JUN 07
Everywoman Festival: Theo Clarke
Theo Clarke was the Member of Parliament for Stafford. She chaired the first parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma in British history and previously set up the All Party Parliamentary Group on Birth Trauma in the House of Commons. She won 'Political Speech of the Year' at the Parliamentarian of the Year Awards and was included in the Top 100 Women...
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JUN 01
Hay Festival: Michael Heseltine
Sunday 1 June 2025, 5.30pm – Discovery Stage Michael Heseltine (Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001) left the political arena once, only to be called back by David Cameron to advise the government. Here he shares a potpourri of reminiscences of his youth, early adulthood and previously unexplored aspects of his political career with the BBC’s Europe...
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MAY 11
Stratford Literary Festival: Vybarr Cregan-Reid
Two writers share the joy of books and the impact they can have on our lives at a time when the arts are being squeezed out at every level and where book bans in schools and libraries have surged to record highs. Author and broadcaster, Vybarr Cregan-Reid uncovers the profound impact that books have in shaping our reality at a time when their value...
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MAY 09
Swindon Literary Festival: Vybarr Cregan-Reid
Does what you read determine how you think, what you do, and who you are? Can reading shape our lives? What’s it like to be lost in a good book? What constitutes a good book? Why does Literature last? Any other questions? English professor, broadcaster, writer on evolution, running, and reading, Vybarr Cregan-Reid has some answers. His latest book, We...
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APR 24
Cambridge Literary Festival: Tessa Blackstone
Labour member of the House of Lords and former minister for education, Tessa Blackstone joins us to share how she came to write her definitive new biography of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, the undaunted campaigner who dedicated her life to securing the right to vote for women. She led the suffragists, who were distinct from the more well-known suffragettes because they campaigned within the law...
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APR 02
Oxford Literary Festival: Vybarr Cregan-Reid
Writer and academic Professor Vybarr Cregan-Reid talks about the profound impact books have on shaping a life and makes a rallying call for books in a world where literature is being squeezed out of education. Cregan-Reid explains his own life in books, a life that started turbulently through a disastrous education, truancy and petty crime but ultimately...
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MAR 26
Brendon Books: Edward Whitley
In October 1851, a chance meeting in a bookshop in Piccadilly changed the course of literary history. For it was here that Mary Ann Evans, an unworldly young scholar from the Midlands, was first introduced to the love of her life, the critic and philosopher George Lewes. Encouraged and supported by Lewes, Evans went on to become the queen of literary...
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