STRATFORD Literary Festival, which runs from October 30 to November 2, will feature more than 70 events over the four days, including bestselling authors, broadcasters, comedians, historians as well as emerging writers, workshops and immersive events for families. Among them will be one talking Pooh, and another sharing some of the oddest tales from the history of music. Visit stratlitfest.co.uk for tickets and full details.
Broadcaster, Goggleboxer and former MP Gyles Brandreth is never short of something to say, and he will be taking his festival audience on a journey to meet the much-loved Winnie-the-Pooh – his birth, his life across a hundred years, the essence of Pooh’s special philosophy and the reasons for his worldwide popularity.
But in telling the story of AA Milne’s famous bear, Brandreth uncovers a story of three generations of an unusual, fascinating and troubled family who knew fame and fortune, for many years despising both, but ultimately finding a profound reason to be grateful for the millions Pooh brought them.
In his new biography, ‘Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear’, Gyles tells the story of AA Milne and the much-loved ‘bear of little brain’.
Drawing on his friendship with Milne’s son, the real Christopher Robin, Gyles delivers a revealing and intimate portrait of the author who came to be defined by his most famous creation, and of the divided Milne family who for many years had a conflicted relationship with the iconic bear.
Gyles Brandreth will be talking all things Pooh at the Crown Plaza Hotel on November 1, from 12.30pm to 1.30pm.
As a former BBC QI Elf, Edward Brooke-Hitching has more than the odd strange fact floating around his head.
And those most strange pieces of information have propelled him to become a best-selling author, with books revealing the bizarre from the the worlds of literature – books written in blood and books so long they could destroy the Universe, art – the first portrait of a cannibal to the mystery of the nude Mona Lisa, sports – from fox tossing and octopus wrestling (which was also the title of said book), and a favourite subject, maps, non-existent islands, invented mountain ranges, to the mapping of the skies and more.
Now he’s turned his ear and his pen to music, with The Madmen’s Orchestra (Simon & Shuster).
Another lavishly illustrated tome, he lifts the curtain on the strangest episodes from the entire history of music, from the musical secrets of prehistoric monuments to the future of compositions by artificial intelligence.
Readers are taken on a musical journey to discover the song of a black hole, find out which composition requires four helicopters and a string quartet, various musical hoaxes, compositions relayed by ghosts, the code-writing of ‘musical cryptography’, the pop songs smuggled past Soviet censors using X-rays and a lot more besides.
Edward Brooke-Hitching will be talking to Clare Clark at The Crowne Plaza Hotel on Saturday November 1, from 2pm to 3pm.
