| When: Wednesday 18th Sep 2024 @ 2.30pm |
| Where: Electric Palace |
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Of all the ancient art that captures the imagination, none is more appealing than the Cycladic figurine. An air of mystery swirls around these statuettes from the Bronze Age and they are highly sought after by collectors – and looters – alike. In her new novel Victoria Hislop shines a light on the questionable acquisition of cultural treasures and the price people, and countries, will pay to cling on to them. She says: ‘I have been down a long and exciting path to write The Figurine. I admired the beauty of the Cycladic figurine for many years and began to understand what a huge influence they had on 20th century art. I also began to realise that their beauty has an irresistible and seductive power and wanted to write about the crime that such beauty and antiquity can drive people to. My story is set during the period of the Junta, an army dictatorship that committed many crimes, effectively robbing people of their lives and driving others into exile. To me there seemed to be a striking parallel. I hope readers will be pulled into this period of history, and the question of where something, or someone, really belongs.’ Victoria Hislop in conversation with Sally Laverack Copies of The Figurine can be purchased in paperback with a 10% discount prior to the event, from The Bookshop, South Street, Bridport. Become a friend. -
WAYNE SLEEP is undoubtedly one of our nation’s treasures – a legendary dancer and entertainer. In his memoire: JUST DIFFERENT, Wayne looks back on the extraordinary times he has lived through. In spite of dancing with ballet legends Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, partying with Freddie Mercury and dancing with Princess Diana, who became a close friend, Wayne Sleep has always felt like an outsider. Behind the glitz and glamour, he reveals the difficulties for a working-class, gay man in handling the prejudices of his generation and living through the Aids epidemic. In conversation with writer and broadcaster, Natalie Wheen Wayne Sleep will convey the many moving and laugh-out-loud stories and gossip on his way to success, fulfilment and love. Become a friend.When: Wednesday 20th Nov 2024 @ 2.30pm Where: Electric Palace -
Will Hutton - This Time No Mistakes - How to Remake Britain
In what has been a year of upheaval and challenge, with a General Election and new British Government, journalist and academic Will Hutton sets out a clear analysis of where both the left and the right have gone wrong over the course of the last century and how we can now rebuild a new, better Britain. Hutton discusses the consequences of past failures and a future based on change. Obligations to a wider society are all taken into account by making capitalism work and ensuring that environment is supported by research and education.
in conversation with Howard Davies Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Sunday 3rd November 2024 @ 12 noon Where: Electric Palace Sponsor: Buffy Sacher -
Ciderhouse Rebellion and Jessie Summerhayes - Cider with Jessie
Cider With Jessie sees The Ciderhouse Rebellion duo (Adam Summerhayes and Murray Grainger) joined by Adam’s daughter, the poet Jessie Summerhayes. They collectively create an immersive and expansive collection of folk-poems, woven between and around spontaneously created music. Come and enjoy their latest work, Tales of Colonsay, inspired by stunning landscapes and awe-inspiring seascapes; a brand new journey in spoken word, deeply connected to the land. Followed by the option of a delicious lunch from the Sladers kitchen. £18 1 course lunch Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Sunday 3rd November 2024 @ 12 noon Where: Sladers Yard -
Giles Milton - The Stalin Affair - The Impossible Alliance that Won the War
In the summer of 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, shattering what Stalin had considered an ironclad partnership with the Fuhrer. The Allied reaction was twofold: delight that there was now a second front, and fear the Red Army would be defeated. In the wake of the Nazi invasion, writer and historian, Giles Milton, explores how a select team of British and Americans, by befriending Stalin, could keep the fraught Allied alliance on track and forge a path to victory.
in conversation with Barney White-Spunner Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Sunday 3rd November 2024 @ 2.00pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsor: Tim and Sara Clarke -
John Lewis-Stempel - England - A Major Natural History in 12 Habitats
John Lewis-Stempel’s magnum opus is a five year project that offers an intimate account of the landscapes that define England. Described by The Times as ‘Britain’s finest living nature writer’ he weaves a tapestry of distinctive habitats which together create a country unique for its rich diversity of flora and fauna. Immersing himself in twelve quintessential places, he explores each for their singular atmosphere: the feel of the winter wind; the sounds of daybreak; the solace of twilight. In beautiful prose, and detailed wildlife observation, Lewis-Stempel captures the essence of England. an illustrated talk Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Sunday 3rd November 2024 @ 4.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Rob and Alex Appleby -
Dame Harriet Walter - She Speaks - Shakespeare’s Women
Dame Harriet Walter is celebrated as a stage and film actress as well as more recently for her television portrayals in Succession and Killing Eve. Having played most of Shakespeare’s female characters, in her new book She Speaks, Harriet audaciously reads between the lines and lets these female characters speak their minds. Sometimes playfully and sometimes searchingly, and with brilliant insight, she imagines what Lady Macbeth, Gertrude, Cleopatra, Juliet and Ophelia were really thinking and reveals that Shakespeare is very much a man for all times as well as his time. in conversation with Sophy Roberts Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Sunday 3rd November 2024 @ 6.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Robert and Diana Clarke | Symonds & Sampson Estate Agents -
Bank of Dreams and Nightmares - Resonate - Readings, Performance and Poetry
Following the incredible success of last year’s event, The Bank of Dreams and Nightmares are proud to be back for another performance of Resonate. This year they are working with the poet Anthony Anaxagorou and 12 young writers from around West Dorset, to present a performance of spoken word pieces. This is a chance to hear all the creativity and salient issues from the young local talent that surrounds us, which is a focus for this year’s Town of Culture. Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Sunday 3rd November 2024 @ 7.00 pm Where: The Bridport Arts Centre Under 19’s free -
Ian Acheson - Screwed - Britain’s Prison Crisis and How to Escape It
Ian Acheson has served for twenty years as both an officer and Prison Governor. In 2015, the then Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove, asked him to lead an independent review of prison extremism which laid bare a corporate culture of ineptitude, secrecy and arrogance that threatened national security. Nothing has changed Screwed is the inside story of the collapse of His Majesty’s Prison Service told from the front line. This hard hitting account looks at the politics and the operational decisions that have driven our prison to rock bottom, where extreme violence, indolence and victimisation are normalised. Acheson also outlines how a new corporate culture and mission can achieve a much needed revolution in the way the service is run. in conversation with Jamie Giles Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Monday 4th November 2024 @ 10.30 am Where: The Bull Ballroom -
Roland Philipps - Broken Angel - The Tempestuous Lives of Roger Casement
Pioneering, human rights campaigner, patriot, traitor, romantic and martyr, Roger Casement was one of the twentieth century’s most complex figures. In 1904, he became internationally celebrated for unearthing the violence of the Belgian Congo and soon after won even greater renown for his humanitarian work in the Amazon jungle. However, his internal fault lines ran deep. Casement was vulnerable to his own unexamined emotions. Roland Philipps reveals all.
in conversation with John Dean Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Monday 4th November 2024 @ 12 noon Where: The Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Flora Hood -
SOLD OUT - Andrew O’Hagan - Caledonian RoadAndrew O’Hagan is undoubtedly one of the most exciting and serious chroniclers of our times. Born in Glasgow he has been nominated for the Booker Prize three times and his novels have won him worldwide critical acclaim. Caledonian Road is a sweeping Dickensian portrait of modern Britain in which nobody is let off the hook. Over the course of an incendiary year, a web of crimes, secrets and scandals reveals that privilege is not exempt from shattering exposure. This state of the nation novel exposes an unseemly clash of classes.
in conversation with Nic Jeune Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Monday 4th November 2024 @ 2.00 pm Where: The Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Tim and Sara Clarke -
Jo Willett - Sarah Siddons - The First Celebrity Actress
Sarah Siddons grew up as a member of a family troupe of travelling actors, always poor and often hungry. She rose from abject poverty to superstardom before she was 30 and became one of the country’s most celebrated and revered tragic actresses, electrifying audiences with her performances. Jo Willett has written this first biography of the legendary actress who was not only adored and celebrated by everyone but who also had to manage her reputation in an eighteenth-century world of gossip and satire.
an illustrated talk Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Monday 4th November 2024 @ 4.00 pm Where: Bridport Arts Centre Sponsored by: Felicity Fairbairn -
SOLD OUT - Derek Gow - Hunt for the Shadow Wolf - The Lost History of Wolves in Britain and the Myths and Stories that Surround Them
Wolves were endemic to Britain around the time of the last Ice Age 10-12,000 years ago. Sightings in this country have long been restricted to cages at zoos and at wildlife parks. After raising two cubs in his home, Derek Gow became fascinated with the wolf. With bitingly funny and tender stories, Hunt for the Shadow Wolf is his quest to reveal the true nature of this magnificent creature and, as a maverick re-wilder, his hope that we will see the return of the wolf in Britain.
in conversation with Sam Rose Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Monday 4th November 2024 @ 6.00 pm Where: The Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: West Dorset Wilding -
Angie Porter - She Speaks In Bridport - Open Mic Poetry
To celebrate events throughout the town, BridLit invites you to join this monthly Waterstones event taking place during Festival week. She Speaks in Bridport is Angie’s Bridport Women’s Only Poetry Group, which invites women of all ages to read a poem or piece of writing of their own, or to just join in and listen. This is a walk in event. Just come along on the night - no need to book tickets.When: Monday 4th November 2024 @ 7.00 pm Where: Waterstones Bridport -
Henry Hemming - Four Shots in the Night - A True Story of Espionage, Murder and Justice in Northern IrelandBest selling author of seven non-fiction books about the thrilling world of espionage, Henry Hemming’s latest story is a blend of scrupulous investigative journalism and true crime narrative. In Four Shots in the Night, he delivers a jaw-dropping narrative of double agents and unsolved murders set in the parallel worlds of the IRA and British Intelligence in a timely and urgent exploration of the ramifications of The Troubles.
an illustrated talk Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Tuesday 5th November 2024 @ 10.30 am Where: The Bull Ballroom -
Charlotte Philby - The End of Summer - A Novel
Life seldom works out to what is planned. How much of this is due to circumstance and fate? When a telephone rings in a french farmhouse, Judy knows her past has finally caught up with her. Her daughter, Francesca, insists on knowing why there are so many journalists in pursuit of her. Charlotte Philby writes a gripping nuanced literary thriller which exposes the secrets and lies so many mother/ daughter relationships have to come to terms with.
in conversation with Olivia Glazebrook
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Tuesday 5th November 2024 @ 12 noon Where: The Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Georgia Langton -
SOLD OUT - Rick Stroud - I Am Not Afraid of Looking into Rifles - Women Secret Agents of the First World War
This is the untold story of the women in the Resistance in Belgium and occupied France during that conflict. Relating their heroism and their inevitable tragedies, Rick Stroud tells an enthralling narrative and reveals the inspirational work of eight exceptionally brave women who affected the course of war. They included Gabrielle Petit, an ordinary working class girl, Edith Cavell, a member of the bourgeoisie and the Princess de Croy from the upper echelons of society. in conversation with Rene Wyndham Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Tuesday 5th November 2024 @ 2.00 pm Where: The Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Prue and Howard Davies -
SOLD OUT - Oliver Smith - On This Holy Island - Finding the Ancient Paths Across Modern Britain
Travel writer, Oliver Smith, sets out radically to reframe our idea of ‘pilgrimage’ in Britain by retracing sacred travel made across time; from ritual journeys in the depths of Ice Age to new pilgrimages of the 21st century. He embarks on an epic adventure across British landscapes – sacred routes to churches, cathedrals, standing stones – exploring prehistoric, pagan and Christian places. He reveals how football stadiums and music festivals have become contemporary sites of pilgrimage. The routes walked are ancient and the pilgrims he meets are modern. an illustrated talk Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Tuesday 5th November 2024 @ 4 pm Where: The Bull Ballroom -
SOLD OUT - Sue Prideaux - Wild Thing - A Life of Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin is chiefly known as the giant of postimpressionist painting whose bold colours and compositions rocked the Western art world. Less known, he was a stockbroker in Paris and after the 1882 financial crash, struggled to sustain his artistry. As a journalist he exposed the injustices of French colonial rule in Tahiti. Award winning biographer, Sue Prideaux, re-examines the artist’s adventurous and complicated life, illuminating the people, places and ideas that shaped his vision.
an illustrated talk Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Tuesday 5th November 2024 @ 6.00 pm Where: The Bull Ballroom -
SOLD OUT - Julius Roberts - The Farm Table - Supper Club Celebrated first generation local farmer and chef Julius Roberts hosts a supper club event for BridLit with the wonderful team at Mercato Italiano. In his book, The Farm Table, Julius shares tales of farming life alongside easy, thoughtful dishes to reconnect us to nature and the seasons. Making the most of simple ingredients, his food comforts and inspires – a few good things on a plate, assembled with joy. Enjoy a simple supper with the author. 3 Course Supper Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Tuesday 5th November 2024 @ 6.00 pm Where: Mercato Italiano -
SOLD OUT - Christopher Stocks - The Book of Wild Flowers - Reflections on Favourite Plants
This essential wild flower selection – illustrated by Angie Lewin – is the history and science of the nation’s wild flowers. Author and journalist, Christopher Stocks offers both fascinating and unusual insights into a range of flowering plants alongside guidance on where to find them and how to cultivate them. This special study of our blooming British countryside will appeal to everyone who loves wild flora.
in conversation with Rachel James Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Wednessday 6th November 2024 @ 10.30 am Where: The Bull Ballrooom Sponsored by: Jim Bartos -
SOLD OUT - Michael Sheridan - The Red Emperor - Xi Jinping and the New China
Xi Jinping rules over 1.4 billion people and the second biggest economy on earth. He commands huge armed forces and runs a technology programme which claims to dominate the globe. His ambition is to take the place of the United States and to change the world order. Xi’s life is full of drama: plots, purges, power struggles and a pandemic. Michael Sheridan charts the rise of the isolated China of the 1950s to the modern economic and military juggernaut of today.
in conversation with Paul Lashmar
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Wednesday 6th November 2024 @ 12 noon Where: The Bull Ballroom -
SOLD OUT - Lucy Hughes-Hallett - The Scapegoat - The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham
Award winning biographer, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, charts the meteoric rise and fall of James I’s favourite, the Duke of Buckingham. She transports us, with a novelist’s touch, into a courtly world of masques and dancing, gorgeous clothes, the art of Rubens and Van Dyck, genderfluidity, sex and appallingly rudimentary medicine. Lucy explores the beginnings of the Enlightenment, print media and public opinion as a political force and charts the vivid personalities of Buckingham, canny James I and doomed Charles I.
an illustrated talk
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Wednesday 6th November 2024 @ 2.00 pm Where: The Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Sue Robinson -
SOLD OUT - Rose Boyt - Naked Portrait - A Memoir of Lucian Freud
At the back of a cupboard not long after the death of her father, Rose Boyt came across a box containing hundreds of typed pages, immediately recognisable as her half-forgotten diary of 1989/1990. Naked Portrait is a searing memoir of her relationship with her renowned father, Lucian, and explores her experience sitting for him from childhood until after her marriage. It is a viscerally honest account of a complicated father/ daughter relationship, of its power imbalance and her adulation of him.
in conversation with Annie Freud and Caroline Montagu
When: Wednesday 6th November 2024 @ 4.00 pm Where: The Bull Ballroom -
SOLD OUT - John Bowers KC - Downward Spiral - Collapsing Public Standards and How to Restore Them
The Johnson era will be remembered for a series of scandals that severely eroded trust in the British Government. But this is not the overall reason for the decline in public standards. John Bowers fearlessly examines the institutions responsible for holding the government accountable, exposing how they have been bypassed by prime ministers and how the next goverment can and should restore integrity. Confronting failings presents concrete proposals for creating a more transparent and accountable system for those in power.
in conversation with Paul Lashmar
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Wednesday 6th November 2024 @ 6.00 pm Where: The Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Lindsay and Martin Bowdery -
Andrew Ziminski - Church Going - A Stonemason’s Guide to the Churches of the British Isles
Churches are many things to us: they are places of worship, vibrant community hubs and oases of calm reflection. To know a church is to hold a key to the past that unlocks an understanding of our shared history. Andrew Ziminski has spent decades as a stonemason and church conservator, often acting as an informal guide to curious visitors. Church Going is his handbook to the medieval churches of the British Isles in which he reveals their fascinating stories – a celebration of British architectural history.
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Thursday 7th November 2024 @ 10.00 am Where: The Bridport Arts Centre -
Catherine Coldstream - Cloistered - My Years as a Nun
After the shock of her father’s death, and with her family scattered, 24 year old Catherine Coldstream was left grieving and alone. A search for meaning led her to Roman Catholicism and the nuns of Akenside Priory. Cloistered takes us beyond the grille of an enclosed monastic world with its tight-knit community of dedicated women. Catherine describes her journey as a nun through the 1990s and the dramatic events which led to her flight from the monastery to a wider world of freedom.
in conversation with Deirdre Coates
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Thursday 7th November 2024 @ 12 noon Where: The Bridport Arts Centre -
Joseph Coelho - Schools Event
In this interactive and fun session Joseph Coelho, children’s laureate 2022 - 24, and recent winner of the Carnegie Medal for Children’s Literature for his novel in verse, The Boy Lost in the Maze, will be talking about the processes of writing. He will invite local school children to join him in creating a range of different poems from silly similes to super sonnets. Joseph’s event uses poems from his Carnegie nominated poetry anthology Overheard In A Tower Block. This is a special event for local school children but we warmly invite extra audience members, and especially home schoolers. Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Thursday 7th November 2024 @ 10.00 am Where: Sir John Colfox School -
Daisy Dunn - The Missing Thread - A New History of the Ancient World Through the Women Who Shaped It
For centuries, men have been writing histories of antiquity filled with warlords, emperors and kings. But when it comes to incorporating women, aside from Cleopatra and Boudica, writers have been more comfortable describing mythical heroines than real ones. Spanning 3,000 years, from the birth of Minoan Crete to the death of the Julio-Claudian dynasty in Rome, award winning classicist, Daisy Dunn, explores the stories of dozens of women in The Missing Thread that puts them at the centre of the narrative.
an illustrated talk Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Thursday 7th November 2024 @ 2.00 pm Where: Sir John Colfox School -
Harriet Baker - Rural Hours - The Country Lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamund Lehmann
Harriet Baker shares the story of three very different women, each of whom moved to the countryside and were forever changed by it. Following long periods of creative uncertainty and private disappointment, each of the subjects is invigorated by new landscapes, and the daily trials and small pleasures of making a home. Rural Hours is both a paean to the bravery and vision of three pioneering writers and a passionate invitation to us all: to recognise the radical potential of domestic life in rural places.
in conversation with Olivia Glazebrook Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Thursday 7th November 2024 @ 2.30 pm Where: The Bridport Arts Centre Sponsored by: Sue Orr and Bella Spurrier -
SOLD OUT - Barnaby Rogerson - The House Divided - Sunni, Shia and the Making of the Middle East
At the heart of the Middle East, with its regional conflicts and proxy wars, is a 1400 year old schism between Sunni and Shia. To understand this divide and its modern resonances, Barnaby Rogerson revisits its origins. The House Divided follows the narratives through the first caliphates and empires forged by Arabs, Persians and Turks to the contemporary Middle East and explains how in 1979 this already complex world was jolted by the seismic shift of three revolutions – in Iran, Mecca and Afghanistan and why it is again at the centre of global crises.
in conversation with Jeremy Seal
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Thursday 7th November 2024 @ 4.30 pm Where: The Bridport Arts Centre Sponsored by: Felicity Fairbairn -
Lavinia Greenlaw - The Vast Extent - On Seeing and Not Seeing Further
Lavinia Greenlaw is one of the country’s most celebrated poets, novelists and memoirists and The Vast Extent is a beautiful and ingenious consolidation of a thirty-year body of work. In a series of essays, she presents a record of how thought builds and ideas emerge – aligning art and scientific scrutiny and exploring subjects as broad as early photography, boredom, seasickness, wonder, mountains and mice. Lavinia will also read from her Selected Poems which have established her as one of the most perceptive and original poets of her generation.in conversation with Caroline Montagu
1 Course Dinner £18 Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Thursday 7th November 2024 @ 6.30 pm Where: Sladers Yard Sponsored by: Sybella and Paul Zisman -
Sonia Purnell - Kingmaker - The George Millar Literary Dinner
We are delighted to welcome biographer and journalist, Sonia Purnell, to this year’s dinner. Her biography of Virginia Hall: A Woman of No Importance – WWII’s Most Dangerous Spy and her biography of First Lady: The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill and her first book: Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition have all been bestsellers. Her latest sensational biography of Pamela Churchill Harriman – one of the most important and influential woman of 20th century politics, is undoubtedly her most engaging and Thursday 7th Nov revealing. Born Pamela Digby, a British socialite, Sonia reclaims in Kingmaker her legacy which has mostly been dismissed as secondary to the men that she was involved with. A life of intrigue, scandal, glamour and involvement with some of the biggest names in the second half of the twentieth century has now exposed her as one of the most powerful confidantes in international politics.
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Thursday 7th November 2024 @ 7.00 pm Where: Tithe Barn, Symondsbury Sponsored by: Richard and Emily Cave | Furleigh Estate | Symondsbury Estate -
Briony May Smith - Schools Event
This year we welcome Briony May Smith to the library for a stimulating hour of stories, drawing and sharing. Briony is a writer and illustrator of children’s picture books including Margaret’s Unicorn (Anne Schwartz Books) and A Practical Present for Philippa Pheasant (Walker Books) and lives in Devon where she takes a lot of inspiration from her rural surroundings. Year 2 from St Mary’s Primary are invited to this event but others are welcome to join in - especially home-schoolers and visitors. Free but must book. Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Friday 8th November 2024 @ 10.00 am Where: Bridport Library -
Damien Lewis - SAS Daggers Drawn - The Mavericks Who Made the SAS
In the summer of 1944, the SAS were charged with the most crucial D-Day missions, taking on the might of the Nazi Reich deep behind the enemy lines. Facing Hitler’s armoured legions with little more than raw courage, it would take maverick thinking and unconventional warfare to survive and overcome. Theirs was to become a bitter struggle to topple the dark power wielded from Berlin. SAS Daggers Drawn is the latest in WWII historian, Damien Lewis’s series covering the wartime exploits of the SAS and his powerful celebration of the daring-do of these renegade soldiers.
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Friday 8th November 2024 @ 10.00 am Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Nick Pearson -
Carol Klein - Hortobiography
Carol Klein is one of Britain’s best loved horticulturists, and for decades gardening has been at the heart of her extraordinary life. From her childhood adventures in Manchester to her first experiments in plantswomanship at Glebe Cottage, and from training as an artist and a teacher, and then finding an entirely unexpected career as one of Britain’s best known broadcasters, in this long awaited memoir Carol tells the story of the people, places and plants that have shaped her life. in conversation with Sally LaverackWhen: Friday 8th November 2024 @ 12 noon Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: John and Maggie Mills -
Geoffrey Wheatcroft - Bloody Panico! - Or, Whatever Happened to The Tory Party?
Leading political commentator, Geoffrey Wheatcroft, argues that the Tory Party has not only faced the loss of government but also an existential crisis. Having been the most electorally successful party in the history of modern Europe – it has been in power for 85 of the past 135 years – it has now sunk almost into oblivion! So what went wrong? In Bloody Panico!, Wheatcroft charts not just the collapse of the party but its shattering to its foundations. Beyond the pantomime of Boris, Truss and the managerial dullness of Sunak, the fabric of the party is frayed. This could see them cast into the political wilderness for decades.
in conversation with Oliver Letwin Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Friday 8th November 2024 @ 2.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Sue Bradbury | Barry Mawhinney -
Lindsey Hilsum - I Brought the War With Me - Stories and Poetry from the Front Line
Lindsey Hilsum, Award Winning Channel 4 News International Editor, has put together a unique and remarkable collection of memories of 40 years of reporting from war zones, together with poems she has set aside from all over the world. In nearly four decades as a journalist covering conflict from Palestine to Kosovo to Rwanda, Lindsey has always carried a book of poetry with her. It helps her make sense of the senseless as the world around her rages and remember those she has met in the darkest of times. in conversation with Prue Keely Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Friday 8th November 2024 @ 4.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Carol Hammick and Adam Tindall -
Liam Fox - The Coming Storm - Why Water Will Write the 21st Century
With Russia’s aggressive war in Ukraine, the world is gripped by concerns over energy security. Yet, there is an even greater threat ahead – one that is much more likely to shape the events of the 21st century than competition for oil or gas. A combination of an ever-increasing global population, climate change, industrialisation, urbanisation and limited natural resources means that one difficulty will shape the years ahead – water. Liam Fox tells the story of water and the problems it presents in a more complete way than ever before. The Coming Storm unites a range of concerns. in conversation with John Dean Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Friday 8th November 2024 @ 6.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Johnnie and Sophie Boden -
Andrew Pierce - Finding Margaret - Solving the Mystery of my Birth Mother
Approaching fifty, journalist and broadcaster, Andrew Pierce, tells the moving story about his search for his birth mother. He had lived in an orphanage in Cheltenham for more than two years until his adoption by a loving family who nurtured him. As his career flourished and despite feeling a sense of betrayal to his adoptive parents, Pierce tentatively began to search for his biological mother, only to find that she had done everything she could to ensure he would never find her. Finding Margaret is a heartwarming and candid tale of both heartbreak and reconciliation. in conversation with Gill Pyrah Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Saturday 9th November 2024 @ 10.00 am Where: Electric Palace -
Daisy Goodwin - Diva
In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas is known simply as La Divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice and instinctive flair for the dramatic, she was the toast of the grandest international opera houses. Raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by an exploitative mother, her rise to fame came at a price. Daisy Goodwin brings to life a woman with extraordinary talent, unremitting drive and natural chic that made her a legend. By confronting the heartbreak of losing her lover Onassis to Jacqueline Kennedy, Callas found her true voice. in conversation with Georgina Moore Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Saturday 9th November 2024 @ 12 noon Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Emma Farquharson -
SOLD OUT - Patrick Grant - Less - Stop Buying So Much Rubbish. How Having Fewer, Better Things Can Make Us Happier
Clothes are important. They define who we are, impact our mood and influence how people think of us. Last year 100 billion garments were made worldwide, most workers paid virtually nothing and 70% from plastic textiles made from oils that do not not recycle. Less is Patrick Grant’s passionate and revealing book about loving clothes but hating how they are made. Judge of the BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee, he considers the crisis in the global fashion industry and how to set it right. in conversation with Helen Stiles Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Saturday 9th November 2024 @ 2.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Angela and David Neuberger -
SOLD OUT - Bettany Hughes - The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The names still echo down the ages: The Great Pyramid of Giza, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Temple of Artemis, The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, The Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, The Colossus at Rhodes, The Lighthouse of Alexandria – The Seven Wonders of the World were staggeringly audacious and brilliant impositions on our planet. Award winning historian, author and broadcaster, Bettany Hughes gives us a thrilling narrative enriched with the latest archaeological discoveries and takes us on a journey through the landscapes of both ancient and modern time to explore traces of the Wonders themselves. an illustrated talk Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Saturday 9th November 2024 @ 4.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Alastair and Susanne Cooper Francesca Radcliffe -
Simon Russell Beale - A Piece of Work - Playing Shakespeare and Other Stories
One of the nation’s finest and most beloved actors, Simon Russell Beale relates his life through a career playing Shakespeare. Ever since his appearance at school as a glamorous Desdemona, complete with false eyelashes, he has been captivated by the Bard. In A Piece of Work, Beale tries to get under the skin of the playwright and find out what interested him. Was Shakespeare an instinctive ‘conservative’ or, rather, gently subversive? Funny and touching about his own family and early life, Beale writes about the parallels with some Shakespeare characters as well as sharing his thoughts about the creative people he counts as friends. in conversation with Jo Willett Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Saturday 9th November 2024 @ 6.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Liz and Richard Strang -
The Stray Dog Jammers - Rhino - Devised adaptation of Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros
Dorset based The Stray Dog Jammers presents an adaptation of the post war avant-garde absurdist drama. Written in response to the upsurge of Fascism in the 1930s, Rhino explores the themes of conformity, culture, responsibility, logic, mass movements, mob mentality, philosophy and morality – all still highly relevant in today’s world. Its central character, Berenger, the non conformist who is the only one not to capitulate to the herd mentality, and the only one not to metamorphosize into a Rhinoceros. Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901When: Saturday 9th November 2024 @ 8.00 pm Where: The Lyric Theatre