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The Festival: 2nd - 8th November 2025 | Tickets: 01308 424901|bridport.tic@bridport-tc.gov.uk
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Politics

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  • Event 3 | Simon Hart | Ungovernable

    £16.00

    Simon Hart - Ungovernable - The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip

    Former Chief Whip and MP Simon Hart had a front-row seat to the most turbulent times in Britain’s recent political history, from negotiations around Brexit, the impact of Liz Truss’s forty-nine-day premiership, to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Simon witnessed successive dramas unfold, many of which involved an extensive build-up, a complicated process and a noisy and vitriolic public commentary. Revisiting diaries kept throughout his career, Ungovernable is an insider’s story and unflinching look into the heart of British politics from the centre of government.

    in conversation with Oliver Letwin Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Sunday 2nd November 2025 @ 2.00pm
    Where: Electric Palace
    Sponsor: Church House Investments
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  • Event 6 | Philip Marsden | Under A Metal Sky

    £12.00

    Philip Marsden - Under A Metal Sky - A Journey Through Minerals, Greed and Wonder

    Philip Marsden traces the dazzling achievements and dark consequences of our ability to extract from the earth – minerals which generated a leap forward in technology, producing amazement and wonder, but also destruction and greed. From his homeland of Cornwall, Marsden travels eastwards into Europe, uncovering stories of potent resources, from iron-rich meteorites to radium, mercury and gold. As he travels, he explores precious seams of ideas, and those who pursued them - from Paracelsus to Marie Curie. an illustrated talk - Introduced by James Crowden Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Monday 3rd November 2025 @ 10.30 am
    Where: The Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: Felicity Fairbairn
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  • Event 22 | Andrew Blick | Could It Happen Here?

    £12.00

    Andrew Blick - Could It Happen Here? - The Day a Prime Minister Refuses to Resign

    Does the UK’s constitution sufficiently protect our democracy from a rogue prime minister? With the resurgence of the far Right across Europe and some of the rhetoric of the 2024 General Election, Andrew Blick explores the possible consequences of a British prime minister refusing to leave office. Mapping out the processes which might occur after such an eventuality, the UK’s ‘unwritten’ constitution comes under the microscope. Could It Happen Here? provides a crucial appraisal, advocating for the protection of our parliamentary democracy.

    in conversation with Paul Lashmar

    Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Wednesday 5th November 2025 @ 3.30pm
    Where: The Bull Ballroom
    SOLD OUT Details

  • Event 23 | Marina Warner | Sanctuary

    £12.00

    Marina Warner - Sanctuary

    Sanctuary is an ancient right. In the classical world, it offered immunity to fugitives from justice; in medieval Europe it extended a reprieve to all who sought it in a church or holy site. But what does sanctuary mean in today’s world? With the growth of nationalism and individualism, the concept has drifted away from a place of openness and welcome towards privacy: home as sanctuaries against strangers, migrants, incomers. Marina Warner navigates the principles that underpin the tradition of sanctuary and argues that storytelling offers a salve, a route to mutual understanding.

    in conversation with Prue Keely Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Wednesday 5th November 2025 @ 5.00 pm
    Where: The Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: Harold Carter and Tess Silkstone
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  • CANCELLED | Event 24 | Horatio Clare | We Came By Sea

    £12.00

    CANCELLED - Horatio Clare - We Came By Sea - Stories of a Greater Britain

    Written with his trademark compassion and humanity, Horatio Clare’s We Came by Sea is an untold story of the small boats crisis - a story which shows the best of us. It is the story of the volunteers who help thousands of refugees in Calais, of the lifeboat crews mounting one of the great search and rescue operations of all time, of an unrecognised, uncelebrated, all but unknown, Britain, giving its all to help the vulnerable and desperate. This journey through an unexamined nation, a nation which is as truly great and good as the people in the dinghies believe Britain to be, is not the story we have been told, but it is a true story.

    in conversation with Sophy Roberts

    Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Wednesday 5th November 2025 @ 6.30 pm
    Where: The Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: Nick and Linda Child | Sue and David Orr
    CANCELLED Details

  • Event 27 | Malise Ruthven | Unholy Kingdom

    £14.00

    Malise Ruthven - Unholy Kingdom - Religion, Corruption and Violence in Saudi Arabia

    In recent years, the ruling family in Saudi Arabia, the House of Saud, has promoted the oil-rich kingdom as an open, liberalising nation that has invested in culture, tourism, and social innovation. But the murder in 2018 of journalist Jamal Khashoggi reveals a darker reality: one of intensifying political and religious repression, all within the tumultuous context of the war in Yemen, sectarian rivalry with Iran, the crisis in Gaza, and volatile relations with the United States. Leading commentator, Malise Ruthven, reconstructs the nation’s history, whilst looking to its future in the hands of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. This essential book traces the shifting fault lines in the Middle East to determine Saudi Arabia’s place in our volatile times.

    in conversation with David Burnett

    Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Thursday 6th November 2025 @ 12 noon
    Where: The Bridport Arts Centre
    Sponsored by: Martin and Lindsay Bowdery
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  • Event 33 | Victoria Taylor | Eagle Days | THE GEORGE MILLAR LITERARY DINNER

    £90.00

    Victoria Taylor - Eagle Days - Life and Death for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain

    We are delighted to welcome Victoria Taylor, historian and broadcaster, to talk about her fascinating new book Eagle Days: Life and Death for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, a revelatory study that reexamines the German air force’s role during the RAF’s ‘Finest Hour’. Drawing on extensive new research, including never-before-translated letters, diaries and combat reports, Taylor offers a powerful and deeply human portrait of the men who fought for Hitler’s Luftwaffe in the summer of 1940. Through their words and experiences, she transforms our understanding of the Battle of Britain, revealing the military, political and cultural forces that shaped both their courage and their collapse. Eagle Days is a striking and original account of the air war that changed the course of modern history. Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Thursday 6th November 2025 @ 7.00 pm
    Where: Tithe Barn, Symondsbury
    Sponsored by: Venetia Ross Skinner
    SOLD OUT Details

  • Event 34 | Andrew Lownie | Entitled

    £16.00

    Andrew Lownie -  Entitled - The Rise and Fall of the House of York

    Packed full of extraordinary revelations, Entitled is the first joint biography of the Duke and Duchess of York. Drawing on four years of research and interviews, biographer Andrew Lownie chronicles their lives in parallel through childhood, courtship, careers and divorce. The picture that emerges is of a spoilt prince unable to connect and a duchess pushed by her insecurities into a desperate need to maintain the attention her ‘royal’ status brought. Rigorously researched and packed full of revelations, this is eyewatering biography at its best in conversation with Stuart Rock Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Friday 7th November 2025 @ 12 noon
    Where: Electric Palace
    Sponsored by: Robert and Diana Clarke
    BUY TICKETS Details

  • Event 35 | Lyse Doucet | The Finest Hotel In Kabul

    £16.00

    Lyse Doucet - The Finest Hotel In Kabul - A People’s History of Afghanistan

    When the Intercontinental opened in Kabul in 1969, Afghanistan’s first luxury hotel symbolised a dream of a modernising country connecting to the world. Fifty years later, the hotel is still standing having endured Soviet occupation, multiple coups, a grievous civil war, a US invasion and the rise, fall and rise of the Taliban. Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, has been checking into the Intercontinental since 1968. She uses its story to craft a richly immersive history of modern Afghanistan. in conversation with Lindsey Hilsum Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Friday 7th November 2025 @ 2.00 pm
    Where: Electric Palace
    Sponsored by: Johnnie and Sophie Boden
    SOLD OUT Details

  • Event 41 | John Crace | Taking The Lead

    £16.00

    John Crace - Taking The Lead - A Dog at Number 10 

    A quick witted satirical memoir from the eyes of John Crace’s beloved dog, Herbie, a Westminster veteran with an insider’s eye. A chance encounter with Sadiq Khan’s Labrador landed Herbie a job working as a special advisor to Ed Miliband in 2014. Then he was summoned by David Cameron to work on the Remain campaign. He experienced the pain of working with Theresa May; was sacked and then rehired by Boris Johnson; was at Balmoral when the Queen died; was fired by Rishi Sunak and taken on by Keir Starmer. This is the story the politicians didn’t want you to know. Herbert Hound, finally, tells all.

    in conversation with Boris Starling Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Saturday 8th November 2025 @ 12 noon
    Where: Electric Palace
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  • Event 42 | Andrew Graham-Dixon | Vermeer

    £16.00

    Andrew Graham-Dixon - Vermeer - A Life Lost and Found

    Andrew Graham-Dixon’s book places Vermeer’s work in the context of its time and paints a dramatically new picture of the artist, revealing many of the painter’s hitherto unknown friendships as well as his previously undetected allegiance to a radical movement driven underground by persecution. In the past Vermeer has been imagined as a remote and enigmatic figure but in this account he emerges as a man deeply engaged with his own society, well read and well travelled and greatly affected by the struggles that shook his world. Graham-Dixon reassesses both the paintings and their meanings.

    an illustrated talk - Introduced by Hugo Morgan Grenville Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Saturday 8th November 2025 @ 2.00pm
    Where: Electric Palace
    Sponsored by: Andy and Deborah Gray
    SOLD OUT Details

  • Event 43 | Steve Richards & Iain Dale | Tony Blair & Margaret Thatcher

    £16.00

    Iain Dale & Steve Richards - Margaret Thatcher & Tony Blair

    Margaret Thatcher was Iain Dale’s childhood heroine and the woman who inspired him into politics. In his book, he offers an intelligent and challenging look at the Iron Lady on the 100th anniversary of her birth. Likewise, Steve Richards casts new light on Tony Blair, the man and his legacy. Was all that he achieved overshadowed by the Iraq war, his rivalry with Brown and the dominance of Margaret Thatcher? A lively conversation about these two at once influential and controversial prime ministers of our time.

    in conversation with Howard Davies Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Saturday 8th November 2025 @ 4.00 pm
    Where: Electric Palace
    Sponsored by: Buffy Sacher
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  • Event 44 | Martin Clunes | Meetings With Remarkable Animals

    £16.00

    Martin Clunes - Meetings With Remarkable Animals - Real Life Tales of Heroism, Loyalty and Companionship

    Martin Clunes celebrates the intelligence, loyalty and companionship of extraordinary animals ranging from mine-sniffing rats to therapy horses and life-saving dolphins. He recounts the fascinating, moving and astonishing ways animals have enriched our lives. Inspired by his own adoption of a former guide dog, Martin tells of his life-changing encounters with animals across the world.

    in conversation with Jo Willett - Introduced by Jamie Giles Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901
    When: Saturday 8th November 2025 @ 6.00 pm
    Where: Electric Palace
    Sponsored by: Symonds and Sampson | Emma Farquharson Interior Design
    BUY TICKETS Details

  • Special Event | Paul Lashmar | Drax of Drax Hall

    £12.00
    Paul Lashmar - Drax of Drax Hall - How One British Family Got Rich (and Stayed Rich) from Sugar and Slavery The Dorset based Drax family are unique in that they are the only colonising family to still own a plantation in the West Indies. As global movements for racial justice continue to challenge the legacies of empire, Drax of Drax Hall offers a vital case study of how Britain’s colonial wealth survives—and thrives—in plain sight. From the violent origins of British colonialism in the Caribbean to the quiet entrenchment of inherited privilege in the English countryside, this is a history that lays bare the enduring legacies of empire—and the families who still profit from them. Through meticulous research and gripping storytelling, Paul Lashmar exposes the deep roots of inequality, the persistence of elite privilege, and the unfinished business of reparations.  Drax of Drax Hall tells the full, unflinching story of the ancestors that pioneered the British sugar industry and created the blueprint for slave-based plantation economies. In this final event in the BridLit calendar 2025, local journalist Paul Lashmar will be in conversation with Alan Smith, First Estates Commissioner of the Church of England about his recently published book Drax of Drax Hall.  The event will be chaired by David Olusoga, who wrote the foreword to the book. in conversation with Alan Smith and chaired by David Olusoga David will be in the Electric Palace in the evening for his own event and book signing. Become a friend
    When: Friday 12th December 2025 @ 4.30pm
    Where: The Bull Ballroom
    Buy Ticket £12 Details
The Bridport Literary Festival © Copyright 2004 - 2025
Charity No: 1147075 | All Rights Reserved | Designed by BRACED
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