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Horatio Morpurgo - The Port Bredy Lecture
Port Bredy was the name Thomas Hardy gave Bridport. The annual Port Bredy Lecture aims to celebrate Hardy and other writers with connections to West Dorset. Beginning with Hardy’s Bridport-set tale ‘Fellow-Townsmen’, which reaches its fateful conclusion at the Bull Hotel, Horatio Morpurgo considers how the author understood a rural society turned upside down by the coming of the railways, one in which the “outside world” was both an opportunity and a threat. What lessons might Dorset’s greatest writer have for the 21st century’s Wessex-dwellers as they also deal with with a fast-changing world? Horatio Morpurgo is an activist and writer on the environment. His new book is A Guide to the Unconformity.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Friday 6 November 2026 @ 5 pm Where: Bull Ballroom -
James Braxton - Antiques Ramble 1
Join TV antiques expert and author James Braxton for a walking tour around Bridport’s celebrated vintage market and antiques shops. Best known for BBC flagship shows like Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip, Braxton is a seasoned auctioneer and author of antiquarian mystery fiction, including Barty: A Tale of a Stolen Bronze. With over forty years of experience in the antiques trade, Braxton brings a practised eye for provenance, history, and craftsmanship to all he finds. Will he spot a genuine bargain along the way, or merely uncover the fascinating histories hidden behind everyday objects? Repeated on Sunday 8 Nov, 12 noon (Event 12). Meet outside The Woodman Pub, 61 South Street Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Saturday 7 November 2026 @ 10am Where: The Woodman -
Oliver Bullough - Everybody Loves Our Dollars - How Money Laundering Won
Why is the world flooded with illicit cash and how did Britain become ground zero for laundering it? In Everybody Loves Our Dollars, acclaimed investigative reporter Oliver Bullough reveals why multi-billion-dollar efforts to prevent financial crime have failed. In conversation with festival chair Stuart Rock, Bullough demonstrates how organised crime groups and kleptocrats routinely exploit legal loopholes and regulatory blindspots. Following his bestselling exposés Moneyland and Butler to the World, Bullough delivers an eye-opening exploration of the shady areas of global finance, showing why, for the worst bad actors, cash remains king.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Saturday 7 November 2026 @ 10.30 am Where: Electric Palace Sponsor: James and Emma Farquharson -
Sarah Clegg - Perilous Enchantment - The True History of Faeries
We often picture fairies as harmless, pastel-clad creatures, but the true history of the fae is far darker and more complex. In Perilous Enchantment, historian Sarah Clegg strips away the Victorian glitter to uncover the capricious nature of these otherworldly beings. Following the runaway success of her Sunday Times bestseller The Dead of Winter, Clegg traces how local nature spirits evolved into tricksters, demonic accomplices in witch trials and modern “romantasy” figures. Travelling from ancient Greek nymph caves to Icelandic elf fires, Clegg reveals how shifting fairy myths mirror humanity’s deepest wishes and anxieties. Chaired by historian Eleanor Barraclough. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Saturday 7 November 2026 @ 12 noon Where: Bridport Arts Centre -
Natasha Walter - Feminism for a World on Fire
Join us for an inspiring conversation with acclaimed author and campaigner Natasha Walter about building a more connected and hopeful future. Introducing her powerful new book Feminism for a World on Fire, she talks to Samantha Knights KC about how the challenges facing women today – from inequality and online misogyny to climate change – are interconnected and why our responses should be, too. She offers a vision of feminism rooted in community, imagining how women’s liberation can sit alongside movements for equality, justice and environmental protection. Natasha Walter’s books include The New Feminism and Living Dolls. She is the founder of the charity Women for Refugee Women. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Saturday 7 November 2026 @ 1.30 pm Where: Bridport Arts Centre -
Robin Niblett - After America - The End of the Old Order and the Future of Geopolitics
After eighty years of Western dominance, what next? In After America, Sir Robin Niblett, former Director of Chatham House, examines the collapse of American global leadership and the rise of transactional imperial power politics driven by the US, China and Russia. Rather than assuming the old West can simply regroup, Niblett explores how smaller nations and middle powers can navigate this fractured landscape to build a stable future. He is joined by former BBC North America editor Gavin Esler to dissect what this dramatic geopolitical shift means for global stability and diplomacy. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Saturday 7 November 2026 @ 3.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Martin & Lindsay Bowdery -
Hannah Bourne-Taylor - Nature Needs You
Join author and environmental campaigner Hannah Bourne-Taylor for a candid conversation about finding your voice and fighting for the natural world, the subject of her book Nature Needs You. Alongside discussing her grassroots crusade to save the UK’s plummeting swift population – from high-profile campaigning to demanding mandatory swift bricks in new builds – she will dive into her life as an activist and her experiences behind the scenes on Clarkson’s Farm. A frank discussion about rural life, battling bureaucracy and why protecting our wildlife requires radical resistance. She talks to writer and conservationist Keggie Carew. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Saturday 7 November 2026 @ 4.30 pm Where: Bridport Arts Centre Sponsor: Rob & Alex Appleby -
Iain MacGregor - Battle - The Moments that Transformed Warfare from Ancient Greece to UkraineHow did leaders like Alexander the Great, Robert the Bruce and Horatio Nelson change the course of history? Join bestselling historian Iain MacGregor for a thrilling journey through 3,000 years of conflict. From the shield walls of ancient Greece to the drone warfare of modern Ukraine, this fascinating talk explores the five forces that have shaped victory and defeat throughout history: Morale, Leadership, Innovation, Subterfuge, Timing & Numbers. Travel from Marathon to the Spanish Armada, Stalingrad and Kyiv, discovering the dramatic moments when battles changed not just wars, but the course of civilisation itself.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Saturday 7 November 2026 @ 4.30 pm Where: Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Church House Investments -
Katja Hoyer - Weimar - Life on the Edge of Catastrophe
Between the collapse of the German Empire and the rise of the Third Reich, the Weimar Republic endured 14 years of artistic brilliance, political violence and hyperinflation. Historian Katja Hoyer – author of the bestseller Beyond the Wall – talks to the novelist Boris Starling about how democracy unravelled into tyranny. Central to her narrative are personal accounts from the time, including the diary of a local stationer, Carl Weirich. The result is a remarkably vivid portrait of ordinary citizens trying to navigate a chaotic and frightening world. A gripping new insight into one of the most fascinating periods in German history.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Saturday 7 November 2026 @ 6 pm Where: Bridport Arts Centre Sponsored by: Sarah Gordon Wild -
Sarah O'Connor - We Are Not Machines - The Fight for the Future of Work
We’re told that a tsunami of change is sweeping the economy as AI replaces humans in the workplace. But when Sarah O’Connor ventured into the front line of this new industrial revolution, she found that employees weren’t generally losing their jobs to machines, they were losing their humanity. Work was becoming lonelier, less creative and highly controlled. We were at risk of turning ourselves into robots. Drawing on stories from 19thcentury English cotton mills to 21st-century Swedish mines, the prize-winning Financial Times journalist tackles one of our age’s most important questions: how can we shape technology before it shapes us? She talks to Boris Starling.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Sunday 8 November 2026 @ 10.00 am Where: Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Samantha Knights -
Charlotte Higgins - Ukrainian Lessons - Art in a Time of WarGuardian chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins never imagined reporting on a war. In autumn 2022, she travelled to a book festival in Ukraine to discover how artists were reflecting the conflict in their work. It would change her life. During a war that threatens the very existence of Ukrainian culture, art has become literally a matter of life and death. Based on three years of reporting, Ukrainian Lessons is an urgent and unforgettable book about what artists are prepared to risk – and why culture is worth fighting for. In conversation with the writer Philip Ardagh. “The most beautifully written, moving book I can ever remember readingˮ, Philippa Perry.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Sunday 8 November 2026 @ 11.30 am Where: Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Carol Hammick & Adam Tindall -
James Braxton - Antiques Ramble 2
Join TV antiques expert and author James Braxton for a walking tour around Bridport’s celebrated vintage market and antiques shops. Best known for BBC flagship shows like Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip, Braxton is a seasoned auctioneer and author of antiquarian mystery fiction, including Barty: A Tale of a Stolen Bronze. With over forty years of experience in the antiques trade, Braxton brings a practised eye for provenance, history, and craftsmanship to all he finds. Will he spot a genuine bargain along the way, or merely uncover the fascinating histories hidden behind everyday objects? Meet outside The Woodman Pub, 61 South Street Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Sunday 8 November 2026 @ 12noon Where: The Woodman -
Robert Barrington - Corrupted Kingdom - Britain’s Disappearing Integrity – And How We Can Get It Back
Britain has long prided itself on fairness, but is that reputation still deserved? Robert Barrington believes not: the UK is losing the battle against grift. In Corrupted Kingdom, the world-leading corruption expert makes the case that complacency has undermined our national institutions, from parliament and the NHS to the monarchy and the police. Barrington traces this decline back to the end of empire and identifies steps we might take to restore trust. We need to act now, he argues, to stop the rot. Professor Barrington is joined by the broadcaster Gavin Esler, author of Britain Is Better Than This. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Sunday 8 November 2026 @ 1.00 pm Where: Bridport Arts Centre Sponsored by: Ann Thimont -
Lauren Working - A Golden World - How the Americas Transformed Tudor and Stuart England
From rumours of Amazonian gold to silver-veined mountains, dreams of enormous wealth fuelled Tudor imperial fantasies. But how did the peoples of the Americas really influence English art, fashion and literature – and at what cost? In A Golden World, historian Lauren Working shows how objects from across the Atlantic – such as tobacco leaves strewn in playhouses and courtly pearls – became central to 16thcentury culture. Uncovering stories of Raleigh’s privateers and the indigenous craftsmanship that fed Renaissance splendour, Working presents a glittering new history of Tudor ambition. She talks to historian Eleanor Barraclough. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Sunday 8 November 2026 @ 1.00 pm Where: Bull Ballroom Sponsor: Tina Graham -
Matthew Sweet - The Great Dictator - A Life of Barbara Cartland
Penniless virgins. Reckless dukes. Flappers. Airmen. Suffragettes. Barbara Cartland made them all fall in love. She wrote 723 books without touching a typewriter: instead she reclined on her sofa with a Pekinese on her lap, and romantic fiction billowed out of her. Making use of unprecedented access to Cartland’s archives, broadcaster Matthew Sweet’s wickedly funny biography reveals the woman behind the mascara. After 49 proposals, she chose the wrong man; what followed was a life stranger than any novel, including terrorist plots, seances, plagiarism battles, and even a surprise turn as a campaigner for Romany rights. Chaired by Vivian French.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Sunday 8 November 2026 @ 2.30 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Susan Bradbury -
Lachlan Goudie - The Secrets of Painting - The Hidden Art of the Masterpiece from Prehistory to Today How do you paint a masterpiece? Artist and broadcaster Lachlan Goudie returns to Bridport to explore how 20 of the greatest paintings in human history were created, from a blank surface to the finishing brushstroke. From 36,000-year-old cave paintings to the digital art of David Hockney, he interrogates each artist’s individual methods and techniques. And there’s a bigger picture: this is the story of how the evolution of painting materials – from spit, bone marrow and blood to digital image-making – has changed the course of human creativity. “Stupendous … a wonderful gift to the world of art loversˮ Simon Schama. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Sunday 8 November 2026 @ 4.30 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsor: Buffy Sacher -
Thomas Asbridge - The Black Death - A Global History
The Black Death is remembered as one of Europe’s great catastrophes, but it swept far beyond the continent’s borders, transforming societies from Cairo to Central Asia. Thomas Asbridge reveals the pandemic’s forgotten history, showing how one disease tragically affected empires, religions and millions of everyday lives. One of our leading medieval historians and the mind behind landmark BBC TV series, The Crusades, brings to life the darkest of eras. Full of fresh research and evocative parallels to our own times, his new book illuminates the human capacity for compassion and resilience in the face of unimaginable crises.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Sunday 8 November 2026 @ 6.00 pm Where: Bull Ballrooom Sponsored by:Paul & Sybella Zisman -
Bank of Dreams and Nightmares - Resonate
Resonate is a free creative writing and spoken word project for young people aged 15–19 whose voices might not normally be heard. Over two workshop weekends this autumn, participants work with poet Cecilia Knapp to explore identity and what it means to be them, finding language for stories they’ve rarely had the chance to tell. Cecilia also hosts this culminating event, where the group reads and performs the work they’ve created together. As one past participant put it, describing the moment she first read her work aloud: “I felt real pride and unfiltered joy for the first time in about 3 years.ˮ The Bank of Dreams and Nightmares is a Bridport-based charity that supports creative writing for young people 7–18.
FREE for under 19s Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Sunday 8 November 2026 @ 7 pm Where: Bridport Arts Centre -
James Aldred - A Wagon in the Woods
When James Aldred found the decaying horse-drawn wagon he had played in as a child, buried beneath New Forest brambles, he found himself transported in time. Rebuilding the vehicle became a way to re-examine the forest itself. Aldred retraces the paths of his youth, exploring a landscape shaped as much by royal history and Romany heritage as by its otters and goshawks. A Wagon in the Woods offers a portrait of one of the UK’s most cherished landscapes and considers the deep roots that bind us to place. Chaired by writer and editor Jon Woolcott. James Aldred is an award-winning wildlife cameraman who has worked on many landmark natural history programmes with Sir David Attenborough.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Monday 9 November 2026 @ 10.30 am Where: Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Francesca Radcliffe -
Beth Gardiner - Plastic Inc - Big Oil, Big Money and the Plan to Trash Our Future
In her new book journalist Beth Gardiner looks at our love-hate relationship with one of the world’s most ubiquitous materials. Praised by the New York Times as “a compelling true-crime story”, Gardiner’s deep dive exposes how petrochemical giants have turned to plastic as a financial lifeline, plotting to double production even as individuals are encouraged to use less. Gardiner reveals how corporate litter campaigns cleverly shifted guilt onto consumers, and why the “myth” of recycling plastic effectively has been promoted despite industry knowledge that it can’t work at scale. Author and green campaigner Julia Hailes chairs a revelatory discussion.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Monday 9 November 2026 @ 12 noon Where: Bridport Arts Centre Sponsored by: Julia Hailes -
Cecilia Knapp - Writing Workshop - When Poetry Meets Prose
Poet and novelist Cecilia Knapp brings a relaxed, exploratory workshop to Bridport, looking at work from some of the most exciting contemporary poets who work across both poetry and prose. Through close reading, discussion and playful, exercises, she will encourage you to seek inspiration from these dynamic writers and create not just your own poetry, but also prose, enriched by these findings. Cecilia Knapp was Young People’s Poet Laureate for London in 2021 and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for best single poem in 2022. Her debut poetry collection Peach Pig was published in 2022. Her latest novel is Lack.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Monday 9 November 2026 @ 12 noon - 2 pm Where: Human Nature -
Jeremy Hunt - Can We Be Rich Again? - The Surprising Potential of Britain’s Economy
Stagnant growth, oppressive national debt and record tax burdens have convinced many that Britain’s economic best days are behind it. In Can We Be Rich Again?, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt offers an urgent riposte to widespread doom-mongering. Drawing on decades in government, Hunt outlines a roadmap to reignite prosperity. From uncorking the potential of the United Kingdom’s world-leading tech and financial sectors to reforming stagnant state machinery, he argues that low growth is a solvable crisis. Join us for a compelling discussion on how Britain can change its financial fortunes.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Monday 9 November 2026 @ 2.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Tim & Sara Clarke -
Jennifer Potter - Looking for Mr Schwitters
Modern art circles revere Kurt Schwitters as an “artist’s artist”, leader of the Dada movement and pioneer of pop art. But he ended his days as an exile, working in post-war Cumbria. Writer and artist Jennifer Potter follows the traces left after Schwitters was dismissed as a “degenerate” by the Nazis and forced into exile. Potter blends biography, memoir and art history in an attempt to understand Schwitters’ mysterious influence on her own life and writing. Exploring his revolutionary collages as well as an unfinished masterpiece hidden in the Langdale Valley, Potter reflects on exile and what it means to leave a mark on a place. Chaired by festival director, Adrian Turpin.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Monday 9 November 2026 @ 3.30 pm Where: Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Jim Bartos -
James Holland - The Visionaries
Leading second world war historian James Holland discusses his new book The Visionaries with the novelist Boris Starling. Holland explores how architects of peace – spearheaded by Franklin D Roosevelt and Harry S Truman – had begun to think seriously about the 20th-century post-war world order long before the carnage had ended. Through bold initiatives such as the Marshall Plan, these leaders chose cooperation over retribution, laying the foundations for eight decades of Western peace and prosperity. Holland argues that global stability is never an accident: it is designed. What lessons are there for today’s leaders?” And will anyone step up to be a visionary for the 21st century?
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Monday 9 November 2026 @ 5.00 pm Where: Bridport Arts Centre Sponsored by: Guy & Clare Schwinge -
Anna Whitwham - Soft Tissue Damage - Writing Workshop
Novelist and poet Cecilia Knapp joins Anna Whitwham to discuss Lack, her sharp and lyrical novel about a thirtysomething woman caught between her superficially glamorous life and a growing sense of panic. Knapp looks directly at the challenges of leaving one’s twenties, as career pressure and a desire to have fun collide with the search for meaning. In the lonely hours of the middle of the night, a woman scrolls social media on her phone. Babies are everywhere. All her friends seem to have one. But how can she consider bringing a new life into the world when that world is burning? Cecilia Knapp was Young People’s Laureate for London 2020-2021. She was shortlisted for the 2022 Forward Prize for best single poem.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Monday 9 November 2026 @ 5.00 pm Where: Goose and Badger -
Greg Doran - Walking Shadow - Love, Loss and Shakespeare
Following the loss of his husband, Sir Antony Sher, former RSC Artistic Director Greg Doran set out on an extraordinary quest: to track down as many surviving copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio as possible. He weaves a moving account of Sher’s final illness together with a captivating travelogue spanning four continents. Seeking out more than two hundred Folios – from Tokyo to South Africa – Doran slowly uncovers their unique histories. Part love story, part literary detective story, Walking Shadow explores how he faced down deep personal grief with the inspiration of the world’s greatest playwright. Chaired by author Vivian French.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Monday 9 November 2026 @ 7.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: David & Angela Neuberger -
Julian Baggini - Philosophy in Pubs - How To Think Like a Philosopher
For the first time, Bridport Literary Festival is teaming up with Bridport’s regular Philosophy in Pubs night for an evening of ideas-driven conversation. Co-founder of the Philosophers’ Magazine, Julian Baggini, will kick off a discussion inspired by his book How To Think Like a Philosopher, as he encourages us to think for ourselves, not by ourselves. Julian is a prominent English philosopher and journalist who has authored over 20 books bringing philosophy to the general public, including the bestselling The Pig That Wants To Be Eaten and How the World Thinks. Chaired by Kelvin Clayton. With special thanks to The Woodman pub for hosting.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Monday 9 November 2026 @ 8.30 pm Where: The Woodman -
Julie Montagu - Secrets of an English Country House
Julie Montagu, Countess of Sandwich, invites you inside Mapperton, one of England’s finest manor houses. Julie offers a rare insight into the 900-year-old Dorset estate she and her husband, Luke, have been restoring, rewilding and breathing new life into since 2016. Drawing on her book Secrets of an English Country House: A Year at Mapperton, she will share the hidden stories behind its historic doors. A captivating conversation celebrating the enduring spirit of a much-loved country house. Coffee and cake included. This event includes the opportunity to tour the house (at either 10.15am or 12.15pm). Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Tuesday 10 November 2026 @ 10 am Where: Mapperton House -
Paul Morley - On Hockney - An Artist for Life
The late David Hockney remains one of Britain’s most recognisable artists. His career spanned decades of constant reinvention, taking him from post-war Bradford and Swinging London to Los Angeles, Paris, Normandy and the Yorkshire Wolds. In David Hockney: An Artist for Life, writer and broadcaster Paul Morley explores how these locations shaped the painter’s vision. Morley traces Hockney’s key friendships and artistic influences showing how he repeatedly renewed his creative practice while remaining unmistakably himself. The result is a celebration of a restless, resourceful and deeply optimistic figure whose life and work mirrored broader changes in society and altered how a nation sees itself and understands the world.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Tuesday 10 November 2026 @ 10.30 am Where: Bull Ballroom -
Frank Tallis - Wise - A History of Wisdom
Renowned clinical psychologist and author of the Vienna Blood novels Frank Tallis addresses the art of growing old. Chaired by philosopher Julian Baggini, this event explores how to maintain psychological health and purpose despite the daunting realities of later life, loss, physical decline and accumulated regrets. Making use of decades of psychotherapeutic practice as well as insights from Stoicism, Jungian psychology and neuroscience, Tallis argues that living well requires reconciling all aspects of our past and present self. He’ll be talking about how we can embrace our mortality, make peace with time’s inevitable passage and cultivate true happiness in our later years. “Transformative and deeply insightful”, Guardian.
Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.When: Tuesday 10 November 2026 @ 12 noon Where: Bull Ballroom
