Box Office 0870 343 1001 www.sundaytimes ... - Blackwell's

Sunday 29 March – Sunday 5 April 2009 

at Christ Church, Oxford 

Featuring 

Mario Vargas Llosa 

Ian McEwan 

Vince Cable 

Simon Schama 

P D James 

John Sentamu 

Robert Harris 

Joan Bakewell 

David Starkey 

Richard Holmes 

A S Byatt 

John Humphrys 

Philip Pullman 

Michael Holroyd 

Joanne Harris 

Jeremy Paxman 

Box Office 0870 343 1001 

www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk

The Radcliffe Camera, The Bodleian Library. The Library is a major new partner of the Festival.

Welcome 

WELCOME 

We are delighted to welcome you to the 2009 Sunday 

Times Oxford Literary Festival - our biggest yet, 

spread over eight days with more than 430 speakers. 

We have an unprecedented and stimulating series 

of prestige events in the magnificent surroundings 

of Christ Church, the Sheldonian Theatre and 

Bodleian Library. But much also to amuse and divert. 

Ticket prices have been held to 2008 levels, offering 

outstanding value for money, so that everyone 

can enjoy a host of national and international 

speakers, talking, conversing and debating 

throughout the week on every conceivable topic. 

The Sunday Times Oxford Festival is dedicated 

to the pursuit of excellence in a friendly and 

welcoming environment, reflecting the outstanding 

traditions of creative discourse and scholarship 

for which the University of Oxford and its Colleges 

are famous throughout the world. When Thomas 

Bodley established his great library, he envisaged 

a ‘Republic of Learning’, a concept that inspires 

us all still, and constitutes a remarkable heritage. 

We are very pleased to welcome Corpus Christi, 

Jesus, Oriel and Pembroke Colleges to the Festival 

this year and honoured to stage the first Bodleian 

Library Programme. 

Particular thanks this year to our partners at 

The Sunday Times for their tremendous coverage 

and support of the Festival, and to all our very 

generous sponsors, donors and supporters, 

especially our friends at Cox and Kings Travel. 

We have enlarged and enhanced public facilities 

in the marquees at Christ Church Meadow and 

in the Master’s Garden, which we hope you will 

enjoy. We are very grateful to the Dean, the 

Governing Body and the staff at Christ Church for 

their help and support. 

Hitherto, the Festival has been a ‘Not for Profit’ 

Company, but during 2009 we will move to establish 

a new Charitable Trust. 

One of the enduring pleasures of the Festival for 

many of our writers and festival goers is the 

opportunity to spend a few days or a week 

at Christ Church, eating in the Great Hall, with 

good food, wine, company and conversation; 

walking through the college cloisters, gardens 

and meadows, the perfect backdrop to a 

celebration of books and their authors. 

SALLY DUNSMORE 

Festival Chief Executive 

CONTENTS 

3 Welcome 

4 Sponsors, Patrons 

and Festival Team 

6 Christ Church 

For your copy of the 

programme for Young People’s 

and Children’s Events 

contact: 01865 286 074 

EVENTS CALENDAR 

10 Sunday 29 March 

11 Monday 30 March 

16 Tuesday 31 March 

30 Wednesday 1 April 

52 Thursday 2 April 

68 Friday 3 April 

88 Saturday 4 April 

103 Sunday 5 April 

116 Walking Tours 

EVENT INFORMATION 

120 The Bodleian Library 

122 Venues 

124 Accessibility & Safety 

127 Exhibitions 

128 Booking form 

132 Index of Events by Subject 

3

Title Sponsor 

Special Edition Sponsor 

Broadcast Media Partner 

Festival Venue 

Festival Bookseller 

Regional Media Sponsor 

Partners 

The Bodleian Library 

Corpus Christi College 

Jesus College 

Oriel College 

Pembroke College 

Grant aid 

The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 

gratefully acknowledges major grants from: 

4 

Limited Edition Sponsors 

Belgravia Gallery 

Critchleys 

Fortnum & Mason 

HSBC Global Education Trust 

Oxford University Press 

Purcell Miller Tritton 

The Macdonald Randolph Hotel 

Reader’s Digest 

Ian and Carol Sellars 

Wedgwood 

Associates 

The Arts Club 

Conference Oxford 

Christ Church Cathedral School 

The English Speaking Union 

The Litmus Partnership Ltd 

Maison Française 

The Orwell Prize 

Oxford Access Audits Ltd 

The Oxford and Cambridge Club 

Oxford Playhouse 

Pushkin House 

The Royal Society of Literature 

The Tablet 

The Times Literary Supplement 

First Edition Sponsors 

City Audio Visual 

Felicity Bryan Literary Agency 

Oxford College of Marketing 

Oxford Tube 

Thames and Hudson 

With special thanks to: 

Luigi Bonomi Associates 

The North Wall 

Panache PR 

Writers in Oxford 

Patrons 

Colin Blakemore FRS 

John Carey 

Richard Dawkins FRS 

Joanne Harris 

Robert Hariis 

Baroness James of Holland Park OBE 

Peter Kemp 

Mark Lawson 

The Rt Hon Baron Patten of Barnes CH 

Philip Pullman CBE 

Sir Peter Stothard

Festival Chief Executive 

Sally Dunsmore 

Festival Board Directors 

Graham Benson 

Sally Dunsmore 

Brian Hardy 

John Harris 

Chris Jones 

David McLaren 

Matthew Patten 

Angela Prysor-Jones 

Special Advisor 

Tony Byrne 

Oxford Literary Festival Charitable Trust 

Executive Director 

Angela Prysor-Jones 

Trustees 

Danielle Battigelli 

Roy Blatchford 

Sue Matthew 

Peter Mothersole 

Nick Paladina 

Mari Prichard 

Film & Television Consultant 

Graham Benson 

Director of Academic Programmes 

Jem Poster 

Health and Safety Manager 

Stephen Bartlett 

Historic Food Advisor 

Anne Menzies 

Schools and Children’s Events Manager 

Ceila MacLachlan 

Green Room Managers 

Rachel Byrne and Jill Dunsmore 

Box Office 

Nick Jordan and Nick Manby-Brown 

Volunteer Co-Ordinators 

Yvonne Maxwell and Frankie Marlton 

Publicity 

Tei Williams, Press and Arts Marketing 

Programme Designer 

www.socialuk.com 

Photography 

K T Bruce, Graham Harrison, 

Eddie Gallacher, Matthew Morgan 

and Ralph Williamson 

With special thanks to 

Mike Farley, Leslee Holderness, 

Julie Summers, Susan Walker, Lucy Atkins 

SPONSORS, PATRONS & FESTIVAL TEAM 

Operations Manager 

Alex Simmons 

Festival Administrator 

Matt Brown 

We also thank all the voluntary Festival stewards for 

their time and generous support throughout the Festival. 

The Oxford Literary Festival is a non-profit making 

company limited by guarantee. 

Registered office: 

301 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 7NY 

Company number 4339438 

VAT Registration Number GB 807 4855 11 

Oxford Literary Festival Charitable Trust is a company 

limited by guarantee. Registered at 301 Woodstock Road, 

Oxford OX2 7NY. Company number 5435063. 

Charity Registration Number 1109268 

Wren’s Tom Tower of 1682 

5

CHRIST CHURCH 

OXFORD 

Home 

of the 

Festival 

Christ Church is the most magnificent 

and architecturally imposing of all 

the Oxford Colleges. Cardinal’s College 

was founded by Thomas Wolsey - 

Lord Chancellor of England - in 1525. 

Following Wolsey’s fall from power, 

it was re-founded by King Henry VIII in 

1546 - as a unique dual foundation of 

both College and Cathedral. Celebrated 

old members include 13 British Prime 

Minsters (see list opposite), John Locke, 

William Penn, John Wesley, Lewis Carroll 

and W H Auden. 

6

The Great Hall - built by Wolsey, and the venue 

for Festival dinners, talks and tastings, 

the largest Tudor College Hall in either Oxford 

or Cambridge. 

During the English Civil War, Oxford was the 

Royalist capital, with the King and court based 

at Christ Church (1642-1646). King Charles I 

addressed both houses of the Royalist Parliament 

in the Great Hall - which was the focus for all 

court pomp and ceremony. The Hall also 

provided the setting for the Hogwarts Hall in 

J K Rowling’s Harry Potter films. 

Christ Church today is one of the foremost 

Colleges in the University of Oxford - with 

undergraduate and postgraduate students 

from home and overseas and reading a great 

range and variety of academic subjects. It has 

a major contingent of research fellows and 

leading scholars. The Cathedral (and College 

Chapel) serves the diocese of Oxford, as well 

as the student body - and the world-famous 

Christ Church Cathedral Choir reflects a 

tradition established by Cardinal Wolsey, who 

appointed John Taverner as the first organist. 

CHRIST CHURCH 

CHRIST CHURCH HAS EDUCATED 13 PRIME MINISTERS 

Sir Alec Douglas-Home 

Anthony Eden 

Marquess of Salisbury 

Earl of Rosebery 

William Ewart Gladstone 

Earl of Derby 

Sir Robert Peel 

George Canning 

Earl of Liverpool 

Lord Grenville 

Earl of Shelburne 

Duke of Portland 

George Grenville 

7

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29 SUNDAY 

MARCH 2009 

David Starkey 103 

Henry: Virtuous Prince 

4pm / Sheldonian Theatre, Broad Street / 

£6.50-£12.00 

Written for the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s 

accession, the first volume of David Starkey’s two-part 

life of the king has been eagerly awaited for more 

than a decade. ‘There are two Henrys, the one old, 

the other young,’ he explains. Writing with a mixture 

of tabloid verve and original scholarship, peppering 

every page with pungent wit and yet never skimping 

on the detail, David Starkey takes the controversial 

view that Henry’s descent into tyranny began with 

Wolsey’s rise to fame. 

Sponsored by Blackwell 

The Sheldonian Theatre 

Vince Cable MP 104 

The Storm: 

The World Economic Crisis 

and What It Means 

7pm / Town Hall (Main Hall), St Aldates / £8.00 

What are the causes of the world economic crisis and 

how should we respond to the challenges it brings 

Vince Cable, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats 

and the undoubted political star of the economic 

downturn, addresses these problems and shows 

that although the crisis is global, the complacency 

of the British government towards the huge bubble 

in property prices and high levels of personal debt 

has left the country badly exposed. Cable shows that 

an insular response to the current crisis would be a 

disaster, and urges us to resist the siren voices that 

promote isolationism and nationalism as the answer 

to economic woes. 

10 

Portrait of Henry VIII at Christ Church

30 MONDAY 

MARCH 2009 

30 

Hugh Chatwin, 

Jonathan Chatwin 

and Nicholas Murray 

Bruce Chatwin Remembered 

2pm / Bodleian Library, Divinity School, 

Catte Street / £8.00 

213 

2009 marks the twentieth anniversary of Bruce Chatwin’s 

death. In this session, a panel of the author’s friends, 

family and critics will examine Chatwin’s work and 

legacy, discussing the significant contribution of the 

author to post-war British fiction and travel writing. 

The panel will include Hugh Chatwin, Bruce’s brother, 

and the Chatwin scholars Nicholas Murray and 

Jonathan Chatwin, amongst others, and will take 

audience questions at the end of the session. 

Sponsored by Cox & Kings 

Albert Roux interviewed 

by Sue Wilkins 

Meet One of the Most Influential 

Chefs of our Time 

214 

4pm / Oriel Senior Library, Oriel, Oriel Square / £8.00 

Albert Roux, OBE and Legion d’Honneur, is one of 

the world’s most respected and best-loved chefs. 

His life-long passion for the culinary arts began 

when he took up a post as an apprentice patissier 

when he was just 14. He came to the UK when he 

was 18 years old to spend time as a commis de cuisine 

at Nancy Astor’s country home in Clivedon. In1967 he 

and his younger brother Michel opened Le Gavroche, 

Britain’s first Michelin-starred restaurant in London. 

Although Albert Roux has now retired from the kitchen, 

he still has a great deal to offer. His appearance at the 

Festival provides us all with the chance to meet one 

of the most influential chefs of the age. 

MONDAY MARCH 2009 

Orwell vs Dickens – 

Who is the Greater Writer 

Chaired by Francine Stock 

203 

Josephine Hart 204 

The Truth about Love 

Jenny Hartley and 

Hardeep Singh Kohli 

4pm / Garden Marquee, Christ Church / £7.50 

In 1939, George Orwell composed a famous essay 

about Charles Dickens. “When one reads any strongly 

individual piece of writing, one has the impression 

of seeing a face somewhere behind the page,” wrote 

Orwell. But in this contest between two of Britain’s 

greatest writers, which face will fit Both Orwell and 

Dickens will have one advocate speaking up for them 

in this debate – and you, the audience, will get to vote 

on which is the greatest author. 

For Orwell: Hardeep Singh Kohli 

(writer and broadcaster) 

For Dickens: Jenny Hartley 

(author, Dickens and the House of Fallen Women) 

Chaired by Francine Stock (BBC Radio 4) 

4pm / Blue Boar Marquee, Christ Church / £7.50 

A young man shields his terrible wounds from 

his mother; a husband believes he can love his 

grief-stricken wife back to life; a young girl puts her 

own life on hold until her family can find their way 

back from blinding pain; a man surrenders to the 

helplessness of obsessive love. Set in Ireland, this 

brilliant, intense novel by the author of Damage is 

about a family named O’Hara who chose to remain 

in the place of their loss, and the stranger from 

Germany who has run from his. 

11

30 MONDAY 

MARCH 2009 

David J. Hand 206 

Paul Quarrie 211 

Statistics: A Very Short Introduction 

5.15pm (10 minutes) / Blackwell Festival Bookshop 

Meadows Marquee, Christ Church / Free 

Statistics has evolved into an exciting discipline 

which uses deep theory and powerful software to 

shed light on the world around us: from clinical trials 

in medicine, to economics, sociology and countless 

other subjects vital to understanding modern life. 

Join David Hand as he briefly explores and explains 

how statistics works today. 

Donna Leon and 

Patrick Neate 

“From Heart or Head” 

Amit Chaudhuri, 

Kamila Shamsie 

Chaired by Elleke Boehmer 


201 


In this intriguing talk, two very popular novelists talk 

about their very different ways of dealing with the 

topic of location. Living in Venice, Donna Leon uses 

all her love and knowledge of that city in her popular 

detective novels; Patrick Neate, on the other hand, 

had never been to New Orleans before breathing life 

into the city in his Twelve Bar Blues. Why do some 

authors choose places close to their heart while 

others prefer backgrounds imagined in their head 


208 

How are we defined – politically, historically, artistically, 

through our relationships, our place of birth, the journeys 

through our lives Amit Chaudhuri, author of The 

Immortals, a haunting and meditative new novel on the 

refrains and relationships that define us, discusses 

the issue with Kamila Shamsie, author of Burnt Shadows, 

a powerful, sweeping epic following intersecting lives 

of people from different nations and cultures. Chaired by 

Elleke Boehmer, novelist, critic and cultural historian. 

12 

Three Oxford Libraries 

6pm / Oriel Senior Library, Oriel, Oriel Square / 

£8.00 

The three colleges which almost join each other in 

Merton Street are Merton, Corpus Christi, and Christ 

Church. Founded respectively in 1264, 1517 and 

1524, they all have important old libraries, which, 

although similar in some ways, differ enormously. 

However what they all do is demonstrate very 

clearly the influence which individuals have brought 

to bear in the creation of these remarkably rich 

collections, and how their books illustrate and mirror 

the intellectual interests and concerns of certain 

periods: the Middle Ages, the age of humanism, and 

the early eighteenth century. 

Paul Quarrie of Maggs Brothers has been intimately 

connected with the dispersal of the celebrated library 

of the Earls of Macclesfield at Shirburn Castle. He 

is at present at work on a book on early eighteenthcentury 

book collecting and collectors. 

James Attlee interviewed 

by Peter Guttridge 

Isolarion: 

A Different Oxford Journey 

207 

7pm / Blackwell, 48-51 Broad Street / £7.50 

In this scholarly, engaging and thoroughly diverting 

trip up Oxford’s Cowley Road, James Attlee mixes 

vivid accounts of everyday life – in the road’s pubs, 

porn-shops and homes – with powerful allegorical 

reflections on the connections between past and 

present, time and space, and high and low culture. 

Drawing inspiration from sources ranging from 

Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy to 

contemporary artists, this is a charming and 

companionable guide capable of revealing the 

extraordinary embedded in the everyday.

30 

Dinner In Honour of 

Baroness P.D. James 

in the Presence of HRH 

The Duke Of Kent 

212 

7pm / Hall, Christ Church / £75.00 (includes reception, 

three-course dinner, including wine) / Dress code: 

Black Tie 

The Great Hall of Christ Church will be the venue for 

a Black Tie Dinner in honour of P.D. James, who will 

be presented with the first Honorary Fellowship of 

the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival in recognition 

of her outstanding contribution to the crime novel. 

Born in Oxford in 1920, Baroness James has published 

18 novels, and been the recipient of over a dozen 

major prizes and awards in Britain and overseas. 

A former Governor of the BBC, Baroness James has 

been awarded seven Honorary Degrees, and she 

chaired the Booker Prize panel of judges in 1987. 


Ruth Padel 210 

Darwin: A Life in Poems 


Ruth Padel uses her skill as a prize-winning poet 

to give us a remarkable memoir of Darwin, her 

great-great grandfather. In this new sequence of 

poems Ruth Padel follows the development of the 

great scientist’s professional thought, and the drama 

of the discovery of evolution. She also imagines the 

fluctuating emotions within Darwin, the private man 

and tender father. The result is a powerful, moving 

and original tribute to her famous forbear. 


Kate Atkinson interviewed 

by Daniel Mallory 

202 

MONDAY MARCH 2009 

When Will There Be Good News 

Nigel Warburton 205 

Free Speech: 

A Very Short Introduction 



How important is free speech Should it be defended 

at any cost Or should we set limits on what can and 

cannot be said Nigel Warburton offers a lively and 

thought-provoking introduction to these questions, 

exploring the traditional philosophical arguments as 

well as the practical issues and controversies facing 

society today. 


Kate Atkinson brings her acclaimed fictional 

detective, Jackson Brodie, back to solve yet another 

crime in this psychologically astute new thriller 

from the author of Case Histories and One Good 

Turn. When Will There Be Good News begins in 

a remote corner of rural Devon when six-year-old 

Joanna is a little girl lost, and the only survivor of 

an unspeakable crime. Thirty years later, Andrew 

Decker, the man convicted of that crime, is released 

from prison and immediately vanishes from sight. 

Has he gone in search of Joanna 

Sponsored by The Macdonald Randolph Hotel 

13

Christ Church 

OXFORD 

Friday 25 – 

Sunday 27 

September 2009 

HENRY 

VIII 

1 5 0 9 - 2 0 0 9 

A weekend celebration 

of the man who changed 

England for ever. 

For further information please contact: 

Henry VIII 

The Steward’s Office 

Christ Church OXFORD OX1 1DP 

Tel: 01865 286848/286877 

Fax: 01865 286328 

Email: henryVIII@chch.ox.ac.uk 

www.chch.ox.ac.uk

CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD CONFLICT CONFERENCE 2009 

The Making of the 

Modern Middle East 

Sunday 6 September – Friday 11 September 2009 

Christ Church, Oxford is home to the autumn 

series of conferences on the theme of 

conflict. This, the seventh event in this well 

established series, is run in collaboration 

with the University of Oxford’s renowned 

Middle East Centre, and takes as its theme 

the enduring and apparently intractable 

confrontations of this region. 

Christ Church 

OXFORD 


The Making of the Modern Middle East 


Christ Church OxFOrd Ox1 1dp 

Tel: 01865 286848/286877 

Fax: 01865 286328 

Email: conflict@chch.ox.ac.uk 


31 TUESDAY 

MARCH 2009 

Grevel Lindop 

342 

Jane Draycott and 

Fiona Sampson 

338 

Travels on the Dance Floor 

Two Poets 

10am / Festival Room 1, Christ Church / £7.50 

When poet and biographer Grevel Lindop took up 

salsa dancing in rainy Manchester, he thought he was 

just keeping a New Year’s resolution to get some 

exercise. However before long this adrenaline-pumping, 

Afro-Latin-American dance style turned from mere 

exercise into a passion that took him through the 

streets, clubs, bars and dance halls of Cuba, 

Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Puerto Rico the 

Dominican Republic and Miami. The story of his 

adventures and misadventures on this amazing 

journey make a spellbinding read. 


Robert Gildea 

Children of the Revolution: 

The French, 1799-1914 

10am / Blue Boar Marquee, Christ Church / £7.50 

A compelling look at the longs shadows cast by the 

Bastille, the guillotine and Napoleon over the 19th and 

early 20th centuries. In his masterly reassessment 

of France’s stormy post-revolutionary history, Robert 

Gildea, Professor of Modern History at Oxford 

University, introduces us to a country that many 

of us may have difficulty recognising, one wherein 

many regions French was often the minority language, 

and where until well into the 19th century some of 

the larger cities were effectively independent states. 

“Sober, concise and masterly” – Sunday Times. 


307 


When she first left school at 16, Fiona Sampson 

initially studied the violin, working as a soloist and 

chamber musician until her mid-twenties. Poetry 

came later, but she went on to win the Newdigate 

prize and gain a PhD in the philosophy of language. 

In 2005 she became the first female editor of Poetry 

Review for 60 years. She admits to having enjoyed 

being a professional performer, but she was not a 

composer - poetry enables her to ‘say more’. 

Jane Draycott is a UK-based poet with a particular 

interest in sound art and collaborative work. Her 

audio work has won her several awards, including 

BBC Radio 3’s Poem-for-Radio, and a London Sound 

Art Award. She is currently working on a contemporary 

version of the medieval dream-vision Pearl. 

Fiona Sampson and Jane Draycott come together to 

read their poems. 

David Whyte 

The Three Marriages 

Reimagining Work, Self & 

Relationship 

304 

10am-12pm / McKenna Room, Christ Church / £20.00 

Each of us must sustain three marriages in our lives: 

the marriage with our work and society, the marriage 

- official or not - with our partner, and the deeper 

marriage with our emerging selves. To choose between 

these relationships is to impoverish them all. Work-life 

balance means creating a real conversation, a live 

frontier between all three commitments that enriches 

each area of our lives, allowing it to be simultaneously 

troubled and emboldened by the others. Join David 

Whyte for a poetic and compelling investigation of 

these important commitments of a human life. 

16

31 

Tom Holland 

Millennium 

310 


Written by the highly acclaimed author of Rubicon 

and Persian Fire, Millennium is a stunning panoramic 

account of the two centuries on either side of the 

apocalyptic year 1000. This was the age of Canute, 

William the Conqueror and Pope Gregory VII, of 

Vikings, monks and serfs, of the earliest castles 

and the invention of knighthood, and the primal 

conflict between church and state. The story of how 

the distinctive culture of Europe was forged out of 

the convulsions of these extraordinary times is as 

fascinating and momentous as any in history. 


Chris Mullin 

A View from the Foothills: 

The Diaries of Chris Mullin 

328 

12pm/ Garden Marquee, Christ Church/ £7.50 

‘It is said that failed politicians make the best diarists. 

In which case I am in with a chance.’ So says Labour 

MP and Chris Mullin, whose candid, irreverent and 

acerbic account of life inside the Parliamentary goldfish 

bowl shows us government from the bottom up, in 

all its chaotic, farcical glory. In his 22 years as an MP, 

Mullin has not been shy of criticizing his own party, 

and he carries that spirit through to these diaries, 

started in 1994, which read like Alan Clark crossed 

with Yes Minister. 

TUESDAY MARCH 2009 

Steven Parissien 

Interiors: The Home Since 1700 

322 

12pm / Festival Room 1, Christ Church / £7.50 

Domestic interiors have changed hugely since 1700. 

The former Director of Education at the Prince’s 

Foundation for the Built Environment, Steven 

Parissien is perfectly placed to discuss those 

changes. Ranging over both Western Europe and 

North America, and dealing not just with the grand 

houses of the aristocracy, but the homes too of the 

merchants and middle classes, he charts the nature 

of those changes, and in particular the impact of 

industrialisation on the way we live indoors. 

Sponsored by Purcell Miller Tritton 

William Bynum 

The History of Medicine: 


324 


Meadows Marquee, Christ Church 

William Bynum briefly explores the history of Western 

medicine, examining the key turning points, discoveries 

and controversies in its rich history, from classical 

times to the present. 

17

31 TUESDAY 

MARCH 2009 

James Woudhuysen and 

Joe Kaplinsky 

311 

Energise! 


James Woudhuysen and Joe Kaplinsky are leading 

experts in the field of social responsibility and global 

environmental affairs. Their aim is to explain why 

the future of energy is too important to leave to 

politicians and rock stars. This pocket-sized book will 

enable the reader to debate these issues confidently. 

It is a concise, provocative and authoritative aid 

for everyday consumers to the issues surrounding 

global warming and the future of the world’s energy. 

Vernon Bogdanor, 

Kenan Malik and 

Ziauddin Sardar 

Chaired by Jenny Cuffe 

315 

The Election of Barack Obama 

– Could it Happen in the UK 

Helen Dunmore 

interviewed by Jem Poster 

Counting the Stars 

333 

2pm / Mckenna Room, Christ Church / £7.50 

Set in Rome under the rule of Caesar during one 

white hot summer, Counting the Stars is the love 

story that binds the poet Catullus to his older 

married mistress, Clodia. 

Living at the heart of sophisticated, brittle and brutal 

Roman society at the time of Pompey, Catullus 

is obsessed with Clodia, the Lesbia of his most 

passionate poems. Their Rome is a city of extremes, 

and their relationship one of the most intense, 

passionate, tormented and candid in history. In 

love and in hate, their story exposes the beauty and 

terrors of Roman life in the late Republic. Helen 

Dunmore talks to poet and novelist Jem Poster. 

2pm / Newman Rooms, St Aldates / £7.50 

Thirty years ago Margaret Thatcher became the Western 

world’s first female leader, but what are the obstacles 

to the election of the UK’s first non-white Prime Minister 

Does the UK have more limited social mobility than 

the US, where African Americans are more powerful 

and influential, or is racism a more fundamental force 

in the UK These and other questions will be addressed 

by Vemon Bogdanor, Professor of Government at 

Oxford University and one of Britain’s foremost 

constitutional experts, Kenan Malik, broadcaster and 

author of Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides are Wrong 

in the Race Debate, and Ziauddin Sardar, cultural 

critic and author of Will America Change Chaired 

by Jenny Cuffe, BBC journalist for Radio 4 and the 

World Service. 

18

31 

Andrew Lambert 

Admirals 

306 


Britain achieved unparalleled global pre-eminence 

through one critical advantage - her naval power. 

While other nations looked to armies for their security, 

Britain looked to the sea and for over three hundred 

years the Royal Navy dominated the oceans. Andrew 

Lambert, described as ‘one of the most eminent 

naval historians of our age’, celebrates the rare 

talents of the men who shaped the most successful 

fighting force in world history. From the Armada to the 

Napoleonic Wars to the Second World War, he follows 

the careers of eleven men who created, refined, and 

reconfigured the art of the admiral. 


Martin Gayford 

Constable in Love: Love, 

Landscape, Money and 

the Making of a Great Painter 

321 


When John Constable fell in love with Maria Bicknell, 

he was a painter without sufficient funds to support 

the daughter of a prominent London lawyer. It 

was seven long, difficult years before they could 

be married, but in that time he was to become 

one of the greatest painters of the 19th century. 

Martin Gayford writes superbly about Constable’s 

early years as a painter, using John and Maria’s 

correspondence to provide the lively backdrop to a 

story that includes lover’s tiffs, royal scandals and 

rivalries at the Royal Academy. 

Sponsored by Belgravia Gallery 


John Guy and 

Leanda de Lisle 

309 

Robert Harris interviewed 

by Peter Kemp 

The Ghost 

329 


The book is called The Ghost and the phantom in 

question could be a slippery, empty former PM. Or 

it could be a loyal Scottish chief of staff who bites 

the dust on page one. But more likely the ghost is 

the narrator – the PM’s ghost writer, a guileless 

political ingenue contracted to ghost the former 

PM’s memoirs for an agreeably large sum of money. 

Robert Harris’s latest thriller is about a former 

British Labour Prime Minister out of the job for a year 

or so and now accused of war crimes. He talks with 

Sunday Times Fiction Editor Peter Kemp. 

Two Great Tudor Family Dramas 


Acclaimed historians John Guy, author of A Daughter’s 

Love: Thomas and Margaret More, and Leanda de 

Lisle, author of The Sisters Who Would be Queen, 

join forces to discuss their latest works. The story 

of Sir Thomas More’s defiance of Henry VIII is 

one of the most familiar in English history, but by 

concentrating on More’s family, particularly his 

adored daughter Margaret, John Guy humanises 

him in a way that not even Paul Scofield’s movie 

performance can match. Leanda de Lisle’s history 

gives us the dramatic untold story of the three tragic 

Grey sisters, all heirs to the Tudor throne, all victims 

to their royal blood. 


19

t r a v e l 

e x p e r i e n c e d


W I T H H I S T O R Y 

Cox & Kings organises the finest small group 

tours, private journeys and tailor-made 

travel to some of the world’s most 

fascinating destinations. Our journeys range 

from the luxurious to the adventurous, 

usually combining the two. Cox & Kings 

travellers benefit from the planning expertise 

of our specialist tour consultants, plus 

the knowledge and support of the very 

best guides, drivers and local representatives 

around the world. 

Our range of historical holidays 

includes destinations throughout the Indian 

Subcontinent, the Middle East, the Far East, 

Latin America, Africa, the Antipodes and 

Europe, plus special interest expert-led 

programmes focussing on art treasures, and 

gardens in association with the RHS. 




31 TUESDAY 

MARCH 2009 

1984 and Civil 

Liberties Debate 

318 

Carol Drinkwater 

326 

Shami Chakrabarti 


This debate, marking the 60th anniversary of George 

Orwell’s 1984, asks how the novel can inform the present 

discussion about civil liberties. In an age of terrorist 

threats, government databases and social networking, 

it is increasingly difficult to avoid references to 

Orwell’s classic satire on the totalitarian state and the 

surveillance society. ‘There was of course no way 

of knowing whether you were being watched at any 

given moment. How often, or on what system, the 

Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was 

guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched 

everybody all the time. You had to live - did live, from 

habit that became instinct - in the assumption that 

every sound you made was overheard, and, except 

in darkness, every movement scrutinized.’ Shami 

Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty since 2003 joins 

speakers to be confirmed. 

The Olive Tree: A Personal 

Journey Through the 

Mediterranean Olive Groves 


Carol Drinkwater has already charted the ups and 

downs of life on her Provençal olive farm in her 

much-loved ‘Olive’ memoirs. But with the farm now 

facing severe challenges - attack by a virulent pest, 

the premature ripening of the trees’ fruits - Carol sets 

out on a colourful and evocative Mediterranean wide 

journey to learn more about the history and 

development of the olive tree and different ways of 

cultivation. The journey for a single woman is often 

hazardous, but the stories she has brought back 

are memorable. 


Ann Leslie 

323 

Killing My Own Snakes: A Memoir 

Matthew Hollis 

Ground Water 

343 


Matthew Hollis’s first full-length collection, Ground 

Water, was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize for Poetry, 

the Guardian First Book Award and the Forward 

Prize for Best First Collection. He is co-editor of 101 

Poems Against War and Strong Words: Modern Poets 

on Modern Poetry and works as Commissioning 

Editor, Poetry at Faber and Faber. In 2005–6, he was 

Poet-in-Residence at the Wordsworth Trust. His 

biography of Edward Thomas will be published by 

Faber in 2010. Matthew will read from his work. 


The Reuters/Press Gazette Newspaper Hall of Fame 

listed Ann Leslie as one of the forty most influential 

journalists of our time. She has reported on some 

of the most dramatic events of the late 20th century, 

from the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev to 

Nelson Mandela’s walk to freedom, and has met 

everyone from Steve McQueen and David Niven to 

James Mason and Salvador Dali. Always opinionated, 

admired right across the political spectrum, she talks 

here about her remarkable life and career, and the 

epic events she has borne witness to. 

22

31 

Ritchie Robertson 

Kafka: A Very Short Introduction 

5.15pm / Blackwell Festival Bookshop, Meadows 

Marquee, Christ Church 

Franz Kafka is among the most intriguing and 

influential writers of the twentieth century. During 

his lifetime he worked as a civil servant and published 

only a handful of short stories, his most famous 

novels only appearing after his death. Join Ritchie 

Robertson as he gives a brief portrait of this 

fascinating author and helps us make sense of his 

absorbing and perplexing work. 

John Harris 

Gin Tasting 

325 

5.30pm-7pm / Hall, Christ Church / £12.00 

Gin, with its fragrant and colourful history, has made 

a long journey to become Britain’s favourite spirit 

aperitif. Take a break from the Festival’s literary 

treats and join John Harris, Steward of Christ Church, 

who leads this tasting of five different gins, all of 

which may surprise you with their difference, diversity 

and restorative qualities! 

Sponsored by Plymouth Gin and 

the Gin & Vodka Association 

303 

Richard Holmes 

interviewed by John Carey 

301 

The Age of Wonder: How the 

Romantic Generation Discovered 

the Beauty and Terror of Science 


In his first major work for over a decade, Richard 

Holmes, prize-winning biographer of Coleridge 

and Shelley, explores the scientific ferment that 

swept across Britain at the end of 18th century. 

Taking us from Joseph Banks to Humphry Davy, 

Holmes proposes a radical vision of science before 

Darwin, exploring the earliest ideas of deep time 

and deep space, the creative rivalry with the French 

scientific establishment, and the startling impact 

of discovery on great writers and poets such as 

Mary Shelley, Coleridge, Byron and Keats. With his 

trademark sense of the human drama, he shows 

how great ideas and experiments are born out of 

lonely passion, how scientific discoveries (and errors) 

are made, how intense relationships are forged 

and broken by research, and how religious faith 

and scientific truth collide. Richard Holmes talks to 

Sunday Times Chief Critic, John Carey. 



Killcanon Building 

23

31 TUESDAY 

MARCH 2009 

Adam Foulds interviewed 

by Andrew Holgate 

305 

The Broken Word 

6pm / McKenna Room, Christ Church / £7.50 

Adam Foulds is one of Britain’s most exciting young 

writers. Winner of last year’s Sunday Times Young 

Writer of the Year Award, he also received this 

year’s Costa prize for poetry for this remarkable 

narrative poem, the taut and brutal story of a young 

man’s progress through the Mau Mau uprisings in 

Kenya in the 1950s. With language and imagery that 

feels utterly contemporary and a subject matter that 

seems almost Homeric, the book shows civilisation 

breaking down in a nightmare of rape and murder, 

terror and tension. It is a remarkable achievement. 

As well as discussing this work, Adam will also 

read extracts from his forthcoming publication, The 

Quickening Maze. Here he talks to Sunday Times 

Literary Editor Andrew Holgate. 

Iain Pears 

Stone’s Fall 

339 


In his most dazzling and brilliant novel since An Instance 

of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears tells the story of John 

Stone, financier and armaments manufacturer, a man 

so wealthy that in the years before World War One 

he was able to manipulate markets, industries and 

indeed whole countries and continents. 

A panoramic novel with a riveting mystery at its heart, 

Stone’s Fall is a quest to discover how and why John 

Stone dies, falling out of a window at his London home. 

Clive Aslet, Debbie Dance 

and Justin Cartwright 

The Oxford Times’ First Annual 

Debate on the Future of Oxford 

as a World-class City 

316 


Oxford’s landscape, architecture and buildings, 

its academic heritage, status as an international 

publishing centre, and the enduring influence of its 

artists, writers and thinkers have all contributed 

to it being a ‘World-class’ City. But does it meet 

the expectations of well-travelled visitors when 

they arrive at the railway station or when they see 

burger vans in front of great historic buildings Do 

all communities engage with Oxford and see it as 

their own community What makes a ‘World-class’ 

City, and will Oxford deserve such an accolade in the 

future Clive Aslet, Editor of Country Life and author 

of The English House, Debbie Dance, Director of the 

Oxford Preservation Trust, and Justin Cartwright, 

Booker shortlisted writer and author of The Secret 

Garden: Oxford Revisited, discuss whether the myth 

outstrips the reality. 



24

31 

Anne Chisholm 

and Paul Levy 

Frances Partridge: 

The Biography: A Life 

320 


Frances Partridge, one of the great diarists of 

the 20th century, was also the last survivor of the 

Bloomsbury group. Before she died in 2004, aged 

103, she collaborated with Anne Chisholm on her 

biography, the story of how she found herself, in 

the 1920s and 1930s, caught up in a group of friends 

– Woolfs, Bells and Stracheys – already renowned 

for their creativity and unconventional private lives. 

She lived long enough to chronicle them all, and to 

come through personal tragedy to a productive old 

age. Anne Chisholm, author of previous biographies 

of Nancy Cunard, Lord Beaverbrook and Rumer 

Godden, and the current chair of the Royal Society 

of Literature, will discuss this remarkable woman 

with Paul Levy, editor of Lytton Strachey’s letters 

and himself a friend of Frances Partridge. 

Richard Dowden 

Africa: Altered States, 

Ordinary Miracles 

Clock face on Tom Tower 

335 


Gillian Slovo 

Black Orchids 

327 


When the genteelly impoverished and rebellious 

Evelyn marries the charming Emil, scion of a rich 

and privileged Sinhalese family, she thinks that her 

dream of a life in England can now come true. But 

this novel is set in England during the 1950s and no 

matter how hard Evelyn wishes, England will not 

take kindly to strangers, especially families who are 

half black and half white. Written by the author of the 

Orange prize-shortlisted Ice Road, this is a profound 

and moving novel about outsiders, race and Britain 

and a search to feel at home in your own skin. Gillian 

Slovo is the daughter of celebrated South African 

activists Joe Slovo and Ruth First. 


Director of the Royal African Society, Richard Dowden 

has been Africa Editor of both The Independent and 

The Economist. Over a period of 35 years, he has 

been present at each of the continent’s major crises, 

and has also witnessed the warmth, wisdom and 

joy of the people and the diversity of their habits, 

attitudes and purposes. 

What Dowden has seen and experienced in Africa 

has transformed his views of the continent. Africa: 

Altered States, Ordinary Miracles enables us to see 

and understand it in a new light too. 

25

Corpus Christi College 

Jesus College 

Pembroke College 

28 March – 3 April 2009 

Creative 

Writing 

Programme 

– WRITING FICTION 

– WRITING POETRY 

– WRITING FOR 

YOUNG READERS 

www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk

31 TUESDAY 

MARCH 2009 

31 

Raymond Blanc 

interviewed by Sue Wilkins 

A Taste of My Life 

302 


From his days as a young boy collecting frogs’ legs in 

rural France, to his career as a prodigiously talented 

chef cooking at the very highest levels of cuisine, 

Raymond Blanc’s passion for food has remained 

constant. His life has been determined by a steady 

search for culinary perfection. Now, for the first 

time, he tells the story of that search and shares 

the secrets he has learnt along the way. He also 

gives his thoughts about where food is going 

today, and makes a passionate appeal for a more 

sustainable cuisine. 


Portrait of W H Auden 

Virginia Nicholson and 

Julie Summers 

319 

Women in War’s Aftermath 

I write as a serial attendee at literary festivals 

around the globe… The Sunday Times Oxford 

Literary Festival has established itself as 

one of the most charismatic and hospitable 

festivals in the world: in one stroke it places 

Oxford at the centre of a living book culture, 

it places the Sunday Times as a dynamic 

force in the literary culture, and it provides 

a world-class opportunity for sponsors and 

writers to increase their visibility to very 

select, intelligent and most often sell-out 

audiences in the very best of circumstances. 

Great literary festivals are apt to contribute 

largely to the cultures they describe, and I 

can tell you that the Sunday Times Oxford 

Literary Festival has become an essential 

date in the calendar and a wonderful place 

on the map. 

Andrew O'Hagan 


Are women the main victims of war Two world wars 

left millions of women bereft of husbands, sons, 

sweethearts - and their future. In Singled Out, 

Virginia Nicholson explores how two million women 

survived without men after the First World War. Julie 

Summers, in Stranger in the House, considers how 

women coped when the men came home after the 

Second World War. Together they will explore the 

similarities and differences of the post-war worlds 

inherited by women in 1918 and 1945. 

27

DINNER 

Monday 25 May 2009 

AT FORTNUM & MASON 

181 PICCADILLY, LONDON W1 

Simon Schama 

talks about his book 

The American Future 

– A History 

Join us at the celebrated and elegant St. James’s Restaurant on the 

fourth floor of Fortnum and Mason for a memorable champagne 

reception and three course dinner with wines. 

Tickets are priced at £95 and reservations can be made by calling our 

reservation line 0845 602 5694. Places are strictly limited for this 

exclusive event, and we advise early reservation to be assured of a ticket. 

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE. 

SPONSORED BY COX & KINGS 

Information on the autumn dinner at Fortnum and Mason will be available in May

CONFERENCE OXFORD 

The Colleges and University of Oxford provide outstanding facilities and great 

value for residential and non-residential conferences and celebratory dinners. 

Choose from over 250 meeting rooms for events 

ranging from one to one interviews to meetings for 1000.With banquets in 

ancient and modern dining halls and over 6000 bedrooms. 

Call Conference Oxford for a free venue search 

amongst the Colleges and University to find the most appropriate venue for 

your next conference. Commission is paid to conference agents. 

CONFERENCE OXFORD 

Telephone: 01865 276190 

email: conference.oxford@univ.ox.ac.uk 

www.conference-oxford.co.uk

1 WEDNESDAY 

APRIL 2009 

View of Tom Quad Christ Church with Cathedral and Wolsey’s Great Hall 

Sheila Dillon, Anne Dolamore 

and Felicity Lawrence 

442 

Lindsey Hilsum and 

Richard Dowden 

428 

The Power of Food Literature 

China and Africa Debate 

10am / Mckenna Room, Christ Church / £7.50 

In an age in which food media is dominated by light 

entertainment and the cult of celebrity, is there a 

role for serious food literature Are food writers 

able to challenge vested interests and help heal our 

dysfunctional relationship with food 

Oxford Gastronomica, a dedicated centre for the 

study of food, drink and related culture based at 

Oxford Brookes University, invites you to join Sheila 

Dillon of the BBC Radio 4 Food Programme, Felicity 

Lawrence of The Guardian, and Anne Dolamore, 

proprietor of Grub Street Publishing, in a discussion 

about the impact of investigative and campaigning 

literature on our relationship with food. 


Are we witnessing a new scramble for Africa The 

original scramble in the late 19th century saw a race 

between European powers for territory on the continent, 

and power and prestige everywhere. Today, China, the 

rising global power, funds infrastructure projects 

across Africa. Film director Steven Spielberg withdrew 

as an artistic advisor to the Beijing Olympics over 

China’s role in Darfur. Chinese businessmen populate 

karaoke bars from Luanda to Lagos. How are China’s 

actions different from old-fashioned imperialism Hear 

Lindsey Hilsum, Channel Four News International 

Editor, and Richard Dowden, author of Africa: Altered 

States, Ordinary Miracles, discuss the issues. 

30

1 

Adam Phillips and 

Barbara Taylor 

On Kindness 

409 


Psychoanalyst Adam Phillips and historian Barbara 

Taylor, who is specifically a historian of ideas, explore 

the concept of kindness, its status among human 

attributes and the value that has been ascribed 

to it over the years. The pleasures of kindness 

have been well known since the dawn of Western 

thought. Part of the purpose of this book is to 

reinstate kindness as something necessary both 

to our personal happiness and our communal 

well-being. Adam Phillips and Barbara Taylor argue 

that the affectionate life – a life lived in instinctive 

sympathetic identification with the vulnerabilities 

and attractions of others – is the one we should all 

be inclined to live. 

Julie Wheelwright 417 

Kate Summerscale 

402 

interviewed by Andrew Holgate 

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher 

12pm / Hall, Christ Church / £7.50 

Winner of the 2008 Samuel Johnson prize, Kate 

Summerscale’s gripping true-life historical crime 

investigation centres around the mysterious murder 

in 1860 of four-year-old Francis Saville Kent, who 

had been snatched from his nursemaid’s bedroom at 

night and was discovered the next morning with his 

throat cut. The subsequent investigation by Scotland 

Yard’s ‘Jack’ Whicher gripped the nation and helped 

launch detective fiction. ‘Summerscale’s account 

of the murder and Whicher’s unravelling of 

the clues is, on one level, as suspenseful as the 

fictions the case spawned. But the book . . . is 

also a fascinating social history, exploring 

issues of class, gender and Victorian attitudes 

to crime’ - Sunday Times. Kate Summerscale talks 

to Sunday Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate. 


WEDNESDAY APRIL 2009 

Writing your Family 

Story Workshop 

10.30-3.30pm / Bayne Room, Christ Church / £20.00 

What does it take to turn your family research material 

into a fascinating and readable story In this workshop, 

Julie Wheelwright, MA course director in non-fiction 

creative writing at City University and an award-winning 

writer, will work with a small group to help them 

construct their own stories and give practical advice 

about the material they have collected. 

31

1 WEDNESDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Ilan Pappé, Denis MacShane, 

David Aaronovitch 

421 

Oliver James and 

Penny Garner 

430 

Anti-Semitism 

- Alive and Well in Europe 


Many people think anti-semitism is something that 

happened in pre-war Europe, but is anti-semitism 

being fired up once again into something broad-based 

and virulent How is the conflict in Palestine adding 

to this worrying trend This lively discussion will 

involve IIan Pappé, who spoke out for Palestinians 

in his book Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Denis 

MacShane, Labour MP for Rotherham and author of 

Globalising Hatred, and David Aaronovitch, Orwell 

prize-winning Times journalist, broadcaster and 

author, whose Voodoo Histories: The Role of the 

Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History will be 

published in May. 

Contented Dementia 


When Terry Pratchett, Britain’s bestselling fiction 

writer, announced he was in the early stages of 

Alzheimer’s, he described his ailment as ‘like 

stripping away your living self a bit at a time…a nasty 

disease, surrounded by shadows and small, largely 

unseen tragedies’. ‘Until I met my mother-in-law, 

Penny Garner,’ says Oliver James, best-selling 

author of Affluenza and Contented Dementia, ‘I would 

have assumed the same. Today, I know that the disability 

created by dementia does not have to be hellish, that 

it truly is possible to create well-being for the rest of 

the person’s life if you use her method for managing it.’ 

In this fascinating discussion, Oliver talks to Penny 

Garner, founder of the Alzheimer’s charity SPECAL, 

about a radical new method already adopted by 17,000 

people since the publication of Contented Dementia. 

David Constantine and 

Michael Schmidt 

449 

Two Poets 


The award-winning poet David Constantine is a Fellow 

of Queen’s College, Oxford whose writing has a strong 

moral component. The mood of his poems is both 

tender and desperate. 

Michael Schmidt is Professor of Poetry at the University 

of Glasgow. Founder and editorial director of Carcanet 

Press, he has also been editor of Poetry Nation 

Review for more than 30 years. His own poetry 

offers a generally attractive and accessible reading 

experience, albeit a highly literary one, with ‘no grand 

gestures’. He writes variously in rhyming forms and 

blank verse about love, landscape, memory and 

words. His descriptions can be of places, reveries or 

extended metaphors. 

David Constantine and Michael Schmidt come together 

to read a selection of their published poems. 

Guy Fraser-Sampson 410 

Major Benjy 


Guy Fraser-Sampson’s welcome addition to the 

hugely popular Mapp and Lucia series finds Major 

Flint in need of a new servant, whilst Miss Mapp is 

in need of a summer tenant and Quaint Irene is in 

need of a pint of beer. Romantic entanglements stir 

the still waters of Tilling society and cunning plots 

are laid. 

Best-selling author Guy Fraser-Sampson, a 

lifelong Mapp and Lucia fan, superbly captures 

the literary style of the original series, and offers 

a new depth of understanding for many of Tilling’s 

best-loved characters. 

32

1 

Steve Jones 431 

The Galapagos in the 

Garden of England 


The Origin of Species is the most famous book in 

science but its stature tends to obscure the genius 

of Charles Darwin’s other works. Darwin wrote six 

million words, in nineteen books and innumerable 

letters, on topics as different as dogs, barnacles, 

insect-eating plants, orchids, earthworms, apes and 

human emotion. Together, they laid the foundations 

of modern biology. In this fascinating talk based 

on his highly acclaimed book The Galapagos in the 

Garden of England, Steve Jones explores the full 

range of Darwin’s achievement, and brings his work 

right up to date. 


Russell Stannard 

Relativity: 


Chimamanda Ngozi 

Adichie 

433 



Einstein’s theory of relativity shattered the world of 

physics - replacing Newtonian ideas of space and 

time with bizarre and counterintuitive conclusions: 

a world of slowing clocks and stretched space, 

black holes and curved space-time. Join Russell 

Stannard as he explores and explains the theory in 

an accessible and understandable way. 

443 


Elizabeth Jane Howard 403 

Love All 


Author of Falling and the Cazalet Chronicles, 

Elizabeth Jane Howard is one of our most popular 

writers. The former wife of Kingsley Amis, she has 

also known some of the most celebrated writers 

of the 20th century – everyone from Laurie Lee to 

Arthur Koestler, Cecil Day-Lewis, Cyril Connolly, 

Ken Tynan and Olivia Manning have come into her 

life at one time or another. Set in the 1960s against 

the backdrop of a festival of the arts, her first 

new novel for nine years offers an absorbing 

portrait of family rivalry and satisfyingly complex 

intertwining relationships. 

The Thing Around Your Neck 

2pm / Newman Rooms, St Aldate’s / £7.50 

The twelve stories in this brilliant collection straddle 

the cultures of Nigeria and the West. Orange 

Prize- winning author of Purple Hibiscus and Half 

of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie creates 

characters battling with the responsibilities of 

modern life, a world in which identity is too often 

compromised. The title story depicts the choking 

loneliness of a Nigerian girl who moves to an 

America that turns out to be nothing like the country 

she expected; though falling in love brings her 

desires nearly within reach, a death in her homeland 

forces her to re-examine them. Searing and profound, 

suffused with beauty, sorrow and longing, this 

collection is a resounding confirmation of Chimamanda 

Ngozi Adichie’s prodigious storytelling powers. 

33

t r a v e l 

e x p e r i e n c e d


W I T H C U L T U R E 

Cox & Kings organises the finest small group 

tours, private journeys and tailor-made travel to 

some of the world’s most fascinating destinations. 

Our journeys range from the luxurious to the 

adventurous, usually combining the two. 

Cox & Kings travellers benefit from the planning 

expertise of our specialist tour consultants, 

plus the knowledge and support of the very 

best guides, drivers and local representatives 

around the world. 

Our range of expert-led holidays features 

destinations throughout the Indian Subcontinent, 

the Far East, Latin America, Africa, the Middle 

East, Europe and the Antipodes, including 

programmes focussing on art treasures, gardens in 

association with the RHS and wildlife in 

association with the Natural History Museum. 




1 WEDNESDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Laurie Maguire 407 

Shakespeare’s Names 


Laurie Maguire believes that names matter in 

Shakespeare’s plays - and that playing with names 

is a serious business. The focus is Shakespeare - 

in particular, case-studies of Romeo and Juliet; 

Comedy of Errors; The Taming of the Shrew; A 

Midsummer Night’s Dream; All’s Well that Ends 

Well; and Troilus and Cressida - but she also 

shows what Shakespeare inherited and where the 

topic developed after him. 

Sponsored by Felicity Bryan Literary Agency 

Louis de Bernières 

425 

and Zulfu Livaneli 

Chaired by Abdou Filali-Ansary 

Eyes Wide Open: the Narrative 

Dance of History as Fiction 


Professor Abdou Filali-Ansary, Director of The Aga Khan 

University in the UK, will chair a discussion with novelists 

Louis de Bernières (Birds without Wings), and Zulfu Livaneli 

(Bliss Mutlunuk). Both their novels re-investigate 

the past, in relation to the paradoxical diversity of 

contemporary Turkish identity. 

Topics to be explored include the different ways in which 

“official” history is re-told and remembered, with 

reference to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, examining 

why previously harmonious cosmopolitan communities, 

when confronted with nationalism, religious absolutism 

and utopianism, degenerate into violence, hatred 

and warfare. 

In association with 

The Aga Khan University 

Kelly Grovier and 

Bernard O’Donoghue 

Chaired by Jem Poster 

Two Poets 

437 


Leading Irish poet Bernard O’Donoghue, whose literary 

and academic career has been conducted in Oxford 

since the mid-1960s, will be joining forces with the 

American poet Kelly Grovier. 

Kelly Grovier has published widely on the English 

Romantic poets, particularly William Wordsworth 

and John Keats. Last year Carcanet Press published 

his own collection of poems, A Lens in the Palm. 

Bernard O’Donoghue’s job teaching Mediaeval Literature 

has resulted in a number of scholarly works, notably 

his anthology The Courtly Love Tradition. He began 

writing poetry in 1979, after the death of his mother 

and the birth of his first child. Such human occasions, 

the centrality of love and its necessary opposite, death, 

have remained consistent themes in his poetry. 

Kelly Grovier and Bernard O’Donoghue will be reading 

a selection of their poetry. Chaired by novelist and 

poet Jem Poster. 

Cathedral Cloisters - Christ Church 

36

1 

Edward Paice 411 

Wrath of God: The Story of the 

Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 

2pm / Festival Room 2. Christ Church / £7.50 

On the morning of Sunday 1 November 1755, the 

end of the world came to the city of Lisbon. On 

a day that had begun with blue skies and gentle 

warmth, a massive earthquake that was to have 

a searing impact on the European psyche struck 

Portugal’s capital. Drawing on a mass of primary 

sources, Edward Paice paints a vivid picture of a city 

and society changed forever by one day of terror. 

Describing the quake and its immediate aftermath, 

he discusses its political, economic and cultural 

consequences. 


Claire Mulley 

412 

The Woman Who Saved the Children: 

A Biography of Eglentyne Jebb 


Co-founder of Save the Children. Eglantyne Jebb 

did not live life in the traditional way by becoming a 

mother. Instead she dedicated her life to children’s 

welfare and human rights and so permanently changed 

the way the world acts towards children. She was 

both a romantic and realist and her short life (she 

died aged 52) was full of humour and tragedy, passion 

and pain. The publication of Clare Mulley’s biography 

of Eglantyne Jebb marks the 20th anniversary of the 

UN convention on the Rights of the Child. 

In Association with Save the Children. 


Private Library Tour of 

Oxfordshire Studies 

444 

Don Chapman 408 

3.30pm / Oxfordshire Studies, 2nd floor, 

Central Library, Westgate/ £8.00 

A private tour of Oxfordshire Studies, with the largest 

collection in the country of material relating to 

Oxfordshire. As well as information about Oxfordshire 

people and places and a unique collection of photographs 

of local towns and villages, Oxfordshire Studies has 

guides to tracing your family tree, indexes of 

genealogical data and provides visitors with free online 

access to the extensive resources of Ancestry.com. 

Website for further information: 

www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxfordshirestudies 

The visit starts at 3.30 at Oxfordshire Studies, 

2nd floor, Central Library, Westgate: after the 

tour, visitors are welcome to browse and use 

the online facilities until 5.30. Group numbers 

are limited so please book early. 

Oxford Playhouse: High and Low 

Drama in a University City 


In this comprehensive history of the Oxford Playhouse, 

Don Chapman traces the story of this great theatre 

from its earliest roots in a production of Agamemnon 

in 1880, via the founding of the Oxford University 

Dramatic Society and the rebuilding of Oxford’s New 

Theatre to the launch of the Playhouse itself and 

its move to Beaumont Street in 1938. Along the way 

Chapman celebrates a galaxy of actors who have 

been associated with the theatre, among them Flora 

Robson, John Gielgud, Maggie Smith, Ronnie Barker, 

Judi Dench and Helena Bonham-Carter. 


37

1 WEDNESDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Demonstration of Late-Mediaeval Cookery and Dinner 

£99 416 a&b 

Tamasin Day-Lewis and 

Anne Menzies 

Demonstration of Late-Mediaeval 

Cookery in Wolsey’s Kitchen 

3pm / Wolsey’s Kitchen, Christ Church / 

(includes reception and dinner at 7pm) 

A rare chance to step back 500 years into the 

great mediaeval kitchen at Christ Church to watch 

Tamasin Day-Lewis and Anne Menzies re-create 

a noble dinner that Cardinal Wolsey would have 

enjoyed. Wolsey founded the college and his power 

rivalled Henry VIII’s. The food he ate affirmed his 

status. Culinary discovery and invention characterise 

the closing years of the Late-Mediaeval period. Learn 

about the growing art of confectionary, the new 

edible pastry with its pies, tarts and ornate custards, 

the recent discovery called ‘snowe’, plus famous 

mediaeval roasts and their sauces. And then, in 

the evening, enjoy a mediaeval dinner prepared by 

Tamasin Day-Lewis. 

Portrait of Cardinal Wolsey in the Great Hall, Christ Church 

A Mediaeval Dinner with 

Tamasin Day-Lewis 

The Re-creation of A Noble Dining 

7pm / Freind Room, Christ Church 

Includes drinks reception, 3-course dinner, wine 

and coffee. 

Tamasin Day-Lewis, one of our finest cookery 

writers, and food writer Anne Menzies, are re-creating 

a noble dinner that Cardinal Wolsey might have 

enjoyed at Christ Church, some 500 years ago. 

Come and enjoy that dinner Wolsey would have 

consumed. He would have eaten only the very best. 

Colour, workmanship and the increasingly important 

spice called sugar would have affirmed his power. 

A cardinal was served messes which would have 

included a refined pottage, manchet bread, spiced 

butters, roast meat or fish accompanied by its 

sauce, herb salad, pie, an ornate tart, a custard and 

a growing number of sweetened dishes. Hippocras, 

the spiced red wine or ale, would have been served, 

but water avoided at all costs! 

Only 40 places are available, so please 

book as early as possible. 


38

1 

Lewis Wolpert 418 

How We Live and Why We Die 


Developmental biologist and former chairman of 

the Committee on the Public Understanding of 

Science, Lewis Wolpert provides a fascinating insight 

into the very essence of human life – and death. 

Drawing on his lifelong study of cells, he provides 

a clear explanation of the science that underpins our 

lives – how our bodies function, how and why we age 

– and also examines the science behind such muchdiscussed 

but rarely understood topics as stem-cell 

research and cloning. 

Rosamund Bartlett 450 

How Chekhov Became a Writer 


Biographer and translator Rosamund Bartlett 

discusses the stories brought together in her new 

Chekhov anthology The Exclamation Mark (Hesperus 

Press), which all date from the six critical months 

in the writer’s life when he first began to sign his 

fiction with his real name. She will also talk about 

the campaign she has launched to help renovate the 

house and garden that Chekhov built at the end of 

his life in Yalta, and introduce a reading of A Little 

Joke, Chekhov’s only story with two endings. 

Sponsored by Felicity Bryan 

Literary Agency 

David Loyn, James Fergusson 

and Clare Lockhart 

Chaired by Jean Seaton 

Afghanistan Debate 

426 


What has foreign intervention achieved in Afghanistan 

Operation Enduring Freedom was the first front 

in the ‘War on Terror’ to be opened following the 

attacks of 11 September 2001, and sought to 

remove the Taliban, the repressive regime which had 

allowed Osama bin Laden to operate in Afghanistan. 

Seven years later, the fighting continues – has 

intensified even – and foreign troops still lack an exit 

strategy. What does Afghanistan’s future look like 

Join David Loyn (BBC Developing World Correspondent, 

author of Butcher & Bolt: Two Hundred Years of 

Foreign Engagement in Afghanistan), James 

Fergusson (journalist, and author of Kandahar 

Cockney and A Million Bullets) and Clare Lockhart 

(former adviser to UN and Afghan government, 

and co-author of Fixing Failed States). Chaired by 

Professor Jean Seaton (Director of the Orwell Prize, 

author of Carnage and the Media). 


39

The Science of 

GOOD WRITING 

WHY EVOLUTION IS TRUE 

A tour through the 

vast and ever-growing 

body of evidence that 

demonstrates the 

validity of evolution. 

Outstandingly 

good. Please 

read it. 

Richard Dawkins, TLS 

336 pages | Hardback 

£14.99 

THE OXFORD COMPANION 

TO COSMOLOGY 

From dark energy to 

neutrinos. A guide to 

what we now know 

about our universe. 

Authoritative and 

entertaining 

New Scientist 

368 pages | Paperback 

£11.99 

DARWIN’S LOST WORLD 

Darwin was famously 

troubled by the lack 

of fossils from the 

pre-Cambrian period. 

Recent science has 

discovered what he was 

unable to. 

A book Darwin 

himself would 

surely have 

appreciated. 

Financial Times 

304 pages | Hardback | £16.99 

THE OXFORD BOOK OF MODERN 

SCIENCE WRITING 

Scintillating and 

inspiring writing from 

nearly 100 twentiethcentury 

scientists. 

A brilliant 

collection... If you 

could only ever 

read one science 

book, this should 

probably be it. 

New Scientist 

448 pages | Hardback | £20.00 

1

JOHNSON AT 300 

SAMUEL 

JOHNSON 

A MAN WHOSE TALENTS, 

EXTRAORDINARY 

ACQUIREMENTS, AND 

VIRTUES, WERE SO 

THAT THE MORE HIS CHARACTER IS CONSIDERED, THE MORE HE WILL 

BE REGARDED BY THE PRESENT AGE, AND BY POSTERITY, WITH 

ADMIRATION 

AND 

REVERENCE. 

Johnson at 300 

14th - 18th 

September 2009 

Pembroke College, Oxford. 

Pembroke College is hosting a conference 

to mark the 300th anniversary of the 

birth of Samuel Johnson. 

The plenary speakers will be Robert 

DeMaria, David Fairer, Isobel Grundy 

and Howard Weinbrot. The David 

Fleeman Memorial Lecture will be 

given by James McLaverty. 

For more information 

Visit www.pmb.ox.ac.uk 

Telephone 01865 610900 

Email jill.roberts@pmb.ox.ac.uk

1 WEDNESDAY 

APRIL 2009 

John Harris, Steward of Christ Church 

Nick Barratt and 

Mark Pearsall 

The Family Face… 

401 


Who Do You Think You Are The TV programme has 

inspired this question in many minds. But family 

history researches sometimes result in lifeless 

lists of names and dates. Here genealogist and 

adviser to BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are, Dr Nick 

Barratt, and Mark Pearsall, family historian from the 

National Archives (which contain 1.000 years of UK 

records from parchment to online), show us how you 

can find the hidden stories of your ancestors to bring 

your past alive. 

John Harris 404 

Malt Whisky Tasting 

5.30pm-7pm / Hall, Christ Church / £12.00 

Bottles outnumber books at this festival event, a tutored 

journey through Scotland’s unique whisky heritage. 

From gentle floral and honeyed notes to heather, peat 

smoke, and the salt sea’s tang: the diversity and appeal 

of Scotch Malt Whisky continues to grow. Tasting 

participants will enjoy samples from some less 

well-known distilleries as well as famous brands. 

The session will include an example of a unique 

cask-strength dram. 

Sponsored by The Whisky Shop, Oxford 

Lynda King Taylor 438 

The Queen’s English Society 

4pm/ McKenna Room, Christ Church / £7.00 

The Queen’s English Society has been, for the last 

40 years, upholding the good usage and enjoyment 

of English. Lynda King Taylor, author and passionate 

user of good English, tells us about her delight in 

the QES book ‘Shakin’ the Ketchup Bottle’ and the 

pleasure it can bring to anybody who wants to read 

well-written English. This entertaining book is a selection, 

including some really curious bits, culled from the 

QES journal, Quest. 

Adam Sisman 420 

THE SAMUEL JOHNSON 

LECTURE 

Dr Johnson’s Second Wife 

6pm-7.30pm / Pembroke College, Pembroke Street / 

£10.00 (includes tour of Pembroke College’s Rare 

Books’ Room to view the Johnson Memorabilia and 

a glass of wine) 

Visiting Dr Johnson at his lodgings, James Boswell 

took advantage of a moment while his host’s 

attention was elsewhere to peek at his journal, 

which lay open on the desk. He copied down a few 

entries, and afterwards stored this information 

among his papers, where it remained unseen 

until the 20th century. Once discovered, these few 

scribbled sentences revealed a side to Johnson 

previously unguessed at. What these tantalizing 

clues reveal about his biographer, though, is even 

more remarkable. In teasing out the significance of 

these fragments of evidence, Adam Sisman, author 

of Boswell’s Presumptuous Task, builds a case as 

intriguing as any detective story. 

42

1 

Festival Service 

6pm / Cathedral, Christ Church 

A highlight of the Festival is Choral Evensong, 

a service of the Anglican Church which is 

widely regarded as one of the finest art-forms 

in the western world. There will be readings 

from the Authorised Version of the Bible, and 

the music, sung by the Cathedral Singers, 

will include a setting of a prayer by Dietrich 

Bonhoeffer. The service lasts about 50 minutes. 

Horatio Clare 413 

A Single Swallow 


Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the 

Year award, Horatio Clare’s Running for the Hills was 

one of the most moving memoirs of recent years. His 

new book is just as engaging - the story of his 6,000-mile 

journey from Cape Town to South Wales last year 

in pursuit of Barn Swallows on their northbound 

migration. Travelling by every conceivable mode of 

transport, crossing all types of terrain and cultures, 

the result is a thrilling book about the intersection 

of the natural and the human worlds, and a journey 

through the modern world to the tune of an ancient rhythm. 



Andrei Ostalski 447 

Ceiling vault - Christ Church Cathedral 

Between the British Rock 

and the Russian Hard Place: 

the Tale of Two Cultures 


Andrei Ostalski has lived in Britain for 16 years, 

working for the BBC and before that for the Financial 

Times and Izvestia. Andrei helped to establish major 

Russian business titles, including Financial Izvestia, 

and then the FT and the WSJ joint venture Vedomosti. 

In a previous incarnation he was an Arabist and 

travelled widely in the Middle East. The main theme 

of both his fiction, such as novels The English Rules 

and The Gods of Baghdad and non-fiction (The Brief 

History of Money and Oil: Monster and Treasure) is 

the interaction of cultures, civilizations and mentalities. 

In association with Pushkin House, 

London’s Russian Cultural Centre 

43

1 WEDNESDAY 

APRIL 2009 

A Preview Screening of 

BBC Four’s Sir Gawain 

and The Green Knight 

429 

6-7.30pm / Christ Church Cathedral School, 

3 Brewer Street / £7.50 

Poet Simon Armitage goes on the trail of one of the 

jewels in the crown of British poetry - Sir Gawain 

and the Green Knight - following in the footsteps of 

the poem’s hero, Gawain, through some of Britain’s 

most beautiful and mystical landscapes to discover 

more about the poet, his world and the stories that 

inspired the poem. 

Robert Wilson and 

Brigadier Andrew MacKay 

Helmand 

432 


Robert Wilson’s extraordinary pictures of British 

forces under the pressure in Afghanistan are some 

of the most moving and memorable ever to come 

out of a conflict zone. In this fascinating talk, the 

award-winning Wilson will discuss his work and 

experiences in Helmand province with Brigadier 

Andrew Mackay, former commander of both British 

and international forces in Helmand, who has written 

the book’s introductory essay on Insurgency. 

Ovo Adagha, 

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 

Elaine Chiew, Jude Dibia and 

Vanessa Gebbie 

Chaired by Elleke Boehmer 

One World: A Global 

Anthology of Short Stories 

434 

6pm / JCR, Christ Church / £7.50 

New Internationalist have published a collection of 

twenty-three short stories from fourteen countries, 

each of which speaks with the clarity and intensity 

of the human experience. The swift transition from 

story to story, from continent to continent, from 

child’s perspective to adult’s; together, these evoke 

the complex but balanced texture of the world we 

live in. The diversity of subject, style and perspective 

results in vivid and poignant stories that haunt the 

reader. The collection also reflects what can be done 

by writers thousands of miles apart in the borderless 

world of the internet, where many of them first met. 

Come and hear four of these writers discussing their 

stories and the anthology. The authors are donating 

their royalties to Médecins Sans Frontières. Chaired 

by Elleke Boehmer, Professor of World Literature in 

English, Oxford University and author of Nile Baby. 

Supported by New Internationalist. 

44

1 

Caroline Moorehead 

Dancing to the Precipice: 

Lucie de la Tour du Pin and 

the French Revolution 

Oxford Poets 

& Refugee Writers 

439 


Repeatedly in the right place at the right time, Lucie 

de la Tour du Pin was the Pepys of her generation. 

Her diaries provide a vivid picture of Versailles, the 

French Revolution and Napoleon. 

She was an outstanding diarist and a remarkable 

woman, who witnessed one of the most dramatic 

and brutal periods of European history. She played 

the part of observer, commentator and, often 

participant. 

Mixing politics and court intrigue, social observations 

and everyday details about food, work, illness, children, 

manners and clothes, Caroline Moorehead paints a 

vivid and memorable portrait of du Pin and her era. 

423 

Andrew Miller 433 

One Morning Like a Bird 


Winner of the International Impac Award, shortlisted 

for both the Booker and Whitbread prizes, translated 

into 36 languages, Andrew Miller offers us in his 

new novel a tale of growing up and growing free of 

the self-delusions that make doing the right thing 

so difficult – especially in a world where everyone is 

struggling to save themselves. It is also the story of 

Tokyo: a vast and almost impossible place, its history 

plagued by fires and earthquakes, and in 1941, a city 

that teeters on the brink of its greatest catastrophe. 

Frank Furedi, Peter Hitchens, 406 

Julian Walker and Alex Wheatle 

Chaired by Claire Fox 

Teenage Gang Violence: 

Frighteningly Real or 

Dangerously Exaggerated 



A presentation of work arising from a joint initiative 

of the Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre and Asylum 

Welcome, bringing together 14 published authors 

and refugees to work collaboratively on the writing 

of poetry through one-to-one mentoring, launched 

as a series of three workshops. Introduced by 

Carole Angier, participants presenting their work 

include John Fuller, Bernard O’Donoghue, Maria 

Jastrzebska and Yousif Qasmiyeh. The work is to 

be published as an anthology by Heaventree Press 

in September 2009. The workshops were hosted by 

Oxford Brookes University and the project has been 

funded by Arts Council England, Asylum Welcome 

and Refugee Resource. 


The conviction last December of Sean Mercer, who 

in 2007, at the age of just 16, shot dead 11-year-old 

Rhys Evans in Liverpool, has reopened the debate 

about teenage gang violence in Britain. Do concerns 

about violent youth crime reflect a breakdown of 

respect and discipline, or are we in the grip of a 

moral panic Are liberal critics blind to the harsh 

realities of crime and disorder, or does demonising 

young people make things worse Have we lost 

the confidence to tell young people what’s right 

and wrong Join Frank Furedi, author of Politics 

of Fear, Peter Hitchens, journalist and author of 

The Abolition of Britain and A Brief History of Crime, 

Julian Walker, Head of Policy at Barnardo’s, and 

Alex Wheatle, author of the novel The Dirty South, 

to discuss the issues. Chaired by Claire Fox, 

Director of the Institute of Ideas. 

In association with The Institute of Ideas. 

45

Writers ‘new to fame’ On the Fringe, Blackwell 2008 Rose Solari (US) 

Nathan Gray (NZ) and Will May (Bath) 

World Writers at Blackwell 

Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival Official Fringe 2009 

In conjunction with Kellogg College Creative Writing Centre Oxford University 

Join Fringe Writers-in-Residence 

Simonetta Agnello Hornby (novelist UK, Italy), Rose Solari (poet US) 

and writers ‘known and unknown to fame’ from around the world 

to listen to new work and read your own 

Free Festival events at Lunchtime 

Blackwell Broad Street 

For a full list of Fringe events at Blackwell visit blackwell.co.uk/olf 

Events will be running between Monday 30th March and 

Saturday 4th April

purcell miller tritton 

architecture creative conservation regeneration 

Architects for the newly refurbished 

Blue Boar Quad at Christ Church, Oxford 

Oxford Bristol Cambridge Canterbury Colchester Edinburgh 

Liverpool London Norwich Sheffield York 

www.purcellmillertritton.com 

enquiries@purcellmillertritton.com

1 WEDNESDAY 

APRIL 2009 

John Kay 440 

The Long and the Short of It: 

A Self-contained Guide to Finance 

and Investment for Normally 

Intelligent People Who Are Not in 

the Industry 


John Kay, world-leading economist and professor at the 

London School of Economics, with 25 years of experience 

of financial institutions, has put together a guide to the 

complexities of the modern financial system. 

The Long and the Short of It describes the sophisticated 

innovations of the modern financial system. It 

also explains how twice in the last decade – in the 

new economy bubble and the credit crunch and 

current financial crises – the follies of finance have 

threatened the stability of the world economy. Since 

most people’s portfolio will be in stocks and shares, 

John Kay describes why some companies succeed 

and others fail, and how to distinguish fact and 

fiction in what companies tell you. You will learn a 

practical investment strategy and how to implement 

it - and how to put your portfolio in the only hands 

you can confidently trust – your own. 

Laurance Rees 405 

Ronald Harwood in 

conversation with 

Maggie Fergusson 

419 


As his 75th birthday approaches, playwright and 

screenwriter Ronald Harwood is riding an extraordinary 

wave of success. Born Ronald Horwitz, of Jewish 

parents, he arrived here from South Africa at 17, 

with 7s/d in his pocket. He joined Donald Wolfit’s 

Royal Shakespeare Company, where he formed 

a lifelong friendship with Harold Pinter, and his 

experiences there are immortalized in The Dresser, 

which established him as one of this country’s 

leading playwrights. He is also one of our foremost 

screenplay writers, and, since winning an Oscar for 

The Pianist in 2003, has written the screenplays for 

Oliver Twist, Love in the Time of Cholera, and The 

Diving Bell and the Butterfly (also nominated for 

an Oscar, and awarded a BAFTA). In May, his plays 

Collaboration and Taking Sides come on at the 

Duchess Theatre in London. But while enjoying the 

glamour of the theatre, and of Hollywood, Harwood 

remains at heart questing and serious, preoccupied 

by the Holocaust and by questions of belief. 

In Association with Royal Society of 

Literature 

World War Two: 

Behind Closed Doors 


Already renowned for his work on Auschwitz, acclaimed 

documentary-film maker Laurence Rees here turns 

his attention to some less familiar issues of the 

second world war, throwing light upon its darker 

nooks and crannies, and in particular the often ugly 

relationship between Stalin and the West. Drawing 

on material only available since the opening of 

archives in the East, Rees re-examines the key 

decisions made by Stalin and Churchill and explores 

the dramatic effect those decisions had for those on 

the ground. 


48

1 

Christ Church from the meadows 

Ivan Tolstoy 448 

Pasternak’s Laundered Novel: 

Doctor Zhivago between the 

KGB and CIA 

John Carey, Kathryn Hughes 

PD James and John Walsh 

Chaired by David Grylls 

The Greatest English Novel 

436 


Which is the greatest novel in the English language 

Is it Jane Austen’s Emma, George Eliot’s Middlemarch, 

Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, or James Joyce’s Ulysses 

- or would you contend that it is something else 

entirely During this entertaining debate, celebrated 

critics and writers will argue the case for each of 

those titles, before locking horns with one another 

and the audience. The panel will include John Carey, 

Kathryn Hughes, PD James and John Walsh. 

Chaired by David Grylls. Come along to compare 

impressions, to cheer, disagree and join in. 

In association with OUDCE and Kellogg College 



Ivan Tolstoy (b. 1958), a writer and historian, grew 

up in St. Petersburg in a family rich with literary 

tradition. His paternal grandfather, Alexei Tolstoy, 

was a prominent writer, author of Peter the Great; 

his maternal grandfather was Mikhail Lozinsky, 

a translator who worked in nine languages and 

produced the now-classic Russian rendition of 

Dante’s Divine Comedy. Ivan’s grandmother, Natalia 

Krandievskaia, was a well-known poet, and two of 

his sisters – Tatiana and Natalia – are acclaimed 

contemporary prose writers. Thus, literature was his 

natural path to take – though Ivan’s forté is nonfiction. 

His studies primarily concern the twentieth century, 

with a focus on several topics: Vladimir Nabokov, the 

history of the Russian emigration, and the Cold War. 

Ivan’s latest book, Pasternak’s Laundered Novel: 

Doctor Zhivago between the KGB and CIA, combines 

a number of his research interests. 

In association with Pushkin House, 

London’s Russian Cultural Centre 

49

Oxford Advert design 1.indd 1 

29/01/2009, 11:55 

THE ORWELL PRIZE 

‘What I have most wanted to do... is to make political writing into an art.’ 

George Orwell, Why I Write 

The Orwell Prize is Britain’s pre-eminent prize for political writing. Since 1994, it has awarded 

two prizes each year – one for the book, and one for the journalism – which comes closest 

to George Orwell’s ambition ‘to make political writing into an art’. In 2009, a special prize for 

political blogs was added to celebrate the blogging of George Orwell’s diaries. 

The economic crisis that we are living through is, in part, a product of a failure of understanding. So the 

aim of the Orwell Prize to make political ideas clear and engaging is more relevant than ever. But politics 

can also be tremendous fun, and this year we’re delighted to be organising a whole strand of events at 

the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival. 

We’ll be looking back - Richard Blair, Orwell’s son, will be talking about his father in public for the first 

time. We’ll also be marking the 70th anniversaries of Orwell’s novel, Coming Up for Air, his famous essay 

on Charles Dickens and the start of the Second World War, and the 60th anniversary of Nineteen 

Eighty-Four. 

But we’ll also be looking forward, with some agenda-setting debates on the Chinese influence in 

Africa, the future of Afghanistan, the ideas of the Conservative Party, and Western relations with 

Russia with some of the leading figures in their fi elds. Why not join us, and join in 

Monday 30 th March 

Tuesday 31 st March 

Orwell vs Dickens – who is the greater writer | 4pm | Marquee 

1984 and Civil Liberties Debate | 4pm | Marquee 

Wednesday 1 st April China and Africa Debate | 10am | Blue Boar Lecture Theatre 

Afghanistan Debate | 4pm | Marquee 

Thursday 2 nd April 

Friday 3 rd April 

Saturday 4 th April 

Sunday 5 th April 

Screening: 1984 (1984 film), Q&A with Mike Radford | 4pm | Blue Boar lecture theatre 

Richard Blair in Conversation with D. J. Taylor | 4pm | Marquee 

2009 and 1939: How do we avoid political crisis after economic crash | 4pm | Marquee 

What is the big Conservative idea | 4pm | Marquee 

Russia Debate | 6pm | McKenna Room 

The Orwell Prize was founded by the late Sir Bernard Crick, using royalties from 

his biography of Orwell. It is now overseen by the Orwell Trust, Political Quarterly 

and the Media Standards Trust, and supported by Reuters and A. M. Heath. For 

more information, please email gavin.freeguard@mediastandardstrust.org. 

www.theorwellprize.co.uk

Why not join 

the Royal Society 

of Literature 

Membership is 

open to all. 

Forthcoming 

speakers include: 

Beryl Bainbridge 

Hilary Mantel 

Sukhdev Sandhu 

Patrick French 

Justin Cartwright 

Ferdinand Mount 

For further information about the 

benefits of Membership, and how to 

join, visit our website www.rslit.org or 

telephone 020 7845 4676

2 THURSDAY 

APRIL 2009 

John Carey 

interviewed by Peter Kemp 

514 

Abbot Christopher Jamison 534 

Work in Progress: William Golding 

10am / Newman Rooms, St Aldates / £7.50 

Sunday Times Fiction Editor Peter Kemp will talk to 

John Carey about his new book William Golding, The 

Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies, to be published by 

Faber and Faber on 3 September. 

Carey’s is the first biography of the Nobel-Prizewinning 

novelist and it is based on a huge, previously 

unexamined archive of manuscripts held by Golding’s 

family, which includes early drafts of published 

works, and a two-and-a-half million word journal 

that Golding kept for 20 years, giving a day-by-day 

account of the composition of his novels and of his 

private disasters and triumphs. 

Finding Happiness 

10am / Garden Marquee, Christ Church / £7.50 

Why is ‘being happy’ such an imperative nowadays 

What meaning do people give happiness Questioning 

the often unsatisfactory prescription offered by modern 

consumer culture, Christopher Jamison, Abbot of the 

Benedictine monastery of Worth, looks to the older, 

more modulated monastic tradition for answers. 

Examining in turn each different aspect of the idea of 

happiness, he explains what monastic wisdom has to 

say about them, and offers us steps towards our own 

journey to finding happiness. 

Sponsored by The Tablet 

Stuart Sillars 

514 

The Illustrated Shakespeare, 

1709–1875 


Building on his earlier book Painting Shakespeare, 

Stuart Sillars’s The Illustrated Shakespeare, 1709 – 

1875 takes a fresh look at the tradition of visual criticism 

and assimilation of Shakespeare’s plays. In his talk 

based on his highly illustrated book, he helps us to see 

what Shakespeare’s readers saw when they opened 

their editions across two centuries and found images 

as well as dialogue. 


Lynda Murphy 

and Julie Rugg 

A Food Lover’s Treasury 

504 


‘I not only think about food all day,’ said Henry Miller, 

‘but I dream about it all night.’ In their hugely 

entertaining book, Lynda Murphy and Julie Rugg 

have trawled through literature to unearth a feast 

of literary gems about food, in a treasury that will 

appeal to all foodies looking for a good excuse to re-read 

some of their favourite classics. These extracts 

– some funny, some tragic, and some downright 

bizarre – demonstrate that food is one of the great 

overlooked themes of literature. 

52

2 

Claire Harman 503 

Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen 

Conquered the World 


The author of acclaimed lives of Robert Louis 

Stevenson and Fanney Burney, Claire Harman is one 

of our most accomplished biographers. In her new 

book, she takes an intriguing new approach to Jane 

Austen, concentrating not so much on the woman as 

the reputation. Tracing the growth of Austen’s fame, 

and the changing status of her work in English culture 

in the last 200 years, Harman examines her conversion 

into a classic English author in the twentieth century, 

and the critical wars that erupted as a consequence. The 

result is a refreshing new view of a much tilled subject. 

Helen Rappaport 505 

Ekaterinburg: 

The Last Days of the Romanovs 


Ever since 1918, mystery and conjecture has 

surrounded the death of Tsar Nicholas II and his 

family. In her highly involving book, Helen Rappaport 

offers an intimate account of the last days of 

their lives, from the day a new commandant took 

control of them in their closely guarded house in 

Ekaterinburg, to the moment they were gunned 

down in the house’s basement thirteen days later. 

Marshalling overlooked evidence from key witnesses, 

and challenging accounts of their death, Rappaport 

brings those final tragic days vividly alive. 

Gates to the Masters Garden, Christ Church 

John Ashton, Peter Gingold, 

Jay Griffiths, Philip Pullman 

Chaired by Georgina Ferry 

Writing for a Change - 

Responses to Climate Change 

524 


Why has the artistic and particularly the written 

response to climate change been so muted Is a 

new self-awareness going to be motivated more by 

fiction than by the writing of activists or is this not 

the role of the writer With authors Philip Pullman 

and Jay Griffiths, John Ashton (the government’s 

Special Representative for Climate Change) and Peter 

Gingold, Executive Director of Tipping Point. Chaired 

by Georgina Ferry, science writer and author of Max 

Perutz and the Secret of Life. 

Henry Hitchings 511 

THURSDAY APRIL 2009 

The Secret Life of Words: 

How English Became English 


How often do you stop to think about where the words 

we use have come from, or which words in English 

have been borrowed from Arabic, French or even 

Dutch In this award-winning book, a work of great 

precision, clarity and grace, and the first work 

of non-fiction to have won the prestigious John 

Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Henry Hitchings delves into our 

promiscuous language and reveals how and why it 

has absorbed words from more than 350 languages. 

53

2 THURSDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Sarah Hall 

interviewed by Lucy Atkins 

How to Paint a Dead Man 

551 


Covering half a century, the award-winning novelist 

Sarah Hall brings us a luminous and searching novel 

which opens in Italy in the early 1960s. 

A dying painter considers the sacrifices and losses 

that have made him an enigma. He begins his last 

life-painting using the same objects he has painted 

obsessively throughout his career – a small group of 

bottles. In Cumbria 30 years later, a landscape artist 

and admirer of the Italian recluse, enters the story. 

Events then move to present-day London, and a world 

of darkness and sexual abandon. Interviewed by Lucy 

Atkins, author and book critic for The Sunday Times. 

Colin Dexter 

and Laura Thompson 

Chaired Fiona Lindsay 

The Final Curtain 


521 

Agatha Christie apparently grew to dislike her famous 

detective Hercule Poirot; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 

only resurrected Sherlock Holmes when forced to by 

popular demand. How best to draw the final curtain 

on a popular character or leave a door open for return 

is discussed by Colin Dexter, creator of the equally 

famous Morse, and Laura Thompson, biographer of 

the queen of crime writing, Agatha Christie. Chaired 

by Fiona Lindsay – formerly with the RSC’s festivals 

and events. Fiona has interviewed many of the 

leading artists and actors. 

Sponsored the The Macdonald Randolph Hotel 

High Table - Great Hall, Christ Church

2 

C J Sansom interviewed by 

Peter Kemp 

Revelation 

532 


C J Sansom has become, in very quick time, one of 

Britain’s most popular and accomplished historical 

crime writers, whose gripping Shardlake series 

explores in thrilling detail the sinister underside of 

Tudor England. Set in 1543 as Henry VIII attempts 

to woo Lady Catherine Parr, Revelation centres on a 

series of chilling murders, all of which seem to have 

the Book of Revelation as their inspiration. As London 

prepares for a purge of Protestants, hunchback 

lawyer Matthew Shardlake vows to bring the killer 

to justice. CJ Sansom talks to Sunday Times Fiction 

Editor Peter Kemp 


Auden’s Cottage, Christ Church 


Jill Dawson 506 

Becky Abrams, 

Bettany Hughes, Miri Rubin 

and Anna Whitelock 

Chaired by Libby Purves 

Strong Women 

522 


What makes women strong, and how do we define a 

strong woman How has the perception of the role of 

women - strong or weak - changed through history 

to the present day A wide-ranging and fascinating 

discussion with Becky Abrams, author of Woman in 

a Man’s World, historians Bettany Hughes and Anna 

Whitelock, authors, respectively, of Helen of Troy and 

Mary Tudor: England’s First Queen and Miri Rubin, 

author of Mother of God: A History of the Virgin Mary. 

The event is chaired by writer and broadcaster 

Libby Purves. 

Sponsored by Felicity 

Bryan Literary Agency 

The Great Lover 


In this intriguing new novel from the author of the 

Whitbread and Orange-shortlisted Fred and Edie, Jill 

Dawson reimagines the life of poet Rupert Brooke 

through the eyes of one of his young lovers. Nell 

Golightly is living out her old age in a Cambridgeshire 

village when she receives a letter from a Tahitian 

woman claiming to be Brooke’s daughter and wanting 

to know all about him. What, she asks, did he sound 

like and smell like, and how did it feel to wrap your 

arms around him Nell’s memories of her life as a 

young housemaid and her encounters with Brooke 

reveal him as a far more interesting, complex and 

troubled figure than the romanticised version allows. 

55

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The Belgravia Gallery is pleased to sponsor the Arts Events at the Festival

2 THURSDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Kenneth Powell 536 

Rory McGrath 501 

Powell and Moya 


Powell and Moya were one of Britain’s most significant 

postwar architectural practices, and in this 

comprehensive and engaging book, their history 

has been chronicled for the first time by the eminent 

architectural author and critic Kenneth Powell. 

Founded in 1946, the practice rapidly established a 

reputation for an approach best described as ‘humane 

modernism’. Structured by building type, this book 

reveals the principles of design particular to Powell 

and Moya and tells how they were at the forefront of 

hospital design and succeeded in bringing modernism 

to Oxford (including Christ Church) and Cambridge. 


Graham Farmelo 


The Strangest Man: 

The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, 

Quantum Genius 

538 


Paul Dirac was probably the greatest British scientist 

since Newton. A pioneer of quantum mechanics, 

regarded by many as an equal of Albert Einstein, 

he was the youngest man to win the Nobel Prize 

for Physics. He was a chronically shy and retiring 

man whose childhood and later life was shadowed 

by tragedy. Drawing on a previously undiscovered 

archive of family papers in Florida, Graham Farmelo 

celebrates Dirac’s massive scientific achievements 

and also paints a moving portrait of this most remarkable 

and flawed of men. Here Graham Farmelo talks to 

Sunday Times Chief Critic John Carey. 

Bearded Tit: A Love Story 

with Feathers 


Bearded Tit is comedian Rory McGrath’s story of life 

among birds - from a Cornish boyhood wandering 

gorse-tipped cliffs listening to the song of the 

yellowhammer with his imaginary girlfriend, to 

quoting the Latin names of birds to give himself a 

fighting chance of a future with JJ - the most beautiful 

girl he had ever seen. Thoroughly educational, 

occasionally lyrical and often highly amusing, the 

result is a gag-ridden memoir that is both disarming 

and often surprisingly moving. 

Tim Skelton 

& Gerald Gliddon 

Lutyens and the Great War 

507 


Although Sir Edwin Lutyens is commonly celebrated 

for his large houses for wealthy clients, much of his 

most poignant work was designed in connection with 

the First World War and remains relatively unknown 

today. In this intriguing talk, Tim Skelton and Gerald 

Gliddon explore this under-explored side of one of 

Britain’s greatest 20th-century architects, taking 

us from the Cenotaph in Whitehall and the nation’s 

largest war memorial – the Memorial to the Missing 

of the Somme at Thiepval – to some of the fifty 

memorials that he designed in cities, towns and 

villages in Britain and abroad. 


58

2 

Bernard Donoughue and 

Shirley Williams 

000 

Downing Street Diary: With James 

Callaghan in No. 10 Volume Two 

3.30pm / Garden Marquee, Christ Church / £7.50 

Bernard Donoughue wrote the book, but Shirley Williams 

is one of the important figures that feature in the Downing 

Street Diary that covers the years 1976-79, which is why 

she joins him to discuss this, Volume Two of the series. 

Likened to Pepys’s diary, and written when Bernard 

Donoughue was Senior Policy Advisor to James 

Callaghan, this historic record gives a day-by-day (and 

often minute-by-minute) account of the tumultuous 

events unfolding within Downing Street as Britain 

plunged into the Winter of Discontent. 

Screening of NINETEEN 

EIGHTY-FOUR (1984) 

Followed by Q&A with the 

Director, Mike Radford 

4pm / Christ Church Cathedral School, 

Brewer Street / £8.00 

529 

‘The year of the movie, the movie of the year.’ Sixty 

years after the publication of Orwell’s seminal 

dystopian novel, and 25 years after the release of this 

award-winning film, director Mike Radford answers 

questions following a screening of his work. The film’s 

stars include John Hurt as Winston Smith and Richard 

Burton as O’Brien. 

Note: this film has a ‘15’ rating. 


Anthony Kenny 528 

Philosophy in the Modern World 


Former President of the British Academy, current 

President of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, and one of 

the executor’s of Wittgenstein’s literary estate, Anthony 

Kenny is one of our most distinguished philosophers. He 

is also an ideal guide to some of philosophy’s thornier 

issues. Drawing on the fourth volume in his history of 

western philosophy, Kenny offers a lively overview of some 

of the key questions that have preoccupied modern 

philosophical inquiry, from Kierkegaard onwards. 

Rebecca Abrams 

and Ann Lingard 

Chaired by Jim Bennett 

Science and History in Fiction 

523 


How do fiction writers research scientific and historical 

facts for their novels, and how important is factual 

accuracy Do fact and fiction make conflicting claims 

on a novelist - or does the power of the story inevitably 

take over These are just some of the issues raised 

by novelist and journalist Rebecca Abrams (Touching 

Distance) and novelist and scientist Ann Lingard (The 

Embalmer’s Book of Recipes). Chaired by Jim Bennett, 

Director of the Museum of the History of Science. 

James Le Fanu and 

Rupert Sheldrake 

Chaired by Alister McGrath 

The Mystery of Science: 

Biology, Faith and Ethics 

553 


Is there ‘more than we know’ emerging from the 

Human Genome Project and advance in brain 

imaging Will Darwin’s materialist evolutionary 

theory be eclipsed James Le Fanu, author of 

Why Us: How Science Rediscovered the Mystery 

of Ourselves, and Rupert Sheldrake, author of ten 

books including the best-selling Dogs that Know When 

Their Owners are Coming Home in discussion with 

Alister McGrath, Head of The Centre for Theology, 

Religion and Culture at Kings College, London. 

59

2 THURSDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Gloria Hunniford interviewed 

by Fiona Lindsay 

Always With You 

535 


When her 41-year-old daughter, Caron Keating, died 

in April 2004 after a secret seven-year battle with 

cancer, Gloria Hunniford was consumed with grief. 

In this moving talk, she reveals the desperation she 

felt after Caron’s death, and the acute loneliness 

she experienced, and how the letters she received 

from fellow grievers helped her through some of her 

darkest days. The black hole, she explains, is still 

there, sometimes as big as ever, but she has found 

a way to live with it and around it. Gloria Hunniford 

talks to Fiona Lindsay – formerly with the RSC’s 

festivals and events. Fiona has interviewed many of 

the leading artists and actors. 

Gillian Tindall 546 

Footprints in Paris 

4pm / Blue Boar Marquee / £7.50 

This unique and intensely involving book evokes the 

texture and atmosphere of a hidden Paris that has 

survived against all the odds of time and chance. 

Using a handful of lives and a specific location to 

exemplify 200 years of history, Gillian Tindall focuses 

on a few of the oldest streets in Paris’s Latin Quarter. 

Her study shows how Paris has drawn into its 

magnetic field people who have variously found there 

education or enlightenment, a refuge or a secret 

garden and sometimes even a different identity. 

Sade Adeniran, Hisham Matar 

and CS Richardson 

Chaired by Mark Collins 

539 

Books in Crisis: How Do We get the 

Next Generation Reading 


The story is an international language, and as we all 

know, the role it plays in learning is significant. But with 

the growing influence of the internet and online content 

in abundance, are today’s young people missing out 

What are the consequences of a society that reads fewer 

novels The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize aims to 

encourage wider readership and greater literacy through 

the promotion of books from across the 53 countries 

of the Commonwealth. Join the panel of CWP-winning 

authors Sade Adeniran from Nigeria (2008 Africa Best 

First Book winner with Imagine This), Hisham Matar 

from the UK (2007 Europe and South Asia Best First 

book winner with In the Country of Men) and CS Richardson 

from Canada (2007 Canada and Caribbean Best First 

Book winner with The End of the Alphabet) who will read 

from their work, and discuss these recent trends in reading 

habits worldwide and what the consequences might mean 

for the future of writers, cultures and literacy. Chaired by 

Mark Collins, Director of the Commonwealth Foundation. 

Gillian Clarke with 

Peter Buckroyd, introduced 

by Peter McDonald 

Teaching Poetry 

552 

5pm / Music Room, Christ Church / £5 

This event is intended primarily for teachers of poetry 

for the 15-18 year-old age group, Gillian Clarke (many 

students’ favourite poet and a key AQA poet) will 

discuss the teaching of poetry with Dr Peter Buckroyd, 

previously Chief Examiner, AQA GCSE English, and the 

audience. To be followed by a complimentary drink and 

nibbles to allow for informal discussion. 

Sponsored by Tower Poetry 

60

2 

Mark Maslin 537 

Global Warming: 


5.15pm (10 minutes ) / Blackwell Festival Bookshop 


Global warming is arguably the most critical and 

controversial issue facing the world in the twenty-first 

century. Climate change expert Mark Maslin will 

briefly examine the key topics in the environmental 

debate - from the political controversies to proposed 

solutions such as carbon trading. 

There is something special about the 

Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival; 

quite apart from the extraordinary setting 

of Christ Church in the spring blossom. In 

this city for six hundred years people have 

read and thought and written and defended 

liberty of ideas, and the power of words 

and argument breathes off the stones 

themselves. Here, it just feels right to be 

focusing on books. And when there is a cast 

of speakers as diverse and powerful as this 

festival pulls in, a synthesis of frivolity and 

politics, poems and science and stories, the 

result is heady stuff. 

Libby Purves 


William Fiennes, 

502 

Philip Pullman, Katie Waldegrave, 

and Frances Wilson 

Passing on the Word 


‘Having been a teacher myself,’ writes Philip Pullman, 

‘I know how writing – real writing, not the artificial 

exercises produced for tests and examinations – 

can liberate and strengthen young people’s sense of 

themselves as almost nothing else can.’ For this reason, 

he and a host of other leading authors – Romesh 

Gunesekera, Mark Haddon, Helen Simpson and Zadie 

Smith among them – have been lending their support 

to First Story, a new initiative arranging and paying 

for acclaimed writers to work in state schools across 

the country as writers-in-residence. In an event 

organised jointly by First Story and The Royal Society 

of Literature, Pullman explains why children thrive on 

creative writing, and invites Katie Waldegrave to tell 

First Story’s story. William Fiennes, prize-winning 

author of The Snow Geese and The Music Room, joins 

acclaimed biographer Frances Wilson in discussing 

the rewards and challenges of working in ‘difficult’ 

schools, and pupils from Highbury Grove School and 

Cranford Community College read from their work, 

and talk about it with Philip Pullman. 

In association with Royal Society of Literature. 

Tamasin Day-Lewis, 

Kit Hesketh-Harvey, 

Sam Leith, Harry Mount, 

Sarah Sands and A N Wilson. 

Quizmaster James Walton 

The Reader’s Digest 

Word Power Quiz 

527 


Big names from the Reader’s Digest will test their 

knowledge and love of words in the first ever Reader’s 

Digest Word Power Quiz. Two teams will compete 

to win the Word Power laurels and we expect the 

competition to be fast and furious. Joining us are 

Tamasin Day-Lewis (cookery writer, film-maker and 

RD columnist), Kit Hesketh-Harvey (Kit of Kit and 

the Widow, lyricist and RD contributor), Sam Leith 

(author and RD contributor), Harry Mount (author 

and editor of the Word Power column), Sarah Sands 

(Editor-in-Chief of RD) and A N Wilson (author and 

RD Literary critic). Our quizmaster is the writer and 

broadcaster James Walton, another RD contributor, 

who’ll be setting the questions and keeping score 

will be RD researcher Rachael Adams. 

And audience members will have a chance to 

demonstrate some Word Power of their own with 

prizes for the winners. 

61

2 THURSDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Anna Nicholas 508 

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown 

512 

Cat on a Hot Tiled Roof 

The Settler’s Cookbook 


Coming to grips with phantom sheep, midnight snail 

hunts, Catalan lessons, ghosts, floods and flighty 

hens are all part of PR consultant Anna Nicholas’ new 

world, when she moves her family to rural Mallorca 

to escape the stresses of London life. What she has 

not told her long-suffering husband and son, though, 

is that she is harbouring a bizarre dream to open a 

luxury cattery on the island, despite the fact she is 

continuing to commute back to her Mayfair agency to 

earn a crust. This witty and heart-warming memoir 

celebrates the highs and lows of downshifting, and the 

perils and pleasures of life in rural Spain. 



Yasmin Alibhai-Brown’s family history is one of 

constant displacement and repeated relocation, in 

which the feeling of being settled has come, not from 

putting down roots, but from taking up a pot and 

creating a feast that tastes and smells like home. 

The Settler’s Cookbook, traces the long journey of 

the East African Indians through famine, persecution 

and upheaval. 

Warm, enchanting and evocative, this is the cultural 

and culinary history of the people, and the recipes and 

stories they passed on which continue to feed and 

inspire friends and relatives to this day. 

David & James Livingston 

547 

Donna Dickenson, 

Susie Orbach 

and Ray Tallis 

Are You Your Body 

517 


Over the past decade the pressure to perfect and 

redesign our bodies has been unprecedented. So has 

the commercialisation of the human body from BC 

to AD (before conception to after death). Is your body 

a capital investment Is it just another consumer 

item Is it ‘the real you’ Or are we really our minds 

rather than our bodies Join Donna Dickenson (Body 

Shopping: Converting Body Parts to Profit), Susie 

Orbach (Bodies) and Ray Tallis (The Kingdom of 

Infinite Space) for a wide-ranging discussion. 

Blood Over Water 

6pm / Blue Boar Marquee / £7.50 

On a blustery, overcast April day in 2003, brothers 

David and James Livingston raced against each 

other in the 149th Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, 

watched by more than 8 million people. It was the 

first time that brothers had battled each other 

in this gladiatorial and quintessentially British 

tradition for more than 100 years. Only one could 

be victorious. In this book, David, who followed 

his family’s footsteps by entering Cambridge, 

and James who went to Oxford, tell their stories, 

giving a locker-room insight into one of the least 

understood national sporting occasions. 

62

2 

Dinner with 

Desmond Guinness 

533 

7pm / Drinks Reception / 7.30pm / Dinner / 

Friend Room, Christ Church / £99.00 (includes 

drinks reception, 3-course dinner, wine and coffee) 

The Hon. Desmond Guinness has spent a 

lifetime visiting decayed and remote historic 

houses all over Ireland - as well as meeting 

their remarkable and eccentric owners. After 

a splendid Christ Church dinner in the 18thcentury 

Lee Building, Mr Guinness will share 

his memories of great irish eccentrics and their 

homes. Includes drinks reception, 3-course 

dinner, wine and coffee. 

Ben Crystal 520 

Shakespeare on Toast: 

Getting a Taste for the Bard 


Shakespearean actor Ben Crystal brings the 

language and colourful characters of the world’s 

greatest writer to life. In his lighthearted but 

highly accessible book, he opens the door to a 

fresh understanding of Shakespeare’s plays, helps 

us negotiate our way through his more challenging 

writing, and makes him newly accessible and 

relevant. As The Independent said of the book, 

‘Having Crystal as a companion through the 

stickier parts of Hamlet and Macbeth is like going 

to the theatre with an intelligent friend.’ 


Only 40 places are available, so please 

book as early as possible. 


Yaba Badoe, Rounke Coker 

and Uchenna Izundu 

African Family and 

Cultural Traditions 

Chaired by Becky Ayebia Clarke 

544 


African family values will be examined from within 

by writers writing away from the continent and a 

publisher devoted to championing the good as 

well as the ‘not so good’ images of Africa to an 

international readership. The panel will focus on 

the African family in all its ramifications and 

complexities in a way that will provide a significant 

set of insights into these relationships. 

Chaired by Becky Ayebia Clarke of publisher Ayebia. 

www.ayebia.co.uk 

Bill Heine 509 

Heinstein of the Airwaves 


Oxford BBC Radio broadcaster Bill Heine upset the 

police so much when he first took to the air that 

they refused to speak to him for two years and 

stopped giving the Oxford station travel information. 

Heinstein of the Airwaves is a late-in-life comingof-age 

story about pushing the boundaries. It’s a 

portrait of a place – Oxford – and the nightmares that 

lurk among the dreaming spires. It’s also a picture of 

a very private person who, very publicly, has a shark 

sticking out of his roof. 

63 

63

2 THURSDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Ross King and 

Paul Strathern 

513 

Howard Jacobson 543 

The Artist, the Philosopher 

and the Warrior 


What led Leonardo da Vinci, the exemplar of 

Renaissance man, to work for the tyrannical Cesare 

Borgia in 1502 How did he become involved with 

Machiavelli And what does this brief but striking 

interaction of three of the most influential men of the 

entire Renaissance tell us both about the period and 

about them In this fascinating discussion between 

art historian Ross King (author of Brunelleschi’s 

Dome and Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling) and 

prize-winning historian Paul Strathern (author of The 

Artist, the Philosopher and the Warrior), the legacies 

of all three men are up for appraisal. 


The Act of Love 


Celebrated novelist Howard Jacobson talks about 

adultery in his new novel The Act of Love. Described 

as a tour de force by Harold Pinter, The Act of 

Love is a story about sexual obsession. Shocking, 

unashamedly perverse, mordantly funny, and at 

the last heartbreaking. The Act of Love tackles one 

of the last taboos of erotic life. 

Staircase to the Great Hall, Christ Church 

Emmanuel Jal 519 

Warchild 


Emmanuel Jal was just eight years old when he was 

taken from his family home to become a child soldier 

with the rebel army in Sudan’s bloody civil war. Beaten, 

starved and brutalised, Emmanuel was put into battle 

in Ethiopia and southern Sudan carrying an AK-47 that 

was taller than him. Thrown into a desert prison when 

he attempted to leave the SPLA, he finally escaped with 

the help of British aid worker Emma McCune, and is 

now an internationally acclaimed rap artist spreading 

messages of peace and reconciliation with his unique 

style of gospel rap. 

64

2 

A Screening of Arena: 

Paul Scofield 

Introduced by Anthony Wall 

531 



Arena tells the story of the intensely private man who 

brought to life some of the world’s greatest dramatic 

literature, most notably with his revolutionary 

portrayal of King Lear. 

Chris Patten 542 

What Next 

Surviving the 21st Century 


Globalisation, energy, international crime, Weapons 

of Mass Destruction, nuclear proliferation, small 

arms proliferation, international drugs trafficking, 

climate change, water shortage, migration, epidemic 

disease, the fraying of the nation state: the list of 

challenges facing our world is itself proliferating 

rapidly and no one seems to have much of a grip on 

what is going on. 

Assimilating vast amounts of information from a 

multiplicity of sources and drawing on his experience 

at the highest levels of national and international 

politics, Chris Patten’s book analyses what we know 

in each of these areas and argues how, in each of 

them, we could get somewhere we might want to be. 

Unlike most literary festivals, which, from 

my experience, are too geared to celebrity 

chat, Oxford has real intellectual kick. It 

brings authors, readers and the general 

public together in the most appropriate 

setting - Oxford is surely the most catholic 

place of learning, where disciplines overlap 

and where ‘academe’ is not so much a 

concept as an architectural reality. It is 

truly a privilege to speak and discuss in 

venues such as the Bodleian and the Upper 

Library at Christchurch, and I believe this 

environment makes the general public feel 

more intellectually accepted and included. 

Oxford is not so much a festival as a feast, 

and the closing dinner epitomises this, 

bringing authors, readers, sponsors and 

organisers together in a joyful celebration 

based on love of literature. 

Adam Zamoyski 


Photograph: Harry Boarden 

65

Mark Twain, Bram Stoker, 

David Hockney, Arthur 

Conan Doyle, tracey emin, 

Arnold Bennett, Camille 

Pissarro, Edouard Degas, 

Peter Blake, Barbara 

Hepworth, grayson perry, 

John Piper, GAVIN turk, 

Alfred Munnings, Edward 

Wadsworth, Franz Liszt, 

John Everett Millais, 

Elisabeth Frink, Charles 

Dickens...woz ere 

40 Dover Street, Mayfair, 

London W1 

Telephone 020 7499 8581 

www.theartsclub.co.uk

3 FRIDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Desmond Guinness 634 

Simon Jenkins 658 

The Conservation of Irish Houses 

and Castles 


Desmond Guinness founded the Irish Georgian 

Society in 1958 and was responsible for saving much 

of Georgian Dublin, and many of Ireland’s greatest 

historic houses from destruction. The son of Lord 

Moyne and Diana Mitford, Mr Guinness has written 

widely on Irish and American architecture – and on 

the decorative arts of both countries. Here he talks 

about the conservation of Irish houses and castles. 


Wales: Churches, 

Houses, Castles 

10am / Newman Rooms, St Aldates / £7.50 

The buildings of Wales embody its history and are 

the equal of any in the British Isles. Simon Jenkins, 

Chairman of the National Trust, and one of Britain’s 

most prominent journalists, has travelled (it seems) 

every mile of Wales, to celebrate the best of them. 

He conveys his enthusiasm for Welsh buildings in his 

latest book Wales: Churches, Houses, Castles – it’s an 

enthusiasm that’s so infectious that it cannot fail to 

inspire his readers. 


Mark Bostridge 611 

Florence Nightingale 


The soldier’s saviour, the standard-bearer of modern 

nursing, a pioneering social reformer, Florence 

Nightingale is one of the most instantly recognisable 

figures in British history. But there was much more 

to her than her pioneering work as the Lady with 

the Lamp in the Crimean War, and in this remarkable 

book, the first major biography of Florence Nightingale 

in over fifty years, Mark Bostridge draws on a wealth 

of unpublished material, including previously unseen 

family papers, to throw significant new light on this 

extraordinary woman’s life and character. 

68

3 

Kate Adie 

Into Danger: Risking 

Your Life for Work 

601 


What motivates people to choose jobs that could see 

them put directly into danger, or could kill them 

This question has always fascinated television 

presenter Kate Adie, who has found herself in many 

tight spots during her years as a war correspondent. 

Drawing on conversations with everyone from 

stuntpeople to prostitutes and landmine clearers, 

Into Danger is both revealing and fascinating. All Adie’s 

subjects have chosen their professions. All are 

strikingly forceful people who know precisely why 

they do their jobs and have an inner conviction that 

motivates them, despite the possibility of death. 

Manju Kapur 608 

The Immigrant 


From the prize-winning author of Difficult Daughters, 

a poignant, intimate and compelling new novel about 

starting afresh and leaving the familiar behind. An 

arranged marriage is being planned between Nina, 

an English lecturer in New Delhi, and Ananda, who 

has recently immigrated to Canada, but Nina remains 

uncertain. Can she really give up her home and her 

country to build a new life with a husband she barely 

knows When Nina accepts, she discovers that the 

consequences of change are far greater than she could 

have imagined and her whole world is thrown into 

question as she discovers truths about her husband. 

Alex Blumer, Nigel Smith 

and Adam Mars-Jones 

637 

FRIDAY APRIL 2009 

Leslie Mitchell 

Maurice Bowra: A Life 

655 

10am / McKenna Room, Christ Church / £7.50 

Maurice Bowra was, according to one’s point of view, 

either the most distinguished or the most notorious 

Oxford don of the early twentieth century. Classicist, 

poet, wit, raconteur extraordinaire and Warden of 

Wadham College for more than 30 years, he met 

nearly everyone of consequence in the worlds of 

literature and politics and had stories to tell about 

them all. By force of personality and intellectual 

range, he influenced the thinking of almost everyone 

with whom he came into contact. 

This, the first ever biography of Bowra, covers every 

aspect of his life. 

Disability in the Novel 

The Good, the Bad and 

the Grotesque! 

12pm / Blue Boar Marquee, Christ Church 

(fully accessible) / £7.50 

Why are contemporary disabled characters and the 

plots they are involved with so often driven by ‘issues 

around their disability’ rather than anything else. It 

wasn’t so for Dickens, Stevenson or Zola, so what has 

changed As the UK prepares for the 2012 Paralympic 

and Cultural Olympiad, join a line up of novelists 

and other literary figures for a lively, stimulating and 

informed debate. Join Alex Blumer, writer of BBCs 

Radio 4’s acclaimed Hunchback of Notre Dame, 

playwright and TV comedy producer Nigel Smith, who 

in 2001 suffered a serious brain illness and wrote a 

book about it, and novelist Adam Mars-Jones. 

Chaired by writer and Director of Diversity at Arts 

Council England Tony Panayiotou. 

Presented by New Writing South in 

association with Disability Arts On Line 

69

3 FRIDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Susie Orbach interviewed 

by Joan Bakewell 

Bodies 

633 

Wolsey’s Great Hall 


Humans have been adoring and reshaping our bodies 

throughout history – but never to such extremes as 

today. To be slim, youthful, wrinkle-free has become 

a moral responsibility for women and for men. 

Indeed, we have never been under so much pressure 

to perfect and design ourselves. In her bracing 

examination of our contemporary fascination with 

everything from liposuction to botox, Susie Orbach 

argues that we humans no longer manufacture 

things: we manufacture our bodies. In this telling 

intervention, Orbach, the therapist who treated 

Princess Diana for her eating disorders, offers 

brilliant insights and some stark home truths. 

Guy Claxton, Malcolm Gillies 

and Mary Warnock 

Chaired by Jenny Cuffe 

The Future of 

Education in England 

630 

Niall Ferguson 640 

The Ascent of Money: 

A Financial History of the World 


This easily accessible and entertaining history of finance 

ranges from the clay tokens of Mesopotamia in use 

5,000 years ago, to the hedge funds of today. Niall 

Ferguson examines the financial subplot behind 

some of the major historical powers, including the 

denarius in Roman society and gold and silver in the 

civilisation of the Incas. In this work he chronicles 

not only the history of money, but makes a case for 

liberalised finance, pointing out that the history of 

finance is a process of creative destruction. 



Major questions are being raised about every level of 

our educational system. Should traditional subjects 

in primary schools be replaced by ‘new areas of 

learning’ What is the future of sats following their 

abolition for 14 year olds Are we dumbing down 

GCSEs and A levels Is the government target of 

50% of younger people entering higher education 

realistic Is the current system failing our children 

and how can we best educate the next generation 

These and other issues will be discussed by 

Baroness Mary Warnock, philosopher of morality and 

education, Guy Claxton, Co-Director of the Centre for 

Real-World Learning and author of What’s the Point 

of School, and Malcolm Gillies, Vice-Chancellor 

of City University, London. Chaired by Jenny Cuffe, 

a BBC journalist for Radio 4 and World Service. 

70

3 

John Hemming 646 

Tree of Rivers: 

The Story of the Amazon 


Amazonia is one of the most magnificent habitats 

on earth, containing the world’s largest river 

and hosting the greatest expanse of tropical 

rain forest. It is home to the most luxuriant 

biological diversity on the planet. The human 

beings who settled in the region 10,000 years 

ago learned to live well with its bounty of fish 

and vegetables. Unsurprisingly, the rain forest’s 

unique environment has gone on to attract 

many larger-than-life personalities down the 

centuries. In this thrilling history, old Amazon 

hand John Hemming recalls the adventures and 

misadventures of intrepid explorers in the region, 

and the Amazonian flora and fauna that is now 

under threat. 

Sponsored by Thames & Hudson 

Centre for Inquiry UK 

presents 

Ian Rowland: Mind Power 

– Fact, Fiction and Fakery 

630 


Do some people possess extraordinary – even 

paranormal – mental abilities, such as the ability to 

read another’s mind, or move an object solely by the 

power of thought This session will both amaze and 

educate you! Ian Rowland is a professional magician 

and one of the world’s leading experts on how 

professional psychics, spiritualists and mentalists 

are able to amaze their audiences. His widely acclaimed 

book on the psychic art of ‘cold reading’ has sold 

over twenty thousand copies. ‘A superb book, 

relentlessly intelligent and fiercely methodical! 

Its pages systematically unravel every deceptive 

strategy of thinking and rhetoric in ‘‘psychic’’ 

character reading’ Teller (of Penn & Teller) 


David Cottington 644 

Diego Zancani 661 

Renaissance Cookery 

12pm / Bodleian Library, Divinity Schools, Catte 

Street / £7.50 

Renaissance writers on cookery were frequently 

interested in medicine, and specifically in dietetics, 

but what was the food they recommended really like 

By using texts written in Italy between 1450 and 1650 

this talk will examine changes in taste on courtly tables 

and in humbler kitchens, with a view to reconstructing, 

as much as possible, the flavours of food before the 

arrival of tomatoes, and of understanding some 

misleading cookery terms, and Italian words which 

have become international, such as ‘maccheroni/ 

macaroni’ or ‘pizza’. 

Modern Art: 


1.15pm (10 minutes ) / Blackwell Festival Bookshop 


What makes a work of art qualify as modern What is 

the relationship between modern and contemporary 

art Is ‘postmodernist’ art no longer modern, or just 

no longer modernist - in either case, why, and what 

does this claim mean, both for art and the idea of 

‘the modern’ 

David Cottington briefly explores ideas about modern 

art, its contemporary relevance, and history. 

71

Critchleys is one of the leading firms of 

chartered accountants and business advisers 

in Oxford. We are delighted to be sponsoring 

the childrens’ strand of The Sunday Times 

Oxford Literary Festival. 

Our publishing practice combines expertise from across the Firm to 

support businesses and individuals. 

Our clients include authors, literary agents, publishers and distributors 

and we have built a reputation for commercial awareness, industry 

knowledge and financial innovation. In an industry where relationships 

are paramount, we take care of the financial side of things and leave 

you free to do the creating. 

Make our expertise work for you - whatever your requirements, 

we're confident we can help. 

www.critchleys.co.uk 

To find out more contact us 

on 01865 261100 or email 

marketing@critchleys.co.uk

...creating international understanding 

and friendship through the use of the 

English language... 

...has never been so important and never so possible. The world 

desperately needs international understanding and the reach of 

English provides a way of achieving it. 

Programmes 

The ESU runs programmes and 

scholarships relating to Literature 

and the Arts, including the Walter 

Hines Page Scholarship for 

Teachers, the Travelling Librarian 

Scholarship in association with 

CILIP, the Chilton Art History 

Scholarship, Literary Lectures, 

the American Arts Scholarship 

to Attingham and frequent 

book launches and lectures 

from prominent authors. If you 

are interested in any of these 

programmes, please contact the 

ESU, address below. 

Membership 

As a membership organisation, 

the ESU is committed to 

maintaining and expanding the 

network of friends, experts and 

professionals through which it 

achieves its aims. 

With 36 Regional Branches, 

the ESU has a diverse selection 

of events available locally to 

its members. The ESU is an 

international membership 

organisation represented in 50 

coutries worldwide. 

The English-Speaking Union is proud to support the Sunday Times Oxford 

Literary Festival in 2009. 

Why not join us Membership starts from just £19 per year. 

Members receive regular newsletters and invitations to the many events held both at our 

international headquarters at Dartmouth House in Mayfair and around the country. 

For further information visit our website, www.esu.org or contact Margaret Garrett on 0207 

529 1550. 

The English-Speaking Union 

Dartmouth House 

37 Charles Street 

London W1J 5ED 

Tel: 0207 529 1550 

www.esu.org

3 FRIDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Kate Adie, Robin Laurance, 

Harry Sidebottom and 

Stephen Venables 

Chaired by Julie Summers 

Eyewitness to History 

602 


Eyewitness accounts of events are by their nature 

rarely impartial, but they remain critical to historians 

and writers. But how reliable are they What 

influence can they have And how does the historian 

know what or who to trust An experienced panel 

including war correspondent Kate Adie, writer and 

photographer Robin Laurance, classics fellow and 

novelist Harry Sidebottom and mountaineer and 

historian Stephen Venables will consider the issues 

involved in the use of eyewitness accounts of history. 


Jenny Uglow 609 

The Lunar Men: 

The Friends Who Made the Future 


Jenny Uglow is a superb explorer of 18th-century 

British history. In her fascinating group biography, 

she concentrates on a group of like-minded men in 

the 1760s, all members of a Birmingham club called 

the Lunar Society, who together and individually, 

through their inventions and innovations, changed 

irrevocably the world in which they lived. Matthew 

Boulton, James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood, Erasmus 

Darwin and Joseph Priestly were all members 

of this society, and in her outstanding book Uglow 

reveals the friendships, political passions, love 

affairs and thirst for knowledge that drove these 

inspirational men. 

Supported by Wedgwood 

Susie Boyt 616 

My Judy Garland Life 

David Whyte 613 

Dangerous Liaisons 

The Poetry of Revelation 

and Self Discovery 


Self-discovery in poetry is something of a misnomer 

as the self that opens up through the poetic art is 

the voice of the no-self, a fiery form of silent in which 

we might overhear ourselves speaking the truth. 

This session will look, through David’s work and that 

of others from Dante to Dickinson, at a poetry of 

epiphany and revelation that exiles us from our old 

home and puts us into a larger circle than one we 

have made for ourselves. 


My Judy Garland Life will speak to anyone who has 

ever nursed an obsession or held a candle to a star. 

Judy Garland has been an important figure in Susie 

Boyt’s life since she was three years old, comforting, 

inspiring and at times disturbing her. In this unique 

and very poignant book, Boyt travels deep into the 

underworld of hero worship, reviewing through 

the prism of Judy our understanding of rescue, 

consolation, love, grief and fame. 

74

3 

Meadow Buildings, Christ Church 

David Timson 618 

Sherlock Holmes: From Fiction 

to Fact. The Evolution of the 

Famous Detective. 


Marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir 

Arthur Conan Doyle, actor David Timson considers 

the fiction and fact that led to the creation of the 

world’s greatest fictional detective: Sherlock Holmes. 

Timson, who has read The Complete Sherlock Holmes 

Stories for Naxos AudioBooks (60CDs), will illustrate 

his talk with readings from Edgar Allan Poe, the 

grandfather of crime fiction, and the forgotten 

19th-century French writer Emile Gaboriau, creator 

of the ‘roman policier’; and, of course, from the 

Holmes canon. He will consider also how Holmes 

benefited from Doyle’s scientific understanding of 

developing forensic methods used by Scotland Yard 

in the 1890s. Entertaining and informative! 


James Crowden 

629 

interviewed by Hugh Prysor-Jones 

Ciderland 


(includes a cider tasting) 

In this fascinating talk, poet, writer and cider expert 

James Crowden reveals England’s – and Oxford’s - 

proud links with the history of cider. Did you know 

that English cider makers of the mid-17th century 

pioneered the methode champenoise forty years 

before Dom Perignon is credited with the invention 

of champagne Or that one of the pioneers of 

fermented bottled cider was Lord John Scudamore, 

a Magdalen College man who went on to become 

Charles I’s ambassador in France Shortlisted for 

the prestigious André Simon food and drink awards, 

Crowden sets out to uncover many of the mysteries 

surrounding this most underrated British drink. The 

talk will be accompanied by a tasting of ciders from 

Burrow Hill (Somerset), Tom Oliver (Herefordshire) 

and Andrew Lea (Oxfordshire). 


75

3 FRIDAY 

APRIL 2009 

William Fiennes 


The Music Room 

625 

Centre for Inquiry UK Presents 

Stephen Law and Rodger Trigg 

Is Britain Too secular Now 

604 


Winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the 

Year award, and the bestselling author of The Snow 

Geese, William Fiennes is one of greatest stylists 

of his generation. In his immensely powerful and 

mesmerising memoir, he writes both about his 

idyllic childhood in an almost fantastical moated 

house and the threat posed to that childhood by the 

crippling illness of his adored older brother. The 

result is not just an elegy to a lost world, but also a 

sensory tribute to home, to the workings of memory 

and imagination, and, above all, a transcendent love 

song for a brother. In conversation with Chief Critic 

of the Sunday Times, John Carey. 

James Fenton 

Reading and A Chance to 

See a Display of Books and 

Manuscripts Selected by 

James from the Bodleian Vaults 

648 



James Fenton was born in Lincoln in 1949 and 

educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he 

won the Newdigate Prize for poetry. He has worked 

as a political journalist, drama critic, book reviewer, 

war correspondent, foreign correspondent and 

columnist. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of 

Literature and was Oxford Professor of Poetry for 

the period 1994-99. In 2007, Fenton was awarded 

the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. 

James will read a selection of his work in the beautiful 

surroundings of the Divinity School. Visitors will 

have a chance to see a small display of books and 

manuscripts chosen by James and drawn from the 

Bodleian’s vaults for the occasion. 


Should the state fund faith schools Should British 

society be explicitly founded on Christian values 

Is there something special about religion - and 

particularly the Christian religion - that justifies 

giving it a special, privileged role within our society 

Philosopher Roger Trigg believes secularization now 

threatens the fabric of British society. He defends 

the view that our freedoms are rooted in a Christian 

tradition and that, unless our Christian heritage is 

explicitly acknowledged and valued by the State, those 

freedoms may be at risk. Philosopher Stephen Law 

argues that there is nothing about religious beliefs 

that justifies giving them such special treatment, and 

that it’s high time we kicked the Church out of our 

State. This promises to be a fascinating debate with 

plenty of opportunity for audience participation. 

Professor Roger Trigg is the author of Religion in 

Public Life: Must Religion Be Privatized He is also 

Senior Research Fellow at The Ian Ramsey Centre, 

University of Oxford. Stephen Law is Senior Lecturer 

in Philosophy at Heythrop College, University of 

London, and Provost of CFI UK. 

Adam Nicolson interviewed 

by Simon Jenkins 

Sissinghurst 

660 


Adam Nicolson, the son of writer Nigel Nicolson and 

grandson of Vita Sackville-West and Sir Harold Nicolson, 

takes us on a personal journey through the history 

of one of England’s great houses, Sissinghurst. Now 

part of the National Trust, it is one of its most visited 

properties. Adam Nicolson reveals the history of his family 

home and the gardens designed by his grandparents. 

He tells us how his family have continued to live in the 

house and what it is like adapting to living in a national 

treasure. Adam Nicolson talks to Simon Jenkins, columnist, 

writer and Chair of The National Trust. 


76

3 

Ian R Webb 614 

Bill Gibb: Fashion and Fantasy 


Crowned ‘Designer of the Year’ by Vogue in 1970, 

Bill Gibb (1943-1988), was barely out of college when 

he launched his eponymous line. 

Gibb’s career was prolific and truly visionary, but 

sadly short-lived. His legacy and importance as a 

designer are apparent today, however, in the work of 

designers from Giles Deacon to John Galliano. 

Famous for his love of romance and soaring flights 

of fancy, Gibb’s wildly eccentric combinations of 

checks, tartans, stripes, floral prints and Fair Isle 

Knits had never been seen before. 

Ian Webb explores Gibb’s background, long-time 

fascination with historical imagery and the themes 

that inspired his designs. 

Supported by Belgravia Galleries 

Willie Harcourt-Cooz 

Willie’s Chocolate 

Factory Cookbook 

Terence Dooley and 

Claire Harman 

Chaired by Sally Bayley 

610 


An eccentric entrepreneur with a mission to educate 

the British in the delights of top-quality chocolate, 

Willie Harcourt-Cooze shows how to use the ultimate 

luxury ingredient in a collection of over 60 mouthwatering 

recipes. Willie’s Chocolate Factory Cookbook 

is composed of two parts. In the first half of the book, 

Willie tells the extraordinary story behind his dream 

to produce the very best chocolate in the world. In the 

second half Willie’s recipes show how 100% cacao can 

enrich an astonishing range of dishes, from Tiramisu 

and Venezuelan Hot Chocolate to Chicken Mole and 

Porcini and Chocolate Risotto. Come and hear Willie 

talk about chocolate and enjoy a sample of his 

chocolate too! 

619 


Heather Couper and 

Nigel Henbest 

From Babylon to the Big Bang 

626 


Ever since man first gazed at the stars, the mysteries 

of the universe have fascinated us. 2009 is the 

International Year of Astronomy, and in this 

fascinating discussion Heather Couper and Nigel 

Henbest, authors of The History of Astronomy, trace 

our engagement with the night skies from the earliest 

superstitions through to the latest scientific theories. 

‘The Post-Office is a Wonderful 

Establishment’: 

Penelope Fitzgerald and the 

Intimate Art of Letter Writing 


We read the letters of writers to glean more information 

about their lives: their attitudes and opinions; their 

prejudices and blind spots; their habits and their 

secrets. We hope to learn how they spent their days. 

Writer and critic Claire Harman will discuss letters 

as both a literary and private form of expression 

with Terence Dooley, editor of Penelope Fitzgerald’s 

recently published collection of letters, So I Have 

Thought of You. The event will be chaired by Sally 

Bayley of Jesus College. 

Sponsored by The Arts Club 

77

SPECIAL INTEREST 

WEEKEND 

THURSDAY 26 MARCH – 

SUNDAY 29 MARCH 2009 

EVOLUTION: 

DARWIN’S 

IMPACT 

ON SCIENCE 

AND 

CULTURE 

Christ Church 

OXFORD 

Topham Picturepoint/TopFoto.co.uk 

HISTORY: 

1759 

BRITAIN’S 

‘WONDERFUL 

YEAR’ 


Special Interest Weekend 


Christ Church OXFORD OX1 1DP 

Tel: 01865 286848/286877 

Fax: 01865 286328 

Email: specialinterest@chch.ox.ac.uk 


OXFORD LITERARY FESTIVAL CHARITABLE TRUST 

Education and Outreach Events 

for the Oxford Literary Festival – 

inspiring new generations of readers 

• Oxford Literary Festival Charitable Trust (OLFCT) was established in 2005 

and works with the main Oxford Literary Festival (OLF) held at Christ Church 

each March/April. OLFCT’s purpose is to provide an outstanding education 

and outreach programme of events for young people and excluded 

communities right across Oxfordshire focusing on literature, poetry, and the 

written and spoken word. Our aim is to inspire new generations of readers. 

In 2009 we will be involving over 4000 young people from all over 

Oxfordshire in events with poets and authors. 

• This year we are providing three days of author events for Oxfordshire 

Primary Schools; a Reader in Residence touring County Libraries; a word 

games competition for students in years 7–9; helping year 10’s put on 

A Play in a Day and running book reviewing and creative writing 

competitions. We are also hosting Festival events for poets from Asylum 

Welcome and book groups from hostels for the homeless and running a 

poetry project with The Art Room. 

• In 2009/10 as well as continuing with this schools and outreach 

work, we will be setting up a series of book groups in the Oxfordshire 

community covering all ages from the Under 5’s to the over 80’s. 

• We need your help to give children, young people and adults an 

enthusiasm for books that will stay with them through their lives, both 

encouraging literacy skills and providing the “magic carpet” to another 

world. If you or your business can be involved and help to fund this work 

then please contact: Angie Prysor-Jones 

oxford.literary.festival@ntlworld.com 01865 514149 

www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/charitable.htm 

Reg. Charity1109268

3 FRIDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Gregory Houston Bowden 635 

Mario Vargas Llosa 752 

100 Years of the Unique Morgan Car 


The Morgan is unique: it is the only car in the world to 

have reached its centenary still owned by the founding 

family. Gregory Houston Bowden, who wrote Morgan: 

100 Years jointly with Charles Morgan, tells us about 

the astonishing racing history of Morgan and explains 

how the cars are handcrafted in Worcestershire at 

about ten a week – a far cry from the mass-produced 

practices of other companies. 

Richard Blair 

in conversation 

with D. J. Taylor 

603 

The Chancellor’s Lecture 

5pm / Sheldonian Theatre, Broad Street / £8-£14 

Each year The Chancellor of the University of 

Oxford, Lord Patten of Barnes CH, will invite 

a figure of international eminence in the 

field of literature or public affairs, to give The 

Chancellor’s Lecture in the magnificent setting 

of Sir Christopher Wren’s Sheldonian Theatre. 

This year, the first Chancellor’s Lecture will be 

given by the great Peruvian writer, politician, 

journalist and essayist, Mario Vargas Llosa. 

Born in 1936, Vargas Llosa rose to fame in the 

1960s. His novels include comedies, murder 

mysteries, historical novels and political thrillers, 

several of which, including Aunt Julia and 

the Scriptwriter, have been adapted for film. 

Vargas Llosa ran for the Peruvian Presidency 

in 1990. He is widely considered to be one of 

the most influential writers of his generation. 


In this unique literary event, Richard Blair – George 

Orwell’s adopted son – will be speaking in public for 

the very first time about life with his father. Adopted by 

George and his wife Eileen in 1945 (Eileen dying later 

that year), Richard was brought up by his father, first in 

London and then on the Scottish isle of Jura. Richard 

will be talking to writer D. J. Taylor, Chair of the Orwell 

Trust and author of Orwell: The Life, which won the 

Whitbread Biography Award in 2003. 

A literary first not to be missed! 

Photograph: Harry Boarden 

The Sheldonian Theatre, designed 

by Sir Christopher Wren - venue 

for The Chancellor’s Lecture 

Photograph: Francesco Guidicini 

80

3 

Richard Ovenden 649 

The Future of the Past: 

The Bodleian’s Great Acquisitions 

4pm/ Bodleian Library, Divinity Schools, 


Richard Ovenden was educated at Durham University 

and University College, London and has worked as a 

professional librarian since 1985. He has served on 

the staff of the House of Lords Library, the National 

Library of Scotland, at the University of Edinburgh, 

and now at the Bodleian Library (as Keeper of Special 

Collections and Associated Director of Oxford University 

Library Services). 

Richard has published widely on the history of collecting, 

the history of photography and on professional concerns 

of the library, archive, and information world. He holds 

a Professional Fellowship at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. 

Richard will talk on the Bodleian’s great acquisitions. 

The library has recently benefited from Alan Bennett’s 

gift of his literary archive, and has been able to save 

for the nation the earliest surviving score of an opera 

in the English language, Cavalli’s Erismena. 

Paul Bailey and 

Sophie Grigson 

Chaired by Linda Challis 

Remembering Jane Grigson 

605 


(includes a glass of wine) 

Jane Grigson (1928-90) was one of Britain’s mostloved 

and most literary food writers. The Jane Grigson 

Trust, a charity founded in her memory, has gathered 

together people who knew Jane Grigson at various 

stages in her life and career, to join her daughter, 

Sophie Grigson, herself a cookery writer, and Jane 

Grigson’s good friend, the writer Paul Bailey, in a 

conversation about her life, times and work. If you’re 

a fan of Jane Grigson, use her recipes, or are just 

curious about this great woman, this will be a 

fascinating occasion. 

Chaired by Linda Challis, Chair of the Jane Grigson Trust. 

This event will be hosted by Oxford Gastronomica: The 

Centre For Food, Drink and Culture, at Oxford Brookes 

University - the home of the Jane Grigson Library. 


Véronique Mottier 635 

Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction 

5.15pm (10 minutes) / Blackwell Festival Bookshop, 


Is our sexuality a product of our genes, or of society, 

culture and politics How have views of sexual norms 

changed over time And how have feminism, religion, 

and HIV/AIDS affected our attitudes to sex Véronique 

Mottier briefly examines these questions and many 

more, exploring what shapes our sexuality, and how 

our sexuality shapes us. 

81

3 FRIDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Tiffany Atkinson and 

Damian Walford Davies 

Chaired by Jem Poster 

Two Poets 

647 


Tiffany Atkinson was winner of the Ottakar’s and 

Faber National Poetry Competition and the Cardiff 

Academi International Poetry Competition. Her 

poems are published widely in journals and anthologies 

and her first collection, Kink and Particle, was a 

Poetry Book Society Recommendation and winner of 

the Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Award. 

Damian Walford Davies is a lecturer in the English 

Department of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 

where he specialises in English Romanticism, literature 

and politics in the age of the French Revolution, 

nineteenth and twentieth–century poetry, and the 

literatures of Wales. In 2002/03 he won the Ellis Griffith 

and L.W. Davies Awards for his scholarly edition of 

the prose writings of Waldo Williams. 

They will come together to read a selection of their 

poems. Chaired by novelist and poet Jem Poster. 

Chris Meade, Kate Pullinger 

and Bryan Appleyard 

Chaired by Lucy Atkins 

The Book is Dead: 

Long Live the Book 

641 


Is literature as we know it really moving from printed 

page to networked screen – or is this just hype 

Our panel will examine the impact of the internet 

(the ‘read/write web’), and other new media on the 

book. It will debate whether fiction is becoming 

interactive, collaborative and non-linear, and how new 

technologies such as e-readers and print-on-demand 

machines are changing the way we read, write and 

consume literature. Panellists include Sunday Times 

critic Brian Appleyard, Chris Meade, former director 

of the Book Trust, now director of If:Book, a ‘think and 

do tank’ exploring the impact of new media on reading 

and writing, and writer Kate Pullinger, whose novels 

include A Little Stranger and www.inanimatealice.com, 

a multimedia graphic novel in episodes. 


Eshan Masood 656 

Science and Islam 


Between the 8th and 14th centuries, scholars and 

researchers working in Islamic territories from 

Samarkand in modern-day Uzbekistan to Cordoba 

in Spain advanced our knowledge of astronomy, 

chemistry, engineering, mathematics, medicine and 

philosophy to new heights. Ehsan Masood’s Science 

and Islam – written to accompany the BBC TV series 

of the same name – tells the amazing story of one 

of history’s most misunderstood yet rich and fertile 

periods in science. An enlightening, enthralling and 

in-depth exploration, it charts a religious empire’s 

scientific heyday, its intellectual demise and the 

numerous debates that now surround it. 

Christopher Rush 614 

Will 


The dramatic theme that acclaimed actor 

Christopher Rush has chosen for his novel is the 

deathbed meeting between Shakespeare and his 

lawyer, as they set out his final will and testament. 

As Shakespeare answers his lawyer’s questions, he 

begins to recall his life, giving us Shakespeare as 

we have never seen him before - angry, emotional, 

honest, reflective, joyous and despairing. Originally 

rejected by 17 publishers, such is the success of the 

book, that it is now being transformed into a film 

script for Ben Kingsley’s production company by the 

multi-BAFTA Award winning writer Charles Wood. 

82

3 


Words & Pictures: Writers, Artists 

and a Peculiarly British Tradition 


Jenny Uglow, the author of biographies of William 

Hogarth and Thomas Bewick, explores the fascinating 

relationships between British artists and writers. 

Starting with Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and moving 

on to Milton, Hogarth, Fielding, Wordsworth and 

Bewick, she explores the subtleties of the relationship 

between words and text in some of our most famous 

works of literature, and how one can influence the other. 


Leslie Clack 

639 

Oscar Wilde – More Lives than One 

6.30-8pm / Maison Francaise, Norham Road / £8.00 

Dear Conjunction is the brilliant Anglo-French theatre 

company, whose patron was Harold Pinter. They are 

coming over from Paris to offer a dazzling evening 

with Oscar Wilde. Les Clack’s inspired performance 

at last year’s Edinburgh Festival was hailed by a 

critic as ‘an exceptional piece of work in writing, 

performance and direction’. The award-winning 

writer Godfrey Howard introduces the programme to 

tell us about Oscar at Oxford, where he ‘aimed to burn 

with one clear flame’. 


Ffion Hague 

606 

Preview Screening 

of Arena: 

T.S. Eliot introduced by 

Anthony Wall and Adam Low 

617 

6-7.30pm / Christ Church Cathedral School, 


Arena contributes to the BBC’s Poetry Season with a 

profile of T.S. Eliot which, with the unprecedented 

co-operation of the Eliot Estate, tells the story of one 

of the 20th century’s most celebrated and elusive writers 

for the first time. 

The Pain and Privilege: 

The Women in Lloyd George’s Life 


Prime minister, devoted public servant, Lloyd George 

was also a habitual womanizer who was cited in two 

divorce cases, and was rumoured to have fought a 

duel over a woman in Argentina. In her lively book, 

Ffion Hague, Cardiff-born wife of former Tory leader 

William Hague, explores the scandalous love life of 

her compatriot, and illuminates his complex and often 

controversial attitude to women. 


83

3 FRIDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Jeffery Archer interviewed 

by Julie Summers 

Paths of Glory 

657 


Jeffrey Archer, whose bestselling novels include Not 

a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, Kane and Abel and 

The Eleventh Commandment, has sold over 250 million 

books throughout the world. In his latest novel, Paths 

of Glory, he draws on a cast of unforgettable characters 

– many of them key players in British history. Published 

a decade after George Mallory’s body was discovered 

on Everest, it tells the heartbreaking account of 

Mallory’s attempt to make the first ascent of the 

world’s highest mountain. 

Amidst this epic tale of honour, ambition and pride, lies 

a moving love story between Mallory and his wife Ruth, 

the one woman who could compete with his love for 

‘Chomolungma’, Goddess Mother of the Earth. Jeffrey 

Archer talks to Sandy Irvine’s great niece, Julie Summers. 

Joan Bakewell, 

Nick Baker and Irma Kurtz 

Chaired by Emma Soames 

Ageing – The Future 


627 

Britons are living longer and staying active later. 

But what are the implications for the economy 

and the National Health Service And how will the 

state meet the needs of this ageing population 

To discuss the issues raised by the topic, Joan 

Bakewell, the government’s recently appointed voice 

of the elderly (whose first novel, All the Nice Girls, 

has just been published), will be joined by Nick 

Baker, whose Groovy Old Men takes a lighter look at 

older men who see age as no reason to stop having 

fun, and agony-aunt Irma Kurtz, author of About 

Time: Growing Old Disgracefully. Chaired by Emma 

Soames, Editor of Saga Magazine. 


Mary Mount and 

Ross Raisin 

Penguin Reader’s Evening 

The Inside Story from 

one of Britain’s Foremost 

Publishing Houses 

628 

John Blackwell and 

Chris Sykes 

At the End of the Day: 

Poems & Songs 

624 

8pm / Music Room, Christ Church / £10.00 

(includes a glass of wine) 

Poet and songwriter Chris Sykes and guitarist John 

Blackwell wax lyrical on the fun and joy of growing old. 

Chris Sykes’ thoughtful poems and songs will touch, 

delight and surprise. Audience reaction last year: 

‘Tender, funny and highly intelligent.’ ‘An 

excellent mix of poetry and music – humorous 

and poignant.’ ‘Loved it!’ 


Ross Raisin’s first novel, God’s Own Country, was 

published to great acclaim in hardback last year and 

was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys prize. 

Set in Ross’s native Yorkshire, the book is a brilliantly 

realised first-person account of an unsettled loner. 

Mary Mount is Editorial Director at Penguin Books 

and Ross’s editor. Come and hear Mary talk about 

her life as an editor, and then listen to her interview 

Ross about how he came to write his book. Penguin 

have 30 copies of God’s Own Country to give away 

to the first three reading groups who email them at 

their readers’ group website, www.penguin.co.uk/ 

readers. Just email readers@penguin.co.uk, giving 

the name of your reading group and the address you 

would like the books sent to. 

Supported by Penguin 

84

3 

Susan Blackmore 

Ten Zen Questions 

643 


Psychologist Susan Blackmore’s talks combine 

the latest scientific theories about mind, self and 

consciousness, with the knowledge gained from 

a lifetime’s practice of Zen. In her book Ten Zen 

Questions, she brings the two together to offer a 

revolutionary way of trying to understand who we 

are. The result is an inspiring exploration into 

how intellectual enquiry and meditation can tackle 

the questions behind some of today’s greatest 

scientific mysteries. 


The Pond, Tom Quad 

John Calder 

662 

Ann Pilling 642 

Home Field 


Home Field is the first full-length collection of poetry 

that award-winning novelist Ann Pilling has put together. 

She made a conscious decision to concentrate on 

poetry in 2003 and in doing so has come up with a 

remarkable collection of poems that are written with a 

mixture of enjoyment and hard work. 

Her acute and celebratory observations of the domestic 

and the familial are balanced by her renderings of the 

tragic moments that touch all our lives. 

A Publishing Legend 

8pm/ Blue Boar Marquee, Christ Church / £7.50 

Born into a Scottish brewing dynasty in 1927, John 

Calder ran a family timber business while setting up 

a publishing house in 1949. He went on to establish 

an imprint that published some of the greatest 

avant-garde writers of the 20th Century. Calder’s 

authors achieved 19 Nobel Literature Prizes (including 

Samuel Beckett and Claude Simon) and 3 for peace. 

In the UK Calder published all of Samuel Beckett’s 

novels, poetry, criticism and some of his plays; as 

well as Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer; William 

Burrugh’s The Naked Lunch and Hubert Selby’s 

Last Exit to Brooklyn. All in all a controversial and 

turbulent career. 

85

a. What is the first number that, 

when you spell it, has an ‘a’ in it 

b. What is the only word in 

the English language that 

reads the same upside down 

c. Redivider is the longest common 

word that is also a what 

TheReader’sDigestWordPowerQuiz 

attheOxfordLiteraryFestival 

Chairman James Walton. The teams 

are Sam Leith, Tamasin Day-Lewis and 

Kit Hesketh-Harvey versus Sarah Sands, 

Harry Mount and A.N. Wilson. 

6.30pm, April 2 in the marquee 

at Christchurch, Oxford 

Answers a) one thousand; b) swims; c) a palindrome

Join over 250 

postgraduate students 

benefiting from some of 

the top research ratings 

in the country. 

Taught master’s 

programmes include: 

MA Creative Writing 

MA English 

MA Digital Publishing 

MA International Publishing 

MA Publishing and Language 

MA Publishing 

Full list available: 

http://ah.brookes.ac.uk/postgraduate 

contact 

01865 484992 

pgah@brookes.ac.uk 

 

Come and see us 

at the Postgraduate Fair, Wednesday 

22 April, 4-6 pm, Headington Campus 

School of Arts and Humanities

4 SATURDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Aravind Adiga interviewed 

by Andrew Holgate 

The White Tiger 

701 


Winner of the 2008 Man Booker Award, Aravind 

Adiga’s page-turning debut novel tells the story of 

the rise and rise of Balram Halwai, teashop worker 

turned chauffeur, entrepreneur and murderer. Over 

the course of seven nights, Balram describes with 

bumptious charm his journey from the darkness of 

village life to the light of entrepreneurial success, 

and recounts the ultimately shocking lengths to 

which he has had to go to in order to achieve his 

goals. Full of dark and irreverent humour, the result 

is a bald, angry, unadorned portrait of India as seen 

from the bottom of the heap. Here he talks to Sunday 

Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate. 

Julian Bell 736 

Mirror of the World 


What is art and where did it begin Why do we make 

it and why does it change These are some of the 

many questions that Julian Bell considers in this 

new story of art for the 21st century. Celebrated 

painter and author Julian Bell uses a wide range 

of objects – both familiar and less well known – to 

reveal how art is a product of our shared experience, 

how, like a mirror, it can reflect the human and our 

most basic cultural preoccupations. 


Lucy Moore and 

D J Taylor 

Chaired by Karen Robinson 

750 

Anything Goes: A Biography 

of the Roaring Twenties and 

Bright Young People: The Rise 

and Fall of a Generation 1918-1940 


The generation of ruling-class young people who lived 

in England between 1918 and 1940 created one of the 

most extraordinary youth cults in British history. As 

pleasure seeking bohemian party-givers and blue-blooded 

socialites, they romped through the newspaper gossip 

columns of the 1920s. 

Some called them the ‘bright young people’, Gertrude 

Stein named them ‘the lost generation’. Evelyn Waugh 

wrote about them and Cecil Beaton photographed them. 

But their quest for pleasure came at a price. Beneath 

the veneer of hedonism, parties and practical jokes was 

a tormented generation brought up in the shadow of war. 

Lucy Moore and DJ Taylor come together to give an insight 

into the period after the trauma of the First World 

War and those years that led to the Second. Chaired 

by Karen Robinson, author, reviewer and Supplements 

Editor of The Sunday Times. 

James Brabazon, Andrew 

Muller & Christina Lamb 

Chaired by Alastair Lack 

Reporting From the Front Line 

704 


Do journalists reporting from the front line of major 

world events influence Government agendas What role 

do journalists play in the formulation of Government 

policies, if any, and do they help create a public mood 

or reactions 

Alastair Lack, who worked for the BBC World Service 

for almost 30 years as a presenter, producer and 

editor for a wide range of current affairs and arts 

programmes, chairs a panel of three distinguished and 

intrepid foreign correspondents who have reported 

from the front line. 

88

4 


Helen of Troy: 

From Homer to Hollywood 


This engaging and original new book takes readers 

on an epic voyage into the literary representation 

of a woman who has wielded a great influence on 

Western cultural consciousness for more than three 

millennia. Laurie Maguire, Professor of English at 

Oxford University, calls on a wide and diverse variety 

of literary sources to explore the ways in which 

Helen’s story has been told and retold from the 

ancient world to the modern day. 


Adam Zamoyski 705 

Poland: A History 


Since the publication in 1987 of Adam Zamoyski’s 

classic The Polish Way: A Thousand-Year History 

of the Poles and their Culture, Poland’s situation 

has changed dramatically. After the turmoil of the 

19th and 20th centuries, Poland today is one of the 

most vigorous nations of contemporary Europe. In 

his revised and updated edition, Zamoyski brings 

the story right up to date, addressing the downfall 

of communism and Poland’s integration into the 

European Union. 


SATURDAY APRIL 2009 

Sadie Jones 711 

The Outcast 


Sadie Jones’s debut novel made a major splash in 

2008, after being shortlisted for the Orange prize 

and picked for Richard & Judy’s summer book club. 

A devastating portrait of small-town hypocrisy set 

in leafy Surrey, the book opens in 1957, with young 

Lewis Aldridge travelling back to his home having 

been released from jail. A decade earlier, his father’s 

homecoming had cast a quite different shadow. As 

the novel moves through trauma and its aftermath, 

we see Lewis change from a quiet, happy boy, into 

a young man whose loneliness and alienation cast 

a dramatic shadow over a whole community. 



I've never been to any Festival of any 

kind where everyone seems so happy - 

at breakfast in Hall the chatter is endless 

and the expectation of another day's 

entertainment and intellectual challenge 

is almost palpable. The organisation is 

impeccable: crowds of people walk from one 

venue to another, and nothing seems to start 

late. And Oxford is the perfect background. 

Frank Whitford 

89

4 SATURDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Mark Easton, Andrew O’Hagan 

and Kieron O’Hara 

Chaired by Martin Bell 

Is Britain in Decline 

728 


With declining educational and moral standards, 

rising crime rates, economic stagnation and loss 

of personal freedom, is Britain now a nation in 

decline, or are we over-critical of our country 

Discussing these issues will be Booker-shortlisted 

novelist Andrew O’Hagan, Dr Kieron O’Hara, whose 

Spy in a Coffee Machine looks at the effects of 

new digital technology on personal freedom, and 

the BBC’s Home Affairs Editor, Mark Easton, 

who describes his job as ‘sitting on a cloud and 

reporting how Britain is changing’. 

Michael Holroyd and 

Tiziana Masucci 

Violet Trefusis 

744 


Violet Trefusis is best known for her torrid love affair 

with Vita Sackville-West (the subject of Nigel Nicolson’s 

famous Portrait of a Marriage) and also for Virginia 

Woolf’s fictional pen portrait of her as the exotic 

Sasha in Orlando. Has Violet been imprisoned 

by the Bloomsbury Group Or is she an unjustlyneglected 

writer whose novels, sometimes written in 

French, sometimes in English, should be rediscovered 

by a new generation of readers Her Italian translator 

Tiziana Masucci discusses with the biographer Michael 

Holroyd Violet Trefusis’s life and work - including 

her retaliatory portraits of both Vita and Virginia. 


Christ Church Cathedral Spire 

Harry Mount 708 

A Lust for Window Sills: 

A Lover’s Guide to 

British Buildings from 

Portcullis to Pebble Dash 


Ever wondered why the floors in our terraced houses 

are different heights Did you know you can date a 

building by its window sills Harry Mount, author 

of Amo, Amas, Amat, takes us on an engrossing, 

enlightening and wide-ranging tour of the nation’s 

architecture, exploring the quirks, foibles and tiny 

details that make our buildings unique, and revealing 

the fascinating stories and anecdotes behind them 

along the way. 


90

4 

Klaus Dodds 

Geopolitics: 




Geopolitics is a way of looking at the world: one 

that considers the links between political power, 

geography and cultural diversity. Using examples 

ranging from historical maps and 007 films to the 

rhetoric of political leaders, Klaus Dodds explains 

why, for a full understanding of contemporary global 

politics, it is essential to be geopolitical. 

Michael Morpurgo 

702 


A rare chance to meet award-winning author and 

former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo as he 

talks about his best-selling books including Private 

Peaceful, Kensuke’s Kingdom, Born to Run and War 

Horse, which performed at the National Theatre in 

2007 and 2008. His latest novel is Kaspar Prince of 

Cats, the story of a cat that survives the Titanic, and 

This Morning I Met a Whale, the story of the whale 

that swam up the Thames. 


Brian Chikwava, 

706 

Francesca Kay and Anthony Quinn 

Chaired by Karen Robinson 

Writers’ Round Table 


Three talented writers, whose debut novels mark them 

out as literary stars of the future, discuss their own and 

each other’s work and the many challenges a fiction 

writer faces today. Francesca Kay’s An Equal Stillness 

was selected by BBC Radio 4 as book of the week. 

Written almost as a biography, this novel touches on 

the conflicts between artistic passion and familial 

duty, the nature of creativity, love and motherhood. 

Anthony Quinn’s fascinating first novel The Rescue 

Man is not about a person, but a place – the city of 

Liverpool. It is the buildings that seethe with urgent 

energy while the human passions remain muted. 

Brian Chikwava’s Harare North centres on the plight of 

an unnamed protagonist who arrives in a Brixton squat 

carrying nothing but a cardboard suitcase full of 

memories and an email address for his childhood 

friend. Caine Prize-winner Brian Chikwava tackles 

head-on the realities of life as a refugee. It is an 

arresting account of London as experienced by 

Africa’s dispossessed. 


For your copy of the programme for 

Young People’s and Children’s Events 

contact: 01865 286 074 

Michael Collins 

The Vatican Secrets and 

Treasures of the Holy City 

709 


Few people know what goes on inside the Vatican, 

but in this remarkable book Vatican insider and 

accomplished church historian Michael Collins is 

able to offer a unique behind-the-scenes look at 

the world’s smallest nation and the spiritual centre 

of the Catholic Church. Daily life, the day-to-day 

running of the state, the art collections and other 

priceless treasures rarely seen by the public – all 

are explored in this intriguing guide. 


91

is delighted to be 

a sponsor of the 

Sunday Times 

Oxford Literary 

Festival 2009 

Upcoming 

Oxford Times 

debates: 

Does Rural England 

have a Future 

Saturday, April 4, 6pm 

The Future of Oxford 

as a World Class City 

Tuesday, March 31, 6pm 

your weekly guide to arts and leisure in Oxfordshire

4 SATURDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Charles Glass 751 

A S Byatt 


761 

Americans in Paris 

Under the Nazis: 1940-44 


A world-famous journalist, the former Chief Middle 

East Correspondent for ABC News, and author of the 

book Tribes with Flags, Charles Glass takes a 

fascinating look at the moral contradictions faced 

by the Americans in Paris after the German army 

arrived in 1940. Drawing on previously unknown 

letters, diaries, war documents and police files, he 

shows how American expatriates became trapped 

in a web of intrigue, collaboration and courage. The 

result is an unforgettable tale of treachery by some, 

cowardice by others and unparalleled bravery by a few. 


The Children’s Book 

2pm / Town Hall, Main Hall, St Aldates / £8.00 

Internationally acclaimed Booker Prize-winner A S Byatt 

brings us The Children ‘s Book, a gripping panoramic 

novel of family secrets set against a backdrop of the 

bohemian, artistic late-Victorian and Edwardian world. 

This vivid, rich and moving saga, played out against 

the great, rippling tides of the day, takes the reader 

from the Kent marshes to Paris and Munich and 

the trenches of the Somme. This is the time when a 

whole generation is heading for a darkness beyond 

anything they have ever known. In their innocence 

they are betrayed unintentionally by the adults who 

loved them. AS Byatt talks to Sunday Times Fiction 

Editor Peter Kemp. 

A Poet’s Guide to Britain 

Preview screening introduced 

by Owen Sheers 

737 



Poet Owen Sheers, introduces a preview screening 

of A Poets Guide to Britain, his new series for BBC 

Four’s Poetry Season this May. Passionate that 

poems, and particularly poems of place, not only 

affect people as individuals, but can have the power 

to mark and define a collective experience, Sheers 

has chosen six powerful works for the series which 

have become part of the way the British landscape 

is viewed. 

From Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach to From Upon 

Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth, he 

uncovers their history, how they work and the nature 

and reach of each poem’s influence and legacy. 

Stephanie Calman 712 

How (Not) to Murder Your Mother 


The bestselling author of Confessions of a Bad 

Mother and Confessions of a Failed Grown-Up is 

back - and in top form. Stephanie Calman moves on 

from bad motherhood and failed grown-upness to 

the ultimate in tricky relationships: that of mother 

and daughter. In typically candid style, she offers a 

painfully acute examination of this most problematic 

relationship, leavening her research with often 

wicked humour. As a generation finds itself 

parenting its parents while still trying to look after 

its children, she has – once again – hit the zeitgeist 

firmly over the head. 

94

4 

Will Hutton and 

Mark Thompson 

2009 and 1939 – How Do We 

Avoid Political Crisis After 

An Economic Crash 

734 


‘I see it all. I see the posters and the food-queues, 

and the castor oil and the rubber truncheons and the 

machine-guns squirting out of bedroom windows. 

Is it going to happen No knowing. Some days it’s 

impossible to believe it. Some days I say to myself 

that it’s just a scare got up by the newspapers. Some 

days I know in my bones there’s no escaping it.’ 

Orwell’s 1939 novel, Coming Up For Air, was written 

with war looming, a war created in part by political 

tensions that were the shrapnel of a global economic 

crash. With a credit crunch and global downturn now 

upon us, will political crisis follow Is it going to 

happen, or is there some way of escaping it Join 

Will Hutton (The Observer and The Work Foundation) 

and Mark Thompson (editor, Television Across 

Europe: More Channels, Less Independence, and 

The White War). 

Julie Summers 735 

Stranger in the House: 

Women’s Stories of 

Men Returning from the War 


In 1945 four million servicemen were demobbed and 

sent home after the Second World War. The majority 

returned to women – mothers, wives, fiancées, 

daughters – who had no preparation or advice about 

how to cope with men changed and often damaged 

by six and a half years of fighting. Some tales are 

heartbreaking, others are funny but all are fresh 

because few people have ever discussed what 

happened when the ‘stranger’ came home. Julie 

Summers’s lively illustrated talk will bring to life 

this neglected part of our history. 




Michael Holroyd 745 

Oxford has some of the richest literary 

associations of any city in the world. 

Writing, publishing, learning, printing, 

illustrating - the city has been, and still 

is, home to all these activities. Oxford is 

built on books, quite literally: the stacks 

of the Bodleian Library extend under 

the city streets. Of course The Sunday 

Times Oxford Literary Festival is a natural 

development of all this bookfulness; and 

it’s grown from its small but determined 

beginnings into one of the main events of 

the literary year. It’s going to become the 

most important of all - just watch. 


A Strange Eventful History: 

The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, 

Henry Irving and Their 

Remarkable Families 


Author of lives of Lytton Strachey, George Bernard 

Shaw and Augustus John, Michael Holroyd is one of 

Britain’s finest ever biographers. In his outstanding 

new book, he offers an epic yet intimate portrait of 

two of Victorian England’s greatest theatrical talents 

– the radiant Ellen Terry and the legendary actormanager 

Henry Irving – whose lives, both together and 

apart, rivalled in intensity many of the Shakespearean 

dramas that they performed on stage. 

95

4 SATURDAY 

APRIL 2009 

John Humprhys 

interviewed by Fiona Lindsay 

The Welcome Visitor: 

Living Well, Dying Well 

760 

Christina Lamb 713 

Small Wars Permitting: 

Dispatches from Foreign Lands 

4pm / Town Hall, Main Hall, St Aldates / £8.00 

We all want a good life, but how much thought do we 

give to a good death Great strides have been taken 

to make death less painful, but there is more to a 

good death than freedom from pain. 

Radio 4’s Today presenter John Humphrys argues 

powerfully that if we accept that people should be 

able to choose how they live, they should also be able 

to choose how they die. There are so many things we 

can do to prepare ourselves – both practically and 

philosophically – but most of us are not even aware 

of them. John Humphrys talks to Fiona Lindsay – 

formerly with the RSC’s festivals and events. Fiona 

has interviewed many of the leading artists and actors. 


Named Foreign Correspondent of the Year a remarkable 

four times, The Sunday Times’s Christina Lamb is 

one of the most talented and intrepid journalists at 

work today. This fine collection of reportage tells the 

human stories behind some of the most important 

world events of the past 16 years, from Zimbabwe 

to Afghanistan. ‘Hers is the humane face of her 

hard profession: candid, modest and brave. She 

is clear-sighted without cynicism, and amazingly 

unscarred by all she has experienced. This book is 

a fine testament to her courage and compassion’ 

- Colin Thubron 

Joanne Harris 

at the Book Group 

759 

5pm / Bayne Room, Christ Church / 

£20.00 (includes a glass of wine) 

Ever wanted to share your love of literature with 

like-minded people Or have you tried starting 

or joining a book group only for it to fizzle out 

after a few months Join a long-standing London 

book group (18 years and still going strong), which 

includes Sunday Times journalist Karen Robinson, 

for this intimate session. Find out what it takes to 

start and maintain a successful and stimulating 

group, and join a discussion and Q&A with Joanne 

Harris on her 2007 novel The Lollipop Shoes. With 

wine, to replicate authentic book-group conditions. 

Window - Meadow Buildings 

96

4 

Archbishop of York 

Dr John Sentamu 

Englishness 

752 



The 99th Archbishop of York and Primate of 

all England, Dr John Sentamu is the country’s 

first black Archbishop. Born in 1949 in Uganda, 

the 6th of 13th children, Dr Sentamu was educated 

at Makarere University, Kampala, and Selwyn 

College, Cambridge. A judge in Uganda in the 

mid 1970s, Dr Sentamu fled the persecution 

of Idi Amin’s regime. 

Previously Bishop of Stepney, and Bishop of 

Birmingham, Dr Sentamu became Archbishop 

of York in 2005. He was advisor to the Stephen 

Lawrence murder enquiry (1997-1999) and 

Chair of the Damilola Taylor Murder Review 

(2002 –2003). One of the most admired and 

outspoken commentators in Britain today, 

Dr Sentamu will deliver the first annual lecture 

on Englishness. 

Supported by 

Elleke Boehmer 

Nelson Mandela: 


5.15pm (10 minutes) / Blackwell Festival Bookshop, 


As well as being a remarkable statesman and one 

of the world’s longest-detained political prisoners, 

Nelson Mandela has become an exemplary figure of 

non-racialism and democracy, a moral giant. Once a 

man without a known face, he became after his 1994 

release one of the most internationally recognizable 

images of our time. Join Elleke Boehmer as she 

discusses Mandela the man and Mandela the symbol. 

James Brabazon 710 

Work in Progress: 

Memoirs of a War Correspondent 


Award-winning frontline journalist and documentary 

filmmaker James Brabazon is currently working on 

his journalist memoir, which he will discuss during 

the Festival as a ‘work in progress’. Having reported 

in more than 60 countries, investigating, filming and 

directing in the world’s most hostile environments, 

he has much to say. 

James Brabazon first gained an international profile 

as the only journalist to film the Liberian LURD 

rebel group fighting to overthrow President Charles 

Taylor. During the past six years he has worked on 

independent commissions with Discovery; BBC2 (for 

whom he made the current-affairs series The Violent 

Coast in West Africa), and Channel 4, where he has 

made fourteen films in the critically acclaimed 

Unreported World series. 


97

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4 SATURDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Janet Soskice 729 

Sisters of Sinai: 

How Two Lady Adventurers 

Found the Hidden Gospels 


In 1892, identical twins Agnes and Margaret Smith 

made one of the most important scriptural finds of 

modern times. Combing the library of St. Catherine’s 

monastery at Mount Sinai, they found a palimpsest: 

beneath a life of female saints, they detected what 

remains to this day among the earliest known copies 

of the Gospels, written in ancient Syriac, the language 

of Jesus. In her enthralling book, Janet Soskice 

takes us on a journey in search of these Victorian 

adventurers and their remarkable discovery. 


Richard Askwith, 

730 

Roy Hattersley and Tom Oliver 

The Oxford Times Debate. Does 

Rural England Have a Future 


What is the future of rural England How serious 

is the threat posed by the closure of post offices, 

pubs and schools and the concreting over of the 

countryside for development Are those who object 

to these threats merely nostalgic Little Englanders 

who should adapt to progress and an ever-changing 

landscape This issue will be discussed by the 

politician, author and journalist Roy Hattersley, Tom 

Oliver, who is Head of Rural Policy for the Campaign 

for Rural England (CPRE), and Richard Askwith, 

journalist and author of The Lost Village. 

Ben Okri 

753 

interviewed by Elleke Boehmer 

Tales of Freedom 


As one of Britain’s foremost poets, Ben Okri is rightly 

acclaimed for his use of language. A Booker Prize-winning 

novelist, he brings both poetry and story together in a 

fascinating new form, using writing and image pared 

down to their essentials. 

Tales of Freedom allows us to discover many colourful 

characters, including Pinprop, the slave who holds the 

keys to the universe in his quirky hands, and a black 

Russian helping to film a new version of Eugene Onegin. 

This stimulating book offers a haunting necklace 

of images that flash and sparkle as the light shines 

on them. 

100

4 

Andrei Makine, interviewed 

by Geoffrey Strachan 

739 

6pm / Maison Francaise, Norham Road / £7.00 

Andrei Makine, winner of both the Prix Goncourt and 

the Prix Médicis for his novel Le Testament Français, 

together with his translator Geoffrey Strachan, will 

read from and discuss his recently published novel 

Human Love. ‘A haunting, often very tender story. . . 

one of the best novels about Africa in a long-time.’ 

Christopher Hope, Guardian. ‘Full of feeling, wisdom 

and tenderness amidst horror. . . one of his best. If you 

ever despair of modern literature, read Makine.’ Allan 

Massie, Scotsman. 

Oxfam Book Fair 

9.30am - 5.30pm / Wesley Memorial Church 

Oxfam was founded in 1942 at the University Church. 

This is one of two Book Fairs organised each year by 

local volunteers to raise funds for Oxfam and will take 

place at the Wesley Memorial Church, New Inn Hall 

Street on Saturday 4 April from 9.30 till 5. Entry is 30p 

(children and seniors are free). 

Jenny Lewis and 

Robin Bennett 

731 


Dambisa Moyo 

and Phil Bloomer 

Dead Aid 

754 


The well-documented horrors of extreme poverty 

around the world have created a moral imperative that 

people have responded to in their millions - yet the 

poverty persists. Are we not being generous enough 

Or is the problem somehow insoluble, an inevitable 

outcome of historical circumstance Dr Dambisa Moyo, 

a former Global Economist at Goldman Sachs and the 

World Bank, has written Dead Aid, arguing that the 

most important challenge we face today is to destroy 

the myth that aid actually works and showing how 

aid crowds out financial and social capital and feeds 

corruption. Do we need alternative solutions, and if so 

what are they Join the discussion with Dambisa Moyo 

and Phil Bloomer, Director of Campaigns and Policy Oxfam. 

Lyric Writing Workshop 

6-8pm / Music Room, Christ Church / £12.00 

How do you keep finding fresh ideas for songs What 

is a middle eight And how do you come up with 

the ‘hook’ that record companies are looking for 

This creative workshop with poet Jenny Lewis and 

musician/songwriter Robin Bennett will look at all 

these questions and give you the chance to flex your 

songwriting talents in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. 

Jenny Lewis is an award-winning poet, children’s 

author and songwriter who wrote and sang with 

the legendary Vashti Bunyan in the 1960s (Just 

Another Diamond Day - the T-Mobile song). She 

teaches poetry at Oxford University. Robin Bennett 

is a composer and musician who started the Truck 

Festival in Steventon in 1999. He is lead singer of the 

iconic band Goldrush and also writes as part of a 

solo project, Dusty Sound System. 

There will be a performance in the Music Room, 

from 6.pm-8pm on Sunday 5 April for invited 

guests of the workshop participants to hear 

some of the results of the workshop (one song 

or poem per person!). A piano, guitars and PA 

system will be provided. 

15+ years 

101

4 SATURDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Closing Dinner 

with Paddy Ashdown 

and Joan Bakewell 

703 

Alain de Botton 

740 

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work 

7pm drinks, 7.30pm dinner / Hall, Christ Church / 

£75.00 (includes reception, three-course dinner, 

including wine) / Dress code: Black Tie 

The Festival Dinner once again takes place in 

the magnificent Hall of Christ Church. 

Paddy Ashdown has had an extraordinarily 

varied and dramatic career - he has been, 

in turn, an officer in the Royal Marine 

Commandos, a member of the Special Boat 

Service, a diplomat, an MP, leader of his party 

and an international peacemaker in war-torn 

Bosnia. In his fascinating autobiography, A 

Fortunate Life, he writes with both passion 

and wit about some of the most remarkable 

moments in his career. 

In her sweeping first novel, All Nice Girls, 

broadcaster and journalist Joan Bakewell has 

written a poignant and involving story of heroic 

deeds, illicit love and painful separations. It is 

1942, and to help the war effort, the Ashworth 

Grammar School for Girls signs up for the 

Merchant Navy’s Ship Adoption Scheme. When 

the captain of the adopted ship and his men 

visit the school, they set up a chain of events 

that will disrupt all their lives and the lives of 

the next generation. 



We spend most of our waking lives at work in occupations 

often chosen by our unthinking sixteen-year-old selves, 

yet we rarely ask how we got there or what it might 

mean for us. Intrigued by work’s pleasures and 

pains, Alain de Botton heads out into the under-charted 

worlds of the office, the factory, the fishing fleet 

and the logistics centre, ears and eyes open to the 

sheer strangeness of the modern workplace. Along 

the way he tries to answer some of our more urgent 

questions about work: Why do we do it What makes 

it pleasurable What is its meaning 

Simon Schama 

introduces his BBC 

Film on John Donne 

738 

8pm-9.30pm / Newman Rooms, St Aldates / £8.00 

Simon Schama celebrates the life and work of Britain’s 

greatest love poet John Donne. For Schama, Donne 

is the poet who totally transformed English poetry 

through his use of language and emotional honesty. 

With the help of the academic John Carey, biographer 

John Stubbs and actor Fiona Shaw, he undertakes 

a passionate appraisal and forensic examination of 

Donne’s work. 

102

5 SUNDAY 

APRIL 2009 

5 

Ian McEwan 


The Sunday Times Award for 

Literary Excellence 

801 


Ian McEwan made an immediate impression on 

the literary world with his striking debut collection 

of short stories, First Love, Last Rites (1975). 

Since then he has gone on to establish himself 

as arguably Britain’s greatest living novelist. Taut 

narrative, intensely believable characters and acute 

psychological, emotional and social analysis have 

compellingly combined with crisp prose and an 

outstanding ability to conjure up place and period 

in masterpieces such as Atonement (2001) and 

Saturday (2005). In accepting The Sunday Times Award 

for Literary Excellence today, he joins an impressive 

line-up of previous recipients including Margaret 

Atwood, Ted Hughes, Tom Stoppard, Muriel Spark 

and Seamus Heaney. Ian McEwan is interviewed by 

Peter Kemp, Fiction Editor of The Sunday Times. 

Sir Tom Stoppard receiving the 2008 Sunday Times 

Award for Literary Excellence 

Choral Matins with 

the Archbishop of York 

Diana Quick 831 

A Tug Upon the Thread 


One of the country’s finest actors, Diana Quick always 

thought she knew where she came from. But when 

her beloved father died, she discovered a whole 

world of secrets that she had known nothing about. 

Not only was her father Catholic, she realised, but 

his childhood in India had been far from idyllic 

and he had been driven away from his own father. 

Rooting around in the archives, Quick then discovered 

a whole branch of her family that she had no idea 

existed. This is her story of a search for a past, and 

for an understanding of exile and denial. 

Martin Brasier 

and Emma Darwin 

Charles Darwin 

842 


Martin Brasier, author of Darwin’s Lost World: The Hidden 

History of Life on Earth, will talk about Darwin with 

Emma Darwin, author of A Secret Alchemy and a 

great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin and his 

wife Emma Wedgwood, in the bi-centenary year of 

Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication 

of his seminal work, On the Origin of Species. 

Brasier’s engaging book is an account of the investigation 

by palaeontologists into whether the Cambrian explosion 

was really an outburst of life or only of fossils. 

Emma Darwin’s new novel is set during the War of the 

Roses, and retells the famous story of the Princess in 

the Tower. 


SUNDAY APRIL 2009 

10.00 am / Cathedral, Christ Church 

The preacher at this special service for Palm 

Sunday is the Archbishop of York, the Most 

Revd and Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu. The service 

will be sung by the Cathedral Choir, and lasts 

about one hour. 

103

5 SUNDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Carvery Lunch 

Hall, Christ Church 

Two Course Adults’ Menu £16.00 

Two Course Children’s Menu £ 8.00 

(suitable for age 10 and under) 

Come and enjoy a traditional carvery Sunday Lunch 

in Hall at Christ Church under the direction of Head 

Chef, Chris Simms and Hall Manager, Andrew Hedges. 

Make your choice of Roast Beef or Roast Chicken 

with all the trimmings from the carvery. This will be 

followed by a traditional British Pudding, served to your 

table with coffee to follow. Small portions of the same 

menu are available for children under 10 years of age. 

The Hall reflects Christ Church’s long association with 

children’s literature. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 

was inspired and written in this college by Lewis Carroll. 

His portrait and the Alice Window can both be seen 

here. More recently, the Hall was used as the model 

for the dining hall of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. 

The carvery lunch will be served in three sittings; 

Event No: 847 12.30pm 



Please make any special dietary requirements 

or food allergies known when booking 

tickets. The Buttery Bar, adjacent to Hall and 

decorated with rowing memorabilia, will be 

open for the purchase of drinks and wines from 

the Christ Church Cellar from 11.30am. 

Cathy Galvin, Ben Okri, 829 

Andrew O’Hagan, 

Lionel Shriver and Wells Tower 

Chaired by Bryan Appleyard 

Less is More - Short Stories 


Received wisdom suggests the British have lost their 

appetite for short stories while in the States the genre 

continues to thrive. Twenty years ago we may all have 

leafed through the stories of Roald Dahl and Angela 

Carter but today such anthologies simply don’t sell. 

Why And is it all about to change Authors Ben Okri, 

Andrew O’Hagan, Lionel Shriver and Wells Tower 

discuss the future of the short story in the UK. All 

are recent contributors to the newly launched fiction 

section of The Sunday Times Magazine and are joined 

by short story editor Cathy Galvin and questioned by 

the paper’s cultural critic, Bryan Appleyard. 

A special Sunday Times Magazine event. 

106 

Wolsey’s Kitchen - where all meals are still prepared for the Great Hall

5 

Pen Farthing 804 

One Dog at a Time 


Stumbling across the horrors of a local dog fight in 

the remote outpost of Now Zad in Afghanistan, Royal 

Marine Pen Farthing felt he had no choice but to 

intervene. The dogs fled after his intervention, but 

one returned and found its way to the Royal Marine 

compound and into Pen’s life. Soon other dogs were 

drawn to the sanctuary of Penn’s makeshift 

pound. His gripping account of his fight to make a 

difference in a hostile and dangerous environment is a 

remarkable true story of how one man saved the stray 

dogs of Afghanistan. 

Christopher Kelly 836 

Attila the Hun: Barbarian Terror 

and the Fall of the Roman Empire 


Attila the Hun – godless barbarian and near-mythical 

warrior king – has become a byword for mindless 

ferocity. His brutal attacks smashed through the 

frontiers of the Roman Empire in a savage wave of 

death and destruction. 

Christopher Kelly, Fellow of Corpus Christi College 

Cambridge, goes in search of the real Attila the 

Hun, revealing the history of an astute politician 

and first-rate military commander who brilliantly 

exploited the strengths and weaknesses of the 

Roman Empire. 



Richard Bellamy 

Ben Goldacre 802 

Bad Science 


When he’s not working as a doctor in the NHS, 

Ben Goldacre is conducting a one-man campaign, 

via his newspaper column Bad Science, against 

the claims of scaremongering journalists, quack 

health products, pseudoscientific cosmetics adverts 

and unprincipled multinational pharmaceutical 

corporations. This collection of his best writing about 

science and its abuses, distortions, absurdities and 

corruption offers a thoroughly sensible antidote to all 

manner of overinflated and under-researched claims. 

Citizenship: 




Interest in citizenship has never been higher. But what 

does it mean to be a citizen in a modern, complex 

community Join Richard Bellamy as he briefly 

approaches the subject of citizenship from a political 

perspective and addresses the complexities behind 

this highly topical issue. 

107

5 SUNDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Fran Sandham 805 

Traversa: A Solo Walk Across 

Africa, from the Skeleton Coast 

to the Indian Ocean 


As editor of Rough Guides, Fran Sandham has already 

travelled through more than 40 countries. Traversa 

tells his story, when inspired by the legendary 

crossings of the great explorers, he left the daily grind 

of London to undertake an extraordinary adventure, 

walking 3,000 miles across an entire continent from 

Namibia to Zanzibar. A classic account of one man’s 

struggle to test himself against nature, the book is 

both uplifting and thoroughly engaging. 


Linda Grant 850 

The Thoughtful Dresser 

David Gentleman, 

Brian Webb and 

Peyton Skipwith 

837 

Artists, Designers and Illustrators: 

Their Impact On Our Society 


The renowned Design series grew out of an exhibition 

and its catalogue at the Fry Art Gallery, Saffron Waldon, 

celebrating the centenaries of Edward Bawden and 

Eric Ravilious. Peyton Skipwith’s and Brian Webb’s 

latest book on Curwen Press covers the work of the 

groundbreaking printing house, which listed many 

of the early 20th century’s best-known designers, 

artists and illustrators among its contributors. 

David Gentleman has designed British postage 

stamps and a platform-length mural on the London 

Underground. There have been many exhibitions 

of his landscape watercolours and architectural 

lithographs; his posters have been carried on 

marches protesting against the wars in Iraq and 

Gaza. Here he, Brian Webb and Peyton Skipworth 

talk about the design of the past and present and its 

impact on our lives. 


2pm/ McKenna Room, Christ Church / £7.50 

For centuries, an interest in clothes has been dismissed 

as the trivial pursuit of vain, empty-headed women. 

But clothes matter, says Man Booker-shortlisted novelist 

Linda Grant, because what we choose to dress ourselves 

in defines our identity. Celebrating the pleasures of 

adornment, this intriguing book offers a thinking 

woman’s guide to our relationship with what we wear: 

why we want to look our best and why it matters. 

108 

The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 

is in a class of its own: Wonderful 

programmes, always a friendly welcome, 

very interesting audiences and a setting that 

is unforgettable. 

Tony Benn

5 

Jeremy Paxman, 


Off by Heart 

843 

2.00pm – 3.30pm (please arrive by 1.30pm) / 

Sheldonian Theatre , Broad Street / 

£5.00 (adults) £2.50 (children) 

The Sheldonian Theatre plays host to the final of Off 

By Heart, the BBC’s new poetry reciting competition. 

In schools up and down the country thousands of 

7- to 11-year-olds have been busy learning and 

performing poems, from William Wordsworth’s 

Daffodils to Edward Lear’s Owl and the Pussycat 

reworked as a beat-box routine. 

Now the 12 best, chosen from over 1,000 entrants, 

will compete in a grand final compered by Jeremy 

Paxman. Finalists will recite a selection of poems 

in front of the Sheldonian audience, television 

cameras and most importantly a panel of expert 

judges (including the author Philip Pullman), who 

will choose an Off By Heart champion. This promises 

to be an unmissable event – warm, funny and 

compelling, it should have universal appeal. 

In May BBC 2 will air a 90-minute documentary, 

made by independent production company Silver 

River, following the 12 finalists as they prepare for 

and compete in the final. An anthology of all the 

poems recited by the finalists, as well as other 

favourites to learn by heart, will be published to 

coincide with the competition and documentary. 


For your copy of the programme for 

Young People’s and Children’s Events 

contact: 01865 286 074 

Daisy Goodwin, film-maker, author 

and creator of Off by Heart 

109

5 SUNDAY 

APRIL 2009 

Claudio Cornini, 

Tetsuya Ishikawa 

and David Smith 

The Credit Crunch, 

Who is to Blame 

822 


Until recently the British economy appeared sound 

and prosperous. But, thanks to the Credit Crunch 

and the dramatic crisis in the banking system, we 

are now facing the biggest peacetime economic 

decline since the 1930s. Who is to blame – the 

banks, the regulators, or we the public Debating 

this issue will be David Smith, Economics Editor 

of The Sunday Times, and author of Free Lunch’, 

Claudio Cornini, former Chairman of ABN AMRO 

private banking in Italy, now Director of Cornhill & 

Harvest, and associate lecturer in Finance at Padua 

University, and Tetsuya Ishikawa, whose new book, 

How I Caused the Credit Crunch, is a fascinating 

insider’s fictionalised account of working at the 

cutting edge of the global economy. 

Ed Vaizey, Iain Dale 

and Peter Hitchens 

What is the Big 

Conservative Idea 

825 


Summer 2008: A double-digit lead in the polls. Victory 

in the London Mayoral election and the Crewe and 

Nantwich by-election. Big wins in the local elections. 

A government on the back foot, if not on the ropes. 

Things may have changed a little since, but the 

Conservative Party will go into the next General 

Election with a real chance of forming the government. 

So what is it that sets them apart from Labour (and 

the Lib Dems) What would they do in power What, 

in short, is the big Conservative idea Join Ed Vaizey 

MP (Conservative), Iain Dale (Conservative blogger), 

Peter Hitchens (Mail on Sunday). 

Harry Sidebottom & 

Robyn Young 

Truth in Historical Fiction 

– Does it Matter 

803 


How important is it that historical fiction is based on 

true historical fact Does it really matter if the author 

uses a poetic licence to colour the facts a little in order 

to give us a good read 

Is it enough to set the scene reasonably accurately 

and then add a few frills to make it more dramatic, or 

do readers feel short changed if they discover that the 

writer has taken historical licence 

These are some of the questions that Harry Sidebottom 

(Warrior of Rome) and Robyn Young (Requiem) will 

address when they meet at the Festival to ask if an 

imaginative fictional story with a compelling narrative 

is more important than accurate historical facts 


Modernism on Sea: 

An Artistic Journey 

Around the British Coast 

Lara Feigel, Fred Gray, 

Alexandra Harris, 

Frances Spalding 

806 


The English seaside has inspired a rich tradition of 

art. Join Lara Feigel and Alexandra Harris, the editors 

of a new book on the modernist coast for a cultural 

journey around England’s edges. Fred Gray and 

Frances Spalding also join the discussion. The tour 

starts in Margate, where T.S. Eliot spent long hours 

sitting in a blustery shelter as he wrote The Waste 

Land. It includes a visit to Paul Nash’s surrealist 

Swanage and John Piper’s windy Dungeness, with 

discoveries of a beachcomber’s horde of cultural 

curiosities along the way, all illustrated with slides 

and readings from seaside literature. 

Supported by 

110

5 

Rachel Hore and 

D J Taylor 

Chaired by Lucy Atkins 

The Glass Painter’s Daughter 

and Ask Alice 

841 


Husband and wife team D J Taylor and Rachel Hore 

come together to discuss their latest novels, The 

Glass Painter’s Daughter and Ask Alice. 

D J Taylor writes of a pretty young woman who travels 

apprehensively across the American prairies on a whim, 

then takes his readers through the brightly coloured 

world of London’s high life during the 1920’s where she 

becomes a queen among society hostesses. However 

she has a secret, whose roots lie five thousand miles away. 

Rachel Hore’s heroine is a peripatetic musician who 

is summoned home to London when her father has 

a stroke, only to find herself in charge of the family 

stained-glass business. When asked to restore a 

shattered window, her research into the window’s 

origins uncovers a fascinating and moving story that 

resonates with her own life. Chaired by Lucy Atkins 

author, journalist and book critic for The Sunday Times. 

Rana Mitter 

Modern China: 




China today is never out of the news: from human 

rights controversies and the continued legacy of 

Tiananmen Square, to global coverage of the Beijing 

Olympics, and the Chinese ‘economic miracle’. Join 

Rana Mitter as he gives his very short introduction 

to why China looks the way it does today, and how it 

got there. 

Philip Gross 

interviewed by Jem Poster 

The Water Table 

840 


Where is a poem before it is written What does it 

know that we don’t know yet when we’re writing 

Is it maybe better not to know Questions like this 

weave around the poems in novelist and poet Philip 

Gross soon-to-be-published book The Water Table, 

the latest in a quarter century of prizewinning 

poetry, for adults and for children. 

Edward Lucas 

Chaired by John Lloyd 

Russia Debate 

826 


British relations with Russia are at their lowest ebb 

since the Cold War. Alexander Litvinenko and polonium, 

the British Ambassador and ‘Putin Youth’, espionage, 

Georgia, and the gas supply have all been recent sources 

of tension. At the same time, Russian oligarchs are 

becoming more visible in British life, from football 

to Fleet Street. Is there a new Cold War brewing 

Should we be worried about the lack of press freedom 

and political debate in Russia Or is such a thesis 

exaggerated Is Russia a threat – or is it threatened 

Chaired by John Lloyd (Financial Times, University of 

Oxford Reuters Institute). 


111

5 SUNDAY 

APRIL 2009 

David Gentleman 818 

Design 


David Gentleman has travelled widely and has written 

and illustrated books on Britain, London, Paris, India, 

Italy and Anglo-American relations. He has designed 

British postage stamps and a platform-length mural 

on the London Underground. There have been many 

exhibitions of his landscape watercolours and 

architectural lithographs; his posters have been carried 

on marches protesting against the wars in Iraq and 

Gaza. He will talk about designing for benign and toxic 

purposes, the pleasures and stresses of drawing as a job 

in which his only regular commuting has been upstairs 

to his studio, and the inseparability of art and design. 


Rebecca Loncraine and 

Andrew O’Hagan with 

readings by Julian Glover 

Chaired by Sally Bayley 

‘America is a Place Where 

All Things Are Possible: 

Barack Obama and the 

Tradition of American Rhetoric 

828 


In this lively talk, writers Andrew O’Hagan and 

Rebecca Loncraine look back at America’s proud 

tradition of political rhetoric, from the founding 

fathers to the present day, and examine the way 

some of the country’s most famous speakers have 

helped shape the country’s view of itself. They will 

be helped by celebrated actor Julian Glover, who will 

perform excerpts from some of the country’s most 

famous speeches, from the Gettysburg Address to 

the recent addresses of Barack Obama. The event 

will be chaired by Sally Bayley of Jesus College. 

Peter Conrad interviewed 

by Bryan Appleyard 

Islands 

835 


Whether we live on an island or merely fancy escaping 

to one, we can all learn something from Peter Conrad’s 

thought-provoking book, Islands. With his customary 

wide range of references and quick wit, Peter Conrad 

visits every corner of the globe to explain why islands 

appeal to us and the role that they play in our 

dreams and nightmares. In doing so he covers 

everything from the myth of Atlantis to Watteau’s 

erotic Cythera, Prospero’s magical kingdom and 

Nelson Mandela’s prison. Peter Conrad talks to 

Sunday Times cultural critic Bryan Appleyard. 


James Walton 830 

Sonnets, Bonnets and Bennetts 

6pm-7.30pm / Hall, Christ Church / £10.00 

(includes glass of wine) 

Join James Walton, host of BBC Radio 4’s The Write 

Stuff, in a literary quiz to celebrate Faber’s 80th 

birthday celebrations. In a team of five, you will 

fight it out with The Sunday Times and The Writers’ 

teams. Prizes will be awarded every two rounds and 

there will be a fabulous overall winners’ prize, all 

from Faber. 

James’s latest publication, Sonnets, Bonnets and 

Bennetts, is the ultimate literary quiz book, and 

includes many of the best-loved rounds from The 

Write Stuff on subjects such as literary feuds, 

famous literary mistakes and double entendres in 

classical literature. 

112

5 

Matthew D’Ancona 

Nothing to Fear 

Elleke Boehmer, Ben Okri 

and Helen Oyeyemi 

Chaired by 

Helene Neveu Kringelbach 

844 


For Ginny, the new house represents a new start: a room 

of her own where she can research her book on the 

psychology of fairytales and recover from a bitter divorce. 

The last thing she is looking for is romance. But her 

young neighbour breaks down her defences. Sean 

cooks her delicious meals and rescues her from a 

drunken attack by her ex-husband. His only eccentricity 

is the locked room in his house that he forbids her to 

enter. It can’t contain anything sinister, can it Ginny 

can’t resist finding out. But when she opens the door, 

she is propelled into a horror story, rather than a 

fairytale. Find out more in the new novel by Matthew 

d’Ancona, editor of The Spectator and a columnist for 

The Sunday Telegraph. 

Common Tales 

845 

6pm / Blue Boar Marquee, Christ Church /£7.50 

Is there anything ‘African’ about African literature 

How does the experience of living outside the continent 

affect the writing of African authors The themes of 

myth, memory and spirit often occur in African novels 

and yet they also tell universal stories. Discussing 

these themes and stories are Elleke Boehmer, author 

of Nile Baby, an imaginatively daring story testing 

the boundaries between the living and the dead and 

between the ‘other’ and ourselves; Ben Okri, whose 

latest story collection, Tales of Freedom, offers a 

different, poetic way of looking at our extreme, gritty 

world; and Helen Oyeyemi, author of The Icarus Girl and 

now Pie-Kah, a mesmerizing gothic tale of a haunted 

family that deals with grief, illness and alienation. Chaired 

by Helene Neveu Kringelbach, and Lecturer in African 

Anthropology at the University of Oxford. 

Joanne Harris 838 

The English Speaking 

Union Lecture 


With branches in over 50 countries around the 

world, The English Speaking Union (founded in 

1918) promotes global understanding through 

the use of the English language. At the heart 

of the ESU’s work is the role of English in 

literature, in the arts and in music – as well as 

public speaking, discussion and debate. 

The second ESU Lecture will be delivered by 

Joanne Harris. Joanne was born in Barnsley 

of a French mother and an English father. Her 

novels, including Blackberry Wine, Five Quarters 

of the Orange, Runemarks and The Lollipop 

Shoes, are published in over 40 countries. 

Joanne won the hearts of millions of readers 

with her bestselling novel Chocolat (inspired 

by the stories told by her French mother), 

which was made into an Oscar-nominated film 

starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. 

In association with The English Speaking Union 


113

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES WITH A 

LEADING ACADEMIC PUBLISHER 

Taylor & Francis Group has grown rapidly over the last two 

decades to become a leading international academic publisher. 

The Group is made up of quality imprints including Routledge, 

CRC Press, Garland Science and Psychology Press. Taylor & 

Francis is a constantly evolving and exciting place to work. 

Marketing. Production. Editorial. Design. Sales 

If you would like to advance your career working for a successful 

and global publishing company, in a creative and innovative 

environment, why not visit our careers website to view our current 

vacancies or to register for our Job Alerts service 

www.taylorandfrancisgroup.com/careers

Where trees claw their barren 

fingers to the sky, 

burning for stars and gods on high 

they have seen the gathering, of 

those who have 

died into a final Life, died, to 

sleep no more: 

Pray for them. 

…An extract from ‘Before The Dawn Heals Us’, 

written by Felipe, one of our Upper Sixth students. 

At d’Overbroeck’s College, we celebrate the creativity 

and individuality of our students – whether manifested 

in poetry or music, drama or sport… 

THE SIXTH FORM 

Coeducational day school for 11-16 year-olds 

www.doverbroecks.com/leckfordplace 

01865 302620 Leckford Road, Oxford OX2 6HX 

Coeducational Sixth Form, day and boarding 

www.doverbroecks.com/sixthform 01865 310000 

The Swan Building, Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6JX

WALKING 

TOURS 

Wednesday 1 April 


Keats’s ‘Eyelashes’: 

an Oxford Riverside Walk 

445 

“Lyra’s Oxford”: A Jericho 

and Oxford Canal Walk 

446 

With Mark Davies 


10am / 2 hours 15 mins / Meet at the entrance to 

Meadow Buildings, Christ Church / £15.00 

A two-mile circular tour of the Thames and its 

backwaters in the footsteps of novelists, diarists, 

poets, and travellers. Citing numerous authors 

of past and present, the enduring importance of 

Oxford’s waterways is explained by local historian, 

author, and publisher Mark Davies. The route is 

generally flat, but with some steps. 

Complimentary drink at Aziz Pandesia, Folly Bridge 

(5 minutes’ walk from Christ Church) at the end of 

the walk. 


Walking Tour 

- Inspector Morse Tour 

With Alastair Lack 

317 

11am-1pm / Meet outside Balliol College Lodge, 

High Street / £15.00 

Mention Oxford and dreaming spires, colleges and 

quadrangles all come to mind - plus, of course, 

Inspector Morse. The television series featuring 

John Thaw was based on the novels of Oxford writer 

Colin Dexter and remain immensely popular in the 

United Kingdom and all over the world. Centred on 

the university and city, Inspector Morse and Sergeant 

Lewis encounter Head of Houses, dons, murderers 

and criminals in the course of their detective work, 

pausing only to solve a tricky question over a pint or 

two in a favourite pub. 

2pm / 2 hours / Meet at Oxford University Press, 

Walton Street, Jericho / £15.00 

A walk of under two miles, broadly based on Oxford 

author Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights and Lyra’s 

Oxford, but citing many other authors. The route will 

include the literary-rich Victorian suburb of Jericho and 

the Oxford Canal (complementing the Inspector Morse 

Tour), and finish at Oxford Castle. The tour is led by 

local historian, author, and publisher Mark Davies, an 

Oxford ‘gyptian’ himself. The route is generally flat, 

but with some steps. 



the walk. 

Thursday 2 April 

Walking Tour 

- Literary Oxford 


525 

2-4pm / Meet at the entrance to Magdalen College, 


Explore Oxford Colleges in the footsteps of famous writers 

and poets. Start at Magdalen, home to John Betjeman 

and C.S.Lewis, and walk through University College 

and Queen’s, ending up at Merton, the College of 

Max Beerbohm and T.S. Eliot. On the way enjoy 

readings from the poetry and prose of writers who 

have lived in and written about the city and the University. 

Alastair Lack worked for BBC World Service for 

nearly 30 years and was Head of English Programmes. 

He also worked in television and for Radio 4. 

116

Thursday 2 April 

Walking Tour 

- Political Oxford 


526 

11am-1pm / Meet at the entrance to Meadow 

Buildings, Christ Church / £16.00 

Oxford has always been an important political centre 

and the University can count among its alumni 24 British 

Prime Ministers and the Heads of State of many other 

nations including Bill Clinton. The tour starts at Christ 

Church, proceeds to the Bodleian, Sheldonian and 

Balliol College. Balliol has produced eminent public 

figures, not least Edward Heath, Roy Jenkins and the 

current Chancellor of the University, Chris Patten. 

Friday 3 April 

Christ Church ‘bumps, 

punts, and jumps’ Walk 


651 

12 noon / 1 hour 15 mins / Meet at the entrance to 


A gentle walk of about a mile along Christ Church 

Meadow’s river borders, taking in the literature of 

the rivers Thames and Cherwell. The tour includes 

free admission to Oxford’s historic Botanic Gardens, 

where participants can spend time at their leisure. 

This new walk for 2009 is led by local historian, 

author, and publisher Mark Davies. The route is flat 

and suitable for wheelchair users. 

WALKING TOURS 


Walking Tour 

- Film Oxford 

631 


11am-1pm / Meet outside Trinity College Gates, 


From Charley’s Aunt to the latest adaptation of 

Brideshead Revisited, Oxford has proved a magnate 

for filmmakers and filmgoers alike. Whether it’s 

a Bollywood spectacular or the latest episode of 

Inspector Lewis, the colleges and quadrangles of 

Oxford are a familiar backdrop to numerous films. 

In this walk, explore the streets of the city that has 

provided the setting for films as diverse as a Yank 

at Oxford and The Golden Compass and hear about 

‘film’ Oxonians such as Kris Kristofferson, Rowan 

Atkinson, Rosamund Pike, as well as director 

John Shlesinger, screen writer Graham Greene 

and many more. 



An Oxford Riverside Walk 


652 

2pm / 2 hours 15 mins / Meet at the entrance to 


A two-mile circular tour of the Thames and its backwaters 

in the footsteps of novelists, diarists, poets, and travellers. 

Citing numerous authors of past and present, the 

enduring importance of Oxford’s waterways is explained 

by local historian, author, and publisher Mark Davies. 

The route is generally flat, but with some steps. 



the walk. 

117

WALKING 

TOURS 


Saturday 4 April 

Walking Tour 


632 

Walking Tour 


733 





Explore Oxford Colleges in the footsteps of famous 

writers and poets. Start at Magdalen, home to 

John Betjeman and C.S.Lewis, and walk through 

University College and Queen’s, ending up at Merton, 

the College of Max Beerbohm and T.S. Eliot. On the 

way enjoy readings from the poetry and prose of 

writers who have lived in and written about the city 

and the University. 

2-4pm / Meet at entrance to Magdalen College, 





University College and Queen’s, ending up at 

Merton, the College of Max Beerbohm and T.S. 

Eliot. On the way enjoy readings from the poetry 

and prose of writers who have lived in and written 

about the city and the University. 




757 



An Oxford Riverside Walk 

756 


3pm / 1 hour 15 mins / Meet at the entrance to 






where participants can spend time at their leisure 

at the end. This new walk for 2009 is led by local 

historian, author, and publisher Mark Davies. The 

route is flat and suitable for wheelchair users. 


10am / 2 hours 15 mins / Meet at the entrance 

to Meadow Buildings, Christ Church / £15.00 

A two-mile circular tour of the Thames and its 

backwaters in the footsteps of novelists, diarists, poets, 

and travellers. Citing numerous authors of past and 

present, the enduring importance of Oxford’s waterways 

is explained by local historian, author, and publisher 

Mark Davies. The route is generally flat, but with 

some steps. 

Complimentary drink at Aziz Pandesia, Folly 

Bridge (5 minutes’ walk from Christ Church) 

at the end of the walk. 

118 

Sunday 5 April 




846 

12 noon / 1 hour 15 mins / Meet at the entrance to 






where participants can spend time at their leisure 

at the end. This new walk for 2009 is led by local 

historian, author, and publisher Mark Davies. The 

route is flat and suitable for wheelchair users.


Walking Tour 

- CS Lewis Tour 



Walking Tour 



823 

11am-1pm / Meet outside The Eagle and Child Pub, 

St Giles / £15.00 

The poet John Betjeman described his tutor, C S 

Lewis as ‘breezy, tweedy, beer-drinking and jolly’ 

- a remarkable figure for many years on the Oxford 

landscape. Author of The Narnia Chronicles, The 

Screwtape Letters and much else besides, he was 

also a respected English don at Magdalen College. 

The tour begins outside The Eagle and Child pub, 

where Lewis and friends met regularly in a group 

called The Inklings to discuss their work and ends 

at Magdalen College, in between visiting locations 

such as St Mary’s Church, which were central to 

Lewis’ Oxford life and creativity. 

824 






University College and Queen’s, ending up at Merton, 

the College of Max Beerbohm and T.S. Eliot. On the 

way enjoy readings from the poetry and prose of 

writers who have lived in and written about the city 

and the University. 

Blackwell Walking Tours 

at the Sunday Times 

Oxford Literary Festival 

The Famous Blackwell 

Literary Tour 

Tours take place: Tuesday 31st March, Wednesday 

1st April, Thursday 2nd April, Friday 3rd April, 

Saturday 4th April and Sunday 5th April, at 1.45pm 

each day. Tour duration: one and a half hours. 

Conducted by our trained, experienced local guide, 

this takes in locations in Oxford where famous writers 

lived and worked. This illustrious list includes 

Samuel Johnson, Lewis Carroll, Dorothy L Sayers, 

Louis MacNeice, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Stephen 

Hawking, Joanna Trollope, Thomas Hardy, Phillip 

Pullman, TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), John 

Mortimer and many more. At the same time, the tour 

takes in the beauty of Oxford and the University with 

its historic buildings and monuments. 

The World-Renowned 

Blackwell ‘Inklings Tour’ 

Tours take place: Tuesday 31st March, Wednesday 

1st April, Thursday 2nd April, Friday 3rd April, 

Saturday 4th April and Sunday 5th April, at 10.45am 

each day. Tour duration: one and a three quarter hours. 

This tour is a must for ‘Inklings’ enthusiasts. The 

‘Inklings’ were a famous group of male writers which 

included JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Charles Williams, 

John Wain and many more. Our tour will take you to 

some of the places where they met and found their 

inspiration. This includes going into their old haunt, 

the ‘Eagle and Child’ pub. 

Further Information 

All tours commence from the Blackwell Festival 

Bookshop located in Christ Church Meadow. 

Prices: Adults - £7 / Concessions - £6.50 

For advance bookings, please contact our bookshop 

located at 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford. 

Telephone 01865 333606 

Email oxford@blackwell.co.uk 

Please note that numbers are limited per tour 

and we therefore advise early booking. 

WALKING TOURS 

119

BODLEIAN LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 

Extended and 

Semi-extended Guided Tours 

£12.00 extended tours (no concessions) 

£8.00 semi-extended tours (no concessions) 

Meet 15 minutes before the tour starts in the Divinity 

School, Bodleian Library (entrance on Catte Street, 

through the Great Gate) 

Places can only be booked by telephoning 

01865 277224. 

Visit a remarkable group of buildings at the heart 

of the historic University and explore the hidden 

underground tunnel and passages leading to the 

book stacks in one of the oldest libraries in Europe. 

An extended tour includes the medieval Divinity 

School, the 17th century Convocation House, the 

Chancellor’s Court and reading rooms, including the 

medieval Duke Humfrey’s Library and the Radcliffe 

Camera, the first rotunda library to be built in Britain. 

A semi-extended tour includes all of the above, 

except the Divinity School, Convocation House and 

Chancellor’s Court. 

The tours include some steep stairs. 

Duration: extended tour 90 minutes; semi-extended 

tour 60 minutes. 

The dates, times and numbers of tours are: 

Monday, 30 March 

10.00am 2 ext tours of 12 people each 

12.00 pm 2 ext tours of 12 people each 

Tuesday, 31 March 

10.00 am 2 ext tours of 12 people each 


Wednesday, 1 April 



Thursday, 2 April 


Friday, 3 April 

10.00 am 2 semi-ext tours of 12 people each 



Saturday, 4 April 




Anyone booking one of the above guided tours will 

be offered 10% discount on all gifts and cards on 

presentation of their tour badge in the Bodleian 

Gift Shop on the day of the tour. 

See www.shop.bodley.ox.ac.uk 

Public extended tours of the Bodleian Library 

run all year round on Saturdays. 

Advance booking is required. 

120

Courtyard - The Bodleian Library 

BODLEIAN LIBRARY 

Dr. Sarah Thomas 

Bodley Librarian - University of Oxford 

The Bodleian Library announces two major events 

to be held in conjunction with The Sunday Times 

Oxford Literary Festival in 2010: the awarding of 

the Bodley Medal and the commencement of the 

Bodley Lecture. 

The Bodley Medal is named for Sir Thomas Bodley, 

the founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford’s 

four-hundred-year-old library, established to 

serve the Republic of the Learned. These Medals 

are awarded to individuals who have made a 

distinguished contribution to the advancement of 

fields closely connected to the work of the Library, 

such as literature, the arts of the book, and in 

information technology. The most recent recipient 

of the Bodley Medal was Alan Bennett. 

The Bodley Lecture will feature a leading figure 

in the cultural world who will speak on a topic 

relating to the world of books and libraries. 

121

VENUES 

In the Meadows Marquee 

at Christ Church 

Entrance in the Meadow Gate in St Aldates. 

Festival Box Office in the Meadows Marquee at 

Christ Church 

Open from 3pm on Monday 30 March and throughout 

the Festival. 

Please note that, this year, Festival tickets will not 

be on sale at the Oxford Playhouse after 4 pm on 

Sunday 29 March and no longer on sale online after 

10 am on Monday 30 March. 

Information Desk 

The place to go for information on events, where to 

find the venues, and everything to make your visit to 

the Festival as easy and enjoyable as possible. 

Plus you can find out how to become a Friend of the 

Festival. 

Blackwell Festival Bookshop 

The Festival Bookshop stocks a full range of Festival 

authors’ books, including signed copies from events 

you may have missed, and more. 

Digby Trout at the Literary Café 

Located within the Festival Bookshop in the 

Meadows Marquee. 

Come and taste a delicious selection of fresh homemade 

food, wines, beers, and hot and cold drinks all 

provided by Digby Trout. Open throughout the 

festival. 

Access for the disabled at Christ Church 

Please see Accessibility and Safety for full information 

and map showing the disabled access points. 

Those staying at Christ Church 

May enter via Tom Tower at all times. 

Going to the Newman Rooms 

When going to the Newman Rooms from the main 

Festival venues at Christ Church, for your safety, 

please use the nearby controlled pedestrian crossing 

south of the college. 

Stay at Christ Church 

The Festival has arranged for visitors to the Festival 

to stay at Christ Church, one of Oxford’s largest colleges 

in the heart of the historic city and where most 

of the Festival events are taking place. 

To book accommodation at Christ Church at special 

Festival rates, please contact 


Christ Church OX1 1DP 

01865 286848/286877 

Email: festival@chch.ox.ac.uk 

Christ Church Buttery Bar 

Come and enjoy a drink in Christ Church’s very own 

Buttery Bar (situated next to the Hall) 

The opening hours: 

Tuesday 31st March 6.45pm - 9.30pm 

Wednesday 1st April 6.45pm - 9.30pm 

Thursday 2nd April 5.30pm - 7.30pm 

Friday 3rd April 6.45pm - 9.30pm 

Sunday 5th April 11.30am - 3.00pm 

122 

Plasterwork upper library - Christ Church

VENUES 

1 JCR 

2. Blackwell Festival Bookshop 

3. Buttery Bar 

4. Cathedral 

5. Festival Box Office 

6. Festival Room 1 

7. Festival Room 2 

8. Freind Room 

9. Hall 

10. Literary Café 

11. McKenna Room 

12. Garden Marquee 

13. Music Room 

14. Newman Rooms 

15. Priory Room 

16. Town Hall 

17. Christ Church Cathedral School 

18. Blue Boar Marquee 

19. Pembroke College 

20. Oriel College 

Meadow Buildings - Christ Church 

123

ACCESSIBILITY 

AND SAFETY 

Not all parts of Christ Church are presently accessible 

to wheelchair users, but the college has introduced a 

number of measures to support visitors with disabilities, 

and further improvements are being actively planned 

and programmed. If we can assist further, please contact 

Phillippa Duffin, the College’s Conference & Events 

Administrator (01865 276174/276150). An ‘Access 

to Christ Church’ leaflet is available and may 

be downloaded from the Christ Church website at 

www.chch.ox.ac.uk. 

Parking and Drop-off 

Badge holder designated parking is available in Oriel 

Square (4 spaces) and St Aldate’s (3 spaces). 

Festival goers with limited ambulant ability may be 

dropped off and picked up from the entrance to the 

marquee, accessed via the cobbled road, 75 yards 

to the south of Tom Gate, or at Tom Gate for events 

taking place in the JCR, Music Room, Festival Rooms 

1 & 2, the McKenna Room, Hall and the Cathedral. 

These are strictly drop-off/pick-up points only. Vehicles 

must park elsewhere as there is no parking available 

on site. 

Entrances, Quads and Gardens 

The principal access to the Festival is via the War Memorial 

Garden. There is ramped access to the college in the 

War Memorial Garden, leading to the level area of 

the Broad Walk and entrance to the Festival Marquee. 

Please take care crossing the vehicle route that crosses 

this entrance. 

There is ramped access to Tom Quad, from St Aldate’s, 

via Tom Gate. 

Visitors attending events in the Music Room and JCR 

may enter via Tom Gate. 

Accessible Toilet 

There is an accessible toilet in Tom Quad (beneath the 

Hall) and in the Masters’ Garden near to the Festival 

Marquee/Auditorium and Blue Boar marquee. Please 

ask a Festival volunteer or college custodian for directions. 

Induction Loops 

Induction loops for hearing aid users are provided in 

sections of the Festival Marquees and the Newman 

Room. Festival Room II also has an induction loop. 

Depending on the venue full or partial loops provide 

service for the hard of hearing. 

Assistance dogs are welcome. Other dogs are 

not permitted. 

Paths and Lighting 

Christ Church comprises buildings from several 

centuries, built in different styles and therefore not 

necessarily built in accordance with contemporary 

building norms. Of course, buildings are maintained 

to a good standard, but please note that a level walking 

surface may not be encountered everywhere. Festival 

goers are asked to take care at all times. 

The college maintains levels of lighting appropriate to 

the environment of a historic academic institution and 

lighting levels are variable. Please take appropriate care. 

Disability Equality Scheme 

Christ Church is publishing a Disability Equality Scheme 

and wishes to keep this under active review, taking 

into account the views of visitors, members and staff, 

whether with or without disabilities. Comments and 

suggestions are welcomed and may be directed to 

the Steward of Christ Church by letter, telephone 

(01865 286580) or email (helen.smith@chch.ox.ac.uk). 

Peckwater Quad - Christ Church 

124

Fire Safety Evacuation 

One of the main reasons for limits on the number of 

wheelchair users at a given event is safe evacuation 

in case of fire or other emergency. Evac-chairs are 

provided and duty volunteers or college staff are 

trained to assist. A fire safety briefing for all festival 

goers is provided at the start of each event. 

Accessibility By Venue 

Venues within Christ Church: 

• Cathedral: there is ramped access to and level 

going throughout the Cathedral. Wheelchair 

user visitors and those with ambulant 

impairment are recommended to enter the 

Festival via Tom Gate and use the ramped 

access in Tom Quad as there are steps in 

the Cloisters. 

• Festival Room 1 (first floor): this room is not 

wheelchair user accessible. It is reached up a 

flight of a total of 28 steps, with a half-landing. 

• Festival Room 2 (ground floor): there is ramped 

and stepped access. 

• McKenna Room and Hall: these rooms are 

accessed via a flight of 25 stone steps with 

a stone balustrade to each side and a large 

landing. From the top of the steps, there is a 

further step into the McKenna Room and 

further two steps into the Ante Hall. These 

rooms are accessible to wheelchair users by 

stairclimber. Advance notification is desirable. 

(The stairclimber is not suitable for motorized 

wheelchairs; if you are unsure whether this 

is suitable, please ask for further details). 

• Marquees: there is level going access to the 

Festival Marquees from the Broad Walk, which 

can be reached via the War Memorial Garden 

(as above). There is sloped but level access 

through to Tom Quad along a covered walkway. 

• Music Room (ground floor): this room is situated 

in Tom Quad staircase 4. Festival guests 

attending events in the Music Room may enter 

via Tom Gate. This room is not accessible. 

• The Junior Common Room (JCR): this room is 

situated in Tom Quad staircase 7. Festival guests 

attending events in the JCR may enter via Tom 

Gate. Advance notification is necessary to 

arrange for a ramp to be made available. 

• Freind Room: this venue is located in School 

Quad and is approached by cobbled access and 

a flight of steps. 

• Kidd and Keene Room: this venue is located in 

School Quad on the first floor and is not 

wheelchair user accessible. 

• Priory Room: this venue is located in the 

cloisters. It is not wheelchair user accessible. 

• Bayne Room: this is situated in Tom Quad 

staircase 1. It is accessible with use of a 

temporary ramp. Advance notification is 

necessary to arrange for access via a ramp. 

• Kitchen: this is fully accessible through the 

cobbled Meadow lane entrance 50 metres 

below Tom Gate entrance and the kitchen yard. 

You could be driven and dropped off at the yard. 

Prior notification is advisable for access. 

Accessible toilets are available from here but 

a long way off through Tom Quad entrance. 

Venues not within Christ Church: 

• Newman Rooms: this is on the west side of 

St Aldate’s opposite the Festival main entrance. 

There is level going, partly cobbled access, from 

St Aldate’s via Rose Place. T: 01865 276994 

• Christ Church Cathedral School (William Walton 

Hall): this is on the west side of St Aldate’s 

opposite the Festival main entrance. There is 

level going along a footpath, from St Aldate’s 

along Brewer Street and accessible from the 

car park to their Hall. T: 01865 260650 

• Blackwell: Wheelchair access available to all 

floors. T: 01865 333580 

• The Sheldonian: is fully accessible from Broad 

Street into the quad and through door ‘E’ to 

the main hall. People who need to remain in 

their wheelchairs for events are usually seated 

in the ‘D’. There is a rest room on the ground 

floor for the use of people who cannot get to the 

basement. T: 01865 277299 

• Bodleian Library (Divinity Schools and 

Convocation): this is accessible through the 

main entrance in Catte Street. Parking is 

available round the corner in Broad St. Prior 

notification is advisable. Please inform the 

porter when you arrive. T: 01865 277177. 

• Town Hall (Main Hall): Located on the first 

floor, with level access from St Aldate’s and a 

large lift serving the first floor. T: 01865 249811. 

ACCESSIBILITY AND SAFETY 

125

ACCESSIBILITY 

AND SAFETY 

• Pembroke College: Broadgates Hall and the 

Lecture Room have full ground floor access with 

toilet facilities nearby. One of the syndicate 

rooms is on the first floor with access via a 

number of stairs. The Hall and Forte Room, 

used for dining are accessible using a 

stairclimber. Advance notification is desirable. 

(The stairclimber is not suitable for motorized 

wheelchairs; if you are unsure whether this is 

suitable, please ask for further details ). 

T: 01865 276444. 

• Maison Francaise: A ramp is available into 

this venue for wheelchair users by prior 

arrangement – please call 01865 274220 in 

advance of this event. 

• Corpus Christi College: Level access is via the 

main gate on Merton Street. The gate will be 

opened by prior arrangement – please call 

01865 276700. Please request ground floor 

accommodation if you are staying at Corpus 

Christi College for the Festival Creative Writing 

Course. 

• Oriel College (Senior Library): there are 40 steps 

to the Senior Library with no lift or stairclimber. 

Visitors with limited ambulant ability are advised 

to call ahead to secure a parking space directly 

outside the college in Oriel Square – 5 spaces. 

T: 01865 276555. 

• Jesus College: The Market Street entrance 

provides flat wheelchair/pedestrian access to 

Second and Third Quads through two doors 

900 mm. It can be opened by arrangement to 

allow level access to the second and third quads 

for pedestrians and wheelchairs. It is possible 

to park inside the Market Street entrance which 

has cobbled paving. Prior notification to the 

lodge is desirable. You can ring the bell at 

the Turl Street entrance for assistance. The main 

entrance is from Turl Street and is +1 stair through 

a wicket gate width 700 mm T: 01865 279700 

Festival Ribbons for Christ Church Admission 

This year, all ticket holders will be issued ribbons to 

wear before entering Christ Church. This is to show 

that you are part of the Literary Festival and exempt 

from the tourist admission charge. You will be asked 

to wear this in a visible place such as a bag strap, 

button hole, around a wrist or pinned to a lapel, and 

a different colour will be issued for each day of the 

festival. Ribbons will be issued in the marquee on 

showing an event ticket, but please note these do not 

replace your ticket as admission to Festival events. 

Please keep your tickets to show at the door as 

usual. We thank you in advance for your co-operation 

and understanding. 

Library facade - Christ Church 

126

EXHIBITIONS 

Illustrators Exhibition 

Come and see the work of four of Oxfordshire’s 

leading children’s book illustrators and have the 

chance to buy original artwork: 

Mini Grey 

Winner of the Smarties award for Biscuit Bear, 

Minnie combines collage and digital artwork in 

her magical illustrations. Other books by her 

include Egg Drop, and The Pea and the Princess 

Terry Milne 

Illustrator of a number of charming books, Terry’s 

work can be see in Louis’s Dream Plane, Second 

Best and Ruby and Little Joe 

Korky Paul 

Known for his fun-packed and detailed illustrations 

for his series Winnie the Witch, The Fish Who Could 

Wish, and his many his poetry anthologies, Korky 

has won accolades and prizes around the world. 

Joanna Walsh 

A witty and inventive illustrator, Joanna’s books 

All Asleep and Amos Jellybean Gets it Right are 

a delight. She has also done a strip cartoon for 

The Guardian. 

The exhibition is open Tuesday, 31 March 

-Sunday, 5 April 

Weekdays: 3pm-6pm 

Weekends: 10am-6pm 

Illustrators will be signing their books from 

5pm-6pm on Saturday, 4 April 

Prophets, Muses 

and Inspirations 

5 March – 19 April 2009 / 

Christ Church Picture Gallery 

For the The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 

a selection of drawings will be on show at Christ 

Church Picture Gallery, fashioning connections 

between fine art and the written word. The 

group of drawings, chosen from Christ Church’s 

internationally renowned Old Master collection, will 

show a varied and playful selection – contrasting 

drawings depicting ‘old men with books’ (prophets) 

and ‘young women who might have inspired them’ 

(muses). Admittedly, prophets may not have been 

inspired by scarcely-clad dancing muses, but in a 

world of inspiration and fiction everything is possible. 

The display includes works by the famous Baroque 

artists Guercino and Giovanni Lanfranco. 

Picture Gallery open Monday – Saturday 

10.30am – 1.00pm and 2.00pm – 4.30pm 

Sunday 2.00pm – 4.30pm 

Entrance £3 (£2 Concession) 

Guests resident at Christ Church for The Sunday 

Times Oxford Literary Festival will be allowed Free 

Entry when showing their badge. 

EXHIBITIONS 

To be confirmed - please see website 

www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk 

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) 

A Grotesque head 

Christ Church Collection 

127

BOOKING 

FORM 

EVENT NO. DATE TIME PRICE QUANTITY TOTAL 

Less any discount 

Add £1.50 for credit card charge 

Name 

Add £0.60 for postage 

TOTAL 

Address 

Postcode 

Telephone 

Email 

Please charge my debit/credit card: Solo / Maestro / MasterCard / Visa. 

Card Number 

Expiry Date 

Issue/Start Date (Solo/Switch only) 

Security Code 

Signature 

I enclose a cheque for £ 

made payable to ‘The Oxford Playhouse Trust’. 

Times Newspapers (TNL), Cox and Kings, Blackwell and the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival (‘STOLF’) 

directly or via their agents may mail, email, SMS or telephone you with future offers reflecting your preferences. 

Tick if you do NOT want offers from TNL q OLF q Cox & Kings q or third parties q . 

Please return to: (postal bookings to arrive before 20 March) 

Tickets Oxford, The Oxford Playhouse, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2LW. 

Telephone: 0870 343 1001 Online: www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford 

Please ensure all details are completed. Remember to book early, as many events do sell our quickly!

BOOKING 

INFORMATION 

Prior to the Festival, up to 4pm on Sunday 29 March 

tickets can be booked 

• in person at the Box Office at Oxford Playhouse, 

Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2LW 

• by telephone 0870 343 1001 

• by post using the form overleaf 

• NB No fax bookings can be accepted 

Oxford Playhouse Box Office opening hours are 

Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm. 

Please note that postal bookings MUST be received 

by 20 March. 

Tickets will not be available for sale between 10am 

on Monday 31 March and 3pm on Monday 31 March 

Tickets will not be available for collection between 

10 am on Monday 30 March and 3pm on Monday 30 

March, when the Festival Box Office in the Marquee 

at Christ Church opens. 

In order to facilitate the transfer of ticket sales from 

the Oxford Playhouse to the Festival Box Office, we need 

to suspend sales and collections for this period. 

Please ensure therefore that you book your tickets 

as early as you can. 

From 3 pm on Monday 30 March and throughout the 

Festival 

• in person at the Festival Box Office in the 

Marquee, Christ Church 

• by telephone 0870 343 1001 

Festival Box Office opening hours are: 

Monday 31 March: 3 pm–8 pm 

Tuesday 1 April: 9.00 am–8 pm 

Wednesday 2 April: 9.00am–8.30 pm 

Thursday 3 April: 9.00am–8 pm 

Friday 4 April: 9.00 am–8 pm 

Saturday 5 April: 9.00am–8 pm 

Sunday 7 April: 9.00am–6 pm 

Immediately prior to events 

Any remaining tickets will only be on sale at the 

Festival Box Office in the Meadows Marquee at 

Christ Church – or on the door, if at a different 

venue. 

Please note 

Disabled access: please check with the Box Office 

for each event. 

Children’s Events: ticket prices shown are for children 

and adults, There are no concessions. Children 

under 2 years: admission free. 

Children under 13 years must be accompanied by 

an adult (aged 18 or over); the Festival cannot accept 

responsibility for the safety of unaccompanied children. 

Children over 13 cannot be responsible for younger 

children, although they may attend events alone 

as long as they are taken to and collected from the 

specific event venue. 

Concessions and discounts 

(adult events and walks only) 

• Concessions of £1.00 per ticket are offered to 

full-time students (with valid photo ID), senior 

citizens (60 years plus), children (18 years and under), 

unwaged and companions to disabled persons. 

• Friends of the Festival receive a £1.50 concession 

on tickets to adult events and walks, up to a 

maximum of 5 tickets. 

• Book tickets for 5 or more events in the same 

transaction and get a 15% discount. 

• Schools and youth groups get a concessionary 

rate of £1.00 off, plus one in every 15 tickets free. 

• Book and writers’ groups making a group booking 

of 8 people or more, may receive the concessionary 

rate of £1.00 off each ticket. 

• Only one reduction applies per ticket. 

• No reductions apply to children’s events, 

Festival dinners and lunches. 

Online concessions and bookings 

• Not all concessions are available online. 

• Event numbers can be found next to each 

event entry. 

• Unless otherwise stated, events last one hour 

and panel discussions approximately 75 minutes. 

• The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 

reserves the right to alter the programme or 

substitute writers, if circumstances so dictate. 

• Tickets are not refundable and cannot be exchanged. 

All tickets booked by telephone or online, until 

Thursday 19 March will be sent by post to the patron. 

For tickets where ID is required, please make sure 

that you have your ID with you at the event as you will 

be required to show it before entry. 

A £1.50 handling charge is added to the total cost of 

your order for all credit/debit card bookings, plus 50p 

for tickets to be posted. 

129 

BOOKING INFORMATION

INDEX OF EVENTS 

BY SUBJECT 

ART, ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN 

Adam Nicolson and 


Artists, Designers and Illustrators: 

Their Impact on our Society 108 

David Gentleman 112 


Future of Oxford as a 

World-class City 24 

Harry Mount 90 


Julian Bell 88 

Kenneth Powell 58 

Martin Gayford 19 

Ross King and Paul Strathern 64 


Steven Parissien 17 

Stuart Sillars 52 

Tim Skelton and Gerald Gliddon 58 

BIOGRAPHY AND MEMOIRS 

Adam Sisman 42 

Ann Leslie 22 

Anne Chisholm and Paul Levy 

Bernard Donoghue and 

Shirley Williams 59 

Bill Heine 63 

Caroline Moorehead 45 


Claire Mulley 37 

Diana Quick 103 

Graham Farmelo 58 

James Brabazon 97 


John Calder 85 

John Carey 52 

Leslie Mitchell 69 

Lucy Moore and DJ Taylor 88 

Mark Bostridge 68 

Michael Holroyd 95 

Michael Holroyd and 

Tiziana Masucci 90 

Remembering Jane Grigson 81 

Richard Blair 

Rory McGrath 58 

William Fiennes 76 

CATHEDRAL SERVICES 

Choral Matins with the 

Archbishop of York 103 

Festival Service 43 

CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY 

Abbot Christopher Jamison 52 

Adam Phillips and Barbara Taylor 31 

African Family and Cultural 

Traditions 62 

Ageing: The Future 84 

Alain de Botton 102 

Archbishop of York, 

Dr John Sentamu 97 

Are You Your Body 62 

Bodies 70 

Gloria Hunniford 60 

Ian Rowland 71 

James Woudhuysen 

and Joe Kaplinsky 18 

John Humphrys 96 

John Kay 48 

Linda Grant 108 

Oliver James and Penny Garner 32 

Passing the Word 61 

Pen Farthing 107 

Peter Conrad 112 

Responses to Climate Change 53 

Stephanie Calman 94 

Strong Women 55 

Susie Boyt 74 

The Book is Dead 82 

CURRENT AFFAIRS 

1984 and Civil Liberties Debate 22 

2009 and 1939 –How Do We Avoid 

Political Crisis After An 

Economic Crash 95 

Afghanistan Debate 39 

Anti-Semitism: 

Alive and Well in Europe 32 

China and Africa Debate 30 

Chris Mullin 17 

Chris Patten 65 

Christina Lamb 96 

Dambisa Moyo and Phil Bloomer 101 

Does Rural England Have a Future 100 

Election of Barack Obama 18 

Emmanuel Jal 64 

Future of Education in England 70 

Is Britain in Decline 90 

Is Britain Too Secular Now 76 

Kate Adie 69 

Reporting from the Frontline 88 

Richard Dowden 25 

Robert Wilson and Brigadier 

Andrew MacKay 44 

Russia Debate 111 

Teenage Gang Violence 45 

The Credit Crunch, 

Who is to Blame 110 

Vince Cable 10 

What is the Big Conservative Idea 110 

DINNERS 


Paddy Ashdown and Joan Bakewell 

PD James 13 

Tamasin Day Lewis 38 

FASHION 

Ian R Webb 77 

FICTION 

Adam Foulds 24 

Andrei Makine 101 

Andrei Ostalski 43 

Andrew Miller 45 

Aravind Adiga 88 

AS Byatt 94 

Ben Okri 100 

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 33 

Christopher Rush 82 

CJ Sansom 55 

Colin Dexter and Laura Thompson 54 

Donna Leon and Patrick Neate 13 

Elizabeth Jane Howard 33 

Gillian Slovo 25 

Helen Dunmore 18 

Howard Jacobson 64 

Iain Pears 24 

Ian McEwan 103 

Jeffery Archer 84 

Jill Dawson 55 

Joanne Harris at the Book Group 96 

Josephine Hart 11 

Kate Atkinson 13 

Kate Summerscale 31 

Less is More: Short Stories 106 

Manju Kapur 69 

One World: A Global Anthology of 

Short Stories 44 

Penguin Reader’s Evening 84 

Philip Gross 111 

Rachel Hore and DJ Taylor 111 

Rebecca Abrams and 

Ann Lingard 59 

Robert Harris 19 

Sadie Jones 89 

Sarah Hall 54 

Writers’ Round Table 91 

FILM AND TELEVISION 

A Poet’s Guide to Britain 94 

Arena: Paul Scofield 65 

Arena: TS Eliot 83 

Nineteen Eighty-Four 59 

Simon Schama introduces 

John Donne 102 

Sir Gawain and 

The Green Knight 44 

132

FOOD AND DRINK 

Albert Roux 11 

Carvery Lunch 106 

Diego Zancani 71 

James Crowden 75 



Lynda Murphy and Julie Rugg 52 

Power of Food Literature 30 

Raymond Blanc 27 

Tamasin Day Lewis 38 

Willie Harcourt-Cooze 77 

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown 62 

HISTORY 

100 Years of the 

Unique Morgan Car 80 

Adam Zamoyski 89 

Andrew Lambert 19 

Charles Glass 94 

Christopher Kelly 107 

David Starkey 10 

Don Chapman 37 

Edward Paice 37 

Eyewitness to History 74 

Ffion Hague 83 

Helen Rappaport 53 

Ivan Tolstoy 49 

John Guy and Leanda de Lisle 19 

Julie Summers 95 

Laurance Rees 48 


Matthew D’Ancona 113 

Niall Ferguson 70 

Nick Barratt and Mark Pearsall 42 

Paul Quarrie 12 

Richard Ovenden 81 

Robert Gildea 16 

Tom Holland 17 

Truth in Historical Fiction 110 

Virginia Nicholson and Julie 

Summers 27 

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 

America is a Place Where 

All Things Are Possible 112 

Amit Chaudhuri and Kamila 

Shamsie 12 

Ben Crystal 63 

Common Tales 113 

David Timson 75 

Disability in the Novel 69 

Guy Fraser-Sampson 32 

Henry Hitchings 53 

James Walton 112 

Joanne Harris 113 


Louis de Bernieres and Zulfu 

Livaneli 36 

Lynda King Taylor 42 

Mario Vargas Llosa 80 

Modernism on Sea 110 

Orwell vs Dickens 11 

Reader’s Digest Word Power Quiz 61 

Rosamund Bartlett 39 

Terence Dooley and 


The Greatest English Novel 49 

MEDICINE AND HEALTH 

Ben Goldacre 107 

MUSIC 

John Blackwell and Chris Sykes 84 

PHILOSOPHY 

Anthony Kenny 59 

POETRY 

Ann Pilling 85 

David Constantine and Michael 

Schmidt 32 


James Fenton 76 

Jane Draycott and Fiona Sampson 16 

Kelly Grovier and Bernard 

O’Donoghue 36 

Matthew Hollis 22 

Oxford Poets and Refugee Writers 45 

Ruth Padel 13 

Tiffany Atkinson and Damian 

Walford Davies 82 

SPORT 

David and James Livingston 62 

THEATRE 

Oscar Wilde – More Lives than One 83 

Ronald Harwood 48 

TRAVEL AND TRAVEL HISTORY 

Anna Nicholas 62 

Bruce Chatwin Remembered 11 

Carol Drinkwater 22 

Fran Sandham 108 

Gillian Tindall 60 

Grevel Lindop 16 

Horatio Clare 43 

James Attlee 12 

Janet Soskice 100 

Michael Collins 91 

VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS 

David Cottington 71 

David J Hand 13 

Elleke Boehmer 97 

Klaus Dodds 91 

Mark Maslin 61 

Nigel Warburton 13 

Rana Mitta 111 

Richard Bellamy 

Ritchie Robertson 23 

Russell Stannard 33 

Veronique Mottier 81 

William Bynum 17 

SCIENCE AND NATURAL HISTORY 

Christopher Potter 68 

Eshan Masood 82 

Heather Couper and 

Nigel Henbest 77 

John Hemming 71 

Lewis Wolpert 39 

Martin Brasier and 

Emma Darwin 103 

Mystery of Science 59 

Richard Holmes 23 

Steve Jones 33 

Susan Blackmore 85 

WALKING TOURS AND TOURS 

Walking Tours 116 

Library Tour of 

Oxfordshire Studies 37 

WORKSHOPS 


Lyric Writing 101 

Writing Your Family Story 31 

YOUNG PEOPLE’S AND 

CHILDREN’S EVENTS 

Michael Morpurgo 91 

Off by Heart 109 

For your copy of the programme 

for Young People and Children 

featuring many more events 

contact: 01865 286074 

INDEX OF EVENTS BY SUBJECT 

133

THE CHERWELL BOATHOUSE 

restaurant | river cafe | punt station 

Beautifully located on the banks 

of the river Cherwell close to the 

centre of town. The Boathouse 

offers fine food using seasonal 

and local produce with an 

outstanding wine list in a relaxed and friendly 

atmosphere. Midweek lunch two course £12.50. 

Set menu three course dinner £25.00. 

Alongside is Oxford’s biggest punting station and a 

Marquee & terrace area available for private hire. 

Cherwell Boathouse, 

Bardwell Road, Oxford OX2 6ST 

restaurant: 01865 552746 punts 01865 515978 

www.cherwellboathouse.co.uk

Aziz Oxford: 

Best Curry 

Restaurant In 

The South East 

& Top 10 In the 

UK 2005 & 2007 

Aziz Pandesia: 

Shortlisted As 

Best Newcomer 

British Curry 

Awards 2005 

& 2007 

AZIZ OXFORD 

Experience the treasures of the 

passionate Bengal gastronomy. 

Finest fish and meat at this award 

winning restaurant. Superb buffet, 

all day Sunday at £10.00 per head 

(Children £5.00) 

'The Aziz, on Cowley Road is 

still streets ahead of the rest' 

(Katherine MacAlister, Oxford Mail 

& Times Febuary 2007) 

AZIZ PANDESIA 

Aziz Pandesia Restaurant, 

Follybridge Serving Indian & 

Bangladeshi Cuisine. Perfectly 

located with a wonderfully relaxing 

riverside view of the Thames on 

our unique pontoon. Just 5 minutes 

walk from the city centre. 

AZIZ RESTAURANTS 

230 Cowley Road, Oxford 01865 794945 

1 Folly Bridge, Oxford 01865 247775 

79 High Street, Witney 01993 774100 

Visit our innovative website for news, a la carte menu, offers, 

online reservations and online takeaway 

www.aziz.uk.com manager@aziz.uk.com

From 31 march 09 

william shakespeare 

From 18 april 09 


From 15 may 09 

SeleCT yoUR own SeAT online 

www.rsc.org.uk 

(no BookinG Fee) 

RSC TiCkeT HoTline 

0844 800 1110 

(no BookinG Fee, CAllS FRoM 

BT lAnDline CoST 5P PeR MinUTe) 

image created by rsc graphic design, original painting alfred sisley. 


From 21 august 09 

mikhail and VyacheslaV durnenkoV 

From 10 september 09 

natal’ia Vorozhbit

Box Office 0870 343 1001 www.sundaytimes ... - Blackwell's

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