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£10.00
DATE: Monday 8th June
TIME: 13:30 – 14:45
LOCATION: Monks Yard
DESCRIPTION :
In “Stories That Must Be Told” Johnny Ball recounts his roller-coaster career presenting, writing and lecturing on a huge range of subjects, always in support of new ideas and initiatives. More often than not, he came out smiling and armed with new, funnier or sometimes more shocking stories that simply just “must be told”. Through it all, one thing remains certain: it’s still a laugh-a-minute adventure. Enjoy the ride!
Sponsored By: A J Wakely and Sons
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£10.00
DATE: Thursday 4th June
TIME: 15:30 – 16:45
LOCATION: Monks Yard
DESCRIPTION
In conversation with Alexander Ballinger, Phyllis Dalton (1925-2025) revealed how she created some of film’s most iconic costumes. She worked in Soho workrooms, at Bletchley Park, and at Gainsborough Studios. Her work includes costumes for Laurence Olivier’s “Henry V”, “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Doctor Zhivago”, “Oliver!”, “A Private Function” amongst many others. Much of the book’s content is sourced from Dalton’s personal archive and gives a unique insight into the world of costume design, which sets the tone for much of the authenticity and plausibility of the films’ characters.
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£15.00
DATE: Thursday 4th June
TIME: 13:30 – 14:45
LOCATION: Monks Yard
DESCRIPTION
In Entitled – The Rise and Fall of The House of York Lownie traces Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as we must now refer to him, and Sarah Ferguson’s life in parallel through all the stages of their relationship stages including the time when they claimed to be “the happiest divorced couple in the world”.
Andrew Lownie is a renowned royal biographer, having written about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (“Traitor King”) and the Mountbattens (“Their Lives and Loves”). “Entitled….” was a Book of the Year for The Times, the Financial Times and Waterstones.
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£15.00
DATE: Sunday 7th June
TIME: 17:30 – 18:45
LOCATION: Monks Yard
DESCRIPTION
In “Diva” Daisy Goodwin tells the story of Maria Callas, from her earliest years in the USA, through her musical education in Nazi-occupied Greece, her early career to the height of her operatic fame as “La Divina” (the Divine One). Her doomed love affair with Aristotle Onassis is the major part of the book. “Diva” ends and tackles her decline, and death in Paris, in 1977.
Sponsored by: Ilminster Home Hardware
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£10.00
DATE: Wednesday 3rd June
TIME: 13:30 – 14:45
LOCATION: Monks Yard
DESCRIPTION
“Atlantic Furies” is Midge Gillies’ latest book, telling the story of the six women who battled to be the first female to fly the Atlantic Ocean. The Telegraph rated it “superb” and the Daily Mail “compulsive………..part Barbie movie and part Wacky Races”.
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£10.00
DATE: Thursday 4th June
TIME: 10:30 – 11:45
LOCATION: Monks Yard
DESCRIPTION
In “Muv – the story of the Mitford Girls’ Mother” Rachel Trethaway uncovers Sydney Redesdale’s pivotal role in shaping her daughters’ strong wills, confidence and perhaps their extremism. Each daughter had a wildly differing view of her. They were celebrated and sometimes scandalous figures. One journalist described them as “Diana the Fascist, Jessica the Communist, Unity the Hitler-lover; Nancy the Novelist; Deborah the Duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur”.[1]w of her – as a saint or scapegoat – and Rachel’s scholarship brings alive the interplay between “Muv” and her six daughters.
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£10.00
DATE: Friday 5th June
TIME: 10:30 – 11.45
LOCATION: Monks Yard
DESCRIPTION
Tony Lidington has been a showman for over 35 years – researching and implementing British popular entertainment forms in a wide variety of contexts throughout the country. He is a founder and performer of the last-remaining professional seaside pierrot troupe, “The Pierrotters.
Tony started his professional career in Brighton 1983 with his first theatre company – the highly acclaimed “Bright Red Theatre” before moving to Yorkshire to become Fellow in Theatre at Bradford University. He is now based in Devon and was awarded a doctorate from Exeter University in 2017. He continues to teach as a part-time lecturer on the drama course at Exeter. Today’s talk concentrates on the role of pierrots in British popular entertainment – “Pierrot Heroes”.
