Blog from Cheltenham

Blog from Cheltenham

The Cheltenham Literary Festival is the Glastonbury of the book world and this year I got to mix music and literature when I interviewed Ian Leslie on his fab best-seller about the greatest song writing partnership in history. The Beatles played the Odeon in...
Berwick Book Festival – Saturday afternoon

Berwick Book Festival – Saturday afternoon

Durham in the morning – Berwick in the afternoon. Nobody could accuse me of a weekend productivity lapse. Carolyn drove me between the two towns across some of the finest landscapes in Britain. Gerry Folley conduced another brilliant interview. Here we are...
Durham – Saturday, October 11th 2025

Durham – Saturday, October 11th 2025

The two elderly gentlemen in comfy chairs are myself and Chris Mullin in conversation about his latest volume of diaries and my biography of Harold Wilson. We’re at Durham for the first of my two literary festival appearances today. Chris is always great fun to be...
Henley Literary Festival

Henley Literary Festival

Comfy chairs on the stage and a queue beginning to form for book signing – must be that most well organised of book festivals, Henley! We love driving down to the Thames for this treat every year, but 2025 was my first year in the magnificent Town Hall. And my...