Morpeth Literary Festival

Morpeth Literary Festival

This is not two elderly former politicians seeking redemption – it’s me and Chris Mullin at the Morpeth Literary Festival. Founded in 2022, this weekend of events now attracts top writing talent – as well as me and Chris. We chatted happily about Harold...
Words By The Water – Keswick

Words By The Water – Keswick

The stage is set for two elderly men to strut their stuff. The journalist/politician/novelist/diarist Chris Mullins joins me at ‘Words By The Water’ on Saturday, March 14th. Possibly the most beautifully located book festival, WBTW is celebrating its 25th anniversary....
Harold Wilson, The Beatles and Me

Harold Wilson, The Beatles and Me

The first of our ‘Harold Wilson, the Beatles and Me’ shows took place on February 11th at the East Riding Theatre in Beverley. This was a home fixture for me but not for the other half of the double act, the brilliant Andrew Wilson who travelled to...
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

In recent years I’ve chosen to read (or re-read) a classic detective novel to ease myself into each new year; ‘The Long Goodbye’ by Raymond Chandler and ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ by Patricia Highsmith spring to mind, as do a couple of...
Books of 2025

Books of 2025

With two books published last year, this has been a year of promoting my last books (‘Death on the Thames’ and ‘Harold Wilson – 20th Century Man’), writing the next one, and reading. In a lifetime of reading, I’ve only now managed to read a Booker winner before...
Borderlines Book Festival – Carlisle

Borderlines Book Festival – Carlisle

Bookends, the fabulous independent bookshop in Carlisle and Keswick, is now responsible for two successful book festivals – Words by the Water in Keswick and Borderlines in Carlisle where this photograph was taken on Sunday, November 16th. The happy sight of...
Tring – November 14th and 15th

Tring – November 14th and 15th

Tring in Hertfordshire is a town I know very well because my sister, Linda, lived there in the late 60s/ early 70s. I now know it for the book festival that Ben Moorhouse, owner of the town’s independent bookshop, organises every year. This year I participated in the...
‘Harold Wilson: Twentieth Century Man’ goes paperback.

‘Harold Wilson: Twentieth Century Man’ goes paperback.

On November 6th my concise biography of Harold Wilson went paperback. I love the photograph that the publisher, Swift Press, unearthed to adorn the cover. The ubiquitous pipe is prominently displayed in a pose that somehow captures Wilson’s potent combination of...
Mold and Wrexham

Mold and Wrexham

Just as Phil Collins famously did Band Aid concerts from Wembley and Philadelphia on the same day, so I managed two book festival appearances on the afternoon and evening of November 7th. The 2pm matinee was at Mold Library where my namesake, Caroline Johnson...