‘Chiswick Book Festival Encore’ is showcasing favourite events, as chosen by readers who have made Festival donations or completed the feedback survey. If you can’t wait for next week’s Festival Encore, you can still enjoy all our events via the Festival Catchup page.
Week 10. Festival Extra: The War Against the BBC
A Zoom Webinar with the authors, Patrick Barwise and Peter York, chaired by Bridget Osborne, in conjunction with The Chiswick Calendar Media Club. Patrick Barwise, Emeritus Professor of Management and Marketing at London Business School, and cultural commentator Peter York argue that our most important cultural institution is in peril as never before. Listen to the podcast here.
Week 9. More Christmas ideas – from our Local Authors Evening.
Watch our Local Authors Evening at Chiswick Playhouse here – YouTube and see more about about the authors and books below
| Zoe | Antoniades | Cally and Jimmy |
| Louise | Burfitt-Dons | The Killing of the Cherrywood MP |
| Diane | Chandler | Only Human |
| Meg | Dillon | Two Cyclists, One Mother and The World |
| SR | Garrae | Death in Sight |
| Mark | Godfrey | The River Reflects |
| Vyvyan | Kinross | Information Warriors |
| Susan | Lee Kerr | The Walk Home |
| Tom | Levitt | The Courage to Meddle – the Belief of Frances Perkins |
| Alec | Marsh | Enemy of the Raj |
| Billy | Moran | Don’t Worry, Everything Is Going To Be Amazing: |
| James | Rodgers | Assignment Moscow |
Week 8: Christmas ideas – every author on our Waterstones Festival page.
There’s something for everyone among this year’s Festival authors and books: Art, Theatre, Music, Fashion, History, Politics, Food, Gardens, Sport, Fiction and Children’s books. Click and Collect at Waterstones Chiswick shop. See and buy them here. And see all their sessions, streaming now.
Week 7: The Chiswick Calendar podcasts
Catch up with these authors in conversation with the editor of The Chiswick Calendar, Bridget Osborne:
– Christopher Tugendhat (A History of Britain Through Books)
– James Rodgers (Assignment Moscow)
– Mihir Bose (The Nine Waves: The Extraordinary Story of Indian Cricket)
– Tim Richardson (Sissinghurst: The Dream Garden)
– Oliver Soden (Michael Tippett, The Biography)
– Polly Toynbee & David Walker (The Lost Decade: 2010-2020 – and What Lies Ahead for Britain)
Week 6: A Feast of Fiction
Catch up with all our great fiction sessions:
– Rosamund Lupton (Three Hours) and Diane Chandler (Only Human): Too Close to Home? – YouTube
– Jeremy Vine: The Diver and the Lover – YouTube
– Amanda Craig: The Golden Rule (Chiswickbuzz Book Club) – YouTube
– Ealing Fiction Panel: Marianne Holmes (All Your Little Lies), Ruth Heald (I Know Your Secret), Eleni Kyriacou (She Came To Stay) – YouTube
– Mavis Cheek – Amenable Women – Podcast
– Peter Hain – The Rhino Conspiracy – Podcast
Week 5: Remembrance; marking 75 years since the end of WW2.
This week’s ‘Chiswick Book Festival Encore’ focuses on Remembrance and the 75th anniversary of the end of WW2:
– Patricia Davies and Jean Argles, The Codebreaking Sisters, describe their wartime exploits here on YouTube, plus
– Christopher Joll, The Spoils of War here ;
– Sir Nicholas Young: From Dunkirk to D-Day and Beyond here ; and
– Ariana Neumann on her father’s story, When Time Stopped here.
And read our new Remembrance story on the Writers Tales section of the Chiswick Timeline of Writers and Books: James & Cosmo Clark: WW1 Artists in Bedford Park.
Week 4: The Ealing events
Another chance to enjoy our great Ealing events – click the links to see the books and watch the videos:
– Ealing Fiction Panel: Marianne Holmes (All Your Little Lies), Ruth Heald (I Know Your Secret), Eleni Kyriacou (She Came To Stay) – YouTube
– Jonathan Oates & Paul Howard Lang: Secret Ealing – YouTube
– Professor Emily Caston (UWL) – British Music Videos 1966-2016 – Facebook
Week 3: Childrens Festival: Poetry Prizegiving, Konnie Huq & more
For half term week, we are showcasing all our great children’s events:
– Poetry Prize Giving by Vicky Ireland – Winners & poems – YouTube
– Zoe Antoniades: Cally & Jimmy – YouTube
– Joshua Seigal: Welcome to My Crazy Life – YouTube – and haikus – YouTube
– Rob Biddulph: Dog Gone – YouTube – Exclusive Chiswick preview of this Saturday Club video – YouTube
– Lucy Barnard: Ruby and Graham – YouTube
– Nicole Prust: The Sloth and the Dinglewot – YouTube
– Christiane Kerr – Yoga Animals in the Forest – YouTube
– Konnie Huq: Cookie… and the Most Annoying Girl in the World – YouTube
Week 2: 21st Century Influencers – Hogarth, Soane and A Rake’s Progress
Last month, A Rake’s Progress returned to Pitzhanger Manor in Ealing, where William Hogarth’s eight paintings were first displayed by Sir John Soane 200 years ago. Booking is now open here. Our distinguished panel discusses why Hogarth, Soane and A Rake’s Progress still hold such influence in the 21st Century. Watch it here. Supported by The Arts Society Chiswick.
– Clare Gough, director, Pitzhanger Manor, gives us a video tour of the paintings explaining what they show, why they left Pitzhanger and why they’ve returned.
– Cartoonist Martin Rowson compares Hogarth to Dickens. “In a Dickensian slum there is hope, then you have dashed hope, and pity, and then you cry… In a Hogarthian slum there is no hope at all.”
– Xanthe Arvanitakis, director, Chiswick House & Gardens Trust, previously ran commercial partnerships at Sir John Soane’s Museum. She describes why Dr Martens was so keen to put A Rake’s Progress on its footwear (see more here)
– John Collins is heritage manage of Hogarth’s House in Chiswick which has just re-opened. He explains why, pre-COVID, it attracted visitors from all over the world; and why schools are so keen to have Hogarth on their curriculum; and gives a glimpse of its new Lottery-funded Mulberry Garden & Learning Studio. Watch the video on YouTube here.
Week 1: Harold Pinter: From Chiswick & The Caretaker to the Nobel Prize
The first Encore event, marking what would have been Harold Pinter’s 90th birthday on October 10th, was ‘Harold Pinter: From Chiswick & The Caretaker to the Nobel Prize’.
– Lady Antonia Fraser, who shared her life with Harold Pinter for 33 years, and
– Michael Billington, his biographer, spoke to the Festival director, Torin Douglas, in St Michael & All Angels Church, filmed by Chiswickbuzz without an audience. The session was supported by Savills Chiswick.
In the interview, they discuss Pinter’s plays and screenplays; his life with Antonia Fraser; how Michael Billington came to write his biography; Pinter’s love of cricket and politics; the real story behind Betrayal; the night he accepted the Nobel Prize; how the play he wrote in Chiswick catapulted him to fame and fortune – and why Lady Antonia thinks his screenplays have been overshadowed by his plays.
You can read more and watch the interview on YouTube here
‘Chiswick Book Festival Encore’…
…. is showcasing favourite events, as chosen by readers who have made Festival donations or completed the feedback survey. If you can’t wait for next week’s Festival Encore, you can still enjoy all our events via the Festival Catchup page.
Festival director Torin Douglas said: “Many readers have told us how much they’ve enjoyed the Festival events – but that they haven’t caught up with everything they meant to. We hope that by showcasing some of the videos and podcasts highlighted by our audience, more people will enjoy them in weeks to come – and that some will make donations to the Festival charities.”
Those who wish to make donations can do so via DonorBox
Some audience reviews:
– Terrific interview with Lady Antonia and Michael B! Congratulations! Such a lot emerged about Pinter both privately and professionally – really great to have it digitally available. I loved the laugh-out-loud moment with Antonia recalling her father taking Harold to the House of Lords: ‘ usually he only dined reformed criminals ‘ which just conjures up some fantastic images (actually quite Pinteresque). And Michael B. such an amazing source of information – does he remember everything he’s seen?!
– Some terrific interviews including Lady Antonia Fraser and Michael Billington…
– Great programme, really well executed. Thank you for this welcome cultural diversion.
– What a superb festival this is, in particular in these tough and challenging times. Thank you!
– Thank you for putting together such a lovely CBF programme to lift hearts and minds across Chiswick and beyond. It’s just the fillip we all need as we prepare for continuing difficult times.