Thursday 12 October 2017

Origin by Dan Brown

Origin by Dan Brown
 
Review of the novel Origin by Dan Brown.
Published by Penguin on 3rd October 2017
Cost: £20.00 (UK)
ISBN: 978-0-5930-7875-4 (Hardback Edition - 461 pages - starts on page 5)
Dedication: In Memory of my Mother

This is a continuation in the Robert Langdon series by Dan Brown. If you recall, Langdon is a Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology. So, for many readers of the previous novels, we have an idea of what to expect, however, this story is slightly different. There is less decoding and searching for symbols than in previous books.

Robert Langdon has received a last-minute invitation to attend ‘An Evening with Edmond Kirsch’ held by one of his former pupils at The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, looked like something out of an alien hallucination – swirling collage of warped metallic forms that appeared to have been propped up against one another in an almost random way.

At the check-in table, Langdon is presented with a headset customised to him personally.

The transducer pads don’t go inside your ears, but rather rest on your face. …. Bone conduction technology. The transducers drive sound directly into the bones of your jaw, allowing sound to reach your cochlea directly – like having a voice inside your head. It leaves your ears free to have outside conversations.

At this point the reader is introduced to the underlying character in the story, Winston, the personal guide created for Langdon by Edmond Kirsch. The whole story has a theme of technology running through it and suggests the importance of it in the future. In the Acknowledgements section, Dan Brown gives credit to ‘a brilliant team of scientists’ at the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre for their advice of how future computers might communicate with individuals. The result in this story is, for me, extremely enjoyable.

As the reader might expect, there are codes for Langdon to crack and just after meeting Kirch, Langdon is given his first one. ‘After the presentation, hail a cab and give this card to the driver.’ On the business card are the letters and numerals: BIO-EC346.

The reader would also expect Langdon to be joined on his journey by an attractive female:

A narrow door opened in the wall behind the podium, and the crowd immediately hushed, all looking expectantly for the great Edmond Kirsch.
But no Edmond materialised.
The door stood open for nearly ten seconds.
Then an elegant woman emerged and moved towards the podium She was strikingly beautiful – tall and willowy with long black hair – wearing a formfitting white dress with a diagonal black stripe. She seemed to drift effortlessly across the floor.

Miss Ambra Vidal is the director of The Guggenheim Museum, and, the fiancée of Crown Prince Julián, the only son of the King of Spain.

This story has a similar tone to previous Robert Langdon stories, where religion and science have a conflict to resolve. However, in this story, it is Edmond Kirsch who explains his theory and it is the reactions to it that begins a race against time for Langdon and Miss Vidal to resolve. There are long sections of dialogue which form the background to the narrative, and in a few instances flashbacks to explain why some of the characters behave in the way they do. But on the whole, this is a fast-paced story. Centred around Bilbao and Barcelona, where there are car chases and daring helicopter rides, all which lead Robert Langdon to a church to solve a difficult code, that has a time impact to the narrative. The enemies of Langdon appear to be just one step behind him at all times and it is only his brilliant mind that appears to jump to the solution of the cryptic codes in the nick of time that save the day. There are hints and suggestions as to who is directing the leading characters on the journey to prevent Langdon solve the codes, but the reader is left in the dark until the very end of the book who it might be.

When I was listening to the radio yesterday, I listened to Dan Brown being interviewed as part of the promotion for this book, and the question of a twist at the end of the story was discussed. I’m not sure it’s a twist in the plot as I was close to finishing reading the novel and was expecting just such a revelation. I loved this book, with its discussion on technology and its possible future developments and interactions with humans. I found I could not put the book down, such that I finished reading it in a day and a half. It’s a must read for all Dan Brown fans, and should increase his followers. Rating: 5 stars.

Dr Sheppard
11 October 2017

Friday 18 August 2017

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Chrsitie

A Caribbean Mystery, by Agatha Christie

Review of the novel A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie.
Published by Collins Crime Club on 16th November 1964 (UK)
Cost: 25p (UK) 1971
ISBN: (Paperback Edition - 158 pages – *starts on page 7)
Dedication: To my old friend John Cruikshank Ross with happy memories of my visit to the West Indies

This is a very short story for a major novel, with only 151 pages to set the scene, introduce a murderer and solve the crime. As it opens we learn that Miss Marple is in the West Indies on holiday, courtesy of her nephew the writer Raymond West. Missing St Mary Mead she finds herself listening to tales told by another older guest staying at the hotel. Recall events they have experienced travelling around the world.

In writing this story Christie uses a plot that occurs in five other major novels and in a few of her short stories and it is captured in a brief description just inside the front cover of my edition.

Miss Marple is on holiday at the Golden Palm Hotel in the island of St Honoré. She is enjoying herself, yet there is something lacking. At home in St Mary Mead there was always something going on, something one could get one's teeth into.
   Miss Marple listens politely to Major Palgrave's boring stories of his early life in Kenya. She is not paying all that much attention when he starts telling her about a murderer he has known; and when he reaches in his wallet to show Miss Marple a snapshot of that murderer, he is suddenly interrupted. Murder Follows.


The idea of a character looking over the shoulder of another character and seeing something quite significant that will possibly result in their death, is the basis for the troubled holiday in which Miss Marple finds herself. This is the ninth story in which Miss Marple appears and we would expect to learn more about the character and the character's in St Mary Mead, but it's not the case in this novel. But there is one interesting point we learn. Raymond West's wife has provided Miss Marple funds to spend of suitable clothing for the Caribbean climate, but Miss Marple considers that her attire is just right: 'This evening she was attired in the best traditions of the provincial gentlewoman of England – grey lace.'

It's not clear how many guests are staying at the Golden Palm Hotel, but the owners, Tim ('lean and dark in his thirties') and Molly Kendal, ('an ingenious blonde of twenty odd'), are kept busy entertaining the guests and seeing that their every need is satisfied. The story focuses on their movements around the hotel, and we discover that they are involved in everything, which appears to be influencing Molly's behaviour, she is forgetting things – which is crucial to the story.

There is a quote from Miss Marple that I found very amusing, but it's actually true. After the death of Major Palgrave, she tricks the local doctor to look for the snapshot that belonged to the Major:

'How wonderful science is nowadays,' said Miss Marple. 'Doctors can do so much can't they?'
'We all have one great competitor,' said Dr Graham. 'Nature, you know. And some of the good old-fashioned home remedies come back from time to time,
'Like putting cobwebs on a cut?' said Miss Marple. 'We always used to do that when I was a child.'

Soon after Major Palgrave's murder - two more follow - Miss Marple believes she knows who the murderer is. She decides to team up with the abrupt and argumentative Mr Rafiel, a wealthy invalid, to try and stop any further murders. As they discuss the events taking place at the hotel, Mr Rafiel sums up Miss Marple's character;

'You've got a nerve!' he said. 'Not quite the gentle fluffy old lady you look, are you? So, you really think I'm a murderer?'
'No,' said Miss Marple. 'I do not.'
'And why?'
'Well, really, I think just because you have got brains. Having brains, you can get most things you want without having recourse to murder. Murder is stupid.'
'Conversations with you might be dangerous,' he said.
'Conversations are always dangerous, if you have something to hide,' said Miss Marple.

Just in time, Miss Marple is able to stop the murder of Molly Kendal and the killer is exposed. There is no gathering of likely suspects or pointing of fingers, Miss Marple accuses her suspect and their romantic partner reveals their existence and the missing link to the murders is solved. There is no incompetent policeman to try and solve the murders, it's just Miss Marple aided by individual's that do her bidding.

For me the story is a little slow, a lot happens very quickly followed by a lot of padding to the story and as it's just gossip and here say. It is only Miss Marple who can unravel the things that she hears and sees. In this story, Christie uses her knowledge of poisons to aid the murderer as they try to suggest a reason why Major Palgrave died rather suddenly. She introduces a drug she calls Serenite, it's a made-up name for a drug taken to reduce high blood pressure but kills if taken by the wrong person. The murderer also uses drugs to give his intended victim dreams and hallucinations, which has a great bearing on the story. A Caribbean Mystery is perhaps one of the last real whodunits that Agatha Christie wrote and at this stage in her career she was not at her peak in providing a rip-roaring thriller to entertain her readers, however, this story was written just after she had returned from own holiday to the West Indies and perhaps she felt she could entertain her readers with her new-found experience of the Caribbean. Rating: 3 stars.

Dr Sheppard
18 August 2017

Friday 21 July 2017

At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie

At Bertram’s Hotel
 
Review of the novel At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie.
Published by William Collins on 15th November 1965 (UK)
Cost: £1.26p (UK) 1981
ISBN: 0-00-616715 (Paperback Edition - 192 pages - starts on page 5)
Dedication: For Harry Smith because I appreciate the scientific way he heads my books

As in many instances, the novel was also serialised in the UK weekly magazine Woman's Own in five abridged instalments from 20 November, – 18 December 1965.

This novel is a favourite of mine because it believed to be inspired by Brown’s Hotel in London, where Agatha Christie often stayed when visiting London. I have spent a few nights staying at the hotel as a treat and it certainly an experience.

Miss Marple has been given the opportunity to stay at Bertram’s Hotel by a niece, who thought ‘it would be a treat for [her] to have a short visit to London’. Miss Marple recalls ‘I stayed here once - when I was fourteen, with an uncle and aunt, Uncle Thomas, was Canon of Ely.’

The plot of the story is rather entangled, with more than one aspect to the storyline and the underlying tale. In this novel, Christie becomes the eyes of her readers as she deftly describes the surroundings of Bertram’s Hotel and its guests.

The lead character is Bess Sedgewick:

She was worth looking at – a striking woman rather than a beautiful one. The palest of platinum hair fell sleek and smooth to her shoulders. The bones of her head and face were exquisite. Her nose was faintly aquiline, her eyes deep set and a real grey colour. She had the mouth of a natural comedian. Her dress such simplicity that it puzzled most men. It looked like the corset kind of sacking, had no ornamentation of any kind, and no apparent fastening or seams. But women knew better. Even the provincial old dears in Bertram’s knew, quite certainly, that it had cost the earth!

Christie uses this central character to explain the workings of Bertram’s and its daily operations. It hides a notorious activity that intertwines its normal functionality. In her normal old maid manner, Miss Marple is able to sit in an ‘open place’ and blend in so that she is not seen, while she watches and observes all that goes on around her.

The smaller writing-rooms at Bertram’s often had an appearance of being empty even when they were not. Two well-appointed desks stood in the windows, there was a table on the right that held a few magazines, on the left were two very high-backed arm-chairs turned towards the fire. These were favourite spots in the afternoon for elderly military or naval gentlemen to ensconce themselves and fall happily asleep until tea-time. Anyone coming in to write a letter did not usually notice them.

Christie intertwines other characters to develop the plot. Bess Sedgewick’s daughter Elvira, her first husband Micky Gorman, now the hotel commissionaire, Ladislaus Malinowski a famous racing driver and the forgetful Cannon Pennyfather.

As her readers have come to expect, the local police are finding it difficult to explain what they believe is a link between Bertram’s Hotel and a series of robberies. They are able to use the fact that Cannon Pennyfather has gone missing to enter the hotel and explore its daily operations. It’s an ideal opportunity for Chief-Inspector Davy to open up a conversation with Miss Marple and discuss what she has observed while she has been staying at the hotel.

The story comes to a climax when a plot to kill Micky Gorman on a foggy night gives rise to a number of theories. As part of their investigations, the police uncover a number of revelations about Bertram’s Hotel, aided by the fact that Miss Marple explains the solution of the night when Canon Pennyfather went missing from the hotel.

When challenged about her links to Bertram’s Hotel, Bess Sedgewick decides to come clean and admits to most of Chief-Inspector Davy challenges and reveals her true character. The ending of the story is quite dramatic, although drawn out over a number of pages.

As readers may know from reading other Christie stories, the question of justice for a crime committed by a character is allowed to almost slip by, where it is deemed correct to let the killer go free, but the novel closes with these final words.

‘Well,’ said Miss Marple. Are you going to let her get away with it?’
There was a pause, [Chief-Inspector Davy] brought down his fist with a crash on the table.
‘No,’ he roared – ‘No, by God I’m not!’
Miss Marple nodded her head slowly and gravely.
‘May God have mercy on her soul,’ she said.

At Bertram’s Hotel is one of the later novels that Agatha Christie wrote, but it still has that thriller style and is a great read. Perhaps the plot is a little too involved, but it is a must for fans of a master crime thriller writer. Rating: 3 stars.

Dr Sheppard
21 July 2017

Thursday 6 July 2017

Riviera FM's David Hammond's interview with James Tyson, Director of the IACF 2017

Riviera FM. David Hammond’s interview with James Tyson. 29.06.17
Part One of Four: An introduction to the festival.

DH: You’re are listening to Riviera FM. It’s Thursday morning with me, David Hammond, through to 11 a.m. I’m pleased to say I’ve been joined in the studio by James Tyson, who is the Director of the International Agatha Christie Festival. Good Morning James.
JT: Good Morning David.
DH: Thank you for coming in.
JT: Thank you very much.
DH: Let’s talk about the festival. It’s back for 2017.
JT: That’s right.
DH: It’s running between the 13th and 17th September.
JT: Yes.
DH: And a lot of listeners will know the Agatha Christie festival. They know all about Agatha Christie of course. She was born here. Ah, now it’s a biennial or biannual festival, every two years. Shall we start with just by saying, why there has been the break and why it’s gone to being every two years now, rather than an annual festival?
JT: Why I think, erm, err. I think that the thinking was really to try and really try and re kind of establish the err festival. Really kind of try and reinvigorate it. Really and try and make it really something special for Torbay and also, really, really kind of so it sings out about the message of the creativity in Torbay and erm, and so I think the thinking to do that, it was really well, let’s really make it happen. Maybe every two years, we can really make it something special. Each of those the alternate years, we have err, something special, a celebration, which is traditionally the Agatha Christie Festival. It takes place in September when her birthday was, which was the 15th September, so, the new plan is to have every alternate year, we have a big kind of five-day festival and on the other year we have a one day event, to kind of celebrate her birthday as it were. But this year is the actual festival, so I think erm. It’s a small arts charity and so we work, it’s a small team, so really so we are putting together a festival and making it something special, with a lot of artists and bringing artists from across South Devon and Torbay Internationally. It, you know, it takes some time to do that, so if we are going to do that properly, so let’s do it every two years and make it really good.
DH: And what has changed? I looked at the website yesterday and a lot has changed and there is words on there like, projects and residencies, platforms for new works etc. But as a layman, I mean I get the impression it is more of an arts festival. OK, and again as you said they’re focusing on drawing out local talent.
JT: Yer, that’s right.
DH: Which is obviously amazing.
JT: Yer. I think it’s the key thing and I think it’s about one of the things that the festival, when it was set up as a charity, the board, which consist of the Agatha Christie family, The Riviera Company, Torbay Council, as well as publishers such like HarperCollins, erm. I think one of their thinking was the festival and how the festival can be a platform to enable to creativity across Torbay, and so one of the things, as well as having this once every two year festival, is actually to rethink about what you are doing around the year and having and actually throughout the year, and providing opportunities first for young people, or actually people of all ages, to engage in literature or in arts and so the festival, as well as having this sort of five-day event, which take place every two years. We were quite keen to think about how can we really get involved and kind of make platforms, and make projects, which enable people to think about arts and literature, whether it’s specifically Agatha Christie, or so much broader than that, as well in terms of their own stories and their own kind of inspirations as well. So, that’s why we have introduced a few programmes, one of them is our residency programme, which is really specifically to be able to bring international writers from around the world actually to Torbay, and Torbay being a place which has always as we know been a place where visitors have come to, to seek inspiration, or to reinvigorate, or rejuvenate, and that’s been very much part of its history. So, I think it seemed to make very straight forward sense, in a way, to re-establish that, actually and think what that can mean for some of the most exciting writers around the world today, much like it was in the late nineteenth-century. So, we have the residency programme and then when we talk about projects, there is a kind of a, a, it’s a kind of somehow, a kind of catch term for, for really any arts event, or project, which we are doing, which involves either commissioning or making a performance or doing a writing project or a workshop. So, for example, we are working in October this year, during the October half term, we are doing a series of projects with there’s Play Torbay, who are very well known across Torbay, which are doing projects with children and young people, doing arts events and making their own performances. They are going to be in Torre Abbey for a week and we are going to be making a performance during the week and that’s half term. And we are also working with Doorstep Arts erm and who are, we are working with their Youth Theatre, so they are preparing a performance for their Doorstep Arts Festival in November. So, we are working with them. So, it’s really kind of these, kind of trying to make these moments where people can actually, it helps support tries and helps the cultural community in Torbay to really make new exciting performances and literature and writing and really encouraging that.
DH: Yer. It seems like an ongoing thing, instead of just one celebration for Agatha Christie every year, or every two years.
JT: That’s right.
DH: Obviously, Agatha Christie themes there and I’m sure she would have approved everything that was going on.
JT: I hope so.
DH: Something for the diehard Agatha fans and I know there are lots of those around the world and they all come to Torquay before the festival, so nothing is going to be lost there.
JT: No.
DH: That’s still a main focus as well?
JT: Yer. I mean, we’ve got some, I guess you might say special key events, some kind of favourites as well as. We are quite lucky to have Janet Morgan, who is actually, has actually been the only actually official Agatha Christie biographer. She has not been to a festival before, they are actually republishing the err, edition of her, err, which was published in the mid-80s actually. So, she is coming. She is really quite a personality and really erudite, and erm, and kind of inspiring person to talk to. So, we are very happy to welcome her, and as well as some of the other kind of err experts, as it were, and specialists. There is John Curran, you know is obviously very famous for writing her Secret Note Books, of Agatha Christie. There is Mark Aldridge, who is an expert on Agatha Christie’s cinema. Julius Green who’s one of the key people who has been promoting Agatha Christie stage work. So, they’re all coming and err, also some interesting new ones as well. So, there’s actually Anna Martinette & Guillaume Lebeau from Paris, and they erm, last year they published a really lovely graphic novel biography of Agatha Christie, actually, which really kind of tells her life through, rather than through a written page, it’s actually through a kind of illustrated graphic novel book and it erm, it’s really is a lovely book, kind of, it really gives a sense of the atmosphere of the times and the places that Agatha Christie lived in and travelled through, and also the kind of artistic questions she had, as well into her own life, and what her pressures in terms of being a commercial writer, her family or personal life, in a very kind of, in a very sensitive way. So, it’s really lovely to have Anna and Guillaume to come and talk about the process of writing that quite extraordinary book.
DH: Yer, Yer, Excellent and this is all happening the 13th to 17th September.
JT: That’s right.
DH: This year. And the hub again, is Torre Abbey?
JT: That’s correct.
DH: Brilliant. OK, we’ll come back in a moment and talk about it a little bit more.

Riviera FM. David Hammond’s interview with James Tyson. 29.06.17
Part Two of Four: How James found himself as Director of IACF.

DH: Let’s talk about the festival this year and how it’s different and bringing in new projects, involving people in South Devon of all ages and all different arts projects for a festival. A bigger and err, more varied really, and err, involving local people, so they can have a say and an input? So, it goes on and on and links between the years as well all of that. I’d like to start this section again. How did you become Director of the festival, what’s your background?
JT: Sure, erm. Well I err, I guess I have quite a, err. I’ve had quite a long link with Torbay I suppose I. I guess, it’s like many people, I used to come here when I was a kid and err, have continued to and I have some family who are often are here, and live here, and so it’s a place I’ve kind of seen over the last twenty years or so or more and erm, and err. It’s always a place that I think, like a place for many people, that I think it has so many stories to tell, has inspired so many people and as this place that something, something quite special about, and err. As well as that, and when you scratch under the surface a bit you find so many things, whether its geology or coastline or its kind of Dartmoor and all these kind of histories and err, and some of the history of the people that lived here, Agatha Christie being one, and err so it was actually really just a coincidence that I was, err. It just happened, and I think I just saw an announcement actually, and err, the Agatha Christie Festival was looking for a new Director, and I erm, not necessarily being someone who, who’s, who’s, I think saw themselves as a err, an immersed fan in her work, but actually I guess also, like many people, feels that one grows up with Agatha Christie and is somehow surrounded by her work, and err, one feels somehow very connected to it in all kind of ways. So, err, so, I think the most, thinking about Agatha Christie, but then particularly Torbay actually, erm, and what that place was, and I think of the festival, they were quite keen that if it’s going to grow and continue it really needs to engage with Torbay as a place and its history, and its geography, and archaeology. And also, how that connects to Agatha Christie’s own interests in beyond the writing of her kind of crime stories and that the err, things that she was very passionate about, or specially interested about, which is specifically was archaeology being one and her kind of almost lifelong fascination, partly through her second husband Max Mallowan, in terms of archaeology of the middle east and going on digs, like over three decades in Egypt and what is now Syria, Iraq and discovering these ancient civilisations. But also, how she trained as a classical pianist in her early 20s and her love of music and dance and art. So, I think it was really was, thinking about those interests and actually taking that as a starting point and what could really then become a more multi art form festival. Erm, which rather than focusing on the works themselves, was she was really thinking about the world she saw and the things that she was curious about and try to sort of inspire that curiosity in other people too. So, I think that for me was a way of actually meaning that this festival, whether you are or not necessarily a fan of Agatha Christie, or not, it can actually it can mean something to you, because erm, either everyone has a kind of story to tell, everyone enjoys something the arts and even if it’s not something familiar to them and erm. So, I think that’s what drew me to the festival, erm, and I guess myself, someone who has worked in, whether it’s in, making international cultural relations or projects or organising theatre festivals or literature and music festivals and erm, there was something about what this could provide and offer, where that, what that journey could take us, I found well yer, why not let’s try and see what we could make of that.
DH: Yer. Is that your brief in a way then? When the job was announced, that to make it broader or appealing?
JT: Yer, Yer. It was very much the decision of the festival and I think it just erm, err, just about two years ago the festival became officially an actually an arts charity and before it hadn’t been that, so it had been organised differently, so, it was organised through by Torbay council or the Riviera Company and I think erm, it gained actually charitable status to which I think is actually quite significant too, because in terms of its mission it should be a festival which is really working to provide access and develop public appreciation of the arts and almost as an educational charity.
DH: Yer.
JT: So, this kind of remit of the festival has been something which is inclusive, which can be educational it can be something which can inspire people in the arts and develop people understanding of the arts whether from Torbay and internationally that became quite key to what the festival could be if it could continue. So, I think that’s something very exciting which we should really celebrate as well.
DH: Yer, Yer. Cos in the past people might be looking thinking again Agatha Christie Festival it’s all I wasn’t really interested in Agatha Christie Festival, yer, I know she came from Torquay and I appreciate that I know, but it’s not really for me. I get the impression here that it’s for everyone and there is something for everyone an all-encompassing.
JT: Well I think also for me, also, I think Agatha Christie loved Torquay and Torbay and she came here, I mean she lived here obviously she grew up here and then as she in her career and so on she enjoyed living in so many places in her life alive and then end up kind of during most of her working life living in London or Oxford and Torquay I mean Torbay was a place she always came back to and particularly when she bought Greenway in the late 1930s so that became her kind of retreat, in many ways I think it was a place she was very fond of and I think it was somewhere quite special about, that a link, so in a way, it’s an acknowledging this kind of fascination and what Torquay and Torbay hold and trying to sort of bring that to the surface in a way that Agatha Christie obviously had some connection to and so it’s how we can celebrate that actually in what Torbay has and what‘s special about it. And err just like Agatha Christie could see that so let’s see through her eyes and in her spirit somewhere let’s see what that means for us today.
DH: Brilliant, yer, yer. A Hundred and Twenty-seven-years-old this year she is isn’t it. Borne in 1890 on the 15th September why its celebrated around that time. Yer. 1890.
JT: That’s right.
DH: I’m sure she would approve. We’ll come back in a little while and talk about the content, of the programme.

Riviera FM. David Hammond’s interview with James Tyson. 29.06.17
Part Three of Four: What’s in the festival this year.

DH: James Tyson here in the studio with me, who is Director of the International Agatha Christie Festival, which is happening this year. The hub being Torre Abbey, between the 13 – 17th September. Err, I can imagine it’s erm, erm, what’s the word I’m looking for, err, demanding is one word I’m thinking of, liaising with a lot of people, but rather like putting a big jigsaw puzzle together, the festival together err.
JT: A jigsaw puzzle together, that’s very apt as well I think. There is always a missing piece isn’t there. Ha, ha, ha.
DH: OK.
JT: Yer. It’s coming together.
DH: Yer. Great support locally.
JT: Yer. It’s just a small team, based at the Abbey, and some working of the Abbey staff, but also you know a fantastic as well, you know getting to know also some of the amazing people around Torbay and err, and all different things happening whether its Doorstep Arts, whether it’s Play Torbay, Dancing Devon all these great organisations that are actually helping us and working with them on the programme. So, it’s coming together in that way.
DH: Yer, yer. OK. So, we open, or it opens, the festival on 13th September and runs for five days again always this time of the year to coincide with Agatha Christie's birthday, which is the 15th September.
JT: Hmm, hmm.
DH: So, may be just go through some of the err the highlights. As we’ve said already, err, there’s a lot of the err, so called traditionally Agatha Christie events are going to be there for the Agatha Christie diehards, but we’ve got more of a sort of boarder, culture and arts based programme this year.
JT: Yer, yer.
DH: Culture and arts based programme this year. It’s fair to say.
JT: I guess one of the themes this year for the festival, which we are using for the festival this year is one of the titles of one of Agatha Christie’s books which is one of the unusual books she wrote, because what she describes it as an archaeological memoir, which is a kind of travel account really, these journeys that she made in the 1930s beginning of the 1930s, to one of these archaeological digs she was doing with her husband and erm, it’s called Come, Tell Me How You Live. And err, we thought this was a really kind of lovely title really, just to be able to start a festival, which is about, any festival is about often bringing people together and inviting them to a gathering for plays and share their stories and erm, talk about where they’re from or what interest them and what they’re inspired by and err, so, I think we tried to take that as a starting point both for the festival and the kind of year round programmes that we are doing, but erm, in terms of September specifically, so, I think we have erm, it’s erm, Wednesday to Sunday programme so we are beginning and as you mentioned David, we are taking over Torre Abbey and so there are all the collections there and so we are kind of adding some kind of extra sort of installations and exhibition works but erm, on the Wednesday night our opening event is actually with Anna Martinette & Guillaume Lebeau. They are graphic novelists who have made this really beautiful biography of Agatha Christie erm, that was published last year. So, they’re going to be giving a talk about their process of writing, drawing in that book and with them is actually Lois Pryce who is a really remarkable err, lady who erm, who’s I guess, her err, in the last few years what she’s been writing in her books, what she’s been wring books about, is how she, I guess like many people had a fairly ordinary office job, was working as a, for the BBC and err, getting on with things and then I think she decided one day, you know what I’ve got a motorbike I always wanted to ride a motorbike and maybe I could just go somewhere to go on a journey. So, she got on her motorbike and then ended up in particular, this was one of her first journeys she made was actually erm, she parked her motorbike in London and someone left a note on it saying, come and visit Iran, err, it’s a, you know, it’s err, a place that err, a place that may be you have to be there to understand it and err, it’s not like how it gets represented on the news and so on, so she went there and she spent a good part of a year travelling round the country and she wrote this remarkable book called a Revolutionary Ride, which she talks about really the everyday encounters the people she met and how in a way the disparity between that and often what gets sort of communicated between the worldwide media and err, really her own discovery through that place. So, she is coming to give a kind of talk about her travels and her life and her choices and which I think will be really inspiring and the book is really fantastic as well and it’s a Revolutionary Ride and erm, then the following day we are doing a mixture, on the Thursday we’ve got lots of Agatha Christie specialists talks. Janet Morgan her biography like I’ve mentioned erm, John Risdon the local historian is doing a really wonderful talk and lecture and also be doing a bus tour around South Devon, kind of looking at all the Agatha Christie sights of interest as well as really talking about the this very particular kind of cultural context that, in a way Agatha Christie grew up here and in a way in which I think is quite important about why we think about, why was she so conversed and so able to access important writers, whether it was Henry James or Rudyard Kipling, or you know, why was, why was this world around her, whether it was music and going to dance classes in old way, going to dances in old way, where Isadora Duncan one of the greatest choreographers of the twentieth-century was living and so it was like, I was thinking about that content is actually quite particular to erm, a person like Agatha Christie and the breath of her interest that kind of continued to absorb throughout her throughout life erm, but then on the first night we have actually got some quite special events like a new event as well we have err, Chanje Kunda who’s a poet based in Manchester, actually a poet, well a performance artist really, she’s made this really beautiful performance called Amsterdam, which is based on a book of poems that she wrote, which is really about her own kind of again, again, a kind of story of travel and a kind of ambition and life choices and how she kind of decided to pack up her bags and move to Amsterdam and discover this place, and the different people she encounters and err, and how that connects her own feelings of her own home and whether to return or go back or whether to stay and it’s a very beautiful kind of quite tender story really, of all those kind of complexities that I think people have, many people have in their ordinary lives and erm, then also on that Thursday we’ve got Philip Hoare, who is err, a kind of special bit really, because err, he’s erm. We will be hearing more from him over the next few months because as well as being a great writer and author he’s erm, a, he’s actually a writer. This event that is also happening in September called The Tale, which is being produced by a company in Bristol, called Situations, that has worked with many organisations also around Torbay and it’s kind of, a, adventure, culture adventure really, that will be happening throughout September. He’s really, it’s really based on this kind of story that he’s written, which is really a kind of a journey through Torbay and its history as well. So, he’s going to give a talk about his work and introducing The Tale. In the museum, and then through the following days we’ve got some, we err, we actually have an all-night reading of one of Agatha Christie's erm, kind of late books, which is one of the books I particularly like, called Endless Night and so its erm, not just for the title, but we kind of err, said let’s see with all the fans and enthusiasts and other curious people who might want to try and have this as their Agatha Christie immersive experience, well why not spend an evening listening and taking part of an entire Agatha Christie Novel. So, a we will be doing that erm and then we've got some other interesting things in terms of throughout the week, actually we are doing Chanje, who I mentioned, the poet who is doing a workshop actually about writing, encouraging people to write their own travel stories and how you make that into a performance. We’ve got, we are working with the Poetry Translation Centre and erm, who specialise in the translation of world poetry and they are doing a three-day workshop on translating Arabic poetry, which is err a really such an incredible erm, tradition and something which Agatha Christie particularly interested in as well. So, I think they can work with the key poetry for Egypt and Iraq and err, looking at the how we write poems and how we translate poems and how through that we get to know our culture and its history. So, erm that’s something quite special. Then over the weekend it’s kind of opening up for the Torre Abbey and we have this kind of Garden Party ticket, which is a sort of erm, quite accessible, it’s just a £10 ticket, which will get you through and to enjoy the whole Abbey, whether it be music, stalls and book fairs and food from around the word, and erm, as well as enjoy the Abbey and enjoy some of the events taking place there.
DH: Mm. All good, that’s the 13th it starts on the Wednesday the 13th September all the way through to Sunday 17th September and for more information and tickets they are I believe, available now and that’s via the website.
JT: And also, they will be available from Torre Abbey. So, you can buy them over the counter there.
DH: OK. We’ll have one more brake then we will come back and listen to a little more.

Riviera FM. David Hammond’s interview with James Tyson. 29.06.17
Part Four of Four: James, what are you looking forward to?

DH: Thank you once again to James Tyson for coming in this morning, Director of the International Agatha Christie Festival. Those dates once again Wednesday 13th September through to Sunday 17th September. The hub is Torre Abbey. The website is IACF-UK.org and all the information is up there and I guess more will be added as we get nearer the event as well.
JT: Yep, Yep.
DH: And Tickets wise, as James says you can buy on line via that website or at Torre Abbey itself?
JT: That’s right. Yes.
DH: And what sort of events are going to be ticketed again, is it most of the events you’ve talked about there, the talks workshops etc. Obviously, the Garden Party as well.
JT: That’s right. Where basically, we’re doing day tickets, so it’s err, it’s a bit like you can come err and you can come for the day or come for the evening and erm, enjoy anything that’s on and get a festival ticket.
DH: Yer. OK. What are you looking most forward to bringing it back to a personal level?
JT: Hmm. err Hmm. Well I wonder. I’m mean I’m very looking forward to the, on the Sunday we have a dance event.
DH: OK
JT: It’s going to be in the Spanish Barn at err and it’s really err, it’s gonner be, we are working with Dance in Devon and they have some really fantastic choreographers and dancers and they have some dance groups, where they work with err, people of all ages and so what they are doing is putting together event that begins really as a tea dance. So, it’s obviously really inviting and welcoming, dance groups across Torbay and South Devon who love to come and show off their best moves and erm, but as part of it they do. Dance in Devon are working on projects they are doing, they been working on kind of inter generationally as in being able to share dances both from whether it’s quite young people, teenagers, who are interested in hip hop, Bollywood dance, street dance, free dance, and that’s actually trying to tell a story with those dance and also how those dance can be shared with between people of that age group and an age group that enjoys more tea dances and how both these ages actually tell, and have this passion for dance and how we can actually share that. So, I hope, hope that we can share that a really lovely event where people can just come and enjoy watching dance or participating and dancing as well as I think telling, people sharing a story around dance and why dance is important to them and whether they’re kind of, you know, whether they are late 80s or whether they are eighteens. So, I think that might be quite special.
DH: Yer. Thanks for your time today. Sounds a wonderful event, and I love the sense that it’s more, it’s broader and it’s opened up its containing more culture art and focuses on Torbay as well, and again what’s seeing it through Agatha’s eyes as well, what her interest, what she’s into. Sort of bringing that out and developing that out, celebrating Torbay much as her as well, so yer. Excellent
JT: You got it there, that’s fantastic. Thanks for having me very much.
DH: Any time and may be come in again nearer the event. Talk about it a bit more. Thank you very much James. Thank you.

Sunday 2 July 2017

International Agatha Christie Festival programme of events 2017

The IACF 2017 Programme
Time
Venue
Event: Speaker
Event: Activity
Tickets
Wednesday 13th September
2pm - 7pm
Torre Abbey
Galleries & Exhibitions
2pm - 7pm
Torre Abbey
Ateyyat El Abnoudy
Films:  Horse of Mud / Sad Song of Touha / The Sandwich
2pm - 7pm
Time Capsule, Torre Abbey
Shelley Castle and Jennie Morgan
Profusion - The Story in the Object: Encounters Arts
7pm - 7.15pm
Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey
Hugh Nankivell, Steve Sowden and Ben Ballard
The Mystery Orchestra: Trio of Men & Guests
7.30pm - 8.30pm
Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey
Anna Martinette & Guillaume Lebeau
The Real Life of Agatha Christie
9pm - 10pm
Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey
Lois Pryce
Revolutionary Ride
Thursday 14th September
10am - 7pm
Torre Abbey
Galleries & Exhibitions
10am - 7pm
Torre Abbey
Ateyyat El Abnoudy
Films:  Horse of Mud / Sad Song of Touha / The Sandwich
10.30am - 1pm
Torre Abbey
Atef Alshaer and Emily Hasler
In Agatha's Footsteps: Arabic Poetry Translation Workshops inspired by Agatha Christie's Travels in the Far East.
11am - 12pm
Chapel, Torre Abbey
John Risdon
Creativity & The South Devon Landscape
12pm - 7pm
Time Capsule, Torre Abbey
Shelley Castle and Jennie Morgan
Profusion - The Story in the Object: Encounters Arts
2pm - 3.30pm
Ballroom, Torre Abbey
Julius Green
From Page to Stage
4pm - 5.30pm
Ballroom, Torre Abbey
Janel Morgan
In Conversation - Agatha Christie’s life.
7pm – 7.15pm
Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey
Hugh Nankivell, Steve Sowden and Ben Ballard
The Mystery Orchestra: Trio of Men & Guests
7pm - 9pm
Torquay Museum
John Curran
Mystery Film Night
7.15pm - 8.30pm
Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey
Chanje Kunda
Performance - Amsterdam
9pm – 10.30pm
Torquay Museum
Philip Hoare
The Tale creates a journey across the Bay, exploring places, artworks and performances.
Friday 15th September
7am - 2am*
Torre Abbey
Hugh Nankivell & Guests
Erik Satie's Vexations
10am - 7pm
Torre Abbey
Galleries & Exhibitions
10am - 7pm
Torre Abbey
Ateyyat El Abnoudy
Films:  Horse of Mud / Sad Song of Touha / The Sandwich
10am - 1pm
Start at Torre Abbey
John Risdon - Bus Tour.
Firstly, an hour’s coach tour to capture the more far flung sites of Torquay, followed by a gentle guided walk around the harbour area exploring how it has developed over the past 200 years.
10am - 1pm
Torre Abbey Park, Pitch n Putt
Lurker & Linane Investigations
A Mystery on the golf course. Pitch n Putt golf
10am - 1pm
Torre Abbey
Chanje Kunda
A three-day workshop for aspiring writers of all ages to tell their stories, focusing on writing, editing and adapting from page to stage autobiographical works and travel writing.
10.30am - 1pm
Torre Abbey
Atef Alshaer and Emily Hasler
In Agatha's Footsteps: Arabic Poetry Translation Workshops inspired by Agatha Christie's Travels in the Far East.
11am - 7pm
Torre Abbey
Faulder-Mawson & Mawson-Raffait
Travelling Icons: A Meditation on Beauty
12pm - 1pm
Ballroom, Torre Abbey
Joan Nott & Mathew Prichard
Unusual Stories
12pm - 7pm
Torre Abbey
Shelley Castle and Jennie Morgan
Profusion - The Story in the Object: Encounters Arts
2pm - 3.30pm
Torquay Museum
John Curran
Agatha Christie Reference Library
4pm - 5.30pm
Chapel, Torre Abbey
Ragnar Jónasson with Niki Orfanou
Crime & Landscape
7pm - 7.15pm
Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey
Hugh Nankivell, Steve Sowden and Ben Ballard
The Mystery Orchestra: Trio of Men & Guests
7.30pm - 9.45pm
Torre Abbey Gardens
Film: Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Open Air Cinema
7.15pm - 2.30am*
Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey
Valmai Jones, John Rowley and Mary-Anne Roberts
Endless Night
Saturday 16th September
10am - 6pm
Torre Abbey
Galleries & Exhibitions
10am - 7pm
Torre Abbey
Ateyyat El Abnoudy
Films:  Horse of Mud / Sad Song of Touha / The Sandwich
10am - 1pm
Torre Abbey
Chanje Kunda
A three-day workshop for aspiring writers of all ages to tell their stories, focusing on writing, editing and adapting from page to stage autobiographical works and travel writing.
10am - 9pm
Torre Abbey
The Garden Party
10.30am - 1pm
Torre Abbey
Atef Alshaer and Emily Hasler
In Agatha's Footsteps: Arabic Poetry Translation Workshops inspired by Agatha Christie's Travels in the Far East.
10.30am - 5.30pm
Torre Abbey
IACF Family Fun
11am - 12pm
Garden, Torre Abbey
Ali Marshall
Potent Plants
11am - 7pm
Torre Abbey
Faulder-Mawson & Mawson-Raffait
Travelling Icons: A Meditation on Beauty
12pm - 7pm
Time Capsule, Torre Abbey
Shelley Castle and Jennie Morgan
Profusion - The Story in the Object: Encounters Arts
2pm - 3.30pm
Torquay Museum
Mark Aldridge
Agatha Christie on Screen
11apm - 3.30pm
Torre Abbey
Emma Richardson and Sarah Wilkes
Dangerously Creative, The Institute of Making
4pm - 5.30pm
Chapel, Torre Abbey
Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi
Poetry on the Nile
6pm - 7pm
Torre Abbey
Doorstep Youth Theatre
Out of the Woods: Youth Theatre
7pm – 7.15pm
Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey
Hugh Nankivell, Steve Sowden and Ben Ballard
The Mystery Orchestra: Trio of Men & Guests
7.15pm - 8.15pm
Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey
Stephanie Ridings
The Road to Huntsville
7.30pm - 10pm
Garden, Torre Abbey
Film: Death on the Nile (1978)
Open Air Cinema
Sunday 17th September
6am - 9am
Galmpton village
John Risdon
Dawn Walk to Greenway
10am - 6pm
Torre Abbey
Galleries & Exhibitions
10am - 6pm
Torre Abbey
Ateyyat El Abnoudy
Films:  Horse of Mud / Sad Song of Touha / The Sandwich
10am - 1pm
Torre Abbey
Chanje Kunda
A three-day workshop for aspiring writers of all ages to tell their stories, focusing on writing, editing and adapting from page to stage autobiographical works and travel writing.
10am - 9pm
Torre Abbey
The Garden Party
10.30am - 5.30pm
Torre Abbey
IACF Family Fun
11am - 1pm
Torre Sands
Matt Newbury & Sophie Pierce
To the Sea: Time to Swim
11am - 7pm
Torre Abbey
Faulder-Mawson & Mawson-Raffait
Travelling Icons: A Meditation on Beauty
12pm - 5pm
Torre Abbey
Shelley Castle and Jennie Morgan
Profusion - The Story in the Object: Encounters Arts
2pm – 3.30pm
Dining Room, Torre Abbey
Esna Su
Patterns of Memory

3pm - 6pm
Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey
Dance in Devon
Come Dance With Me
4pm - 5pm
Garden, Torre Abbey
Ali Marshall
The Persian Garden
6pm - 6.15pm*
Garden, Torre Abbey
Hugh Nankivell, Steve Sowden and Ben Ballard
The Mystery Orchestra: Trio of Men & Guests