Comedian Bill Bailey spills the beans… 

Liz Nicholls

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Liz Nicholls chats to comedian, author & dad Bill Bailey about the release of his new book My Animals & Other Animals, his upcoming Thoughtifier comedy show tour & more 

Q. Hello Bill! Your Thoughtifier show sounds a bit like a celebration of flawed humanity… so are we doomed?
“Well, yeah, obviously, at some point, because we’re gradually drifting towards the sun. But we don’t have to worry about that! That’s a long way off. But I think there’s been this general worry, this panic about AI and that robots will take over and we’ll be rendered helpless husks. All our jobs will be replaced and there’ll be no more films or art or music or books or literature: all of that will be replaced and we’re essentially redundant. This show is very much a rebuttal of that! Because we are capable of extraordinary things. The Olympics, for example, makes you think, wow, humans are amazing, we’re capable of incredible feats. And this show is very much about that. Not maybe sporting feats, but in terms of artistic, intellectual thoughts, you know, consciousness, music, that, you know, the way that we able to create music is something I just find amazing. And in the show, I invite the audience to create something on the spur of the moment. We create harmony, rhythm, the building blocks of music right there. And then I compare that to how AI might do it. And so it’s really, as you say, a celebration of us as a species. Rather than panic about AI and worry about how much it’s going to take over, I just think we ought to celebrate ourselves a bit more, revel in human achievement and creativity.”

Q. Absolutely! You mentioned music there, Bill… What’s your first memory of music?
“At home, listening to my mum singing along to the radio, because she had the radio on all the time. She’d sing along to hits of the day; one that sticks in my mind is a song by Perry Como called Magic Moments. It’s got a jaunty whistling solo in it and a clarinet solo… I mean, how many songs can you say that about!? None. No, there aren’t any. And I have thought about it! Despite not being able to play, I picked out tunes on the piano as a result of hearing them on the radio. So I think just hearing music around all the time was an influence.”

Q. You’ve been called ‘one of comedy’s most twinkle-toed talents’. Do you still dance about a fair bit now after that Strictly win?
“Yeah. I do incorporate dance into my live shows. There’s a bit of Paso Doble in there and, actually, I recreate the UN Charter in dance form and I put a bit of Charleston in there as well. But the thing is about when you’re on that show [Strictly] is that you get to dance to all these things that I would hitherto never have in my wildest dreams thought would be appearing on a ballroom dancing show… Like Metallica’s Enter Sandman or, you know, Rapper’s Delight or Blondie. It’s not really about the rhythm itself. It’s about the upper section of those songs. It’s sort of thinking, well, those are rock songs, metal songs, rap songs, whatever, but dance is very specific. It’s very precise. It’s about numbers of beats. If you look at it in its basic form, it’s rhythm. It’s about, you know, tempo. When you realise that, it’s like a huge door opening, a big light bulb going off thinking, wow, there’s all this music out there which can be attributed to all these different dances. So after I did Strictly, I’d be walking in the supermarket listening to a bit of music thinking, oh, this could be a tango. Music is amazingly adaptable.” 

Q. You played at Sonisphere: you like a bit of metal, don’t you? Who’s your favourite band?
“Yeah, I like metal. It’s difficult to choose my all-time favourite band but probably Talking Heads. I was a huge fan of them when I first heard their album Remain in Light. That’s a long time ago now. I mean, that’s when I was 15. But I mean, I like a lot of metal bands purely for their musical ambition. They’re technically incredibly proficient, they’re brilliant players, musically really ambitious. Lots of time signature changes, tempo changes. I love bands like Opeth; they’re a Swedish metal band, they’re more like a melodic metal band now, they have an enormous range of music, from growly metal to incredibly lyrical, melodic metal. The lead singer Mikael [Åkerfeldt], who I know, now writes music for Netflix series and so on so he’s a composer. There’s a lot of bands I love: a current favourite is a band called Heilung – they’re a German/Danish/Norwegian pagan metal outfit and they do amazing shows, very theatrical. They’re wearing robes and antlers and a shaman comes out and brings incense on the stage and they bang tribal drums and they play traditional instruments and combine that with music and electronics and sampling. They’re just like nothing else I’ve seen: they don’t even call them shows, they call them rituals. The music is monumental and delicate and powerful and ancient and contemporary all at the same time, they defy description.”

Q. I will check them out! Your memoir My Animals and Other Animals sounds like a right treat. So who’s in your menagerie at the moment? I can see you in your conservatory there. Do you have pets at home with you now?
“Yeah, we’ve got three dogs and we’ve got four parrots and that’s our core, that’s the main game. And then we’ve got various others which are not really pets, they’re animals that we’re looking after, rescue animals. So we’ve got a few frogs, sort-of tree frogs, and we’ve got some lizards, pheasants, armadillos. Armadillos are great: when you put them down, they just sort of, they scuttle around, but you can’t see their feet. So it just looks like they’re weird remote control lawn mowers.”

Q. No one seems to have a bad word to say about you, Bill. You definitely cheer people up, but I’m wondering: do you ever get grumpy? Does anything get your goat? Go on…
“Oooh [ponders awhile], I don’t like it when you’re in the supermarket and you put some fresh herbs, coriander, say, in your basket and then you put your basket down and you go and get something, come back and somebody’s… TAKEN THE CORIANDER!”

Q. Where does this happen!? And what do you do: properly kick off?
“I just go, WHAT THE S&*^! and smash all the food off the shelves. No, not really. But maybe I should start smashing jars of pickles, shouting ‘GIVE ME BACK MY CORIANDER, YOU BASTARD!’ But no, I just go and get some more. It’s rude, but it’s not technically theft as you haven’t actually bought it so it’s not even technically yours. Ummm, what else? I don’t like rudeness, poor manners. Litter, GRRR! I actually risk life and limb, sometimes, chasing after people because I see somebody dropping something, and I pick it up and go after them, going ‘Excuse me, oh sorry, excuse me but you dropped something’. People are so shocked that they usually take it and bin it. But it might go wrong one day and someone will tell me where I can stick their Nando’s wrapper. It’s a very British approach, a little bit passive aggressive…”

Q. I grew to love you on [the iconic TV show] Spaced which I’m still obsessed with… I mean the cast on that! Do you keep in touch with any of them? I’d like to think you’re all pals…
“Spaced is brilliant, yeah! Do you know what? It’s very bad, but we haven’t really kept in touch. And although I did bump into Jess [Hynes] at Chelsea Flower Show, which was a joyous, unexpected Spaced reunion!”

Q. You performed for the King, haven’t you, and you’ve met him several times. Are you mates, maybe WhatsApp buddies?
“Yeah, yeah, there’s like a big crown symbol in my phone and I just press that… No! I haven’t got his number! He watched my show which had a section with cowbells in it and he loved that. Afterwards he said to me [adopts Charles voice]: ‘Um, so how do you get the cows to nod their heads in the right order?’ There I was thinking, ‘am I getting trolled by the by the monarch!?’ And then he started asking me about my six-neck electric guitar. He was going: ‘how do you play a six-neck guitar? Do you to have a false arm or something?’ And I was like [patiently]: ‘Er no, you don’t need a false arm.’ But then afterwards I thought, that’s actually not a bad idea! I should just get a false arm.”

Q. Maybe he’s got one?
“Maybe! I think, if anyone in the land is going to have a false arm, it’s the royals, isn’t it? All that waving. Maybe that was just a false arm in the carriage when we thought the Queen was waving. She was probably on her Game Boy or something. Maybe doing a bit of knitting out of sight.”

Q. You’re off on another tour. What’s your favourite venue & do you mingle with the fans?
“Do you know what? I’ve been around the world and I… hang on, that sounds like a song, doesn’t it!? But yeah my favourite is the Hammersmith Apollo at the end of my road. Honestly, it’s one of the best. It’s a brilliant venue for comedy. And being able to cycle round there in five minutes is a massive plus! Yes, when I come out the theatre there are crowds of people and I’m like: ‘Get away from me!’ No: I always say hi to people. Some people have this ludicrous tiered system: you know, there’s the bronze meet-and-greet and then there’s the silver VIP and then the gold one where you can touch his sleeve for four seconds. But I just think it’s all bollocks. I just come out and say hello and take a picture. I’m talking about after the show, you understand, not inviting them on stage to be in a skit with Bill Bailey. I always try and make time for people if I can. I hang around, you know, behind the theatre, at the stage door. Even if there’s no one there…. Hello, anyone? Selfie, anyone?!”

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Half term horrors

Liz Nicholls

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Liz Nicholls

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Halloween and half term are on the horizon. Luckily, Buckinghamshire is a county that’s (witch’s) brimful of great family-friendly fun! 

From 25th October to 3rd November you can enjoy an intriguing Aesop’s Fables interactive trail at Hughenden. The same week, there’s a nature trail at Cliveden; nationaltrust.org.uk

The Pop-up Pumpkin Patch has popped up again in Stokenchurch, HP14 3YF, for its third year, 23rd -31st October. Pick a pumpkin from £2, and enjoy the PTA cafe. For more info please follow @Thepopuppumpkinpatch

The fun-packed Odds Farm in Wooburn Green, HP10 0LX, also has a pumpkin patch, carving corner, arts and crafts and spooky surprises, 26th October-3rd November; oddsfarm.co.uk

Over at wondrous Wendover Woods in Aston Clinton, HP22 5NQ, pick up your £4 party pack from the information point and set off on the The Gruffalo Party Trail! Find out more at forestryengland.uk/wendover-woods

The Halloween spectacular and bonfire is back at Chiltern Open Air Museum in Chalfont, HP8 4AB, 5-9pm on Friday, 1st November, promising an evening of spooky fun for all ages in the atmospheric historic buildings and woods. Enjoy spine-tingling stories, marshmallow-toasting and scary woodland walks. For more info please visit coam.org.uk

Enjoy Hogshaw School of Witchcraft & Wizardy at the farm & wildlife Park, MK18 3LA, 26th October to 1st November with pumpkins, potions, creepy crawlies, owls & extra fun! Visit hogshawfarm.co.uk to find out more.

Gorgeous Peterley Manor Farm in Missenden, HP16 0HH, will sell pumpkins in the farm shop, or PYO. Visit peterleymanorfarm.co.uk

Majestic Waddesdon Manor, HP18 0JH, will welcome you for an autumn adventure trail, 2nd-27th October. You can also enjoy Creepy Critters with the ZooLab animal-lovers on 19th, 20th, 26th & 27th October. Or why not book in for a spooky afternoon tea, for children or adults, on 26th & 27th? waddesdon.org.uk

The Spookfest Family Fun Day at Haddenham village hall, HP17 8EE, 12-4pm on Saturday, 26th October, will offer lots of free fun including owl-handling, slime-making, biscuit decorating, arts & crafts, as well as a pop-up cafe. Get your free tickets at eventbrite.com

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Tucking In! Recipes by Sophie Wyburd

Liz Nicholls

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Liz Nicholls

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We’re sharing a taste from Tucking In by Sophie Wyburd who is the star chef at this month’s Wild Feast in Otmoor Farm in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire

Chocolate & cherry meringue tower

Jeremy Lee is the executive chef at Quo Vadis in Soho, the first and only proper restaurant I ever worked in, and he is famous for making the most fabulous puddings in London, if not the world.

Working there, I assembled many enormous meringue towers, rich with cream, fruit and toasted nuts. This pud is inspired by my time there. It features Black Forest flavours; my dad is passionate about chocolate, cherries and cream as a combination, so when making him a pud, I often use these flavours. This one’s for you, Dad!

This is a proper show-stopping dessert – expect oohs and aahs as you wheel it out of the kitchen.

“Expect oohs and aahs as you wheel it out of the kitchen.”

Serves 8-10 | Cooking 90 minutes, plus cooking
Ingredients
• 40g dark chocolate, plus 15g for grating on top
• 4 large egg whites (save the yolks for another occasion)
• 230g caster sugar
• 450g frozen cherries
• 2 tbsp kirsch (optional)
• 300ml double cream
• 25g icing sugar

Method
1. Preheat your oven to 140°C/120°C fan/gas mark 1 and line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment.
2. Break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl, and microwave it in bursts until it is melted. Alternatively, pop the chocolate into a heatproof bowl set over a simmering pan of water, and let it gently melt. Allow it to cool slightly.
3. Tip your eggs whites into a large mixing bowl, and weigh out 200g of your sugar in a separate bowl. Using electric beaters, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Add a couple of heaped spoonfuls of the sugar, then whisk again until you get stiff peaks. Continue adding the sugar like this until all 200g has been incorporated, and you have a thick, glossy mixture in the bowl.
4. Pour your melted chocolate into the bowl, and gently fold it through as streaks. Take generous spoonfuls of the meringue mixture, and dollop them onto the prepared baking trays in glossy heaps, spaced well apart. You should get about 10 meringues. Place both trays in the oven, and bake them for 1 hour.
5. Meanwhile, add your cherries to a saucepan over a medium heat, along with your remaining 30g of sugar. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 20 minutes, or until the liquid has a thin, syrupy consistency. Stir in the kirsch, if using, then leave it to cool.
6. Pour your double cream into a medium mixing bowl, and add the icing sugar. Whisk with electric beaters until it thickens into soft peaks. Be careful not to overdo it – you don’t want it to look fluffy.
7. Allow your meringues to cool completely. When ready to serve, spoon a little cream onto your chosen serving plate. Add a few meringues on top, and dollop over some cream and cherry compote. Continue to stack meringues, cream and compote on top until they are all used up. Grate over a little more chocolate, then serve.

Spiced blackened salmon tacos with orange salsa

There’s a reason why fajita night had every family in a chokehold in the 2000s, and it is because it is a really fun way to eat. Popping lots of things in the middle of the table and getting people to help themselves is relaxed, a little chaotic, and ultimately communal – the way I like all my meals to be. These tacos look much fancier then they are, but in reality this meal involves very little cooking; all you need to do is make zingy salsa, and grill chunky sides of salmon in spices until the flesh is charred. It would make a brilliant dinner on a weekend, on a weekend, but it is also easy to bang together on a Wednesday night after work.

Serves eight | Takes 45 minutes
Ingredients
• 2 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp soft light brown sugar
• 2 x 600g sides of salmon
• 24 corn tortillas
For the salsa
• 1 red onion
• 2 red chillies
• small bunch of coriander
• 6 oranges
• salt and olive oil

Method
1. Spoon the paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, dried oregano and soft brown sugar into a bowl, along with 2 teaspoons of salt and 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix until you have a paste.
2. Place your sides of salmon in a large baking tray, skin-sides down, and rub the spice paste all over the flesh.
3. Preheat your grill to high.
4. To make the salsa, peel and finely dice the red onion, and finely chop the red chillies. Mix together in a bowl. Roughly chop the coriander, and set it aside. Slice the top and bottom ends off the oranges so that you can stand them up flat, then work your knife around them to peel off the skin. Cut the flesh into 2cm rounds, then dice them into 1cm chunks.
5. Add the diced orange to the bowl with the onion and chilli, along with any juices, then give it all a good mix to combine.
6. Place your salmon under the hot grill and cook for 7-8 minutes – the top will char and get a beautiful crust, while the flesh will stay tender and soft.
7. While your salmon cooks, heat your tortillas. Turn a small burner on your hob to high and place your tortillas one at a time on the grate above the flame. Cook for a few seconds on each side, turning them over with metal tongs. Keep them warm by wrapping them in a clean tea towel while you cook the rest. Alternatively, cook them for about 20 seconds on each side in a hot, dry frying pan.
8. Stir the coriander into the salsa. Pop your tortillas onto plates, and bring the salmon and salsa to the table, then let everyone serve themselves by flaking off the salmon, and adding it to their tortillas with a spoonful of salsa.

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PYO pumpkin patch returns to Bucks

Liz Nicholls

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The Pop-up Pumpkin Patch has popped up again in Stokenchurch HP14 3YF, for its third year, 23rd-31st October. Brooke White tells us more!

October sees the welcome return of the Pop-up Pumpkin Patch, the brainchild of Brooke and her husband Tom, a second generation farmer who has always farmed in and around the Chilterns.

Brooke says: “Usually rearing cows and sheep, we first started diversifying the farm and growing pumpkins in 2022 after a random ‘image if’ conversation over dinner one evening. That conversation turned into reality the following October!

“We love opening up the farm and giving people the opportunity to have fun with their families while picking their pumpkins from the field in which they were grown.

“With three young children, George, Mollie & Harry we are always looking for activities that we can enjoy as a family without spending a fortune at the same time! Entry to the patch is free and there’s lots for the little (and big!) ones to keep them entertained. Climb to the top of our straw bale mountain, play on a ride on tractor, spot the spooky clues with our Scavenger hunt, enjoy a tractor and trailer ride around the field, take some Insta-worthy photos and get lost in the maize maze!”

Ibstone C of E Primary School will also run a pop-up café serving hot drinks and cakes, raising funds for the PTA. Entry to the patch is free, parking is free. Simply pay for what you pick. Pumpkin prices start from £2.

Brooke adds: “We donate 100% of our café and Scavenger hunt takings to Ibstone C of E Primary School, so you can enjoy a coffee and slice of cake whilst raising money for charity. We can’t wait to welcome you to the farm!”

The patch will be open 23rd-31st October, 11am-3pm. Find more info on Instagram or find The Pop-up Pumpkin Patch on Facebook.

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Venison: for deer life & woodlands

Liz Nicholls

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Image: Ben Wright Photography

Liz Nicholls

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Liz Nicholls chats to Geoff Wickett, founder of Chiltern Venison, who helps protect local landscapes and is on a mission to encourage us to eat sustainable, ethical venison, year-round

Twilight is a magical time in the deep, dark woods. As the autumn mist rises and sunshine dapples the undergrowth at dawn and dusk, you’re most likely to catch a glimpse of the fallow deer, even if it’s only a twitch of its distinctive white tail.

But, as Geoff Wickett knows all too well, this majestic, mystical creature is likely to have spied you first… “Deer are truly astonishing creatures,” he says. “They’re beautiful, sentient, and their hearing is exceptional: their ears operate independently, alerting them to any danger. Their ability to register visual changes around them is astonishing, it’s as if their eyes take a series of pictures, with the brain then overlaying them for any changes.

“When you’re sneaking up on a herd of fallow deer, say, and there are 100 pairs of ears and eyes, it doesn’t take much for them to notice you. And the wind swirls swiftly around these hills; one can sniff you out, and they’re off!”

Roe deer are a native species; they’ve roamed this land since the Ice Age. Fallow deer were introduced by the Romans, extirpated and reintroduced by the Normans for the chase. You’ll also find smaller, barking muntjac who ancestors escapees from the Duke Of Bedford’s herd at Woburn, and Chinese water deer, whose forefathers scarpered from Whipsnade.

So, the question is, why kill these beautiful animals? The wild truth is that deer have become the single biggest threat to woodland in the UK, which is why Geoff is employed by land-owners and conservation charities, including the National Trust & Woodland Trust, to help manage their population. Deer, who have no natural predators, reproduce at a startling rate. In fact, numbers have doubled since Covid. Left unchecked, they will destroy the landscape, its distinctive flora and fauna.

“This deeply layered habitat is being trashed by deer,” says Geoff, who moved to Hughenden Valley ten years ago, leaving a career in tech accessories. “The shrub layer of most local woodland has been entirely eaten by the deer. Unlike other deer, muntjac eat the bluebells which won’t return the following year. This woodland provides nesting habitat, shelter, nectar, berries and nuts for a whole range of birds, mammals and insects. With the shrub layer gone, all life suffers and if a wood can’t produce young trees, it eventually dies. In larger numbers, deer need to go further for food and cause great damage to local farmers’ crops, as well as causing up to 74,000 vehicle collisions every year on UK roads, some fatal.”

Image: Piers Photography

Image: Piers Photography

Geoff’s mission is to encourage us all to eat venison, year-round. This natural, ethical, sustainable meat is showcased on menus at restaurants including The Oarsman in Marlow (pictured), The Nags Head in Great Missenden, White Oak is Cookham Dean, The Griffin in Amersham, Three Oaks in Gerrards Cross and Peterley Manor Farm (where it’s also stocked in the shop). In addition to firearms and wildlife laws, stringent food handling laws apply, as soon as a deer hits the ground. Geoff has just invested in a walk-in larder and processing unit to meet demand and is happy to sell direct. “We have this idea venison’s ‘posh’,” he says. “In the past you might have been executed for poaching a deer by the king, but venison’s not just for high days. It’s a great, healthy everyday alternative to beef or lamb, with high zinc and protein. My wife and I love a rump or chump steak. I love to sell to foodies, which means minimal food miles, unlike meat shipped from New Zealand which is crazy!

“I can trace every detail about the animal which is being enjoyed in a delicious meal instead of going to waste. Surprisingly, I’ve had one comment in a decade along the line of being a ‘bambi killer’. But people have been very supportive when they understand the bigger picture. I’ve even sold boxes to vegetarians who know that this is a food source that’s unprocessed, and that the animal has had a good life, unexposed to steroids or antibiotics.”

Importantly, each deer has also had a ‘good’ death, unlike the majority of animals reared for their meat and slaughtered in much more dystopian settings. Geoff is sometimes accompanied on his stalking trips by his cocker spaniel Artemis (pictured above) and he also has a young blue roan Skadi (named after the Norse goddess of the hunt). Both enjoy the odd bone (“nature’s toothbrush”) and Geoff takes his role and animal welfare very seriously. He learned to shoot at school and with the army is trained in “gralloching” as well as all the other handling processes which cost about £150 per carcass.

“I must be mad to do this as there’s not much money in it,” adds Geoff. “But I love this glorious countryside – I won’t go back to a desk job!”

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Gavin & Stacey star Jo Page

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Actress & mum Jo Page chats to Liz Nicholls about the upcoming Gavin & Stacey Christmas reunion, life, love, wildlife & more

You can watch & hear Jo’s full chat on our Spotlight podcast:

Hi Jo, how are you?
“Good thanks. I’m in the middle of filming at the Wildlife Aid Foundation hospital in Leatherhead. I’m dealing with badgers, foxes, bats: cleaning cages, coming home and changing nappies. So my life is just cleaning up poo: animals and children!”  

Q. We’re excited about the Gavin & Stacey special. What’s in store for Nessa & Smiffy, and you two!? “Oh gosh I’ve no idea. I just hope to God they haven’t got me in a bikini on Barry Island because I’m 47 now! We haven’t seen a script yet and even my husband said ‘don’t tell me!’ I’m as excited as everyone else.” 

Q. What’s it like on set? “Everyone’s lovely. When we first started it was clear we had great chemistry, and would be big pals, like family. I love them all. Rob Brydon is so funny, always doing voices. And the impressions! He’s either doing Hugh Grant or Al Pacino. It’s an utter joy. I’d only ever watched Gavin & Stacey once; my daughter is 11 and asked if we could watch the first series and… it’s really funny! And rude!” 

Q. What does your Christmas look like? “I’m a real home girl… apart from one year when I did panto in Milton Keynes which was weird! I’m the sort of person who takes the Halloween decorations down and wants to put the tree up. I don’t have any recipes or a precious way I do my potatoes: I don’t enjoy cooking because I cook so much for the kids, so if the men want to take over, I’m fine with that! We’re up opening presents, having Bucks fizz. We stay in pyjamas all day, eat and play with toys – it’s bedlam! I’m already thinking how on earth are we going to watch Gavin & Stacey? Mind you they’re a bit older now so they might sit still.” 

Q. Can I ask you about your naked bit-part in Love Actually with Martin Freeman? “I first watched it sitting next to my parents and I was mortified! I was only 23 and terrified when we made it, as all the cast were there. I remember thinking ‘it’s Alan Rickman! Emma Thomson! Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson!’ It was so exciting.” 

Q. Do you ever get star-struck? “I don’t normally… but I saw Paul Gorton from The Traitors at the NTAs this year and went beserk!” 

Q. You and your husband got together after you both starred in David Copperfield? “Yes! I saw him on telly and thought ooh he’s so rugged and handsome. I said to my mum: ‘I want that man to be the father of my children!’ My mate Maxine Peake called me and said: ‘I’m working with an actor who says he’s in love with you: will you please come and see the play?’ I went to the green room bar and we just did not stop talking. I just knew. And he had lovely forearms and great neck / shoulder area.” 

Q. What invention would drastically improve the quality of your life as a busy working mum? “Hmm… A contraption that allows me to have a constant massage, fly and gives me a lie-in. And makes me breakfast and looks after the children so I could sleep in until one in the afternoon. Then it would turn back time to 8am but I’d be incredibly well-rested and enjoy my day with everyone… Basically a nanny/husband and a time machine. With a constant massage!” 

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Marlborough LitFest stars to shine

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Marlborough LitFest celebrates its 15th year with a packed programme full of more than 40 events offering a myriad of topics for all ages across the festival weekend from 26th to 29th September

On offer this year is an exciting mix of debut authors and established writers in fiction and non-fiction, as well as poetry, children’s authors and free schools events, workshops and LitFest’s annual Big Town Read in the historic market town.

This year’s line-up includes LitFest Patron Sir Simon Russell Beale, 2024 Golding Speaker Linda Grant, Celia Imrie, Robert Hardman, Kate Mosse, William Dalrymple, Zeinab Badawi, Robert Peston, Sarah Perry, Martin Sixsmith, Jonathan Dimbleby, Felix Francis and children’s author and illustrator duo Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre.

With autobiography, memoir, poetry and fiction and non-fiction covering genres including Shakespeare, royalty, politics, history, nature (in particular trees and tulips), signing therapy, midlife crises, a history of childhood reading, crime, food and travel, AI, sport, storytelling for both adults and children and a Big Book Quiz at The Parade Cinema, this year’s 15th anniversary programme has something for everyone.

Bestselling Sunday Times author and award-winning actor Celia Imrie will discuss her latest novel, Meet Me at Rainbow Corner. Fans of the international bestseller, The Essex Serpent can hear Sarah Perry talking about her new novel, Enlightenment. Political and economics reporter Robert Peston will talk about his latest novel, The Crash, featuring his recurring main protagonist, Gil Peck.

Join local playwright and author Barney Norris on a walk in Savernake Forest, examining the link between place and memory when writing about fiction. Participants can write about their own experiences and discuss this over a drink in a local Marlborough pub.

LitFest Patron Sir Simon Russell Beale will be interviewed by Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford, discussing Beale’s first book, A Piece of Work, recounting his acting career with a focus on his Shakespearean characters.
Broadcaster and journalist Jonathan Dimbleby, acclaimed for his Second World War histories, will talk about Endgame 1944: How Stalin Won the War.

Among many other highlights, sports journalist Sam Peters will be in conversation with rugby player Steve Thompson about concussion in sport in his book Concussed: Sport’s Uncomfortable Truth. First time writer Chloe Dalton will share her astonishing story of Raising Hare. Tristan Gooley, bestselling author of How to Read a Tree, will share tips on tree identification and how to unlock the secret signs that trees give about their past and surrounding landscape.

This year’s Big Town Read, run in association with Wiltshire Libraries, is The Secret Life of John le Carré by Adam Sisman.

In its 15th year LitFest has expanded its free activities for younger children and their families, with many ways to join in and share everyone’s love of stories. The children’s festival programme features a bumper crop of events – many free – to keep all ages entertained both before and during the festival weekend. Little ones can enjoy poetry and storytelling slots at Pewsey and Marlborough Libraries, with Street Storytellers at The Parade Cinema, as well as free craft activities at St Peter’s Church with Aldbourne Children’s Book Group.

To book your tickets and find out more please visit Marlborough Literature Festival. You can also call 0333 666 3366 or buy from The White Horse Bookshop in Marlborough, and from the box office in the Town Hall over the festival weekend. Please note that the bookshop cannot take orders by phone.

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Float along to Oxford Canal Festival

Liz Nicholls

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Liz Nicholls

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Oxford’s residents are proud to announce the line-up for this year’s free-to-visit Oxford Canal Festival, 11am-6pm on Saturday, 21st September

Head along and enjoy a community day of festival fun on the Aristotle Lane Recreation Ground, OX2 – entry is free!

Proceeds will go to ‘The Kilsby Theatre Boat Project’ – the 108-year-old narrowboat being rescued to become a new community theatre boat for Oxford’s waterways.

The music line up included the Jericho Singers, Ben Avison & Three Idle Women, Weekend Warriors, The Dirty Big Canal Dance Band, Mambo Panthers, Papa Nui, and Senegalese kora musician Jali Fily Cissokho.

Visit the Spoken Word Tent for a fantastic literary experience with Sir Philip Pullman reading live on stage, Roy MacFarlane, our Canal Laureate announcing the winning performances from this year’s poetry competition and the hugely fun University Challenged quiz with local teams taking on Oxford University finest brains!

Enjoy stalls selling jewellery, clothing, treats and local crafts on the Oxford canal running alongside the Aristotle Rec. There will be fun activities running all day for children including: face painting, art, a bouncy castle, a Canal Olympics, Arts and Crafts projects, and a Cinema showing local history short films.

Visitors can also enter a fun dog show – a hugely entertaining and impressive competition with our winners taking home fantastic canine prizes.

Craft beers and non-alcoholic drinks will be available in the bar tent, and a big selection of food vendors will be on site offering international cuisines.

The Kilsby Boat Project is rescuing and restoring a 1912 canal boat, reinventing it as a community venue for storytelling, music and boat trips. Kilsby is moored at Tooley’s historic boatyard awaiting restoration works that will enable her to make the trip back home to Oxford.

The canal festival is free to enter. For more information please visit Oxford Canal Festival 2024

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Hit the road for Neighbours’ Toadie!

Liz Nicholls

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Liz Nicholls

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Neighbours fan Liz Nicholls chats to one of her heroes, Ryan Moloney, who has played Toadfish in beloved Aussie soap for 30 years and is sharing his behind-the-scenes stories with the Toad On The Road UK tour.

G’day fellow Neighbours fans (and fans-to-be)! This week I was honoured to chat to Neighbours royalty: Ryan Moloney who has played Jarrod Vincenzo “Toadfish” Rebecchi for an astonishing 30 years.

In case you missed the memo, Toadie is leaving the beloved soap very soon which is why he’s in the UK. Ryan is hosting the Toad on the Road show which stops at The Anvil Basingstoke this Friday, 13th September, and has been winning rave reviews so far!

Toadie has survived a brutal kidnapping, croc attack and breakdown in Neighbours’ thrilling #DeathInTheOutback week but we’re still unsure what form his demise might take… But it can’t be that final, can it, Ryan? Bear in mind that Dionne (my personal favourite of the Toad’s five wives, along with her evil twin… but that’s another story) came back from the dead after plummeting off a cliff, and Harrold Bishop was also famously resurrected. Is this really the end of the Toad? “Ummm. Well, yeah… Nothing’s ever final, but I think it might be for Toadie!”

Q&A with Ryan Moloney

Wow, ok, no spoilers! Toadie’s has a lot of trauma over the past three decades, hasn’t he? I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone cry so much on screen! How do you do that?!
“Well, actually that’s part of the Toad On The Road show. When you’re younger, you spend a lot of time trying to extend your skills and make things more real so you can connect with your audience more. And the more truthful and honest things are for me, it’s almost like the less I have to act. And from that point on, there’s access to this emotionally deep well.”

It’s so good to see mental health – my favourite subject – explored in my favourite soap…
“Yeah, absolutely. Mental health is not necessarily something that we show on television. I get that it’s a tough subject, but I think we need to show it. It’s part of our psyche, our world, so we should represent these stories. That’s the thing about watching shows, television, movies, hearing music, it connects people. If you don’t see this stuff on television, it almost shuns people going through stuff and makes them feel mental health problems are something that we need to push away. But it’s something that so many people deal with.

“That’s why I’m so glad that this is actually what I’m doing for my last year on Neighbours. We get to tell the story of this character’s mental demise. Thirty years of trauma catches up with Toadie and he ends up having a psychotic snap. And then by the end of it he has a realisation… This is almost my last gift, in a way. This is what I want to go out with.”

When it was announced that Neighbours was ending in 2022, it was a big shock to fans. Then the whole world tuned in for the finale, starring the likes of Guy Ritchie, Kylie and Margot Robbie. Is it down to the love of the fans that Neighbours is back, for a year now, with a new network?
“Absolutely! It would not have come back without the fans’ demand for Neighbours to exist. And I think it was almost like a happy accident that Amazon wanted to launch Freevee. If I was Amazon, I’d be thinking: ‘What am I going to launch with?’ And here’s this show with an audience just screaming for it back on TV.”

Apart from Neighbours, what’s your favourite TV show, and what’s your favourite film?
“Oooh film is a tough one but I’d say Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch: I love films that are not just your run-of-the-mill kind of storytelling.

“But I don’t actually watch a lot of TV. I’m too busy kind of building things and learning things, mainly mechanics. I tend to spend a lot of time on YouTube, just kind of going down rabbit holes. At the moment I’m trying to make my son’s go-kart go faster! Apart from doing a directing traineeship with the Neighbours team, I do a lot of things. We’re building farms, and I do civil construction. Mainly, now I just want to spend time with my kids. My daughter’s coming up 18 and my son’s just turned 16. And I want to just be able to grab that last second with them before they disappear.”

There’s a lot to be celebrated about Toadie. How much of Toadie is in you, Ryan?
“I’d say, you know, he’s probably about 25% like me. Toadie’s a knight in shining armour and one of the main drivers behind him is that he’s the eternal loser. We always need him to lose so we can get behind him. So we give him little wins and then we make him lose. He’s a generous person, always looking out for other people; that’s very much me. But also, he makes some very bad decisions and he doesn’t seem to learn from his past behaviours: I don’t think that’s me! Nobody can always be liked, that’s for sure. I think it’s important to have off-putting elements in a character like Toadie, because that’s real.”

Speaking of which, as much as I love Toadie, Paul is my favourite character… So what’s Stefan Dennis (one of the finest actors of our generation) like behind the scenes?
“Ahhh he’s such a lovely fella. I absolutely love Steffi. He’s just so kind and generous and he’s pretty funny too.

“I love Paul too! He’s the character that you just love to hate. I can’t believe that everyone keeps getting sucked in! See here’s the thing, right? If Toad is the eternal loser, Paul is the baddie who comes good in a way. He’s a… winner! The audience always want him to come good and then he does for a period of time. But the important thing to remember is that he is completely flawed and he will never be truly good!”

I’m really looking forward to the show on Friday! So what can people expect from Toad On The Road?
“You can expect a journey. It’s not superficial, we talk about Neighbours and storylines and whatnot, but it’s really kind of the conduit for explaining character development, how we actually use structures to create families, and how we get audience to buy-in, and then manage and manipulate that audience buy-in as well. But on top of that, then it’s also about how the really emotional stuff. The beautiful thing is that when people come and see it, when they leave, they’re like, wow, I was not expecting that.

“It’s bigger than Neighbours…”

Bigger than Neighbours? Nahhh!

Book at Currently Touring Shows : Maple Tree Entertainment

Neighbours quiz

Q1. As a teen troublemaker Toadie tried to blackmail Lucy Robinson with nudie centrefolds in which fictional British porn magazine?

Q2. Toadie and Hannah Martin found buried treasure when Hannah’s dog dug up an old tin box. Name that dog! (It’s not Bouncer).

Q3. While living at the Kennedys with his surrogate parents Karl and Susan, Toadie had a turkey that was supposed to be dinner but became a beloved pet. Name that turkey!

Q4. In which nightclub did Toadie meet his future wife Dee?

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Wondrous West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival

Liz Nicholls

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Liz Nicholls

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Dick Morbey tells us about the enchanting West Wycombe Music Festival, 19th to 21st September, founded by international star (& Wycombe born & raised) musician Lawrence Power

West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival was established 13 years ago by Lawrence Power who is now recognised as a performer of the very highest calibre on the world stage.

Each September Lawrence returns to the area to direct and perform in this three-day music festival which offers audiences five attractively programmed concerts. He brings with him an array of top-flight musicians who join him to perform in this exclusive series of concerts.

The festival has firmly established its place as one of the key musical events in our locality. It was hailed by the Guardian newspaper as “One of the top ten classical music events of 2021”.

After last year’s success in Hambleden, where we received a very warm welcome from the community and our audiences, we are delighted to be returning to the village this year. The festival will take place from Thursday 19th to Saturday, 21st September.

Five concerts will be given, with an Enchanted theme, all in the beautiful 12th century Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Hambledon, RG9 6RX, in the heart of one the most attractive villages in the Chiltern hills in Buckinghamshire. In addition to three evening concerts, there will also be a lunchtime concert on the Friday and a late morning concert on the Saturday. You can find full details of the five concerts and performances & book at westwycombemusic.org.uk and also follow the Facebook page. For further details, ticket sales and enquiries please email the festival organisers on tickets@westwycombemusic.org.uk or you can call 01494 528659 or 07948 897148.

The West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival is an entirely non-profit concert series which aims to bring the very best of live music performance to the area, given by top calibre musicians. In current times this is increasingly costly, but thanks to the support of audiences and Friends of the Festival we are able to cover most, but not all of our costs.

We invite music-lovers to consider becoming a Friend. The Friends of the Festival are a thriving, friendly group who have offered great support for the festival for over a decade. Friends’ subscriptions and subsequent generous donations have been instrumental in supplementing the income we receive from our generously-priced concert tickets and enabling the continuance of the concert series.

For further info, ticket sales and enquiries please email the organisers by emailing tickets@westwycombemusic.org.uk or call 01494 528659 or 07948 897148.

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