Oh what a wonderful day, yesterday at Braemar Literary Festival. In the morning, we went to see Tom Parker Bowles, Grace Dent and Rick Stein 'In Conversation' about comfort food, at St. Margaret's. In the audience were none other than HM Queen Camilla, and Dame Judi Dench. Here you can see Dame Judi being whisked back to the Fife Arms Hotel, with partner David Mills in the front. She is remarkable for 88 years of age. Queen Camilla probably headed straight back to Birkhall in her Range Rover.
In the afternoon we saw author William Boyd being interviewed about his most recent book 'Restless'. I have to say that my favourite book of his will always be 'A Good Man in Africa'. I read it about 20 years ago, after we returned from living in Nigeria. I was at work in Paris, and a French colleague came in and asked me about our experiences in Nigeria. We chatted about it and he asked me if I'd read 'Un Anglais Sous Les Tropiques'. I'd never heard of William Boyd at the time, let alone this book, but I trusted this individual and so bought it and loved it. My lasting recollection of the book though, is watching John read it on a family holiday in Nice. It was a very wet Easter, and our accommodation (Pierre & Vacances) was somewhat limited, ie shoebox style. What saved our holiday was John's enjoyment of the book and me watching him laugh, the tears rolling down his face. Thank you, William Boyd!
Lucky you, sounds like a wonderful literary day. I’ve not read William Boyd, so thank you for the tip - btw we stayed at Pierre et Vacances many moons ago when our boy was 3 and my mother in law was with us. Not such happy memories of that holiday!
Nice ‘papparazzi’ like pic 😊. I love Dame Judi Dench as an actress.
Fun story of your vacation. I’ve never read anything from William Boyd but I certainly will. Thanks for the info.
@onewing Yes, and he looks none too impressed! I felt it was ok once outside in the street. I did not take any pictures inside, much as I really wanted to!!!
Wow Braemar certainly sees the high life. I too admire Judy Dench immensely….if she’s in any film you can guarantee it will be excellent. I must search for William Boyd on my kindle.
How fun- rubbing shoulders with the upper crust at the literary festival! I've not seen a lot of Dame Dench's work but she appeared on Murder She Wrote with Angela Lansbury so I at least have a little of her work on the small screen. She is very talented to say the least! Good candid!
I have a lot of trouble remembering names (I prefer numbers), but I don't think I've read any of these authors. I read quite a lot, but what I still have to read is growing exponentially. Well catch.
Fun story of your vacation. I’ve never read anything from William Boyd but I certainly will. Thanks for the info.