Huge range of talks confirmed for the Lewes Speakers Festival

Festival director Marc Rattray said: “The festival continues on its 14-year rise thanks to your interest and support. The website is now viewed in over 50 countries. There are more details at www.lewesspeakersfestival.com where you can buy tickets.”

Friday, May 9:

15.30 Matt Goodwin, conservative professor of politics at the University of Kent, GB News presenter, broadcaster and political adviser, speaks on why our universities are ‘broken and how we can fix them.’

17.00 Leigh Turner, former British Ambassador to Ukraine and Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations, reflects on his career as a diplomat in, amongst other places, Ukraine; Austria and Turkey and the chaos of modern politics.

18.30 Michelle Ogundehin, head judge on the BBC’s Interior Design Masters TV series, gives you the steps you need to create a home that heals and makes you happy.

20.00 Hugo Rifkind, columnist, critic and leader writer for The Times, gives a talk based his new book Rabbits about a murder in Scotland.

Saturday, May 10:

9.50 Terri Apter, family-dynamics psychologist, writer and fellow of Newnham College Cambridge, speaks about how to be a good grandparent.

11.20 Jonathan Fenby, former editor of The Observer and the South China Morning Post, speaks about the wonder, achievements and cultures of China.

12.50 Howard Jacobson, Man Booker Prize winner and broadcaster, speaks about his novel What Will Survive Of Us, a story about love through marriage and middle age.

13.45 Jack Cornish, head of paths at the Ramblers, takes you on a guided walk outside around Lewes and along the river Ouse, explaining its rich history and features.

14.20 Frances Welch, journalist and Russia specialist, speaks about the strange and bloody destinies of Queen Victoria’s granddaughters.

15.50 Craig Brown, Private Eye satirist, journalist and winner of three different Press Awards — for best humourist, columnist, and critic — in the same year, turns his eye to Queen Elizabeth II.

17.20 Monica Macias, childhood resident of North Korea under Kim Il Sung and daughter of the first president of Equatorial Guinea, presents her life story.

18.50 Norman Baker, former MP for Lewes, Under-Secretary of State for Transport & Minister for Crime Prevention, speaks about the death of Dr Kelly and the invasion of Iraq.

20.20 Gabriel Gatehouse, BBC journalist, former international editor of Newsnight and presenter of the podcast The Coming Storm which has had three million downloads, presents on conspiracy theories in America and their political impact.

Sunday, May 11:

9.50 Cathy Scott-Clark, award-winning investigative journalist and Emmy-winning filmmaker, speaks about the life of world’s most extraordinary warlord Victor Bout.

11.20 Diana Darke, Islamic art and architecture specialist and scholar at Washington DC's Middle East Institute, speaks about the Islamic craftsmen behind Europe’s medieval monuments.

12.50 Chris Mullin, journalist and a minister in three departments and chairman of the Home Affairs select committee, explains the story and miscarriage of justice behind the conviction of the Birmingham IRA bombing suspects in 1974.

14.20 David Torrance, constitutional specialist at the House of Commons and biographer of Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, tells the remarkable story of Britain’s first Labour government.

15.50 Paul Cooper, journalist who produces the Fall of Civilizations podcast, which has had 100 million listens since 2019, recounts how a range of societies around the world have risen and then tipped over into collapse.

17.20 Michael Sheridan, Far East correspondent for The Sunday Times over 20 years, covering the rise of China, explains the life, personality and thinking of the president of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping.

18.50 Julian Baggini, academic director of the Royal institute of philosophy and author/ editor of over 20 books, explains his philosophy and history of food.

Call the box office on 0333 666 3366 or visit www.lewesspeakersfestival.com