| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Apr | Jun » | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
- Uncategorized (9)
Northern Tour
A bizarre weekend (10-11 May), but great fun. An early start on Saturday to catch the 6.46 train to Harrogate, via London, to take part in the two day Nidderdale Literary Festival, set up in honour of Roddy Scott, a war cameraman killed six years ago in Chechnya by a Russian soldier. I’m doing three events, so use the journey to mug up on the first, the history of war correspondents. Also appearing are Kate Adie, Sandy Gall, David Loyn and Damien Lewis. I do the history of the early years (Henry Crabb Robinson, WH Russell etc) while the others recall actual experiences from the Suez (Sandy Gall) to the Iraq War. The event’s a great success, with a good audience and lots of questions. Kate is on top form, and regales us with tales of recent wars. She seems to have been around for ever, but is still as energetic and combative as ever. After she tells me an eye-popping story about the British Army in the 70s. I’d love to include it in my book, but will need verification!
The black-tie dinner that evening is a surreal affair. The authors have been spread around the tables, and act as de facto captains for the pre-dinner quiz. Many of the diners are retired locals, and a little hard of hearing, which causes the quizmaster Marcus Berkmann (the best in the business) no end of grief. My table is not the most cerebral and we finish joint 7th (out of 10). But it’s not all doom and gloom. I have a chat with General Sir Mike Jackson, the former head of the British Army who’s also appearing at the festival, and he agrees to give a lecture to my MA Military History students at Buckingham University next year. Also signed up (verbally) to give lectures are General Lord Guthrie, Hew Strachan, Michael Burleigh and Sir Lawrence Freedman. Not a bad cast list.
Two more events the following day - Rudyard Kipling, with Charles Allen, and The Greatest General debate, at which my man the Duke of Marlborough is runner-up to the Iron Duke - before catching a late train to Hull.
Next day I invigilate two exams and pick up the exam scripts for my ‘Generals and Generalship’ course. I mark them over the course of the next few days and the results range from 73 (first-class) to 25 (fail)! Who said marking standards are not what they were??