ALISON Steadman, one of the best-loved and most versatile actresses of her generation, will be the special guest at the Pipeline masterclass at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre on Wednesday 11th February. Acclaimed for her stage, television and film roles, Alison first came to prominence in television plays Nuts in May and Abigail’s Party – she…
SHUTE Festival, a celebration of books, ideas and music, based in the little village near Honiton, began in 2016, but now, at the end of its tenth year, the organisers said goodbye. In their pre-Christmas announcement Sam Knights and Bijan Omrani say: “It is hard to believe that a decade has gone by since we…
PLAYWRIGHT Sir Tom Stoppard, who was born in the former Czechoslovakia in 1937, has died at the age of 88. He lived near Shaftesbury and, despite his international profile and long list of major stage, writing and film awards, was actively supportive of the arts, theatre and music in the area. There was an early…
FRESH from his adventures in the Celebrity Traitors’ Scottish castle, historian David Olusoga comes to Bridport Electric Palace on Friday 12th December at 7.30pm, with a new talk, History’s Missing Chapters, in which he explores how and why some people and some events are remembered and others are forgotten. The acclaimed author, broadcaster and newspaper…
COVID changed many lives, not least for Ros Huxley, who quit her full time work to write, after many years in the creative industries and latterly as a charity fund-raiser. After writing several short stories, she has now published her first novel, Kendal Acts Up, the story of an unusual woman who pretends to be…
WILTSHIRE Community Foundation, one of the beneficiaries of our Deepest Wiltshire book sales, is 50 this year. It was the country’s first community foundation and the golden jubilee was celebrated at a sunny party at Wellington Barn near Calne, below the beautiful north Wiltshire downs and the Cherhill White Horse. The special guest at the…
WINDROSE Rural Media Trust has a new team at the helm, fir the first time in the more than 40 years since it was founded by Trevor Bailey, who has retired but will remain as a trustee. Three women have taken over the charity, which works across Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire on educational, archival and…
TRIBUTES have poured in for Tanya Bruce-Lockhart, former director of Beaminster Festival and founder and director of Bridport Literary Festival, who died suddenly on Saturday 5th April at the age of 81. A familiar and much-loved figure in both Bridport and Beaminster, Tanya had been at the heart of cultural life in West Dorset since…
HAVE you ever wondered how Saffron Walden got its name? Or why Saffron cake is one of Cornwall’s most famous dishes? Nowadays most saffron is grown in Spain and Iran, but for centuries, England had a flourishing saffron industry, whose roots are largely lost in time and myth. In her new book, Fool’s Gold: A…
AS the second season of Gentleman Jack returns to our screens, the interest of the audience will once again turn to Shibden Hall, the beautiful Tudor house where Miss Anne Lister grew up, and where she lived with her aunt, uncle and sister – when she wasn’t travelling, usually with her lover and wife, Ann…