My grandmother, who lived in London, took my seaside-dwelling sisters and me to the Natural History Museum when I was about five. I have a vivid memory of standing for a very long time, looking up at the vastness that was the blue whale. This magnificent model, with its expressive eyes, was suspended from the … Read more
In the Ashmolean, look out for a reclining woman reading a book. She may be wearing a black dress, but she is surrounded by vivid bursts of colour: a rich green sofa, a yellow-jacketed book, not to mention her warmly coloured lips and copper-coloured hair. It’s a portrait of the Parisian model Madeleine Boisguillaume, painted … Read more
Spirited and lively, Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter is richly packed with arguments, intrigues, scandals, and secrets, and is a vivid portrait of a princess desperate to escape her inheritance. The secrets of Queen Victoria’s sixth child, Princess Louise, may be destined to remain hidden forever. What was so dangerous about this artistic, tempestuous royal that … Read more
Earlier this year, I chatted one-on-one with author, art historian, and public speaker Lucinda Hawksley, who is a patron of the Charles Dickens Museum in London. Hawksley is the great-great-great granddaughter of Charles and Catherine Dickens and has written many books about 19th and 20th figures, including Dickens and Christmas, Lizzie Siddal: The Tragedy Of A Pre-Raphaelite Supermodel, and Katey: The … Read more
I was lucky enough to interview Damian Le Bas, #author of ‘The Stopping Places: A Journey Through Gypsy Britain’ for the Goldster ‘Inside Story’. You can watch the interview below: Subscribe to the Goldster YouTube channel for more of mine and my co-presenter, Humphrey Hawksley’s, Book Club videos.
I’m in Dubai for the Emirates Festival of Literature. Tonight (7 February) is the main event for me, ‘Miss Havisham’s Wedding’, a celebration of the women in Charles Dickens’s life and work in celebration of his 210th birthday. https://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/emirates-airline-festival-of-literature/
I was very pleased to be invited to be actor Dominic Gerrard’s first guest on his brand new podcast about Charles Dickens. Listen for free and subscribe to the next episodes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/charles-dickens-a-brain-on-fire/id1599241462
On Tues 14 December at 12pm GMT I’m doing a free online interview with a really amazing woman, the explorer Rosie Stancer. You can register for free tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/purpose-passion-grit-talk-with-lucinda-hawksley-and-rosie-stancer-tickets-223226716117
It sounded impressive to say, “I’m not around this weekend, I’m off to Belgium for a festival”, but it wasn’t to any Glastonbury equivalent that I was speeding through Le Tunnel (do French-speakers call it ‘The Tunnel’?). I was heading to Tourinnes-Saint-Lambert in the district of Walloon Brabant to attend “The Festival of the Pumpkin … Read more