Simon Schama

Simon Schama’s first memory was of fireworks. For decades now he’s lit the blue touch paper of words and let them whizz, bang and pop, out loud and on the page.

Now, there’s a new book of writing, Wordy, every essay about food, art, politics and music; thoughts about past times and our times wrapped in a ribbon of words.

His whole life has been this wordy adventure. Come and join the trip on stage – from the post-war estuary childhood, to London rock 'n' roll, from sixties Cambridge to New York in the ashes of 9/11; from the intoxication of Shakespeare to the aggravation of the tweet.

'Gasbag' his teachers called him in a desperate attempt to make him shut up. He never has. But then he’s the language animal and we’ve let him off the leash.