ILKLEY FESTIVAL

 They certainly love their books in West Yorkshire! I had a brilliant experience at the Ilkley Literature Festival - certainly on a par, in terms of organisation and enthusiastic audiences, with Chiswick. There were 135 people packed into St Margaret's Hall on Saturday 8 October for my discussion about All Behind You, Winston with Yorkshire poet and writer James Nash, which was followed by some really thought-provoking questions. I also took the opportunity to attend another event on Saturday night, and listened to a fascinating talk by Taylor Downing on the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and the terrible effects of 'shell shock' on British soldiers.