The roasting of Stephen Fry

This was my second event today. I had booked it speculatively not really knowing the format but it was actually very funny. Stephen Fry read from his forthcoming book on Troy and then took questions on his life and writing whilst the famous illustrator and cartoonist Chris Riddell sketched in the background based on what he was saying. The prize marrow is of course a metaphor ... 8/10.

In the morning we had seen a panel discussion led by Stig Abel, editor of the Times Literary Supplement. We’d seen him the previous year so knew where he was coming from. Titled Stig and friends I think they roped in whoever they could on the day and unsurprisingly this included Keir Starmer from the event the night before. Also Nick Robinson, BBC journalist and professional agent provocateur who was on his bouncily disagreeable best form. Stig very adeptly minimised the amount of Brexit discussion and insisted on having a few minutes on each of a number of major topics such as the NHS, inequality, education and political systems. Good stuff but a bit too broad ranging for a 75 minute session. You would have liked to have pinned them down for a day at least. Conclusion: Britain is bonkers but there are grounds for optimism. And maybe we should move the Houses of Parliament to Milton Keynes. Or somewhere. 7/10.

In the evening we went to see Bill Bailey. Hilarious. What can you say? Hysterically funny, very talented musician. I won’t even begin to describe the specifics, but any man who can do a big chunk of his set in English and then again in music hall German, and has a pedal bin that lights up his grinning face when he puts his foot down is good by me. 8/10.

In fact if anything is grounds for optimism it is probably the likes of Bill Bailey, Stephen Fry, Jo Brand and the redeeming qualities of the British sense of humour. The only question would be how dark do you like your roast ... ?