Tim Rice joins cast of Stratford Literary Festival’s Autumn Plus - The Stratford Observer

Tim Rice joins cast of Stratford Literary Festival’s Autumn Plus

Stratford Editorial 21st Aug, 2015 Updated: 28th Oct, 2016   0

MULTI-AWARD winning lyricist Sir Tim Rice is among the headliners at Stratford Literary Festival’s Autumn Plus Programme.

Also dropping in for a chat will be larger than life actor Brian Blessed, TV chef Tom Kerridge and best-selling historian and former Daily Telegraph editor Max Hastings.

Sir Tim is best known for his long and successful collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber, but has also worked with the likes of Elton John and Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson.

His words have helped make Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Chess, The Lion King, Aida, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, to name a few, blockbuster successeses.




His work has won him numerous awards including 12 Ivor Novello awards, three Tonys, and three Oscars. T

He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999. and during the Broadway run of the Jesus Christ Superstar revival in 2000, he had a total of four shows playing simultaneously on the Great White Way.


He will be talking to Fiona Lindsay about his way with words on Sunday November 1. A donation from ticket sales will go to the Stratford Cancer and Eye Hospital Appeal.

Two-Michelin starred Mr Kerridge, who has a popular BBC series, will be talking about his new book, Tom’s Table, to the award-winning food writer Lucas Hollweg on Thursday October 22 at Stratford Artshouse.

Earlier in the day the multi-award-winning poet, Jo Bell, will be holding a workshop for poets of all abilities, from beginners to the more experienced, and encouraging them to hone their skills and flex their writing muscles.

The same day will also sees the launch of ‘Festival Faces’, a free exhibition of photographs taken by Lorentz Gullachsen during the Literary Festival last spring. Lorentz, who lives in Stratford and works internationally, photographed everyone who appeared at the Festival as well as the team, and the exhibition is on show until the middle of November.

Best-selling journalist and historian Max Hastings will reveal the details of his latest book, The Secret War – Spies, Codes and Guerrillas 1939-1945, on Thursday October 29. It examines the other war waged by British, American, German, Russian and Japanese intelligence-gathering personnel, and charts the successes and failures of allied and axis forces, espionage and counterespionage.

And he will be followed by the acclaimed actor Brian Blessed, who will be taking the audience on a riotous journey through his extraordinary career, which has taken him from Z Cars to Star Wars, and which is outlined in his new autobiography, Absolute Pandemonium.

For the first time, the Festival is holding a day of kids’ activities for half term on October 29, with craft and writing workshops, drama with Playbox Theatre and singing with Nick Cope.

The theme will be Halloween, but there will also the chance to meet the illustrator Chloe Inkpen, who has written a book, I Will Love You Anyway, with her father Mike Inkpen, creator of Kipper.

There will also be a pop-up café and Waterstones Bookshop at the Artshouse throughout the day.

Tickets for Tom Kerridge, Max Hastings and Brian Blessed include a discounted signed copy of their book with each single and double ticket.

Visit stratfordartshouse.co.uk or call 01789 207100.

Visit www.stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk for further details on the Autum Plus Programme and the 2016 Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival running from April 24 to May 1.

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