John Yorke: 'Story Physics'

 If you are an aspiring screenwriter, then when a veteran of 20-years television experience, comes to De Montfort University as part of its Cultural Exchanges Festival, you sit-up and take notes.

 But, to be quite frank, even if you are not - like myself - striving to pen the next Hollywood blockbuster, this lecture by John Yorke on 'story physics' would still have offered you a fascinating insight into what makes up a good story.

 In an engaging and often humorous talk, Yorke - using audience participation and some well-prepared clips - broke down the components of a good story, and we, as an audience, were pleasantly surprised to find that it really was very simple.

 Yorke argues that when you get right down to the nuts and bolts of a story, you are left with one overriding theme - conflict.

 Whether it is the protagonist's conflict with other characters or indeed conflict inside themselves, good drama and good characters are born out of the journey that is taken to resolve these conflicts.

 It is no coincidence, Yorke says, that some of history's more intriguing characters, such as JFK or Malcolm X, were outspoken and often at times, at war with themselves.

 So, next time you pick up your pen and avail yourself to write a hero... create yourself a troubled soul, full of contradictions with an abundance of enemies.

S.R Chambers

Just where is the truth in journalism?

 After coming under such ferocious attacks following the phone hacking scandal, journalism - as a profession - has sort to defend itself from its vehement attackers.

 Critics argue that truth and values have been lost in journalism and that is why De Montfort University's senior lecturer in journalism, Tor Clark, took to its defence.

 Clark- a veteran of 16 years in the regional press - argued that the practice of journalism is the reverence for the truth. Surely, then, if that is the case, shouldn't journalism be synonymous with the truth?

 Well, no, not quite.

  Clark argued with vigour for all that's good in journalism - the reporting of news and their facts, without favour or fear, with no ulterior motive other than to inform.

  He cited his David Dimbleby's account of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and the reporting of the Watergate Scandal as examples of journalism and its traditional practices, routines and values. This, he says, has changed very little in the regional press.

  However, Clark makes it clear that he will only defend the good in journalism and those who seek to uphold it. He makes no excuses for the phone hacking of recent years, or indeed the poorly reported Hillsborough or Madeline McCann stories, where the press didn't let such trivial things as facts get in the way of a good story.

  Interestingly, Clark did make a point of asking "Does the public always need to know the truth?"

 With Ed Snowden and Wikileaks recently compromising sensitive information in the field of national security, he argued that the truth is sometimes for the greater good, best left private.

 With this talk, Clark provided a compelling and balanced insight into journalism, one which I felt richer for having listened to.

 S.R Chambers

George Orwell: English Rebel

 George Orwell: Journalist, novelist, socialist, Englishman - and rebel with a cause.

 The man born Eric Blair - who would become one of England's most enduring literary heroes - was an enigma, a complex and contradictory character, who would never do anything he didn't want to do.

 That is according to De Montfort University's Professor of Cultural hhstory, Robert Colls, in his fascinating and engaging talk about his new book, George Orwell: English Rebel.

 Professor Colls took us on a journey through Orwell's life, from his days at Eaton, to his time serving in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, through to his days fighting in the Spanish Civil War and beyond.

 The talk delivered a thoroughly insightful and at times humorous look into the often complicated life of George Orwell, the man who's mind-set, principles and opinions would be forever changing with his every new experience of the world.

 If you want educating on the intellectual hating intellectual, or want to know why the left-wing writer had right-wing sympathies, then look no further than Professor Colls and his fantastic new book.

S.R Chambers

 George Orwell: Journalist, novelist, socialist, Englishman - and rebel with a cause.

 The man born Eric Blair - who would become one of England's most enduring literary heroes - was an enigma, a complex and contradictory character, who would never do anything he didn't want to do.

 That is according to De Montfort University's Professor of Cultural hhstory, Robert Colls, in his fascinating and engaging talk about his new book, George Orwell: English Rebel.

 Professor Colls took us on a journey through Orwell's life, from his days at Eaton, to his time serving in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, through to his days fighting in the Spanish Civil War and beyond.

 The talk delivered a thoroughly insightful and at times humorous look into the often complicated life of George Orwell, the man who's mind-set, principles and opinions would be forever changing with his every new experience of the world.

 If you want educating on the intellectual hating intellectual, or want to know why the left-wing writer had right-wing sympathies, then look no further than Professor Colls and his fantastic new book.

S.R Chambers