An audience with David Baddiel

As the Cultural Exchanges Festival celebrates its 15th birthday this year, Friday 4th March is a date not to be missed. The entertainment for this years party is certainly a man of many talents.

Legendary comedian, writer and television presenter David Baddiel, will be spilling the beans on his successful career on screen. He has also written a number of acclaimed novels and is the proud author of best selling children's book The Parent Agency, a great Easter present for the kids! 

Its not often you'll meet a man who topped the UK Singles chart twice - with the football anthem 'Three Lions', written with co-presenter and flatmate Frank Skinner.

With the added bonus of being free of charge, 'In Conversation' at Clephan 2.13 (De Montfort University) is not something you'll want to read about in the Leicester Mercury after it's happened, so try to beg, borrow or steal a ticket for next Friday ... SOLD OUT but look for returns and tickets for other festival events here

Check him out here: David Baddiel on The Frank Skinner Show

David Baddiel

Luke Clarke

Alan Garner - 50 years of turning adults into children

Anybody from Leicester who has been on Twitter recently has no doubt seen the barrage of excited tweets about several local events: Finding Richard III in his Royal Car Park, Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival, and now - De Montfort University's very own Cultural Exchanges event.

With a wide range of events and talks, varying on topics from history, to eastern philosophy, to dance, drama, and rare appearances of renowned authors, the campus seems to be full of copies of the Cultural Exchanges brochure, and people talking about what events they're most looking forward to.

I know several people who are looking forward to at least one of the events with childish delight. Having read Alan Garner's fantasy books as children, both of my parents took a single look at his picture in the brochure before falling into a slightly unsettling fit of excited hysterics. 

They've now both started re-reading The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.

Of course I don't expect everyone to be quite as excited as them, but there is something strangely thrilling at the thought of attending a talk by someone who has captured the imagination of children and adults alike for over 50 years. 

Having been read his books by two over-enthusiastic parents since I was young, I'm looking forward to seeing the man behind it all. I will be attending his talk on Wednesday.

...Obviously, so will my parents.

 

 

Anneka Mason