Known for: Swingometer

I observed in my last post that the Ilkley Literature Festival was in the grip of a clique. Such complaints must now be put behind me because it transpires that James' wife Lucy is connected in some way to the clique and she managed to blag two free tickets to Peter Snow's talk tonight on the War of 1812 and, more specifically, the burning of the White House. Even better, one of the tickets found its way to me.

And so, James and I attended a very entertaining talk along with a fair number of, mostly elderly, Ilkleyites (although less than for Richard III). Snow, who is 75, delivered what was in effect an hour long lecture without notes. His immense enthusiasm, well known to election night viewers in the UK, causes him to speak rather quickly. At times it was as if Stanley Unwin had been a professor of History instead of Basic Engly Twenty Fido.

After the talk we didn't queue for a signed copy of the book because we were obliged to discuss - at some length - a burning and t(r)opical issue that has been mentioned in these pages before: namely, is the day always twelve hours long at the equator. I can tell you, we got some pretty admiring looks from the others leaving the talk as they were impressed by the scientific rigour of our debate; or possibly it was the way we illustrated out theories with extravagant hand gestures. It would indeed be a great shame if we ever met someone who actually knew anything at all about this subject.

In Search of Richard III

My move to Ilkley has coincided with the start of this year's Literature Festival. I've been to a few events over the years (Billy Bragg and Joe Boyd amongst others), but the complex ticket purchasing system and the rather cliquey and exclusive nature of it have meant that most years I haven't bothered. However, in an attempt to throw myself into le bon ton I ventured this afternoon to the Kings Hall to hear Philippa Langley and Michael Jones talk about the quite astonishing finding of Richard III's remains last year and, naturally enough, to plug their new book.

They didn't say anything that one hasn't heard before, but they - and the other speaker Robert Woosnam-Savage - were entertaining and convincing. Langley thankfully played down the 'psychic' aspects of the search and paid proper due to the others who helped her, especially John Ashdown-Hill.

Michael Jones was best known to me before as the author of 'Bosworth 1485: The Psychology of a Battle', which is an excellent, thought provoking read even if one doesn't agree with all his conclusions. Apparently this latest book (I didn't queue afterwards to buy one and get it signed) contains alternate chapters of a biography written by him and of the story of the search itself written by Langley. He declared himself a Ricardian, but was reasonably even-handed in his talk and in his responses to questions from the floor.

Woosnam-Savage was, for me, the most interesting speaker. He, as an expert on wounds, took part in the examination of the skeleton and his interpretation of what that told us about both Richard and Henry Tudor was revealing. He wasn't terribly complimentary about the latter. His dress sense left something to be desired though.

A chap with a beard

On a similar subject, I have a letter published in the latest Ricardian Bulletin. Sadly the subject is less obscure than I would have liked, but even so - watch out Keith Flett!