Books & Spoken Word
Sandi Toksvig
The writer, broadcaster, activist, comic and presenter of QI and Great British Bake-Off discusses her new memoir, Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus.
“Between the Stops is a sort of a memoir, my sort. It’s about a bus trip really, because it’s my view from the Number 12 bus (mostly top deck, the seat at the front on the right), a double-decker that plies its way from Dulwich, in South East London, where I was living, to where I sometimes work – at the BBC, in the heart of the capital. It’s not a sensible way to write a memoir at all, probably, but it’s the way things pop into your head as you travel, so it’s my way.”
From London facts including where to find the blue plaque for Una Marson, ‘The first black woman programme maker at the BBC’; a brief history of lady gangsters at Elephant and Castle to memories of climbing Mount Sinai and, at the request of a fellow traveller, reading aloud the Ten Commandments; from the story behind Pissarro’s painting of Dulwich Station to performing in Footlights with Emma Thompson; from memories of being sent to Coventry while at a British boarding school, to anecdotes about meeting Prince Charles, Monica Lewinsky and Grayson Perry to Bake-Off antics; from stories of a real and lasting friendship with John McCarthy, to the importance of family and the daunting navigation of the Zambezi River in her father’s canoe.
Ticket includes a copy of the book priced at £15 (rrp £20), which will be pre-signed by Sandi. Books will be available to purchase on the night too. There is an option to purchase 2 tickets with 1 book.
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