Bournemouth Literary Festival Quotable Quotes Quiz

On 3 October I made my third appearance at the Bournemouth Literary Festival. In 2005 and 2006 I was joint quizmaster with Brian Jenner for the literary quizzes he devised but this year I found myself trying to answer his questions as a panellist along with team captain Tobias Ellwood MP (who I last met when I spoke at the Bournemouth East Conservatives Luncheon in May) and the academic Melanie Semple. The opposing team comprised local comedian Gareth Richards, Dom Kippin, Community Marketing Executive of the nearby branch of Borders and witty novelist Natasha Farrant.

The attendance was a little disappointing, probably about 30, many of whom were involved in the festival anyway. I think the reason for this may have that the centre of  Bournemouth on a Friday can be rough and this might have deterred some older people from attending (although the evening was uncharacteristically quiet in town) or it may just have been the resistance to the arts in Bournemouth which Brian Jenner has so often highlighted in the local media.

I struggled with many of the literary questions (although our team won) but the biggest problem for me was delivering my prepared quotations, etc, in the venue, the  All Fired Up Ceramics Cafe in Bourne Avenue, where Brian holds the meetings of his successful Bomo Creatives group (now in its third year). I found myself struggling to be heard over coffee machine noises in the early part of the quiz and loud crockery-stacking sound effects towards the end!

Public Speaking Tip #255: Throughout the time that I have been writing this blog, I have been advising speakers about how to adapt in various settings to give themselves the best chance of being heard/seen, etc.  Sometimes, however, there are some problems which are beyond your control and you just have to try and work around them!

The important thing is that the event took place. The Bournemouth Literary Festival receives no outside funding and yet, for a fourth successive year, it brought a number of varied literary events to the town, ranging from light-hearted quizzes like this one through readings, poetry, workshops, walks and the spectacularly well-attended book signing with Theo Paphitis from BBC2's Dragons' Den. The town owes a debt of gratitude to festival founder Lilian Avon.