Latest news with #JamesBoswell
Daily Record
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Boswell Book Festival draws in the crowds with another successful year
Dumfries House hosted the Boswell Book Festival, the world's only festival dedicated to biography and memoir, at the weekend. Crowds flocked to the Boswell Book Festival as the world's only festival dedicated to biography and memoir was held at the weekend. Audiences were treated to a star-studded line up with the likes of Chloe Dalton, Helen Lederer, John Suchet and Wayne Sleep taking to the stage at Dumfries House near Cumnock. Sold-out events featured Rupert Everett in conversation with Fiona Armstrong about his book, The American No, and Pam Ayres - one of the UK's best-selling poets - with her book Doggedly Onward. A rare opportunity for tours of Auchinleck House, the family home of James Boswell, were also snapped up. Dom Joly took audiences on a tour of conspiracy theories around the globe including the funny and the quirky but also attempting to understand what makes people so drawn them. Ayrshire was at the heart of the festival - named after Auchinleck's James Boswell, the father of modern biography. Kilwinning author Andrew O'Hagan brought the house down in a riotous keynote that celebrated the dialect and humour of Scotland. Download the Ayrshire Live app today The Ayrshire Live app is available to download now. Get all the local news in your area – plus features, football news and the latest on the coronavirus crisis – at your fingertips 24/7. The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories while you can customise your page with the sections that matter to you. The Ayrshire Live app is available to download now on iOS and Android. Rob Close and Gillian Hope gave an insight into the lives of soldiers from Ayrshire and Sanquhar on the front lines during World War 1 on the weekend that the 80th anniversary of VE Day was commemorated. The history of witchcraft and the persecution of 'witches' in Scotland was highlighted by Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi alongside their book, How to Kill a Witch: A Guide for the Patriarchy. Events for all ages were a plenty on the Saturday and Sunday with Alison Galbraith, Alan Dapré and Vivian French entertaining as part of the Boswell Children's Festival.
Times
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Tom Holland: ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is truly one of the great films of all time'
James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson is my turn-to book whenever I'm depressed. Johnson is clearly a figure morally situated in the 18th century, but Boswell is someone who would be so at home on TikTok. He invents the whole notion of modern celebrity and modern biography. I find his insistence on thrusting himself centre-ground so funny. On almost every page there is something that makes me laugh. Tiberius and His Age: Myth, Sex, Luxury and Power by Edward Champlin, who wrote a weirdly sympathetic biography of Nero. Tiberius, like Nero, has a very negative reputation. About eight years ago Champlin wrote a series of essays that reconstituted him. I thought they were brilliant, and knew he was writing a book. I waited and waited
