The line-up for this year’s festival is now complete as top comedian, actor, musician and 2020 Strictly winner, Bill Bailey, and cinematic royalty and film legend, Hayley Mills, confirm their attendance!
Bill Bailey and Hayley Mills join a raft of stars including Ruby Wax, Sara Cox, Reverend Richard Coles, Dr Hilary Jones, Tim Vine, Rick Stein, Dr Sarah Jarvis, BAFTA Fellow Andrew Davies, Ann Cleeves, and Helen McGinn to mention just a few!
Bill will be on stage on Saturday 18th September chatting about his latest book, his life as a comedian, musician, actor and presenter to fellow Strictly contestant and Festival patron, Jeremy Vine. Bill’s new book, Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to Happiness asks if there’s a knack to being happy? A collection of funny, meditative and thoughtful essays that seek out simplicity and clarity as a corrective to the endless background noise of anxiety-inducing news chatter. Whether it's whooping aloud while cycling through a pine forest, putting pen to paper, or immersing yourself in music, Bill's guide to happiness is an antidote to the frenetic whirl of modern life.
Bill is perhaps most well-known for his live shows, including Larks in Transit, Qualmpeddler, Limboland, and The Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra. His TV work includes ever-popular programmes such as Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Black Books and QI.
The Festival is also delighted to confirm Hollywood legend, Golden Globe and BAFTA award winner, Hayley Mills. Join Hayley on Sunday 19 September as she lights up the stage and delights us with stories and anecdotes from her memoir, Forever Young - a story she tells up to the age of 21, 'because that's when my life became my own - it's the bit that went before that I want to take back.'
Hayley’s teen decade in Hollywood produced some of the era's greatest coming-of-age family movies including Pollyanna, The Parent Trap and In Search of the Castaways. And now, and for the first time, she tells the story of those years in her own words. The trigger came after she was taken back to see Walt Disney's restored office - rather like the scene from ‘Saving Mr Banks’ - and having the Disney archives opened up to her. There she discovered for the first time all the machinations that had gone into shaping - and arguably arresting - her career. As one of the era's great teen idols, she realised she spent a decade not being allowed to grow up, with the world changing around her just as she was changing herself.
Although told with characteristic warmth and filled with many fond memories, it is also a story of mismanagement, bankruptcy, strained family relationships and dislocation. Whilst the nostalgia of a bygone era is immense, this is a frank telling of the reality behind the set dressing, and how Hayley survived.
Tickets are selling fast, with a number of events already sold out, so don’t delay! The Festival runs from 16-25 September, kicking off with an exciting four-day ‘big top’ marquee style festival at Skern Lodge followed by a further fabulous six-day festival housed in venues in the wonderful village of Appledore.
