The 2019 Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival has marked its 70th anniversary with a record-breaking number of tickets sold. With its most international, diverse programme yet, the world’s oldest literature Festival reached a larger audience than ever before, supported by a new broadcast partnership with Sky Arts.
Festival highlights included stage and screen stars Tan France, Helena Bonham Carter, Louis Theroux and Andrew Ridgeley, sporting legends Sam Warburton and Alastair Cook, and political insight from the likes of Jess Phillips, Rory Stewart, Emily Maitlis and David Cameron. The fun continued after dark with a Game of Thrones quiz night, US story-telling sensation The Moth, and the return of the ever-popular Lit Crawl taking over the streets, pubs and bars of Cheltenham. Literature Festival in Numbers • Over 140,000 tickets issued • Over 17,000 visitors on each of the festival weekends • Over 4,500 visitors to the site every week day • More than 900 authors on site Things we learnt during the festival • Helena Bonham revealed that she sought psychic help for the role of Princess Margaret • Sue Perkins admitted that cake was in fact off her ideal menu • Rory Stewart spoke of how he quit as an MP to run for Mayor so that he could make a difference • Sky Arts exposed a nation of literary liars, with over half of Britons having had pretended to read a book • This Country stars teased the audience with the idea of a Cotswold Christmas Special • Andrew Ridgeley suggested TV talent shows were too brutal for young talent • Sam Warburton told how his arachnophobia stops him from entering the I’m a Celeb jungle • David Cameron admitted his daughter has forgotten that he was prime minister • David Mitchell joked that we might look back on the invention of the internet as a terrible disaster Next year’s dates The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival will take place from 2nd -11th October 2020
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