The start of the Bath Literature Festival today, and a tribute to Ted Hughes who opened the first festival 20 years ago (why wasn't I there?). The original lineup was a bit weird - Kate Tempest, Jonathan Dimbleby, Melvyn Bragg, David Robb (from Downton Abbey), Frieda Hughes, chaired by Bel Mooney. Then Dimbleby and Bragg dropped out (I wonder if Dimbleby hadn't realised that the event was to be chaired by his ex wife!), and were replaced by the poet and arch moany critic Tom Paulin.

I expected to enjoy Kate Tempest, who was reading (or rather performing) her own work, and I did, but she was a bit out of her natural element. I need to see her at greater length in a small, smoky venue and I have the feeling I'm running out of opportunities to do that. The highlight for me, unexpectedly for some reason, was Frieda Hughes - she spoke and read about her father with power and emotion.

Check out his picture. I've never seen him looking anything less than devilishly handsome.