Books, badges and a beautiful woman

My second day at the Literature Festival, 4 events today. It wasn't raining, it was a glorious day, and Times subscribers get free coffee, which was great.

The Times Debate - Is Britain Still Great? was pretty lively and interesting. James Harding, the Editor of The Times pointed out that we have more cheeses per capita than France, this is a good fact in my mind.

With Great Pleasure was recorded for Radio 4 and will be broadcast on 21st January. I got a Radio 4 badge. Rock and roll.

Phillip Pullman - just wow. I love love LOVE listening to authors read their work and he was really fantastic. His discussion of his retelling of Grimm's Fairy Tales was completely captivating. Also, people handed out cheese in the queue. I don't know if you know this but cheese is my favourite food group.

Dragged myself back out in the cold to see Jung Chang. I was struck by how incredibly beautiful this woman is, she's properly stunning. Her talk about Wild Swans and her biography of Mao was incredible. It was emotional, educational and I'm so glad I went back for it. I got a book signed, I think she's incredible.