Hay Festival 2019 Programme

At BBC Music Introducing in Hereford & Worcester, we support the very best new music from across the region. Since 2005 we’ve broadcast more than a thousand sessions, helping to showcase some of our area’s most talented musicians. We’ve handpicked some of our favourite acts to join us on stage at Hay. These artists didn’t even know they were being considered – and we hope this inspires people to keep sending in their music, because we really do listen to everything. bbc.co.uk/introhw

These sessions will be broadcast throughout June on BBC Hereford & Worcester on Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 6pm.

A compendium of travellers’ tales and the general shenanigans of twenty years as a travelling comedian. With musical virtuosity, surreal tangents and trademark intelligence, Bill Bailey tackles politics, philosophy and the pursuit of happiness. Plus, he fashions a symphony from a ringtone, tells the real story of Old McDonald and reimagines the Stars and Stripes. Two decades of touring larks from a comic described by the Daily Telegraph as “the brainiest comic of his generation”. “Joyous, playful, effortlessly funny” – Time Out.

The devastating consequences of the fall of Troy stretch from Mount Olympus to Mount Ida, from the citadel of Troy to the distant Greek islands, and across the oceans and sky in between. These are the stories of the women embroiled in that legendary war and its terrible aftermath, as well as the feud and the fatal decisions that started it all. With wit and humour, stand-up comedian, Radio 4 broadcaster and classicist Natalie Haynes brings the story of the Trojan War to life from an all-female perspective, giving voices to the women, girls and goddesses who, for so long, have been silent.

At BBC Music Introducing in Hereford & Worcester, we support the very best new music from across the region. Since 2005 we’ve broadcast more than a thousand sessions, helping to showcase some of our area’s most talented musicians. We’ve handpicked some of our favourite acts to join us on stage at Hay. These artists didn’t even know they were being considered – and we hope this inspires people to keep sending in their music, because we really do listen to everything. bbc.co.uk/introhw

These sessions will be broadcast throughout June on BBC Hereford & Worcester on Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 6pm.

The guitarist plays a meditative late-night concert featuring music by Robert Schumann, Agustin Barrios, Graeme Koenhe, John Dowland and Roland Dyens.

David and Catherine James’s cider orchards are carefully managed to produce a range of cider apples for the Bulmers and Magners premium brands, some of which will be available for tasting. In a happily synergistic relationship with a local beekeeper, the trees are pollinated by bees, the nectar making delicious honey. Look inside a beehive and learn how bees make honey and store it for the winter. Trevithel Court is a traditional mixed farm, so there will also be the opportunity to see beef cattle and arable crops at various stages of production. Agronomist Jonathon Harrington leads the tour.

With thanks to Catherine and David James

The Professor of English at the University of Oxford leads a walk through an old English garden, talking about her book The Brief Life of Flowers. Their beauty has inspired some of the greatest works of art and literature, captivating creative minds from Ovid to O’Keeffe, Wordsworth to Van Gogh, Botticelli to Beatrix Potter. While the poppy is often associated with WWI, it was the elderflower that treated the wounded horses, joining a long line of healing flowers, including lavender and foxgloves. From the personal to the political, flowers play a part in all aspects of life: the right rose, according to the Victorian language of flowers, might mend a broken heart, while sunflowers may just save our planet. 

Please wear appropriate footwear. Numbers are limited. Return to Festival site by 12pm.

Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Tishani Doshi, Huw Edwards, Ann Mroz, Daljit Nagra, Chris Riddell and Jeanette Winterson

As part of the #BooksToInspire campaign, Festival guests bring the novels, poetry and non-fiction that first sparked their love of reading or set them off on a journey of discovery in their lives. #BooksToInspire is a campaign from Hay Festival and TES, inviting book recommendations for primary and secondary schools to inspire the next generation of world changers.

The Industrial Revolution brings to mind famous male inventors and industrialists. Spanning the globe and drawing on thousands of years of history, Bateman weaves rigorous analysis with autobiographical insights to tell a bold, ambitious story about how the status and freedom of women – particularly freedom over their bodies – is central to our prosperity and economic wellbeing. Genuine female empowerment requires us not only to recognise the liberating potential of the market and the importance of smart government policies, but also to challenge the double standard of many modern feminists when they celebrate the brain while denigrating the body. Chaired by Jane Garvey of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.

We are delighted to launch the new novel by one of the world’s great storytellers, the author of the Ibis trilogy. A dealer of rare books, Deen is used to a quiet life spent indoors but, as his once-solid beliefs begin to shift, he is forced to set out on an extraordinary journey; one that takes him from India to Los Angeles and Venice via a tangled route through the memories and experiences of those he meets along the way. 

Join Grace Dent, presenter of Radio 4’s The Untold – the documentary series that brings you the stories of real people facing extraordinary decisions – for a discussion about the tricks of the trade that both writers and programme makers use to tell an unfolding narrative.

Did you know what a busy place Hay was in bygone days? As we walk up Cusop Dingle, you’ll learn how water powered corn mills, a paper mill and early hydroelectricity. It’s not just about industry, though, for as well as a brick kiln and a tram road, Cusop Dingle was also home to the poisoner Herbert Armstrong, the only English solicitor ever hanged for murder. We’ll cover geology, landscape, industrial archeology and history. Walking boots and all-weather clothing required. Bring a packed lunch. Distance 7 miles. Ascent 200 metres.

Join the ridiculously funny author of Mr Gum for an hour of joyous nonsense as he introduces his brand new series, set in ancient Pompeii. Meet Caecilius the fart merchant! Thrill to the adventures of Barkus Wooferinicum, the family mutt! Tremble at the terrifying legend of the ma-wol-n-f! 85% historical inaccuracy guaranteed!

Join storyteller Atinuke and illustrator Angela Brooksbank for a captivating read-along brought to life with live illustration. Hear fascinating folk tales from the bustling city in Nigeria where she grew up as she brings to life traditional stories from her childhood. Full of warmth and colour, Atinuke’s storytelling will have little ones mesmerised.

Cook School is pitching up at Hay Festival to offer hands-on, fun cookery sessions, preparing a couple of Italian classics to take home for dinner along with an easy step-by-step recipe card, written by renowned children’s cookbook author Amanda Grant. Cook School is on a mission to teach as many children and young people to cook as possible. Head to cookschool.club to find out more.

Come and join Rooted Forest School (rootedforestschool.co.uk) for an outdoor family session inspired by the Forest School approach. We will be making charcoal on the fire, using natural pigments to create our own paint, making brushes from found materials and creating communal land art. These sessions are aimed at families and will run whatever the weather, so make sure you’re wrapped up for the conditions.

Join us in NMiTE’s Studio 1, a hi-tech refurbished shipping container, to explore ideas through making. Experience how highly creative and technological engineering can be. NMiTE is located in Hereford and aims to be the city’s first university with a focus on engineering.
Sign up at the venue for 10am, 11.30am or 1pm. Ingenuity Studio 1 free drop-in sessions for families take place between 2.30pm and 5pm, Sunday 26 May – Saturday 1 June. 

Radio Platfform is a youth-led radio station that offers young people a platform to build their confidence, find their voice and express their opinions. Join this interactive workshop to get a taste of all aspects of radio production, from presenting to editing and producing.

O’Toole examines how trivial journalistic lies became far-from-trivial national obsessions; how the pose of indifference to truth and historical fact has come to define the style of an entire political elite; how a country that once had colonies is redefining itself as an oppressed nation requiring liberation; the strange gastronomic and political significance of prawn-flavoured crisps; the dreams of revolutionary deregulation and privatisation that drive Arron Banks, Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg; and the silent rise of English nationalism, the force that dare not speak its name. O’Toole is an investigative journalist, historian, biographer, literary critic and political commentator. His acclaimed columns on Brexit for the Irish Times, the Guardian and the New York Review of Books have been awarded both the Orwell Prize and the European Press Prize. Chaired by Sarfraz Manzoor.

Our biology is set up to work in partnership with the sun. From our sleep cycles to our immune systems and our mental health, access to sunlight is crucial for living a happy and fulfilling life. New research suggests that our sun exposure over a lifetime – even before we were born – may shape our risk of developing a range of different illnesses, from depression to diabetes. Geddes explores the extraordinary significance of sunlight, from ancient solstice celebrations to modern sleep labs, and from the unexpected health benefits of sun exposure to what the Amish know about sleep that the rest of us don’t.