The importance of the English countryside, a love of country sports and farmers markets, the joys of British produce, a mistrust of supermarkets and some forthright political view were all subjects covered at an evening talk in Abingdon on September 26 as Clarissa Dickson Wright was in town to talk about her book ‘Clarissa’s England’.
‘Clarissa’s England’ celebrates a love of England county by county, delving not only into regional haunts and habits, in her own inimitable style, but rejoicing in the differences, both cultural and culinary that can be discovered across the country.
Clarissa spoke at Our Lady’s in Abingdon, first reminiscing about the strange people you meet in the world of television and how her own television career started.
She first became a household name when she was part of the ‘Two Fat Ladies’ with Jennifer Paterson – a pioneering television cookery programme with two very unexpected cookery presenters, so much so that when it was first suggested to Clarissa her first reaction was ‘Don’t be so ridiculous, the BBC will never commission that.’
But the joie de vivre of Clarissa and Jennifer meant the programme was quickly taken to the nation’s heart and went on to became a worldwide hit.
More recently Clarissa has been known for championing the role of farmers and people who live and work in the countryside. She spoke robustly against legislation that allows for people to be misled about just how British something labelled as a British product is, the methods and low prices forced on farmers by supermarkets and urged everyone to keep up the pressure for people to be better informed about where their food comes from.
She was one of the original movers behind setting up farmers markets as places not only where food miles are reduced and fair prices paid straight to the farmer, but also where town people are able to talk directly to farmers (based on the movement she saw when she visited America in the early 90s).
‘The last thing I wish for in my life is to see a time when 85-90 per cent of British food is produced in this country and we are only importing the things we can’t grow here.’
After the talk, Clarissa met fans and signed books for over an hour.
And we also introduced her to a special 'guest': Boris the Badger, who came along presumably to learn more about Clarissa's views on badgers following recent press coverage...
Huge thanks to Our Lady's School, for hosting the event with such style, and to Clarissa for travelling up to Abingdon. We do feature in 'Clarissa's England' - mostly as a result of a most unlikely Abingdonian who ended up as a hair-shirted Archbishop of Canterbury. But we trust that after an excellent evening with us, she can include a larger section in her next book...
Our focus this week is unsurprisingly ‘back to school’. It is, after all, that time of year. So here are three school-related items for your Friday reading pleasure - and a giveaway at the bottom!
Firstly, and as we get asked a lot about our services for schools, we've put together a special page called "What Mostly Books can do for your school" that details all our main services.
Secondly, even if you don't have a budget for books at the moment, one of our most popular services is a book fair. This is the perfect time of year for us to come into your school to showcase all the year’s best books to keep children reading – and to raise funds for your school at the same time. More details on the link above - or email us for more details.
And finally (talking of schools) brings us to our first event of the Autumn, an evening with legendary speaker, chef and all-round Englishwoman Clarissa Dickson Wright. As someone who is a big supporter of independent bookshops, a first-class writer and even an ex-bookseller (amongst many other things) Clarissa has a reputation for being an extremely entertaining and memorable speaker – and we have been working for about three years to lure her to Abingdon.
We are hosting the event at Our Lady’s School, Abingdon – forming part of their annual book week – and tickets are now on sale in the shop. The event takes place on Wed Sep 26 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £7 and includes a glass of wine (or soft drink) with £5 redeemable against a purchase of her latest book “Clarissa’s England” – a delightful romp through the country of her birth.
We have a pair of tickets up for grabs in our prize draw – to enter, you need to visit our event page and email us the answer to the following question:
"Lincolnshire has the world’s second largest coriander crop, but which country has the first?"
All answers received by 5pm next Thursday (Sep 13) goes into the draw to win (and if you have already purchased tickets, as many of you have, don’t worry – you can still enter and we’ll refund you what you paid.).
Good luck!
