Big names converge for Lewes Speakers Festival 2023

The line-up for Lewes Speakers Festival 2023 is:

Friday, January 20, 17.30. The Countess of Carnarvon opens the gates to Highclere Castle, the real Downton Abbey, and explains how the iconic British landmark celebrates and changes each season.

Friday, January 20, 19.00. Vince Cable, former Liberal Democrat leader and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, and Skills, weaves together and comments on the wittiest, wisest and most acerbic political quotations from the last 2,000 years.

Saturday, January 21, 9.50. Angela Gallop, national expert forensic scientist, shows how crimes are solved by explaining her best stories from the cutting edge of forensics.

Saturday, January 21, 11.20. Andrea Leadsom, former Leader of the House of Commons and Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, explains the highs and lows of working in politics.

Saturday, January 21, 12.50. Joe Zammit-Lucia, entrepreneur, investor and leadership advisor, explains the links between socio-political trends and business purpose and strategy.

Saturday, January 21, 14.20. Professor Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Studies at Kings College London examines the complexities behind the Chinese President Xi Jinping, explaining the impact that his rule is having and who he really is.

Saturday, January 21, 15.50. Olesya Khromeychuk, Ukrainian historian, academic and writer, tells the story of her brother – the wiser older sibling, the artist and the soldier – and of his death in military action in Ukraine.

Saturday, January 21, 17.20. Robert Hardman, one of Britain’s authorities on the Royal family, gives a definitive biographical talk about Queen Elizabeth II.

Saturday, January 21, 18.50. Mark Thomas, the English comedian, Channel 4 presenter, political satirist, and journalist, gives a fast and furiously funny journey through our national memory.

Sunday, January 22, 9.50. Anil Seth, Professor of Neuroscience, explains, based on his bestselling book, how our brains create our everyday conscious experience through billions of neurons.

Sunday, January 22, 11.20. Diana Darke, Middle East specialist, celebrates the culture of the Ottoman Empire from its aesthetics and architecture to its scientific and medical innovations.

Sunday, January 22, 12.50. Peter Stothard, former editor of The Times, tells the story of Crassus, Rome’s richest man, who died a humiliating desert death in search of military glory.

Sunday, January 22, 14.20. Ian Williams, former foreign correspondent for Channel 4 News and reporter from China over the last 25 years, explains why we must open our eyes to the reality of China’s rise and its ruthless bid for global dominance.

Sunday, January 22, 15.50. Mark Galeotti, one of the foremost expert Russia-watchers and advisers to governments today, provides a new history of how Putin and his conflicts have inexorably reshaped Russia, including his devastating invasion of Ukraine.

Sunday, January 22, 17.20. Ben Robinson, The BBC’s Flying Archaeologist shows how England's villages have survived, developed and thrived over hundreds of years.

Sunday, January 22, 18.50. Christina Lamb, US Editor for the Sunday Times, tells the story of how a UK luxury hotel spent the months during lockdown having opened its doors to the homeless to live there - many of whom were traumatised, addicts or suffering from mental illness.

Call the Lewes Speakers Festival box office for tickets on 0333 666 3366.

More details about the event are available from www.lewesspeakersfestival.com.