Matthew Wood’s cover illustration for John Wheatcroft’s collection of football-related short stories, The Strange Death Of Football
YORK author and journalist John Wheatcroft set out to write a volume of stories in which football was the subject or the starting point.
“I’m using the sport to explore universal themes such as love, friendship, family and loss,” he says of The Strange Death Of Football’s resulting tales of winners and losers. “Even the pastiche boys’ football story, Portsmouth v Jupiter, satirises English post-war insularity.”
Introducing the stories, John says: “The lives of two international players are changed forever following a road accident. A young orphan learns lessons for life from his great-uncle, helped by a shared love of fooball, words and story-telling.
“A referee faces the toughest decision of his career in a testimonial match. A vicar thinks about his life and faith as he watches his relegation-bound team losing heavily.
“These inter-connected stories often have the feel of a novel as their protagonists, from Manchester to Portsmouth and Glasgow to Naples, cope with life’s highs and lows. For them, football is occasionally a curse, more often a blessing but always more than a game. There’s also a sting in the tail, a warning from the future.”
After publishing two novels, Here In The Cull Valley (2016) and Rocket Boy (2019), John has ventured into short stories for the first time. “However, to some extent I’ve tried to have it both ways, giving the 11 stories the occasional feel of a novel by revisiting characters and themes.
“With one stand-alone exception, The Footballer In Spite Of Himself, every story ties up with at least one other tale. The book also offers a picture of what football was like during different stages of its development, from war-time to the modern (and perhaps final!) era.”
Nostalgia plays its part, albeit without the slightest sentimentality. “The misery of one former player in the 1950s (in The Daft Wee Game) suggests that there was never a truly golden age for the sport,” contends John.
Author John Wheatcroft
“The sting in the tail, which explains the title, is a rather gloomy view of football’s (and the world’s) future, although it should perhaps be read as a warning rather than a prediction. In any case, many stories are quite upbeat and the protagonists predominantly likeable. Problems and conflict arise from how other people (and the football world) treat them.”
Sports journalist, broadcaster and My Father And Other Working-Class Football Heroes author Gary Imlach says of the book: “Like all well-chosen starting XIs, this book is more than the sum of its parts. The stories play off each other, key figures recur, connections reveal themselves. The result is a heartfelt narrative that’s as much about family as football.”
The Guardian sports journalist, author, tactical historian and The Blizzard editor Jonathan Wilson describes The Strange Death Of Football as “a beautiful album of short stories that performs the rare feat of using football successfully as a stage, a structuring device and a metaphor. Wise and moving.”
“Both Gary and Jonathan seem to have really understood what I was aiming for,” says John.
Tickets for today’s 75-minute launch can be bought via Explore York’s tickettailor.com site, priced at £2.50. Published by Blue Bunting, of York, the book also is on sale at Little Apple Bookshop, High Petergate, York.
Author’s note by John Wheatcroft
“MOST of my football sides [in The Strange Death Of Football] are current names or clubs that existed in the past. The exceptions are Inter Campania, Valley Cordials and the war-time Forces United.
One story, The Footballer In Spite Of Himself, contains some unfamiliar teams. Most football fans with an interest in the past will have heard of Ardwick and Newton Heath. Not so many, perhaps, will know that Oldham Athletic were Pina Villa and Stockport County were Heaton Norris Rovers.
“It’s my whimsical nod to the way the history of football might have panned out quite differently. After all, Bury were winners of the FA Cup twice before Manchester City and Manchester United won anything. And United survived by the skin of their teeth during the inter-war years.
Perhaps, had they folded, there might have been a ‘phoenix club’ like FC Newton Heath. And Manchester Central might have thrived.”
The poster for the Pigeon Paint Off at City Screen Picturehouse, York, On Saturday
A COMPETIVE Pigeon Paint Off, the biggest of book fairs, top-drawer chamber music and Wright&Grainger’s new material are among Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for a particularly intriguing week ahead.
Bird show of the week: Dead Toe Society presents Pigeon Paint Off, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Saturday, 12 noon to 5.30pm
THE inaugural Pigeon Paint Off creative fundraising event in support of Columba Sanctuary and Advocacy for Pigeons features a live art competition with 11 artists and resulting picture auction, complemented by a Pigeon Social and Pigeon-themed Pub Quiz from 6pm, with the quiz starting at 7pm. Look out too for bird-themed arts and crafts on sale and a raffle with “some snazzy prizes”.
“Watch talented artists bring original works to life, each one inspired by our feathered friends, in two rounds of one-hour paint-offs with audience votes deciding the champion,” says organiser Sam Crick. “You’ll also be able to learn more about why pigeons are suffering, the issues they are facing, why they need our support and how you can help advocate for their wellbeing.” Tickets:https://www.tickettailor.com/events/deadtoesociety/2373410.
Book event of the week: York National Book Fair, Knavesmire Suite, York Racecourse, Knavesmire, Saturday, 10am to 5pm
AT Britain’s largest antiquarian book fair, 186 ‘bookshops’ are set up under one roof with prices ranging from only a few pounds to tens of thousands for more than 100,000 books. All subjects, all dates, from medieval to ultra-modern, are on sale, along with ephemera, manuscripts, prints, photographs and posters, while trade stands are selling marbled papers and binding materials.
York Racecourse offers unlimited free parking and a free shuttle bus is running from the Memorial Gardens on Railway Street to Knavesmire every 30 minutes. Tickets on the door cost £2. Alternatively, head to https://yorkbookfair.com/one-day-complimentary-ticket-2/ to book a complimentary ticket. Children aged under 16 are admitted for free
Classical festival of the week: York Chamber Music Festival, Saturday and Sunday
THIS year’s festival has invited six of the best string players in Europe – Charlotte Scott and Tim Crawford, violins, Simone van der Giessen and Lilli Maijala, violas, and Adrian Brendel and festival artistic director Tim Lowe, cellos, to participate, along with regular festival artist Katya Apekisheva, the British-based Russian pianist.
On Saturdayy, at 1pm, at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, Brendel plays Imogen Holst’s The Fall Of The Leaf and J. S. Bach’s Cello Suite No 2 in D Minor; at 7.30pm, at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, all seven perform Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No 1 in D minor Op 49, Mahler’s Piano Quartet (movement) in A minor – Nicht zu schnell and Brahms’s Piano Quartet in C minor Op 60. All but Apekisheva return for Beethoven’s String Quintet in C Major Op. 29 and Brahms’s String Quintet in F major, Op. 88, on Sunday at 3pm at St Olave’s Church, Marygate. Box office: ycmf.co.uk or 01904 658338.
Artist trail of the week: Staithes Festival of Arts and Heritage, Staithes, near Whitby, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm
DISCOVER 113 artists exhibiting across 67 venues through Staithes. Explore galleries, cottages, studios and hidden spaces transformed into exhibition venues across the fishing village. Find out who is taking part at https://www.staithesfestival.com/festival/artists.php.
Enjoy live music, buskers, creative workshops, demonstrations, outdoor cinema, family activities and festival extras too. For the full event programme, go to: https://www.staithesfestival.com/festival/events.php.
Americana gig of the week: James Felice & William Lawrence, Pocklington Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm
JAMES Felice and drummer William Lawrence, two members of New York State’s Felice Brothers, are taking to the road to perform songs from their respective solo works in a dreamy and quiet evening of Americana music and storytelling. James and William last appeared at Pocklington Arts Centre alongside Ian Felice and Jesske Hume in the Felice Brothers gig in June 2021. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Songs old and new of the week: Michael Ball, Glow UK Tour, York Barbican, Saturday, doors 7pm
MUSICAL star and radio and TV presenter Michael Ball promotes his 23rd solo album, Glow, on his 25-date tour.
“There’s probably only one thing I enjoy more than being in the studio – writing, producing and singing songs with people I love – and that’s taking it all out on the road and performing those songs, as well as all the old favourites to the audiences I love,” he says. Liss Jones supports. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Comedy gig of the week: Urzila Carlson, Fatty On A Yacht, York Barbican, Sunday, 8pm
SOUTH African-New Zealander Urzila Carlson returns to the UK with her understated punchlines and signature deadpan delivery in Fatty On A Yacht. Ever felt like you don’t belong? Like everyone else got the memo – and you turned up in the wrong outfit, on the wrong day, on the wrong yacht? Carlson’s new show is for anyone who has ever tried to squeeze into a space, physical or social, and thought “This can’t be right”. “It’s about not fitting in, standing out and laughing about it anyway,” she says. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Country gig of the week: Ward Thomas, Celebrating 10 Years Of Cartwheels Tour, York Barbican, September 14, 7.30pm
HAMPSHIRE twin sisters Catherine and Lizzy Ward Thomas perform their second album in its entirety, revisiting the record – written at home and in Nashville – that made history as the first by a British country act to top the UK Albums Chart in 2016.
“We had to plan a celebration for its ten-year anniversary,” says Lizzy. “We’ll be bringing our full band, doing a type of show we haven’t done in a long time.” The Wandering Hearts support. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
New music, words and stories of the week: Wright& Grainger, Scratch An Itch, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 18, 7.30pm
IN a rare little moment of public-facing recklessness, Easingwold duo Wright&Grainger have some brand new stuff they wish try out in front of, and with, some other people. “It’ll defo involve a piano,” say Alex and Phil. “It’ll defo have music and words and story.
“There’s some tasty clues to follow, some sweet ideas to develop, some scary instincts to trust. And now there’s this big and warm open invite to you, to come join. So please do. We’d love that. Fingers crossed it’ll be good.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The cover artwork for Robert Harris’s Agrippa, published byHutchinson Heinemann
“I CAN’T stand it when novelists read from their own books,” deadpans Robert Harris before reading to a full house in the lecture theatre at Tempest Anderson Hall, Yorkshire Museum, York Museum Gardens.
The author, who isone of the most successful and popular novelists of our time, was in town to promote his latest page-turner, Agrippa, at an event organised by Waterstones, York.
The comment extracted laughter from the audience, who were mostly white, middle-class and over 50. Harris is a likeable presence. An ex-journalist, he has a pithy and appealing way of communicating. He can get to the point and has a winning way with stories.
His books have been translated into 40 languages and converted to numerous films and television adaptations. But he’s also enviably committed. He writes seven days a week, turning out a focused 800 words a day, and has an enormous capacity for memory and research. His writing study is filled with hundreds of books.
Harris’ 17 historical novels have roamed from ancient Rome to Nazi Germany. Typically, they focus on a moment of crisis: Precipice dealt with the start of the First World War. Pompeii focused on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79.
They also tend to dwell in the corridors of influence, whether it is Whitehall or Rome’s Senate. “Power fascinates me,” says Harris.
The stories invariably are the preserve of men. In Conclave, the Papacy struggled to pick its next leader. In Act Of Oblivion, men hunt other men who signed the death warrant of King Charles I.
Some of Harris’s heroes share several similarities with their author: introverted, disciplined, methodical and with a strong moral backbone. In Agrippa, however, he writes in the voice of somebody less given to compromise. The man of the book’s title was one of Rome’s thugs, an enforcer for Octavius. Together, they overcame numerous obstacles.
The key to the novel, Harris feels, was getting the voice right. “Agrippa must have been a tough son of a bitch…he looks like a nightclub bouncer,” he says. (Anyone interested can soon find the bust of Agrippa’s face from 25BC on the web. He does, indeed, look like an uncompromising character.)
The Roman general could be ruthless, explains Harris: “He put down a rebellion in Spain with particular severity.” Yet Harris also notes his subject’s more sophisticated side. Agrippa was the man behind some of Rome’s aquaducts, including the one in the bay of Naples.
“Agrippa was a man of destruction and warfare, but then there’s all this creation,” says Harris. Unlike Cicero, whose speeches were recorded, there are hardly any surviving documents relating to Agrippa, just lots of dates and secondary sources.
This, Harris says, was great news. “For a historical novelist, this is fantastic…an empty slate to write on.”
Octavius was only 18 when he partnered with Agrippa, who was one year older. “Nobody would have given them a chance…they became rulers of the world,” says Harris, who retains objectivity about his characters. “Octavius was not a pleasant person. He is said to have gouged out the eyes of people. He was also a hypocrite. He had a lot of affairs with wives of his soldiers, at the same time he brought in strict moral laws about adultery.”
Harris has entered this world before. His highly successful Cicero trilogy explored the world of Ancient Rome with a focus on the machinations of power. The leaders were power-mad thugs. The books were not that far away from The Sopranos. Both have an Italian influence, if not the same weapons. Caesar, who appears in the new novel, was, says Harris “sinister and glamorous at the same time”.
Harris mentions powerful women and there’s a brief allusion to Sarah Netanyahu and the “demonic energy behind the scenes”. He seems to regret this comment. Naturally, I scribble it down.
The new book comes at a time when strong-arm politics are in force. Might is right. Agrippa,like Donald Trump, does what he wants, knowing he can rely on strongman tactics. Harris speaks about this, laughing a little at Trump’s recent enjoyment of gladiators on the White House lawn.
The novelist can sometimes be lacerating. When David Cameron’s autobiography came out in September 2019, Harris wrote a scathing review in The Sunday Times, lamenting Cameron’s arrogance and the tragedy-farce of Brexit. “It would be better,” he wrote, ‘if Cameron hadn’t been born.”
From the safety of his home in the Home Counties, Harris conjurs up whole worlds. In York, he spoke with relish about writing battle scenes. “When the blood is being spilled and you’re at a desk in Berkshire, it’s the best place to be.” His humour is enjoyable – the audience laughs several times.
Robert Harris did not come from grand origins. Born in 1957, he grew up on a council estate in Nottingham. It seems he was precocious. At the age of six wrote an essay entitled “Why me and my Dad don’t like Sir Alec Douglas-Home”. (Harris’s father was very engaged in politics, heckling Douglas-Home when the politician visited Nottingham market square.)
At school Harris wrote plays, getting his friends to act in performances, and edited the school magazine. He later went to Cambridge, the first person of his family to attend university, and was elected president of the Cambridge Union. His time there lent him confidence; he became the editor ofVarsity, the Cambridge student newspaper.
After Cambridge, he worked in journalism, contributing to Panorama, Newsnight, The Sunday Times and Observer between 1978 and 1992. His television work led to a close friendship with Jeremy Paxman. He wrote several non-fiction books, including Good And Faithful Servant, a profile of Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary, Bernard Ingham. Selling Hitler was about the fake Hitler diaries that caused a sensation in the early 1980s.
When he sat down in 1989 to write the opening lines of Fatherland, his first novel, he found the moment exhilarating. “I had to go and lie down,” he tells the York audience, who chuckle with amusement.
The contrast between non-fiction and fiction was intoxicating. “It was the difference between riding a bicycle and flying a helicopter,” he says. Fatherland imagined a world in which Germany triumphed in the Second World War. The novel was so appealing to publishers that a bidding war ensued. The advance was sizeable and led to Harris acquiring anice place in Berkshire that has sometimes been called sometimes been called “The House That Hitler Built”. The house is very grand and, according to one interviewer “…triggers little stabs of envy in the hearts of all the journalists who go and interview Harris”.
Some of his books emerge after a long time. Precipice, about the relationship between Prime Minister Asquith and Venetia, was published in 2024, four decades after Harris first read a book about their clandestine correspondence. The Ghost took 15 years to come to fruition. With Agrippa, there was also a sense of waiting. “I wanted to write about Agrippa for a long time,”says the author.
At the end of the reading and Q and A, he poses for photographs with fans. One senses he is a remarkable person, totally committed to his craft as a writer who entertains. I’ve read 11 of his books. They are always enjoyable, even if one or two had a dip in quality (The Second Sleep was not so hot, even if the idea was interesting). But that laser-like focus: 800 words a day. That’s really something.
Agrippa by Robert Harris is out now, published by Hutchinson Heinemann.
MILES Salter is a writer and musician based in York. He writes regularly for York Calling. His book about The Pretenders, A Dangerous Band, will be published on November 1. He fronts the band Miles and The Chain Gang.
York artist Mark Hearld’s poster illustration for the 2026 York National Book Fair
YORK National Book Fair, the largest antiquarian book fair in Great Britain, will be held in the Knavesmire Suite at York Racecourse, Knavesmire, York, on September 11 , from 12 noon to 7pm, and September 12, 10am to 5pm.
As many as 185 ‘bookshops’ will be set up under one roof with prices ranging from only a few pounds to tens of thousands. All subjects, all dates, from medieval to ultra-modern, will be on sale, along with ephemera, manuscripts, prints and photographs.
Two new exhibitors specialising in collectable posters will join this year’s line-up at a fair organised by Tony Fothergill, of Ken Spelman Books, Lucius Books, based in Micklegate, and Janette Ray, who runs a rare and and out-of-print bookshop, focusing on architecture, design, art, photography and landscape subjects, in Bootham, on behalf of the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association.
A range of trade stands will sell marbled papers and binding materials, complemented by providers of services to the book trade, including software and packaging material suppliers,
From modest beginnings with only 20 exhibitors at the White Swan Inn in York in 1974, the York Book Fair has grown into the largest, and many say friendliest, rare, antiquarian and out-of–print book fair in the UK and Europe.
Anyone interested in books and reading is encouraged to attend a fair that is not only for dealers or traders but also is open to everyone young and old and is an ideal place to start collecting, with more than 100,000 books – some more than 500 years old – for sale.
York Raceourse offers unlimited free parking and a free shuttle bus will run from the Memorial Gardens on Railway Street, to Knavesmire, every 30 minutes.
Towering performances: Matthew Rutherford’s giant, Smog, and Jared More’s giant, Miff, in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s The Selfish Giant
A GIANT in a garden, Wendy turning piratical in a re-imagined Peter Pan, Alan Ayckbourn’s 92nd play and Wilko Johnson’s miraculous renaissance spark Charles Hutchinson’s attention in the week ahead.
Inspirational tale of love and generosity of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in The Selfish Giant, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, today, 1.30pm and 4.30pm
STEP into the magical world of the Giant’s garden, a place full of music, beauty, bird song and stories in Jon Boustead’s stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant. The Giant, however, is cross when he returns to find children – children! – playing happily in his beautiful orchard, whereupon he erects a big wall to terminate the fun.
Once winter seizes the garden in its icy fingers, will summer ever return? Through storytelling, interactive games, live music and puppetry, York company Riding Lights presents a 50-minute play for family audiences. Box office: 01904 613000 or friargatetheatre.co.uk. Age recommendation: Three upwards.
Neverland revamped: York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre in Wendy & Peter Pan, York Theatre Royal, today, 2pm and 7pm
YORK Theatre Royal Youth Theatre returns to the Main House stage for the first time since 2019 for 46 performers, aged eight to 19, to present Ella Hickson’s feminist take on J M Barrie’s Peter Pan in Lydia Crosland and Sophie-Jade Howell’s large-scale production.
A quiet sadness permeates the Darling household, until the unexpected arrival of a mischievous young boy called Peter and a rather sassy fairy, Tink, whereupon Wendy leads the rebellious lost boys, takes on the terrifying Captain Hook, finds the key to her parents’ lost happiness and discovers the power of being brave and strong. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
York actress Frances Marshall in rehearsal for Alan Ayckbourn’s first courtroom drama, The Trial Of Romeo Oscar. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Premiere of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 4
ALAN Ayckbourn’s 92nd play is his first courtroom drama, one set in the future, as he explores the question that artists have been asking for centuries: what makes us human?
In 2194, humanity is scattered around the solar system and day-to-day life on Earth looks very different. Preparations are underway for a landmark legal case. Romeo Oscar, a military issue android, is on trial for murder: the first non-human to be tried in a court of law. The evidence is polarising and selecting an impartial jury is proving a challenge. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Silky: Hooking up at York Barbican tonight
Comedy bill of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, featuring Silky and Dave Johns, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm
SILKY, Liverpudlian-in-exile and international act, is joined by Dave Johns, North Eastern stand-up, scriptwriter and stage and screen actor, and Jimmy Shirley, whose material addresses growing up in Liverpool in the 1990s, the absurdity of being a Scouser in Greece and the everyday things that annoy him every day.
Completing the line-up will be Gary Jennison, a surrealist force of nature who brings unscripted, unbridled chaos to dance-offs, game shows and observations with a twist while inviting the audience to steer his performance with suggestions and participation. Box office: https://lolcomedyclubs.co.ukor on the door from 7.30pm subject to availability.
See the world more curiously in: Be Like Blippi, York Barbican, today, 1pm and 4pm
JOIN Blippi and Meekah for a one-of-a-kind interactive adventure that inspires children to move, play and explore like Blippi in a new show packed with high-energy music and surprises, featuring fan favourites The Excavator Song, Monster Truck, Dino Dance and Curious Like Me.
Equipped with Blippi’s signature mix of play, learning, and exploration, Be Like Blippi invites you to break out your orange Blippi glasses and ignite your spark of curiosity. Please note, Blippi and Meekah will be played by professional stage performers. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Andrew O’Neill: Charting the history of punk through the comedy lens. Picture: Andrew O’Neill
When punk rock meets comedy: Andrew O’Neill, History Of Punk, Theatre@41, Monkgate, tonight, 8pm
FRESH from asking “How do we get out of this mess” in his Halfway To Edinburgh preview of his surreal, political show Escape at Theatre@41 on July 24, cult comedian Andrew O’Neill returns to York, switching from suggesting ways we can find our way out of disagreements to refracting punk rock through stand-up comedy.
In the wake of A History Of Heavy Metal, he delivers a full-volume love letter to punk, from The Stooges to Pussy Riot, Amebix to X-Ray Spex. “Punk’s not dead,” says O’Neill, who has appeared on Good Omens, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Steve Coogan’s Saxondale. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The Illegal Eagles: Checking in at the Hotel California
Tribute gig of the week: The Illegal Eagles, Hotel California Tour, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm
THE Illegal Eagles mark 30 years on the road in 2026 with their new Hotel California Tour. Renowned for their vocal and guitar prowess and ability to re-create the legendary sound of the Eagles, the tribute act’s milestone itinerary features a full performance of the iconic Hotel California album, featuring Life In The Fast Lane, New Kid in Town and the unforgettable title track. Expect all the timeless Eagles greatest hits too. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Jeanette Hunter’s Pearl, Jackie Cox’s Jan, Nicky Clay’s Shelley and Gemma McDonald’s Linda in MARMiTE Theatre’s Ladies Day. Picture: Lucy Baines
Racing romp of the week: MARMiTE Theatre in Ladies Day, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 8 to 12, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
LIFE is one long slog for four fish factory packers from Hull, Pearl, Jan, Shelley and Linda, but their fortunes could change when they head to Knavesmire on the day Royal Ascot came to York in 2005.
Factory hairnets make way for fascinators as the friends hit the racecourse for an unforgettable day out. Secrets are spilled, along with copious amounts of champagne, as friendships are tested to the limits in Martyn Hunter’s s production of Amanda Whittington’s comedy gem. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Georgina Fairbanks and Johnson Willis in Jonathan Maitland’s Wilko:Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll. Picture: Nick Haeffner
Punk godfather of the week: Wilko:Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll , York Theatre Royal, September 10 to 12, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
WHEN Dr Feelgood co-founder and iconic guitarist Wilko Johnson faced a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2012, he was given only one year left to live. Declining medical intervention, Wilko chose to dedicate his remaining time to a meaningful farewell tour of the people and places that defined his life…only for an unexpected miracle to change the narrative entirely.
Jonathan Maitland’s Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll examines the life of this punk-movement godfather, tracing a career that spanned Dr Feelgood, the Solid Senders, Ian Dury and The Blockheads and a late-career turn to acting in Game Of Thrones. Integrating live music and storytelling with Wilko’s own words, this show serves as a practical masterclass in living life to the fullest. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Movies In The Moonlight in Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema’s season at York Museum Gardens
Cinema event of the week: Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema, Movies In The Moonlight, York Museum Gardens, September 11 to 13, 6.30pm
CITY Screen Picturehouse moves outdoors for three evenings of open-air screenings, comprising Grease (PG) on September 11, The Shining (15) and Evolution Of Horror podcast introduction on September 12 and Jurassic Park (12A) on September 13. Screenings start at dusk or as soon as darkness falls.
Blankets, cushions and small picnic chairs are allowed. A limited number of deck chairs will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis; rain ponchos can bought at the event, should the need arise Guests are encouraged to take away waste for recycling where possible. Box office: picturehouses.com/outdoor-cinema/venue/york-museum-gardens.
Uh Oh, here comes Phil Wang’s moustache, “bristling with wisdom”at York Barbican
New moustache of the week: Phil Wang: Uh Oh, York Barbican, September 11, 7.30pm
PHILIP Nathaniel Wang Sin Goi is a Malaysian-British stand-up comedian, comedy writer and member of the sketch comedy group Daphne, who co-created the BBC Radio 4 series Daphne Sounds Expensive.
Now comes his new stand-up show, Uh Oh. In the words of Phil, “he’s older than ever before. He’s got a moustache now. It bristles with wisdom. His eyes shine with good humour. His shoulders groan under the weight of being the only cool millennial left. Everyone’s an idiot but him. Nice is out. Right is in. The vibe shift is real. Old Wang’s riding it.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
RIPON Racecourse has appointed poet and author Antony Pickthall as its first Poet in Residence, believed to be the first role of its kind at a Yorkshire racecourse.
Supported by funding from Arts Council England, the six-month residency will see Pickthall create a series of original poems inspired by Yorkshire’s Garden Racecourse, its unique atmosphere and the people, traditions and stories that shape the world of racing.
The project aims to connect audiences with the racecourse in new and unexpected ways by combining creative writing with digital technology.
The poems will be published initially through Ripon Races’ Facebook channels before becoming permanently accessible around the racecourse using augmented reality. Visitors will be able to scan QR codes at key locations to hear performances of the poems read by the author.
The initiative is designed to celebrate the cultural heritage of racing while encouraging wider participation in creative writing and making poetry more accessible to new audiences.
Antony says: “The funding will allow me to explore my poetry and celebrate one of the best-loved racecourses in the UK in a different way, hopefully capturing some of what makes Ripon special. It’s also an opportunity to promote creative writing and to use new technology to present it.”
The residency reflects Ripon Racecourse’s commitment to broadening its cultural offer and creating new ways for visitors to engage with the venue beyond raceday traditions.
James Hutchinson, managing director of Ripon Racecourse, says: “Ripon Racecourse has always been about more than just the action on the track. We are proud of our heritage, our setting and the stories that make Yorkshire’s Garden Racecourse such a special place.
“Appointing a Poet in Residence gives us an exciting opportunity to celebrate those stories in a fresh and engaging way, while introducing new audiences to both racing and the arts.
“By combining poetry with augmented reality technology, we hope visitors will experience the racecourse differently, discovering moments of reflection and creativity alongside the excitement of a race day.”
Antony Pickthall is a British author, playwright, poet and screenwriter originally from West Sussex and now based in North Yorkshire. He writes across a wide range of genres, including children’s and literary fiction, horror and fantasy.
His theatre work includes All Heads Turn, Bath Party, Catch The Pigeon and The Stunning Flight Of Archibald Bone. His screenwriting credits include commissions for Channel 4, Granada and independent producers.
Pickthall published his debut short story collection in 2019 and is working on his first poetry collection. He also edits Charles Hutchinson and Graham Chalmers’ weekly arts podcast Two Big Egos In A Small Car.
Artist and designer Es Devlin unveils Library of the Four Winds at the Temple of the Four Winds at Castle Howard, marking the tercentenary of architect Sir John Vanbrugh. Picture: Rick Walker/PA Media Assignment, with permission of Castle Howard
LET internationally renowned artist and designer Es Devlin introduce Library of the Four Winds, her new public sculptural installation, on show in and around the Temple of the Four Winds at Castle Howard until September 27 as part of visionary architect Sir John Vanbrugh’s tercentenary celebrations.
“It’s a very special privilege to be invited to make a new work within Vanbrugh’s exquisite Temple of the Four Winds,” she says. “The Library of the Four Winds is a luminous oval revolving bookshelf, made up of hundreds of books, reflected to double height through a mirrored base.”
Devlin’s voice can be heard in a soundscape inside and outside. “The sculpture reads aloud from 250 of the books that have most influenced me. It draws on Vanbrugh’s dedication to literature, architecture and political activism within his final architectural masterpiece,” she says.
Four curved tables and concentric benches form a circle around the pavilion in an open invitation to visitors to connect with another. “Each table is laid with a selection of my annotated books, and we invite visitors to sit and read and meet one another through the texts throughout the summer of this National Year of Reading,” says Es “We are also offering drawing workshops each Saturday [from midday], where people can encounter one another through portraiture.”
Hailed as “the Shakespeare of English architecture”, Vanbrugh had concurrent careers as self-trained architect, playwright, adventurer, soldier, spy, diplomat and garden designer. “It could only be charm,” says Nicholas Howard, when speculating why Vanbrugh received the Castle Howard commission from Charles Howard, the 3rd Earl of Carlisle, after meeting him in the confines of the Kit-Cat Club in London. “I can’t find any other explanation.”
To mark the 300th anniversary of Vanbrugh’s death, Castle Howard is celebrating his legacy with exhibitions, installations, workshops, talks and performances throughout the year.
Nicholas and Victoria Howard say:“It was Vanbrugh’s vision that brought Castle Howard to life, and now the house has the honour of celebrating its creator. There are many ways that audiences can engage with and learn about this larger-than-life character this year, and we are delighted to present this response by Es Devlin, which allows her to explore her own affinity to Vanbrugh. Her work is an innovative response to Vanbrugh’s vision and continues Castle Howard’s work with contemporary artists.”
Library of the Four Winds takes up summertime residency in the temple used originally as a place for refreshment and reading: Devlin’s starting point for creating the new artwork in an aesthetic space whose exact purpose was never specified formally.
There was even more of a buzz surrounding the installation at the press launch, on account of a swarm of bees in search of the queen bee concentrating their energies on the rear of the temple.
Library of the Four Winds artist and designer Es Devlin reading a book outside the Temple of Four Winds, Castle Howard, in a nod to the National Year of Reading. Picture: Rick Walker, PA Media Assignment, with permission of Castle Howard
“What a magical place Castle Howard is,” Es enthuses, drawn to Vanbrugh’s “flamboyant Baroque architecture”, his concern for systems in houses and architecture, his fascination with geometry. “The place is humming with it. What he found in nature was mathematics.”
In turn, mechanics come into the design of Es’s installation, built by Stage One Creative Services, a North Yorkshire manufacturing and engineering company that specialises in bespoke fabrications for the creative industries, based at Marston Business Park, Tockwith.
Central to the impact of the Library of the Four Winds on the Temple of the Four Winds itself is the mirrored base. “The temple invites you to look around you, 360 degrees, and to look up, almost putting a joke, a little riddle at the top where there are two gargoyles. The only way you are not invited to look is down, but this mirror, with the revolving bookshelf, now invites you to look down as well as up.”
Then add the steady rhythm of the rotating bookshelf with its projections of text going in and out of view, complemented at intervals by imagery of birds in flights, adding to the sense of calm, or reflection, of being at peace with books, surrounded by such beauty.
“Whenever I make something that revolves, I notice that people fall into a reverie,” says Es. “It reminds us of what we’re trained to forget, which is that we’re constantly turning.”
In creating the Library of the Four Winds, Es has a partner operating in tandem with her. “I’ve been working with the building as the co-author since the beginning,” she says. “I view the building as a protagonist, as another of the dramatis personae.”
She wants her installation to be a conversation piece. “I hope that people who don’t love the same songs, read the same books, share the same political views, go to the same church, or speak the same language, will be brought together to discuss something else, where they don’t have to keep talking about what separates us,” says Es.
Es Devlin’s installation, Library of the Four Winds, is on show in the Temple of the Four Winds, Castle Howard, near Malton, until September 27. Entry is included in Castle Howard admission.
Every Saturday until September 26, a 45-minutedrawing workshoptakes place at the installation; materials are provided. Friday Lates, an opportunity to see the Library of the Four Winds on a summer evening, will be held on July 3, August 7 and September 4. To book, go to: www.castlehoward.co.uk.
Awake Awake author Fiona Mozley, centre, with Little Apple Bookshop proprietors Tim Curtis and Philippa Morris during her book-selling shift back on familiar book turf
FIONA Mozley returns to her York roots for her first novel in five years, Awake Awake.
Now living in Edinburgh, she headed back to her home city for a promotional day earlier this month, combining face-to-face interviews with a two-hour book-selling shift at Little Apple Bookshop, in High Petergate, where she worked behind the counter from 2016 to 2019.
“It was my favourite ever part-time job, and I’m still friends with Tim Curtis and Philippa Morris, who run it,” says Fiona, settling into a window seat at Waterstones, in Coney Street, where she would give a talk and sign books later that evening.
“Elmet sold 1,000 copies at Little Apple Bookshop alone and it remains their biggest ever-selling selling book.”
After rising to Booker Prize-shortlisted acclaim with that 2017 debut novel, set in Yorkshire, and following it up in 2021 with Hot Stew, set in a Soho brothel, Fiona roots her third novel almost entirely in the York of the 2000s, where her heroine Mary’s father works at York Minster.
“In a five-year period I wrote two and a half novels, and Awake Awake was the one that gained ground,” says Fiona. “Some writers have a ‘difficult second novel’, but mine was already on the way when Elmet came out, though I did ‘um and aarrgh’ because I had a number of ideas and was pursuing them all at once.
“Again, with this new novel, it started as a tandem project, which was that I’d always wanted to write a novel set in the early 2000s, following a bunch of teenagers negotiating those personal and political times.
“I was born in 1988, so in 2002-2003, I was 14-15, when my generation grew up thinking that everything was going to get better; that ‘history’ was over; that conflict had been eradicated; the economy would go from strength to strength and jobs were plentiful. How wrong we were.”
Fiona wanted to examine that moment of optimism and how the world came crashing down as 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq led to a “readjustment of the perception of where we were going”. She would do so through the eyes of teenagers “because they bring an insight and earnestness”, leading to activism and Stop The War marches.
“I decided to set it in a place outside the global capitals, so why not York, which made the perfect setting as I grew up here,” she says. “All my writing is rooted in long history and place – I studied History at King’s College, Cambridge – so the second strand I explored was an examination of the way we think about the past, in particular memories of the Second World War and memories of family histories.
“Awake Awake is very much fiction, but I wanted to think about the story of my grandfather, on my mother’s side, who was born in Leeds and was an officer in the Royal Amy Medical Corps.”
Her grandfather was from the Orthodox Jewish community, but hid it from his wife and his children, prompting Fiona to ponder how and why he did this.
Fiona toyed with the concept of writing in a “counter-fictional” mode – a narrative or thought process that opposes or subverts the established rules, traditions and tropes of a specific story, genre or fictional world. “I was interested in playing with the idea from Quentin Tarantino’s [2009 black comedy] Inglourious Basterds, which I thought went over the top, but I was keen to see how those ideas spoke to each other.”
In 2023, Fiona and her partner spent a month in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “While I was there, I wanted to read some big American novels, so I read some Philip Roth, who I absolutely love and absolutely hate, but he’s never boring,” she says.
“Reading his books gave me permission to go ‘wild’ in my writing, to not shy away from something that might be controversial. I was struck by how he mixed the personal with the political and the international. Reading him, although I’m a hugely different person and writer, it gave me the opportunity to push in that direction.”
Explaining its impact on Awake Awake, Fiona says: “People are often curious about the relationship between real and fictional, and my response is that I find myself unable to write things as I perceive them and write down events as they happen. I would be a terrible lawyer, an unreliable witness, because for me the process of writing is immediately creative and a new world emerges in the telling.
“I looked into this, and a lot of memory is constructed. It’s a creative act, so what I wanted to do was to exaggerate that. Put in the most stark terms, the [central] character is totally overcome by fictional memories – and the book is also about how our identities are totally informed by those memories.”
Awake Awake, by Fiona Mozley, is published in hardback, audio and ebook by John Murray Press.
The cover artwork for Fiona Mozley’s Awake Awake
Five talking points in Awake Awake
The war novel: How can contemporary novelists write about war?
2000s’ nostalgia and optimism: Anti-war movement of early 2000s was the backdrop to Fiona’s teenage years in York. How has that shaped how she and her generation think today?
Memory and mental illness: The novel’s heroine and her brother both suffer from mental ill-health as Fiona traces a “kind of intergenerational trauma”
Second World War: Fiona has Jewish heritage. Her maternal grandfather was from the Orthodox community in Leeds but hid it from his wife and children. How and why did he do so? Fiona brings family history into the novel to speculate on what might have happened to him.
Activism: Backdrop to the 2000s’ sections of the novel is the Stop The War movement and marches.
Author Fiona Mozley. Picture: Aleksandra Maciejewska
Fiona Mozley: back story
FIONA grew up in York, appearing in multiple theatrical productions before studying History at King’s College, Cambridge. Worked behind the counter at Little Apple Bookshop, in High Petergate, York, from 2016 to 2019.
Debut novel Elmet, published in August 2017 by JM Originals, was set in the claustrophobic rural West Riding of Yorkshire, exploring themes of family bonds, revenge, land rights, modern society and the ultimate price of freedom. Shortlisted for the 2017 Booker Prize, it was published in the USA in December 2017 and reissued in a JM Classics edition in 2025.
That year too, Elmet was adapted for the stage by Bradford-raised writer-director Javaad Alipoor for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, presented by the Javaad Alipoor Company at Loading Bay, with music by North Eastern folk luminaries The Unthanks & Adrian McNally and movement by Ad Infinitum’s Deb Pugh.
Playing like an ancient tragedy reflected in shards of memory, the world premiere ran from October 22 to November 2 2025 with its story of Cathy and Danny living apart from the world with towering bare-knuckle boxer Daddy, who has built them an idyll amid the trees on a land “made of myths”. However, a great reckoning is coming, led by all-powerful landowner Mr Price, threatening to smash apart everything the trio holds dear.
Second novel Hot Stew, published in 2021, was set in Soho, London, where sex workers Precious and Tabitha fight an eviction order from a real-estate heiress. Third novel Awake Awake was published in June 2026 by John Murray Press.
Fiona has won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Polari Prize and been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Ondaatje Prize and The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. She has been longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Women’s Prize too.
She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
PhotographerNikki Bowling at the Bedern Hall launch of her bookYork In Lockdown
YORK professional photographer Nikki Bowling has produced a new book that records the city in black and white images taken during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Entitled York In Lockdown, the publication includes images of empty streets, showing many of the iconic attractions and streetscapes in York “like never before”.
Described as “coffee table landscape in style”, this atmospheric book has many historical notes, along with Nikki’s personal recollections of the 2020-2021 lockdowns when everyone was told to stay at home.
“It started as something to do when nothing else was possible, when I took my camera on my daily permitted exercise walks around the city,” says Nikki, who used a Panasonic Lumix G9 with 7-14mm lens.
Stonegate, by Nikki Bowling
“I love York and love photography so decided to share the images with the world through this book as it shows, uniquely, the deserted city streets as the complete opposite of the usual hustle and bustle.”
York In Lockdown was launched at Bedern Hall, Bartle Garth, St Andrewgate, York, on June 3, when Nikki signed copies and discussed what inspired her to create the images.
“The book is dedicated to my late grandmother Marion Purdy, who died age 101 in 2023, and who had a wicked sense of humour, positivity, kindness and a hopeful and philosophical outlook on life. I was lucky to be able to spend so much time with her during lockdown,” she says.
Clifford’s Tower and Tower Street, by Nikki Bowling
Here Nikki answers CharlesHutchPress’s questions on York In Lockdown
Why did you photograph in black and white?
“I actually shot in colour but changed into black and white (b/w) afterwards. I love b/w photography, and I think it especially works for old buildings. Also, the desolate atmosphere of the empty streets and the difficult times people were going through at the time, I felt were better reflected in b/w.”
How did the empty streets make you feel? Do you wish you could have that experience more often?
“When we were first allowed to go out for daily walks, I thought the empty streets felt quite desolate and sad. It wasn’t the York I was used to walking around. I missed being able to pop into a shop if I wanted to, and the lack food and drink establishments that were allowed to open was very limited.
Shambles towards Newgate, by Nikki Bowling
Goodramgate and King’s Square, by Nikki Bowling
“But…I actually grew to love the emptiness. It allowed me to appreciate York even more than I did already. The silence was beautiful, and I loved just being able to just sit on a bench, or walk around, without the crowds of tourists and locals.
“It was an amazing thing to be able to photograph the streets and buildings without people getting in the way! It was a peaceful experience and gave me time to reflect on many things. It also took me back to imagining how York must have been in mediaeval times, as it was easier to picture those times without the people and modern influences.”
How did the lockdown experience contrast with the noise and excitement of a wedding-day photographic assignment?
“I love both equally! The lockdown images were a reflective and slower way of taking photos. I wasn’t actually working, just using my passion of images as something to keep me going through difficult times.
“It was a one-off time (I hope!) and I feel lucky I live in such a beautiful city and I was able to admire its beauty during my walks.
Fossgate from Merchantgate, by Nikki Bowling
Newgate Market, by Nikki Bowling
“When I shoot a wedding, it is very fast paced and non-stop! I have a list of shots agreed upon and I work my way though this, making sure I get everything the couple want. I am forever people watching, making sure I don’t miss those special moments!
“A wedding is a full-on day, but I absolutely love that fast pace of working. Weddings also involve talking to and directing many different people, which I also love – the exact oppose of covid times.
Will you be holding an exhibition of your lockdown photographs?
“Yes, I am hoping so. There are a few local hotels interested in doing a display for me (more info to come!) and I am certainly looking to do an exhibition/book promotion when the initial ‘busy-ness’ of launching the book has calmed down a bit!”
Photographer Nikki Bowling
Nikki Bowling: back story
NIKKI began her photographic career after studying Photography and Design at Harrogate College for four years and set up her business straight from college in 2001.
Over 25 years, she has provided photographic services for weddings, social occasions and commercial photography for businesses and organisations, including press and magazine publications, estate agents and holiday lets, capturing properties for sale or rent.
“I am very lucky indeed to do what I do,” she says. “I am totally passionate and committed to my work. My style is relaxed, artistic and above all natural. I do not believe in messing around with images too much, or over-stylising them. Do them well and true to life in the first place and they will look amazing.
“People need to look like themselves in an image and I can help them relax in front of the camera, and have fun while doing so. I feel, for a photographer, I have the perfect mix of a press background, an artistic mind, a female eye for detail and an honest and down-to-earth approach to my work and life in general.”
Nikki lives in York with her daughter Mia. Find her website at nikkibowling.com.
The cover to Nikki Bowling’s York In Lockdown
York In Lockdown costs £20 plus postage directly from [email protected] and will be on sale soon in York book shops, hotels and tourist places, priced £23.99.
Rose Drew and Alan Gillott, of Stairwell Books, publishers of “the best in Yorkshire writing. Based in York, tales from all over”. Picture: Emily Drew
SCORES of writers, some as young as eight, will share their stories and poems aloud at Merchant Taylors’ Hall, York, on June 25, as part of this year’s York Mystery Plays Festival and Fringe.
After asking for submissions from writers earlier this year, festival poet laureate Rose Drew will head up Voices of the Plays: A Celebration of York Mystery Plays in Poetry and Prose, an evening of themed story and poetry sharing.
“We wanted to inspire our York writers so we set up a poetry and short fiction competition, themed around the Mystery Plays, with a focus on The Flood and War,” explains Rose, who will be supported by deputy laureate Alan Gillott and York Festival Trust chair Roger Lee.
York Mystery Plays: Back on the waggons this summer
“Stories and poems are written to be heard and we loved the idea of our city’s writers sharing their work aloud, in front of a York audience, before we made our final decision on whose work will be published.”
The resulting York anthology will be published by Stairwell Books around the end of August, when the York Festival Trust plans to release a streaming version or DVDs of the Mystery Plays performed this summer.
“I have to admit it will really be an excuse to have a great creative night out!’ says Rose, who runs regular poetry open-mics and is the co-founder of independent publisher Stairwell Books.
Festival poet laureate Rose Drew and deputy laureate Alan Gillott standing by the St Mary’s Abbey ruins in York Museum Gardens. Picture: Emily Drew
“Children’s entries were judged separately for primary and secondary students. Everyone who entered will receive a Certificate of Participation,” she adds.
“I’ll be flying in from the United States that day and making straight for the Merchant Taylors’ Hall, but if anything can keep jet lag at bay for me, it’s live fresh writing talent!”
Children’s readings start promptly at 7pm; doors open at 6.30pm. To book to attend the Festival Live Readings, go to: https://www.yorkmysteryplays.co.uk/tickets-merch/.
