{"id":5538,"date":"2026-08-13T20:19:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dickonedwards.com\/diary\/?p=5538"},"modified":"2026-08-13T20:23:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:23:37","slug":"live-in-person-free-still-of-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dickonedwards.com\/diary\/index.php\/archive\/live-in-person-free-still-of-value\/","title":{"rendered":"Live! In Person! Free! Still of Value!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I am told that there are still tickets available for my special \u2018On Diaries\u2019 event on the afternoon of Saturday 22nd<\/sup> August, at the London Betsey Trotwood. The tickets are free, but they must be reserved in advance from poniesandhorsesbooks.com\/events<\/a>. There are currently twenty-five tickets left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the event I will sign books and answer questions, via my preferred Q&A system involving mini golf pencils and postcards. I will pass on what I hope are entertaining insights about diaries and the human condition, fiction versus non-fiction, and the problems of telling the truth. There will be guest readings from the diaries of Samuel Pepys, Virginia Woolf, Helen Garner, Derek Jarman and Alan Bennett, as well as from my own diary. I will also talk about how writing and reading diaries is good for one\u2019s creativity, and good for one\u2019s health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have told all the usual outlets but am a little worried that the event might be under-attended. Facebook and Instagram are now so cluttered with adverts and sponsored posts that it\u2019s perfectly possible to miss out on something that you might have wanted to go to, if only you had known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does <\/em>makes people go to events?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday evening in the UK, many people gathered to watch the solar eclipse. Here in Hastings the beach was packed. I went down to have a look.  Crowds upon crowds were there, the most I have seen on the beach since I moved here, all bathed in the strange semi-dappled light. Many were fiddling with pinhole cameras made from cereal boxes, some were using special eclipse glasses that look like 3D glasses, others were gazing intensely at their kitchen colanders. It was an atmosphere of surrealism, uniqueness, and rarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the 22nd<\/sup> I like to think I too can promise surrealism, uniqueness, and rarity. Rarity, because for some reason I\u2019m not getting many bookings at the moment. I like to think this is down to what Hastings Job Centre told me about having a PhD in English and Humanities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I\u2019m afraid we don\u2019t have much for someone with your… high end <\/em>qualifications.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Later, in bed…)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can certainly promise surrealism at my event, because it\u2019s me. Yesterday, on the 323 bus, dressed in my heatwave look of a broad-brimmed hat, sunglasses and white suit, I was told by a small boy: \u2018You look like Michael Jackson\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the real Michael Jackson is 0% present. The solar eclipse, for all its popularity, was only 90% present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At my event, however, I will be 100%  present. And I too am known for being something unusual to stare at, with or without a colander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps I should also compare my event with one of the most discussed cultural events at the present moment: the film The Odyssey<\/em>, directed by Christopher Nolan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film was shot entirely on 70mm IMAX, a format which in the UK can only be properly viewed, in terms of the director’s intended resolution and screen size, in three cinemas (London BFI, London Science Museum, and Manchester Printworks). Tickets for screenings of The Odyssey <\/em>at those cinemas have long sold out, as one might imagine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My event at the Betsey Trotwood is not yet sold out. But it will, I can promise, feature my preferred resolution and size for the content. As in: me. In person. It will be like I am in the actual room with you. Because I will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder now if having a free event risks having more people not <\/em>turning up than if it was, say, \u00a31 to get in. Some people are very strange about price and value, as Oscar Wilde did not quite say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A case study suggests itself. Recently, one of my attempts to postpone starvation was to be paid for digitising an LGBTQ+ newspaper archive. This included the column, \u2018Gay Girl About Town\u2019, by Jane Czyzselska, which appeared in the free daily London newspaper The London Paper<\/em> in the late 2000s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having to leaf through old copies of this newspaper immediately brought back memories of that most baffling of historical eras, the recent past. The London Paper <\/em>ran from 2006 to 2009, and had a rival, London Lite<\/em>, which ran for about the same time. Both these newspapers became notorious in London, not for anything their writers said but for a psychological side-effect of what happens when people are given something to read for free. Litter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And litter in huge amounts too. My abiding memory of  London during the late 2000s is of buses and tube trains covered in discarded newspapers by the end of the day. It was a time of giant travelling hamster cages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were adverts everywhere to remind people to dispose of their free newspapers properly. There were even designated recycling bins for this very purpose, paid for by the free newspaper companies (after they were forced to do so). But the problem persisted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newspapers that cost money, meanwhile, like the Times <\/em>and Telegraph <\/em>and Daily Mail<\/em>, were far less likely to be dumped in this way. The theory was that the consumer had made a personal investment, and so treated their possession with more respect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember once in the late 2000s I got so upset  about the free newspapers ruining a London night out that I once walked the entire length of a tube train, going through every carriage, and picking up every discarded  London Paper  <\/em>and London Lite<\/em> that I saw. It was a good fat armful \u2013 I could barely carry them all. Then I took them off the train at Highgate, where I lived, and dropped them into the recycling bin at the station entrance. I was probably drunk, but that\u2019s not the point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of which is an attempt  to say: please do come to my event on the 22nd<\/sup>. It is free, I am afraid, but I hope that does not put you off. Besides, as with most book events there will be nice things on sale to buy (my book). After all, there is no sight more comforting to the lover of culture than a merchandise stall. Perhaps I should do Dickon Edwards colanders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

**<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also in London that weekend is a rare screening of Melt It! The Film of The Iceman<\/em>, which I recommend. A fascinating account of the time when alternative British comedy could mean performance art, rather than stand-up. Sunday 23rd August, 7.30pm, The Bill Murray, N1 8NQ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

**
This online diary was begun in 1997. It is thought to be the longest running of its kind. The archive contains over twenty years of exclusive knowledge, all searchable and free to read without adverts or algorithms or clickbait. It depends entirely on donations by readers to keep it going. Thank you!
<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Donate<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am told that there are still tickets available for my special \u2018On Diaries\u2019 event on the afternoon of Saturday 22nd August, at the London Betsey Trotwood. The tickets are free, but they must be reserved in advance from poniesandhorsesbooks.com\/events. There are currently twenty-five tickets left. At the event I will sign books and answer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dickonedwards.com\/diary\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dickonedwards.com\/diary\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dickonedwards.com\/diary\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dickonedwards.com\/diary\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dickonedwards.com\/diary\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5538"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dickonedwards.com\/diary\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5541,"href":"https:\/\/www.dickonedwards.com\/diary\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5538\/revisions\/5541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dickonedwards.com\/diary\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dickonedwards.com\/diary\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dickonedwards.com\/diary\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}