:00:42. > :00:48.YOU MAY NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HEAR THOSE OPENING TITLES. TODAY, WE ARE
:00:49. > :00:53.CELEBRATING THE POWER OF THE WRITTEN WORD. We have some of the winners of
:00:54. > :01:01.Chris's 500 words competition. With us this evening! They were here from
:01:02. > :01:06.seven o'clock, bleary eyed but enthusiast! . But they do not know
:01:07. > :01:11.that they will each have a cover illustration for your story done
:01:12. > :01:17.tonight by one of these six brilliant artists from Hereford Art
:01:18. > :01:21.college, everybody! We will also be hearing some extracts from their
:01:22. > :01:27.stories by the likes of an addict Cumberbatch, Paloma Faith and Hugh
:01:28. > :01:30.Bonneville. -- Benedict Cumberbatch. We have commissioned a special poem
:01:31. > :01:36.about one of the country's most beautiful coastlines. To be honest,
:01:37. > :01:46.two words describe tonight's guests. They would be Rob and Brydon! Hello,
:01:47. > :01:52.Alex. You love Hay Festival. For people who do not know what the big
:01:53. > :01:56.appeal is, sell it to us. Firstly, the location. The countryside. It is
:01:57. > :02:01.a fantastic part of the world. Secondly, it is just a lovely
:02:02. > :02:04.atmosphere here. You get people here who even if you just do something
:02:05. > :02:12.like this, will suddenly start screaming. That is all you have to
:02:13. > :02:20.do. They are an amazing crowd. Helps us out a lot. And if you do that,
:02:21. > :02:24.they go, ooh. Later in the show, we will take a trip down memory lane
:02:25. > :02:30.and ask the people of Hay what they used to study at school. Rob, can
:02:31. > :02:37.you remember that far back? There is no need for that sort of humour.
:02:38. > :02:42.Yes, I can. It was all on slate and chalk. Catcher in the Rye was one of
:02:43. > :02:47.the first books that made a big on me. So I certainly remember that.
:02:48. > :02:52.Weathering heights, the Thomas Hardy books. But capturing the Rye was the
:02:53. > :02:57.one that made go, wow, this is powerful. Michael Gove has said in
:02:58. > :03:03.the last few days, he suggested that we drop the American classics in
:03:04. > :03:07.favour of British books. But what do the bookies of Hay think 's not the
:03:08. > :03:12.betting people, the people who love books.
:03:13. > :03:15.It is not everyday you get to guess up as Jane Austen and come to the
:03:16. > :03:21.UK's biggest literature festival. I am here to find out what two's
:03:22. > :03:35.booklovers think of Michael Gove's decision to make our syllabus more
:03:36. > :03:39.British. What do you think of the decision? It is a terrible
:03:40. > :03:42.decision. I know books like Of Mice And Men and To Kill A Mockingbird
:03:43. > :03:48.have imagined. They are brilliant books. You want to see some English
:03:49. > :03:52.writers on the curriculum like Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. Do we
:03:53. > :03:59.run the risk of disengaging kids? Teachers should be able to teach
:04:00. > :04:02.what drives them. That is when children get the best learning. I
:04:03. > :04:09.think teachers should be enabled to teach what motivates them. Next
:04:10. > :04:13.year, I am taking my GCSEs. It is not a big disappointment, but it is
:04:14. > :04:19.quite limiting to my learning, I guess. Would you rather read Of Mice
:04:20. > :04:24.And Men or Emma? Of Mice And Men. It is an easier language to understand
:04:25. > :04:29.than Emma, and it is smaller. How do you feel about the fact that this
:04:30. > :04:33.section is now limited to contemporary British writers? Over
:04:34. > :04:37.the years, maybe the British classics, Shakespeare and Dickens, a
:04:38. > :04:42.passion of mine, have not been read enough in schools and are not enough
:04:43. > :04:47.on the national curriculum. That was the general vibe on Mr Gove's
:04:48. > :04:53.thoughts in Hay. Now let's find out more about the festival. What is
:04:54. > :04:58.your name? Katie. And what do you like most about the festival? I saw
:04:59. > :05:02.Michael Morpurgo in action and he was brilliant. I am a primary school
:05:03. > :05:06.teacher. I sat in a car for four hours, and I am teaching one of his
:05:07. > :05:09.books at the minute. And I was looking at the book and trying to
:05:10. > :05:13.come up with questions to talk to the kids about, and suddenly he is
:05:14. > :05:20.in front of me, talking. All I wanted to ask was, what questions
:05:21. > :05:25.should I ask? So what did you ask? Hopefully, he is watching.
:05:26. > :05:30.I have two ladies here in matching T-shirts. I am Carolyn. And
:05:31. > :05:37.Melanie. What has been your favourite part of Bs today? I went
:05:38. > :05:41.to see a fantastic musician who had everyone rocking in the aisles. But
:05:42. > :05:48.I love books, too. They do it all here. The best thing I saw was an
:05:49. > :05:55.economist who was here on Monday. He spoke about the productivity of
:05:56. > :05:59.women and said that if we counted that, we would all be a lot richer.
:06:00. > :06:09.A good man to listen to. What is your name? Run. Where are you from?
:06:10. > :06:12.I am local. What was your favourite bit of Hay? I am looking
:06:13. > :06:14.I am local. What was your favourite about the productivity of women. I
:06:15. > :06:21.can't find one anywhere. We wish you all the best with that search. This
:06:22. > :06:25.is the 27th Hay Festival, and it all started in a beer garden in the
:06:26. > :06:29.1980s. It plays host all the major players and literati from Dame Judi
:06:30. > :06:34.Dench to Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Fry. Bill Clinton came here
:06:35. > :06:39.and called it the Woodstock for the mind. But how come it is such a big
:06:40. > :06:49.deal? Here are some old people who might know.
:06:50. > :06:56.Hay Festival is a celebration of stories and poems and books. A place
:06:57. > :07:02.of excitement, a place of unexpected ideas. Vibrant, brings people of all
:07:03. > :07:10.ages and persuasions together. And they usually do it in the mud and
:07:11. > :07:14.rain, and it is fantastic. I am Marcus Brooks dog, a comedian and
:07:15. > :07:18.author. The Hay Festival brings together the best minds on pretty
:07:19. > :07:23.author. The Hay Festival brings much any subject you can think of.
:07:24. > :07:29.Stereo photography gives you a reproduction of what you might be
:07:30. > :07:34.seeing. You can dive straight into a subject you had never thought about
:07:35. > :07:40.before and hear from a world expert. I am the person who led the team
:07:41. > :07:45.that created the iPod. Here, I can learn from the minds of science,
:07:46. > :07:49.literature, arts, to bring humanity to technology. If you think of the
:07:50. > :07:53.iPod, it was the melding of technology with music. I have been a
:07:54. > :07:58.musician and astronomer all my life, so there are a lot of things I do.
:07:59. > :08:02.Depending on a different hour of the day, I will be wearing a different
:08:03. > :08:06.hat. I would not have written my book, had I not come here. I am
:08:07. > :08:12.dyslexic, so I was scared of dogs as a kid. It was just hanging out with
:08:13. > :08:17.authors, -- I was scared of books as a kid. I was hearing them talk about
:08:18. > :08:25.the process, and now I make my living reading and writing,
:08:26. > :08:29.effectively. I am Michael Morpurgo. I write books. The one people seem
:08:30. > :08:34.to like most at the moment is warhorse. It is not about writers
:08:35. > :08:39.showing off how clever it is to write stories. We all tell stories.
:08:40. > :08:43.Stories are the way we have passed on information since the days when
:08:44. > :08:49.people sat around campfires, before there was writing. When you write a
:08:50. > :08:52.book, you are creating something which connects with other people.
:08:53. > :08:56.The most gratifying bit is when you meet people who said they have
:08:57. > :09:02.enjoyed your work. That is why festivals are fun. To me, it is
:09:03. > :09:05.joyful, because I am used to moving in circles with people who do not
:09:06. > :09:09.read much, and it is great to realise that people do want to pick
:09:10. > :09:16.up the real thing and enjoyable. There is nothing quite like it. What
:09:17. > :09:21.I like about Hay is the audience. I love the questions. Members of the
:09:22. > :09:27.audience, and say things to you that you did not expect. When is your
:09:28. > :09:31.movie coming out? That is a really serious question, and I don't really
:09:32. > :09:35.know. I know what I think, but I don't know what they think, and you
:09:36. > :09:41.get some really interesting remarks from the audience. Why have you
:09:42. > :09:44.never both done something together 's the Q and as at the end of the
:09:45. > :09:48.sessions here are not warm, cuddly, 's the Q and as at the end of the
:09:49. > :09:55.sessions here are friendly and fuzzy. They are really challenging.
:09:56. > :09:58.The most special moment is when a person comes up to you and has read
:09:59. > :10:05.a book of yours which has been life changing. Their mum may come up and
:10:06. > :10:12.say, my little boy did not read a book until he picked up your book,
:10:13. > :10:13.and he loved it. And that has changed his life, because he has not
:10:14. > :10:21.stopped reading. Books can changed his life, because he has not
:10:22. > :10:27.lives, and you learn that by coming out to Hay. It is brilliant.
:10:28. > :10:31.lives, and you learn that by coming out to Hay. It is There are 700
:10:32. > :10:35.events here this year. There is one session called Letters Live, where
:10:36. > :10:36.exceptional letters from throughout history read aloud.
:10:37. > :10:40.exceptional letters from throughout history I read one today. I had to
:10:41. > :10:49.follow Benedict Cumberbatch, who brought the house down. But you did
:10:50. > :10:52.a brilliant job. Shaun Usher is the author of Letters Of Note. Give us a
:10:53. > :10:56.sense of the variety of the letters in the book? There is everything
:10:57. > :11:00.from apology letters to job application letters, love letters,
:11:01. > :11:04.really sad, horrifically depressing letters, which I love some strange
:11:05. > :11:10.reason, too hilarious letters from people like Steve Martin. Mick
:11:11. > :11:15.Jagger to Andy Warhol. Then there are old letters from 1000 BC, carved
:11:16. > :11:22.into stone. There is a huge array of different letters. Pick some of your
:11:23. > :11:28.favourites from the book for us? There is a letter from the Queen in
:11:29. > :11:33.1960. President Eisenhower visited Balmoral, and Queen Elizabeth made
:11:34. > :11:44.some drop scones from her own personal recipe. Which we have
:11:45. > :11:56.here. This is the Queen's recipe. What about that? Fantastic.
:11:57. > :12:00.Eisenhower loved them. So the Queen sent the recipe to him a few months
:12:01. > :12:04.later. So in the book, you can see the letter and the recipe itself. So
:12:05. > :12:08.you can copy it if you want. Then there was a letter from Jack the
:12:09. > :12:15.Ripper, which was sent with half a human kidney. So it is a
:12:16. > :12:18.roller-coaster ride. And you thought a lot about the order you put them
:12:19. > :12:23.in. Tell us about the letter from Gandhi to hit love. As World War II
:12:24. > :12:28.was starting, Dandy wrote to Hitler, thinking he could maybe change his
:12:29. > :12:33.mind -- Gandhi wrote to Hitler, saying, stop for the sake of
:12:34. > :12:37.humanity. But it got intercepted by the British government and Hitler
:12:38. > :12:40.never received it, not that I imagine it would have helped. But it
:12:41. > :12:46.is a hugely historical, interesting letter. So how did you collect and
:12:47. > :12:51.put these letters together? I started four years ago, and I have
:12:52. > :12:57.been looking in archives, libraries. I buy so many books, it is
:12:58. > :13:01.ridiculous. Museums, book 's, and now there is a website of the same
:13:02. > :13:07.name. It has become quite popular. A lot of readers send in their run
:13:08. > :13:12.letters from famous people. There are loads of different avenues. What
:13:13. > :13:16.about the most important letter in your opinion out of all of them?
:13:17. > :13:21.Francis Crick, who co-discovered the structure of DNA by just after he
:13:22. > :13:25.had discovered it, he wrote a letter to his son before became public and
:13:26. > :13:28.said, I have just made the most important discovery, and explained
:13:29. > :13:33.DNA with illustrations of the molecule and everything. And that
:13:34. > :13:38.letter was sold last year at Christie 's auction house for ?5
:13:39. > :13:45.million. It is the most expensive letter ever sold. And it is in the
:13:46. > :13:49.book. They are a dying art, so they will get more expensive. Exactly. We
:13:50. > :13:55.have turned to Twitter and e-mails and texts. Handwriting is dying out
:13:56. > :14:02.as well. Do you find when you do write a letter, you write so rarely
:14:03. > :14:09.that you have to warm up. That could be old age. Thank you! You can turn
:14:10. > :14:14.against a person very quickly, can't you? I have this book, and there was
:14:15. > :14:18.a great letter in it from Elvis to President Nixon. There is a famous
:14:19. > :14:25.shot of them in the Oval Office. That is in there. He wrote that
:14:26. > :14:29.letter on the plane to the White House, all to get a police badge.
:14:30. > :14:39.People are fascinated by the book. It is in its eighth print run, so
:14:40. > :14:45.well done. We thought it would be perfect if we had some words written
:14:46. > :14:54.especially for us. We asked Elvis Mcgonagall to write about the place
:14:55. > :14:59.that was special to him. About 11 years ago my wife and I decided to
:15:00. > :15:05.come to Dorset and live in Purbeck. It is not an island as such but has
:15:06. > :15:08.the feel of one. I was born and bred 500 miles away in Scotland and had
:15:09. > :15:13.never lived in the countryside before. I had always lived in cities
:15:14. > :15:18.and in the depths of our first few winters here I did sometimes think,
:15:19. > :15:25.oh, dear, we have come to the countryside by mistake. I work as a
:15:26. > :15:30.stand-up poet. I guess you can best describe what I do as performing
:15:31. > :15:38.political satire and a bit of celebrity bashing. The finger of
:15:39. > :15:48.fudge is not enough for the city. These stars and stripes fly over
:15:49. > :15:52.formal -- Bournville Village. The tradition goes back before the
:15:53. > :15:56.printing press was invented. You are just sharing words with people. It
:15:57. > :16:00.is great to share them with a live audience. It is fantastic living
:16:01. > :16:05.here. There are not many distractions and there is room to
:16:06. > :16:11.think. I often write lines while walking in spectacular scenery. It
:16:12. > :16:15.helps me see the bigger picture when writing about the high poxy of
:16:16. > :16:21.politicians or venal bankers. We're walking on hundreds of millions of
:16:22. > :16:26.years of history. It keeps things in perspective. What I have tried to do
:16:27. > :16:30.is capture some of the spirit Purbeck and some of its marvels of
:16:31. > :16:34.fossil and stone. It did not come quickly. It was like chipping away
:16:35. > :16:39.at some stone and finding out what it would be like in the middle. It
:16:40. > :16:48.was an interesting exercise. I was off piste in terms of subject matter
:16:49. > :16:55.and style. Cast adrift from city sirens island, a sculpture shape
:16:56. > :17:04.from limestone, clay and shale, old rocks, it's steep backbone, the
:17:05. > :17:11.jokes buying of a whale. Land ploughed and drilled, framed by wind
:17:12. > :17:18.wracked Cliff, shifting sand and Heath. Crowned with a castle
:17:19. > :17:24.shattered silhouette, failed in ghostly sea fog on wet dog days,
:17:25. > :17:33.they'd instar paid silent midnight sky is where memories are cloaked in
:17:34. > :17:53.Mason 's dust. The muscle, grit and sweat built crispy drawls --
:17:54. > :17:58.cathedrals. As barrels clattered on the flagstone floor. Wood panelled
:17:59. > :18:04.walls in grained with song and story, laughter echoing voices gone
:18:05. > :18:16.before. Mecca for apostles of the fossil. The Greiner Don 's old
:18:17. > :18:23.coastal footpath. 200 million sun cracked years bleached white. With
:18:24. > :18:27.hammer on chisel they awaken. I unbound beauty slowly brought to
:18:28. > :18:36.light, engraved deep in a past long forsaken. The Gilchrist tourist
:18:37. > :18:44.shilling bills tills. This is not England set in aspic. Life draws
:18:45. > :18:51.breath from these ancient green hills. A carving hewn from
:18:52. > :18:54.prehistoric bone. A deep theme of peace, space to think and dream. A
:18:55. > :18:58.living work of art, peace, space to think and dream. A
:18:59. > :19:04.stone. Thank you. Prose poetry. peace, space to think and dream. A
:19:05. > :19:11.Let's get to Dylan Thomas. Let's get to you, Hay Festival and Dylan
:19:12. > :19:16.Thomas. I did not know him personally. I'd agree may feel like
:19:17. > :19:26.you do now. That is part of the thing with Dylan Thomas. I am sure
:19:27. > :19:29.Alex will back me up. It does feel like part of your heritage. I went
:19:30. > :19:35.to school in Swansea where he is from. When I went to school in
:19:36. > :19:41.Swansea, although it was a different time, it all meshes in together.
:19:42. > :19:45.There is a very special event tomorrow night because it is the
:19:46. > :19:49.There is a very special event centenary of Dylan Thomas. What is
:19:50. > :19:56.your part in that? It is me, Charis Matthews and Tom Hollander and we
:19:57. > :20:01.are reading some of the poems. These are letters to an American lover.
:20:02. > :20:04.They are amazing. You know it is Dylan Thomas writing it because the
:20:05. > :20:09.language is so wonderful and emotive. We are reading some of
:20:10. > :20:20.those. That is tomorrow night here at Hay. I think it is probably sold
:20:21. > :20:29.out! Have you ever considered playing him? Tom Hollander has
:20:30. > :20:35.recently. He was fantastic. I think my resemblance to Al Pacino is so...
:20:36. > :20:37.So strong, I think it would be very hard for an audience
:20:38. > :20:45.So strong, I think it would be very Dylan. That is a great shame. What
:20:46. > :20:51.is going on between Dylan. That is a great shame. What
:20:52. > :20:57.Presley? You had him rice the other day. What a lot of people do not
:20:58. > :21:01.know is that Tim and Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the last song on the
:21:02. > :21:08.last album this album and, foolishly, I have agreed to sing it
:21:09. > :21:18.at this big event with proper singers. -- Elvis album. Will you
:21:19. > :21:28.preview it now? I will give you a little bit. I do not think we have
:21:29. > :21:37.time. It is a big, du Matic ballot. -- dramatic ballad. You may not mind
:21:38. > :21:41.that it is over but I have a different point of view. If you want
:21:42. > :21:49.to hear any more, you have to come to the event. That is happening at
:21:50. > :21:56.the Royal Festival Hall. Will you be nervous? Of course I will. Is it
:21:57. > :22:02.good to put yourself out of your comfort zone? Not really. The
:22:03. > :22:11.comfort zone is very comfortable. Once you find your comfort zone,
:22:12. > :22:20.I've taken a stake in it. I did not see the Italy Trip. Let's see a bit
:22:21. > :22:28.of it now. You know the Coffey commercial he did. Coffee is a way
:22:29. > :22:38.of life. And Al Pacino script will all have Coffey marks on it. You go,
:22:39. > :22:44.that is Al Pacino. That is another reason why he liked crunchy nut
:22:45. > :22:53.cornflakes. Two brooding, intense actors promoting products they
:22:54. > :22:59.genuinely love. Al Pacino again. How much of a dent in the budget did the
:23:00. > :23:07.fact of 50 make? You had to put loads of it on. You have agreed to
:23:08. > :23:16.deliver a story within 25 words. Not yet. You have done that for us. The
:23:17. > :23:21.25 words story on the way. Also shortly we will be finding out how
:23:22. > :23:27.illustrators got on with creating covers for the winners of the 500
:23:28. > :23:35.words competition. We had the six winners from the 108,000 entrants.
:23:36. > :23:36.They could not have been more enthusiastic. Here is a taste of
:23:37. > :23:53.what happened. I would love to announce the
:23:54. > :23:58.winner. In the bronze category for ten to 13-year-olds. It is a
:23:59. > :24:08.brilliant story. I think it is fantastic. It is Albert Onions And
:24:09. > :24:21.Me. How glad are you that your teacher forced to into this? Quite
:24:22. > :24:29.glad, actually. Next, Nicolas Lockhart. I think it is time to hear
:24:30. > :24:36.the gold medal winning story. Paloma Faith, it is over to you. There is
:24:37. > :24:47.no point in not opening your letter. I have tried every option, there is
:24:48. > :24:57.no way out. Are you ready? Should Bes. In the margin, with her then
:24:58. > :25:03.handwriting I read with growing horror, for the war did not end in
:25:04. > :25:28.1918. My father never came back from France. We are should bes. No Ideas,
:25:29. > :25:36.George by Robert Jordan. A little boy smiled a strange, eerie smile at
:25:37. > :25:47.Daniel and then they were gone. He was alone. What a story! How about
:25:48. > :25:52.that! That must have been a pleasure to read. Fantastic! Really
:25:53. > :26:00.wonderful. The winners are here, everybody. What was your story
:26:01. > :26:05.about? My story was about a boy who found a statue that came to light.
:26:06. > :26:13.Natalie has done you an illustration. Let's have a look! How
:26:14. > :26:22.cool is that! I you happy? Juliet, what is the name of your story?
:26:23. > :26:25.Should Bes. It was about lots of children not being born because the
:26:26. > :26:29.First World War went on for a year longer. Lucy has done your
:26:30. > :26:40.illustration for you. Let's have a look. Are you happy with that? Yes.
:26:41. > :26:59.Beautiful! Nick, what is your story called? Diary Of A Minotaur. Here is
:27:00. > :27:02.your illustration. How cool are these? I have Susanna, the winner of
:27:03. > :27:16.the ten to 13 gold winner in that category. What was the name of the
:27:17. > :27:27.story? All De Time In The World. He is your illustration. What did you
:27:28. > :27:33.think of it? Lovely, thank you. Your book was called Lost On The
:27:34. > :27:40.Underground. I kept asking my mum when we went to London whether I
:27:41. > :27:46.should stay on the train or get off. ) she told you to get off, didn't
:27:47. > :27:58.she? Here is your cover. Isn't that brilliant! Arabella, you have done
:27:59. > :28:03.one for Robert, who is only seven years and eight months. That is
:28:04. > :28:12.fantastic. Thank you so much, Arabella. We will post it to you.
:28:13. > :28:17.Are you ready for the 25 words story from Rob Brydon? Tell us about the
:28:18. > :28:22.inspiration without giving too much away. The idea came to me when a
:28:23. > :28:28.researcher... That was brilliant. That is all we have time for with
:28:29. > :28:37.regards to the background. The writer at his paper strewn desk. Can
:28:38. > :28:50.I write a story in 25 words? Of course, how difficult can it... ?
:28:51. > :28:55.Very good. Rob Brydon, everybody. I dropped my family at a farmhouse.
:28:56. > :29:01.The farmer was furious so I am going to pop in now and smooth things
:29:02. > :29:07.over. Thank you so much to everyone here at Hay. The written word is so
:29:08. > :29:13.important. I will be back in the studio on Monday.