A Voyage Around the Queen (In person)
Virginia Woolf compared her to a caterpillar; Haile Selassie gave her a gold tiara; Dirk Bogarde watched Death in Venice with her; Andy Warhol envied her fame; Donald Trump offended her; EM Forster confessed he would have married her, if only she had been a boy.
Queen Elizabeth II was the most famous person on earth. First appearing on the cover of Time magazine at the age of three, her countenance has been reproduced – in photographs, on stamps, on the notes and coins of thirty different currencies – more than any since Jesus. Over the course of her ninety-six years, she was likely introduced to a greater number of different people than anyone who has ever lived. And yet she was naturally reserved and assiduously private. Even her biographers have managed to write around the most fascinating aspects of who she was. Until now…
Craig Brown, award-winning and bestselling author of One Two Three Four and Ma’am Darling and one of the funniest writers of our time, has now turned his kaleidoscopic attention, hilarious wit and sharp social commentary to one of the most guarded women who ever lived. He discusses his unconventional and unforgettable new biography, A Voyage Around the Queen, with Daisy Goodwin who, as writer and creator of ITV’s Victoria and author of Diva, a novel about Maria Callas, knows a few things herself about queens and fame.
’This book is, dare I say, majestic. Craig Brown has no peers – I would curtsey to him if I met him.' — Marina Hyde
Craig Brown has been writing the parodic celebrity diary for Private Eye since 1989. He has written for a rich variety of publications, including the Daily Mail, the Guardian, the New Statesman and the Spectator. His books include One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time, which won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, and Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret, which won the James Tait Black Award and The South Bank Show Sky Arts Award..
Daisy Goodwin’s work as a TV producer and presenter includes Reader I Married Him, Bookworm and The Nation’s Favourite Poems; she is also the creator of Grand Designs and the hit ITV drama Victoria. She is the author of Silver River, a memoir, as well as bestselling novels: My Last Duchess, The Fortune Hunter, Victoria and, most recently, Diva. She is a Trustee of The London Library.
Craig Brown’s A Voyage Around the Queen and Daisy Goodwin’s Diva will be available to buy at the event and online from our partner bookshop Hatchards.
NB This event will take place in person at The London Library. Doors (and the bar) will open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. Please see our Event Access Guidelines before you arrive.
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