Following the business of the AGM, patron Simon Brett introduced the speaker, biographer John Coldstream.
John had spent more than thirty years working on the Daily Telegraph and his entertaining and erudite talk was full of amusing anecdotes about the people he had encountered during his long career. He started as a contributor to the ‘Peterborough’ column before becoming deputy then literary editor of the paper.
He worked with many famous people including Max Hastings and Bill Deedes. Dirk Bogarde was a special contributor and reviewer for the paper and he and John became close friends. This resulted in John being asked to write an official biography on Bogarde’s death.
John also spoke of his close links with Chichester Festival Theatre and in particular with the ‘Renew’ project.