The 75th Cheltenham Literature Festival this October was a real cracker. I went to three events and every one of them was brilliant.

I chose Peter Godwin’s workshop on Memoir. Lots of practical writing tips you’ve heard before but still great for a recap, although it was useful to learn the difference between Memoir and Autobiography with Peter suggesting that the latter should only be attempted by either famous or extraordinary people. You need to write a journal he said and use the material in your memoir. A former Foreign Correspondent for the BBC, his book is entitled ‘Exit Wounds’, because when in a war zone he was informed that it’s not the entry wound of a gun shot that kills you but the exit wound. I guess that’s true of our emotional baggage too.

The next event I chose was entitled ‘How to grow old disgracefully’. Wouldn’t we all want to know that?

Sorry about the poor image which almost chops Fern Britton out of the picture, but it was her and Prue Leith leading the session who had produced several books between them.

Prue’s entitled ‘How to stuff a mushroom’ contained cooking tips and cheats with the suggestion that if you’re too busy to stuff a mushroom, then you are too busy!

Or Fern’s book, ‘The Older I Get…’ subtitled ‘How I repowered my life’. This was the one I bought.

Both women suggested that their books were about their journey and any tips that could be gleaned from them for the reader, but not ‘self help’ books with all the answers. What I liked about Fern’s book though is that at the end of each chapter there is a list of quotes from her or a mini quiz to check how you’re doing. I also bought another of her books, ‘the Good Servant’ all about Marion Crawford or ‘Crawfie’ as she was known, the governess to the young Princess Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. The book is told from Crawfie’s point of view and as a keen royalist, I am really enjoying it.

After getting very wet in the floods, I made my bedraggled way to a water logged tent to hear Mark Cummings, an ex-BBC Gloucestershire radio presenter talk about Glorious Gloucestershire! Despite the weather, I was really glad to be there as he made us feel the privilege of living in such an amazingly beautiful county which is also home to so many amazing people.

There was Lewis Carroll who resided for a time in Cheltenham. ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’ it is believed was based upon one of Lewis’ friends in Charlton Kings on the East side of Cheltenham whose daughter was called Alice. The family house had an amazing guilded mirror in it – Mark showed us an image of it.

Then, there’s Laurie Lee who lived in the Slad Valley near Stroud. Mark interviewed a Rosalind Buckland who he is convinced is the real Rosie from Lee’s ‘Cider with Rosie’. She told him that nothing really happened under the haystack!

The author Charles Dickens liked Gloucestershire and Jane Austen visited here to take the waters of the Spa made famous by George III.

One of the most colourful political independents of our town was called Dancing Ken who stood for the Monster Raving Looney party. His agenda was simple – water pistols for all and soft toilet paper for pensioners. An English gentleman with a truly English sense of humour!

Then of course, there’s Jilly Cooper with her horse and sex stories. Her book,’Rivals’ can currently be viewed on the Disney+ channel. Jilly’s inspiration comes from the fact that we are famous in Cheltenham for our jump racecourse which is one of the most prodigious in the country and where the Festival is run each March over four days.

However, let’s not detract from the Literature Festival which is the oldest in the country and began 75 years ago. Long may it last.