'There's a lot riding on Hay 2008'

May 19 2008 Western Mail

It’s just three days until the Hay Festival opens. Director Peter Florence allows us to take a peek inside his diary, detailing the last-minute preparations

Wednesday, April 30

The festival is launched online. This is our biggest programme and we’re expecting 130,000 people. Glastonbury sold out in the first half hour online. There’s a lot riding on this. At 12.04am two people from Swansea log on and buy four tickets for Ken Dodd. Then nothing at all...

Friday, May 2

It transpires that “midnight on May 1” to most people means end of the day rather than beginning of the day. About 40,000 tickets are sold between midnight and 3am (on May 2). Phew. Alan Bennett, Gore Vidal, Jeremy Clarkson and Jimmy Carter sell out.

Saturday, May 3

Tents fly up on the site. Over the course of the day an open green field turns into a village.

Sunday, May 4

I read Kathleen Turner’s memoir Send Yourself Roses as prep for interview. She’s such a goddess. The book’s hilarious. How refreshing to find an actor so utterly without luvvy rubbish.

Wednesday, May 7

Hillary Clinton wins Indiana but is trashed in North Carolina. Back in the autumn, when she was the presumptive Democratic Candidate, we asked Carl Bernstein to profile her at Hay. Then Obama- mania. Then her fightback. We investigate getting a satellite link to Obama’s bus.

Thursday, May 8

The second wave of contractors fill the site with bleacher seating, windows and doors.

Friday, May 9

Debate in the office about deafness. Deaf people are big readers. Apparently there are nine million people in the UK with a hearing impairment, of whom only 50,000 use sign language. Amend our access plans to involve immediate transcription and “lipspeaking” (think Singing in the Rain).

Saturday, May 10

Very aggressive journalist writing about the visit of the Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, demands to know whether I’m gay. Tell him that my sexuality isn’t the issue, and nor is my atheism, but that if this guy is the first bishop not to be invited to the Lambeth Conference then he should be given a mic somewhere so people can hear him. 

Monday, May 12

Read John Irving’s World According to Garp as prep for interview. Convinced this is the greatest American novel of the last 30 years.

Thursday, May 15

Wait on the phone for an hour to speak to Garry Kasparov in Moscow about his lecture about Putin. This guy is god to chess players. Up there in the pantheon with Pele, Ali, Tiger Woods and Gareth Edwards. But more aggressive. And seriously heroic in his post-sport career as the leader of the opposition in Russia.

Saturday, May 17

We’re hooking up with Music Theatre Wales this year to premiere their new opera For You, written by Ian McEwan and Michael Berkeley. The premiere is now almost full so Theatr Brycheiniog in Brecon is arranging an extra matinee performance on the Sunday. Fab – sell-out opera. Great results from our kids’ competition online. We’re asking them to nominate their favourite fictional heroes. So far Jacqueline Wilson’s Tracy Beaker is pipping James Bond and Indiana Jones, with Harry Potter in fourth. Girlpower.

The merchandising stuff. Pacamacs – to guarantee sunshine. We’re keeping the fans and the deck chairs under wraps for now. Don’t tempt fate….

The Hay Festival runs from May 22 to June 1. Visit www.hayfestival.com

For more on the festival don’t miss Saturday’s Magazine in the Western Mail

Wales Book of the Year shortlist a highlight

THE announcement of the shortlist of the Wales Book of the Year will be one of the Welsh literary highlights at this year’s Hay Festival.

The authors in the running for the £10,000 prizes in both the Welsh and English language categories will be revealed on May 26.

During the festival, there will also be an opportunity to meet the editors and authors of the Parthian Books/Library of Wales classic collection at an evening reception.

Meanwhile, if you fancy some laughs, visit the 2008 Hay Comedy Fringe, which will be running from May 24 to 26 in Baskerville Hall, Clyro. For full details, visit at www.haycomedyfringe.co.uk