Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town. You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com
The twentieth-anniversary edition of Harrogate’s Crime Writing Festival went out with a bang on Sunday, with Lucy Worsley, acclaimed historian, curator and broadcaster, filling the final special-guest spot of the weekend.
Following the publication of her latest book, Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman, Worsley gave Sunday’s crowd an insight into the life of the beloved novelist (a woman whose books, they say, are outsold only by Shakespeare and the Bible). And how very apt that a celebration of the Queen of Crime should provide the grand finale to a weekend’s worth of the genre in all its glory, at a festival with Christie as its very raison d’etre. Christie is, as many Harrogate locals know, inextricably linked to our town’s history. It was in December 1926 that the already fêted Christie, grief-stricken by her mother’s recent death and her husband’s infidelity, seemingly disappeared without a trace. Eleven days later, she was discovered at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel – or the Old Swan, as we know it today.
Simply walking through the corridors of this grand old hotel is enough to spark anyone’s imagination, but for Christie fans, it must be magic to picture her there almost one hundred years ago. It is an enchantingly historic setting, but also one which was for Christie, according to Worsley, quite literally an escape from reality.
The novelist’s “disappearance” was subject to wildly varying interpretations. The discovery of her abandoned car led many to speculate she had taken her own life, yet, without a body, a mammoth police investigation ensued, a public circus involving all manner of theories and personalities: in her book, Worsley explains how Arthur Conan Doyle was said to have employed a psychic to connect to Agatha via one of her discarded gloves.
When a member of the hotel staff eventually revealed Christie’s location to authorities, she was found alive and seemingly well, but, as she claimed, with no memory whatsoever of events. The press pack claimed that such a tale had guilty written all over it: that either she had meant to frame her husband for murder, or it was an elaborate publicity stunt in the style of one of her very own detective novels (indeed, sales of her books went through the roof at the time).
What does Worsley think was really going on with Agatha during these fateful days? She presents evidence to suggest that Christie may have suffered a rare psychological condition described as “dissociative fugue”, thought to be a mechanism by which someone extracts themselves from a stressful situation as a form of self-protection. They forget who they are, taking on a new identity and reality. In Agatha’s case, she became Mrs Teresa Neele from South Africa; she appeared to enjoy her stay, participating in activities and making friends, apparently oblivious to the manhunt.
Worsley has found historical records, as well as autobiographical hints in Christie’s own later novels, to suggest it likely the author subsequently visited a psychotherapist, reinforcing the theory that Agatha was unwell. Worsley decries the injustice of the media frenzy and its enduring impact on Christie, writing “… people ever since have suspected her of duplicity and lies.”
It was, Worsley believes, a terrible time for the author, but asserts that 1926 also acted as a watershed year, one which marked a new phase in Christie’s life and writing. As the historian puts it, “… act one of her life was over […] and even she had begun to see that within an ending, may lie a new beginning”. She divorced her first husband, remarried, and lived out the rest of her truly remarkable life: the author of some eighty books, celebrated the world over. Christie is part of the fabric of the cultural history of this country, and of the small spa town of Harrogate, which, for eleven days in 1926, was home to a slice of crime-writing history.
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Nicola Sturgeon visits Harrogate’s crime writing festival
Former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited Harrogate today for the second day of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.
More than 17,000 tickets have been sold for the four-day festival, which ends on Sunday with a discussion featuring TV historian and author Lucy Worsley.
Today’s special guest is Ann Cleeves, creator of Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez, who was due to be interviewed by Vaseem Khan at 8.30pm.
But the attendees also included Ms Sturgeon, who stood down after more than eight years as First Minister in March.
Arts charity Harrogate International Festivals, which organises the event at the Old Swan each year, uploaded this image of her looking relaxed alongside fellow Scot Val McDermid on its social media sites today.
Ms Sturgeon is no stranger to the festival — in 2019 she interviewed Ms McDermid at the event.
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- Thousands descend on Harrogate for crime writing festival
Thousands of people have begun to arrive in Harrogate for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, which begins today.
The annual four-day festival sees Harrogate become the centre of the UK literary scene, with numerous best-selling authors and celebrities in town. More than 17,000 tickets have been sold.
This year’s line-up includes TV historian and author Lucy Worsley, who will be interviewed by broadcaster Natasha Knight on Sunday’s final day.
Jeffrey Deaver, who has sold 150 million books worldwide, will be interviewed by broadcaster and author Mark Lawson on Saturday.
Tomorrow’s big names include Val McDermid while tonight sees an appearance by Ann Cleeves as well as the announcement of the winner of the crime novel of the year award.
As usual, the event will be held at the Old Swan, which is where crime writer Agatha Christie was found after she went missing in 1926.
Organised by Harrogate International Festivals, 2023 festival chair and award-winning crime and thriller author Vaseem Khan has curated this year’s programme.
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Hot Seat: The man bringing international artists to a village near Harrogate
In June every year, something close to a miracle occurs in a small village 11 miles from Harrogate.
Major names in the international arts world converge for 10 days on Aldborough — a beautiful and historic place but hardly known for capturing the zeitgeist.
For arts lovers, however, an annual pilgrimage to the Northern Aldborough Festival has become part of the summer arts scene. They park in fields, drink Pimm’s in a churchyard marquee and get to see the kind of names who usually appear in less soulful venues in Leeds or York.
The festival, which grew out of a fundraising initiative to restore the church organ in 1994, consistently attracts major international talent.
This year’s line-up, from June 15 to 24, includes the likes of South Korean pianist Sunwook Kim, TV historian Lucy Worsley, trumpeter Matilda Lloyd and a singing competition judged by a panel that includes Dame Felicity Lott.
Lucy Worsley is among those appearing this year. Credit Hay Festival / Paul Musso
Festival director Robert Ogden, who overseas the programme, is best known locally for running Ogden of Harrogate, the fifth generation family jewellery business on James Street.
But Mr Ogden has strong credentials in the arts world: a former chorister at Westminster Cathedral Choir School in London, he completed a choral scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge before forging a successful career as a countertenor, singing around the world in major productions alongside the likes of Jose Carreras.
Since he became festival director in 2010, the festival line-up has broadened and this year includes spoken word events and jazz as well as classical music and culminates with an outdoor pop music party and fireworks in the grounds of Aldborough Manor.
Mr Ogden says the change reflects his own wide tastes but also acknowledges “we can’t rely on our core audience”.
Robert Ogden
Festival planning is year-round but he takes a two-week break from the jewellery business to focus fully on the festival in the immediate run-up.
He says things are shaping up well this year ahead of Thursday’s opening night. Asked for his personal highlights, he cites Matilda Lloyd, the opening night Haydn opera double bill, Monteverdi’s Vespers and the new £7,000 singing competition. He says:
“Of all the things we have done in the last 15 years this competition is perhaps the most exciting. I’m certain at least one or two of the semi-finalists will be household names in the next few years.
“There’s nothing a festival wants to do more than to unveil and support new talent.”
How does he persuade occasionally temperamental artists to head to the eastern side of Boroughbridge? He says it’s a combination of the festival’s reputation, the St Andrew’s Church acoustics, the setting and the welcome. Aldborough, he says, is the “perfect chamber music space” and there is something undoubtedly magical about it.
St Andrew’s Church in Aldborough
Mr Ogden says he never feels the festival is in competition with the year-round Harrogate International Festivals and thinks there is scope for another local summer arts festival “if it’s marketed well”. Besides Ryedale Festival and Swaledale Festival, competition isn’t fierce.
But it isn’t an easy time in the arts world. Brexit, he says, has denied many emerging artists the opportunities he enjoyed to develop his craft in Europe. The cost of living crisis had had an impact on ticket prices, but Mr Ogden says Aldborough hasn’t made “any major price rises”.
Future festival ideas include live streaming, although digital connectivity in the village isn’t great, and recording music under the Northern Aldborough label.
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He plans to stay at the heart of things, reporting to festival chairman Sir Andrew Lawson-Tancred:
“As long as I feel I still have that creative urge and impetus I will aim to do it as long as they allow me to.”
What is his message for anyone thinking of attending, perhaps for the first time?
“Aldborough is not far to drive from Harrogate. It’s an oasis of calm, the acoustics are wonderful and the welcome is wonderful. Try something new.”
Further information on the Northern Aldborough Festival is available here.
Northern Aldborough Festival reveals 2023 line-upAn appearance by TV historian Lucy Worsley will be among the highlights of this year’s Northern Aldborough Festival.
The line-up for the nine-day festival, which is one of the annual highlights of the Harrogate district arts scene, was revealed today.
Ms Worsley will give a talk on crime writer Agatha Christie on June 19.
Trumpeter Matilda Lloyd, pianist Sunwook Kim and the Armonico Consort will also head to the Roman village for the festival, which runs from June 15 to 24.
Now in its 29th year, the event offers audiences the chance to experience performances normally seen in the world’s biggest concert halls in a rural village setting.
Tickets went on sale for Friends of the Festival today and will be available to the wider public on March 27.
Italian opera and Beethoven
BBC Young Musician of the Year brass winner, trumpet-player Matilda Lloyd will perform a programme from Italian Opera.
Matilda Lloyd. Pic credit: Benjamin Ealovega
The first Asian winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition, Sunwook Kim will play Beethoven’s final sonatas in St Andrew’s Church.
There will be a rare double bill of Haydn’s comedies, The Diva and The Apothecary, presented by the nationally-renowned, Bampton Classical Opera company.
This year also includes the inaugural New Voices Competition, a nationwide hunt for the best classical vocal talent.
Festival director Robert Ogden outside St Andrew’s Church
The jazz ensemble, The Tim Kliphuis Sextet, will perform at the Old Hall in North Deighton and the vocal ensemble, Armonico Consort, will perform Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 in St Andrew’s Church.
Further details are available here.
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