00:04Thank you, William, and thank you, Laura. You did such a fantastic job having a reading room here for the
00:10second year running. It's our fourth festival, but it's so lovely to be here at Chatsworth. I can't believe it
00:18was 60 years ago that I first came here, so it's like coming home. So thank you so much for
00:24everything you do.
00:26Now, I'd like to hardly be a more fitting location for a literary festival in Chatsworth, a house that's inspired
00:34and hosted cultural sources, including Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, and William Maintiff's second, amongst many others. Future generations will no
00:45doubt most of the day when William Boyd and Shafak, Bob Harris, and Kate Moss were guests here too.
00:54It's moreover a home to a stunning library of over 17,000 books from across six centuries. Perhaps some of
01:04you might not know there is also a so-called invisible library, here contained by the Humble Titans.
01:12The joke, of course, is that they are spies that think novels. A selection was suggested in the 1960s by
01:21the genius writer, all-hero, and his daughter, Patti Lee Furman, whom I was lucky enough to have met here
01:28at Chatsworth several times.
01:30His brilliant titles include Canine Diet by Nora Bone, In the Sith by Crouton, and Literary Dilemmas by Major Crisis.
01:44I'm quite glad that I didn't commission a book by the beginning of my reading book by the beginning of
01:502020. Given the initial response of the handful of sceptics, it might have been called the long shot by the
01:58fetus.
02:01For even worse, don't do it by that contrarian term, less stopper.
02:07But my feelings would have been better captured in how books can change lives by most of the hope.
02:17I created my reading book simply because, like all of us here, I love books and my life in passing
02:25power, and I want to share that part with others.
02:28In those early days, I had no idea that anybody would be interested. At six years on, we are a
02:37global community of millions, from over a hundred million countries, swapping recommendations, undertaking research, and donating five sources of books
02:48to women's refuges and homeless shelters.
02:53Now, none of this would have happened without a wonderful array of friends.
02:58I was recently reminded of a rather beautiful proverb. If you were to go fast, go alone. If you were
03:06to go far, go together.
03:09The fact we have gone far is due to the incredible support by a huge number of book lovers, writers,
03:17actors, publishers, and above all, readers.
03:22Thanks to all of you, if something were to be written about my reading room today, I think the author
03:29would be much more likely to be Mr. Cliffhanger, Mrs. Page-Turner, or even Miss Bestseller.
03:37And for that, I am deeply grateful to every person in the room.
03:43I shall finish now, as it's time to hand over to the Poetry Pharmacy for their performance.
03:49By way of encouragement, remember Paddy Lee-Fellers of White's words.
03:55Poetry is a funeral where England can take on all challenges.
04:01Hear, hear, and thank you.
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