Emirates Festival of Literature opened in Dubai last night with Michael Palin as one of the guest speakers. I cashed in my Emirates airpoints for a ticket and headed off to opening night with a group of ladies from my school.
Michael's synopsis was, "40 years with out a proper job". He spoke in a most amusing way about his interest in geography and travel, and acting. While he father was always on his case about getting a proper job, Michael believes like so many, that the jobs he has done have all been fun, things he was interested in and not really that 9 - 5 daily grind of a "proper" job. He began talking breifly about his school days in Sheffield, his time at university from where he became interested in acting and writing skits. From university three of his pals got together and wrote Monty Python, The Flying Circus, The Life of Brian. Just as Monty Python was coming to an end he was approached by BBC to front, Around the world in 80 Days, reliving the travels of Phileas Fogg. And from there he has gone on to travel and write Pole to Pole, Full Circle, The Himalayan Adventure etc, and front all those wonderful travel programmes. He told us how he had been to Dubai on Day 17 of Around the World, way back on about 10 October 1988.
Rather than lecture to us in his humorous way he showed some photos of his trips, and talked about the adventures behind the photos, and occasionally acted out small skits to push home the point. This was a very special night and Michael an entertaining speaker. You guessed it, at interval I went out into the foyer and bought a signed copy of Around the World for the princely sum of 45 AED. A bargain!
The remainder of the evening included the Dubai Philharmonic Orchestra an interview of a Nigerian poet and human rights activist, an Emirati poet and a brass band. It was a long night, with a very varied programme, however an awesome evening to be part of.
As Dubai presents itself to the world as an ideal venue for sporting and cultural fixtures, I am just in awe of the opportunities that are on offer to the general public which as a whole appears to be mostly the expat community. Having such a wealth of players, in the generic sense, from the world's stage, performing in the Emirates I really am fortunate to be able to participate in this environment. While prices for events are tiered, they are not hugely expensive for a basic entry ticket. Last night was 195 AED or 8,000 air-miles, which in NZ terms is approx $72.I was seated about 10 rows from the front. So would you pass this up?
3 comments:
When you said Palin I wondered what Sarah would have to say of interest and sanity. Phew! It was the ubiquitous Michael Palin. And what a stunning individual he is. You are a lucky chap Jocelyn.
You culture vulture! What an interesting evening that must have been. I've seen many of his TV series and he is good.
Yes, you are taking advantage of every opportunity to soak up the culture, entertainments, experiences etc that are available up there. I guess we are just a teeny bit envious - would have loved to have heard the orchestra.
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