Wednesday, 4 October 2023 Contact us

‘A dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind…’ - March 30 - 11.24am - 2022

Philosopher Stephen Law suggests ‘How to Explore Weird Things’

So yes I felt a tad disappointed.
After all, any event whose title claims ‘How to Think About Weird Things’  is sure to attract a kaleidoscopic crowd of Venusians, Greys, Klingons or participants from the ‘Real Housewives of…’ tv series (or at least their Earth-bound groupies). Right?
Er… no!. Instead, a very ‘normal’ audience sat very normally waiting to be transported to worlds, planes and dimensions of unimaginable weirdness.
And things indeed got off to a cracking start when a man whom I assumed to be our speaker stood up, walked over to the microphone and stared at us with great solemnity.
Just like those wonderfully formal but eerie introductions to such classic Sixties American sci-fi series as ‘The Twilight Zone’ and ‘The Outer Limits’, here stood a gloriously austere, impressively grave and brilliantly earnest individual, immaculately, tastefully and ‘economically’ attired, whose welcome sounded practically…hell, Churchillian (deep, full of resonance and loaded with Conan Doyle jeopardy, it was pitch perfect for the occasion).
Settling then into my chair, I sat back and prepared to be ‘transported’, Enterprise style, to some strange yet exotic locale, bound by neither time nor the laws of physics.
Imagine then my surprise when he simply thanked us for turning up, pointed out the fire exits, asked us to turn off our phones and sat down, never to utter a word again.
Meanwhile, our actual speaker, philosopher and academic Dr Stephen Law, genially steered us through the rights, wrongs and faux pas of believing in every fuzzy black-and-white photograph, camp fire reminiscence and misidentified radar blip that might lead us to believe that ‘The Truth is [indeed] Out There’.
Great fun!

FT Weekend Title partner University of Oxford Netflix European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme BBC World Service International radio partner Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Cervantes Institute, London Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Supporters of the festival green room Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme The Feathers Hotel Woodstock festival hotel John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Emily Rose and James Marrow Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson George Warren Pank Koria CEO of Project People Lucian Hudson Carole and John Allen David Isaac Jill Dunsmore Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Marlene Hauser Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival New College Worcester College Worcester College Lincoln College Lincoln College St Cross College St Cross College Trinity College Trinity College Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner TORVA Books which change you, your mind, your world Transworld Doubleday Doubleday Bantam Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Project People Royal Academy of Arts British Academy Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily The Oxford Times Regional media partner BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford Critchleys Accountants to the festival The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford Brookes University Siren Communications Siren Communications - corporate consultants OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders Chêne Bleu Wines of Provence La Leccia Flip through Flanders Literature Ireland Confucius Institute Pusey House James Currey Society The Wild Geese

FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival sponsors, donors & partners

FT Weekend Title partner University of Oxford Netflix European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme BBC World Service International radio partner Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Cervantes Institute, London Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Supporters of the festival green room Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme The Feathers Hotel Woodstock festival hotel John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Emily Rose and James Marrow Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson George Warren Pank Koria CEO of Project People Lucian Hudson Carole and John Allen David Isaac Jill Dunsmore Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Marlene Hauser Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival New College Worcester College Worcester College Lincoln College Lincoln College St Cross College St Cross College Trinity College Trinity College Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner TORVA Books which change you, your mind, your world Transworld Doubleday Doubleday Bantam Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Project People Royal Academy of Arts British Academy Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily The Oxford Times Regional media partner BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford Critchleys Accountants to the festival The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford Brookes University Siren Communications Siren Communications - corporate consultants OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders Chêne Bleu Wines of Provence La Leccia Flip through Flanders Literature Ireland Confucius Institute Pusey House James Currey Society The Wild Geese