Fit for Royalty - March 30 - 3.56pm - 2022

Acclaimed biographer Matthew Dennison on his new book ‘The Queen’

Immaculate. That sums up to a ‘t’ the quality and absolute precision of Matthew Dennison’s presentation on his new biography of the Queen. Indeed it was so faultless, I later went out and bought the book (and I think I’ve only ever done that twice over 12 years of covering the festival). And why? I just thought if someone can marshal such rigorous eloquence in delivery, then their book has got to be even better (of course I haven’t read it yet…). But taking the much travelled path of a Royal biographer (the Queen, no less) and making it seem fresh, alive and absolutely relevant is a very rare trick. Suffice to say Dennison’s efforts - already author of nine critically acclaimed works of non-fiction - paid off and brought a much needed ardour to what is generally a black-and-white, by-the-numbers, you’ve bought the T-shirt subject.