SHUSH… IT’S A QUIET (WELL RELATIVELY) DAY TODAY - MARCH 20 - 9.54am

A bit of a literary lie-in

Yes, every festival has to have a day which allows everyone - the speakers, the audience, the organisers - to catch their breath. Which means right now the ‘Green Room’ at The Randolph is currently deserted when normally its heaving. Instead of the often less than dignified rush on the coffee machines, the chirp of mobile phones, the chorus of “dahlings” as everyone greets everyone else they hardly even know, right now all is calm. The first events kick off at 12.00 noon with ‘The Book Lovers’ Miscellany’ and ‘Eccentric Oxford’, both of which smack of that Sunday morning informality that gently eases one into the day. And of course ends with the Festival’s black tie dinner at Keble College (in hindsight, perhaps today’s chance to catch one’s breath should have been put on hold until tomorrow...). Anyway, once the clock strikes 12 (lunchtime ‘12’ that is) audiences can look forward to Monty Don, Robert Peston, Joanne Harris, Madhur Jaffrey, Philip Pullman, Derry Moore and Bob Greenberg.