TAKE A LEAF FROM ROBERT FROST’S ‘THE ROAD NOT TAKEN’ - MARCH 7 - 2.25PM - 2019

The eternal appeal of the undiscovered jewel

What I like best about the Festival are not the big name authors who draw the crowds (even though, every year I can be found eagerly queuing outside the Sheldonian Theatre for the Jo Brands, Ranulph Fiennes’ and Lucy Worsleys of this world) but rather the lesser known speakers whose talks are often the most surprising. In recent years for instance, there was the memorable presentation on conspiracy theories (I still dine out on an audience query concerning Prince Phillip, satellites, sex and the CIA), a talk on the origins of gin (never have I stumbled so shamelessly from a history lesson) and a morning at Oxford’s Story Museum devoted to Star Wars (the procession of mini Vaders in masks, capes, lightsabers with grandparents in tow was little short of joyous). So my advice when choosing events this year is simple: spare a thought for the intriguing titles - * ‘Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do’ Mar 31 * ‘The Creativity Code: How AI is Learning to Write, Paint and Think’ April 1 * ‘Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal’ April 3 * ‘The Nocturnal Brain: Tales of Nightmares and Neuroscience’ April 4 * ‘The Gendered Brain: Shattering the Myth of the Female Brain’ April 5 * ‘Plagues and the Paradox of Progress: Why the World Is Getting Healthier in Worrisome Ways’ April 7 You won’t be disappointed.