Monthly Drinks, Networking & Nattering
David hosts a variety of networking events at different venues under different badges and past guests have included:
Dominic Palmer
Our final guest before the summer break was poet Dominic Palmer who gave a fascinating insight into the world of poetry during his natter with David before reading some of his own poems and others from well know and unknown poets around the world. Watch the video here.
Chris Moore He left the Beeb in 2012 after more than 30 years of loyal service in the News Room. “these scabrous and often hilarious diaries suggest that, along the way, it had driven him halfway round the bend with rage and frustration. The diaries cover the glory days of Greg Dyke, the most blokeish of all Directors-General.”
Chris Moore worked as a senior journalist in the newsroom of the World Service, that ancient redoubt which maintained Reithian rigour and standards long after the rest of the corporation had abandoned them as old, fusty and irrelevant. Watch the video here.
Paul Watkins. Paul is a vet, well a bit more than a vet! A keen military historian, who has written several books conducted the research into Lt Fox, his career and his deeds in the First World War, with the help of his family. Lt Fox who became the first member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) to be killed in the First World War, has been honoured with a portrait at the college’s offices in London, 100 years after his death.
Paul’s latest book is the story of a quite remarkable man, Dr Bill Frankland who will be 107 on 19th March. I had lunch with Dr Bill just a few months ago at The Charterhouse, where I am a member and he lives and the conversation was alive! From Hell Island to Hay Fever is the story of Br Bill’s life. This is the biography of a truly remarkable man. Growing up in the Lake District, he qualified as a doctor in 1938. A year later he joined the Army, and served his country throughout World War 2. It was only the toss of a coin which saved him from certain death in Singapore in February 1942. Imprisoned on Hell Island he suffered terribly under his Japanese captors. After the war he decided not to talk about his experiences. Instead, focussing on his career in medicine, he worked for Sir Alexander Fleming, developed the pollen count and helped thousands of patients suffering from hay fever. An internationally acclaimed expert, he has treated presidents and paupers around the world. Using his own words, this book tells the story of an outstanding doctor, one who has lived through two world wars, served his King and Country and made major contributions to medicine.
Dr Bill Frankland credits his one hour of daily exercise for his longevity and sharpness, especially repeatedly rising from a sitting position.
Paul joined us to talk about his books and Dr Bill's life. You can watch the video here.
Steffen Hou. He had always loved telling stories. As a kid he wrote to his family and friends numerous letters just for the fun of it and later decided that storytelling should also be his career. Though his desire to become a journalist was due to a sad background. He's British but lives in the US and moved to America after watching the Heysel tragedy.
He has just written a book about innocent Americans on Death Row. You can see the interview here.
Maurice Chittenden – A Fleet Street journalist for almost 40 years who was sacked from the Times/Sunday Times in August 2016 joined us. Old school to the core and described by Andrew Neil as “one of Fleet Street’s most colourful characters. The “King of the Blankies” will be regaling stories of times gone by and talking about his book, “Exclusive, the last days of Fleet Street. My part in its downfall” . See the interview here.
Dick Durham joined us at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for our first event of 2019. His book Guttersnipe!" has been described as "that rare thing among the egotistical memoirs of Fleet Street: it is candid". His chat with David was equally candid regaling stories of a by-gone age He also spoke with compassion and feeling about his book, "The State of Magnolia: Diary of a mind lost”, about looking after his mother while dying of dementia. See the video here
Humphrey Hawksley joined us, whose work as a BBC foreign correspondent has taken him to crises on every continent. He was expelled from Sri Lanka, opened the BBC’s television bureau in China, arrested in Serbia and initiated a global campaign against enslaved children in the chocolate industry. The campaign continues today. He had with him copies of his latest books, both published in 2018, Asian Waters and a US-Russia thriller, Man on Ice. Read more about him here and see the interview here.
We were joined by long time LPC member, Paul Thomas. Alas the footage of this natter on the stairs to the Johnson Bar requires some technical work, but Paul took us through his life from Fleet Street to writing books and the second coming of Dracula in the modern age!
Our first guest for the revamped evenings back in the London Press Club’s spiritual home of Fleet Street was Rebecca Ley, who the following week was announced as the winner of the “Guardian, not the Booker prize” and David’s interview with Rebecca after the announcement can be seen at here
Dominic Palmer
Our final guest before the summer break was poet Dominic Palmer who gave a fascinating insight into the world of poetry during his natter with David before reading some of his own poems and others from well know and unknown poets around the world. Watch the video here.
Chris Moore He left the Beeb in 2012 after more than 30 years of loyal service in the News Room. “these scabrous and often hilarious diaries suggest that, along the way, it had driven him halfway round the bend with rage and frustration. The diaries cover the glory days of Greg Dyke, the most blokeish of all Directors-General.”
Chris Moore worked as a senior journalist in the newsroom of the World Service, that ancient redoubt which maintained Reithian rigour and standards long after the rest of the corporation had abandoned them as old, fusty and irrelevant. Watch the video here.
Paul Watkins. Paul is a vet, well a bit more than a vet! A keen military historian, who has written several books conducted the research into Lt Fox, his career and his deeds in the First World War, with the help of his family. Lt Fox who became the first member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) to be killed in the First World War, has been honoured with a portrait at the college’s offices in London, 100 years after his death.
Paul’s latest book is the story of a quite remarkable man, Dr Bill Frankland who will be 107 on 19th March. I had lunch with Dr Bill just a few months ago at The Charterhouse, where I am a member and he lives and the conversation was alive! From Hell Island to Hay Fever is the story of Br Bill’s life. This is the biography of a truly remarkable man. Growing up in the Lake District, he qualified as a doctor in 1938. A year later he joined the Army, and served his country throughout World War 2. It was only the toss of a coin which saved him from certain death in Singapore in February 1942. Imprisoned on Hell Island he suffered terribly under his Japanese captors. After the war he decided not to talk about his experiences. Instead, focussing on his career in medicine, he worked for Sir Alexander Fleming, developed the pollen count and helped thousands of patients suffering from hay fever. An internationally acclaimed expert, he has treated presidents and paupers around the world. Using his own words, this book tells the story of an outstanding doctor, one who has lived through two world wars, served his King and Country and made major contributions to medicine.
Dr Bill Frankland credits his one hour of daily exercise for his longevity and sharpness, especially repeatedly rising from a sitting position.
Paul joined us to talk about his books and Dr Bill's life. You can watch the video here.
Steffen Hou. He had always loved telling stories. As a kid he wrote to his family and friends numerous letters just for the fun of it and later decided that storytelling should also be his career. Though his desire to become a journalist was due to a sad background. He's British but lives in the US and moved to America after watching the Heysel tragedy.
He has just written a book about innocent Americans on Death Row. You can see the interview here.
Maurice Chittenden – A Fleet Street journalist for almost 40 years who was sacked from the Times/Sunday Times in August 2016 joined us. Old school to the core and described by Andrew Neil as “one of Fleet Street’s most colourful characters. The “King of the Blankies” will be regaling stories of times gone by and talking about his book, “Exclusive, the last days of Fleet Street. My part in its downfall” . See the interview here.
Dick Durham joined us at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for our first event of 2019. His book Guttersnipe!" has been described as "that rare thing among the egotistical memoirs of Fleet Street: it is candid". His chat with David was equally candid regaling stories of a by-gone age He also spoke with compassion and feeling about his book, "The State of Magnolia: Diary of a mind lost”, about looking after his mother while dying of dementia. See the video here
Humphrey Hawksley joined us, whose work as a BBC foreign correspondent has taken him to crises on every continent. He was expelled from Sri Lanka, opened the BBC’s television bureau in China, arrested in Serbia and initiated a global campaign against enslaved children in the chocolate industry. The campaign continues today. He had with him copies of his latest books, both published in 2018, Asian Waters and a US-Russia thriller, Man on Ice. Read more about him here and see the interview here.
We were joined by long time LPC member, Paul Thomas. Alas the footage of this natter on the stairs to the Johnson Bar requires some technical work, but Paul took us through his life from Fleet Street to writing books and the second coming of Dracula in the modern age!
Our first guest for the revamped evenings back in the London Press Club’s spiritual home of Fleet Street was Rebecca Ley, who the following week was announced as the winner of the “Guardian, not the Booker prize” and David’s interview with Rebecca after the announcement can be seen at here
LONDON PRESS CLUB - Annual Long Lunch 3 December 2021
Watch the video here.
POLAND-UKRAINE BORDER
2nd May 2022
Mike Adams joins "Voice from the Street" Host David Selves for a chat via Zoom.
Listen here ...
2nd May 2022
Mike Adams joins "Voice from the Street" Host David Selves for a chat via Zoom.
Listen here ...