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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Dorchester Literary Festival
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261017T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261017T120000
DTSTAMP:20260608T193427
CREATED:20260605T104155Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260605T104155Z
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SUMMARY:Martin Sixsmith – Suing the Kremlin: The battle for Putin’s Billions
DESCRIPTION:A quarter of a century in power has allowed Vladimir Putin to enrich himself. He has plundered Russia’s resources\, confiscated private businesses and persecuted those who stood against him including Boris Berezovsky\, Vladimir Gusinsky\, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Bill Browder putting their assets under the control of his friends and cronies\, who creamed off billions from nominally-state owned corporations. In 2022 Fortune Magazine estimated Putin’s personal fortune at $200 billion. The revenues he stole created an unparalleled war chest used to pay for the invasion of Ukraine. \n\n\n\nThis is the fascinating story of what has happened to the men that Putin dispossessed and where their money went. A small team of legal experts has spent the last twenty years pursuing Putin in the courts of the world. These legal experts are based in London and they are set on reclaiming this enormous wealth. The effect on the War in Ukraine will be just one result of their determined efforts. \n\n\n\nMartin Sixsmith is a British author and radio/television presenter. His book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee\, was the basis for the 2013 film Philomena\, in which Sixsmith is played by Steve Coogan. \n\n\n\nTickets £16.00 (£12.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/martin-sixsmith-suing-the-kremlin-the-battle-for-putins-billions/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261017T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261017T140000
DTSTAMP:20260608T193427
CREATED:20260605T104154Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260605T104154Z
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SUMMARY:Vassos Alexander – Swimmingly
DESCRIPTION:Much-loved sports presenter\, author and endurance-athlete Vassos Alexander got bitten by the swimming bug during lockdown – heading to his local patch of the Thames to find distraction and solace during that hot summer. Now he can’t pass a body of water without wanting to jump in. Swimmingly is Vassos’ rip-roaring account of how he came to love cold-water swimming\, the trials and tribulations of being an outdoor swimmer\, and the incredible stories of inspirational people he meets on this journey. Vassos discovers that outdoor swimming is not about being the fastest or the best\, it’s about finding a little bit of magic in every stroke\, and he uncovers the massive sense of community at the heart of this time-honoured pastime. Along the way he interviews the great and good of the swimming world (Diana Nyad\, Lewis Pugh\, Lynne Cox and more)\, and he covers timely and important ground including the water quality in the UK and why we all need to be fighting for us and our wildlife to be able to experience our bodies of water safely. \n\n\n\nVassos Alexander is one of the best known sports presenters in the UK. He co-hosts The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio and has covered every sporting event imaginable\, from Olympic Games to World Cups. He is the author of three bestselling books\, including Don’t Stop Me Now and Running Up That Hill. Vassos lives in London – and of course an ice bath in the garden!  \n\n\n\nTickets £16.00 (£12.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/vassos-alexander-swimmingly/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261017T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261017T160000
DTSTAMP:20260608T193427
CREATED:20260605T104153Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260605T104153Z
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SUMMARY:Andrew Lownie – Entitled
DESCRIPTION:With sensational new material\, biographer Andrew Lownie brings the most extraordinary and dramatic royal story in a generation up to date. \n\n\n\nTracing the lives of the former Prince and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson through their childhoods\, courtship\, marriage\, divorce\, careers\, charitable activities\, and ultimate downfall\, this is eye-watering biography at its best. \n\n\n\nInvestigating the reality of their relationship\, Andrew’s Falklands record and business dealings\, how they funded their extravagant lifestyles as well as their links with Jeffrey Epstein\, Lownie’s rigorously researched account is packed full of revelations\, painting a detailed picture that has changed the monarchy forever. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nANDREW LOWNIE was educated at Magdalene College\, Cambridge\, where he was President of the Union\, before taking his master’s and doctorate at Edinburgh University. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society\, he later returned to Cambridge as a visiting fellow at Churchill College. He has been a bookseller\, publisher\, journalist writing for The Times\, Telegraph\, Wall Street Journal\, Spectator\, Guardian and since 1988 has run his own literary agency.  He is President of the Biographers Club\, sits on the board of Biographers International Organisation and is a Trustee of the Campaign for Freedom of Information. His books include the prize-winning Stalin’s Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess (2015) and the top ten Sunday Times bestsellers The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves (2019) and Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (2021). \n\n\n\nTickets £16.00 (£12.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/andrew-lownie-entitled/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261017T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261017T180000
DTSTAMP:20260608T193427
CREATED:20260605T104153Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260605T104153Z
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SUMMARY:Jung Chang – Fly Wild Swans: My Mother\, Myself and China
DESCRIPTION:Jung Chang’s Wild Swans was a book that defined a generation\, an epic personal history of Jung\, her mother and grandmother – ‘three daughters of China’. From her grandmother’s birth in 1909 under the last emperor\, through Mao Zedong’s rule\, the Cultural Revolution during which Jung’s parents were subject to unbelievable suffering\, it finishes as the end of the Mao era in 1978 with Jung’s emigration to Britain. At the time she was one of the first Chinese to leave Communist China for the West. \n\n\n\nNearly half a century on\, China has risen from a decrepit\, isolated state to a global power. Through those decades\, Jung’s life has been intimately entwined with her native land. \n\n\n\nFly\, Wild Swans is the sequel and brings the story of Jung’s family – along with that of China – up to date. China is now at another watershed moment: Xi Jinping is seeking to turn the country back towards the old Maoist days and build a Communist state with capitalist features. This new era is greatly affecting the lives of Jung and her mother who still lives in China. Through the arc of their respective lives\, Jung gives an immersive\, deeply moving and unforgettable account of what it is like to live in a communist dictatorship and the threats modern China poses to the international world order. \n\n\n\nJUNG CHANG was born in Sichuan Province\, China in 1952. During the Cultural Revolution she worked as a peasant\, a “barefoot” doctor\, a steelworker\, and an electrician before becoming an English-language student at Sichuan University. She left China for Britain in 1978 and obtained a PhD in Linguistics in 1982 at the University of York – the first person from Communist China to receive a doctorate from a British university. \n\n\n\nShe is the author of Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China\, which has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. She wrote a ground-breaking trilogy of the history and personalities of modern China: Mao: The Unknown Story (with Jon Halliday); Empress Dowager Cixi; and Big Sister\, Little Sister\, Red Sister.  She has been awarded a CBE  for services to literature and to history.  \n\n\n\nTickets £16.00 (£12.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/jung-chang-fly-wild-swans-my-mother-myself-and-china/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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