Talks of the town

Catch Alan Bennett reading Just William, Sani Toksvig reading legends and plenty more in the world of literature this week...

Readings

British Museum 250th Anniversary Celebrations

A series of events in the Reading Room in celebration of the British Museum's 250th birthday - Alan Bennett reads one of the Just William stories, about a visit to the BM, Vikram Seth reads from his animal stories in verse, Beastly Tales, and Sandi Toksvig reads a Norse legend.

Talks

Food in the Field

A series of talks and events dedicated to the importance of food for the armies marching into battles, from the Tudor period to the present. Historical interpreters camped outside the National Army Museum demonstrate cooking 'in the field'. In addition to talks and themed trails for children, there will be a chance to sample historic army fare.

Lucy Ellman and Barbara Gowdy

Barbara Gowdy, Canadian novelist, is in town to promote her new book, The Romantic, which tells of a blighted love affair that begins when a 10-year-old girl falls in love with a neighbour and ends some years later with a death. She talks to novelist Lucy Ellmann.

Signings

Ed Docx

Ed Docx's first novel, The Calligrapher, is the story of a signwriter with a penchant for women and the poems of John Donne, and whose number comes up when he meets a mysterious woman. Reading and signing.

Steve Hislop

Steve Hislop, motocycling champ, signs copies of his autobiography, Hizzy.

Art and architecture

The Villas and Palaces of the Cote d'Azur

It's still possible, if you drive, to get a glimpse of some of the grandiose and palatial villas built at the beginning of the 20th century, when the Cote d'Azur was considered the most beautiful, the most fashionable and the most affluent resort in Europe. Nicholas Merchant talks about some of the houses built then, including the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and the Parc St Bernard.

Philip-Lorca Dicorcia

The photographer whose snaps are featured in both the Whitechapel Art Gallery and Tate Modern's Cruel And Tender exhibition gives a talk about life behind the camera.

Rinkeke Dijkstra

'For me it is essential to understand that everyone is alone - in the sense that no one can completely understand someone else,' says the photographer whose portraits in celluloid are sometimes compared to Diane Arbus and August Sander. She talks about her contribution to the Cruel And Tender exhibition.