Charlie Higson to appear at Henley Literary Festival, Saturday

Young Bond author Charlie Higson will be giving a talk in Nettlebed Village Club on Saturday, September 22, at noon as part of the Co-operative Bank Henley Literary Festival.

Festival director Sue Ryan said: “This is a real coup. Charlie is an extremely popular author and an extremely funny man. Bringing Bond to Nettlebed, where Ian Fleming spent many of his childhood years and his family still live, is so apt and I am sure is the major reason why he is making a rare appearance.”

A spokesman for the Fleming family said: “The event will be a rare chance to hear Charlie Higson talk about the challenge he faced when asked by the Fleming family and Ian Fleming publications to write some adventures of James Bond as a schoolboy.

“With three books published and one due to come out in September, Higson’s stories have proved compelling and very popular with young readers. Set in the Thirties when the real James Bond would have been a young boy, they take him from school to a mysterious island castle in Scotland (Silver Fin), to Corsica (Blood Fever) and round the seedier parts of London (Double or Die).

“The new book (Hurricane Gold) will find the young Bond facing all sorts of trials in Mexico.

“This event will take place appropriately in Nettlebed where Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, spent much of his own childhood. His grandfather was an enterprising Scot who moved south and bought and rebuilt Joyce Grove (now the Sue Ryder Home).

“His father Valentine Fleming was briefly MP for Henley and lived at Ipsden with his young family.”

Tickets for the show are available by visiting www.henleyliteraryfestival.co.uk

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