Surprise sell-out for Trilobite man’s talk

YOU need to act fast if you want to catch the Natural History Museum's trilobite man, Richard Fortey, at Harts Events' Literature Festival on Friday March 13 as tickets are nearly sold out.

The festival organisers are delighted at the unexpectedly huge interest in the talk.

Jo Burch, of Harts Events who invited the author to speak at the festival, said: "I knew that I thought Richard Fortey's book, Dry Store Room No1 - the secret life of the Natural History Museum" was brilliant but I hadn't realised so many other people had also discovered and loved it.

"I've now started reading a previous book of his, The Earth: an Intimate History, which is equally fascinating - I didn't expect a geology book to keep me reading late into the night."

Professor Fortey, former senior paleontologist at the Natural History Museum specialising in trilobites, has studied, with equal enthusiasm, the lives of his colleagues and forebears and tells the stories of the many eccentric individuals whose long careers behind the scenes have made the Museum the national treasure it is today.

He himself has been described as "cheerful, vaguely rumpled and very likeable - the kind of man who likes to enjoy a quiet pint, a natter and a naughty cigarette in the pub at lunch".

The author has won several medals for his writing, is a Fellow of the Royal Society and is a former president of the Geological Society of London.

His talent for making science accessible was recognised in his appointment as Collier Professor for the Public Understanding of Science in 2002.

He will be speaking and showing slides at the Friends' Meeting House at 8pm on Friday March 13 as part of Harts Events' Words Around the World Literature Festival.

For tickets and details of all the festival events visit Harts Books at Shire Hill, call 01799 523456 or see the website at www.hartsevents.co.uk .

Tickets are also available from the Saffron Walden Tourist Information Centre.