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| The irreplacable Heller tapes |
Searching the archives is always an experience; be it frustrating, disappointing or elating.
Our archive is located in the deepest darkest corner of Town Hall’s warren-like basement. It’s stacked high with posters and programmes and, most interestingly, thousands of recordings of past events, many of which were done by eminent authors who are no longer with us.
I was looking for recordings of Catch-22 author Joseph Heller, who first appeared at Cheltenham in 1962. He later appeared in 1993 and then 1999, just two months before his death.
The cassette tapes (remember those?) proved surprisingly easy to find, getting a tape player to listen to them however was not so simple. Pressing the clunky rewind and fast forward buttons, I was seized by a forgotten fear: what if the tape got chewed? These tapes are literally irreplaceable.
Listening to Heller’s thick Brooklyn accent ringing out from Cheltenham’s past seems almost magical, and formatting these recordings so everyone can share the experience is now on our to-do list. Keep an eye on The Bonne Maman Big Read page for uploads.
After listening to Heller, I moved on to an interview with another solider, inspiring amputee Guy Disney. He will be at this year’s Festival with fellow wounded soldiers, talking about their recent unaided trek to the North Pole. (You may have seen coverage on television, particularly when Prince Harry joined them for a few days).
Coincidentally Guy is an old school friend of mine and so it was with added awe that I wrote about his astounding achievments. People show extraordinary courage and tenacity everyday, but when it is someone you remember from school, their feats are all the more astonishing. I look forward to hearing from his comrades at the Festival.
Candice Pearson
Marketing Executive
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