Paul Theroux Lecture

Down to the RGS a couple of weeks ago to see someone whose books I have read for over thirty years: the author Paul Theroux.
I got a ticket in a ballot for the last of the series of summer lectures...
The lecture was introduced by Michael Palin. I wrote a review for a travel blog. I was a bit disappointed in several aspects of the lecture given the distance I'd travelled to see it, although some sections had insightful comments....
Will be posting my review when I have had a chance to tidy it up...

Why we Travel

Regular readers of this blog will know of my love of travel writing.
Currently got Sara Wheeler and Barbara Demick books on the go.... with a few bits of several others for a piece of writing I'm doing.
I have 3-400 travel books in my 'library' and regular pick them out for a quote on travel, or landscape, or to find out about a particular place that I'm preparing resources on.

In May, I am going down to the Royal Geographical Society to see Paul Theroux talk about the enlightenment of travel. If anyone else is going to be there, we can perhaps meet up before hand for a swift half ?
You can read a recent piece by Paul Theroux in the New York Times here, which mentions his new book on the enlightenment of travel...

With thanks to Alasdair of @deviations for the tipoff...

As Theroux says, reflecting on the impact of current world events:

For the modern traveler there are recent and sharp reversals — the overthrow of longstanding governments, earthquakes, a volcano, the release of radioactivity into a blue sky and cows’ milk — all in the span of a few months. What then is the traveler to do except huddle and observe?


The map of the possible world being redrawn right now — parts of it in tragic and unsettling ways — might soon mean new opportunities for the traveler who dares to try it. Travel, especially of the old laborious kind, has never seemed to me of greater importance, more essential, more enlightening.


Paul Theroux

The Enlightenment of Travel

Around 30 years ago, I read Paul Theroux's "The Old Patagonian Express" while on a train journey down to Somerset, and subsequently read most of Theroux's travel books.
They are part of a large library of travel literature.

A few months ago, I entered a ballot for a chance to see Paul Theroux lecture at the Royal Geographical Society on the subject of travel...

This morning, I heard that I was successful....

Looking forward to seeing one of the first travel writers that I ever read...

Also today, started work on a session I'm presenting at Leeds University in a few weeks time on my life as a geographer and the influence of travel writers and other authors. Going to mean revisiting quite a few people like Theroux....

Thought for the Day

Just preparing for an NQT conference in London tomorrow, and packing a rather large box with resources and other materials for the event.
Came across this quote by Paul Theroux, which I suppose is a challenge to colleagues, as well as a tempting possibility...

"Gain a modest reputation for being unreliable and you will never be asked to do a thing."

I entered the ballot for the RGS-IBG lecture to see Paul Theroux talking about his lifetime of travel later in the year. I remember reading his books around 30 years ago when I travelled by train between home and Huddersfield when doing my degree... Fingers crossed...

Thanks to Fraser Speirs for the tip-off that led me to the quote