A talk by Philip Geddes

Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Park Street, Woodstock OX20 1SN
Wednesday 11th July 2018
6.45pm – Doors Open & Refreshments Available
7pm – 8.30pm Lecture
Tickets: £10

“What comfort can I find ?” was the anguished question asked by the writer Rudyard Kipling after the death of his only son Jack at the Battle of Loos in the autumn of 1915. Kipling provided his own brutally realistic answer – “none this tide, nor any tide”. Kipling responded to his loss by becoming the unofficial voice of the people of Britain and its Empire. He wrote many of the words by which we now remember the dead of the Great War – striking phrases such as “Lest we forget” and “A Soldier of the Great War Known unto God.”

An Evening with Rudyard Kipling tells the story of Kipling’s life with readings from his poetry and prose. It takes Kipling from his early days as the chronicler of Britain’s Indian Raj, through to his high point as poet of Empire for Edwardian England and as voice of the nation in the First World War. The show includes many Kipling favourites – “If”, regularly voted Britain’s favourite poem, and extracts from Plain Tales from the Hills and the Just So stories.

About Philip Geddes
Philip Geddes is ‘a child of the Empire’ and a long standing Kipling fan. His family served in India for almost 200 years in the army and as political officers. He was a journalist for 30 years with the BBC, ITV and The Financial Times (as European Editor for Financial Times Television). He then spent 15 years as a consultant to European Commission, advising senior level officials on the development and presentation of policy. He has written for numerous magazines and newspapers, and is author of two books – In the Mouth of the Dragon, on the future of Hong Kong and Inside The Bank of England, the first modern study of the Bank of England.

For further information and to book, see here.