Set up in 2004 the Catalyst Club pays tribute to French salons, WI and gentlemen's clubs. 3 guest speakers take to the lectern to talk for 15 minutes on subjects close to their heart. Since its inception, the club has had over 500 talks on subjects ranging from Ulysses to tinned meat. In 2016 The Catalyst Club collaborated with BBC Radio 4's Archive on Four to make a programme exploring what it takes to be a public speaker. Guests included Dan Schreiber (No Such Thing As The News), Graham Duff (I Deal) and Sylvester McCoy. The Catalyst Club runs every second Wed at the Lewes Arms in Lewes; every second Thursday at The Nightingale Room in Brighton and third Tuesdays at the Ropetackle in Shoreham www.catalystclub.co.uk
In 2014 I established The Odditorium as a spoken festival tent with talks from the fringes of culture. It has appeared at:
Secret Garden Party
Port Eliot Festival
Wilderness Festival
Brighton Spiegeltent
Summer Sessions Oxford
Guest speakers have included Viv Albertine, Iain Sinclair, Alan Moore, Melinda Gebbie, Gary Lachman (Blondie), Steve Colgan (QI elf), Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, Robert Llewellyn (Red Dwarf), Dunstan Bruce (Chumbawamba), Daisy Asquith (filmmaker), Marcus O'Dair (Robert Wyatt biographer), John Higgs (KLF author), Daisy Campbell (daughter of Ken Campbell).