Rumbustious historian William Dalrymple rolled up to the South Bank yesterday for an afternoon of talks with Mary Beard, Vikram Seth and Kwasi Kwarteng as part of the Jaipur Literature Festival, usually held in January in the Indian city but now with a London outpost.
Dalrymple told the audience that when the festival was founded nine years ago, “only 14 people turned up, 10 of whom were Japanese tourists who took a wrong turning”. A quarter of a million people attended the festival this year.
Sunday’s highlight was Vikram Seth. In playful mood, he spoke of his 1,500-page saga, A Suitable Boy: “It did well,” he said. “I was surprised, I’m not sure I’d have had the patience to read it myself. Novels are just elevated gossip.”
Meanwhile, Old Etonian, London MP and historian Kwasi Kwarteng was having a dig at his parliamentary colleagues for “thinly-attended debates”.
“There are sometimes only five there,” he said, before adding, “I’m not sure I should have said that. Don’t tell anyone.” Oops.
