Type. On a comedy stage…
I’ve been talking about lost letters from the English alphabet at Nerd Nite London, a monthly night of short talks for charity at the Backyard Comedy Club in East London. It’s been my third Nerd (more about the other two here), an opportunity to research something just for the sheer joy of it.
This one has had me wallowing in Anglo Saxon poetry at the British Library, discovering an unexpectedly-entertaining publisher’s listing at St Bride Printing Library, looking for signage and finding a workers’ perk and by way of lunch, happening on some extraordinary letter carving at St Martin-In-The-Fields. Oh, and learning some Icelandic pronunciation, via an actor.
The challenge is pulling all of that together into a format that’s entertaining for a very intelligent, non-specialist audience – then timing it to a strict 20 minutes max.
Random? Actually, no. A curious-minded approach is central to all of my work, and so is presenting information in a way that invites people in. This is just more – well – out there...
The event sold out. Which is fantastic news for Nerd Nite London's charity partner, Shine Trust.
