Ian Waller joins a full house of children, parents and carers for a masterclass in how to be silly by that bloke from You’ve Been Framed
If anyone was qualified to write the book How To Be Silly Every Day Of The Year, it’s Harry Hill. And the colossally collared comedian was in town not only to deliver a suitably silly lecture on the subject, but as the final act in this year’s superbly successful Bath Children’s Literature Festival.
This year’s festival has attracted an incredible 16,000 visitors to ten days of fabulous events from writers, illustrators and celebrities, entertaining and educating venues full of families and school all keen to find out about new books and the stories and skills of the creators behind them.
And it has been amazing! Huge congratulations to the amazing team who brought it all together, as well as the parents, carers and teachers who made sure that so many children across the region experienced a host of special occasions. Awesome!
And to round it all off was Harry Hill, who started off proceedings with a dancing competition for the whole hall, followed by top tips on how to be silly and questions from the audience about how silly he is. Which is very silly indeed…
Now it’s hard to imagine Michael Rosen – as wonderful as he is – or any of the other speakers splattering their shows with sausage throwing competitions, singing backwards demonstrations and crafting a dad’s face out of flat breads, but that’s kind of par for the course for Harry. Here’s a man who knows what a crowd wants and is only too pleased to deliver.
Along the way we’re given questions to answer to make sure that you’re silly, an introduction to silly things to do every single day of the year (you’re going to have to buy the book to get the full list) and why it’s a good idea to add googlie eyes to postboxes and smiling faces to potatoes.
The result was fantastic, funny, and very, very silly – as well as being the perfect end note for this fabulous literary festival.
Actually, while the festival is mainly over, there is one last remaining event taking place in November – the visit of David Walliams on 2 November to talk about his latest book Super Sleuth. To book your tickets, click here