Midweek - 30/06/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Edward Clive, Simon English, Max Hardberger and Harriet Walter. Edward Clive is a furniture specialist and Director at Christie's auctioneers. He has been involved in overseeing the cataloguing of articles from the forthcoming Althorp attic sale which includes thirteen Spencer horse-drawn carriages. These are the most important collection of ancestral carriages ever to appear at auction. The auction will take place at Christie's South Kensington salesroom. Simon English is a conceptual land artist who will be talking about his trip charting the letters of the word "England" across the country, forty years after he first made the journey. In England Revisited he will be looking at the change, or lack of change, that has taken place in the landscape, communities, ecologies and industries of all the places visited in the original journey. Max Hardberger's career has taken him in many directions from ship's captain to crop duster, private investigator and stuntman. He now works as a vessel repossession specialist, recovering stolen ships for a living. Dubbed the 'good pirate', desperate owners hire him to steal back ships that have been illegitimately seized. Seized - A Sea Captain's Adventures Battling Pirates & Recovering Ships In The World's Most Troubled Waters is published by Nicholas Brealey. Harriet Walter is one of our most highly thought of actors, currently appearing on the National Theatre stage in 'Women Beware Women'. She's also curated an exhibition of photographs called "Infinite Variety", celebrating the ageing female face which is currently at the National Theatre.