The Festival Cafe - 10/08/2010

Joining Clare on the couch today at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre Actor/producer Grant Smeaton discussing Bette/Cavett , his theatrical reimagining of a celebrated Bette Davis TV interview from 1971: using verbatim text from one of the most candid TV meetings of all time - "Coming up... Ms Davis on - losing her virginity... We'll be right back!" We also hear about a warts-and-all portrait of the man who put the phrase "sex and drugs and rock and roll" into the national psyche. 'HIT ME! The Life & Rhymes of Ian Dury'. The show focuses on three key moments - at the peak of success, on the cusp of a comeback, and just after his death - plus some of his most famous songs performed LIVE, including Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick . Opera singer turned pop reinventor Ali McGregor, who gives the jazz repertoire a much-needed makeover in her inimitable, sexed-up style' and poet KATE FOX discusses KATE FOX NEWS which anchors her dramatic life story to the big news events: while The Satanic Verses burned in Bradford, Kate was hitting the local headlines for eloping with a gunrunner. As the Twin Towers fell she was crafting it into a sound bite for local radio news. From the Thatcher Years to MP's expenses and volcanic ash Kate asks; where you were when the news broke?