Dame Stella delights

21 June 2011: On the summer solstice evening, we went to an evening of the Lowdham Book Festival, with Dame Stella Rimington stepping in at short notice to replace the BBC journalist John Simpson. She was director general of MI5 in the nineties, and probably the inspiration behind having Judi Dench playing the part of 'M' in the Bond movies. She is now a successful novelist, with the character Liz Carlyle (not totally based on herself) playing her part to defend Britain against spooks, spies and saboteurs.
  She really was a good speaker (I think she went to school in Nottingham so this is her old home), and she answered all the questions well, including two from DNC, one about the Iraq 'dodgy dossier' and one asking her if she had met Judi Dench.