An Evening with Michael Portillo

Michael Portillo is coming to Usher Hall on Thursday 5 November, for an evening of stories from his life on stage. If you've only known him as the face of Great British Railway Journeys, there's a fair bit more to the story than the trains.

He started out as a politician, rising to become a Secretary of State under Margaret Thatcher and running for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Then came one of the most famous moments in British political history: losing his seat. From there, he reinvented himself as a broadcaster, sparring with the likes of Diane Abbott and Andrew O'Neill on screen and taking millions on the world's greatest railways. This show draws on all of it.

There's a personal thread running through the evening, too. Portillo is the son of a refugee, and he talks about his father's experiences of the Spanish Civil War and his escape to England, where he met Michael's mother while they were looking after refugee children. That sits alongside his own observations of Margaret Thatcher, his break into television, and his railway journeys across Spain, the USA, India and beyond. He also reflects on the decay of political power.

It's a wide-ranging set, moving from family history and the corridors of power to the trains he's become known for. The show starts at 19:30 at Usher Hall on Lothian Road, Edinburgh West EH1 2EA.