Journalist John Simpson brings his stand-up tour to the Sheldonian Theatre, looking at the personalities of world leaders and tyrants.
John Simpson brings The Leaders and Lunatics Tour to the Sheldonian Theatre on Saturday 24 October, a night that draws on nearly sixty years of reporting from the front lines of global power. Simpson is one of the most recognisable names in British journalism, and this show is built around the access he's had to world leaders throughout that career.
The talk is a look at leadership and how it can go wrong: why some figures inspire while others descend into tyranny, and how sane societies slip into despotism. He works through a long list of names, from Putin, Assad, Saddam, Gaddafi and Trump to more admired leaders like Gorbachev, Mandela, Havel and Zelensky. It's not just a list of names, though; he takes the audience through the moments he witnessed first-hand, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Iranian Revolution, the Gulf Wars and Tiananmen Square. The second half is given over to the audience, who are invited to ask questions.
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It's recommended for ages 14 and over. The show runs for one hour and fifty minutes, including a twenty-minute interval. Doors open at 7:00pm, with the talk starting at 7:30pm. General admission is £45 including fees, plus a £5 booking fee.
