Tim Crook who takes to the stage as Tim B'vard continues to host and mastermind a monthly East Sussex mix of speakers passionate about their subjects.
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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers, and I'm
00:06fascinated to speak to Tim Crook, who is also Tim Bavard, who runs a club in Eastbourne
00:12and St Lemons, once a month in each venue, and it's the Bavard Bar, Bavardo being to
00:19chat, and it's all about chatting. Now you've sustained this since 2017. In essence, what
00:25is it all about, and why does it work so well, do you think?
00:29Well, thank you, Phil. Yes, it's a talking slash comedy show where I have three speakers
00:37on a night each month at both venues, and they share their passions, whatever they love.
00:44They talk about things that they love, and before the show, no one knows who's speaking
00:49or what they're going to be talking about.
00:51And that's what makes it so interesting. Tell me again, why do you not let people know
00:56in advance what the speakers will be speaking about?
00:59I think because then it means that the people that come to the show, they're coming, there's
01:05a bit of sort of intrigue. What will it be? Will it be something that, you know, that
01:09we maybe shouldn't hear about? Or will it be something that's kind of, you know, really,
01:13really sort of esoteric and weird and strange and wonderful? They just don't know. So there's
01:17that excitement.
01:18It's a curiosity, isn't it?
01:19It's a curiosity, yeah. And of course, that means that the people that come generally
01:25tend to be very open minded, you know, that they're open to all sorts of ideas.
01:31And some of the talks we've had have been fascinating.
01:35So give me some examples, some of the talks that you have had.
01:38Yeah, well, I mean, we've had, I mean, Wojciech the bear stands out.
01:44That was a beautiful story about a bear that was rescued by a Polish regiment during the
01:50Second World War. And that story was made even more beautiful as it was told by the
01:55son of a member of the regiment.
01:58So it was incredibly moving how America saved the English language, which people at the
02:05start were sort of, well, I'm not so sure about that.
02:07Turns out that they did.
02:09And that was given by a professor of linguistics, Lynne Murphy at Sussex University.
02:15Actually, she's a lecturer there.
02:17Sounds fascinating. Well, those American vowels are certainly more authentic than our English ones, aren't they?
02:23Indeed they are, indeed they are, yeah.
02:25And we had an amazing talk, actually, just at last month's shows by a chap called Anthony
02:30Grant, who told the story about how in the 1980s, when he was late teens, he was about
02:3419, he sadly lost his father and wrote to, with whom he was incredibly close, and he
02:41wrote to every celebrity that he could think of in the UK at the time, from politicians
02:48to entertainers, and invited them to come to his house for a photo shoot.
02:52And they came.
02:54This is in the 1980s.
02:56People from John Cleese, Dudley Moore, Tony Benn, Dewey Walters.
03:00It's just an astonishing story.
03:03And I have all the videos on the website, so it's there to see if people want.
03:08And you were saying these people are not necessarily experts.
03:10The point is, they are passionate about what they're speaking about.
03:14Absolutely. These are people like you and I, Phil, who have a love for, I mean, I know
03:19in our case, we have a love for running.
03:20And certainly when I speak, if I ever have to give a talk.
03:24Love probably doesn't quite do it justice.
03:28Maybe not. Maybe not.
03:29No, you're right.
03:30But I would talk, as perhaps you would, about running and my love of running.
03:34And it's that passion that comes out from all of the speakers that really makes the
03:39difference, you know, that people really sort of connect with.
03:42So it's a special thing.
03:43And the talks are the second Wednesday at Towner Eastbourne and the third Wednesday
03:48at the Kino Theatre in St Lemons.
03:51Fantastic. Lovely to speak to you, Tim.
03:53Good luck with it all. Well done for sustaining it for so long.
03:56It's a brilliant thing. Thank you.
03:57Thank you. Thank you very much.