Joining the lineup at this year's Leeds International Festival of Ideas, BAFTA nominated Christopher Eccleston will be taking to the stage as the final headline speaker on Saturday 30 September 2023.
The renowned actor will be sharing his story as a working class actor and how voices such as his need to be kept alive across the arts and culture scene in an event entitled 'Arts and Culture – For the many; or the few?'.
Christopher Eccleston joins LIFI. / Image: Supplied, C81
Another exciting new addition to the festival will be celebrated broadcaster Naga Munchetty, who will host 'Other Side of the Coin' a fireside chat with Sir Jon Cunliffe and Tom Duff Gordon disussing the future of currency.
Meanwhile BBC journalist Lotty Leeming will host Rob Rinder's 'Invisible Rule of Law', hoping to shed light on the topic and challenge convensional notions.
Speaker and podcaster Sarah Powell is also announced today as the host for Ruby Wax OBE's conversation around wellness, self-help and mindfullness.
Steven Bartlett's talk about 'A New Generation of Entrepreneurism' has already sold out but those with tickets can looking forward to the new host announcement of Anisa Morridadi.
Meanwhile fellow RuPaul's Drag Race queen, actor and singer Divina De Campo will be hosting an insightful chat with headline speaker Bimini to talk about 'A World Beyond The Binary'.
Image: Divina De Campo is announced as the host for 'A World Beyond The Binary' with Bimini. / Image: Chapter 81
And finally with the new headline speaker announcement comes a new host announcement: Leeds' own writer and producer Lisa Holdsworth will be chatting to newly announced Christopher Eccleston about arts and culture, bringing an insightful dialogue that will 'allow attendees to explore the interplay between art, society, and personal experiences.'
Martin Dickson, Leeds International Festival of Ideas has commented on the new additions: “We are over the moon to have someone like Christoper Eccleston headline this year’s festival. We think it will be a very telling event based around class and socio-economic background as barriers to culture. We have also just announced Naga Munchetty to lead the chat on digital currency with two already heavyweight contributors on the subject. Throwing in some real journalistic hosts and people at the top of their game, this year’s festival is going to be really special.
Leeds International Festival of Ideas Full Lineup
The full programme schedule is as followed:
Wednesday 27 September 2023
Davina McCall will be on the panel for ‘when will women’s health be taken seriously’. / Image: Chapter 81
7pmPanel: When will women’s health be taken seriously? with Davina McCall, Dr Christine Ekechi Lauren Mahon, Cherry Healey, Gabby Jahanshahi-Edlin and Kenny Ethan Jones
7.30pmFireside chat: A New Generation Of Entrepreneurism with Steven Bartlett
Leeds International Festival of Ideas has announced its full festival lineup, and it’s combining some of the UK’s most influential speakers with some of the most important questions of our time.
Working in partnership with LeedsBID, The Hoot Leeds and Weightmans, the idea of the festival is to bring conversations to the surface, using a combination of panels, fireside chats and speeches to inspire, provoke and encourage discussions.
Questions vary from ‘what’s our obsession with true crime?’ to ‘who does our political system benefit?’ and ‘how do we talk about grief?’ – and this year’s lineup is perfectly certainly won’t be shying away from the hard questions.
The four day festival will take place from Wednesday 27 September - Saturday 30 September 2023
Feature Image - Supplied, C81
Audio
Yorkshire veterans Shed Seven set for 10th anniversary of Shedcember shows
Yorkshire-born group, Shed Seven, are set to bring a very special edition of their 'Shedcember' live shows to the likes of Leeds, Sheffield, and more as they celebrate 10 years of the now annual tour.
The beloved British band and alternative rock veterans have been around for more than three and a half decades at this point, and for nearly a third of those, these lads have been putting on regular winter gigs for their loyal fan base.
Having developed a fervent cult following during that time, Shed Seven's dedicated run of November and December dates has become a bit of a phenomenon, and since 2025 was one of their most significant 18-month periods ever, they're toasting recent success at the end of this calendar year.
If you're 'Shed Ed', you'll already know all about this event; if not, get to know...
Announcing this year's 10th anniversary tour - fittingly dubbed 'Shedcember X - alongside a new short film/teaser written and directed by long-serving guitarist, Paul Banks, those who have been listening since the start
Equally, thanks to this would-be trailer, even those who've never been to one of the shows or are yet to fully dive into their discography have had their attention caught.
Focusing on their die-hard crowds who now make sure to attend each Shedcember night, if not every single one of their gigs whenever they come to town, the mini social media movie captures just how passionate their audiences are even after all this time.
Part of the reason that the York-founded outfit has been enjoying somewhat of a resurgence of late is as a result of back-to-back number one albums
Notching the top spot for their A Matter Of Time in January 2024, a whole 29 years on from their maiden release (the longest gap between a debut and a no.1 record in UK history), they then did it again with Liquid Gold, which saw some of their biggest hits remastered and reimagined with orchestral backing.
These two massive and long-overdue moments of recognition arguably deserve a tour all of their own, but we will absolutely take Shedcember X, which will feature a number of shows across the region.
Announcing an extensive run of performances for the de facto festival, the 10th anniversary edition of Shed Seven's - we've also highlighted all of the Northern dates for you.
Reverend and the Makers drop ‘fantastic’ new track featuring Robbie Williams
Danny Jones
Sheffield legend and all-round Yorkshire favourite, Jon McClure, debuted a new Reverend and the Makers song with none other than the one and only Robbie Williams.
What a collaboration.
Reverend and the Makers' new album, Is This How Happiness Feels?, is just around the corner, and we've already heard a couple of great singles from the latest record, but we'd be lying if we weren't left very excited when we saw Robbie's name on the tracklist.
It also looks to have served as yet another reminder that, just like Jon himself, he just seems like a sound bloke who loves making music.
Buzzin’ me tits off with this.
I met Rob in 2002 when he came into the health club I was working at. He asked me
The early reviews coming in have proved unsurprisingly positive, too, with one user writing on socials before it was even dropped: "Hold on.... WHAT?? This is ICONIC!!! I need to listen to this song..."
Others went on to describe the partnership as "Two wonderful and inimitable voices", with others describing it as an "absolute earworm" and "a total vibe", just to name a couple of examples.
The general consensus among fans seems to be that it's a "quality tune".
For anyone wondering how the two teaming up came about, besides the pop icon himself having recently released his new BRITPOP project, the 52-year-old also sat down with McClure on an episode of the Game's Gone podcast with his brother Chris, a.k.a. 'Steve Bracknall', last year.
The two have clearly stayed pally ever since, with another going on to add: "Wonderful song. Fingers crossed Robbie joins you to sing it at Leigh! That would be ace. Then you can sing You Again with Katie. I'm so excited."
Safe to say that loyal followers of the Steel City veterans and casuals alike will be hoping to hear this one live; as for whether or not Mr Williams will be joining them, we'll have to wait and see.
As mentioned, the eighth Reverend and the Makers studio LP is landing very soon, due for release on Friday, May 8; it also features the likes of actor and Day Fever collaborator Vicky McClure (no relation), in case you haven't heard it already.
Sophie Smith -
8th June 2023 
