After much milling about the audience settled down and took their seats. Jacob Polley gave an enthusiastic introduction to the wonderful Irish poet Paul Durcan. Durcan took the stage or strictly speaking as the reading was at Lancaster Castle’s Shire Hall, he took his place at the Judges’ bench and was about to open his mouth to read when a peel of bells broke out and the ringers began their clamour. There’s always something that you can’t plan for!

Despite that unexpected interruption, or should I say accompaniment, Paul gave a great reading to a rapt audience who were seated mostly in the well of the court. If you were there you know how good it was, if not then I guess you’ll never know what a great reading you missed. Ask a friend.

After supper, I dropped Paul off at his hotel and I walked home via The Dukes Theatre, where I stopped for a quick pint and found myself stood next to the IRA man, Patrick Magee, who in 1984 planted a bomb in Brighton’s Grand Hotel killing five people and injuring dozens more. The Dukes’ current play is The Bomb by Kevin Dyer.

I had nothing to say to him, not a single coherent thought entered my mind. I could not move beyond the fact that he had intended to kill people and had executed his plan. My inability to utter a word made me even more impressed by Durcan’s writing and the stance against terror that he has taken for so long.