Dame Joanna Lumley guest speaker at annual lecture

A talk by award winning actress Dame Joanna Lumley in Douglas later this year is designed to inspire the community to "strive for great things", the Isle of Man Arts Council has said.

The Absolutely Fabulous star has been announced as this year's guest speaker at the organisation's annual lecture.

She is to talk about her life and career at the Gaiety Theatre on 30 September.

The council's Jane Corkill said they were "really thrilled" to welcome her and hoped the event would contribute to the Manx arts scene.

The model, actress and campaigner is most well-known for her television roles as Purdy in The New Avengers and Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous.

She was also the public face of a campaign to provide all Gurkha veterans who served in the British Army the right to settle in Britain.

Ms Corkill said unlike artists visiting as part of a wider tour, the annual event offered a unique insight into the speaker's life and work in the creative industries.

The annual initiative is part of the National Strategy for Culture and the Arts.

Previous guests include documentary maker Louis Theroux in 2022 followed by designer Kevin McCloud last year.

Ms Corkill said Dame Joanna would talk about her life and career before taking questions from the audience, in and evening that would be "really special".

The price of a number of seats in the theatre have been subsidised "to ensure that everybody has an opportunity to attend" and make sure it was not "cost prohibitive", she said.

Ms Corkill said part of strategy's remit was "to bring excellence to the Isle of Man to inspire our own community to strive for great things".

The council would be marking its 60th birthday next year and was already in talks about how to celebrate the "big anniversary", she added.

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