Stephen Fry and Friends on the Life, Loves and Hates of Christopher Hitchens

Intelligence Squared

News, Society & Culture, Arts, News Commentary

4.2 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2017

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this historic event, Stephen Fry and other friends of Christopher Hitchens came together to celebrate the life and work of this great writer, iconoclast and debater. Fry was joined on stage by Richard Dawkins and the two discussed Hitch’s unflinching commitment to the truth. Hollywood actor Sean Penn was beamed in from LA and, between cigarette puffs, read from Hitch’s acclaimed work, The Trial of Henry Kissinger. Five friends of Hitch spoke via satellite in New York: satirist Christopher Buckley and editor Lewis Lapham mused on Hitch’s prowess as a journalist. ‘Like a pot of gold’, said Lapham. Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie and James Fenton delighted the audience with stories of Hitchens as a young man. Rushdie drew roars of laughter when he recounted a word game invented by Amis and Hitchens where the word ‘love’ is replaced with ‘hysterical sex’. Particular favourites included Hysterical Sex in the Time of Cholera and Hysterical Sex Is All You Need. Watching the event with Hitch at his bedside in Texas, Hitch’s wife Carol and novelist Ian McEwan provided commentary. ‘His Rolls Royce mind is still purring beautifully’, typed McEwan. The event originally took place on the 11th November 2011 at The Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall and was watched live by 2500 at the venue, and by thousands more in UK cinemas and online. It was produced by Executive Producer Hannah Kaye — We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be about. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us at @intelligence2. At Intelligence Squared we’ve got our own online streaming platform, Intelligence Squared+ and we’d love you to give it a go. It’s packed with more than 20 years’ worth of video debates and conversations on the world’s most important topics as well as exclusive podcast content. Tune in to live events, ask your questions or watch on-demand, totally ad-free with hours of discussion to dive into. Visit intelligencesquaredplus.com to start watching today Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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1:34.2	Thank you.
1:38.3	Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, good evening, and welcome to what I hope will be an extraordinary evening and a very surprising evening, despite it naturally beginning on a disappointing note, and that is that Christopher isn't physically with us.
1:57.9	You'd be pleased to know that he is actually watching this event.
2:04.1	And he will be very pleased to hear that.
2:14.5	With him is his wife Carol and one of his great friends, Ian McEwen, the novelist,
2:20.5	amongst his many, many features.
2:25.2	One of them is a genius for friendship, as we will discover.
2:29.1	But I'm delighted to welcome you all to the South Bank Centre's Royal Festival here.
2:35.7	You will be, I'll tell you who you'll be hearing from.
2:38.4	And it won't surprise you if you know anything about Christopher.
2:42.4	You'll be hearing from Martin Amos.
	...

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