Beloved actress Miriam Margolyes delights fans in Frinton

Miriam Margolyes was a hit with fans in Frinton during a special appearance at the Frinton Literary Festival. 

The festival was founded in 2002 by the local literature enthusiast Philomena Dwyer and a creative writing group and is now celebrating literature and reading on an annual basis. 

The event saw more than 500 book lovers attend and featured global bestsellers Mick Herron and Adele Parks. 

This year’s festivities were joined by British-Australian actress Miriam Margolyes, who visited the seaside town for a speech and book signing. 

At Frinton Lawn Tennis Club, Margolyes attended the literary lunch and held a speech about her life, career and family, and took the time to sign a few copies of “Oh Miriam! Stories from an Extraordinary Life” for the lucky guests who were able to get tickets for the event, which ended on a room-wide singalong of “Daisy Daisy”. 

After the lunch, the world-renowned actress headed off to Caxton Books in Connaught Avenue to a separate event organised for all those who were unable to secure tickets for the lunch. 

“When we launched the event back in July, it sold out within about nine days. We had to disappoint so many people, so we started a waiting list,” said Judith Charlesworth, manager of Caxton Books. 

“We realised really soon that there were a lot of names on the waiting list and people didn’t care that it was pages long. 

“So, we approached Clive [Brill], who approached Miriam, to see if she’d be willing to do a second event in the shop, just for signing."

Both events with the actress, who was described as “very charming, funny and sometimes quite astounding”, were a great success. 

Fans of Margolyes did not mind queueing in the cold to meet their idol, some even dressed up as Harry Potter characters and appreciated the opportunity after the original event of the literary festival sold out quickly. 

Next year’s festival has been set up for October 23 to October 27.