There and Back: The Diaries Tour 2024

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10 years since his last published diary, Michael unlocks volume four of his life and times, from 1999 to 2009. As the centuries change and Michael heads into middle age, he’s busier than ever. In this new show, with the help of rarely seen photos and video, Michael brings these momentous times to life as he talks through this latest Diary to take us backstage on this most productive decade of his life, whilst always, in the background, showing us the wider world, one of infinite possibilities and new and unimagined dangers.

He takes on four new travel series, and a wide variety of documentaries from art and artists to the last day of the First World War. He watches his family grow and expand at a time of ominous new threats and dangers. The Twin Towers fall, bombs blast London, banks collapse, whole economies teeter on the brink. Tony Blair offers hope with the Good Friday agreement, then embroils us in Iraq.

Michael enters his 60s, and finds grown-up responsibilities come his way. By the end of this diary, he's in his first year as President of the Royal Geographical Society. His diary reflects his constant struggle against routine and repetition, and his irresistible and often nerve-shredding attraction to new challenges. Some work, some don't, but by the end of this volume he's reached the retirement age of 65. And he's planning a new journey.