True Stories Told Live is a simple idea. A bunch of people gather in a small room, have a drink and listen to other people telling true stories. It's not comedy, though it's allowed to be funny. It's not educational, but you might learn something. It's not musical, but we like to include the odd story-telling musician. We ask people not to use notes and expect them to tell stories about themselves. You might even want to have a go at it yourself. For a taste of TSTL, here's an account by the Observer's Kate Kellaway.

On 14the September, we came back from our summer holidays to The Compass. Because the microphone lead had been changed and would no longer stretch we had to set up in a different corner of the room for the first time. Despite Meg’s concerns about the Feng Shui we had another successful night.

Terry Watkins kicked off with his story about how he missed the deciding goals of the 1966 World Cup Final thanks to the fact that his very structured father insisted on taking the family to the cinema during extra time.  Next up was Viv Groskop who recalled the time she went on tour of the Ukraine with the band of her then boyfriend and discovered exactly how British she was. Our musical turn was the fabulous Charlie Dore who explained how her quest for someone who could relieve her anxiety about flying led her to write “£50 Father”.

Writer and film-maker Jon Ronson came next with two short stories about how he responded rashly to provocation from children. There was no way anybody was going to follow Hannah Greenfield with a story about her father that it would be glib to attempt to summarise here. As one correspondent put it “I am gobsmacked at Hannah’s bravery & well, grace.”

Thanks to everyone who told their stories and everyone who contributed no less by listening so carefully. Apologies if the service in the pub was a bit slower than usual. They’d just had a small staff crisis which will be sorted out in due course.

Charlie Dore’s wonderful album “Cheapskate Lullabyes” is out now, as is Jon Ronson’s “The Psychopath Test”.

To find out more about True Stories Told Live and to receive an invite to our next event, please visit the TSTL website and sign up to the mailing list. And don’t forget, if you’d like to get involved in helping us organise one of these events, or if you would like to tell a story yourself, please get in touch. You can also follow us on Twitter @truestorieslive.