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.

At our most recent True Stories, on June 16th, we braved the World Cup and the sunshine and were rewarded with what was probably our best True Stories yet. Steven Shepherd told the story with which he’d recently inaugurated True Stories Cardiff, a tale of Death’s Head Moths and global warming. Ian Mcmillan, poet and presenter of Radio Three’s “The Verb”, stopped in on his way back to King’s Cross to describe how his parents met during the war, no thanks to railway timetables and the military police, and spent much of their marriage quite happily co-existing in separate rooms. Beatie Wolfe talked about her journey to become a songwriter and sang “To Be Saved”. George Corbett had attended a previous True Stories Told Live and wanted to have a go. He delivered a storming account of an evening out involving some rough treatment from the police, an altercation with a detachment of feral youth and being driven through the window of a Tandy electrical shop. The second half finished with David Gale, of Peachy Coochy nights fame, with some arresting observations on the fuel capacity of a Vespa and the amount of acid he took back in the day. Our new ten-minute rule was enforced by MC Kerry Shale. It couldn’t have been better. Thanks to everyone who came and particularly those who took part.

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. If you feel you have a story that should be told at a future True Stories event, get in touch.