Where Thinking Comes Alive
03 - 04 October 2026
Lichfield doesn't just sit at the geographical heart of the nation: for a short period, it was an engine of Enlightenment thought. The Enlighten Weekend, following a successful pilot last year, reflects our desire as a cathedral to foster public thinking, conversation and debate, and to ensure that such work is taken seriously within the busy public square.In an era marked by loud discord and angry division, we want to be a place known for respectful and robust dialogue. This programme brings us into conversation with thinkers, writers, journalists and broadcasters on the ideas that shape our world — even, perhaps especially, when we disagree.The voices you will hear over this weekend may one day be seen as having helped to shape and challenge our culture. By taking part in this programme, you join a tradition of intellectual generosity, open to fresh insight and alive to the extraordinary legacy of figures such as Samuel Johnson, Elias Ashmole, David Garrick and Erasmus Darwin.It is easy to look back on Lichfield’s Enlightenment past too wistfully. Our desire, though, is to attend intentionally to our own moment. We are, without doubt, living through an age of turbulence and transformation, in which ideas rapidly shape and reshape our identity and culture. In coming to these talks and participating in this weekend, you too become part of the conversation. Welcome!
Beyond the Edge of Light
Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton - Interviewed by Nick Higham
Date: Sunday, 4th October
Time: 18:00 - 19:00
Location: Nave, Lichfield Cathedral
Tickets: £12
The festival will also welcome Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton—former SAS officer, humanitarian adviser and long-serving senior public servant—in conversation about his debut novel, Beyond the Edge of Light. Interviewed by broadcaster and journalist Nick Higham, Lowther-Pinkerton will explore how a life spent serving in conflict zones, supporting international humanitarian projects and operating at the very heart of public life has informed his transition to writing fiction.
Nick Higham Journalist, writer and broadcaster Nick Higham spent more than thirty years at the BBC, becoming its first media correspondent and reporting on the evolution of British broadcasting, cultural institutions and public debate. He presented programmes across BBC News and Radio 4 and is widely respected for his authoritative interviewing and analysis. Higham now works freelance, specialising in literature, culture and public affairs.
Supported by the Kirby Laing Foundation.