Tracey Thorn at the Royal Festival Hall

Tracey Thorn was at the Royal Festival Hall yesterday evening to do a reading from her book, 'Bedsit Disco Queen', and have a discussion about her career and the book. The event was part of the London Literary Festival. She was up on the fifth floor with some great views over the Southbank, not in the main hall, and she didn't sing. But she chatted away like a really chatty thing, anecdotes and serious points aplenty, name-dropping and taking us back to the '80s in her time machine.

Now, I always have a problem with the '80s in that I remember the start of the decade and the end, but not the middle, so I don't really know anything about Everything But The Girl beyond the name. Until recently I didn't really know the name Tracey Thorn or that she fronted the band. The only Tracey music I have is her excellent Christmas record from 2012. On the basis of last night I now need to explore her back catalogue.

She mentions Patrik Fitzgerald in the book so I asked her about him. She replied, 'Ah dear Patrik, there's a film about him y'know' to which I replied 'yes, I've seen it' and thanked her for her Christmas record.

I haven't read the book yet but, if it's anything like the section she read out last night, I know I'll enjoy it. And so will you, I expect. Thank you, Tracey, for a very entertaining evening!