Steve Bowbrick, Barb Jungr, Tony Quinlan, Marsha Shandur, host Kerry Shale, Natalie Haynes and keyboard player Simon Wallace.

We didn’t intend last night’s True Stories Told Live to follow a theme.

When Steve Bowbrick offered his story about what happened when his attempts to give his mother a humanist funeral in rural Ireland came up against the massed chanting of her Catholic relatives, we thought that was a natural. But then we talked to Marsha Shandur and she volunteered the story of the death of her Russian grandmother and so we figured that would make at least the beginnings of a theme to start the first half. We didn’t exactly know what Barb Jungr was doing because she changed her mind a bit. Then Tony Quinlan appeared and he wanted to tell the story of arranging a memorial service for his very distinguished father. At that point we thought it must be fate telling us something. Plus we knew Natalie Haynes was going to do something about Classics so at least that probably wouldn’t involve a funeral.

In the event they were all wonderful. Barb settled on a story about being given an owl in a temple in Burma and sang Leonard Cohen “Night Comes On”. Natalie managed to draw a line between Virgil and her father’s second marriage. A splendid time was had by a very packed house.
Marsha Shandur does a radio programme for XFM. She would be delighted if you followed her on Twitter. And here’s the My Space page she made for her late grandmother.
Steve Bowbrick does lots of bloggy things for the BBC and blogs in his own voice here.
Barb Jungr’s new CD “The Men I Love” is out now and includes her version of “Night Comes On”. Full details of this and her upcoming dates here.
You can find out about Tony’s company Narrate here and, if you like, read the Times obituary of his father.
Natalie Haynes isn’t doing any comedy gigs at the moment because she’s busy trying to finish her book but when she does they’ll be here.
If you want to be informed about future True Stories meets, make sure you sign up to the mailing list over there on the right.

People have asked a number of questions about TSTL, among which are:
Is there going to be a podcast?
No plans at the moment. We’re recording it just because it seems sensible but we think it’s essentially a live experience. We shot some video last night and we’ll post it here as soon as it’s been through an exhaustive editing process.
Can I attend every time?
We’d love you to but at the same time we’d like to vary the mix and we have limited room (our capacity is 80). Therefore maybe what you should do is come occasionally.
Do you have any plans to do True Stories Told Live anywhere else?
Not at the moment but if anyone’s got any ideas please get in touch – truestoriestoldlive@googlemail.com.
Could I tell a story at TSTL?
We’re believers in the fact that everybody’s got a true story in them. All you have to do is get it organised and practice it. If you’ve got an idea and you’d like to talk about it, get in touch.