In other TSTL-related events playwright and comedian A.L. Kennedy is talking tonight at Large Glass in Caledonian Road in the latest in a series of events celebrating postcards. Tickets are £10 which includes a glass of wine. Details here. And there’s another reading of Kerry’s play The Prince Of West End Lane at the Jewish Museum on May 24th. Tickets here.

You can contact us via mail@truestoriestoldlive.com and we’ll get in touch with them if necessary.

If you want to give them an idea of what it’s all about just direct them to this audio package. It gives you a flavour of the event and features voices from True Stories events in London, Cardiff and Brighton. Just click below to listen:

If you went you’ll know that Piney Gir very kindly stood in at an hour’s notice when one of our turns had to go to A&E with a small child. (All fine.) She told the story of how a five year old in Kansas, unused to the ways of barbecue, was disturbed by the sight of seeing a pig apparently disinterred and then eaten. Chelsea fan Lekiddo selflessly gave up the chance to watch his team get into the last eight in the Champions League in order to tell the story of how he was mistaken for goalscorer Eddie Newton in the wake of the 1997 Cup Final and ended up on the front page of The Sun. Our musical turn Stephen Coates, who performs under the name of The Real Tuesday Weld, described how his personal journey led to his being one of the last civilians allowed to go beneath London’s streets to explore the Fleet River.

In the second half Alexis Le Franc held the room in the palm of his hand as he described how his family reacted to finding an envelope in their late father’s study labelled “to be destroyed in the event of my death without opening”. And finally David Wilson told a story of lost Renaissance art treasures in the former Yugoslavia and men with revolvers in their belts. Thanks very much as ever to everyone who came.

Edward Petherbridge, Steve Roberts, Kerry Shale, James Mitchell, Susan Marling and Mat Priest.

Last night was our first venture beyond the Compass, the venue where we’ve staged the last twenty-five TSTLs. We want to thank Phil Ross and his team at Charterhouse Bar for making us so welcome. The room is long and narrow, as befits a building which looks like Smithfield’s answer to New York’s Flatiron Building but there is a stage and a very good P.A. system. If you have any thoughts on this venue or any other we’d like to hear them. If you don’t want to post them below then email us via mail@truestoriestoldlive.com.

Our turns began with former policeman Steve Roberts, who talked about what it was like to be behind the plastic shields during the riots which followed the Notting Hill Carnival of 1976, and James Mitchell with his story of Dave, the man his mother married. He’s posted more about it here. Our musician story-teller was Mat Priest of Dodgy who described the time he invented an entire news story all about The Stone Roses and told it to the Guardian. He climaxed the tale by “playing” “Fool’s Gold” on the bongos! Dodgy are on tour now.

Susan Marling began our second half with the story of how a relative built a speedboat on the top floor of an old house in Brixton. The actor Edward Petherbridge told the story of how a tribute to a Japanese god has been paying dividends in the shape of residuals cheques from ITV. Kerry Shale once more MCd and treated us to his celebrated impressions of rodents.

As ever, if you think you could tell a story at a future event, please get in touch via mail@truestoriestoldlive.com.

Thanks to everyone who suggested alternative homes for True Stories Told Live.

We looked at a lot of them and we decided to try Charterhouse Bar. This is housed in, as you can see, a striking building in Smithfield, the staff are very welcoming and we’ll be in the upstairs bar on the first floor. The nearest tubes are Barbican and Farringdon.

We’ll be sending out the link for the February 15th tickets in the next 24 hours. Please only book if you’re definitely going to come. We will be checking people’s names off at the door via my enormously impressive iPhone app.

If you have friends who want to get an invite tell them to register for our mailing list over on the right. Hurry.

Do you know any venues that might be suitable? Do you run any places that might be suitable? We prefer Islington, Camden, Kings Cross, Bloomsbury or the West End. We need to be within easy reach of a tube station. We’d like a room in a pub or restaurant. We need to be able to seat 80 to 120 people. Ideally we’d like somewhere with a small stage, a PA and some lighting but we’ll look at anything.

What do we bring with us? A unique evening which has been widely covered in press and on radio. GQ called it “one of the capital’s hippest nights out”. We operate a mailing list with the names of thousands of people interested in speech entertainment, people who like a drink and are always looking for new places to eat. To give you an idea, we had over 150 names on the waiting list for last Wednesday’s gathering. We can bring a lot of customers to the right place.

If you’ve got any suggestions please get in touch via mail@truestoriestoldlive.com. And hurry!

Carolyn Drake, Jeff Poulter, Kerry Shale, Betsy De Lotbiniere, Laurel Lefkow, Piney Gir and her guitarist Garo Nahoulakian

The first of these was Laurel Lefkow, currently starring in Radio 4′s morning drama “Ethan Frome”, who related the story of how the peremptory firing of her journalist father led to a childhood of hazardous happiness in India. She was followed by Jeff Poulter, who talked about how a motorcycling holiday down the left coast of America climaxed in a bizarre encounter with a geoduck, one of the creatures that exists to remind us what a strange place that country is. Piney Gir, our musical turn, who was somewhat delayed by having mistakenly turned up at the home of host Kerry Shale, regaled us with a story from her childhood scrapbook and sang “River Song” from her new album “Geronimo!”.

Following the break Carolyn Drake held the room rapt while she recounted the events following the difficult birth of her daughter and finally Betsy De Lotbiniere recalled the year when she decided to spend the festive season in Scotland, despite being heavily pregnant and not realising the extent of the nation’s devotion to the celebration of the New Year.

In other news, Kerry Shale’s play, “The Prince Of West End Lane”, is being given a staged reading at the Globe on January 29th.

If you’re on the list then we can just check you off at the door. You don’t strictly have to print out the ticket. Oh, and sorry for getting the year wrong. It is 2012, not 2011. Sorry about that.

Likewise, sorry if you didn’t get on the list. Demand is always greater than supply. If you’ve added your name to the wait list then you will be automatically promoted as and when spaces become free.

Kate Vahl. Peter Hamlyn, Kerry Shale, Sharon Miller, Barbara Barnes and David Hepworth

Thanks to everyone who came. Thanks to Kate Vahl and Peter Hamlyn, the turns who made a return appearance to record their stories for future broadcast. Thanks to the new girls, Barbara Barnes and Sharon Miller. Thanks to the turn who didn’t show up at all, thus inflicting the story of David Hepworth’s suit on a blameless audience. Shale K. was on MC duties.

See you in the New Year.

Ramy Habeeb, Kerry Shale, Richard Strange, Deborah Saunt, Keggie Carew and Paul Moriarty.

Ramy Habeeb recounted the story of how his Egyptian father, a devoted fan of Church’s Shoes, unwittingly inspired him to start up Kotorabia, the first digital publisher in the Arab world. Architect Deborah Saunt described her mixed feelings on finding that the building on the South Bank on which she had lavished care and attention was going to be knocked down to make room for somebody else’s masterpiece. Richard Strange remembered when his group the Doctors Of Madness were supported by the Sex Pistols in 1976.

Paul Moriarty went back to the same era when a National Front march through Lewisham helped him press his suit with the beautiful Gloria. Keggie Carew’s story involved meeting her 90-year-old war hero father at Waterloo station. Kerry Shale was once more in the chair as MC.

Thanks to everyone who came. Our next gathering will be on Monday, December 19th.