Foyles to celebrate 80 years of lunches

Foyles will mark the 80th anniversary of its literary luncheons with a black tie dinner in central London next month. The black tie dinner, at Grosvenor House on 21st October, will feature guests such as Sir Michael Parkinson and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson discussing their lives and their books.

The first literary lunch, the brainchild of Christina Foyle, was held on 21st October 1930 in response to customers’ demand to meet authors. Since then the independent bookshop has held more than 700 luncheons with more than 1,000 authors entertaining almost 500,000 guests.

Among those who previously attended are General de Gaulle, Margaret Thatcher, Lauren Bacall, TS Eliot, Frederick Forsyth, Jilly Cooper and John Lennon.