Baby Boomers do the Latitude festival

By his own admission the extraordinarily talented musician, comedian and actor Bill Bailey would never have made it to the main stage if he had not won Strictly come Dancing. “I’m only here as a competition winner” he told the 20,000 plus festival goers at the obelisk arena, as the newly crowned national treasure bombarded his audience with rapid fire comedy and music.

After his set Bill took some time to join us from where he could relax and view the crowd which were aged from less than 9 to more than 90. At 56 himself he earns the ‘Boomer’ title and is surely right at the peak of his powers.

Catching all the action in the field below was John Pienaar the 64 year old political journalist, previously for BBC news and currently with Times Radio.

Having completed a fascinating interview with Jess Phillips M.P. at The Listening Post Marquee, John settled in for the duration catching Rick Astley, 55, Kaiser Chiefs, Bombay Bicycle Club, and Bastille.

Other stand out performances featured Tom Rowlands, 50 and Ed Simons 51, otherwise known as the Chemical Brothers, and surely a star in the making is 20-year-old Griff. She owned the big stage looking a sounding cool and confident as she mesmerised the crowd at what was only her second festival performance.

Another Baby Boomer at the top of his game and a regular at the Festival was the unstoppable John Cooper Clarke, 72.

Before his performance we chatted about his Autobiography, “I Wanna Be Yours”, which is named after his most famous poem. His life story, growing up in relative poverty in Salford and journeying through the excesses of the sixties, the punk era and addiction is a rich honest dialogue full of wit and wisdom. Sober now, John lives with his wife Edie down the road in Colchester Essex where he says “I just eat kale”!

Latitude is a wonderfully inclusive festival where young people can be let loose and those of us theoretically more mature can do the same.