| When | Friday 06th June 2025 at 19:00 |
| Where | The Exchange, Sturminster Newton 1 Old Market Hill Sturminster Newton Dorset DT10 1QU |
| Event Type | Talks |
| Price | £12.50 |
| Booking | Preferred |
| Tickets | |
| Also available at 1855, Market Cross, Sturminster Newton |
About Operation Ark
67 People. 171 Animals. Getting out was only half the battle. It’s August 2021. The Taliban invaded Kabul. The British Government was “Missing in Action”.The evacuation was disastrous, shambolic and deadly. Pen Farthing refused to abandon his charity’s staff or rescue animals. Operation Ark was born. He was branded a villain who valued “pets over people”, blamed for deserting Afghans, accused of risking British soldiers – nothing could be further from the truth.
About Final Approach
‘Final Approach’ is part-memoir, part-travelogue, an insight into a Sunday Times Rich List family in turmoil; wealth brings privilege and pleasure but also pain and misery. Each chapter lands on a particular airport, and its significance to the family story. From each runway we take off, uncertain of our destination. ‘Final Approach’ is essential reading for aviation enthusiasts, but its reach goes far beyond that as the reader takes flight. The young plane spotter dreams of being with his father on the wistful planes flying over his hellish boarding school and ends up a passenger on business jets to all corners of the world (as well as the hidden corners of his father’s secret life). It all comes crashing down, and not just in his dreams.
Mark Blackburn
Mark was the runner-up in the 2022 Ruth Rendell Short Story Prize judged by Dame Margaret Drabble and his travelogue/memoir Final Approach: My Father and Other Turbulence has been published by Claret Press to great reviews, named as one of Psychogeographic Review’s Books of the Year 2025 and as a Finalist in the 2024 Eyelands Book Awards. He’s also the winner of the 2024 South Hams Literary Festival Short Story Prize and has had numerous other short stories and other pieces published and shortlisted for prizes.
Pen Farthing
Pen Farthing is an ex-Royal Marine commando, the founder of animal welfare charity Nowzad and author of Sunday Times bestseller, One Dog At A Time.
During the chaotic and unplanned withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Pen was thrust into the spotlight when it was widely reported in the media that he was putting the lives of “pets over people”. The controversy embroiled everyone, from the Prime Minister to the soldiers on the ground. His upcoming book, Operation Ark, is the true story of what happened to Pen, his charity staff, and the rescue animals. He had 14 days to get them all out, with no assistance from the British government.