Never knowingly undersold - Cadbury, Pears and Bedford Park!
Monday 16 June 2025, 19:30
St Michael and All Angels Church
Doors and bar open from 7pm. No interval.
Tickets £15
In her acclaimed book Chocolate Wars, historian Deborah Cadbury told the fascinating story of her family firm. Fellow Bedford Park resident Andrew Pears is writing the history of his family's famous soap company. They share stories and images of these much-loved brands with Torin Douglas, director of the Chiswick Book Festival.
7pm - Doors and bar open
7.30 pm - Illustrated talks by Deborah Cadbury and Andrew Pears, followed by questions from Torin Douglas and the audience.
c8.40pm - The conversation continues in the bar, where Deborah and Andrew will be happy to take more questions!
Deborah Cadbury
Deborah Cadbury is the author of eight acclaimed books including Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking, Princes at War, Chocolate Wars (under option for television drama with Fable Pictures), and Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, for which her accompanying BBC series received a BAFTA nomination and which was a Sunday Times bestseller. Before turning to writing full-time she worked for 30 years as a BBC TV producer and executive producer. She has won numerous international awards including an Emmy. She is a relative of the Quaker family that set up the famous chocolate firm.
1. In Chocolate Wars, Deborah Cadbury writes:
"I do remember being invited as a child to visit Bournville by Cadbury cousins. A revelation. The doors opened onto a cavernous interior – all I could see was chocolate. Chocolate rivers moving on conveyers through mysterious gaps in the wall. Molten chocolate bubbling away in vats towering above me.
"The puzzle was how did all this chocolate - that to my young mind took the idea of greed and forbidden raids on the larder to a whole new level – fit with religion, for my father explained that somehow all this had its origins in a religious movement known as Quakerism. Was all this I wondered, the hand of God?"
You can buy Chocolate Wars via Waterstones online - click here
Andrew Pears
Andrew Pears is the four times great-grandson of the original Andrew Pears who set up the soap firm. He started and ran a construction company in west London for 20 years, where resource efficiency was a mantra, learned from his grandmother who taught him never to waste Pears soap. He says: "Caring for what we have is in the Pears DNA. I think Granny would be extremely proud that I have not only qualified as a Chartered Waste Manager but also volunteer for the Chiswick Repair Cafe."
Andrew's talk will include stories about some or all of the following:
Hounslow Historical Society, Bubbles, Thomas Barratt “The father of advertising”, Lillie Langtry, Pears annual and Pears Cyclopaedia, Dickens, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Titanic and the Miss Pears contest.
Sponsored by
Chiswick Book Festival
Chiswick Book Festival is one of London's largest and best-loved book festivals, bringing hundreds of top authors to Chiswick over the past 17 years. Chiswick
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