I am delighted to announce that Steve Brown, a great, great, great grandson of Thomas and Lucy Atkinson, is presenting a humourous show at the Brighton Fringe Festival based on his discovery of his family roots. He will be presenting Slightly Famous in Kazakhstan at the Black Dove pub – COVID permitting – on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th October at 4pm.

As Steve points out, the Atkinsons are almost forgotten in their English homeland, but in Kazakhstan it is a different story. There they are regarded as national heroes, the earliest Europeans to spend time in the region and to write extensively about it and – in Thomas’ case – to paint it.

Having visited the remote places in which his ancestors stayed – and had a child – in the late 1840s, Steve came to realise the awe which the Atkinson name generates in Kazakhstan today, and which, as the flyer for his show says, resulted in he and his family members being “feted on Kazakh TV, rubbing shoulders with various ambassadors, politicians and oligarchs and also learning a little about the seductive nature of fame”, as well as the scandal which led his ancestors to be airbrushed from the history books. Steve will also explain why he thinks Lucy Atkinson should be a feminist icon for our troubled times. So get out there and buy a ticket while you can…