LDM100: London

October 13, 2010 — So LDM London returned to Concrete in Shoreditch to celebrate LDM100: London, with Bruno Vincent losing by a mere one point to Year Zero Writer Dan Holloway in a mind-blowing memory game of Literary Pairs. 

Sponsored by Picador Books the evening — which co-hosts Nicki Le Masurier and Suzanne Azzopardi announced  as a 'Girls and Boys' night; all girl hosts, all girl judges and all boy readers — kicked off with Vincent, making everyone roar with laughter with his four tales of Middle Class Nightmares, including a terrifying account of what happens when you take the nightbus. Karl Webster, formerly known as Stan Cattermole, followed with a reading from his fiction/non-fiction work 'Bete De Jour,' and what happens when sex and dating encounter awkward social situations.

The judges, Emma Young (Enhanced Editions, To Hell With The Lighthouse), comedian Hatty Ashdown, and the raucous and rambuctious Molly Parkin struggled to choose their winner, but eventually decided that Vincent would go through to face the finale.

A short break for free-book giving courtesy of Picador and drinking at the bar ensued, leading swiftly into the second round.  First up was Canongate rep Niven Govinden (author of Graffiti My Soul, Skin Book), soldiering on through a sore throat to tell a dark tale of a writer's wife living under constant scrutiny, which garnered great praise from judging panel. Holloway followed, getting stuck into an obscenely porn-tastic story entitled "The Last Fluffer in La La Land" which ultimately shocked judge Emma Young ("I would have had to ask my mother to leave the room"), but had Molly Parkin in fits of rapture ("I'll see you afterwards Dan, I think you could be a very good night out").  It was Holloway who got the judge's vote to go through to the finale.

Hostesses Azzopardi and Le Masurier then announced the finale — a battle of memory under pressure, with Literary Pairs. Fourteen cards depicting Literary Death Match London alumni were spread around the audience, backs facing the stage. Vincent won the toss and decided to go first. He asked members of the audience to flip over two cards but didn't get a match. Holloway tried his luck, but also failed. Then it flipped back to Vincent and even with the hot lights glaring in his face, he managed to get two pairs in a row. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, Holloway took the lead, and became the LDM100: London champion with a whopping four matched pairs, the last being the smiling faces of Nikesh Shukla from London, Ep. 7. Holloway was crowned the champ, and literary immortality was all his!