Past event
Date:
22 January 2026
Letters Live partnered with Cunard on a very special show on Thursday 22nd January 2026, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre. Proceeds from ticket sales were donated to The King’s Trust, supporting young people to transform their futures.
This special collaboration celebrated the enduring art of letter writing, inspired by the calmness of sea travel and the human need to reflect, to write, and to stay connected.
Cunard’s ships have welcomed some of the world’s greatest writers, thinkers, and artists, from Noël Coward and Elizabeth Taylor to David Bowie, each finding inspiration in the rhythm of the ocean. Rooted in Cunard’s literary heritage, this partnership celebrates a tradition that has inspired travellers for over 185 years.
In partnership with Letters Live, the evening revived this creative legacy, with distinguished performers bringing extraordinary letters, written at sea and beyond, to life, capturing the emotion, wit, and humanity of correspondence across time and how it continues to connect people across distance and generations.
(Click dates to expand/collapse)
Mrs. Slob of 1961
A viewer to Shaw Taylor
Nothin’ down here you ain’t ate
Adrian Spindrift-Smith to David Creeper
I am an ocean flyer
Beryl Markham to the Press
Your humble client
A customer to their bank
We’re terrible animals
Bob Andenmatten to Berkshire Eagle
What you inherited WAS the real thing
A disgruntled customer to the Coca-Cola Company
Thou Eunuch of Language
Robert Burns to a critic
Songs without words
Felix Mendelssohn to Marc-André Souchay
The rougher it is the better I like it
Edna St. Vincent Millay to her family
This was no truss sabotage
Fred Allen to Joe Kelly
What will happen when it’s all over, do you think?
Vita Sackville-West Virginia Woolf
I have Never as Yett Wronged any English or Dutch
Henry Every to All commanders
We are all terribly sorry
Phyllida Law to her mother-in-law
I’m terribly in love with you
James Schuyler to John Button
I wish man were less mad
Martha Gellhorn to Allen Grover
Stupidity
Name withheld to Superior Insurance
Please consider my own position
King George VI to Winston Churchill
A mutual friend has given me your name
Rev Citarella to Stephen
A thousand times no!
Manuela Sáenz to James Thorne
You Babylonian scullion
Mehmed IV to Zaporozhian Cossacks
We are in a desperate state
Sir Robert Falcoln Scott to Sir JM Barrie
I demand answers!
Thatcher Jensen to he lady selling seashells
My mind leaped back to you
Thomas Wolfe to Aline Bernstein
Born to Be Alive
Father, Father
Stars (Nina Simone Cover)