Penny Legg

Author, Speaker, Publisher, Celebrant


January 2025

A New Start





Penny Legg - Celebrant



After ending 2024 feeling quite fed-up, I decided that I needed some joy in my life!


I wondered what I could do that would allow me to bring together elements of things I enjoy doing, namely writing, speaking and meeting people. The answer was to train to become a Celebrant. I took the plunge in November, was overtaken by the festive season and a speaking trip for P&O and so now, here I am as a Celebrant.


I will still be writing, teaching, publishing and speaking but will add this new string to my bow. For more information on the joy I could bring to your celebration, please see my Penny Legg - Celebrant page.






I trained with the Fellowship of Professional Celebrants.



2024 in a Nutshell



The highs of 2024 were the following:

1 A new job teaching Journalism part-time at the University of Portsmouth. Yay!

2 Achieving Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and so adding AFHEA after my name. (Hard work! Phew!)

3 Speaking on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 in January and June, (the image is of the splendid central staircase and atrium aboard QM2) and Queen Victoria in April.

4 Speaking on P&O’s Arcadia in August.

5 Deciding to become a Celebrant. (More on this in my next post.)


The lows of 2024 were:

1 Catching Covid in January, feeling horrible despite being up to date with my vaccinations, and having to cancel my 60th birthday celebrations because I was ill. (Not fun.)

2 Losing my job as a Publishing Consultant with Capuccia Publishing due to a company re-structure. (Sad.)

3 Being made redundant from the new job at the University of Portsmouth. (A truly miserable experience.)


Looking back, the good times were sometimes lovely, especially when at sea for Cunard and P&O, but the bad times overshadowed much that was good, leaving me desperate for the year to finish so that I could start again.


Never fear, though, Penny will not be down for long!



June 2024





Hello Again!



It has been a while since my last news update, largely due to being busy!


Last summer was a whirlwind of speaking engagements for P&O cruises, for which I am very grateful. I travelled to Spain, Portugal, The Azores and Norway, speaking on board Ventura, Arcadia, Arvia and Aurora.


In addition, I took on more lecturing at the University of Portsmouth, which has been fun.


This year, I have been a guest speaker aboard Queen Mary 2 twice and also on Queen Victoria for Cunard. In August, I will be speaking on board Arcadia for P&O once again.



May 2022



No War and Peace Revival for Penny!



Sadly, although the War and Peace Revival is going ahead in Kent this year, the decision has been taken not to have the Authors Pavilion. This is a great shame as the authors have been at the show for decades. I remember years ago being a 'book signer' as authors were called then. When I was asked to take over running the new-look Authors Pavilion, authors were invited to give talks and interviews, in addition to merely signing their works. The problems caused by Covid and the rising cost of just about everything have led to a revised version of the show for 2022. Fingers crossed, I will be able to bring the authors back to War and Peace in the future.


This snap is from 2018, when I interviewed authors Liz Coward and William Earl for their book 'Blood and Bandages'. WW2 veteran William was 103 at the time!




May 2021



Penny on the Telly!



I was on the Smithsonian Channel last night, taking part in the first episode of Murderous History, a look at notable murder cases. This was a lot of fun to film!



May 2021



New Website!



After 15 years with variations on an old theme, it felt like the right time to update my website, so here is the new version. I hope you like it!





Penny is based on the south coast of the UK



Penny Legg