Coronavirus: Kite festival in Kirtlington Park postponed

Grace Jones and Gregory Porter were due to perform at the new festival

An "ideas and music" festival has been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Grace Jones and Gregory Porter were among the artists due to appear at Kite 2020 at Grade II-listed stately home Kirtlington Park in Oxfordshire.

The 12 - 14 June event, which was expecting 5,000 daily attendees, has been pushed back to June next year.

The bill also included Sir Philip Pullman, Richard Curtis, Mavis Staples and This is the Kit.

Former foreign secretary David Miliband, columnist Marina Hyde, writer Jon Ronson, former home secretary Amber Rudd, director Paul Greengrass, and former political aide Alistair Campbell also agreed to take part.

Tickets have been transferred to the 2021 event.

Kirtlington Park's gardens were laid out by Capability Brown in the 1750s

In a statement, organisers said: "We created Kite to bring people together, in a new environment, to debate the major forces shaping the world we live in.

"Over the past year, as our team has gathered to discuss what those topics might be, we never envisaged that our event would sit so poignantly, amidst perhaps the biggest conversation of our lifetimes."

They blamed the postponement on the "evolving situation around Covid-19" and said the safety of all involved was their top priority.

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