An instinct to distrust anything new and unusual is a common characteristic among many in this county.

And so when the freshest writing talent arrives from the bigger cities of London and Manchester, many give that predictable headshake when asked if they will be going to the border town for the world famous festival.

Hidden among the many talks and discussions at this year’s event was a lecture on an academic and author from the Herefordshire border who had his own personal battles with outsiders before making his name on a global scale.

Raymond Williams, who was born across the River Monnow in Pandy in 1921, moved away from his working-class family to study at Cambridge University but never forgot his upbringing as he became one of the most important cultural critics in the then elitist world of academia.

The Hay Festival lecture was given by Dai Williams, another person who hardly conforms to the stereotype of a typical professor with his jokes about boxer Jo Calzaghe and countless anecdotes all told in a broad Welsh accent.

Professor Williams’ lecture centred on one of his namesake’s more popular works, the novel Border Country.

In this Williams describes many of the issues he faced when he left behind the simple rural communities he so adored as he made a new life for himself within the English intelligentsia.

A question and answer session followed the lecture where someone asked why a good working-class boy like Raymond Williams should have chosen to study at such an upper-class institution like the University of Cambridge.

Professor Williams replied by saying that everyone had the opportunity to expand their mind and Raymond Williams did this to the best of his ability before returning home and using his new-found knowledge to enrich the lives of his community and his country through his writing.

And in that response I thought there was a lesson there for all those apathetic Herefordians who dismiss too quickly the chance to open up their thoughts up to a wonderful festival on our doorsteps - full of thought provoking debate of which this talk on Pandy’s most famous son was a perfect example.