This lecture will look at the varied artworks of Banksy from A to Z. He first came to prominence on the Bristol graffiti scene in the 1990s. Since moving to London in 2000, he’s used a stencil-based approach to his street art. It’s quicker to execute, with less risk of being detected or apprehended. Some of his most memorable stencilled pieces have entered the nation’s consciousness They include rodents, chimpanzees, girls with balloons, flower-throwing freedom fighters, and housewives who fight back. He sometimes dabbles in ‘fine art’, but usually with the aim of mocking the art market. And he produces installations to bemuse and exhibitions to dazzle.

Ray has had a life-long love of art. However, in his twenties, Ray studied social sciences at the London School of Economics and the School of Oriental and African Studies. These studies led to a career in health and social care, with art being an evening and weekend passion. But all that changed in 2011, when Ray became a guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. Then from 2014 to 2017, he studied art history at the Open University, and then at the University of Buckingham, from where he gained an MA in the History of Art. And to cap it all, Ray became an Arts Society lecturer in 2017. Ray also knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of lectures as he is a member of his local Arts Society in Blackheath.

“Antiques. I don’t understand them and they’re beyond my budget. They’re not for me.” A persuasive introduction to buying antiques and integrating and using them in today’s homes. The state of the antiques market and the different meanings of the word value are considered, and we take a look at what current and future generations of collectors are buying, why they are buying it and how they are displaying it.

Studied History of Art & Architecture (BA Hons), and began his career as a porter and Junior Cataloguer at Bonhams, before moving to Sotheby's where he was a Specialist in the Collectors' Department. Became director of an internet company forming and running a ground-breaking deal with eBay Live Auctions. Was co-author of the internationally published Collectables Price Guide with Judith Miller from 2002-17. Founded his own publishing company in 2005 and has published over 15 books on emerging specialist subjects in the decorative arts. A Miscellaneous expert on the BBC 'Antiques Roadshow' since 2007 and an expert on the BBC's 'Antiques Roadtrip', has also co-presented five primetime TV series on antiques and collecting for BBC2. A member of the British Antiques Dealers' Association (BADA.org). Senior Vice President at a company offering digital solutions to the antiques industry. Has lectured across the world, including at the V&A in London, and contributed to many newspapers, magazines, radio and TV programmes. A Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars and a Freeman of the City of London.

Toulouse-Lautrec’s life is both a triumph against adversity and a sad reflection of late 19th century society in Paris. I discuss Toulouse-Lautrec’s technique of working in oils on board and especially the process of lithography he used to produce posters for the cabarets in Paris. I look at the careers of some of the leading cabaret artists who were the subject of his art including La Goulue, Jane Avril, Yvette Guilbert, May Milton, the clown Cha-U-Kao and Aristide Bruant, as well as at some of the well known venues such as Le Rat Mort, the Moulin Rouge, the Divan Japonais and the Moulin de la Galette. This is a lively view of La Belle Époque seen through the eyes of an artist from an aristocratic family. 

Studied History of Art at Cambridge. Formerly Senior Lecturer and Head of Department at Croydon College of Art. Publications include Venice - the Artist's Vision (1990, 1995), The Art of Diana Armfield RA (1995), Dictionary of Scottish Painters (1990, 1998, 2001, 4th edition 2010), A Hand to Obey the Demon's Eye (2000), Scottish Watercolours 1740-1940 (1986, 1991), A Private View - David Wolfers and the New Grafton Gallery (2002). Interviews artists for the Artist Magazine and is a member of  The Critics Circle. A practising artist, he was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1994 and was Keeper from  2010 to 2021.

What makes a genuine Rembrandt? This question has dogged museums and art historians since the great Dutch master’s reputation soared to prominence at the end of the 19th century. The Rembrandt Research Project tried for nearly five decades to pare down the painter’s oeuvre, using the latest technology and a barrage of experts. But a backlash in the 1990s cause many disavowed Rembrandts to be put back on the list. This lecture charts the ebb and flow of Rembrandt attribution and tries to answer the question: who decides? Science or the subjective eye of the connoisseur

Rupert Dickens is an art historian based in south London with a special interest in Dutch and Flemish 16th and 17th century painting. He works at the Wallace Collection as a guide conducting public and private tours and lecturing on aspects of the collection. Rupert has accompanied groups on art-themed tours to the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria and Italy. He has lectured to large audiences on subjects as diverse as the game of chess in art and Madame de Pompadour’s artistic patronage in 18th century France. He studied art history at Birkbeck College before undertaking a Masters in Dutch Golden Age Studies at University College London. Before that Rupert had a 26-year career as a BBC journalist ending as an editor in radio news. 

Steve King - i write the songs 

Save The Last Dance For Me was recorded by the Drifters in 1960, with Ben E King on lead vocals, but what single event in the life of one of its writers inspired the track? Was Every Breath You Take by The Police really written as a love song? What is the truth about the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and why did George Harrison stop composing for three years in 1976? We all have personal memories we associate with individual songs, but each song has its own story. In this lecture, the real stories behind some the world’s best known songs are revealed.

Steve King has spent 35 years working in the radio industry as a Broadcaster, Programmer and Events Director. He has managed some of the biggest radio brands in the UK and has interviewed and worked with many well-known popular music artists. He has also directed over 50 multi-artist events at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, London Palladium and Manchester Arena. His work in the broadcasting industry has been recognised on numerous occasions.    

Steve is an engaging public speaker and has produced a series of highly entertaining lectures based on his extensive knowledge of popular music, and his experiences in the radio business. He has lectured at various media conferences, industry events and for several cruise lines

The Sistine Chapel is rightly considered one of the modern Wonders of the World. It is a sacred building where mysterious elections take place infrequently whilst for the rest of the time thousands visit it on a daily basis. This lecture will look at the decoration of the ceiling by Michelangelo and concentrate on some of the more unusual inclusions in the Old Testament scheme. It is a mighty piece of painting that demonstrates incredible artistic talent but contains plenty of somewhat subversive elements. Sin and punishment were key themes for much of Michelangelo’s career and it seems that he decided to project these ideas onto the Pope, Conclave and Tourist.

Dan is an educationalist with a passion for all things Italian. Dan is a Housemaster and Teacher at Cheltenham College, a full boarding and co-educational independent school established in 1841 and was formerly Head of History of Art at Wycombe Abbey School. He has been lecturing since 2001, and spent 9 years working as a senior lecturer, tutor and tour guide for Art History Abroad. He was voted the British winner of the World Guide of the Year Awards in 2008 and alongside his lectures and special interest days he also leads educational study trips for groups of friends to a range of destinations in Italy.

Patrick will explore the rich musical traditions of Venice. Claudio Monteverdi not only transformed the music at the Basilica of San Marco but also led the way in the creation of a new art form - opera. We shall look at and listen to works from the other musical geniuses who developed the musical life of San Marco such as Gabrieli and Lotti, as well as tracing Monteverdi’s successors in the creation of Venetian opera, including Cavalli and Albinoni. We shall also examine and hear music from Antonio Vivaldi, the other towering figure of Venetian music, who created music both for the opera stage and the female musicians of the Ospidale della Pietà.

Patrick Craig is a Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral. For twenty years he combined this with an international career singing over a thousand concerts with the world-renowned early music consort The Tallis Scholars. He also sings with the award-winning group The Cardinall’s Musick. He founded and conducts this country’s leading all-female professional choir, Aurora Nova. He has conducted concerts for the BBC Proms, the Brighton, Lichfield and Aldeburgh Festivals, and with the City of London Sinfonia. As a Cambridge history graduate with a lifelong interest in the arts, he has gone on to lead choral workshops for amateur singers across the world, where he places music in its historical and cultural context. He regularly lectures for the St Paul’s Adult Education programme and for John Hall’s Venice Courses, which have allowed him to incorporate his interests in theology, art and poetry.  In 2020, when his singing and conducting work disappeared overnight as a result of the Covid pandemic, Patrick poured all his experience into online presentations which have raised vital funds for the Help Musicians Charity

What is the origin of the double portrait? Are the sitters posed in a single image or in two separate portraits meant to hang together? And what happens if one of the paintings is lost? What do these images tell us about the subjects, for example, is there a power struggle going on between the two figures? Is there a male/female hierarchy? Are same gender double portraits simply a modern notion or have they been around for much longer?  Alice answers these questions fully through a wide ranging selection of images from medieval donor portraits to the twentieth century. All are linked by the common theme of double portraits.

Alice has lectured for Oxford University Department of Continuing Education since 1998. She lectures regularly at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock. Her busy freelance career includes organising History of Art study days with colleagues, and regular weekly classes in Oxfordshire and Worcestershire. In 2004 Alice joined The Arts Society and has lectured in Britain and in Europe. In 2025 she undertakes tours of Australia and New Zealand. Since 2003 Alice has been a tutor on study holidays in Italy. Currently, Alice is a residential tutor at the Argyll Hotel on the Isle of Iona, specialising in Scottish art. In 2010 she was elected President of Banbury Fine Arts Society.

SADLY LECTURE CANCELLED DUE TO IMPENDING BAD WEATHER

Save The Last Dance For Me was recorded by the Drifters in 1960, with Ben E King on lead vocals, but what single event in the life of one of its writers inspired the track? Was Every Breath You Take by The Police really written as a love song? What is the truth about the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and why did George Harrison stop composing for three years in 1976? We all have personal memories we associate with individual songs, but each song has its own story. In this lecture, the real stories behind some the world’s best known songs are revealed.

Steve King has spent 35 years working in the radio industry as a Broadcaster, Programmer and Events Director. He has managed some of the biggest radio brands in the UK and has interviewed and worked with many well-known popular music artists. He has also directed over 50 multi-artist events at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, London Palladium and Manchester Arena. His work in the broadcasting industry has been recognised on numerous occasions.    

Steve is an engaging public speaker and has produced a series of highly entertaining lectures based on his extensive knowledge of popular music, and his experiences in the radio business. He has lectured at various media conferences, industry events and for several cruise lines

Whilst it's almost Christmas this lecture is nothing to do with Shepherd's, mangers and lambs etc, but all to do with Illustrator and Artist E H Shepard and of course Piglet and Winnie the Pooh.

Shepard loved christmas and this lecture describes much of the magic and joy of this wonderful season. We revist Shepard's christmases from childhood to others throughout his long life. We see a range of Shepard's artistic styles from full colour images , pen and ink cards, cartoons , drawings and watercolours featuring iconic images from Both Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh. 

James Campbell has a BA in History and an MA in History of Art and has a particular interest in the work of Artist, Illustrator and cartoonist - E H Shepard (1879-1976). He has been lecturing for over 20 years and his books 'Shepard's War' and 'The art of Winnie the Pooh' were published in 2015 and 2017.

It has long been recognised that the worlds of the visual and aural arts link with extraordinary power when one medium inspires the other. This lecture, which spans over 600 years of the arts, analyses and discusses a range of related works, bringing together the music of Martinu with the frescoes of Piero della Francesca, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus with Respighi’s Trittico botticelliano, Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead with Rachmaninoff’s symphonic poem and Poet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie with the piano playing of Albert Ammons.

Peter Medhurst appears in the UK and abroad as a musician and scholar, giving recitals and delivering illustrated lectures on music and the arts. He studied singing and early keyboard instruments at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Turn of the century Vienna was a melting pot of new ideas in Science, Philosophy, Psychoananlysis, Modernist Architecture, Music, Literature, and in Art.

Gustav Klimt led this Succession Movement which broke free from nineteenth century academic art, to create a highly decorative and potent form of imagery. klimt created a highly decorative and sensual visualisation that explored the power of sex in the age of Freud. This lecture will examine the ramifications of Klimt's sexually charged images in the context of vienesse art and society.

Colin Pink has a BA in Philosophy and Politics and an MA in the History fo Art. He specialises in the inter relationship between the history of ideas and the history of art. He also curates exhibitions and has published two books of poetry .  

Harry will be tracing the history of his profession through the work of artists who have made an impact upon language, culture, history and most importantly upon him. Harry will be drawing live during which he will disclose some of the tricks of his trade.

Harry Venning has been a professional cartoonist for over thirty years during which time he has provided cartoons for several high profile UK publications (Guardian, Radio Times etc) as well as for countless more obscure titles (British Journal of Wound Care).

He was awarded UK Strip Cartoonist of the year for his Guardian strip 'clare in the Community' which was adapted into a radio 4 sitcom.

Agatha Christie is one of the most adapted writers of all time. These adaptations, however, have often been critiqued as nothing more than gentle exercises in period nostalgia. If this is the case, it raises the question of why have they attracted some of the most brilliant actors of all time. This talk goes on a trip through decades of Christie adaptation, exploring how the performances of John Gielgud, Maggie Smith, Albert Finney, Angela Lansbury, Charles Laughton, and Peter Ustinov (to name but a few) help to express the uniquely eccentric world of Christie’s work.

Benedict Morrison is a lecturer in Literature and Film at the University of Exeter. He has recently published a book entitled Complicating Articulation in Art Cinema with Oxford University Press and is now producing works on post-war British comedy films, the response by the arts and humanities to Covid-19, and cultural narratives of extinction. He spent seven years studying at the University of Oxford, but finally traded the dreaming spires for the cultural bustle of London, where he lives with his partner. He loves nothing more than settling down in the darkness of a cinema to enjoy a great film.

London’s department stores were far more than shops. By the late 19th century, they were destinations. Where else would you find a ‘reading room for husbands’ (Selfridges)? A crèche with giant toadstools (D.H Evans)? A service to clean and repair your entire winter wardrobe (Bradleys)? This wonderfully nostalgic and captivating day will take you on a sensory, highly immersive journey backwards in time. We’ll be making stops at:

1: The West End, guided by Edwardian shopping lady Olivia (author of ‘A Prejudiced Guide to the Shops’), seeking out the latest ‘temples of desire’.

2: The flirty Thirties and its fabulous Deco department stores, from roof gardens to curved glass walls, Coronation fever to marketing stunts.

3: The showmen and shopgirls who made it all happen. Big personalities and disgruntled workers; strikes and lavish lifestyles; shopgirls and emancipation. 

Tessa Boase is a freelance journalist, author, lecturer and campaigner with an interest in uncovering the stories of invisible women from the 19th and early 20th-centuries – revealing how they drove industry, propped up society and influenced politics. She’s the author of three books of social history: The Housekeeper’s Tale: The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House (2014); Etta Lemon: The Woman Who Saved the Birds (first published as Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather in 2018), and London’s Lost Department Stores: A Vanished World of Dazzle and Dreams (2022). Since uncovering the feminist origins of the RSPB, Tessa has been campaigning for public recognition of its female founders with plaques, portraits and a statue. 

 

Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) was one of the most celebrated artists her time. She displayed exceptional early talent, and on 31 May 1783 became one of just four women elected to France’s prestigious Académie Royale de Peinture et de sculpture. Vigée Le Brun was Queen Marie-Antoinette’s favourite portraitist, creating royal portraits that were astonishing in their informality. Following the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, that relationship became a liability. Vigée Le Brun fled France with her nine-year old daughter, travelling through Italy, Austria, Russia, Germany, England and Switzerland. Wherever she went, she painted aristocracy and royalty, charging phenomenal sums and becoming the highest earning artist in Europe. Drawing on new research and the artist’s own rollocking memoirs, this lecture traces the life of a remarkable artist.

Dr Lois Oliver is Professor in History of Art at the University of Notre Dame in London, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute. She has worked as a Curator at the V&A, the National Gallery, and the Royal Academy. Her recent exhibitions include ‘Berthe Morisot: Shaping Impressionism’ at Dulwich Picture Gallery and ‘Jock McFadyen: Tourist without a Guidebook’ for the Royal Academy. She has created audio and multimedia tours for many of the UK’s leading arts institutions and has appeared on BBC Radio and TV. Also a keen violinist, Lois plays regularly with Kensington Chamber Orchestra and the Endellion Festival Orchestra. Lois studied English Literature at Cambridge University, and History of Art at the Courtauld Institute, completing an MA in Venetian Renaissance Art and writing her PhD thesis on The Image of the Artist, Paris 1815-1855.

From the beginning of time the fascination with magic and the impossible has been widespread. Egypt was the cradle of magic. Sorcerer Priests used scientific principles to create illusions for the edification of worship and to hold power over the people. Where there was power there was magic. Then there is the age-old skill of sleight of hand, which proves that ‘the hand is quicker than the eye’. Magicians were known as ‘Jongleurs’ lest they be sentenced to death for ‘witchraft and conjuration’ under the edicts of Henry VIII. With the emergence of the Music Hall, Magic gained a new respectability and audiences flocked in their thousands to watch the extraordinary feats of The Great Illusionists. This gave birth to legendary tricks such as pulling a rabbit from a hat and sawing a lady in half. And if magicians guarded their secrets with their lives, how was the Magic Circle formed ? – Home to 10,000 secrets. Even Today in our super technical age of ipods and broadband, the wonder and surprise of magic are as popular as ever, not forgetting the Harry Potter craze. 'Wonder Workers and the Art of Illusion' is a whistle stop tour of the history of mystery from 3000 BC to the 21st century and be careful! – you might be amazed and bewitched.

Bertie Pearce has a BA (Hons) in Drama from Manchester University, and a Diploma Internationale from the École Internationale du Théatre, Jacques Lecoq. A member of the Inner Magic Circle, with Gold Star. Past experience includes lecturing and performing on cruise ships, and to U3A, historical societies, festivals, schools and colleges. In addition, has toured the world with a magic cabaret show and a one man show entitled All Aboard. Has written articles for newspapers and magazines on entertainment and theatre.

When we receive a letter or a Christmas card from someone we know, we often recognise the handwriting straight away, and know who it’s from without even opening the envelope. Recognising the hand of an artist can be like that – an instant certainty that the painting must be by Rubens, or El Greco, or Rembrandt. Yet if you try to explain to someone else how you know that your letter is from that person, or what it is in their handwriting that is so distinctive, you would probably struggle to put it into words.   This lecture takes examples of a wide range of artists from the 15th, 16th 17th and 18th centuries, and will put into words what it is that tells us a picture is by Rubens rather than Rembrandt, or even, by Rubens rather than by, say, Van Dyck, who was taught by him and painted so very much like him. My lecture uses photos of small details of paintings greatly enlarged, to demonstrate some of the distinctive quirks and give-away characteristics of artists from Mantegna and Bellini to Canaletto and Gainsborough. I’ll share with you tips and tricks of art-gazing, and show you how to have the enormous satisfaction of looking at an unfamiliar painting and realising that you can instantly recognise the artist.

MA in History of Art from Edinburgh, PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years' experience as a lecturer, Chantal has taught at Sotheby's Institute of Art on the MA in Fine and Decorative Arts since 1989, and as a freelance lecturer for a number of societies and institutions in London, including the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection. Having also trained as a paintings conservator, she brings an understanding of the making and the physical painting to her lectures and study sessions.

Since the pandemic, audiences have been behaving badly. They have booed opera singers, heckled comedians and fought in the stalls. Even at the best of times, all of us have been irritated by crisp packets, mobile phones and inappropriate conversations. But is this such a new thing? In this entertaining lecture, Mark Fisher revisits the audiences of the past to discover outbursts, protests and punch-ups. From the fatal Astor Place riot in 19th-century New York to the reception of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, he looks at the stories behind the greatest controversies in the performing arts.

Walter Sickert is often considered a 'painter's painter'. The well known crime writer Patricia Cornwell has claimed the much loved artist was responsible for the murders attributed to the infamous Jack the Ripper. This lecture will attempt to untangle the truth of this claim following a trail of murder mystery and paint. Was this much loved colourful and enigmatic painter actually Jack the Ripper - come and judge the evidence for yourselves.

Michael Howard is a familiar face to the Arts Society. He is president of the arts society Bolton and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He has published widely on European Art of the Nineteenth century including books on Lowry, Gaugin and Monet. Michael is a practising artist and has exhibited at the Royal Academy and the New York Art Fair. He has also appeared on television and radio many times and in 2004 he and his wife Ghislaine worked the film ' Degas and Dance' and was awarded one of the prestigious Peabody awards.

Jamie’s own personal journey as Associate Director on the original production of Miss Saigon in the West End and on Broadway. Illustrated with unique film clips of the original rehearsals and world premiere. This lecture looks at the journey, the process, the creativity required for a major musical production, from page to stage, and demonstrates the many elements and talents it takes to produce a West End hit. Producing, directing, auditions, script development, set design, lighting, costumes, orchestrations, choreography, advertising and even the challenge of landing a helicopter on stage!

Jamie Hayes. After training at RADA Jamie graduated as a Stage Manager and subsequently worked for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Bristol Old Vic and the BBC. He became an Assistant Director with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Kent Opera and English National Opera and soon began directing productions of his own. He has directed many new opera productions in the UK whilst other new opera productions overseas include Reykjavik, Malta and Melbourne. Jamie was Associate Director on the original production of the hit musical Miss Saigon in the West End and on Broadway. He has directed productions in all the major UK conservatoires and was Director of Productions for British Youth Opera for over a decade, a company devoted to promoting the talents of our finest young opera singers in the UK. Jamie is a regular enrichment programme lecturer for various leading cruise ship companies. He is married to the mezzo-soprano Jean Rigby and they have three sons. 

This lecture examines the life and times of Oscar Wilde from his Irish roots to his days as a student at Oxford and his meteoric rise to the heights of celebrity. We travel with him to the United States and examine his starring role within the artistic & theatrical worlds of late 19th century London. We visit his home in bohemian Chelsea and some of his favourite West End haunts. Finally, we learn how ‘tired of being in the heights, he plunged into the depths’ and became famous for being INfamous...

Simon Whitehouse is a (recovering) actor, lecturer, presenter, Alexander Technique and voice teacher and award winning London Blue Badge guide. He has worked as a guide lecturer in house at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Opera House, the BBC and the National Gallery guiding both public and private tours. He is on the faculty of Ithaca College and also lectures for the Blue Badge Guide training course on the performing arts and English literature. Simon’s specialisms and passions are theatre, literature, fashion and art history but whatever the subject, Simon will weave a wonderful story from it.

Clement Greenberg, the noted American art critic, observed that when Hitler occupied Paris in 1940, the art world’s centre of gravity shifted to the USA, and to New York in particular. This lecture looks at the way in which America came increasingly to dominate the making, marketing and selling of art between 1940 and the early 1980s. These developments are set against the social and political changes of the period, including the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and the growth of the consumer society.

Barry Venning is an art historian whose interests and teaching range from the art of late medieval Europe to global contemporary art. He has published books, articles and exhibition catalogue essays on Turner, Constable and European landscape painting, but also has an ongoing research interest in postcolonial art and British visual satire. He works as a consultant and associate lecturer for the Open University. His media work includes two BBC TV documentaries, radio appearances for BBC local radio and abc Australia, and a DVD on Turner for the Tate. 

Ealing Studios is often hailed as the most quintessentially English of all film studios. Run by Sir Michael Balcon for decades, the studio reached its zenith in 1949, its annus mirabilis, releasing Passport to Pimlico, Whisky Galore!, and Kind Hearts and Coronets. Now most celebrated for these and the similarly magnificent comedies that followed, Ealing's films have a reputation for cosiness, whimsicality, and an ever-so gentle subversiveness. This talk revisits these films and reads them again, this time in the light of the post-war new waves that were beginning to emerge across Europe.

Benedict Morrison is a lecturer in Literature and Film at the University of Exeter. He has recently published a book entitled Complicating Articulation in Art Cinema with Oxford University Press and is now producing works on post-war British comedy films, the response by the arts and humanities to Covid-19, and cultural narratives of extinction. He spent seven years studying at the University of Oxford, but finally traded the dreaming spires for the cultural bustle of London, where he lives with his partner. He loves nothing more than settling down in the darkness of a cinema to enjoy a great film.

This lecture looks at the story of a remarkable book published in 1539 called In Chaldaicam Lingua. It was published by Theseo Ambrogio who had been the Pope’s enforcer of doctrine, with the Lord’s Prayer and selected psalms translated into multiple languages for missionaries to use. However Ambrogio also had an eccentric uncle who was an inventor and had invented a brand-new kind of bagpipe….that no one wanted to make, so he died with his vision mostly unrealised. Feeling that his uncle’s legacy shouldn’t be forgotten, Ambrogio included the designs for his uncle’s bagpipe in his new book of prayers. As well as the details of a seance he held with the devil…complete with the devil’s reply!

Sophie Matthews is a musician and her interest in this book came through the musical side. As part of the lecture she has a reconstruction of the uncle’s bagpipe to play for you, as well as an original copy of the book.

This lecture will highlight the myriad projects going on around the country which attempt to harness people’s potential, often in a place where they are able to concentrate for the first time. A very high proportion of prisoners will have left school early or fallen out with the education system at a young age, and although grim, prisons walls provide a back-drop where their physical lives at least are not chaotic. Fine Cell Work teaches inmates to sew, most of whom are men, as women only make up about 8% of the prison estate.

Magdalen Evans studied history of art at UEA and worked in London galleries for fifteen years; since then has been organising exhibitions and writing articles, concentrating on C19th/20th women artists. A contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and to BBC Woman's Hour, also works with charities that help ex-offenders through art and education. Her book on Marianne Stokes and her English landscape painter husband Adrian Stokes RA was published recently and she has lectured for the Art Fund, National Portrait Gallery, Pre-Raphaelite Society and Art Workers' Guild as well as to the Art Society of Budapest.

This is the gripping and sometimes hilarious story of how a band of heroic curators and eccentric custodians saved Britain’s national heritage during our Darkest Hour. As Hitler’s forces gathered on the other side of the Channel to threaten these islands, men and women from London’s national museums, galleries and archives forged extraordinary plans to evacuate their collections to safety. Utilising country houses from Buckinghamshire to Cumbria, tube tunnels, Welsh mines and Wiltshire quarries, a dedicated team of unlikely heroes packed up their greatest treasures in a race against time during the sweltering summer of 1939, dispatching them throughout the country on a series of secret wartime adventures, retold in this talk.

DR CAROLINE SHENTON

Dr Caroline Shenton is an archivist and historian. She was formerly Director of the Parliamentary Archives in London, and before that was a senior archivist at the National Archives. Her book The Day Parliament Burned Down won the Political Book of the Year Award in 2013 and Mary Beard called it ‘microhistory at its absolute best’. Its acclaimed sequel, Mr Barry’s War, about the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster, was a Book of the Year in 2016 for The Daily Telegraph and BBC History Magazine and was described by Lucy Worsley as "a real jewel, finely wrought and beautiful". Caroline was Political Writer in Residence at Gladstone’s Library in 2017, has appeared at the Cheltenham, Hay and Henley literary festivals and on BBC radio and TV. Caroline’s third book, National Treasures, will tell the extraordinary and sometimes hilarious stories behind the saving of London’s art and museum collections in World War Two.