Johann Sebastian Bach, composer of the Baroque era and the most celebrated member of a large family of north German musicians. Bach is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. Appearing at a propitious moment in the history of music he was able to survey and bring together the principal […]

This lecture examines how the theatre responded to the upheavals of the Great Depression, two World Wars, the Cold War, the Space Race and the Information Revolution.  It considers how, throughout this age of extremes, the show still went on and continues to reflect our story right up to the present.   Lecturer: Mr Giles Ramsay BA MA PGCE […]

We explore how the iconic structure of Stonehenge has inspired painters, potters and poets resulting in a diverse catalogue of images and impressions which now grace tea towels in Wiltshire, phone cards in Japan and stamps from Bhutan.   Lecturer: Mr Julian Richards BA FSA Julian is an archaeologist who ran the Stonehenge Environs Project, a detailed […]

London has a world-class reputation for art in its many galleries.  This, however, is a lecture about the remarkable range of art outside in the streets, ranging from huge and expensive commissions to unofficial graffiti, sometimes audacious and often playful. We look at why art is there, how it has developed over the years and discover many […]

Fanny Mendelssohn, who later came to be known as Fanny Hensel, was a German pianist and composer. She was the sister of the composer Felix Mendelssohn and is considered to have been as equally gifted as her genius brother.  Even though there is a constant comparison of her music with that of Felix, she had […]

The Picture Gallery Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912) Towneley Hall Art Gallery & Museum   In 2003 a project was set up to catalogue the UK’s national collection of oil paintings. It involved visiting over 3,000 collection locations across the UK and photographing 212,000 paintings. The lecture offers an insider’s view of this ambitious and unique project. […]

Years of working as an artist within the Criminal Justice System in England and Germany have given Angela unique insights into the destructive and costly cycle of crime, prisons and re-offending. In this thought-provoking talk she offers a deeper understanding of the minds, lives and challenges of offenders. Lecturer: Ms Angela Findlay BA (Hons) Dip. […]

The work of women photographers has often been unfairly neglected.  This lecture seeks to correct that by examining the contribution of three outstanding British practitioners: Julia Margaret Cameron, a Victorian pioneer, Jane Brown a brilliant portraitist and Faye Godwin, who excelled in landscape photography. We will also explore the work of two highly- influential Americans, […]