Upcoming Lectures

Ideal for Christmas time!This talk ranges from Dickensian Christmas stories to traditional Victorian Christmas activities and the inspiration for ghost stories at Christmas. Vicky Bailey Vicky became a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide in 2005, receiving an award as the 'Best Guide in Gallery Exams'. One of her main areas ...

London's royal parks are among its most beautiful and beloved spaces: just as much as the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace or St Pancras Station, the mere mention of Hyde or Regent's Park is enough to evoke the capital in all its glory for residents and tourists alike. They have ...

“I give you this, my beautiful one, as a token of my love” These words featured on a decorated cup made in Italy in the late fifteenth century and were accompanied by an image of a winged Cupid and a heart pierced by an arrow. The decorations on gifts like ...

This lecture focuses on the design impact of the Great Exhibition and the need for a 'legacy institution' in the form of the South Kensington Museum. We will look at the building as a work of art and explore the work of William Morris, Frederick Lord Leighton and other influential ...

Even in the 1860s and 70s, the expansion of the Underground created a need to have some cohesion between the different operating companies.  From Leslie Green's architecture and the Arts & Crafts movement, Edward Johnston's typeface, Charles Holden's architecture and the Streamline Moderne/Art Deco movement, to post war austerity/design, the ...

In 1925, 16 million visitors witnessed PARIS’S EXPO - The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts. What would we have seen in this landmark exhibition, if we had been one of those visitors? What drew the crowds? And how did this seminal exhibition play a fundamental role in ...

Michael Harris was one of the innovators of the international studio glass movement and transformed 20thC glass and its creation. His pioneering work at Mdina Glass on Malta and, later, at Isle of Wight Studio Glass is examined, including influences, production techniques, major ranges and the heritage he left behind ...

Pewter is a little remembered and little appreciated material but it was once at the heart of daily life all over Europe and it has a fascinating story. This talk will explain what pewter is and how it has been worked through the ages. It will describe the history and ...

"He prayeth best, who loveth best/All things both great and small…" Samuel Taylor Coleridge   From Robert Burns’s mouse to Shelley’s skylark; from Wordsworth’s butterfly to Keats’s nightingale; throughout the Romantic period, animals often inspired great writing.   This lecture focuses on the creatures that have been loved, lost and immortalised by some ...

When Japan's borders were opened to the West in 1868 there was a huge surge of interest in all things Japanese in the West, particularly in Paris. Ukiyo-e prints were collected avidly by the leading Impressionist painters of the day who 'borrowed' wholesale from their asymmetric compositions, flowing lines, bright colours ...

This very light-hearted lecture, looks at the various ceremonial events that take place around Christmas time. Carol services, concerts and even Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace and Windsor all play their part. How do the Chelsea Pensioners prepare and celebrate the festive season? All will be revealed so, relax, ...