Travel back in time to the years of the Second World War – as you’ve almost certainly never known them before. Author David Ebsworth tells the “stranger than fiction” stories behind his 2021 novel, A Betrayal of Heroes. Tales of Casablanca and Brazzaville, of the Spaniards who fought for Free France, of the 1940s celebrities and […]
Most historians agree that Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot of France was the constructor of the first true automobile. Cugnot’s vehicle was a huge, heavy, steam-powered tricycle, and his model of 1769 was said to have run for 20 minutes at 2.25 miles (3.6 km) per hour while carrying four people. He could have had little idea how the Automobile was […]
Friederike Victoria “Joy” Adamson was a passionate, temperamental and controversial woman. Although she married three times and was an infamous seducer, she never experienced happiness with any of her husbands or lovers. She won international renown with her African wildlife books, especially the trilogy describing how, together with her last husband, George Adamson, she raised […]
It is with great sadness that I have to inform members that Peter Holley, who was due to give his very first talk to our Art & History Group on the 14th October, sadly, and very unexpectedly, passed away on the 19th September. As a mark of respect to the memory of a well-loved member of our […]
Speaker: Keith Smith In the late 15 th Century, the Spanish Catholic Monarchs, Isabel and Ferdinand, used their children to create a complex web of alliances mainly to curtail the power of France.Two of their daughters, Catalina and Juana, became Queens, but neither got to rule for long as they were deceived by the powerful […]
Speaker: Gary Johnson Learn how Juan Garcia a chicken farmer from Barcelona: A fascinating true story not to be missed!
Speaker: Angela Chantry Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun exerted her considerable charm to become the friend, and then official portraitist, of Marie Antoinette. Though profitable, this role made her a public and controversial figure, and in 1789 it precipitated her exile. In a Europe torn by strife and revolution, she nevertheless managed to thrive as an […]
Due to a cancellation, I have decided to repeat this talk, which I previously gave approximately six years ago, about my favourite artist, the lad from Bradford, David Hockney. It is a remarkable story concerning a man from a very normal background who progresses through life to become one of the best-known artists in the […]
Due to some problems with the A & H group loud speaker I have had to delay the scheduled talk on the History of the Automobile and replace it with The History of Natural and Man -Made Glass I first gave this talk eight years ago so, hopefully, new members will not have heard it […]
Speaker: Rosalind Miranda Edward Hopper, the best-known American realist of the inter-war period, painted the world as an alienating, often vacuous place, with everyone in his works appearing terribly alone. Many of his paintings are instantly recognisable.What is less known is that his wife of 43 years, Josephine Nivison Hopper, was famous as an […]
Speaker: Alan Hunton Serendipity is a remarkable phenomenon which describes a most beneficial outcome achieved purely by chance. We will see that a significant number of scientific discoveries throughout history have been made by mistake; such that the intended result failed but the unintended consequence was so dramatic and useful to society that the researcher […]
Speaker: Angela Chantry Considered by many to be the greatest flamenco dancer of all time, Carmen Amaya gave her own definition to the art of flamenco. Her career began at the age of four and throughout her childhood she performed alongside her father in the taverns and music halls of Barcelona. With the outbreak of […]
Speaker: Rosalind Miranda As a lead-up to the New Deal in the USA in the 1930s & some of the artists who were helped by this program, I will start with some nostalgia about the Roaring Twenties. Even if we didn’t live through those years, it’s fun to hark back to those wild times. All […]
Speaker: Angela Chantry Considered by many to be the greatest flamenco dancer of all time, Carmen Amaya gave her own definition to the art of flamenco. Her career began at the age of four and throughout her childhood she performed alongside her father in the taverns and music halls of Barcelona. With the outbreak of […]
