Arguably the greatest painting of the 20th century, Picasso’s Guernica was a defiant statement hewn out of the barbarity of civil war in Spain yet painted in a loft many…

This lecture will appeal to those with an interest in art and cultural history. This talk will explain the significance of this extraordinary work painted at a time when Europe…

‘A mound of treasures from far countries was fetched aboard her’ : The Story of the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial. In the early seventh century a great ship was dragged…

RAGTIME PRODUCES HYSTERIA, INSANITY – ragtime is not music, it is a disease” claims doctor. This ragtime-era headline celebrated the world’s first pop music craze, 100 years ago.  Scott Joplin,…

The twentieth century’s single greatest contribution to the Arts – namely film- also saw the birth of curse of the Mummy in films. Indeed Hollywood and Ancient Egypt have been…

This lecture will look at and assess the rise of and demands for lifelike portraiture amongst the growing wealthy elites of Northern Europe. In turn the employment of new materials…

Since Le Corbusier’s famous quote in 1923 (Toward an Architecture) Modernist architects have grappled with the seemingly impossible conundrum of creating an efficient and beautiful yet warm and inviting home.…

This lecture will examine the lengthy and often chequered history of the provision of housing and specialist developments, both rural and urban, from estate cottages to Port Sunlight to Portmeirion,…

Alexander II was grandfather to Nicholas II, the last of Russia’s Tsars.  He introduced the first Glasnost or thawing of Russian absolutism, but rather than making things better it made…