March Lecture - 11 March 2019
“Putting on the Proms” - David Pickard
David Pickard, artistic director of the Proms and today’s Sir Henry Wood (minus the conducting) thanks his mum for his career in music admin. She pestered her teenager to write to the Royal Opera House for holiday work selling programmes; a telegram reply next day came from a manager desperate for a pair of props-moving hands. That led to a real ROH job after university. Later was a spell at a damp Regent’s Park Open-Air Theatre. Progress included running a provincial orchestra before big-time arrived: in charge at Glyndebourne. He sees a reverse parallel in the triumphs of Glyndebourne’s 1930s founder John Christie and the Proms’ 1895 co-founder. Christie was a businessman who met an artistic mate, Wood an artist who teamed with an organiser. The Sussex landowner showed soprano Audrey Mildmay his mansion the day they met and at the 25th bedroom said: “And here we’ll sleep when we’re married”. Wood’s fixer was impresario Robert Newman. An early Proms sponsor was ENT surgeon George Cathcart who stipulated “lower-key” music to protect singers’ throats. Proms 2019 are as yet unannounced but our tip for novelty in a season marking Wood’s 150 th birth year: Victorian pop songs.
“Putting on the Proms” - David Pickard
David Pickard, artistic director of the Proms and today’s Sir Henry Wood (minus the conducting) thanks his mum for his career in music admin. She pestered her teenager to write to the Royal Opera House for holiday work selling programmes; a telegram reply next day came from a manager desperate for a pair of props-moving hands. That led to a real ROH job after university. Later was a spell at a damp Regent’s Park Open-Air Theatre. Progress included running a provincial orchestra before big-time arrived: in charge at Glyndebourne. He sees a reverse parallel in the triumphs of Glyndebourne’s 1930s founder John Christie and the Proms’ 1895 co-founder. Christie was a businessman who met an artistic mate, Wood an artist who teamed with an organiser. The Sussex landowner showed soprano Audrey Mildmay his mansion the day they met and at the 25th bedroom said: “And here we’ll sleep when we’re married”. Wood’s fixer was impresario Robert Newman. An early Proms sponsor was ENT surgeon George Cathcart who stipulated “lower-key” music to protect singers’ throats. Proms 2019 are as yet unannounced but our tip for novelty in a season marking Wood’s 150 th birth year: Victorian pop songs.
February Lecture - 11 February 2019
“Treasures of the Turf” - Christopher Garibaldi
We liked the arty bits shown by Christopher Garibaldi, director of Newmarket's National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art, not least how Stubbs painted Gimcrack - the artist's da Vinci-like studies of equine anatomy paid off (even though he famously always got the galloping wrong) and especially a stunning Munnings paddock scene. History went down well too: York racecourse maybe the site of Roman racing at the local Circus Maximus; and it's a myth both Victoria and Cromwell hated the sport - pre Albert the queen cheered her own horses but her husband saw the fraternity as a "fast set" and after his death that attitude became one pillar of her mourning. Cromwell had a string of racehorses and a cavalry mindset. He banned racing (oddly, the proclamation calls the Lord Protector "his highness") because he feared unreconciled royalists might rally at meetings. During the suspension, Col Fairfax moved Newmarket bloodstock to Yorkshire thus explaining, says the fluent Garibaldi, why the county is still a racing hotspot. But most we enjoyed a royal cheating: in 1791 the Prince of Wales protesteth innocence too much in his rage at accusations that his Macaroni was held back in a heat at Newmarket to lengthen the odds in the final. Yes, Albert, it excites the fashionable, but also the louche.
“Treasures of the Turf” - Christopher Garibaldi
We liked the arty bits shown by Christopher Garibaldi, director of Newmarket's National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art, not least how Stubbs painted Gimcrack - the artist's da Vinci-like studies of equine anatomy paid off (even though he famously always got the galloping wrong) and especially a stunning Munnings paddock scene. History went down well too: York racecourse maybe the site of Roman racing at the local Circus Maximus; and it's a myth both Victoria and Cromwell hated the sport - pre Albert the queen cheered her own horses but her husband saw the fraternity as a "fast set" and after his death that attitude became one pillar of her mourning. Cromwell had a string of racehorses and a cavalry mindset. He banned racing (oddly, the proclamation calls the Lord Protector "his highness") because he feared unreconciled royalists might rally at meetings. During the suspension, Col Fairfax moved Newmarket bloodstock to Yorkshire thus explaining, says the fluent Garibaldi, why the county is still a racing hotspot. But most we enjoyed a royal cheating: in 1791 the Prince of Wales protesteth innocence too much in his rage at accusations that his Macaroni was held back in a heat at Newmarket to lengthen the odds in the final. Yes, Albert, it excites the fashionable, but also the louche.
January Lecture - 14 January 2019
Cathedral Care Taker - Geoff Clifton
When in 1220 the replacement Lincoln Cathedral installed its the magnificent Dean’s Eye rose window, the design, joshes cathedral structural engineer Geoff Clifton, “was not the work of a mason, but a priest – he relied on Faith.” If so, the Almighty made a reasonable job of staving off the window’s demise over the following 900 years. But it was touch and go, not least because emergency repairs and reinforcements over the centuries were, it seems, Gerry-built jobs. One stopgap obscured Christ’s face. When Clifton contemplated his own task – to rebuild completely, putting back 90 per cent of the original stained glass – he found that a hand-push could collapse the lot. His triumph, with implied 500-year warranty, involved encasing stainless steel rod in the 25ft diameter new masonry and within the small central ring around the holy visage. An added flourish was to attach a carving of the incumbent dean’s face, winking.
Cathedral Care Taker - Geoff Clifton
When in 1220 the replacement Lincoln Cathedral installed its the magnificent Dean’s Eye rose window, the design, joshes cathedral structural engineer Geoff Clifton, “was not the work of a mason, but a priest – he relied on Faith.” If so, the Almighty made a reasonable job of staving off the window’s demise over the following 900 years. But it was touch and go, not least because emergency repairs and reinforcements over the centuries were, it seems, Gerry-built jobs. One stopgap obscured Christ’s face. When Clifton contemplated his own task – to rebuild completely, putting back 90 per cent of the original stained glass – he found that a hand-push could collapse the lot. His triumph, with implied 500-year warranty, involved encasing stainless steel rod in the 25ft diameter new masonry and within the small central ring around the holy visage. An added flourish was to attach a carving of the incumbent dean’s face, winking.
December Lecture - 3 December 2018
“Spectacular South Africa” - Rosemary Legrand
Nelson Mandela was a better gardener than swimmer. In Chelsea Flower Show stalwart Rosemary Legrand's expertly illustrated account of a three-week self-drive around Cape Province's outstanding natural attractions, we began on Robben Island. It's Alcatraz-distance from both a civilised paradise and a cruel 21st-century aberration. Here in a dusty yard during his incarceration he nurtured plants and, in a cactusy thing that survives, hid a manuscript of his Long Walk to Freedom. He also surveyed the treacherous strait between his prison and Cape Town. But he will not have contemplated a watery escape; only one swimmer made it from captivity - a Dutchman centuries ago. When he at last walked free, one of the challenges Mandela faced was to improve the lot of millions living in squalor; it has not been fully met. Many "townships" are dangerous to visit. Mrs Legrand found a safe exception and shuddered, but admired the spirit of its clean and keen children. Return to a "big five" safari and more stunning blooms than you could shake a botanic encyclopedia at was incongruous.
“Spectacular South Africa” - Rosemary Legrand
Nelson Mandela was a better gardener than swimmer. In Chelsea Flower Show stalwart Rosemary Legrand's expertly illustrated account of a three-week self-drive around Cape Province's outstanding natural attractions, we began on Robben Island. It's Alcatraz-distance from both a civilised paradise and a cruel 21st-century aberration. Here in a dusty yard during his incarceration he nurtured plants and, in a cactusy thing that survives, hid a manuscript of his Long Walk to Freedom. He also surveyed the treacherous strait between his prison and Cape Town. But he will not have contemplated a watery escape; only one swimmer made it from captivity - a Dutchman centuries ago. When he at last walked free, one of the challenges Mandela faced was to improve the lot of millions living in squalor; it has not been fully met. Many "townships" are dangerous to visit. Mrs Legrand found a safe exception and shuddered, but admired the spirit of its clean and keen children. Return to a "big five" safari and more stunning blooms than you could shake a botanic encyclopedia at was incongruous.
November Lecture - 12 November 2018
Sweet Song of Avon - Elizabeth Merry
Literary scholar Elizabeth Merry promised us insight into the turbulent times that were a backdrop to the short (by today's standards; his 52 years were an achievement in those plague-ridden decades) and triumphant life of Shakespeare. We got it, in spades. Amid constant political and religious strife the astute Will, as a closet Catholic who made a living largely by writing often-contentious history presented as entertainment, lived by his wits as well as by the witticisms that often leavened even his tragedies. Ironic, then, that one of his closest shaves should involve a play almost without a comic line. In 1601, a faction returned from quelling Irish rebellion with ambitions to overthrow Elizabeth I; one of the conspirators was the Bard's patron, the Earl of Southampton. They paid 40 shillings, a useful sum, to have the playwright's company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, stage Richard II, a tale of revolt against state corruption, in the hope of it encouraging insurrection. London yawned. The lovies told a trial: "It never occurred to us" and were acquitted.
Sweet Song of Avon - Elizabeth Merry
Literary scholar Elizabeth Merry promised us insight into the turbulent times that were a backdrop to the short (by today's standards; his 52 years were an achievement in those plague-ridden decades) and triumphant life of Shakespeare. We got it, in spades. Amid constant political and religious strife the astute Will, as a closet Catholic who made a living largely by writing often-contentious history presented as entertainment, lived by his wits as well as by the witticisms that often leavened even his tragedies. Ironic, then, that one of his closest shaves should involve a play almost without a comic line. In 1601, a faction returned from quelling Irish rebellion with ambitions to overthrow Elizabeth I; one of the conspirators was the Bard's patron, the Earl of Southampton. They paid 40 shillings, a useful sum, to have the playwright's company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, stage Richard II, a tale of revolt against state corruption, in the hope of it encouraging insurrection. London yawned. The lovies told a trial: "It never occurred to us" and were acquitted.
October Lecture - 08 October 2018
After Dinner with Her Majesty - Oliver Everett
Oliver Everett, a former diplomat who was 17 years Royal Librarian, gave the grand sweep of history around royal libraries since medieval times and the establishment of the present library in three great rooms at Windsor in 1833: the bedchamber of Catherine of Braganza, the indoor walking gallery of Elizabeth I and Henry VII's bedchamber. There was a cruel piquancy behind the story that when Queen Catherine slept there her room was hanging space for the "Windsor beauties," portraits of her husband Charles II's mistresses commissioned from Sir Peter Lely. The walking gallery further enhances Prince Albert's reputation for Prussian practicality: he remonstrated to Victoria's librarians that the uniform height between book shelves meant volumes were categorised more by size than subject. And there was the tale behind the "Blenheim closet," a cosy corner of the library where in 1704 Anne was with the Duchess of Marlborough when the latter received her husband's note, sent 10 days earlier from Bavaria, asking her to tell the Queen the triumphant news from the battlefield. Mounted in the closet are French flags that are the peppercorn rent for Blenheim Palace, one a year, that to this day are paid by the Marlboroughs to the monarchy. The library also flaunts the identical rent still paid by the dukes of Wellington for their seat at Stratfield Saye, the gift that rewarded victory at Waterloo.
After Dinner with Her Majesty - Oliver Everett
Oliver Everett, a former diplomat who was 17 years Royal Librarian, gave the grand sweep of history around royal libraries since medieval times and the establishment of the present library in three great rooms at Windsor in 1833: the bedchamber of Catherine of Braganza, the indoor walking gallery of Elizabeth I and Henry VII's bedchamber. There was a cruel piquancy behind the story that when Queen Catherine slept there her room was hanging space for the "Windsor beauties," portraits of her husband Charles II's mistresses commissioned from Sir Peter Lely. The walking gallery further enhances Prince Albert's reputation for Prussian practicality: he remonstrated to Victoria's librarians that the uniform height between book shelves meant volumes were categorised more by size than subject. And there was the tale behind the "Blenheim closet," a cosy corner of the library where in 1704 Anne was with the Duchess of Marlborough when the latter received her husband's note, sent 10 days earlier from Bavaria, asking her to tell the Queen the triumphant news from the battlefield. Mounted in the closet are French flags that are the peppercorn rent for Blenheim Palace, one a year, that to this day are paid by the Marlboroughs to the monarchy. The library also flaunts the identical rent still paid by the dukes of Wellington for their seat at Stratfield Saye, the gift that rewarded victory at Waterloo.
September Lecture - 03 September 2018
Iceland: The Land of Geysers and Gyrs - Keith Offord
A fine painting of a gyr falcon by David Reid-Henry (and his life-story is a Google gem) inspired speaker Keith Offord, when eight, towards a career in wildlife and travel photography; his search for this rare predator, via ice-sharp pictures of Iceland's Tolkienesque landscapes and the plethora of other birdlife sharing an acreage four-fifths the size of England with a human population of only 348,000, was enthralling. The association's 136th year was launched with this stirring presentation about a land that rose volcanically from the Atlantic to such achievements as the claimed first parliament, the under-pavement heating of Reykjavik with hot water from the country's geysers and a world-class computer industry. We saw proof that the respective tectonic plates of Europe and America are separating by 1.2cm a year below this treeless (though bilberry-ed and lupin-ed) island, but the birds stole Mr Offord's show. Before the gyr climax, highlights included maniacal redshanks whose attacks rival Hitchcock's Birds, arctic terns that can clock-up a million migratory miles in a 30-year lifespan and the fulmar's micro desalination device in its beak.
Iceland: The Land of Geysers and Gyrs - Keith Offord
A fine painting of a gyr falcon by David Reid-Henry (and his life-story is a Google gem) inspired speaker Keith Offord, when eight, towards a career in wildlife and travel photography; his search for this rare predator, via ice-sharp pictures of Iceland's Tolkienesque landscapes and the plethora of other birdlife sharing an acreage four-fifths the size of England with a human population of only 348,000, was enthralling. The association's 136th year was launched with this stirring presentation about a land that rose volcanically from the Atlantic to such achievements as the claimed first parliament, the under-pavement heating of Reykjavik with hot water from the country's geysers and a world-class computer industry. We saw proof that the respective tectonic plates of Europe and America are separating by 1.2cm a year below this treeless (though bilberry-ed and lupin-ed) island, but the birds stole Mr Offord's show. Before the gyr climax, highlights included maniacal redshanks whose attacks rival Hitchcock's Birds, arctic terns that can clock-up a million migratory miles in a 30-year lifespan and the fulmar's micro desalination device in its beak.