November Lecture - 12 November 2018
Sweet Song of Avon - Elizabeth Merry
Literary scholar Elizabeth Murray 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 Murray 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.
April Lecture - 09 April 2018
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew - Jacqueline Campbell
Biochemist Jacqueline Campbell lost us several times as she tried to untangle the love affair that over many centuries royalty has conducted with desirable real estate with coveted views over the Thames at Richmond. Her history of the Royal Botanical Gardens and their huge scientific importance best came to life, however, when it reached 2001 and Kew's brilliant forensic work on "Adam" - a young black boy whose torso was fished from a less salubrious stretch of the Thames. Police were stumped until Kew told them pollen in the boy's body showed he recently arrived from Africa; stomach residue included nuts most likely from SW Nigeria. The breakthrough eventually led to a name of a six-year-old from near Benin, birthplace of voodoo, trafficked here to provide body parts needed to make muti - the pan-African term for medical potions. Kew Gardens, with origins in the green-fingered aspirations of monarchs since Edward I, were formally started when a small physic garden was laid out in 1759 to grow medicinal herbs and other kinds of European muti. It is now nearly four times the size of our South Park and packed with dozens of listed buildings and has a global reputation for research including a target of conserving 25 per cent of the world's plant species by 2020.
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew - Jacqueline Campbell
Biochemist Jacqueline Campbell lost us several times as she tried to untangle the love affair that over many centuries royalty has conducted with desirable real estate with coveted views over the Thames at Richmond. Her history of the Royal Botanical Gardens and their huge scientific importance best came to life, however, when it reached 2001 and Kew's brilliant forensic work on "Adam" - a young black boy whose torso was fished from a less salubrious stretch of the Thames. Police were stumped until Kew told them pollen in the boy's body showed he recently arrived from Africa; stomach residue included nuts most likely from SW Nigeria. The breakthrough eventually led to a name of a six-year-old from near Benin, birthplace of voodoo, trafficked here to provide body parts needed to make muti - the pan-African term for medical potions. Kew Gardens, with origins in the green-fingered aspirations of monarchs since Edward I, were formally started when a small physic garden was laid out in 1759 to grow medicinal herbs and other kinds of European muti. It is now nearly four times the size of our South Park and packed with dozens of listed buildings and has a global reputation for research including a target of conserving 25 per cent of the world's plant species by 2020.
March Lecture - 12 March 2018
Why and How We Live Longer - Tom Kirkwood
We were, admit it, largely an older-generation audience that filed in to hear a Reith lecturer talk about the apparently gloomy subject of inevitable death. But an hour later we left with a spring in our step - and not only because Tom Kirkwood, emeritus professor of ageing at Newcastle University, started with the adage that "life is a sexually-transmitted condition that is always fatal." Our levity was because we had just seen it proved, admittedly partly in Reith-level scientific exposition beyond our general ken, that in real old age we were overwhelmingly likely to remain in pretty good nick. In his story of a relentless and continuing rise in life expectancy globally over 200 years (it has peaked, the UN wrongly asserted in 1980) he included the results of a major survey on Tyneside in which 78 per cent of over-85s reported a good quality of life. Mind, a west-east trip along the Tyneside Metro showed that the gentlefolk of salubrious Ponteland could expect to live 11 years longer than the socially disadvantaged of working-class Byker. Other points: our government is more enlightened than in 2001 when the census thought it not worth asking 75-year-old lifestyle/societal questions; and genetics ( e.g. death-age of family members) is only a 25% factor in life expectancy, with a Mediterranean diet calculated to give an eight per cent boost.
Why and How We Live Longer - Tom Kirkwood
We were, admit it, largely an older-generation audience that filed in to hear a Reith lecturer talk about the apparently gloomy subject of inevitable death. But an hour later we left with a spring in our step - and not only because Tom Kirkwood, emeritus professor of ageing at Newcastle University, started with the adage that "life is a sexually-transmitted condition that is always fatal." Our levity was because we had just seen it proved, admittedly partly in Reith-level scientific exposition beyond our general ken, that in real old age we were overwhelmingly likely to remain in pretty good nick. In his story of a relentless and continuing rise in life expectancy globally over 200 years (it has peaked, the UN wrongly asserted in 1980) he included the results of a major survey on Tyneside in which 78 per cent of over-85s reported a good quality of life. Mind, a west-east trip along the Tyneside Metro showed that the gentlefolk of salubrious Ponteland could expect to live 11 years longer than the socially disadvantaged of working-class Byker. Other points: our government is more enlightened than in 2001 when the census thought it not worth asking 75-year-old lifestyle/societal questions; and genetics ( e.g. death-age of family members) is only a 25% factor in life expectancy, with a Mediterranean diet calculated to give an eight per cent boost.
January Lecture - 8 January 2018
“Kynren” - Stefa McManners
Things you may know about Kynren: that the summer-nights historical extravaganza at Bishop Auckland, which leads banker Jonathan Ruffer's huge investment in the region's well-being, has been a resounding success and confounded sceptics who muttered "pigs might fly"; that the show itself and the inspiration it has been to 1,500 volunteers - performers and backstage - is modelled on a similarly philanthropic vision over 40 years ago in France; and that it all began when Mr Ruffer's eye was caught by the threat to the Zurbaran paintings at Auckland Castle. Things less well known were told by Kynren trustee Stefa McManners. At 7.45am on the morning after the Durham cathedral oratorio that was part of her GP husband Bob's own Zurbarans campaign their phone rang. "I'd like to give you £15m," said Mr Ruffer from their doorstep. Minutes later, after dressing, they heard: "The money I earn is obscene" and that it would only be any good if he could do something useful with it.Tit-bits as recruiting for an even better third season begins: that armed police join the 8,000 audiences, that the lake on the seven-acre "stage" is deep so rescue divers are at the ready, and that many in the thrilling cavalry charge hadn't ridden before they enrolled.
“Kynren” - Stefa McManners
Things you may know about Kynren: that the summer-nights historical extravaganza at Bishop Auckland, which leads banker Jonathan Ruffer's huge investment in the region's well-being, has been a resounding success and confounded sceptics who muttered "pigs might fly"; that the show itself and the inspiration it has been to 1,500 volunteers - performers and backstage - is modelled on a similarly philanthropic vision over 40 years ago in France; and that it all began when Mr Ruffer's eye was caught by the threat to the Zurbaran paintings at Auckland Castle. Things less well known were told by Kynren trustee Stefa McManners. At 7.45am on the morning after the Durham cathedral oratorio that was part of her GP husband Bob's own Zurbarans campaign their phone rang. "I'd like to give you £15m," said Mr Ruffer from their doorstep. Minutes later, after dressing, they heard: "The money I earn is obscene" and that it would only be any good if he could do something useful with it.Tit-bits as recruiting for an even better third season begins: that armed police join the 8,000 audiences, that the lake on the seven-acre "stage" is deep so rescue divers are at the ready, and that many in the thrilling cavalry charge hadn't ridden before they enrolled.
December Lecture - 04 December 2017
Bridge over Treasured Water - Gary Bankhead
Gary Bankhead last made waves in Darlington as officer in charge fighting the King's Head blaze. Now, still a firefighter but with academic letters after his name, he was back to tell of remarkable finds in the river Wear in Durham City that have launched him as a university-lauded archaeologist. Ten years ago his wife urged him to exercise his rescue-service diving skills in the river around the cathedral peninsula. His accompanying brother Trevor spotted a trowel on the river bed he thought might be DIY useful. But an inscription said the Archbishop of Canterbury (Michael Ramsey) had used it to lay a foundation stone in Bengal. Over the next two years the pair found beneath Prebends Bridge, near Ramsey's old home, many precious religious and civic gifts to the 1961-74 prelate – from the Queen, the Pope et al. The ageing Ramsey, it seems, had chosen an eccentric way of putting his affairs in order. Next, upstream to Elvet Bridge where Gary was to find 11,493 "objets d'everyday," many medieval and proving Durham was once a cloth-making and dyeing centre trading internationally. One find was researched to reveal that a mayor of 400 years ago had a negro boy servant. A major exhibition is due in late 2018.
Bridge over Treasured Water - Gary Bankhead
Gary Bankhead last made waves in Darlington as officer in charge fighting the King's Head blaze. Now, still a firefighter but with academic letters after his name, he was back to tell of remarkable finds in the river Wear in Durham City that have launched him as a university-lauded archaeologist. Ten years ago his wife urged him to exercise his rescue-service diving skills in the river around the cathedral peninsula. His accompanying brother Trevor spotted a trowel on the river bed he thought might be DIY useful. But an inscription said the Archbishop of Canterbury (Michael Ramsey) had used it to lay a foundation stone in Bengal. Over the next two years the pair found beneath Prebends Bridge, near Ramsey's old home, many precious religious and civic gifts to the 1961-74 prelate – from the Queen, the Pope et al. The ageing Ramsey, it seems, had chosen an eccentric way of putting his affairs in order. Next, upstream to Elvet Bridge where Gary was to find 11,493 "objets d'everyday," many medieval and proving Durham was once a cloth-making and dyeing centre trading internationally. One find was researched to reveal that a mayor of 400 years ago had a negro boy servant. A major exhibition is due in late 2018.
November Lecture - 13 November 2017
A Taste of Cornwall - Keith Holmes
Remote from us diagonally across the country, Cornwall was an intriguing prospect - many had not visited - and Keith Holmes's evocative photos of coves, cliffs, surfing beaches, Poldarkian tin mines, a Padstow economically revived by Rick Stein and the rediscovered gardens of the locally pronounced HeLIGan did not disappoint. Mr Holmes majored on Tregothnan, a 17th-century pile with an estate astride the Fal estuary. There, a micro-climate in an anyway famously warm and wet county enables Viscount Falmouth's elder son to grow tea. In 2005 the first 50 kilos were sold and now annual exports are £1m. Fortnum's has it at 25gr for £37.50; Waitrose sells 10 tea bags of a blended version for £4. Today's plantation is 40 acres and the long-term ambition is 150 acres, More prosaically, we learned that old-time miners ate their Cornish pasty holding its crimped side-crust which was then discarded, because their hands picked up arsenic underground.
A Taste of Cornwall - Keith Holmes
Remote from us diagonally across the country, Cornwall was an intriguing prospect - many had not visited - and Keith Holmes's evocative photos of coves, cliffs, surfing beaches, Poldarkian tin mines, a Padstow economically revived by Rick Stein and the rediscovered gardens of the locally pronounced HeLIGan did not disappoint. Mr Holmes majored on Tregothnan, a 17th-century pile with an estate astride the Fal estuary. There, a micro-climate in an anyway famously warm and wet county enables Viscount Falmouth's elder son to grow tea. In 2005 the first 50 kilos were sold and now annual exports are £1m. Fortnum's has it at 25gr for £37.50; Waitrose sells 10 tea bags of a blended version for £4. Today's plantation is 40 acres and the long-term ambition is 150 acres, More prosaically, we learned that old-time miners ate their Cornish pasty holding its crimped side-crust which was then discarded, because their hands picked up arsenic underground.
October Lecture - 09 October 2017
Charles II - Martin Clayton
Charles II's life and times without a mention of Nell Gwyn? That's because she was among many also-rans in the king's mistress stakes, it became clear from Martin Clayton's lecture linked to a Buckingham Palace exhibition (Dec 6-May 13 and later in Edinburgh) which will be replete with paintings of the two front-runners. Barbara Villiers and Louise de Kerouaille, ennobled respectively as the duchesses of Cleveland and Portsmouth; Villiers it was who, to defend herself from a mob at a time of anti-catholic feeling, explained from her carriage that "I am the Protestant whore." Charles, both politically and romantically, was for religious tolerance. When Cromwell ousted Charles's father, he sold the vast royal art collection of 1,500 pieces, said Mr Clayton, keeper of paintings and drawings at Windsor Castle; come the Restoration in 1660, Charles II ordered the new owners to return their purchases and also bought anew. This year's Art and Power exhibition draws from the most magnificent of these, plus the pick of new works commissioned by the new king, notably from Sir Peter Lely and John Michael Wright, and Old Masters. Pepys, incidentally, was also smitten by Ms Villiers; she has 150 diary mentions. And a local angle: when William of Orange, Charles's brother-in-law, sailed to England to become king in 1680 he intended a Northumbrian landfall but winds swept him to Devon.
Charles II - Martin Clayton
Charles II's life and times without a mention of Nell Gwyn? That's because she was among many also-rans in the king's mistress stakes, it became clear from Martin Clayton's lecture linked to a Buckingham Palace exhibition (Dec 6-May 13 and later in Edinburgh) which will be replete with paintings of the two front-runners. Barbara Villiers and Louise de Kerouaille, ennobled respectively as the duchesses of Cleveland and Portsmouth; Villiers it was who, to defend herself from a mob at a time of anti-catholic feeling, explained from her carriage that "I am the Protestant whore." Charles, both politically and romantically, was for religious tolerance. When Cromwell ousted Charles's father, he sold the vast royal art collection of 1,500 pieces, said Mr Clayton, keeper of paintings and drawings at Windsor Castle; come the Restoration in 1660, Charles II ordered the new owners to return their purchases and also bought anew. This year's Art and Power exhibition draws from the most magnificent of these, plus the pick of new works commissioned by the new king, notably from Sir Peter Lely and John Michael Wright, and Old Masters. Pepys, incidentally, was also smitten by Ms Villiers; she has 150 diary mentions. And a local angle: when William of Orange, Charles's brother-in-law, sailed to England to become king in 1680 he intended a Northumbrian landfall but winds swept him to Devon.