A talk about the increasing popularity of classical music, especially amongst young people. How classical music enhances the mood - the drama, the tension, the romance -of feature films. Examples of how it has made many TV commercials truly memorable. How a piece by an obscure 17th century German Composer has become our No.1 favourite at weddings and funerals To finish, how classical melodies and chord sequences have been borrowed for a huge number of popular hit records. (With live performance on guitar and voice).

Tony Rawlins was educated at Highgate School, starting his career in advertising in 1965 as a mail boy in J.Walter Thompson, rising to account director there and in other agencies before starting his own in 1985,  producing many commercials and print ads for Guinness advertising in Africa and the Caribbean over 15 years. He is still a consultant, but has shifted his focus to philanthropic projects - producing a film in rural Nigeria for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and completing a sanitation project in Haiti after the devastating 2016 Hurricane Matthew.   A veteran Arts Society member, he became an accredited lecturer in 2017.He is married with 5 children, and is a keen guitarist, enthusiastic choral singer and optimistic tennis player.

Ealing Studios is often hailed as the most quintessentially English of all film studios. Run by Sir Michael Balcon for decades, the studio reached its zenith in 1949, its annus mirabilis, releasing Passport to Pimlico, Whisky Galore!, and Kind Hearts and Coronets. Now most celebrated for these and the similarly magnificent comedies that followed, Ealing's films have a reputation for cosiness, whimsicality, and an ever-so gentle subversiveness. This talk revisits these films and reads them again, this time in the light of the post-war new waves that were beginning to emerge across Europe.

Benedict Morrison is a lecturer in Literature and Film at the University of Exeter. His latest book is Complicating Articulation in Art Cinema (OUP). Current projects relate to post-war British comedy films, the response by the arts and humanities to Covid-19, and cultural narratives of extinction. After seven years studying at Oxford University, he traded the dreaming spires for the cultural bustle of London, where he lives with his partner. He loves nothing more than settling down in the darkness of a cinema to enjoy a great film.

About 18 miles west of Rome, at the mouth of the River Tiber, stand the impressive ruins of Ostia, Rome’s most important port.  With wonderfully preserved streets, massive granaries and warehouses, tenement blocks (the best anywhere in the Roman Empire), grand town houses, bath-houses and taverns it was a city bustling with activity, attracting people from all over the Empire.  This is shown by temples dedicated to numerous gods and goddesses, including oriental deities Mithras, Cybele and Serapis.  With many fine mosaics and wall paintings, its preservation rivals Pompeii and Herculaneum.  

Dr Sam Moorhead is the retired National Finds Adviser for Iron Age and Roman coins in the Portable Antiquities and Treasure Section at the British Museum, and an Honorary Lecturer at the Institute of Archaeology, and UCL. He has excavated widely in the Mediterranean and Britain,focusing on Roman and early Mediaeval periods. Serving on numerous councils, he was Chairman of the Palestine Exploration Fund and Honorary Secretary of the Roman Society. Voted Archaeologist of the Year 2011, he gained the Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 2019 and is a prolific author of books about the roman empire. He is currently rewriting the standard reference for the coinages of the emperors Carausius and Allectus and is working on numismatic material from excavations at Ipplepen (Devon), Richborough (Kent), Butrint (Albania) and Sidon (Lebanon). 

What was the attraction of Tahiti in the 1920s? Why was there a South Seas craze and why did a group of English-speaking writers and artists such as Robert Keable, James Norman Hall, Charles Nordhoff, Dean Frisbie, George Biddle and William Alister Macdonald follow in the footsteps of Paul Gauguin, and decide to settle on the island. What were they trying to escape? Why did they choose to stay and how successful were they?   

A graduate of Durham University, Simon Keable-Elliott was Head of Politics and Director of Model United Nations at Royal Russell School for 25 years. He now works as a writer, researcher, and lecturer. His first book Utterly Immoral, Robert Keable and his scandalous novel was published in November 2022, and he had also written articles for The Church Times, The History News Network, The Beresford Family Society Magazine, The Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, and Genealogy Today.

For every radical building, someone insists: “Christopher Wren would be turning in his grave.” A barb surely felt by Richard Rogers and Norman Foster, modernists building in steel, glass and concrete, while Wren’s  classical style used timber and stone. But Rogers' Royal Gold Medal for Architecture citation hailed “the rightful heir to the traditions of Wren”. And the same might be said of Foster. Would Wren approve of our leading British architects? He transformed the London skyline, had a restless and brilliantly inquisitive mind, and believed progressive design enhanced a building's function.  All of which applies, as we’ll see, to Foster and Rogers, fellow students and briefly partners before taking different routes to the summit of architecture. Rogers' buildings include the Pompidou centre,Paris and the London Lloyds building, while Foster’s portfolio has the Gherkin(pictured), the  British Museum Great Court and an amazing viaduct in southern France.

And there's one last parallel. Christopher Wren had battles with planning authorities too!

Brian Stater lectured at University College London for 25 years, retiring in 2021 as a Senior Teaching Fellow. His principal academic interest was the appreciation of architecture and he has a lifelong enthusiasm for photography, exhibiting most recently at the Royal Academy Summer show in 2025. He has written on architecture for a wide range of publications and an exhibition of his own photographs was held at UCL. Brian is a former member of the Association of Historical and Fine Art Photography.

Loaded with symbolism, the colour blue creates meaning, provokes emotion and ignites memory on a personal, and a cultural level, throughout the world.

From the sacred shade of Ultramarine, to the ancient roots of Indigo, to the startling alchemy of Prussian, blue has been used to venerate icons since the earliest human civilizations. Enjoy this rich history of colour via two powerful forces: Impressionism and Japanese Print. 

When Monet’s water-lilies met Hokusai’s Great Wave, the values of art changed forever.

Alice White is a contemporary oil-painter, Tutor at the University of the Arts London and UCL, and Guest Lecturer at King's College London, The Art Workers' Guild, the Courtauld Institute of Art. Publications include 'A Painter's Perspective' , essay, in Alfred Cohen: An American Artist in Europe (Alfred Cohen Art Foundation and Ben Uri Gallery 2020) and ‘How to Look at Painting’ Art Society Magazine (July 2020).  

Her year as resident artist at London Zoo generated a solo show 'A New Wave'. Recent projects include 'The Art of Science' (Scott Polar Institute, Cambridge University 2021). She exhibits regularly at the Mall Galleries in London.  

Turner and Constable were exact contemporaries, born just one year apart. Tate Britain will be commemorating the 250th anniversary of the birth of these two giants of British art with the exhibition Turner and Constable( https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/turner-and-constable ) from November 2025-April 2026. Both painted mostly landscapes but had a very different vision of art, each radical in its own way. Their personalities couldn't be more different: the rough and ready Turner, likened to a 'dirty farmer' by Delacroix, was in sharp contrast to the genteel Constable.  Their critical reception was also very different: Constable was not elected a full member of the Royal Academy until he was 52; Turner was just 27. Why was this? This talk contrasts the careers of these great artists with a detailed look at some of their most famous paintings.

Dr Antonia Gatward Cevizli is an independent art historian specialising in both Italian Renaissance art and Ottoman art. She gained her PhD from the University of Warwick. Her publications focus on cultural and diplomatic exchange between the Italian city-states and the Ottomans. Antonia has lectured for a number of institutions including Sabancı University, Istanbul; Sotheby’s Institute of Art; the National Gallery; the V&A Academy and The Courtauld summer school. Her interests are wide-ranging and she also worked across the collections of both Tate Modern and Tate Britain as a professional guide. She has lived in Siena, Venice and Istanbul.

Please note: in addition to the exhibition there is an Exhibition on Screen documentary, Turner and Constable, on at Campus West in Welwyn Garden City  and the Odyssey  in St Albans on 10 March. 

E H Shepard loved Christmas. This lecture includes his own words describing the magic and joy of successive festive seasons, from childhood through his long life, illustrated by a range of styles from full colour images to pen-and-ink personal Christmas cards, cartoons, drawings and watercolours, some featuring iconic images from the Wind in the Willows and Winnie-the-Pooh, many not published for over fifty years.

James Campbell has a BA in History and an MA in the History of Art and a particular interest in the work of the artist, illustrator and cartoonist E H Shepard (1879-1976). For over twenty years, he has lectured at events across the UK and overseas. A Trustee of the E H Shepard Estate since 2010, in   2017  he was involved in Winnie-the-Pooh’s 90th birthday Exhibition at the V&A and has written several books about Shepard and his work.  

Tintoretto’s extraordinary production pace earned his nickname ‘Il Furioso’ (“The Furious”). Without formal training or the benefit of apprenticeship with a major artist he found work the hard way: delivering faster and under cutting competitors like Titian and Veronese. A scourge of the Venetian art market, he worked for no fee or just materials cost.

His muscular figures with dramatic gestures and motion move through Mannerism into the excitement of Baroque art. Internationally famous by the end of his life, he never forgot his roots and early support from poorer churches and scuole.
What drove his ambition, and why did he give away so much of his work?

Julia Musgrave’s career in Chemical engineering and IT changed direction in 2008 when she began studying art history at the Courtauld Institute, followed by Glasgow and York Universities. Her PhD examines Roger Fry, the Bloomsbury Group and the British art world’s social networks’ involvement in the development of the Contemporary Art Society from 1910 to 1939. She teaches at City Lit and the Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI).

From early silver mines described by Dante, through twentieth century politics and wars, a silver thread winds through Kosovo’s history, swirling intricately  in the cultural capital, Prizren, where a seventh generation of filigree artisans use ‘filum’ and ‘granum’, zigzags, ‘mouse-tooth’ and other designs to magic lacy creations from dull sticks of raw material. The results – in boxes, buttons, jewellery, religious ornamentation and talismans of superstitition – are a fine narrative of Kosovo’s history and traditions.

Elizabeth Gowing  taught in London after graduating from Magdalen College Oxford until 2006 when she moved to Kosovo in 2006 working with the Prishtina Ethnological Museum to found a charity promoting education and cultural heritage. A regular contributor to Radio 4  and the World Service, her books cover biographies and many aspects of Balkan history. She is a member of the advisory board of GuideKS, the NGO for Kosovan tour guides, and of the board of Faktoje, the Albanian fact-checking organisation.

(AGM at 7.30) 

Tyler Butterworth, actor and son of the famous duo Janet Brown and Peter Butterworth, has appeared in many films and television. It’s said in our theatrical history that the 1970’s to the 1980’s was the Golden Age of British Comedy, a wonderfully rich period of shows, as we started to drift away from theatres and radios. Some say this period has never been bettered.

Tyler Butterworth grew up in a theatrical family and spent twenty five years as an actor working extensively in film, television, theatre and radio. He then worked as a development producer in television documentaries and was closely involved with NASA on a landmark commemorative tv series. Now, he produces walking audio guides to cities across Europe for private clients on whatever subject he’s commissioned to do. They’re just like the audio guides you get in art galleries and museums but they’re out on the street. He lives in Sussex where he walks on the South Downs and the South Coast.

Bertie Pearce recounts the extraordinary tale of how a small bronze statue, in his Grandfather’s garden for 40 years, was found to be a masterpiece, ending up in the Getty Museum, California. Adriaen De Vries (c.1556-1626) a Northern Mannerist sculptor and technical virtuoso born in the Netherlands, created spectacular bronzes for discerning patrons, including Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II of Prague. He excelled in refined modelling and bronze casting and in the manipulation of patina and became the most famous European sculptor of his generation.

Joanna Banham was Head of Adult Learning at the V&A from 2006 –16 and has curated international exhibitions.

William Morris considered a beautiful home to be “the most important production of Art” and much of his working life was devoted to the production of household goods that were intended to bring art and beauty into a wide range of homes including his own. This lecture explores not only the decoration, but also the relationships and lifestyles associated with each of these very different homes.

Note later date!

Caroline Shenton , public historian, archivist and prize winning writer, teaches postgraduates at Dundee University, and was Political Writer in Residence in 2017 at Gladstone’s Library.

William the Conqueror’s son, William Rufus, created the great Anglo-Norman feasting hall. The heart of the Palace of Westminster for 900 years, it hosted royal magnificence, coronation feasts, law courts, chivalric games, government departments, state trials, bookstalls, and royal lyings-in-state.

Note later date!

Barbara Askew is an historian and acknowledged expert on Royalty and Windsor Castle. The only Blue Badge Guide accredited for the Albert Memorial, she trains Blue Badge guides.

Charles I began his art obsession after seeing King Philip IV of Spain’s magnificent collection, buying the fabulous collection of the Dukes of Mantua including works by Titian and Raphael; he engaged Rubens to paint the Whitehall Banqueting House ceiling and appointed Van Dyck as his Court Artist. Overall, he amassed over 2000 works, thereby bankrupting the nation.

RADA trained Jamie Hayes has an illustrious career directing opera and musical theatre. As Associate Director of Miss Saigon’s original production in the West End and Broadway, he illustrates his lecture with unique film of rehearsals and world premiere, describing the page-to-stage process for major musical productions, the many elements and talents needed for a West End hit.

Producing, directing, auditions, script development, set design, lighting, costumes, orchestration, choreography, advertising, even landing a helicopter on stage!

Note later date!

Ian Swankie is a proud Londoner with contagious enthusiasm for his city. At its peak, Battersea Power Station supplied a fifth of London’s electricity. Shut down and decommissioned since 1983. Europe’s largest urban regeneration project restored and repurposed this architectural icon.

Connie Gray is an expert on 20th century fashion illustration and its legacy with influential fashion publications and great couture houses, lecturing in the UK and US and an advisor to The Courtauld Institute and Special Collections at FIT, New York.

As a curator and archivist, she works closely with institutions and foundations She also presents a series of on-line masterclasses, talks and short films on fashion illustration.

A fascinating insight into the history of one of our greatest ever institutions. What do we really know about them? How did they originate? What makes a great park?

Paul Rabbitts shares his passion for “Parkitecture” Currently Parks and Open Spaces Manager in Norwich, he secured 17 green flag awards in Watford, overseeing the Cassiobury regeneration.

AGM at 7.30

Tyler Butterworth, actor and son of the famous duo Janet Brown and Peter Butterworth, has appeared in many films and television. It’s said in our theatrical history that the 1970’s to the 1980’s was the Golden Age of British Comedy, a wonderfully rich period of shows, as we started to drift away from theatres and radios.

Bertie Pearce recounts the extraordinary tale of how a small bronze statue, in his Grandfather’s garden for 40 years, was found to be a masterpiece, ending up in the Getty Museum, California. Adriaen De Vries (c.1556-1626) a Northern Mannerist sculptor and technical virtuoso born in the Netherlands, created spectacular bronzes for discerning patrons, including Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II of Prague.