Talks Archive
Programme 2022 - 2023
Supermac: The Last Edwardian – a portrait of Harold Macmillan as Prime Minister
by Andrew J Baker
Date: Friday 27 September 2024
What shaped Macmillan’s character and beliefs; what tragedies beset his personal life; his style, vision, wit and melancholy; his place in history
Creating a ‘Usable’ Past: The Legacy of the 1917 Revolution in modern Russia
by Dr Matthew Rendle
Date: Friday 11 October 2024
This talk explores how Putin’s Russia has attempted a delicate balancing act whilst commemorating the centenary of the 1917 Revolution
Dr Marie Stopes: Her life and times (1880-1958)
by David Carter
Date: Friday 25 October 2024
Marie Stopes known as a birth control pioneer was also a respected paleobotanist and Portland Museum’s founder and first curator
Great Historical Gardens of Italy
by Mary Jacobsen
Date: Friday 8 November 2024
Around Rome and southern Italy are some of the most famous Roman, Antique, High Renaissance, Mannerist and 20th century gardens in Italy, playing an important role in the history of garden design.
Early modern queens on screen: victors, victims, villains, virgins and viragoes
by Dr Ellie Woodacre
Date: Friday 22 November 2024
This talk highlights the range of typologies or stereotypes employed to depict the lives of early modern queens on film
A Moral Threesome: Florence Nightingale and the Herberts
by Dr Ruscombe Foster
Date: Friday 6 December 2024
One of Britain’s greatest heroines owed much to a now largely forgotten glamorous couple: the Herberts of Wilton House
Dorset and the Civil War
by Richard Warren
Date: Friday 5 January 2024
This talk explores how Dorset’s experience of the Civil War compared with other areas and connected to the wider conflict by taking a broadly thematic approach.
Last Supper in Pompeii: the Roman love affair with food and drink
by Professor Paul Roberts
Date: Friday 19 January 2024
Last Supper in Pompeii celebrates the Roman love affair with food and drink
Out of China: How the Chinese ended the era of Western domination
by Professor Robert Bickers
Date: Friday 26 January 2024
This talk explores Why today’s assertive and economically successful China dwells on its past: why does its history matter?
Chartism and the Plug Plot Riots of 1840s
by Brent Shore
Date: Friday 2 February 2024
The topic will be discussed with reference to the research and writing of Brent’s 2019 novel “Blessed are the Meek”
The Anglo-Saxons
by Dr Marc Morris
Date: Friday 16 February 2024
A presentation on the turbulent history of the Anglo-Saxons
The Making of the Riviera: People and Places
by Julian Halsby
Date: Saturday 2 March 2024
The Riviera became the centre for artists, writers, politicians, musicians and architects as well as the super-rich between 1918 and 1939. I examine their gilded existence
Where history meets legend: research and presentation at Tintagel Castle, Cornwall
by Dr Susan Greaney
Date: Saturday 16 March 2024
The intriguing and intertwined stories of history and legend at Tintagel Castle, including recent research and presentation on site
