Pauline Gower was the leader of the Spitfire women, a group of courageous pioneers who took exceptional risks to fly Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancasters to the frontlines of World War II.
We shall take a tour of the Comunidad Valenciana, one of the 17 Autonomous Communities into which Spain is divided; it is made up of three provinces: Valencia, Alicante and Castellón. We’ll visit the three principal cities (the provincial capitals) and we’ll explore a range of other towns and villages across the region, from Orihuela […]
Our planet has been completely ice free for most of its 4.5-billion-year history. So, the fact that we have ice caps in Greenland and in Antarctica today is unusual. In the first part of this talk we will see how it was possible for events to change so that that ice covered most of the […]
Travel back in time to the years of the Second World War – as you’ve almost certainly never known them before. Author David Ebsworth tells the “stranger than fiction” stories behind his 2021 novel, A Betrayal of Heroes. Tales of Casablanca and Brazzaville, of the Spaniards who fought for Free France, of the 1940s celebrities and […]
Most historians agree that Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot of France was the constructor of the first true automobile. Cugnot’s vehicle was a huge, heavy, steam-powered tricycle, and his model of 1769 was said to have run for 20 minutes at 2.25 miles (3.6 km) per hour while carrying four people. He could have had little idea how the Automobile was […]
Friederike Victoria “Joy” Adamson was a passionate, temperamental and controversial woman. Although she married three times and was an infamous seducer, she never experienced happiness with any of her husbands or lovers. She won international renown with her African wildlife books, especially the trilogy describing how, together with her last husband, George Adamson, she raised […]
It is with great sadness that I have to inform members that Peter Holley, who was due to give his very first talk to our Art & History Group on the 14th October, sadly, and very unexpectedly, passed away on the 19th September. As a mark of respect to the memory of a well-loved member of our […]
Speaker: Keith Smith In the late 15 th Century, the Spanish Catholic Monarchs, Isabel and Ferdinand, used their children to create a complex web of alliances mainly to curtail the power of France.Two of their daughters, Catalina and Juana, became Queens, but neither got to rule for long as they were deceived by the powerful […]
Speaker: Gary Johnson Learn how Juan Garcia a chicken farmer from Barcelona: A fascinating true story not to be missed!
Speaker: Angela Chantry Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun exerted her considerable charm to become the friend, and then official portraitist, of Marie Antoinette. Though profitable, this role made her a public and controversial figure, and in 1789 it precipitated her exile. In a Europe torn by strife and revolution, she nevertheless managed to thrive as an […]
Due to a cancellation, I have decided to repeat this talk, which I previously gave approximately six years ago, about my favourite artist, the lad from Bradford, David Hockney. It is a remarkable story concerning a man from a very normal background who progresses through life to become one of the best-known artists in the […]
