Category: Art & History

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…

The story of how 13 British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America became the first 13 states of the USA. We shall explore the events and ideas that led the colonies to rebel against the Crown. We’ll follow the course of the war (1775-83), without dwelling on the detail of individual battles. And…

Seven centuries of Moorish rule left an indelible stamp on Spain, and helped shaped its´ history, language, culture and traditions. The general history of the occupation has been well documented and researched. Little however is known about the Moorish period in the area around us, the Marina Alta. In 1232 Jaime 1 of Aragon began…

Will members of our Art & History Group please note that due to the La Senieta Theatre being unavailable because of Teulada/Moraira Ayuntamiento event, I regret that there will not be a talk on the 9th October.Please make a note in your diaries that on the 23rd October Peter Atkinson’s talk will be “The Story…

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…

John Flamsteed was a hugely influential astronomer and mathematician at the end of the 17th Century but why is it that he is so little known? Flamsteed was appointed by Charles II as England’s first Astronomer Royal and an observatory was built at Greenwich that would help him to determine methods for finding longitude. It…

Galicia, made up of four provinces, is one of the 17 Autonomous Communities into which Spain was divided following the death of Franco. This presentation will explore the history of the region, principally through a comprehensive tour of its landscapes and architecture. Many cultures have made Galicia their home: Stone Age and Bronze Age tribes;…

In the latter part of the Eighteenth century, George III and the British government suddenly became interested in the Breadfruit tree and in particular to the large fruits of this tree which were the staple diet of many peoples living in tropical Pacific islands. The tree had been spotted by James Cook and Joseph Banks…

The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the most famous pieces of Medieval art in the world and it depicts many of the events which occurred between William, the Duke of Normandy and Harold Godwinson who became King Harold 2 nd of England. The tapestry, which is an amazing 70 metres or 230 feet long, depicts…

Modern Day Sadler’s Wells bears little resemblance to the original theatre of the same name which could have been described – and actually was by many well known members of the audience – as a scandalous den of debauchery! The theatre began as a meeting place for well heeled aristocrats who visited to sample the…

Nature has been inspiring artists for centuries, and its beauty has been captured in paintings, sculptures, photographs and a variety of other mediums. But some artists take the relationship between art and the environment a step further, creating works from nature itself or producing artworks that make bold statements about the natural world and the…

The Camino de Santiago has its origins in pre-Christian times when people of the Celtic/Iberian tribes made their way from the interior to the Atlantic coast of Galicia, a route that followed the Milky Way Finisterre which was believed to be the end of the world. The official history of the Camino de Santiago is…