Art & History

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 […]

Speaker: Ally O Brian What are the stories behind some of the famous products?  Birds Custard and Royal Baking Powder were both invented because Alfred Bird’s wife was allergic to yeast and eggs.  “Marriage is a lot more harmonious when one’s wife can satisfy her sweet tooth”!!!  Why is there no sugar or flavouring in […]

Speaker: John Hopwood I first presented this talk approximately seven years ago – so, hopefully, many of you will have forgotten most of it – and in any case, it has been very considerably edited and modified! The very first car ever made is widely regarded as The Benz Patent Motorwagen of 1886, shown in […]

  Edward Hopper, the best-known American realist of the inter-war period, painted the world as an alienating, often vacuous place, with everyone in his works appearing terribly alone. Many of his paintings are instantly recognisable. What is less known is that his wife of 43 years, Josephine Nivison Hopper, was famous as an artist before […]