Fallen In Love: The Secret Heart of Anne Boleyn
17 May – 16 June, Tower of London
Red Rose Chaine Presents…
Written and Directed by Joanna Carrick
The year is 1536. The woman who changed the world forever by capturing the heart of a King faces trial with her brother for adultery, incest and treason.
Written and directed by Red Rose Chain’s founder and director, Joanna Carrick, this story of love, betrayal, jealousy and treason has been hailed by author and historian Suzannah Lipscomb, as “Accomplished writing, astute direction and exemplary history… A practically flawless piece of Theatre”
Alison Weir, Author and Historian has praised the play “Theatre at its best… History transformed into drama with the highest integrity. If you only go to see one play this year make it this one”.
Tickets: £27 – £32. 10% discount London Historians Members.
More information and booking.
Adult Learners’ Week 2013 with Hackney Historic Buildings Trust
This is an extremely rich programme of talks, featuring two LH Members:
Matthew Green: Hackney in the 18th Century
Tuesday 21st May 2013, 7:30pm – St Augustine’s Tower
In the 18th century, the villages of Hackney were mini utopias for the City bourgeois, yet beneath their picture-postcard surface festered deadly whirlpools of depravity and despair. In this dramatized talk, London historian and broadcaster Dr Matthew Green evokes a world of pig swinging, deathly bowling greens, hot-air balloon launches, philosophical reflection, brutal murder and inquisitions of insanity. Featuring vivid, eye-witness accounts from previously unpublished Hackney diarists and a cameo by Dick Turpin.
Kate Colquhoun on Mr Briggs’ Hackney and the impact of the Railway
Thursday 23rd May 2013, 8pm – St Augustine’s Tower
Critically acclaimed, Mr Briggs’ Hat was the No 1 selling real-crime hardback of 2012. A BBC2 adaptation of the book – Murder on the Victorian Railway – aired in February 2013. Kate Colquhoun will talk about tracing Thomas Briggs – the first victim of murder on the British railway in 1864 – life in Hackney, the impact of the railway on Victorian life and why this crime caused such a sensation in its day. Kate writes widely for the national press and appears regularly on tv and radio.
(M)apping London
May 30th 2013, 6.30pm
Westminster Arts Library
A talk by Matt Brown of Londonist and history writer Rachel Litchenstein.
Maps and history may be the means by which we make best sense of and navigate the city but aren’t both part fact and part fable? London’s long life has often been mapped, and, more recently ‘apped’ but even the most geographically accurate of these representations are only a snapshot of a particular time or a particular viewpoint. Salon No 5: (M)apping London brings together two London writers Rachel Litchenstein and Matt Brown to present their own unique picture-memory-stories of the capital.
£4/6 advance booking; £8 on the door.
More info.
London Historians' Monthly Pub Meet
A London Historians Event
We have an informal gathering of socialising on the first Wednesday of every month. From 6:30 pm. All are welcome.
After much trying out of venues since our first meeting back in May 2011, we have settled for the Windsor Castle, who have made the upstairs section available for our exclusive use. The pub was completely refurbished last year and is comfy and warm, making it ideal for good conversation. We have well over 20 attendees most months and you can come as early or late as you like, we’re always still there at Last Orders. All welcome, not just LH members.
Meetings for all of 2013 are as follows: Wed 9 January; Wed 6 February; Wed 6 March; Wed 3 April; Wed 1 May; Wed 5 June; Wed 3 July; Wed 7 August; Wed 4 September; Wed 2 October; Wed 6 November; Wed 4 December.
Upstairs at the Windsor Castle, Francis Street, SW1.
Estuary
Museum of London Docklands
17 May – 27 October 2013
Estuary brings together the work of 12 artists who have been inspired by the outer limits of the Thames where the river becomes the sea. The exhibition marks the 10th anniversary of the Museum of London Docklands, a converted Georgian warehouse on West India Quay. The Estuary has long been a rich source of inspiration for artists and writers. Through film, photography, painting and printmaking, the contemporary artists featured in this exhibition offer new insight into this often overlooked, yet utterly compelling, environment and the people that live and work there.
FREE Entry.
More information.
THE LOST WORLD OF THE LONDON COFFEEHOUSE
Talk by LH Member Dr Matthew Green
30 May, 6:30pm
The Idler Academy, Notting Hill
Hear about the meteoric rise of coffeehouses in 17th-century London, their blossoming in the 18th century, and their tragic death in the 19th as Londoners turned to tea. Picture the cosy, candlelit world of the Georgian coffeehouse and all that went on inside: from dolphin dissections to lethal duels over Latin grammar, poetry recitals to slave auctions, salacious gossip-mongering to ventriloquism. Marvel at a world where you could begin a conversation with anyone you liked by yelling the four sacred words: “What News Have You!”
Glass of wine included.
£20
More information and booking.
"Doucettes and Tartellettes"
Sunday 2 June. 3:00 and 6:30pm.
A celebration of 1540-style food and music at the Ancient House in Walthamstow on Sunday 2nd June. A unique opportunity to enjoy such delicacies as hippocras, marchpane and maids of honour in the specially decorated courtyard, listen to music of the time and discover something of life in Tudor Walthamstow. Amazing value at £11.25.
Book here.
Nicholas Hawksmoor: Methodical Imaginings
Somerset House, Terrace Rooms, South Wing
15 May–1 September 2013. Open daily 10.00-18.00.
This exhibition focuses on a series of important London churches built by the English architect Nicholas Hawksmoor (1661–1736) during the early part of the 18th Century. The key distinguishing features of Hawksmoor’s churches are their spires, each designed with different qualities, which rose throughout the city and became major urban markers. Curated by Mohsen Mostafavi.
Free admission.
Info.
Keats Festival 2013
Keats House
24 May – 2 June
For ten days, from Friday 24 May until Sunday 2 June, the Keats House will come alive with a whole range of events and activities for all ages, from creative writing courses to poetry readings, from children’s workshops to musical performances. Listen to new work by acclaimed poets and performers. Create your own poem at one of our interactive workshops. Or bring the kids who can experiment with craft at our free family workshops or meet the cantankerous George the Dragon.
More information and Programme.
A phoenix from the ashes: The Tooley Street fire and birth of a modern fire brigade
Thursday 27 June 2013 ; 5.30-7.30pm
London Fire Brigade Museum, Winchester House, 94a Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 0EG.
An illustrated lecture on the event that changed London’s fire service forever. Discover the fascinating history of insurance fire brigades, the inspirational James Braidwood and why the Tooley Street Fire of June 1861, an inferno of devastating proportions, sparked a chain of events leading to the formation of a public fire service in London. The lecture will be led by a museum expert in the grand setting of Winchester House, residence of the first chief officer of the London Fire Brigade (LFB), Captain Shaw, now home to the LFB Museum. The talk will be followed by refreshments and an opportunity to visit the museum.
£10 per person
To book your place, please contact the museum directly
Up the Cally
A London Historians Event
Guided walk by Rob Smith from Footprints of London
Saturday 15 June, 11.00 a.m.
Islington’s Caledonian Road is seeped in London history. This two hour walk led by Clerkenwell and Islington Guide looks at the story of Caledonian Road, starting with the landowners that made money from the “march of bricks and mortar”, the walk then looks at the Chartists who met on Copenhagen Fields, an experimental community inspired by Robert Owen, the suffragette who starred in Britain’s first martial arts film and the site of London’s first Afro-Caribbean cultural centre that was visited by Bob Marley. We look at some of the institutions that have been based in the Cally – a children’s home, a prison and a cattle market.
£3 members, £8 non-members. Small booking fee.
Book your ticket online, via Eventbrite.
Poster Art 150 – London Underground’s Greatest Designs
London Transport Museum
15 February to 27 October 2013
Poster Art 150 is a fitting exhibition to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the world’s first underground railway, as the last major Underground poster retrospective was held in 1963 to celebrate the centenary of the Underground. Well-known posters, including the surrealist photographer Man Ray’s ‘Keeps London Going’ pair, will feature alongside lesser-known gems. The exhibition will also offer a rare opportunity to view letter-press posters from the late nineteenth century.
Entry to the exhibition is included in price of admission. £15 adults, concessions apply.
LTM runs the enlighted policy of annual ticket.
More info
Tube 150. London Transport Museum Events
January to June 2013
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the opening of the world’s first subterranean railway, London Transport Museum have developed a tantalising series of talks, visits, tours etc.
Full programme.
Tour of the Government Art Collection
London Historians Events
Wednesday, 26 June 2013, 18:30h
NOW FULLY BOOKED – waiting list only.
The Government Art Collection comprises approximately 13,000 paintings, drawings and objects, most of which populate government offices and embassies around the world. About a third of the collection is in storage at the GAC facility off Tottenham Court Road. At this event, staff of the Government Art Collection will show us many of the works and tell us about their role as guardians and conservators of the nation’s artworks.
20 places maximum, Free.
You are welcome to reserve a place, even this far ahead. Please mail admin@londonhistorians.org with “GAC” in the Subject line. First preference will be given to London Historians members.
Mobilising London's Housing Histories: The Provision of Homes since 1850
Two Day Conference
Senate House, 27 – 28 June 2013
As a growing metropolis, London is in the middle of a severe housing crisis, widely evidenced in the press and featuring in political debates. This conference will seek to examine the history of housing provision in London, and how historical research may be mobilised to address the contemporary crisis. Keynote speakers: Professor Jerry White (Birkbeck), Professor Andrew Saint (Survey of London, English Heritage).
Organised by the Institute of Historical Research.
More info and booking
The National Archives Free Lectures
The Final Whistle: the Great War in 15 players – a London rugby club at war 1914-1918
Tuesday 19 February 2013, 14:00 – 15:00
A missing war memorial first inspired a quest to discover club members who fell in the Great War. 85 names have now been identified. Some remarkable stories paint a miniature portrait of the whole war – every service, arm, theatre and front – through their experiences. Stephen Cooper tells of the research that led to his book.
Gresham College Free Lectures
A selection of forthcoming free lectures. For the full programme, go here
‘The Great Unwashed
Tuesday 26 February 2013, 6pm
Museum of London
Professor Sir Richard Evans FBA
The story of typhus, aka “gaol fever”.
Coming to Terms with Modern Times: English architecture in the post-war era
Museum of London
Wednesday, 6 March 2013 – 6:00pm
Dr Simon Thurley
This is a part of the lecture series, English Architecture: Into the Modern World.
The Gordon Riots of 1780: London in Flames, a Nation in Ruins
Museum of London
Monday, 11 March 2013 – 1:00pm
Professor Ian Haywood
The most violent of all London riots.
Cannabis Britannica: The rise and demise of a Victorian wonder-drug
Museum of London
Monday, 18 March 2013 – 1:00pm
Professor James Mills
The Victorians and the ganja.
The Historic Collections of Lambeth Palace Library
Museum of London
Wednesday, 20 March 2013 – 6:00pm
Giles Mandelbrote
Precious collections of Lambeth Palace Library, founded in 1610.
