This exhibit brings us back to Holland of the 17th century with its variety of art including still lifes, portraits, scenes of everyday, landscapes, religious works. But there is a twist - normally when we look at art we use our sense of sight but this exhibit is asking us to use our sense of smell. Smell is a fascinating phenomenon. It works on your memory and your emotions. Andy Warhol said smell really is a time machine transporting us to the past and what about the emotional aspect called the Proustian Memory. So this exhibit is about smells and depictions of smells, can life in 17th century Holland be captured in smell what are their significance and what do they mean to us. Can our sense of smell bring us closer to 17th century Holland and help to enhance our experience of looking at art?

Jazz is one of music’s most important genres: a fascinating blend of rigorous structure, free-wheeling creativity, close-knit ensembles and imaginative improvisation. Drawing on his experience both as musicologist and gigging musician, Sandy can shed light on jazz from the inside. His talk covers the early years of jazz up to the Second World War, and touches on the disparate influences which lay behind the emergence of jazz. Musical illustrations range from the blues, ragtime and the very first jazz recordings through to classics by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and the dawn of the Swing Era.

In the centre of the City of London stands its ancient headquarters, the medieval Guildhall, one of the capital’s hidden gems. The present building dates from 1411 and is still in use today. The whole building stands on the site of London’s Roman amphitheatre the remains of which are still visible today. This lecture describes the Guildhall exterior and interior. We look at some of the key monuments in the building and then study some of the many paintings depicting the Guildhall’s rich history contained in the adjacent Guildhall Art Gallery. We finish by going 18 feet below street level to the Roman amphitheatre.

Many viewers of a BBC4 profile of artists who work out in nature, presented by Dr James Fox, were haunted by the fire stacks of the only female artist featured, Julie Brook. My lecture explores this fascinating artist and the range of her work over four decades in some of the world’s wild places, centred always on her passion for the islands and coast of West Scotland where she lives. From drawings, oil painting and film to her powerful physical interventions in the landscapes of Britain, North Africa and Japan that engage with the elements of earth, air, fire and water, Julie Brook’s work takes its place alongside such pioneers as Andy Goldsworthy, David Nash and Richard Long.
Simon is lucky enough to have known Julie well for many decades and have access to her archive and never before seen photographs of her work, and my lecture charting her career, will include fragments from her astonishing art films.

Niven’s remarkable career explored, with an examination of his enduring place in public affection. Rising from studio extra to Hollywood leading man, although Niven remained characteristically modest about his abilities they were in fact considerable, as this lecture demonstrates. Particular attention is paid to his military roles, and insights are offered into the huge range of his wartime activities. From his personification of an ideal young subaltern in The Way Ahead, to the reality of being a Lt.-Colonel on Eisenhower’s staff, there was much more to this unique actor than a moustache and a smile.