16 July – Barry Venning: Cartoons and Contraptions - the Wonderful World of W. Heath Robinson 

For over a century W. Heath Robinson had been famous for drawing complicated and rickety devices to carry out simple tasks like potato peeling, wart removal or pancake making. He was the illustrator of Norman Hunter’s Professor Branestawm books and in 1943 Bletchley Park named one of their code-breaking machines after him. More recently, some of the contraptions in Wallace and Gromit’s The Wrong Trousers are based on a gadget filled house he designed for the Ideal Home Show in 1934. But there was more to him than this: he was also a fine painter, an outstanding literary illustrator and a brilliant satirist who poked gentle fun at modern life in cartoons that are still laugh out loud funny.

 

Aug: no Speaker, Summer Lunch 20 Aug instead

 

17 Sept – Brian Greenan: The Brinks-Mat Robbery

Our September speaker is Brian Greenan who, as well as being an ex-detective and an experienced speaker, is also a Toastmaster and Master of Ceremonies to Royalty. On his last visit to us he told us all we needed to know about the life and work of Frank Sinatra both on and off the screen. During his time with the police Brian worked in the Criminal Investigation Branch at Scotland Yard in covert surveillance and crime analysis. It was in this capacity that he took part in the investigation of the Brinks Mat Robbery in 1983; he will tell us the inside story of this memorable and audacious crime. 

 

15 Oct – Alastair Lack: The BBC World Service - my life as a Foreign Correspondent

After a degree in Modern History at Oxford University, Alastair Lack taught in India and worked in publishing before his long career with the BBC almost entirely with the World Service. Having presented, produced and edited a wide range of programmes from current affairs to the arts, his final position was as Head of English Programmes with responsibility for all non-news English programmes on the World Service. He will be recounting how respected the BBC World Service is worldwide, something of its history from the 1920s as the Empire Service, its growth in the 1930s and particularly in WW2 and its position today. He will then recall places visited in his travels, such as  the USA, the subcontinent and Africa and some of the famous people he met through his work from Mrs Thatcher to Nelson Mandela.

 

19 Nov – Peter Adamson: A Town Called Wallingford 

Many members will remember Peter Adamson’s last visit when he spoke most memorably about Wittenham Clumps and his book Landmark in Time. His new book A Town Called Wallingford is now out and, like his Wittenham Clumps book, has many fascinating stories from the long history of our town. His talk will be based on the book and stories from Wallingford’s past.

 

10 Dec – Siobhan Clarke: A Royal Christmas 

Siobhan Clarke is a guide lecturer for Historic Royal Palaces based at Hampton Court Palace. She has already spoken to us about Henry Vlll and Elizabeth l as well as the Romanovs. This time she will describe how our Christmas rituals evolved from Christian liturgy, pagan rites and the influence of the monarchy. In particular, she will explore Christmas at court from the middle ages to the present day and how the royals have influenced our own celebrations, with the German customs of Prince Albert and the Victorian royal family becoming the basis of the English Christmas we know today.