London's history is fascinating and full of colourful characters, from William Shakespeare to Dick Whittington's cat!  In this lecture we gallop through almost 2000 years of London's history brilliantly illustrated through the stained glass windows found in the city churches and livery halls.  Often overlooked, these provide a unique insight into the milestones which have made up London's story.  As well as 18th, 19th century and 20th century windows we look at some of the most up-to-date and contemporary glass makers. 

Anna Warrillow has a BA in History of Art & Italian and MA in Renaissance Decorative Arts & Design from the Royal College of Art.  She has worked for 6 years as a curator in the Sculpture Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum as well as in smaller collections such as the Henry Moore Family Trust. Anna is adjunct lecturer at Richmond The American International University in London where she teaches undergraduates The History of London.

Lectures begin at 11am and usually end by 12.15pm.

Tickets for the lecture for non-members can be purchased at the cinema. Alternatively, visit the Broadway website page here.

This lecture is a celebration of how the Ancient Greeks and Romans created our love of wine - how wine's popularity spread, how wine production has, and has not, changed, and what wine connoisseurs 2,000 years ago thought made a wine great!  As an archaeologist who has excavated a Roman wine-producting warehouse, Gillian promises this talk will refresh your palette!

Gillian Hovell gained a BA in Latin and Ancient History from Exeter University and then branched out into archaeology. Gillian is ex-BBC, lecturer for British Museum and York University, and an award winning writer and author who specialises in relating the ancient world to our modern lives  (most recently on BBC News, Channel, Radio 4 Today programme and BBC World Service). Gillian teaches adult education courses in Latin, archaeology and ancient history and has publicly lectured widely; on cruises and tours, and for museums such as the British Museum & Ashmolean, national press, universities and literary festivals.

Lectures begin at 11am and usually end by 12.15pm.

Tickets for the lecture for non-members can be purchased at the cinema. Alternatively, visit the Broadway website page here.

This lecture will explore the life of Frida Kahlo, one of the most famous and iconic Mexican artists of the twentieth century. It will situate her within an extraordinary historical context and explore her family background and her battle as a child with polio. Her flamboyant character will be set against her deep sadness in love and in pain after an appalling accident left her disabled physically but able to paint while in her hospital bed. We will chart her meeting with the great figure of Diego Rivera, muralist and revolutionary, and her subsequent love affair with him, their turbulent marriage, divorce and re-marriage. Often scrutinising her self-portraits, we will see her rise to international fame, her liaisons with extraordinary characters of the time such as Leon Trotsky, and her untimely and very public death in 1954.

Jacqueline Cockburn is Managing Director of Art and Culture Travel and is a course director and lecturer at the V&A. She also lectures at The Royal Academy.  Jacqueline has toured New Zealand and Australia for The Arts Society. Her specialist field is Spanish Art, but she also lectures on European Art 1790-1950. She is currently working on a Monograph on Goya.

Lectures begin at 11am and usually end by 12.15pm.

Rupert Willoughby explores the mysteries and significance of the Bayeux Tapestry, commissioned by the Bishop of Bayeux and embroidered by skilled English craftsmen. Far more than a record of the Battle of Hastings, this remarkable work offers a vivid insight into 11th-century life and stands as a landmark in the history of Western art.

Rupert Willoughby is a writer, researcher, lecturer, Latin-whisperer and impresario of ancient Greeks, with a passion for castles, lakes and uncovering the layers of the past.

A graduate with First Class Honours in History from the University of London (where he immersed himself in the ‘Byzantine’, or medieval Greek Empire), he is the author of several books. Rupert is accredited lecturer with The Arts Society since 2011. He is known for his light, humorous touch, his love of narrative and his vivid evocations of the past.

Tulips arrived in Europe from the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century and became highly prized in the Netherlands. By the 1630s, Tulip mania saw prices soar, particularly for the spectacular striped Semper Augustus, before the market collapsed in 1637. During this period, Dutch artists specialised in highly realistic paintings. Although the crash brought financial ruin for some, tulips remained popular, and flower painting continued to flourish throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.

Martin Heard studied The History of Art at Manchester University before working in the editorial department of a fine arts publishing company and then later earned his living in the world of information technology. Having 'retired' from this field of endeavour Martin now devotes his time researching late nineteenth century art and architecture, and European garden history from the medieval period to that of the great landscape gardeners.

The Huguenots came to Spitalfields from France bringing their highly skilled silk-weaving traditions with them and helping to establish it as a center of luxury textile production. Initially welcomed for their craftmanship, they enjoyed periods of great prosperity, supplying fashionable patterned silks for the wealthy and elite. But their fortunes eventually declined as competition increased and the silk trade struggled, leaving some weavers destitute and, tragically, dying in poverty at their looms.

Originally in academic art and design publishing, Sue Jackson is a History graduate with a background in both history and art history.  Sue lectures for The Arts Society and the National Trust, among others.  She is a Fellow of the Huguenot Society of Great Britain, a Freeman of the City of London and a tutor at the City Literary Institute.  She has published work on the lost world of the River Fleet.

This lecture explores Francesco Pianta’s extraordinary 17th-century carved bookcase in Venice’s Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Through groundbreaking research, it reveals the remarkable detail and illusion of this unique wooden sculpture, widely regarded as one of the finest achievements in Venetian wood carving.

Caroline Bendix is a library conservator accredited through the Institute of Conservation. She has worked on over 500 collections in the UK and abroad, including St Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, advising on all aspects of in situ book care. She has written three of the British Library’s guides on preservation and in 2019 was awarded the Plowden Medal for her “outstanding work in developing in-situ library conservation”. Since 1992 she has been the National Trust’s Adviser on Libraries Conservation, the adviser and trainer for The Arts Society’s Heritage Volunteers projects. Caroline is on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s advisory panel for Lambeth Palace Library.

In 1913, the impressionist Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was declared to be 'the painter of mothers and children,' a title that would redefine her once provocative career as sentimental.

This lecture re-examines Mary Cassatt as a radical, feminist Impressionist using current research that reclaims her rebelliousness. The lecture looks into the actual lives of the women and children she painted rather than what nostalgia imagines them to be.

As we look at Cassatt we will also learn about the lives of middle class women in late 19th century Paris, giving fresh insight into impressionist art and how it challenged the conventional appearance of women at the time.

Before her current position as head of art history at City Lit, London's largest adult education college, Sarah Jaffray was a curator in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. For six years, she was the lead educator for the Bridget Riley Art Foundation and has also worked at Wellcome Collection exploring the connections of art, medicine and human experience. Prior to relocating to London for family, she was as a tenured professor of Art History based in Los Angeles. Sarah has been an art history lecturer since 2003.

Illustrated with contemporary cartoons and live drawing, A Cartoon Guide to the Theatre lifts the safety curtain on the theatre’s darker secrets, from ghosts, feuds and riots to superstitions, scandals, spectacular flops, larger-than-life divas and deaths, both figurative and literal. All sprinkled with a little theatrical history!

Harry Venning is a cartoonist, comedy writer and performer based in Brighton. Harry’s cartoons have appeared in publications as diverse as Mathematics Today, Radio Times, Music Teacher and The Stage. For twenty five years he provided The Guardian with the weekly strip cartoon Clare In The Community, about an unaware and empathy free social worker. In 2004 he developed Clare In The Community into a successful BBC Radio 4 sitcom starring Sally Philipps which ran for twelve series.

When not at a desk, Harry tours his cartoon workshop around schools, theatres, arts centres, cruise ships and festivals.

In 1997, the Royal Academy’s groundbreaking exhibition “Sensation” brought the Young British Artists (YBAs), including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, into the mainstream, attracting worldwide attention and fierce controversy. This lecture explores the artists and their works, the exhibition’s lasting impact on contemporary art, and behind-the-scenes experiences at the RA during this turbulent period, set against the backdrop of Cool Britannia. 

Pamela Campbell-Johnston holds a master’s in History of Art from the University of St Andrews and has over 30 years of lecturing experience. She taught at the Royal College of Art for 12 years and has been an accredited Arts’ Society lecturer for 10 years.

Pamela has worked with Bonham’s, the National Trust and the Art Loss Registry. She currently works as a freelance lecturer and consultant with a particular interest in the 1920s and 1930s.

This lecture explores Akhenaten, one of Ancient Egypt’s most controversial Pharaohs, who revolutionised Egyptian religion and established a new capital at Tell el-Amarna alongside his wife, Nefertiti. It examines the distinctive art of his reign and emphasises his status today as the only monotheistic Pharaoh in the whole 3,000 year history of Ancient Egypt.

Vicky Bailey became a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide in 2005, receiving an award as the 'Best Guide in Gallery Exams'. One of her main areas of interest is Ancient Egypt. She has studied hieroglyphs and carried out volunteer work in the Egyptian department at the British Museum. She leads specialist tours at relevant sites across London and also delivers lectures on the subject.

This lecture explores the short, tragic life of Amedeo Modigliani, from his early Italian influences to his years in Bohemian Paris, where he mixed with artists including Picasso and Soutine. It examines how Renaissance art, Cézanne, African art and Cubism shaped his distinctive portraits and sensual nudes. Despite dying in poverty at just 35, Modigliani’s work is now among the most highly valued in the art world, a poignant contrast to his lack of recognition during his lifetime.

Julian Halsby studied History of Art at Cambridge and is formerly a senior lecturer and Head of Department at Croydon College of Art.

Julian has several publications to his name, such as Venice - the Artist's Vision, Dictionary of Scottish Painters and A Private View - David Wolfers and the New Grafton Gallery.

Julian Interviews artists for the Artist Magazine and is a member of The Critics Circle. A practising artist, he was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1994 and was Keeper from  2010 to 2021.

Between 1621 and 1814, four major Frost Fairs were held on the frozen River Thames. These extraordinary events featured winter sports, taverns, coffee houses, bonfires, roasted meat and festive food. Captured by artists and writers, the fairs offer a fascinating glimpse into London’s past and the remarkable spectacle of a river frozen solid.

Nicholas Reed is an art historian and former archaeologist. In the 1980s he became Founder- Chairman of the Friends of Shakespeare's Globe.  He is the author of four books on the Impressionists in England, and one on “Frost Fairs on the Frozen Thames”. His latest book  "Spy Runner", describes his father's job in MI5 who was "The Man who never was" and investigates the five infamous spies who spied for Russia. 

This lecture explores the life and career of British sculptor Barbara Hepworth, from her Yorkshire beginnings to international acclaim. It examines her friendship with Henry Moore, European influences, commitment to abstract and the deep connection with St Ives. Ian Giles celebrates her achievements as a pioneering woman artist, her major public commissions and her lasting influence on modern sculpture.

Ian Giles studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and is a practicing artist. His artworks and films have been shown internationally, including at MoMA PS1 (New York), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), and the Whitechapel Gallery (London).

He has been a visiting lecturer at Chelsea College of Arts, Cambridge School of Art, Camberwell College of Arts, Birmingham School of Art and the University of Cambridge, Department of Architecture.