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Historical
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What did the Georgians Eat?
Find out about 18th century chocolate, the significance of pineapples and why gin was seen as a social evil!
Food in the 18th century is a fascinating subject with many surprising similarities to modern cooking and speaker has considerable experience of cooking period dishes in period settings!
Talk is 45-60 minutes but can be tailored if a different length of time is required.
Can be accompanied by demonstration of some recipes (which don’t require any source of heat).
Evenings: £30 (with demonstration of recipes £45) plus travelling expenses
Daytimes: Please contact speaker
Contact Alison Smith 01733 701995.
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What the Well Dressed Georgian Woman Wore
Discover the finer points of Georgian fashion, from underwear to outerwear.
Find out why women’s clothing didn’t use buttons and why no respectable woman wore drawers! Talk will include demonstration of all aspects of clothing using historically accurate recreations; from clothing worn by working women to that worn by the gentry.
Talk is approx 60 minutes long but can be tailored if a different length of time is required.
Evenings: £30 plus travelling expenses
Daytimes: Please contact speaker
Contact Alison Smith 01733 701995.
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A Woman’s Lot in the 18th Century
Was life as a woman in the 18th century better or worse than today? How much freedom did women have and what control did they have over their own lives?
Discover the truth about life as a woman in the 18th century from marriage to public and private life.
Talk is approx 60 minutes long but can be tailored if a different length of time is required.
Evenings: £30 plus travelling expenses
Daytimes: Please contact speaker
Contact Alison Smith 01733 701995.
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The Real Troy
The city of Troy as depicted by Homer in the Iliad has been proven to have existed over three thousand years ago during the Bronze Age. Helen, Achilles, Hector and the wooden horse.......discover the truth behind the legends.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Julius Caesar
General, Politician, administrator, orator, a gifted man of letters, a man of great learning taste and personal charm Julius Caesar excelled at everything he undertook. His career was marked by a strange mixture of enlightened liberalism and cynical violence, with his energy, ruthlessness and determination inspiring both loyalty and undying hatred. Caesar’s life bridged the stormy epoch that saw the transition of Rome from a Republic to an Empire.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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The Lives of the Roman Emperors; Augustus to Nero
The good, the bad and the just plain mad. The first five Emperors of Rome are among the most famous names known to us from antiquity: Augustus the first Emperor, Tiberius who lived in dissolute retirement, Caligula who had his horse made a Consul, Claudius the ‘conqueror’ of Britain and Nero who reputedly played and sang while Rome burned. The reigns of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty spanned a period of nearly 100 years and saw the establishment of imperial government controlled by a single individual.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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King Arthur
He’s our greatest folk hero-but did he even really exist? Looking beyond the myth for the real historical Arthur; the Dark Age warrior whose horsemen stopped the advance of Saxon invaders for more than a generation.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Alfred the Great
Alfred should be remembered for more than his alleged culinary failure of burning the cakes. Warrior, statesman, lawgiver and man of learning Alfred was justifiably given the title ‘The Great’ From being the youngest son of the king of Wessex he was to emerge as the unlikely leader who checked the invading Danes, saved the Church and laid the foundations for the formation of England.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Hereward the Wake
Hereward the ‘exile’ as he should correctly be known led the last resistance to the Norman Conquest, including the burning of Peterborough. Was he the heroic patriot depicted in literature or opportunistic robber?
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Eleanor of Aquitaine
Wife to two kings and mother to two more Eleanor of Aquitaine would have been remarkable individual in any age, the fact that she a woman achieved all she did in twelfth century Europe is perhaps more remarkable still and explains her legendary reputation. Her forcefulness, ability beauty and charm enabled her as a patron of the arts, as a politician and a mother to exercise a pervasive influence for more than six decades.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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King John and Magna Carta
Was King John as bad as he has been portrayed or did he simply get a bad press? What led to the barons’ rebellion and the invasion by the French. What was Magna Carta and why is it still seen as important?
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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The Knights Templar
Forget the DaVinci code. What were the origins of this order of warrior monks? How did they come to be the first uniformed standing army in the western world and pioneers of international banking? Why were they destroyed by the King of France?
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Richard III
Hero or Villain? Good King Richard or England’s black legend? Richard remains one of England’s most enigmatic and controversial Kings. Was he the monster depicted in Shakespeare’s play or a victim of Tudor Propaganda? The truth, like the man is perhaps more complex and more interesting?
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Great Harry’s Navy
When Henry VIII came to the throne England’s fleet consisted of only 5 ships, by the time of his death there were over 50 vessels. Henry’s reign saw the laying of the foundations of English naval power
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30(plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Henry VIII and the Reformation
Why did Henry VIII make himself Supreme Head of the Church in England and precipitate the break with Rome, when he still considered himself a Catholic? The Henrican Reformation was essentially political, yet set in train a series of events which led to the establishment of a Protestant Church of England.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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The Accession of Elizabeth I. The Lion’s Cub
Elizabeth I is considered by many to be England’s greatest monarch. Her achievements are perhaps even more remarkable given that she succeeded to the throne at all, after her mother had been executed by her father, she had been declared illegitimate and she had grown up amidst political intrigue and the religious turbulence of the Reformation.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Mary Queen of Scots
Martyr or fool? Queen of both Scotland and France, married three times, mother to the future king of Great Britain James I&VI, deposed by her own subjects and imprisoned and later executed by her cousin Elizabeth I of England; Mary’s life was beset by tragedy. However, perhaps by the manner of her death she fulfilled her own motto, ‘In my end is my beginning.’
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Elizabeth’s Sea Dogs
The lives and times of Elizabeth I’s sea captains including: Sir Francis Drake, Sir Richard Grenville, Martin Frobisher and Sir Walter Raleigh. Heroes in a heroic age, or self seeking rogues? What was the truth behind the legend?
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30(plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Sir Francis Drake
‘El Draque’ to his Spanish enemies, Drake was to become a legend in his own lifetime. While undoubtedly a superb seaman and navigator, and an audacious raider, he was to prove an unsuccessful fleet commander, regarded by many contemporaries as a self seeking rogue. What was fact and what was myth?
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30(plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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The New World
The colonisation of North America by the English during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries would change the course of history. From the time of Sir Walter Raleigh’s ill fated settlement at Roanoke Virginia to the establishment of the 13 colonies which were to become the United States, English colonists strove to create a ‘New England’ in the New World.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30(plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Oliver Cromwell. God’s Englishman
He was very much the product of his times in a world turned upside down by rebellion against the King. From being an obscure member of the gentry he was to emerge as the unlikely leader of the English Commonwealth. Loved and hated by his contemporaries, Oliver Cromwell continues to be a controversial figure.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30(plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Son of Elizabeth of Bohemia, the Winter Queen; a soldier from the age of 14, Prince Rupert is most famous for commanding the forces of his uncle Charles I during the English Civil War. He also served as an admiral first against the Commonwealth of Oliver Cromwell and later following the Restoration, against the Dutch. What is perhaps less well known is his skill as an artist, his inventions and contribution to science as a founder member of the Royal Society.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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The Transport Revolution Canals, Roads and Railways 1750-1850
In a little over a hundred years the building of canals, roads and railways by the engineers such as Brindley, Metcalf, Macadam, Telford, the Stephensons and Brunel; together with their armies of Navvies, was to revolutionize Britain’s transport system. This revolution facilitated industrial growth and urbanization changing Britain and the world forever.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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The First Industrial Nation
An overview of Britain’s Industrial Revolution. How did Britain become the First Industrial Nation, gaining for itself, by the time of the Great Exhibition of 1851 the title of the ‘Workshop of the World’?
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Brunel and Stephenson the Great Engineers
Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Robert Stephenson were contemporaries, both the sons of eminent engineers they were to become the greatest civil engineers of their time. While they came from contrasting social backgrounds, differed in their character and style of management and were potentially commercial rivals they became and remained friends to the last.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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The Railway Manias
During the 1830’s and 1840’s Britain was gripped by two ‘Railway Manias’ driven by a mixture of vision and greed which saw fortunes made and lost. ‘The press supported the mania: the government sanctioned it: the peopled paid for it. Railways were at once a fashion, and a frenzy. England was mapped out for the iron roads’ (A writer of 1851)
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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William Morris and the Arts & Crafts Movement
Morris, Rosetti and the pre-Raphelites
William Morris’ life and work was to influence the Arts & Crafts Movement’s spirit and ethos, raising the status of the applied arts and his Socialism gave a vision of a free and equal society in which art should be a part of everyone’s life.
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Edith Cavell
“Patriotism is not enough” There are numerous places throughout the world with hospitals, car parks roads and even a mountain named after Edith Cavell, many of which have the most tenuous link with her. How did this come about? Why did a nurse from Norfolk become a national, even international icon? How does the legend compare with the history?
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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Al Capone and Prohibition
The career of Al Capone the most famous of the Chicago gangsters was the product of Prohibition the so called ‘Noble Experiment’, which sought to rid the United States of alcohol between 1920 and 1933, together with the American political system from which it arose. What combination of factors led to the introduction of Prohibition and why did it fail? Are there lessons to be learned today?
An illustrated talk of 60-90 minutes duration is available at a cost of £30 (plus travelling costs if outside Peterborough). Requirements O.H.P. and projector screen/suitable wall.
Contact Don Chiswell (01733 569951)
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The History of Mills and Milling
Speaker: Geoffrey Lee. Fee: £25.00 plus travel expenses. Required: Power for laptop computer and digital projector. Tel: 01205 366923
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A History of Brewing
Speaker: Geoffrey Lee. Fee: £25.00 plus travel expenses. Required: Power for laptop computer and digital projector. Tel: 01205 366923
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A History of Fire Fighting
Speaker: Geoffrey Lee. Fee: £25.00 plus travel expenses. Required: Power for laptop computer and digital projector. Tel: 01205 366923
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A History of Boot and Shoe Making
Speaker: Geoffrey Lee. Fee: £25.00 plus travel expenses. Required: Power for laptop computer and digital projector. Tel: 01205 366923
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Mail Coaches
A talk about the little known horse-drawn mail coach services. Cost £35.00. Requirements: electric power with table and screen if possible but not essential. Contact Brian White on: 01733 340082
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The History of the Travelling Post Office
The speaker worked on the system and is now actively involved in their preservation and conservation. Brought to the fore with the 1963 Great Train Robbery the only surviving vehicle from that infamous event is now being conserved by the speaker and his colleagues locally
Cost £35.00. Requirements: electric power with table and screen if possible but not essential. Contact Brian White on: 01733 340082
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Thomas Cook and the Origins of Popular Tourism in the late 19th Century
Speaker: Paul Smith, Company Archivist, Thomas Cook Group plc
Cost: No Charge. Requirements, power and screen (or blank wall). Tel: 01733 417350.
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Memories of the ‘Man from the PRU.’
Speaker: Brian Holdich, no special requirements. Fee: Donation to Help for Heroes. For our troops wounded in Afghanistan. Contact: 4, Elm Close, Market Deeping, Peterborough, PE6 8 JN. Telephone: 01778 344 214
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Royal Bastards; Royal Mistresses
Speaker: Roger Powell, no special requirements. Fee: £30.00. Tel: 01933 411214.
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