


PAST MONTHLY MEETINGS
On this page you can see details of
previous monthly meetings. Recent reports about the main
speakers are on the next section. For previous years
please scroll to the lower part of the page. This also
shows how to find out details about past second subjects
presented at the monthly meetings.
Recently
85. April — Barry Mellor: The S
econd Voyage of HMS
Beagle. This was a compelling account of the Beagle's
five year journey from 1831 to 1836. The young Captain
Fitzroy was commissioned to do a hydrographic survey of
South America, making charts for the Navy and Commerce.
Also, using chronometers he was to verify the longitude
of Rio; his third task was to investigate the formation
of corals. Darwin came on board as a self-funding
passenger and a "gentleman companion" for the captain.
He collected specimens, fossils, bones and plants and
killed and stuffed many animals and birds. While on the
Galapagos he developed his theory of evolution by
natural selection. Later he published "On the Origin of
Species" and became a celebrity. The epic journey was a
success and Captain Fitzroy achieved his goals, and
Darwin developed his ideas which changed the world.
84. March — Evan Jones: County Lin
es and the Criminal Exploitation
of Children. St Giles Project has been working to help
young people since 1962. Their motto is "putting
experience to work" as they offer education and training
in the community and prison. They use Peer Advisors as
much as possible and now have 14 units attached to
prisons and 7 in hospitals. The mobile phone has enabled
the growth of so-called county lines and has drawn many
young people into the world of drugs and violence. They
are attracted by a glamorous image of money and cars but
often find themselves at risk from drug users, other
gangs and senior gang members. The majority are
intelligent and aspirational, believing that they cannot
succeed in today's world in a legal way. St Giles
Project actively teaches them resilience so that they
can say no, and it also involves their parents (usually
a single mum) as much as possible. Evan's talk was very
interesting, enlightening us about a world which is not
familiar to most of us. The audience greatly enjoyed it
and there were many questions and comments. You can see
Evan's slides here and
the recording of the meeting here.
83. March — Alan Blower: Ma
rvellous Marylebone. In this
talk Alan led us on a fascinating one-mile virtual tour
of Marylebone from the Sherlock Holmes statue at Baker
Street Station to All Souls', Langham Place, the
architecturally surprising church by John Nash. We heard
stories of the Beatles and their Apple Boutique, Fanny
Wilkinson (the first female landscape gardener), Octavia
Hill, Florence Nightingale and many others who lived and
worked in the area. A selection of historic and
contemporary photographs enhanced the presentation and
Alan's commentary was informed and entertaining. To see
the recording of Alan's presentation click here. Alan
is raising funds for The Prince's Trust. You can donate
to his JustGiving page by clicking here. Once
you donate, JustGiving will send your money directly to
The Prince's Trust.
82. February —
Prof David Nutt: The New Psychedelic Revolution — from
Neuro-science to Medical Treatments. What an intriguing
thought: that the brilliance of the Ancient Greeks in
geometry, philosophy, politics and literature was
influenced by their consumption of mind altering drugs!
Contemporary art depicts consumption of ergot — from
which LSD is derived. How do such drugs work? Professor
Nutt explained that our brains, ten times more efficient
than any computer ever built, construct for us an
approximation of all the information they receive from
our eyes and other sense organs, so that we are not
overwhelmed with sensory input. Drugs such as LSD
unconstrain the brain so that we see everything afresh.
We no longer see a flower as simply a flower but as the
multiplicity of colours and shapes that together
comprise it. This can lead to break-through insights:
two Nobel Laureates (Francis Crick and Kary Mullis) made
ground-breaking discoveries as a result. But Prof Nutt
took us through the history of government reactions to
such drugs, with the Vietnam War a major factor in
attitudes within the influential US government. The
hideousness of the war experience fuelled a large
resistance, including the ‘flower power’ movement
singing of ‘dropping LSD not bombs’. Believing it was
the drugs rather than the war causing problems, the
government banned the drugs along with almost all
research into their use. However, Prof Nutt’s research
has demonstrated the great value of some of these drugs
(such as psilocybin and MDMA) in offering relief from
conditions such as depression and PTSD, for which other
treatments are often wanting. This was a delightfully
rumbustious talk with many interesting questions from
iU3A members and is well worth revisiting on the
website: to see the recording of David's presentation
click here.
81. February — Donna Jones's presentation
on this important and topical
subject was gripping from the start. We saw a powerful
video with clips of recent incidents and protests here
and abroad. Some poetry then drew us in further
until Donna gave an impassioned account of why this
matters to all of us. She put recent events into the
historical context of colonialism and slavery with
moving accounts of some of her own personal experiences.
Donna is Head of Social Work at London Metropolitan
University. Qualified in 1999, she practised as a social
worker before entering academia. As her career has
developed, Donna has found opportunities to incorporate
her arts based research interests and love of live
performance and theatre into her teaching. To see the
recording of Barry's presentation click here.
80. January — One of our ow
n members, Barry
Mellor, addressed our monthly meeting on the topic of
Captain Cook’s First Voyage. He showed us numerous
interesting maps, drawings and charts and demonstrated
the extraordinary feat of planning, recruitment and
logistics involved for this three-year journey. We
learned about the crew’s encounters with indigenous
people and were moved by the extent of the death toll on
his men. Barry’s knowledge of seafaring is extensive and
we were grateful to him for sharing it with us. Having
read Chemistry at Oxford Barry had a career in the
chemical industry and in information science. He lived
in Australia for some years and became interested in
Captain Cook's exploration of the east coast of
Australia and in the history of the First Fleet,
especially the impact of their arrival on the indigenous
peoples. Barry is a small boat sailor, a qualified
yachtsman and a Blue Badge Guide. He is interested in
Astronomy and is an active member of Islington U3A's
Opera and Global History groups. To see the
recording of Barry's presentation click here.
79. January — Andy Gardn
er: The Life and
Times of Douglas Adams. Adams lived in Islington during
many of his most productive years — a very different
Islington in the seventies! Douglas Adams was born in
West London but lived in Islington for many years. He
was always known as a storyteller and was a pioneer
environmentalist. He became an author, scriptwriter and
editor for Radio and TV, most famously writing The
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Andy hopes to get at
least a green plaque put up outside the flat where
Douglas Adams lived behind Screen On the Green. Douglas
Adams was also a script writer for the Dr Who series. He
lived from 1952-2001 and is buried in Highgate Cemetery.
To see the recording of Andy's presentation click here.
78. December — Bob Gilbert took us on a fascinating exploration of three of Islington’s street trees. In other hands this would have been overkill, but Bob’s enthusiasm for their life story and how it intertwines with London’s economic and social history is infectious. Did you know that the bountifully fragrant flowers of a lime tree were administered for shell shock in World War One, or that they give rise to London’s standing as a producer of some of the nation’s most tasty honey? Next time you view the Bosch painting of a pickpocket, observe that the crowd is absorbed in watching a Linde dance under a lime tree. And what about London’s most prolific tree — the Plane? Did you know how radical Bethnal Green Council was being when they planted planes along their local streets? How previously they were found only in the private squares of the wealthy? Would you have guessed the role of the conker in both winning WW1 and prompting the Balfour Declaration about the founding of the State of Israel? Bob has been writing a book with his son about the Biodiverse City, so we hope to invite him back later in the year for another fascinating talk. To hear a recording of Bob's talk click here: trees
77. November — Professor Vassilika took us on a fasci
nating journey from
1906, when Kha's tomb was discovered, to the present
day. Kha was an overseer and builder of royal tombs and
was educated and literate. His wife Merit unexpectedly
died young and was buried in the tomb which Kha was
building for himself. He eventually died in 1350 BC. In
1906 the artefacts were taken to Turin but were not
properly curated and cared for. Professor Vassilika as a
more recent Director of the Turin Museum oversaw the
reorganisation of the exhibition which is now on display
and widely admired. No recording available due
to copyright restrictions.
76. November — Redisc
overing James
Mason. In this very enjoyable talk retired film
historian Nick Scudamore gave us an engaging and erudite
presentation to suggest that James Mason was more of a
character actor than a star. Mason’s particular acting
skills were well suited to this often overlooked but
essential part of film casting. Drawing on clips from
five films spanning Mason’s long and busy career (his
last film was released after his death) Nick gave us an
insight into movie-making mores as well as Mason’s
ability to convince and charm. Did you know, for
example, that in films of the post-war years, suicide
was only allowed to be referred to discreetly, very
rarely shown? So in the final scene of Odd Man Out
Kathleen Ryan has to shoot at the advancing police to
allow her and Mason to be killed by their return fire.
To view the recording of the presentation, click on this link.
75. October — Princess Charlotte: The First People'
s Princess. This was a
fascinating lecture from Anne Stott on Princess
Charlotte: no doubt her life story was new to many of
us. She was the only child of the Prince of Wales (later
King George IV) and Caroline of Brunswick. Their
marriage was a disaster and Charlotte was not brought up
by them. She was a headstrong child and only calmed down
when she eventually fell in love with Leopold of
Saxe-Coburg. They married and Charlotte died in
childbirth along with her infant son. If she had lived
she and Leopold would have reigned and we would not have
had Victoria on the throne. A very touching biography
enhanced by some beautiful portraits. To see the
materials connected with this presentation click on this link. To view the recording
of the presentation, click on this link.
74. October — Rosemary dr
ew on facts and
figures from international organisations and her own
frontline work with refugees and asylum seekers in
Greece, Ireland and here in Islington. We were
given insight into one of the world's worst humanitarian
crises, at a time when mainstream media show little
understanding of the complex circumstances of people
seeking asylum in the UK. Rosemary is a journalist and
avid traveller who specialises in human rights,
migration and homelessness. She reminded us about a new
iU3A group which will be helping to teach English to
refugees. We were asked to support campaigns to honour
people's rights, to push for a safe passage to the UK,
to support local groups and to volunteer locally. To see
the materials connected with this presentation click on
this link. To view the
presentation, click on this link.
Archive
Recently
85. April — Barry Mellor: The S

84. March — Evan Jones: County Lin

83. March — Alan Blower: Ma


81. February — Donna Jones's presentation

80. January — One of our ow

79. January — Andy Gardn

78. December — Bob Gilbert took us on a fascinating exploration of three of Islington’s street trees. In other hands this would have been overkill, but Bob’s enthusiasm for their life story and how it intertwines with London’s economic and social history is infectious. Did you know that the bountifully fragrant flowers of a lime tree were administered for shell shock in World War One, or that they give rise to London’s standing as a producer of some of the nation’s most tasty honey? Next time you view the Bosch painting of a pickpocket, observe that the crowd is absorbed in watching a Linde dance under a lime tree. And what about London’s most prolific tree — the Plane? Did you know how radical Bethnal Green Council was being when they planted planes along their local streets? How previously they were found only in the private squares of the wealthy? Would you have guessed the role of the conker in both winning WW1 and prompting the Balfour Declaration about the founding of the State of Israel? Bob has been writing a book with his son about the Biodiverse City, so we hope to invite him back later in the year for another fascinating talk. To hear a recording of Bob's talk click here: trees
77. November — Professor Vassilika took us on a fasci

76. November — Redisc

75. October — Princess Charlotte: The First People'

74. October — Rosemary dr

Archive
For our complete register of previous main speakers click here.
For summary notes of previous speakers see the records as below —
For 2019-20, click here.
For 2018-19, click here.
For 2017-18, click here.
For 2016-17, click here.
For 2015-16, click here.
For 2014-15, click here.
For 2013-14, click here.
For 2016-17, click here.
For 2015-16, click here.
For 2014-15, click here.
For 2013-14, click here.
To view some of the actual presentations
previously given use the register (above) to determine the
presentation number, then click on the relevant link
below. The figures in brackets mean thee is no recording
for this meeting:
16 18 19 26 30 31 35 37 38 42 44 46 47 48 49 50 51 53 54 55 56 (57) 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 (70) 71 72 (73) 74.1 74.2 75.1 75.2 76 (77) 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88
Regarding No. 65: Copyright acknowledgement to Pathe News.
Not all the second subjects at our Monthly Meetings have presentation material but where they do and we have a copy then it will be posted here:
Jan2020.1
Jan2020.2
site designed by Gill Hopkins
logo designed Tattersal
Hammarling & Silk
registered charity number 1157067