Wednesday 5th July 2023

A Bit of a Carry On

Lecturer: Tyler Butterworth

This lecture will tell the remarkable story of Carry On actor Peter Butterworth and his wife, Britain’s first female television impressionist Janet Brown, best known for her impression of Mrs Thatcher. Using classic film and tv clips, personal mementos, and rare photographs and letters from his family’s unseen collection, Tyler will reveal the private story behind his parents’ public lives. It’s a journey that will take in MI9, the building of a theatre in the notorious WW2 Prisoner of War camp Stalag Luft III, nights at Chequers with a Prime Minister, This Is Your Life and many more moments in their long, shared life in the theatre. 

Tyler Butterworth spent twenty-five years as an actor working extensively in film, television, theatre and radio. He then worked as a development producer in television documentaries and was closely involved with NASA on a landmark commemorative television series. He now works as a voice actor, recording audiobooks, documentaries and voiceovers, and produces walking audio guides to cities across Europe. He lives in Sussex where he walks on the South Downs and the South Coast.

Wednesday 7th June 2023

Leni Riefenstahl: Hitler’s Filmmaker

Lecturer: Howard Smith

Leni Riefenstahl was undoubtedly one of the most creative women of the twentieth century. From her early days dancing on Berlin’s stages, to becoming an actress and then producing her own films, she was always difficult and uncompromising in what she wanted to achieve. Her iconic films of the 1934 Nuremburg Nazi rally and the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games were exceptional, using techniques that were way ahead of their time and still used in documentaries today. After the war, having been cleared by three Nazi tribunals, she went to live with a remote tribe in Africa, producing stunning photographs and documentaries.

Howard Smith is a retired graphic designer. Born during the Second World War, he was educated in Scotland and gained an MA from Trinity College, Dublin. In the 1960s he worked for UK and International advertising agencies before starting his own marketing and print company in Canterbury.

Wednesday 5th April 2023

Joaquin Sorolla: Painter of Light

Lecturer: Jacqueline Cockburn

Jacqueline Cockburn certainly brightened our very dull and rainy day with an excellent and uplifting lecture on the Spanish painter, Joaquin Sorolla, known as the Painter of Light.  Sorollo has become more well known in the last 5 years. A prolific and very famous painter during his lifetime. The screen lit up with his large colourful bright canvasses, many showing his favourite theme of the beach in Valencia.

Jacqueline Cockburn is a course director and lecturer at the V & A, lectures at The Royal Academy, The Art Fund and The London Art History Society, and has toured New Zealand and Australia for The Arts Society. Her specialist field is Spanish Art. She is Managing Director of an arts tours company running residential courses in Andalucía in the art and culture of the region.