Thursday the 1st of July 2010
Doors at 6 pm, Talks commence at 7 pm
The first of July finds us exactly half way through 2010 and to celebrate, we have asked The Catalyst Club to return from Brighton with three new talks covering the themes of magic and air travel, poetry and the CIA and the search for a better life, including Dr David Bramwell, magician Paul Zenon and David Ashton.
THE WIZARD IN OZ - Harry Houdini and the Mystery of the Disappearing Aeroplane with Paul Zenon
When escapologist Harry Houdini toured Australia in 1910 he brought magic, mystique, his wife and an aeroplane. Houdini conquered crowds and nearly caused riots, he escaped straitjackets and shackles and flew through the air. Some said he was supernatural, to others he was a fraud, but Houdini confounded them all. On the centenary of Houdini's tour Down Under, lounge lizard and magic roustabout Paul Zenon recounts the adventures of his boyhood hero and the subsequent treasure hunt for a historical artefact.
THE SEARCH FOR UTOPIA - The world's most extraordinary communities and arcadias with Dr David Bramwell
In 2007, after being dumped by his long-term girlfriend, Dr David Bramwell took a year off life and decided to travel through Europe and America in search of utopia. He visited an anarchist community in the heart of Copenhagen, a S&M kingdom in the Czech Republic and a spiritual caravan site in Scotland. In America he came to blows with the creator of an incredible futuristic city being built in the Arizona desert and thought he had found paradise in Big Sur's Esalen, a 'centre for human potentiality', dreamed up by Aldous Huxley. Bramwell returned from his travels inspired and entertained by the many communities singular approaches to sexuality, communal living and lifestyle. In his talk, David will relate how his quest to find utopia on Earth was not only full humour and mischief, but also inspirational ideas on how to transform modern urban life.
THE DISINFORMATIONIST – The remarkable story of Oswald Lewinter, poet, spy and convict with John Ashton
By his mid-30s Oswald Lewinter was an acclaimed poet and professor of literature, and seemed set for a stellar academic career. Then his life became stranger than fiction. He was secretly recruited into the CIA and spent the next 20 years as a covert operations specialist. The talk will recount how he dirtied his hands in some of the Agency’s most illegal and crazed ventures, including a campaign to undermine a Vice-Presidential candidate and the import of massive quantities of drugs into the US. In the ‘80s he turned whistleblower, freelance spook and psychotherapist. In the 1997 he received the Rilke Prize for a new volume of poetry, but the following year, ever the rogue, received a three-year prison sentence for trying to sell false information about the death of Princess Diana.
The Catalyst Club is a unique monthly Brighton event that pays tribute to the old traditions of French Salon, debating societies and Gentleman's Clubs. It was set up to encourage people to share their eccentricities and passions with a live audience. Over the years speakers have included Brighton's oldest prostitute Letitcia, an octogenarian Barber Shop Quartet singer, a man who collects tinned meat, performer Lorraine Bowen, the Idler's Tom Hodgkinson, the late Ken Campbell and Chap Magazine's Atters. Talks are always entertaining, erudite and upbeat and have, over the years, ranged from cunnilingus to the dawn of civilisation.
The Catalyst Club was set up by David Bramwell. You can find out about more about him and the Catalyst Club at: www.drbramwell.com and www.catalystclub.co.uk
Talks at 11 Mare Street - please click here to buy tickets
