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Vampires: from Monster to Mister, with Tina Rath – LIVE

Please note this is NOT a ZOOM Lecture but an in person lecture at our museum – tickets include a complimentary glass of Devil’s Botany Absinthe

Doors open at 6:30pm and lecture starts at 7.00pm

Vampires: from Monster to Mister, with Tina Rath – LIVE

Some people seem to think that a good vampire novel is a story in which the vampire marries the heroine at the end. Vampires have always had a connection with sex, as either Demon Lover or Rapist Monster, but it’s difficult to find anything in folklore or literature which characterises them as likely to make good husbands – until, of course, the arrival of Twilight. How did it happen? Why did it happen? Was it inevitable? Will it go away – should it go away?

Bio:

The lure of the vampire has been summed up as being Sex, Death and Fancy Costumes. Must we now add: faithful, patient, kind, hard-working and good with the children? Vampire specialist Dr Tina Rath answers these and many other questions about the dark seducer.

We are unable to give refunds for in person events with less than seven days notice in any circumstances

Devil’s Botany is London’s first absinthe distillery, founded by Directors of The Last Tuesday Society’s Absinthe Parlour & Cocktail Bar.

The Mermaids of Staithes – a Zoom talk with Professor Sarah Peverley

The Mermaids of Staithes: Sea, Superstition, Egg-Broth and Loss in a Yorkshire Legend

Join mermaid expert Sarah Peverley for an illustrated talk about the vengeful tale of the mermaids of Staithes. Well-known locally along the north-east coast of Yorkshire, England, the legend concerns the capture and escape of two mermaids, who speak enigmatically about egg-broth and curse the community that hurts them. The tale has notable parallels with other mermaid stories from Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, all of which were recorded in print from the eighteenth to the nineteenth centuries, except the Staithes story.

Through deductive source analysis, this talk identifies the oldest verbal and published versions of the legend on record and explores analogues to the egg-broth superstition, which attest to the story’s emergence much earlier in the eighteenth century and connect it to popular superstitions about the sea. By situating the tale’s publication in context, it is also possible to connect its first occurrence in print to recurrent losses from inundations, coastal erosion and the economic decline of Staithes’s fishing industry in the early twentieth century. Featuring the sea, superstitions, mermaids, witches and folklore, there is something for everyone in the history of this charming tale.

 

Professor Sarah Peverley is an academic, writer and broadcaster who divides her time between being immersed in the depths of mermaid history and lost in the medieval world. As professor of medieval literature and culture at the University of Liverpool she teaches across English and History and regularly speaks at festivals and heritage events. She has consulted for organisations like Guinness World Records, and has written, presented or appeared in over eighty TV, radio and press features. She is currently writing a cultural history of the mermaid. For more information see www.sarahpeverley.com.

Your curator and host for this event will be the writer Edward Parnell, author of Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country. Ghostland, a work of narrative non-fiction, is a moving exploration of what has haunted our writers and artists – as well as the author’s own haunted past; it was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley 2020 prize, an award given to a literary autobiography of excellence. Edward’s first novel The Listeners (2014), won the Rethink New Novels Prize. He recently edited Eerie East Anglia: Fearful Tales of Field and Fen (2024) for the British Library’s Tales of the Weirdseries. For further info see:
https://edwardparnell.com

Don’t worry if you can’t make the live event on the night – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day.

Beowulf – Hugh Lupton – LIVE

Please note this is NOT a ZOOM Lecture but an in person lecture at our museum – tickets include a complimentary glass of Devil’s Botany Absinthe

Doors open at 5:30pm and lecture starts at 6.00pm

Hugh Lupton Performs Beowulf – LIVE

Beowulf is the oldest story in the English language – and it still has the power to raise the hairs on the back of the neck.

It tells of a hero’s life, a life mapped by three blood-curdling encounters.

As a young man Beowulf fights the monster Grendel and his even more terrifying Mother (the original creatures from the Black Lagoon).

Then, at the end of his life, he tries his strength against a gold-guarding Fire-Drake. The story explores the journey we all make from the seeming invincibility of youth to the heroic vulnerability of old age.

Bio

Hugh Lupton has been a professional storyteller since 1981. He tells stories from all over the world, but his particular passion is for the hidden layers of the British landscape and the stories and ballads that give voice to them. He is also a lyricist and a novelist and has published many collections of traditional tales. His novel ‘The Assembly of the Severed Head’ explores the moment the Mabinogion moved from being part of a fluid oral culture to becoming a written text.

We are unable to give refunds for in person events with less than seven days notice in any circumstances

Devil’s Botany is London’s first absinthe distillery, founded by Directors of The Last Tuesday Society’s Absinthe Parlour & Cocktail Bar.

Sorcery, Possession, and Hysteria: The Loudun Scandal of 1634 – Elizabeth Harper – Zoom

Sorcery, Possession, and Hysteria: The Loudun Scandal of 1634

On August 18th, 1634, Father Urban Grandier, a priest in Loudun, France, was tortured and burned alive for sorcery. The proof of his guilt was eleven nuns who were possessed by the devil and had begun levitating, stripping their clothes off, and vomiting demonic pacts. Grandier was charged by the first to be possessed, the young Mother Superior, Sister Jeanne of the Angels. She named him sight-unseen; as a cloistered nun she had no first-hand knowledge of him.

There seems to be a limitless appetite for the history of sorcery in Loudun. The case inspired dozens of non-fiction books, a “non-fiction novel” by Aldous Huxley, a play, philosophical works by Michel Foucault, and the still-censored X-rated film by Ken Russell. At the heart of each of these lies the same question: Why did Jeanne do it? I ask a different question: Why do we tell this story? There are many nearly identical contemporaneous cases, yet the story of Jeanne and Grandier continues to speak to us about power, gender, sex, religion, and justice today.

Bio:

Elizabeth Harper is independent researcher on Catholicism and saints. Her essays and photographs have appeared in Hazlitt, Lapam’s Quarterly, the LA Review of Books, Image Journal, Death: A Graveside Companion, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s catalogue, The Body in Color. Her essay, “The Cult of the Beheaded” was a notable selection in Best American Essays. She has spoken at venues such as Cornell University and as part of the Bishop Walter Sullivan Lecture series at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is the Assistant Professor of Lighting Design at the University of Southern California.

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

A still from Kawalerowicz’s film, “Mère Jeanne des Anges” (1961)

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

Slacks, shoulder pads and suspenders: A deep dive into the iconic costumes of 1980s Bonkbusters – Dr Julie Ripley

Slacks, shoulder pads and suspenders: A deep dive into the iconic costumes of 1980s Bonkbusters

The final lecture in the five-part Bonkbusters series, curated by Jo Parsons.

The lavish mini-series and films based on bestselling fiction by the likes of Jackie Collins, and Shirley Conran explored themes of sex and money in a style that typified the 1980s: glossy, gaudy, and greedy. These Bonkbusters provided audiences with a glimpse into the lifestyles of the rich, famous, and horny, their grand accommodations, opulent leisure pursuits, and perhaps, more than anything else, their taste in clothing – and underclothing.Joan and Jackie Collins: https://x.com/Joancollinsdbe/status/819631064431742976/photo/1

From power dressing in tailored suits to event wear with sparkles and shoulder pads, the clutch bag and stiletto were ubiquitous accessories: these were stories where glamour reigned supreme. Stockings and suspenders, thought to be banished forever by the advent of the mini skirt, returned, along with false eyelashes, long painted nails, and enormous hair.

In a period of accelerating consumer culture, Bonkbusters presented aspirational audiences with icons of success that could be – and were – widely copied. Even today, when you consider purchasing that vintage calf length coat in faux arctic fox, the seductively superior spirit of Joan Collins is included in the price.

In this talk, costume historian Julie Ripley explores the heady mix of synthetic fabric and sharp silhouettes that brought to life badly behaved characters who shopped, ‘bonked’, and entertained a public hungry for excess.

Bio:

Dr Julie Ripley is a course leader for Costume Design for Film & TV at Falmouth University. She has presented widely on dress history, clothing cultures and screen costume. She is interested in costumes where audience pleasures in the genre are not straightforward, such as 1970s slasher movies, contemporary ‘eat the rich’ storylines, or sleazy 1980s erotica.

Copyright free image.

Don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

SERIES OVERVIEW

Join us as we enter the glamourous and ruthless world of the Bonkbuster, a phenomenon in mid-late 20th century popular women’s writing, which showed us that sex and excess really does sell, and taught women they could come out on top in both bedroom and boardroom.

‘Jackie Collins hidden behind Wuthering Heights’?: Sex, drama and overstepping boundaries in 1980s teenage girls’ magazines – Dr Joanne Knowles – Zoom

‘Jackie Collins hidden behind Wuthering Heights’?: Sex, drama and overstepping boundaries in 1980s teenage girls’ magazines

The fourth lecture in the five-part Bonkbusters series, curated by Jo Parsons.

In 1983 the teenage magazine Just Seventeen ran a feature on differences between the sexes which declared that girls ‘keep a Jackie Collins book hidden behind Wuthering Heights’. This talk will examine the role of Just Seventeen and other teenage girls’ magazines in acknowledging the increasing level of interest in ‘anything with kissing on the cover’ but also on reading and other media that depicted sexual adventurousness well beyond kissing. The landscape of early-mid 80s is marked by the emergence of sometimes glamorous, always strong women in narratives across media platforms, including bestselling novels by Judith Krantz and Shirley Conran, soaps like Dallas and Dynasty, and the increasing presence of bold women as role models in the pop scene.

Jo will explore 1980s Just Seventeen’s representation of sex, success and women’s roles in an increasingly multi-media world, where prominent women, from Alexis Carrington to Madonna, were held up as daring, morally dubious, yet also inspiring role models. Just Seventeen played a critical role in framing narratives about the tempestuous lives of adult women for a teenage audience, while also maintaining its status as a trusted provider of advice on how actual teenagers should manage their personal lives.

This talk draws on the Femorabilia archive of women’s and girls’ magazines at Liverpool John Moores University.

Biography

Joanne Knowles is a senior lecturer in Media, Culture, Communication at Liverpool John Moores University. She’s written about a range of popular media including Jackie magazine, The Snowman and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. Jo is a big fan of 1980s pop culture, which allows her to mix business with pleasure.

Image held by Jo’s University’s archives

Don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

SERIES OVERVIEW

Join us as we enter the glamourous and ruthless world of the Bonkbuster, a phenomenon in mid-late 20th century popular women’s writing, which showed us that sex and excess really does sell, and taught women they could come out on top in both bedroom and boardroom.

Bitches, studs and hedonistic female pleasures: adapting the bonkbuster in 1970s British cinema – Dr Sian Barber – Zoom

Bitches, studs and hedonistic female pleasures: adapting the bonkbuster in 1970s British cinema

The third lecture in the five-part Bonkbusters series, curated by Jo Parsons.

This talk explores 1970s film adaptations of successful popular fiction ‘bonkbusters’ focusing on the film versions of Jackie Collins’ bonkbusters The Stud (1978) and The Bitch (1979). Starring Jackie’s sister Joan, the film versions were broadly dismissed as trashy, tasteless sexploitation, panned on release for their lack of plot and for the performances. But is there more to be discussed here? These late 1970s adaptations appeared to anticipate 1980s hedonism showcasing money, travel, opulence, decadence and excess. The sexuality being explored is both female and mature. In this fantasy world of money, clothes and opulence, men are either sugar daddy’s or sexual playthings, whilst central protagonist Fontaine Khaled (Joan Collins) emerges as a particular kind of protagonist; hedonistic, determined, self-absorbed and unashamedly sexual. In focusing on the pursuit of sexual pleasure of a mature female character, as well as showcasing her traditionally unattractive female characteristics such as ruthlessness and business acumen, these films are unusual and hint at a progressive agenda in which women set the agenda.

Biography

Sian Barber is a Reader in Film at Queen’s University Belfast. She has published widely on censorship, controversy, and cinema including Censoring the 1970s: The BBFC and the Decade that Taste Forgot (2011) and The British Film Industry in the 1970s: Capital Culture and Creativity (2013).

Joan and Jackie Collins: https://x.com/Joancollinsdbe/status/819631064431742976/photo/1

Image available under free use.

Don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

SERIES OVERVIEW

Join us as we enter the glamourous and ruthless world of the Bonkbuster, a phenomenon in mid-late 20th century popular women’s writing, which showed us that sex and excess really does sell, and taught women they could come out on top in both bedroom and boardroom.

Bonktastic Bonkbusters!: Sexing Up Late Twentieth-Century Women’s Writing – Dr Joanne Ella Parsons – Zoom

Bonktastic Bonkbusters!: Sexing Up Late Twentieth-Century Women’s Writing

The second lecture in the five-part Bonkbusters series, curated by Jo Parsons.

The pejorative and spiteful term ‘Bonkbuster’ was derived from ‘bonk’, a British term for sex, and ‘blockbuster’, a very commercially successful book or film, and was used as a means to dismiss a popular, hugely influential, and diverse subgenre of women’s writing which emerged in the 1970s before barging its way, stilettoed and shoulder padded, into the 1980s. The Bonkbuster gave women permission to desire and demand good sex and professional success in a time that was still very much a man’s world. Its authors were revolutionary in many ways; for example, Jackie Collins, ‘Queen of Trash’, celebrity author, and alleged chronicler of Hollywood’s bad behaviour, is famous for her catchphrase and unwavering belief that ‘girls can do anything’; and Shirley Conran was still active until her death in 2024 in empowering women through her social entrepreneurship, a mission which previously involved using her novel Lace (1982) to educate teenagers about sex – an aim that was somewhat undermined by a rather unusual encounter featuring a goldfish.

The Bonkbuster is having something of a resurgence today. The Disney+ adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals (1988) landed on our screens last year with cheeky pops of champagne corks and a scene featuring an airplane toilet and membership of the mile high club. These women have repeatedly proved that sex sells, while challenging and reshaping attitudes to female sexual pleasure.

This talk will provide a saucy and fun introduction to the Bonkbuster and the ways in which it spiced up both women’s writing and their bedrooms in the late twentieth century.

Biography

Dr Joanne Ella Parsons is Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Falmouth University. She is an expert on romantic fiction and is currently writing a book on the Bonkbuster. Her books include Doomed Romances (British Library 2024) and 13 Cornish Ghost Stories (Mabecron, 2024)

images available under fair use

Don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

SERIES OVERVIEW

Join us as we enter the glamourous and ruthless world of the Bonkbuster, a phenomenon in mid-late 20th century popular women’s writing, which showed us that sex and excess really does sell, and taught women they could come out on top in both bedroom and boardroom.

Spectacles of the Strange: Unveiling the World of Freak Shows – Lena Heide Brennand – Zoom

Spectacles of the Strange: Unveiling the World of Freak Shows

During the heyday of the circus, curious people were enticed by colourful posters to see the rarities of nature. Inside the dark tents, one could experience the living legends of Siamese twins, bearded women, giants, and other incredible performers. Many of these people were ridiculed and ostracised, but in the circus world, they found a place where they could earn a living and where their appearance opened the door to a better life. However, the truth was that many were forced to perform as ‘freaks’ solely to make money for others and to satisfy an inquisitive audience. Who were these people, and what were their destinies?

Bio:

Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

The Worlds of J.R. R. Tolkien – Professor Ronald Hutton – Zoom

The Worlds Of J.R. R. Tolkien

It was the quiet, pious and conventional Oxford professor, J. R. R. Tolkien, who turned fantasy literature into the most popular literary genre in the modern world, especially with his great trilogy of the 1950s, The Lord of the Rings. This talk is intended to explain what sort of man he was, and what formed his life and beliefs and inspired his work. It also poses the question of how far he can be regarded as essentially a Christian author, as many devoutly Christian commentators have claimed, and how much his fantasy world was a much more complex creation, including both pagan and folkloric themes. In doing so this talk seeks to account for the remarkable public success of his stories and their huge influence among such a varied readership

Speaker: Professor Ronald Hutton is a Professor of History at the University of Bristol. He is a leading authority on history of the British Isles in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, on ancient and medieval paganism and magic, and on the global context of witchcraft beliefs.

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day