The monthly meetings of the Crouch End & District U3A are held at the Union Church and Community Centre, Weston Park, N8 9TA. Doors open at 10.00 a.m for tea and coffee. Talks begin at 10.45 a.m.

Coming up …

Thursday 14 November 2019

Professor Ian Christie : Rescuing a pioneer: Britain’s forgotten creator of cinema
 
Not many people, even among film enthusiasts, realise that what we know as cinema really started in London in 1896. Robert Paul demonstrated his new projector on the same day at the Lumieres reached London, and within weeks both their and his shows were competing at major music halls in Leicester Square. But unlike the Lumieres, or indeed Edison, Paul wanted to expand the range of what animated photography could do. Over the next five years, he pioneered multi-scene fiction films, literary adaptation, documentary and many other kinds of film. With his wife, he opened Britain’s first studio, in Muswell Hill, in 1898, and built up a substantial international business – not only in film, but also in scientific instruments. So why is Paul not better known? Ian will be offering some suggestions, as well as showing a selection of Paul’s surviving films.

 
Ian Christie is a film and media historian, currently professor at Birkbeck College and also lecturing for Gresham College. He broadcasts regularly and turns up on DVDs of films by Powell and Pressburger, Terry Gilliam and assorted Russians. Before Birkbeck, he worked at the British Film Institute, where he ran distribution, regional programming and video publishing. Exhibitions he has worked on include Spellbound: Art and Film (1996), Unexpected Eisenstein (2016), Revolution: Russian Art 1917-32 (RA, 2017), Animatograph! (re-opening at London Metropolitan Archives, Sept 2019).

Thursday 12 December 2019

Oonagh Gay : The pioneer women MPs
 

 
After a long struggle, women over 30 gained the vote in 1918, but little thought had been given to the prospect of women MPs. The first few women who managed to be elected were resourceful and brave. Nancy Astor is well known, but have you heard of Margaret Wintringham or the Duchess of Atholl? In 1929 only 14 women were elected out of a House of over 600 men, and it took until 1957 for Hornsey to get its first woman MP, Muriel Gammans. This talk will bring to life some of these early pioneers who had to navigate a Commons not designed for them.
 
Oonagh Gay retired from the House of Commons Library after 30 years in 2015, having researched for MPs on constitutional subjects. She retrained as a tour guide and now leads history walks around London, focusing on women and radical themes. She runs the CEDU3A Shorter Walks Group

Thursday 9 January 2020

Andrew Ellis : Art UK: Democratising Access to the Nation’s Art

Thursday 13 February 2020

James M. Taylor : Brilliant British Humour in the Forgotten Art of the Picture Postcard, 1840-1950s

Thursday 12 March 2020

Dave Clarke : Untangling the web – demystifying spiders at ZSL London Zoo
 
🕷 Spiders are a much maligned group of animals, but vital to our continued existence (and really nice once you get to know them!). This talk will illustrate the way ZSL London Zoo aims to redress the balance, by educating people about the positive side of spiders, presenting innovative displays to the public, direct conservation initiatives, and even curing arachnophobia on the Friendly Spider Programme
 
Dave Clarke is Head of Invertebrates at the Zoological Society of London

  2019 monthly meetings
 
  2018 monthly meetings
 
  2017 monthly meetings