This is the story of two remarkable Victorians and the birth of English comic opera. Their quarter of a century long partnership began in 1871, when the pair were brought together by the entrepreneurial theatre manager Richard D’Oyly Carte, with whom they collaborated on fourteen unique comic operas.  Perhaps best known for The Mikado, H.M.S Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and Iolanthe, their satirical brilliance can still inspire and impress today. Enjoy the bouquets, brickbats and their extraordinary popularity and fame. Their success was unprecedented in the history of music theatre and their creativity inspired the likes of Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter.

After training at RADA Jamie Hayes graduated as a Stage Manager and subsequently worked for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Bristol Old Vic and the BBC. He became an Assistant Director with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Kent Opera and English National Opera and soon began directing productions of his own. He has directed many new opera productions in the UK and overseas. Jamie was Associate Director on the original production of the hit musical Miss Saigon in the West End and on Broadway. He has directed productions in all the major UK conservatoires and was Director of Productions for British Youth Opera for over a decade, a company devoted to promoting the talents of our finest young opera singers in the UK. 

George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was the favourite of King James I - who addressed him as ‘my sweet child and wife’ - and subsequently chief minister to King Charles I. Buckingham was a beauty, and he surrounded himself with beautiful things. He enjoyed exquisite clothes, like the fabulous white silk suit encrusted with diamonds that he wore to visit the Queen of France. He was a superb dancer. When he cut capers during a court masque King James startled visiting ambassadors by shouting out ‘By God, George, I love you! 

Lucy Hughes-Hallett is an award-winning author of both fiction and non-fiction, whose book on the 17th century Duke of  Buckingham, The Scapegoat, was published in October 2024 and has been shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize. Her previous biography, The Pike; Gabriele d' Annunzio was described in The Sunday Times as ‘the biography of the decade’. It won the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Duff Cooper Prize and the Costa Biography Award. Her other non-fiction books include Cleopatra and Heros.  A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Historical Association, she has written on books and the arts for publications including The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The New Statesman and the TLS. She was Chair of the Judges for the 2021 International Booker Prize. 

Four extraordinary female artists working at the beginning of the 20th century: Paula Modersohn Becker, Käthe Kollwitz, Gabriele Münter and Marianne Werefkin, artists who played a central role in the development of radical new directions in European art.

Cindy Polemis is an art historian, independent lecturer and art guide. She has a BA in Modern History from Oxford University and as a mature student she went back to university to study first for a BA and then for a Masters in History of Art at Birkbeck College, London University. She was a radio producer and presenter for the BBC World Service working in news and current affairs. Since 2016 Cindy has worked as  a lecturer and an official art guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. She has also been a trustee at the Museum of the Home, formerly the Geffrye Museum. Cindy has accumulated a wide range of art historical knowledge ranging from 18th European and British art to the contemporary international art scene. She has been an official guide for both Frieze Masters and Frieze Art Fairs in London. She draw parallels with art and social history drawing out the stories of art and artists which are steeped in human emotions and experiences.

Why do we bring a tree into our homes at Christmas? How did Santa become the patron saint of pawnbrokers and what has a snake got to do with it all?  The truth about some of our Christmas traditions may surprise you!

Geri Parlby's career spans across diverse fields. She started as a news and investigative reporter before becoming Head of Press for United International Pictures, handling publicity campaigns for Paramount, Universal, MGM & UA studios. She set up her own London based film and video PR agency. Driven by her pasion for art she studied for an MA in History of Art at The courtauld Institute before gaining a theology PhD from The University of Roehampton. Geri's extensive knowledge and engaging speaking style has led her to become an accredited Arts Society Lecturer.

Two genres shaped the life of Lee Miller, Surrealism and the world of fashion. They informed each other and were both central to the way she saw the world. Her career as fashion model began with an accidental encounter with Conde Nast, the proprietor of Vogue who put her on his front cover a few weeks before her twentieth birthday. She became the model for Lepape, Man Ray, Picasso and Roland Penrose, among others.Lee emerged as a fashion photographer which lead onto war correspondant and combat photograper. She returned to Vogue as a photographer after the war.

Antony is the son of Lee Miller and Ronald Penrose. He is the director of The Lee Miller Archives and The Penrose Collection at Farley Farm House in West Sussex. Antony has lectured around the world, made documentaries and overseen major exhibitions of his parents work.  He has numerous publications including The Boy Who Bit Picasso.

Contains some war images which may be distrubing

Welsh Art and Wales as artistic destinations are perhaps not subjects which are been given serious attention in the past. Welsh artists are often considered to be minor figures within the wider canon of British Art. 

Ed Williams is an Oxford educated Art Historian based in the North West of England. Ed works at TATE Liverpool and is an official Green Badge Tour Guide for North Wales. Ed also teaches History of Art at The University of Liverpool and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics

Palestrina spent most of his working life in Rome. He taught and mentored many of the great composers of his day. His funeral in 1594 was a lavish ceremony in St Peter's Basilica attended by many of these composers. Patrick will guide us through some of Palestrina's sublime music, we will also listen to the compositions of other Renaissance composers who made their reputations in Rome.

Patrick Craig is a Vicar Choral ar St Paul's Catherdral. His international singing career saw him singing in over 1000 concerts. He founded and conducts this country's all-female professional choir Aurora Nova. He has conducted with the BBC Proms and The City of London Sinfonia. As a Cambridge history graduate he places music in its historical and cultural context. Since 2020 Patrick has used his experiance for online presentations which have raised vital funds for the Help Musicians Charity.

The most significant proof of the power of art is the fact that some people feel the need to destroy it. Attacks and acts of destruction have gone on for as long as art has existed, from the iconoclastic riots of the Protestant Reformation to climate protesters' defilement of historical paintings in national museums.  Aliki will explore artworks that have survived, the appeal of ruins and the prctice of using destructive stratagies to create art.

Aliki studies at The Ruskin School of Fine Art, The Slade School and The Courtauld Insitute. She has been working at the National Gallery for 25 years. and teaches for The Wallace Collection. Aliki is also an artist who exhibits her photographic work internationally.

We love to stand in a museum or galery gazing at a painting by Titian or Caravaggio. Where was it before it came to be there, or who in earlier times stood in front of it and by what practical means did it get there? How did Napolean get four life-size bronze horses of San Marco down from the basilica in Venice, over the Alps and to Paris? What practicalities did shipping a 15 foot high painting or a statue such as Michelanelo's David Involve?

Chantal has an MA in History of Art. She has 40 years of lecturing experiance, including teaching at Sotheby's and lecturing for a number of societies and institutions. Chantal is trained as a paintings conservator so she brings an understanding of the making and physical painting to her lecture.

Henri Matisse is one of the blockbuster artists of the 20th Century. This lecture will focus on his health, a continued series of psychological and physical challenges. From early childhood he suffered 'ill health'.  Multiple lifestyle and psychiatric interventions did little  to give him peace but did not prevent him from producing his magnificent series of post-impressionist works. In addition a series of surgical mishaps left him chair bound.

Professor Alan Silman has had a career studying the long term effects of disabling disorders. He is passionate about the arts  has researched a number of famous people with in that genre and of the impact of their medical problems on their achievements. Alan is a Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, he has authored over 700 research publictions and a number of textbooks .

A lover of theatre and amateur drama enthusiast he directed his first play in 2024.

This lecture will cover four hundred years of international jewellery design examining changing styles, key elements of manufacture, Neoclassicism and Romanticism, 19th century Archaeological and Renaissance Revivalism, Arts and Crafts, Post War Moderism and designs for the future.John will cover other areas like the importance of Cartier and the fabulous jewels of the Dichess of Windsor.

John Benjamin is a jewellery historian, lecturer, author and broadcaster. John has been offering his expertise to BBC Antiques Roadshow for over 30 years. He is a Freeman of the Goldsmiths' Company anf Honary Jewellery Advisor to The National Trust.

Mark will present an overveiw of Britains' 'Big Four' post war glass companies, Whitefriars, Kings lynn(Wedgewood), Caithness and Dartington. As well as company and designer histories, special slides will examine, compare and contrast examples from each company. We will even learn how to spot a fake!

Mark Hill studied History of Art & Architecture and started his career at Bonhams before moving to Sotheby's. With over 15 books published on decorative arts Mark has appeared as an expert on Antiques Roadshow and other primetime TV series. He has lectured internationally and is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars.

In 1997 The Royal Academy of Arts curated an exhibition of contempary art, the very first of its kind. Apart from launching the careers of many Young British Artists( YBA's), the exhibition also gathered controversy. This lecture will assess the impact of this exhibition, the artists and their work. How did 'Sensation' launch contemparary art into the mainstream? What has it meant for the careers of certain YBAs?

Pamela Campbel-Johnson has over 30 years of lecturing experiance as part of the Royal Acadamys' Adult Education Department. She specialises in British Domestic Architecture and Modern British Art with a particular love for the 1920s and 1930s.

The foods we eat at Christmas have a long, curious and visually spectacular history. Peter will narrate and illustrate that history, from Medieval boars head and brawn, 17th century highly decorated mince pies, and the almost forgotten Twelfth Night Cake. Illumimated manuscripts, paintings and prints and illustrations from cookery books will provide some of the images of the long lost glories of the British Christmas Feast.

Peter has a BA in History of Art and an MA in London History. He was the Principle Librarian at the City of London's Guildhall Library. He has appeared on television and radio as a consultant on the history of English food. His book, The Curious Coobook, Viper Soup, Badger HAm, Stewed Sparrows, and a Hundred more Historic Recipes, has been published world wide