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BMI Monday Lectures - Lectures Start at 1.00pm unless otherwise stated.
Admission £1.00 – Members Free
Monday 23rd January |
OLIVE PRINCESS OF CUMBERLAND (1732 – 1834) : A ROYAL SCANDAL.
Who was Olive Wilmot? Miles MacNair the author of the book, in this tale of seduction and corruption of artists and courtiers, state secrets and court cases and ‘Special Agents’, provides a solution.
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Monday 30th January |
THE CONTEMPORARY ART COLLECTION AT WOLVERHAMPTON ART GALLERY.
Helen Oliver a member of the Contemporary Art Society is the Arts Collection Curator at the gallery.
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Monday 6th February |
‘MY CLAIMS TO THE REMEMBRANCE OF MY COUNTRY’
Dr Tony Williams discusses this quotation from Dickens’s Will on the eve of the 200th anniversary of his birth.
In a year when there will be so much about the life Dr Williams will concentrate on the writing.
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Monday 13th February |
ON THE MAKING OF MANY MEDALS THERE IS NO END.
Jim Baker the senior die sinker at Toye Kenning and Spencer will illustrate the means of manufacture and also show some of the tools used.
Toye Kenning and Spencer recently designed and manufactured the Institute’s Presidential Seal.
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Monday 20th February |
A BISHOP AND HIS BOOKS.
Christine Penney, the Hurd Librarian at Hartlebury Castle will discuss the library, built in 1782/3 by Richard Hurd the Bishop of Worcester, and the fine collection of books
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Monday 27th February |
FREDERICK DELIUS at 150.
Lyndon Jenkins the author and music critic, who is currently music advisor to Town Hall and Symphony Hall, will in this anniversary year discuss Delius’s life and play some of his music.
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Monday 5th March |
THE WARWICKSHIRE CAKES AND ALE TRAIL.
Bob Bibby the author of four crime novels, four travel narratives and three travel guides will discuss the genesis of his most recent publication.
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Monday 12th March |
THE WORK OF EDWIN BUTLER BAYLISS (1874 – 1950).
Brendan Flynn the Art Historian and Curator was responsible, during his time at Bilston Art Gallery, for cataloguing the work of this underestimated Black Country Artist.
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Monday 19th March |
CORPORATION STREET, ITS CREATION AND IMPACT.
Hon Alderman J Whorwood, a former Lord Mayor writes that “There were probably 70,000 back to back houses in Birmingham many of them in the central area. Using the Artisans and Labourers Dwelling Act of 1875, the Council, under Chamberlain acquired a large part of the Town centre and created Corporation Street. Bearing in mind the original objectives outlined in speeches in the Council was this development a success?
This presentation is supported by pictures from the City Archives.
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The lecture programme may be subject to change without notice.
Tea, coffee and refreshments are available in the Coffee Lounge at the BMI.
BMI Study Days - Fridays 10.00am - 4.00pm.
Advance booking is essential. Contact Philip Fisher at the BMI for places.
The fee for each Study Day is £15 (BMI Membership is £14) which should be sent when a booking is made. Cheques should be made payable to "The Birmingham and Midland Institute".
Friday 13th January |
LEE TOLSTOY, ANNA KARENINA (1873-7).
In response to more requests than for any other text, we shall devote a day to studying one of the world’s greatest novels, using Constance Garnett’s translation.
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Friday 27th January |
J B PRIESTLEY, EDEN END (1934) and ENGLISH JOURNEY (1934).
After evaluating the author’s favourite play, we shall encourage you to pool your socio-geographical knowledge to establish a perspective upon the insights he offered upon the state of the nation in the same year.
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Friday 10th February |
DICKENS ON SCREEN.
Just three days after his 200th birthday we shall ask whether the energy, humour and zeal of Dickens has been represented effectively through our enthusiasm to experience his novels in film and television versions.
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Friday 24th February |
MARY WEBB, THE GOLDEN ARROW (1916), GONE TO EARTH (1917) & PRECIOUS BANE (1924).
Neglected but not forgotten? Unfairly represented by parody and caricature? We feel that the time has come for a re-assessment of Mary Webb’s achievement.
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Friday 9th March |
CWILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1598) & HECTORE BERLIOZ, BEATRICE ET BENEDICT (1862).
Following high-profile productions in London earlier this year, we assess the enduring popularity of Shakespeare’s finest comedy. We shall also explore the perspective offered by an operatic treatment which Welsh National Opera is bringing to Birmingham.
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The Study Day Tutors are :
Pamela Mason, BA (Hons), MA, PhD
Helped by the award of a Major State Studentship, Pamela completed all three of her degrees within six years at the University of Birmingham. She then became a Lecturer in English there and a Fellow of the Shakespeare Institute. Pamela has written on Much Ado About Nothing for MacMillan’s Text and Performance series. She edited the Casebook on Shakespeare’s Early Comedies, wrote the Cambridge Student Guide on Othello and is editing the Arden Macbeth.
Keith Parsons, BA (Hons
Keith is also a graduate of the University of Birmingham. He taught in a small grammar school and then served as Senior Teacher in a large comprehensive school before, despairing of the National Curriculum, he joined Pamela to teach American undergraduates and to develop a distance-learning postgraduate course for Rose Bruford. Keith and Pamela were co-editors of Shakespeare in Performance (London, 1995).
Elinor Parsons, BA (Hons), MA, PhD
Elinor took her first degree at the University of Bristol. After studying for her MA at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon she moved to Royal Holloway, University of London, to gain her PhD by researching screen treatments of The Taming of the Shrew. She is a Lecturer in Drama at De Montford University and is currently serving as Subject Leader.
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