From his recently published book ‘A Marvel to Behold, Gold and Silver at the Court of Henry VIII’. This lecture looks at the king and his world through a rather special lens of the institutions concerned with gold and silver, the Mint (which made it into money), the jewel house (where the king’s plate was stored) and the Goldsmiths’ Company (which controlled the trade and supplied the king’s goldsmiths). At the heart of all this sat Thomas Cromwell, who we all know now through Hilary Mantel’s novels, but who is seen in a rather different light in this lecture. 

Emerging from the ensembles that played for dancing in the nineteenth century under the
influence of new styles of popular music imported from the United States of America, dance bands defined and sustained the musical mainstream in twentieth century British popular culture. British dance bands provided music for social dancing after the First World War, but also became key components of variety theatre, radio and television. During what has become known as a “golden age” (roughly 1920s-1940s), the top bands were resident in London’s hotels and clubs, broadcast on the BBC and recorded prolifically, their leaders becoming household names.

In December 2024, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, often referred to as the Soul of the City,
reopened to the public after a devastating fire had threatened to destroy it 5 years earlier. A seemingly impossible target had been set by the French President to rebuild; yet huge sums of donated money and teams of expert restorers ensured the timescale was met. Such is the symbolic power of this cultural icon in the psyche of the French people and indeed people beyond.

Charles Dickens has often been proclaimed as “The Man Who Invented Christmas” and indeed on hearing that Dickens had died, a cockney barrow-girl said: “Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?”  Dickens revived the Christmas traditions with his warm portrayal of Christmas in the domestic setting; with plum pudding, piping hot turkey, games, dancing and family cheer by the hearth. Although he celebrated Christmas in numerous works it is his enduring masterpiece, ‘A Christmas Carol’ published on 19th December 1843 which immortalises the spirit of Christmas Cheer.