Aug03 to Jul04
| Friday 9 July 2004, 7.30pm: Conway Hall |
| Martyr to the Cause – Fire and Brimstone Productions presents a play based on the life and times of Annie Besant (1847-1933). Besant scandalised Victorian society with her atheistic views. She was hauled before the courts for producing a booklet on birth control, successfully led a strike of match girls in East London, had her child taken away from her because of her atheistic views and was described by her contemporaries as the most outstanding orator they had ever heard. She joined the National Secular Society in 1874 and soon became a vice-president of the society and close associate of Charles Bradlaugh, but to the dismay of rationalists and freethinkers she later became a disciple and then leader of the cult of theosophy. She spent the last 40 years of her life in India where she fought for Indian Home Rule, earning the admiration of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. |
| Friday 11 June 2004, 7.30pm: Conway Hall |
| It’s Good for You – Film critic Mansel Stimpson considers the secret sex life of Alec Guinness in the context of his film career and shows video extracts from his films. |
| Friday 14 May 2004, 7.30pm: Conway Hall |
| Sexuality and the City: A History of Gay London – A special event to celebrate GALHA’s 25th anniversary, with readings, dramatisations, celebrity guests, and a magnificent anniversary cake and other food and drink. Full details are on a separate page. Please note that this event is not open to the public but non-members wishing to attend may apply for an invitation. |
| Friday 13 February 2004, 7.30pm: Conway Hall |
| The Debate that Changed the World – A dramatisation of the debate between Thomas Henry Huxley and the Reverend Samuel Wilberforce which took place in 1860 in front of 700 people at Oxford University. This hugely controversial gladiatorial contest between “Darwin’s Bulldog” and “Soapy Sam” led to widespread acceptance of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of natural selection. This is a special event to mark Darwin Day. |
| Friday 9 January 2004, 7.30pm: Conway Hall |
| Camp Attack – Television broadcaster, journalist and former Dominican friar Mark Dowd talks about his personal experience of the camp yet homophobic nature of the Roman Catholic Church. |
| Friday 12 December 2003, 7.30pm: Conway Hall |
| Federico Garcia Lorca – a talk by GALHA member Peter Lee. Following a lifelong enthusiasm for the work of this gay Spanish dramatist and poet, Peter Lee argues that Lorca’s murder by Franco’s forces in 1936 robbed the world of one of twentieth century literature’s finest figures. |
| Saturday 15 November 2003, 12.30pm: Central London |
| GALHA Annual Reunion Lunch. This year’s lunch will be held in the private function room of the Freedom Bar, 60 Wardour Street, Soho, London W1. The room is spacious with its own bar, and a three-course buffet lunch (choices for each course, including vegetarian, with table seating provided) will be served at the moderate cost of £12.00. The speaker and guest-of-honour will be Ben Summerskill, Chief Executive of Stonewall and former assistant editor of The Observer. For bookings, please contact George Broadhead (e-mail secretary@galha.org or phone 01926 858 450). |
| Friday 10 October 2003, 7.30pm: Conway Hall |
| Pedro Almodovar – Dragging Spain into a New Era. Our speaker, José Arroyo, argues that Almodovar’s cinema is very camp and queer, and was fundamental in altering post-Franco perceptions of Spanish national identity both at home and abroad. In the immediate post-Franco period, the cinema of Pedro Almodovar was the most potent advertisement that Spain had changed. This talk will demonstrate how Almodovar was uniquely able to access the mainstream through gay culture and in doing so successfully help to refashion an identity for a country struggling to distance itself from the Franco dictatorship. José Arroyo, a lecturer in the Department of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick, is the editor of Action/Spectacle Cinema: A Sight and Sound Reader and curator of the National Film Theatre’s recent retrospective Gay Men’s Cinema: From Disco to AIDS and Beyond. |
| Friday 12 to Monday 15 September 2003: Shrewsbury |
| This year’s GALHA Annual Residential Weekend Gathering takes place at the Prince Rupert Hotel, Shrewsbury – one of the most historic buildings in one of England’s best-preserved mediaeval towns. All members of GALHA and their friends are welcome. The weekend events will include a coach excursion into the beautiful Shropshire countryside. For further details and a booking form, please contact Barry Jackson (e-mail Barry.Jackson@galha.org). |
| Friday 5 to Sunday 7 September 2003: Kings College, London SE1 |
| 11th European Skeptics Congress. Anyone with an interest in promoting rational and scientific thinking and its application for human benefit is welcome to attend. Early registration is strongly recommended, particularly if you are booking accommodation as this will soon become full. The registration fee is £55 for applications received on or before 30 June 2003 and £70 thereafter. Full details and a registration form are available from the European Council of Skeptical Organisations website, or contact ASKE, PO Box 5994, Ripley, DE5 3XL, UK. |
There was no meeting in August.
