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The National Portrait Gallery in London is running an exhibition entitled Elizabeth I and her people this Autumn. In their words the aim is to explore “the story of the Elizabethans from the Queen, the nobility and gentry to the many other talented individuals such as explorers, soldiers, merchants, artists and writers”. Click here for directions, and here to watch curator Tarnya Cooper introduce the exhibition. If you click here you can play the “Who do you think you were ?” game to find out where you would have been in Elizabethan society.

To find out more about Elizabeth society you should also come to History Society next Tuesday when I will be showing the Court episode of Ian Mortimer’s Time traveller’s guide to Elizabethan England. This was the BBC adaptation of the excellent book. There will be cake.

If you have never visited an art gallery then the National Portrait Gallery is a great place to start. It is a very special place, and it is free (although the exhibition itself is £11.50). It is full of surprises, and it is only round the corner from Mr Woo’s Chinese Restaurant – all you can eat for £5.50.

Tudors and Chinese – what more could you want from half term ?

Mr Kydd.

Lord Castlereagh, was one of the most successful and controversial political figures his day. He was a master diplomat, noted as the architect of the 1801 Act of Union that brought Ireland under the control of Westminster, and as a key figure in the defeat of Napoleon. You have probably come across him when you studied the Congress of Vienna.You may also know about his terrible death.

Click  here for a super BBC audio slideshow on his life by Brian Henry Martin and Ian Knox. They have also collaborated on a documentary that tries to understand the brutal actions of this flawed and forgotten political colossus.

Mr Kydd.

A couple of original finds from a friend of the site.

If you click here you can see a series of old black and white photographs converted to colour. For me particularly noteworthy is the thumbnail image on the left of Joseph Goebbels scowling at photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt after finding out he’s Jewish in 1933. Have a look and see what you think.

This link takes you to a diagrammatic representation of the relative power of the great states since 2000BC. It shows the ebb and flow  of power well, but the later stuff does feel rather western. There is no insight into how the judgements were made. I would be interested to know what you think.

Mr Kydd.

I have published the history society programme for Autumn term. The downloadable version for you can be found here. They will usually be 3.30 to 4.30 on Tuesday (with cake) in T10.

The more observant of you will have noticed that the Society now has its own page on the bar above the newsfeed. The plan is that this is where we will post the reviews of what we watch, read and visit.

Mr Kydd.