Sherborne Historical Society

Alison Weir         Tuesday 28^th September 2010

Alison is a highly successful historical novelist and historian. She has written extensively on the late medieval and Tudor periods, having written books on Queen Elizabeth, Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scots and Eleanor of Aquitaine. She has also written the biography of Katherine Swynford, mistress of John of Gaunt.

Peter Hill             Tuesday 12^th October 2010

Peter Hill, who has addressed the Sherborne Historical Society twice before (on Walpole and on Parliament) was BBC Parliamentary Correspondent from the early 1960's to the early 90's. He presented many programmes on politics on both radio and television. He is a room steward at Montecute house where he lectures on the portraits, and is a long-standing guide at Strawberry Hill. He has written two books on Walpole and his Art Collection. He is now a freelance panellist and writer, and contributes to a number of magazines. Subjects of recent articles have included Walpole and his contemporise, Augustine Birrel, Louis Clarke and the art of Frank Brangwyn. His latest projects have been to catalogue the stained glass at Montecute House, whilst at Lytes Cary he has prepared visitor information for the National Trust and surveyed the marks of Elizabethan masons.

Richard Warren    Tuesday 26^th October 2010

Commander Richard Warren who is a great great grandson of the first Captain of the HMS TRINCOMALEE. He is not an historian but a Chartered Engineer who served for 35 years in the Royal Navy and a further 5 years in the Procurement Executive of the MOD. He joined the Board of Governors of the Trust in 1976 and has been actively involved during her days as Training Ship FOUDROYANT in Portsmouth Harbour and subsequently throughout her transformation from a hulk to an exhibit of international importance. He became a Vice President of the Trust 2 years ago. On retirement from gainful employment in 1998 he spent 5 years as Secretary to the Old Shirburnian Society, while living in Sherborne. Now in full retirement he lives in Cerne Abbas.

Tom Shippey        Tuesday 9^th November 2010

Tom Shippey has taught and held chairs at several universities in England and the USA, including Oxford and Harvard. Best known for his books on Tolkien, he has also published widely on medieval literature. He now lives in Buckland Newton.

Patrick J Pead      Tuesday 23^rd November 2010

Patrick spent over 30 years working as a medical scientist on the diagnosis of infectious diseases for the Public Health Laboratory Service in St Mary's Hospital at Portsmouth, specialising in viruses. During 1999 he moved to assist with research into microbes and the immune system in the School of Medicine at the University of Southampton. Patrick retired in 2005. He has been interested in the history of the origins of vaccination for some time. His bibliography includes a book, a monograph and papers. Patrick's research is on-going. Current activities include writing and lecturing on this topic.

Peter Street          Tuesday 7^th December 2010

Peter is an Oxford history graduate, a qualified teacher and has been a history tutor in higher and adult education since 1975. Most of his teaching is for Birkbeck College ( University of London ) adult residential colleges and the Open University. He has also contributed to the Marlborough College Summer School since 1992 and lectured for the National Trust, the Historical Association and history societies generally.