Born in Paris in 1844, the illegitimate daughter of a courtesan, at the age of 17 Sarah Bernhardt got herself a position at the prestigious Comédie Française, only to be promptly fired after slapping the leading actress. However, with her good looks, talent, eccentricities and a head for business, she ended up an international superstar, bought a theatre, slept in a coffin, and remains one of the most famous actors of all time.

View recording here with the passcode Women_13

Born in Cairo in 1933, Yolanda Gigliotti went to France at the age of 21. Unable to find a job, she tried singing, and quickly worked her way to stardom under the stage name Dalida. Alas, immense professional success went hand in hand with endless personal tragedy. She gained cult status after her death in 1987, and her bust stands in a square in Montmartre which bears her name, close to the house where she lived for 25 years.

View the recording here with the passcode Dalida_3

As a teenager, Josephine Baker fled extreme poverty and racial violence in St Louis, Missouri, and in 1925, at the age of 19, left America for Paris, where she took the public by storm wearing almost nothing but a flimsy banana skirt. A star of the stage for half a century, she was a life-long dedicated civil rights activist and adopted children from around the globe. On 30th November 2021, she joined the “great men” of France in the Paris Pantheon, the first black woman to receive this highest of honours.

View the recording here with the passcode Women_27

Thursday, January 20, 2022 at 5:00pm Eastern

Join Professor Adam Tooze as he shares his insights on the state of the world in these unprecedented times.

View the recording here with the passcode Tooze_20

Thursday, February 17th

Join Professor Adam Tooze as he shares his insights on the state of the world in these unprecedented times.

View the recording here with the passcode Tooze_17

Thursday, March 24, 2022 at 5:00pm Eastern

Join Professor Adam Tooze as he shares his insights on the state of the world in these unprecedented times.

View the recording here with the passcode Tooze_24

There is nothing that islanders like quite so much as a smaller island, and Britain is liberally supplied with these. Depending on your definition - mud flat? sandbank? populated? - there are thousands to choose from: 200 in the Thames and its estuary alone, seven Channel Islands (or Îles Anglo-Normandes, if you want to be European about it), 900 off Scotland and 50 off Wales. We’re not called the British Isles for nothing. Join Sophie for some gentle island hopping, from black houses in the Outer Hebrides to dinosaur country off the south coast of England, and from rock’n’roll near Twickenham to oyster beds off Essex.

View the recording here with the passcode Islands_5

Did women really wear ships in their hair in the eighteenth century? When did off-the-peg suits first become available? What are duck’s arses and winkle pickers? And were Stuart monarchs the ultimate shoe fetishists? Join Sophie for a look at clothes, shoes and headgear through the ages. She will use paintings, prints and photographs to examine the role that fashion and workwear have played in the lives of men, women and children. From peasant smocks to George IV’s outrageous coronation gear and from bowler hats to tiaras, what better way to enjoy a little British social history?

View the recording here with the passcode Fashion_24

Florence is, of course, bursting at the seams with art, but in this talk, we’ll step away from the great world-renowned national museums and the famed art-filled churches and refectories, and take a peek into three lesser-known unique house museums: the Stibbert, the Horne and the Bardini. Each bears the name of its founder: two English collectors and an Italian art dealer. Relive the eccentricities, passion and knowledge of these three remarkable men and the extraordinary collections that they have left us.

View the recording here with the code Tuscany_3

This talk unravels the long story of how Michelangelo came to create what would become one of the most famous and iconic statues in the world, following its multiple lives from quarry to museum.

View the recording here with the passcode Tuscany_10

Thursday, March 17, 2022 at 5:00pm Eastern

Join Professor Adam Tooze as he outlines the politics and history of Florence and Tuscany.

View the recording here with the passcode Tuscany_17