Archives: Digital Events

The modern interpretation of corseting labels the corset a killer. When actresses talk about stints in corsets for movies or TV shows, they often highlight how uncomfortable the garment is, how they are unable to eat, bend, breathe, or sit in their corsets, and how they cannot imagine what women went through when the corset was an everyday part of their lives. Yet, corseting as a practice lasted around 400 years. What, then, is the “truth” of the corset? Did it kill/maim/harm/traumatize those who wore it?

This presentation will look at historical documentation from women who corseted, men who had opinions about it, and doctors who examined corseted bodies. I have examined over a hundred skeletons from the St. Bride’s Parish, Fleet St., London, as well as sifting through thousands of burial records looking for evidence of death by corseting, and the results will shock you…

Bio:

Rebecca Gibson’s published works include “Desire in the Age of Robots and AI: An Investigation in Science Fiction and Fact” (Palgrave Macmillan 2019), “The Corseted Skeleton: A Bioarchaeology of Binding” (Palgrave Macmillan 2020), and “Gender, Supernatural Beings, and the Liminality of Death: Monstrous Males/Fatal Females” (Lexington Books 2021). She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from American University, and when not writing or teaching can be found reading mystery novels amidst a pile of stuffed animals.

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London Stone has stood in Cannon Street, in the centre of the City of London, since at least about AD 1100 (when it was first mentioned by that name) and probably for much longer – although with several moves and occasional absences! Once described as ‘a great stone … pitched upright and fixed in the ground very deep’, all that remains is a small very worn block of limestone – and a mystery. When and why was it first erected, why was it called ‘London Stone’, and how did it become famous? In October 2018 the last remnant of the famous stone returned from the Museum of London, where it had temporarily been on display, to a splendid new setting close to its original site in Cannon Street.

Bio

John Clark was for many years curator of the medieval collections of the Museum of London, and since his retirement in 2009 he has maintained his connection with the museum, with the honorary title of Curator Emeritus. He is also an Honorary Associate Professor at UCL Institute of Archaeology. He has long had an interest in the relationship between London’s history and the legends and myths that have grown up about the city, and in the ways Londoners have interpreted the physical remains of London’s past in the light of their understanding of its history. In particular he has studied the history, and mystery, of ‘the stone that is called London Stone’.

In this talk John considers what is known about its origins and it history, and how a mythology has gradually arisen, identifying it as – variously – a Roman milestone or milliarium, a druid altar, the ‘Stone of Brutus’, the City’s fetish stone, a last relic of a Roman Governor’s palace, a mark-stone on a ley line, inspiration for authors of ‘urban fantasy’, an essential element in London’s sacred geometry, or London’s palladium, portending disaster if it is disturbed.

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Benin is a small West African country situated between Togo and Nigeria. It is known for being the ‘Cradle of Voodoo’, however, this is just part of the story.

Dr Louise Fenton will uncover a brief history of this fascinating country. She will discuss the turbulent times, colonisation and the enslavement of people, human sacrifice and the culture that permeates all of this, Vodun, the beating heart of Benin. Vodun is evident throughout the country and not hidden away as it is in much of the Caribbean and the wider diaspora. This is a fully illustrated lecture and Louise will use her own photographic archive to show key locations and Vodun ceremonies. Join Louise as she introduces you to the exciting, enthralling and beautiful country that is Benin.

Louise has recently returned from leading a study group for The Last Tuesday Society in March 2022. This fascinating trip led us to seeing Vodun up close, having front row seats at a village Vodun ceremony, experiencing Vodun worship, seeing altars and sacrifice, immersing ourselves in Benin culture and meeting fascinating people including Vodun and Yoruba Kings. We are travelling to Benin again February 2023 so please contact The Last Tuesday Society if you would like to join us and for more details on this exciting trip to West Africa.

Bio

Dr Louise Fenton is a senior lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton and a cultural and social historian. She teaches contextual studies in the School of Art and supervises PhD students; she is also an artist and illustrator and uses drawing within her research. Her interest in West African Vodun, and particularly Benin, began when studying for her PhD which she was awarded from the University of Warwick in 2010. Most recently Louise has appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme, ‘Beyond Belief’ and is a consultant on a new drama for BBC 3. Her research covers West African Vodun, Haitian Vodou, New Orleans Voodoo and Witchcraft, especially curses and cursed objects.

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Ancient Witches

Magic and witchcraft were integral parts of the lives of ancient Greeks and Romans. Real practitioners existed – usually men when it came to so-called ‘high’ magic or ‘learned’ magic – with women, we can assume, practising more informal folk magic, which has left a less permanent trace. However, the chief deity of magic and witchcraft was the goddess, Hecate and ancient literature is full of female practitioners, often exhibiting outlandish and unbelievable talents. This lecture discusses Hecate as the preeminent god of witches and the witches of Greek and Roman literature. From Homer’s Circe to Euripides’ Medea, to the terrifying necromancer, Erictho from Lucan’s Pharsalia, we consider how and why the ancients insisted on representing their literary practitioners as female, when evidence points to men as the main source of all things magical. We end by tracing the ancient origins of the wicked witch of the west back to the terrifying figures of the ancient imagination.

Bio:

Marguerite Johnson is Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Newcastle, Australia. Her research expertise is predominantly in ancient Mediterranean cultural studies, particularly in representations of gender, sexualities, and the body. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, and ancient magic. Marguerite has published on magic, particularly the portrayal of witches, in Greek and Latin literature and was dramaturg on professional productions of Theocritus’ Idyll 2 (‘The Sorceress’) in 2019 and Euripides’ Medea in 2021. She also researches and publishes on the Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton, with whom she has held a fascination since childhood. Marguerite delivers one of the few undergraduate courses on ancient occultism (AHIS2370: Magic and Witchcraft in Greece and Rome) and supervises several PhD students working on aspects of historical and literary magic.

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To the rest of us, Freemasonry is mysterious and suspect. Yet its story is peopled by some of the most distinguished men of the last three centuries: Winston Churchill and Walt Disney; Wolfgang Mozart and Shaquille O’Neal; Benjamin Franklin and Buzz Aldrin; Rudyard Kipling and ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody; Duke Ellington and the Duke of Wellington.

Founded in London in 1717 as a set of character-forming ideals and a way of binding men in fellowship, Freemasonry proved so addictive that within two decades it had spread across the globe. Masonic influence became pervasive. Under George Washington, the Craft became a creed for the new American nation. Masonic networks held the British empire together. Under Napoleon, the Craft became a tool of authoritarianism and then a cover for revolutionary conspiracy. Both the Mormon Church and the Sicilian mafia owe their origins to Freemasonry.

The Masons were as feared as they were influential. In the eyes of the Catholic Church, Freemasonry has always been a den of devil-worshippers. For Hitler, Mussolini and Franco the Lodges spread the diseases of pacifism, socialism and Jewish influence, so had to be crushed.

Professor Dickie will talk about his book – The Craft, translated into ten languages – which is a surprising and enthralling exploration of a movement that not only helped to forge modern society, but still has substantial contemporary influence. With 400,000 members in Britain, over a million in the USA, and around six million across the world, understanding the role of Freemasonry is as important now as it has ever been.

Bio

John Dickie is Professor of Italian Studies at University College London. Hodder & Stoughton published his Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia in 2004, to ecstatic reviews. It became an international bestseller, with over 20 translations, and won the CWA Dagger Award for Non-fiction that year. Since then he has published Delizia!: The Epic History of the Italians and their Food (2007) – now a six-part TV series for HIstory Channel Italia and other networks worldwide. His most recent books are Mafia Brotherhoods (2011) and Mafia Republic: Italy’s Criminal Curse (2013).

In 2005 the President of the Italian Republic appointed him a Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella della Solidarieta Italiana.

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