Penny Lecture: ‘London's Cabinet Of Curiosities: Seeing The City Differently’ By Henry Elliot

Morley College grew from a series of ‘Penny Lectures’ at the Old Vic Theatre in Waterloo, London. These began in 1882 and included talks about a wide range of subjects of current interest at the time, such as ‘Why is the Sea Salty?’ and ‘The telephone: how to talk to a man a 100 miles away’. Topics were chosen to encourage new thinking and ideas and provided illustrated lectures at affordable prices…a penny! The lectures were a huge success and quickly developed into evening classes and the setting up of ‘Morley Memorial College’ for Working Men and Women.

December's Penny lecture will be given by Henry Elliot; co-author of the book 'Curiocity: In Pursuit of London'. Writer Philip Pullman said that the book is 'the most ingenious, insightful, inspiring, intoxicating, and simply interesting guide to the great city that I have ever seen'. In the lecture, Henry Eliot, discusses it and some of the hidden and lesser-known stories of the capital, including dancing hippos, erotic cabbages and extra-terrestrials you can touch. An entertaining evening that will give visitors new ways to see London.