Public WALKS & TALKS (see Talk topics)
Museum of Oxford Public Walks –
all on Wednesdays at 2pm (90 minutes), price £15
Museum of Oxford Walks – Museum of Oxford
+
Oxford ‘Signs, Symbols & Secrets’ Festival of the Arts
Binsey Whimsy: first The Perch and then the church
Sunday 3 May
Binsey Whimsy Walk – Oxford Festival of the Arts
Sunday 28 June
Binsey Whimsy Walk – Oxford Festival of the Arts
A gentle walk of about half a mile to the secluded church at Binsey, where the well dedicated to St Margaret remains a symbol of the sanctity of Frideswide, Oxford’s patron saint. Although visited for centuries by pilgrims, it had disappeared until the secret of its location was uncovered by Lewis Carroll’s colleague, the Rev. Thomas Prout. This inspiration for Carroll’s Treacle Well is just one of Binsey’s many literary associations, intertwined with its well-documented past. The walk will begin at (the sign of) The Perch, and walkers will need to retrace their steps, as there is no through route from the church (nor public transport from Binsey).
+
Alice’s Day – Saturday 4 July: ‘Snarks, Rhymes, and Riddles’
A day of varied activities throughout the city of Oxford, including these presented by The Lewis Carroll Society:
10.45 Lewis Carroll’s ‘Useful and Instructive’ limericks
Mark Davies, Lewis Carroll Society
Four limericks by Lewis Carroll which were recently discovered by the speaker are unusual and revealing because they relate to real people (such as the ‘raw Don’ below). The Oxford acquaintances in question were tactfully unidentified, so it was a riddle of sorts to deduce that one of them has particularly intimate Wonderland associations. Carroll had first experimented with the humorous five-line format in a family magazine he produced as a boy, even before Edward Lear popularised the concept.
11.30 “Say ‘How D’Ye Do?’ and Shake Hands”
Matt Crandall, Disney Alice collector and author
How Lewis Carroll’s verses helped Walt Disney sell Alice in Wonderland. On the 75th anniversary of Walt Disney’s animated film, an exploration of the songs inspired by verse and text from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass, and their importance to the film’s marketing and merchandise.
12.15 Lewis Carroll, Darwin, and The Hunting of the Snark
Stephen Thetford, Lewis Carroll Society
Starting with a copy of The Annotated Snark in 1974, the speaker has spent years discovering the historical and scientific background to Lewis Carroll’s wonderful ‘nonsense’ poem. The motley crew going on a Snark hunt mimic the Pickwickian comic gentlemen of Dickens, sailing on a quest that parodies Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle. Carroll’s illustrator, Henry Holiday, was an experienced science artist who could caricature Victorian explorations such as the survey of the World’s oceans by HMS Challenger. Together they created a masterpiece.
13.45 The Hunting of the Snark: a 2023 film by Simon DaVison
‘The Hunting of the Snark’ is a feature film based on Lewis Carroll’s follow-up to the Alice books. Set on a tropical island it is a brilliant, wonderland mix of nonsense, twisted logic and surreal adventure. It also has at its core a powerful and emotional quest – the human search for meaning and an understanding of the universe. What is the Snark? Why is it always so elusive? The film stars Ramon Tikaram (‘Kaos’, ‘Game of Thrones’) and Corinne Furman (‘Fisherman’s Friends’).
Alice’s Day | About Us | The Story Museum
Sunday 5 July:
Alice in Waterland circular walks around Christ Church Meadow – booking details coming soon
11am walk
Private Walks
Most of my WALKS are for pre-booked groups (starting at £60 inclusive for up to 20/24 people). However, if you as an individual, or as part of a small group, would like to arrange a walk, do please still feel free to get in touch at oxfordtowpathpress@gmail.com. Or, for £30 for up to five people (lasting 90 minutes or so), you can suit yourself as to start time time and exact route.
Not sure? Please have a look at my ‘Customer Comments’ page.
+
TALKS elsewhere
I am happy to travel! I have given talks in numerous places in England and Wales, and on two short tours of the Republic of Ireland, and as far away as Assam in north-east India – partly as a result of Indian ancestry.
Comments Off on PUBLIC EVENTS