The Society's popular Monday evening lectures are held for Members and their guests.

Renowned speakers discuss informative, educational and enlightening subjects.

· Booking is not required.
· Seats are not reserved.
· Please bring your Society Membership card.
· Doors open at 17.30.
· Lectures begin at 18.30, and end by 19.45.

  Antarctica’s future – should we care? By Colin Summerhayes
• Monday 8 February at 18.30
• Society members + one guest

Antarctica is the world’s refrigerator and home to unique flora and fauna on land and in the sea. Colin explores the seeming contradictions – such as melting glaciers but little melting sea ice – and looks at what will happen to this magnificent continent over the next 100 years.

  New light on Xanadu, by John Man
• Monday 15 February at 18.30
• Society members only
• This lecture is repeated on 16 February as a London City lecture

Kublai Khan’s Xanadu, the subject of Coleridge’s dream-poem, was and is a reality. John describes the origins and significance of the place where Marco Polo first met the world’s most powerful ruler, and reveals what Coleridge’s ‘stately pleasure-dome’ may have looked like.

  Kenya: conserving the Aberdares, by Colin Church
• Monday 22 February at 18.30
• Society members + one guest

A thought provoking talk by Colin Church on the Aberdare Electric Fence Project; one of Africa’s more innovative and extensive conservation initiatives. Originally designed to conserve the endangered black rhino, it now protects the livelihoods and often the lives, of local communities farming along the forest edge.

  Mapping conflict, by John Kedar
• Monday 01 March at 18.30
• Society members + one guest

Military geographers deploy with the British Army in conflicts as diverse as those in Sierra Leone, Bosnia and Afghanistan. John explores the achievements of these young soldiers through 20 years of uninterrupted adversity and technological change.

  No frontiers in the sky, by Horatio Clare
• Monday 08 March at 18.30
• Society members + one guest

Following migrating swallows from CapeTown to South Wales, Horatio – travelling on land – encountered wildly different political and social conditions from Brazzaville to Brecon. This is the story of his travels and his learning, including a shaman’s recipe for stewed swallow!

Before the lecture there will be an opportunity for new members to meet each other over a glass of wine and have a tour of the Society. Places are free but must be booked in advance. Please contact Joanna Wells for more details.

  China in the 15th Century: influence and discovery, by Tim Barrett and Gavin Menzies
• Monday 15 March at 18.30
• Society members only

Speakers, including Mr Menzies, bring different perspectives to bear on the controversial issue of the Chinese contribution to global history in the 15th Century.

  God is back, by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge
• Monday 22 March at 18.30
• Society members only
• This lecture is repeated on 30 March as a London City lecture

Editor of the The Economist John Micklethwait and its Schumpeter columnist Adrian Wooldridge, reveal how and why religion is booming around the world and consider its influence on politics, culture and economics in the coming century.

  Wong How Man, on Exploring China’s great rivers
• Monday 29 March at 18.30
• Society members only

China’s 'most accomplished living explorer' takes us on his expeditions high into the watersheds, using modern technology to locate the sources of Asia’s three great rivers - the Yangtze, the Mekong and the Yellow River.

  Please see next page for past events from Spring 2010 and Autumn 2009