At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was the domination of shipping routes to and from America that was the golden prize. Here is the fascinating story of how each company positioned itself in the size of liners, the luxurious environments with posters, art, ephemera and the offerings across the Atlantic Ocean either side of the Great War. We look at the breathtaking interiors as portrayed in the Shipbuilder special supplements of the day and the Sales Brochures. What were the reasons for the tragedy of both the Lusitania and Titanic? What art was lost on Titanic? Was it just plain sailing on the Atlantic? Howard Smith’s lectures have a reputation for stunning graphics – this lecture is no exception and also has vintage film of RMS Olympic with the building and launch as well as a glimpse of the First Class dining experience – up to 1933 these were floating luxury hotels for the seriously rich and below decks a cramped one-way ticket for the 12 million immigrants to the States. …the big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh… It then all changed to cruising.

There are so many angels there could seem to be an avalanche of them. It’s unusual for there not to be an image of at least one angel, if not many in our churches and cathedrals and yet passers-by know very little about them. We hear of tens of thousands in the Bible and other early texts but a surprise is how many of their names are known to us. Where do they come from and what are they for? We can see a hierarchy in the Nine Orders of Angels but that’s rather general and was devised in the 6th Century. What about the rest of them? Are they male or female? And what do they look like? Angelic beings wearing white nighties and gold wings are more of a Victorian concept and it seems that the biblical ones were originally flightless – so when did they get their wings?