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Sunday 25th October 2026 6.30pm Around the World in 24 Frames: The History of World Cinema - Barbara Knorpp

This illustrated lecture takes audiences on a whistle-stop tour of world cinema, showing how international films break conventional boundaries and connect us across cultures. From the early days of silent cinema and the first black US filmmakers in cinematic history to the gripping realism and Nouvelle Vague of European cinema in Italy and France, music and dance loaded spectacle of Indian classics to the quiet emotional depth of East Asian dramas, we will explore why expanding your watchlist can change how you see the world. Dr. Barbara Knorpp is a London-based visual anthropologist and film historian who specializes in the intersection of anthropology, cinema, fine art, and media studies. She is prominently associated with Open City Docs at University C...

Sunday 1st November 2026 6.30pm MS Awareness - John Thompson

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks myelin, the insulating cover of nerve cells in the human body, causing damage to the central nervous system. It is a type of demyelinating disease, where the nervous system's ability to transmit signals is damaged. Symptoms can be physical, mental, or both, including double vision, vision loss, eye pain, muscle weakness, loss of sensation and coordination. John Thompson of the MS Society will talk about the wide range of support given locally to MS sufferers. All welcome - admission free. Tea & biscuits. Donations welcome - £5 suggested to cover  costs.

Sunday 8th November 2026 6.30pm History of Leicester's Markets - Jim Butler

Leicester's market is roughly 800 years old but was moved to its current location roughly 700 years ago. Recent excavations have uncovered 2,000 years of human activity directly beneath the market marketplace. Archaeologists found Roman buildings, medieval market surfaces, and the remains of a late medieval dungeon believed to belong to the historical Gainsborough Chamber—a civic hub used for shops, judicial affairs, and a prison. Jim Butler is a local historian, heritage learning specialist, and content creator based in Leicester, UK, best known as the creator and producer of the popular online series Hidden Histories of Leicester . All welcome - admission free. Tea & biscuits. Donations welcome - £5 s...

Sunday 22nd November 2026 6.30pm Adrift in Soho, the book and film - Colin Stanley

Adrift in Soho exists as both a 1961 semi-autobiographical novel by Colin Wilson and a 2018/2019 independent film adaptation directed by Pablo Behrens. Set in the late 1950s, both mediums explore London’s burgeoning Beat Generation and bohemian subculture, chronicling the transition from postwar austerity into the radical cultural shift of the 1960s. Colin Stanley is the official bibliographer, longtime friend, and leading archivist for the prolific English author and philosopher Colin Wilson. After discovering Wilson’s first novel, Ritual in the Dark, at age 18, Stanley became deeply inspired by Wilson's ideas on existentialism and consciousness. In 1981, while working as a librarian at Nottingham University, Stanley reached out to Wilson to su...

Leicester Mela in Abbey Park Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th August

Opening at noon on both days. The Society has again booked a stall at the Mela which we will be sharing with the Asian Rationalist Society of Britain - South Asian Rationalists UK . If you can spare some time to help with setting up, meeting and greeting or packing away, please email stall@Lsec.org.uk .