SPARTA History Society

During 2025 the SPARTA history Society has organised a number of online and in person talks in London and Leeds, these continue in September. The Society will also be helping with a Railway 200 exhibition and following Railway 200 will be restarting our history talks covering all aspects of history.

200 Years of Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) Talk - Tuesday 11 February 2025

If there are any talks that you have missed then many of them are available as recordings, Please contact Robert Baker for details.

Below is a list of the exciting upcoming talks planned for the near future.

Please contact Robert Baker if you are interested in attending any of these future talks and need further details. robert.baker@dft.gov.uk

September Talks

Thursday 11^th September Historic Building Mythbusting James Wright                  Online Talk 1pm

James Wright is an award winning buildings archaeologist and author.

Tuesday 16th September  Railway 200 National Archives Dr Jessamy Carlson  GMH room 2.7 1pm

To mark the 200th anniversary of the first passenger train on the Stockton Darlington railway, join Jessamy Carlson, family history specialist at The National Archives as she talks about National Archives collection of the surviving records of private railway companies before nationalisation in 1947.

Tuesday 23^rd September An Accidental History of Tudor England Professor Steven Gunn Online talk from GMH room 5.7 1pm

How did ordinary people live in Tudor England? This unique history unearths the ways they died to find out.

Professor Steven Gunn is Professor of Early Modern History at Merton College, Oxford.

Thursday 25^th September Roads to Rome - Catherine Fletcher Online 1pm

The Roads to Rome: A History Explores their cultural significance in the two millennia since their original construction.

Catherine Fletcher is Professor of History at Manchester Metropolitan University and the author of several books.

Thursday 2^nd October Railway 200 Taking the train: the passenger experience in Britain over two centuries with Simon Bradley GMH LG9 1pm

Talk based on Bradley's Railway Guide: A journey through two centuries of British railway history, 1825-2025.  Simon Bradley is series editor of the Pevsner Architectural Guides. He has a longstanding interest in Britain’s railways and their history, and is author of Bradley’s Railway Guide and The Railways: Nation, Network and People 

Tuesday 7^th October British Rail design talk Andrew McLean Online talk 3pm

Tuesday 14^th October Crispina Peres: The Heretic of Cacheu, Dr Toby Green  Online talk 12 noon

Wednesday 22^nd October Jewish History in Westminster walking tour 5.30pm

Thursday 6th November The Mirror of Great Britain: A Life of James VI & I with Professor Clare Jackson Online talk 1pm

More talks planned for November and December 2025.