BEN VILJOEN
October 3rd 2008
Ben spoke on the history of English landscape gardening in the 18th Century. His talk gave an overview of the work of Bridgeman, Kent, Brown and Repton with particular emphasis on Rousham and Stowe, as well as Blenheim. Ben also told the story of the discovery of one of the lost Repton Red Books, showing that new discoveries can still be made even in an area as intensively researched as the history of landscape gardening.

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LAURENCE REES
November 7th 2008
Laurence is creative director of BBC TV Factual Programmes and has won many awards for his four series on World War II, including The Nazis: A Warning from History. Under his editorship, Timewatch, BBC TV’s historical documentary series, won three Emmys in three years. His new six-part series, called World War II – Behind Closed Doors, is due for transmission this autumn.

IVO DAWNAY
September 18th 2009
Ivo Dawnay, Director of Communications at the National Trust, who delighted the audience with a talk with the intriguing title: Revoluntionaries in Pearls. .

ROBERT HARDY
October 16th 2009
Robert is one of the country's leading actors, having appeared in many celebrated roles on stage, television and radio. He is also a world authority on the longbow and its use in medieval battles, in particular at Agincourt. .

LONE DROSCHER-NIELSEN
November 13th 2009
Founder of a rehabilation centre for orangutans in Indonesian Borneo, which is the world's biggest primate rescue project, caring for over 700 animals. Orangutans are seeing their habitat destroyed after the rainforest is cleared to produce palm oil - an ingredient in many products we all use on a regular basis. Lone recently starred in Orangutan Diary on BBC Two and has been voted the World's Greatest Living Dane. .

RUPERT SHELDRAKE
December 12th 2010
Without doubt, our most cerebal speaker so far was Rupert Sheldrake, the science writer and broadcaster who has a doctorate in biological research from Cambridge. In the past, Rupert has been branded “the most controversial scientist on Earth” on the basis of many of his theories, including his radical idea of memory in nature. .

MICHAEL LOWE
February 12th 2010
Michael lives in Wootton and is one of the country's leading lute-makers, with his craftsmanship renowned in many parts of the world. He has made instruments for many of the most celebrated lutenists, such as Sweden's Jakob Lindberg, who regularly uses Michael's instruments whilst playing in some of the world's major concert halls. They are also played when accompanying Dame Emma Kirkby, the leading early music soprano and a close friend of Michael's.

OLIVER JAMES
March 19th 2010
A packed hall of 105 people listened to a fascinating talk entitled "Affluenza - Did Thatcherism Drive Us Bonkers?" on March 19th by Oliver James, the psychologist and author.

PRUE LEITH
April 9th 2010
Living in a bed-sit in London in the Sixties, after arriving from South Africa, Prue Leith started out making lunches for directors' dining-rooms and ended up as one of the country's most successful businesswomen, running large catering companies and a teaching school, as well as serving on the boards of several major organisations.

PAUL OLIVER
May 7th 2010
Wootton is lucky in having several people who are the best in their field, but it is fair to say that Paul Oliver is unique in being a world authority on both the Blues and vernacular architecture. Having spoken last year on music from the Deep South, Paul gave a magisterial talk on May 7th about different styles of dwelling around the world

COLIN DEXTER
June 4th 2010
One of the most moving passages in Colin Dexter's captivating talk on June 4th was when he described how one exceptional teacher at his school in Stamford gave him the chance to borrow any book from his library. Colin chose a novel by Thomas Hardy and so he developed his love of words and stories, which was to culminate in his own contribution to the canon of English literature with the Inspector Morse novels.

GERRY ANDERSON
July 2nd 2010
Gerry Anderson is one of the world's leading producers and directors of futuristic marionette shows, such as Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, often using a porcess called supermarionation, in which puppets' mouths move in response to a pre-recorded tape. Gerry's first television production was the children's series, The Adventures of Twizzle, in 1957, but his career entered a global dimension when he started making the futuristic shows during a long partnership with Lew Grade. Recently, Gerry hinted that new programmes, featuring Thunderbirds and Captain Scalet, could be made using more modern technology.

SAM KILEY
September 17th 2010
The conflict with the Taliban was brought into sharp focus when Sam Kiley, one of th e world's leading war reporters, showed detailed footage of soldiers he had taken during the six months he spent with the British Army in the Helmand province of Afghanistan.

WILL HUTTON
October 8th 2010
Will is a world-renowned political-economic commentator, who the Prime Minister, David Cameron, recently invited to head a major enquiry examining top public sector pay. He has also had an illustrious media career as a former Editor-in-Chief of The Observer, as well as Economics Correspondent of BBC TV's Newsnight. Will was chief executive of The Work Foundation from 2000-2008 and is currently its executive vice-chairman. In 1992, he won the What The Papers Say award for Political Journalist of the Year.

TONY BUZAN
November 5th 2010
Tony is a world-renowned author and educational consultant, and a proponent of so-called Mind Mapping and mental literacy to improve memory and maximise the use of brain power. He has worked with Olympic athletes, leading academics, politicians and businessmen around the world, as well as many other leading figures in teaching them how to devlop mental power.

Tony has appeared at the Albert Hall on a number of occasions and we are thrilled that he has agreed to speak in Wootton. He has written or co-written over a hundred books in 30 languages and he has launched his own software program to support Mind Mapping, called iMindMap.

CLIVE ASLET
December 3rd 2010
Clive is a former editor of Country Life magazine and is now its editor-at-large, and is an expert on British architecture, as well as a campaigner on countryside and other issues..

TIM WILLCOX
December 13th 2010
TIM WILLCOX, Wootton's own BBC TV foreign correspondent, gave an illustrated talk about his experiences covering the recent remarkable mining rescue operation in Chile, which transfixed the world - from the first desperate days to the thrilling climax. Tim's reports were viewed around the world and he used his Spanish to interview the Chilean president, Sebastian Pinera. His covereage won plaudits in the letters-column of the Radio Times. Mulled wine and mince pies will be served.

MAREK KUKULA
March 18th 2011
Public Astronomer at the Royal Observatory, in Greenwich Marek often appears on radio and television, including on the recent landmark series, Stargazing Live on BBC Two, which attracted record viewing figures and confirmed astronomy as a major emerging field of interest among the public in the UK.

ROBIN LANE FOX
April 8th 2011
For over one hundred people, the perfect end to a glorious spring day on April 8th was to listen to Robin Lane Fox, the Financial Times gardening writer for 40 years, in full flow for an hour and a half (without a single note) recounting anecdotes about his own magnificent garden at Milton-under-Wychwood, as well as the dramatis personae in Oxford colleges, and discussing the merits of the best suppliers of plants and fertilisers.

HARRY SIDEBOTTOM
May 6th 2011
Dressed in jeans and with his infectious dry wit, Harry Sidebottom was the polar-opposite of the stereotype of a classics and ancient history teacher. As well as lecturing in Greek and Roman history at Oxford, Harry is the renowned author of the three best-selling Warrior of Rome novels, which have sold in their thousands around the world and have established him as one of the leading exponents of fiction based on the Roman Empire, with his books always riding high in the Sunday Times charts.

PAUL SMITH
June 10th 2011
At a time when most stories about the environment are full of doom and gloom, it was wonderfully uplifting to listen to Paul Smith talk about the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, which is undoubtedly one of the world's greatest conservation projects.

LUCINDA LAMBTON
June 24th 2011
A packed hall; was treated to the inimitable delivery of Lucinda Lambton (without doubt a national treasure) when she spoke on June 24th about the Queen Mary's Dolls' House, the magnificent little bulding created between 1921-24 under the guidance of Sir Edwin Lutyens, renowned at the other design extreme as the architect behind much of New Dehli, in India, as well as iconic country houses.

DAVID ROONEY
September 16th 2011
"What time is it?" - an easy question to answer nowadays when many people can just glance at their wrist or look at their computer screen - but less so in the past when far fewer people had time-pieces. Yet David Rooney, a former Curator of Timekeeping at the Royal Observatory, in Greenwich, told the fascinating story of the Belville family who - from 1836 to 1940 - sold the time to subscribers in central London, using an 18th Century pocket-watch, called Arnold.

MARTIN KEMP
October 14th 2011
Leonardo da Vinci is probably the most diversely talented man who has ever lived and, on October 14th, we had the privilege of having as our speaker Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor in the History of Art at Oxford University, and the world’s leading expert on the Renaissance genius.

JON SNOW
November 11th 2011
Veteran news anchor Jon Snow has presented Channel Four News for over twenty years and has interviewed many powerful politicians and world figures.

BILL TURNBULL
December 2nd 2011
Bill is one of the main presenters of Breakfast on BBC One and has covered stories in over 30 countries around the world, including four yerars as Washington Correspondent in which he reported on the trial of O.J. Simpson and the Monica Lewinsky sandal, which rocked the Clinton presidency. Bill is also a keen beekeeper and recently published his acclaimed book, The Bad Beekeeper's Club, which is a humorous account of the ups and downs of the activity.

TRUDIE LANG
January 13th 2012
Trudie works for Oxford University's Centre for Tropical Medicine and is a leading expert in conducting medical research studies in developing countries. Her work has focused largely on maleria, for which she has set up and run large-scale drug and vaccine trials across many African countries. -

JEREMY PAXMAN
February 3rd 2012
Jeremy has been a presenter on the BBC's Newsnight programme since 1989 and is renowned for his forthright interviewing technique. He is also the quizmaster on University Challenge, as well as the author of several acclaimed books, including those on the English, Victorians, Westminster politicians, royalty and fishing. For his talk in Wootton, he discussed his latest book, called Empire, which examines Britain's colonial past.

TIM BIRKHEAD
March 2nd 2012

Tim is Professor of Behaviourial Ecology at the University of Sheffield and one of the world's leading authorities on birds. His research has helped to re-shape our understanding of bird mating systems and his talk was particularly relevant, with springtime on the horizon.

His latest book, called Bird Sense, is based on a conviction that we have consistently underestimated what goes on in a bird’s head. It addresses quertions of what it is like to be a swift, flying at over 100 kilometres an hour? And what's happening when a nightingale sings, and how does its brain improvise?

ROGER TEMPEST
March 30th 2012
Roger Tempest is an expert in the regeneration of country estates. He lives at Broughton Hall in the Yorkshire Dales, which is now home to 53 business and he has won many awards for enterprise. Roger recently bought and renovated Aldourie Castle, on the banks of Loch Ness. The project involved over a thousand suppliers and won the Historic Houses Association/Sotheby's Restoration Award for 2011 .

LAURIE MAGUIRE
April 20th 2012
Laurie is Professor of English Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford, and specialises in Shakespeare but her dramatic interests are wide - from ancient Greece to contemporary theatre. Her talk in Wootton will focus on the image of Helen of Troy, who was the subject of her highly-acclaimed book, Helen of Troy: From Homer to Hollywood. .

ESTHER RANZEN
May 18th 2012
Television royalty came to Wootton on May 18th when Esther Rantzen, one of the country’s most admired broadcasters, spoke about her career and gave an insight into the many outstanding campaigns she has been involved with over the past 35 years. .

CRAIG OGDEN
June 8th 2012
As a result of the demand for tickets to listen to Craig Ogden, one of the world's greatest classical guitarists, the landmark 40th Village Hall Talk on June 8th 2012 was moved fifty yards to St Mary's Church - which could both accommodate more people and also provide a better acoustic for a magical guitar. The audience wasn't disappointed and the evening proved to be one of the most memorable so far.

SARAH SIMBLET
July 6th 2012
It became apparent that we were in the company of a consummate artist during Sarah Simblet's magisterial talk on July 6th when she detailed the intricate process in which she builds up her botanical drawings of a leaf or stem (or even a mature tree) from a rough preparatory outline with a pencil to the multi-layered finished article in ink. Sarah is a remarkable graphic artist and her status has been confirmed with the work in her three major reference books that she has both written and illustrated. Her drawings have a wonderful elegance, often depicting movement and energy, and highlight the structure and function of plants - demonstrating her extraordinary skill and passion for her work.

ROBIN LAURANCE
September 7th 2012
One of the most haunting images during Robin Laurance’s compelling talk on photojournalism on September 7th was of a young Haitian girl who had been shot dead for stealing a humble tray and a picture during riots. She lay on the ground, blood coming from a single wound, but then Robin showed us a second picture – a group of photographers from around the world taking pictures of the dead girl. Disturbingly, a key difference in the two photographs was that one of the girl’s arms had been moved so that it created a better picture.

DAVID NOBBS
October 5th 2012
For the fourth birthday of the Talks, our guest was David Nobbs,, who hit the perfect celebratory note on October 5th with his hilarious anecdotes of writing for some of great British comedians and comedy-actors over nearly half a century. David is perhaps most renowned for creating The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, starring Leonard Rossiter, which ran for several series on the BBC and has entered the pantheon of iconic television programmes, with lines like Reggie's constant excuses for being late at the office - "Badger ate the junction-box at New Malden" - as well as the mantra-like "I didn't get where I am today", which has entered the lexicon of great comedic phrases.

DOMINIC SANDBROOK
November 2nd 2012
To many people, the 1970s were a decade of intense ambivalence - endless strikes, with rubbish piled high in Leicester Square, the three-day week resulting from the miners' dispute with the Tory government, as well as sky-high inflation. On the other hand, Dominic Sandbrook pointed out in his fascinating talk on November 2nd that the decade had a distinct cultural identity resulting from the emergence of iconic music, fashion and theatre, in addition to classic television comedy shows, such as Rising Damp, Porridge and Steptoe and Son, which were so strong that they are still shown today. The decade certainly had drab aspects to it and on occasions during Dominic's talk, it was hard to recall fondly the days of the Wilson-Callaghan governments or, indeed, Ted Heath's with the restrictions in the use of electricity - when the opening hours of stores were restricted and television stopped at ten in the evening.

MIKE BIRKHEAD
November 23rd 2012
Rarely can the power and majesty of tigers and elephants have had such an impact as when Mike Birkhead played the footage he had compiled for his talk on November 23rd - spellbinding photography had captured these creatures at close-quarters and the haunting images, combined with their roaring and trumping, made for an extraordinary experience.

Mike is one of the world's leading wildlife film-makers and the compilation had been specially edited for his appearance in Wootton, offering a remarkable insight into the logistics and techniques involved in filming such magnificent creatures.

SIMON HEIGHES
December 12th 2012
Wafting aromas of warming mince pieces and gently-mulling wine set the festive scene for the first Wootton Christmas Musical Talk on December 12th. On stage, Simon – a village resident and a familiar voice on BBC Radio 3 - acted as an historical DJ, taking us on a magisterial and witty tour of the sights and sounds of Christmas past.

Hairs on the backs of spines went up as he took us on a journey to ancient Egypt to hear an extraordinarily atmospheric BBC broadcast from the Cairo Museum in 1939 – when the silver and copper trumpets found in Tutankhamun's tomb were played for the first time in 3000 years. And the link with Christmas? The decorative images adoring the bell-ends of the trumpets hark back to the great Egyptian festival celebrating the birth of the god Horus – around December 25th

PETER GIBBS
January 11th 2013

A record audience of 145 was ample evidence of how much everybody is fascinated by the weather - both on a daily basis and also in the long-term, with the prospect of climate change. And the fascinating talk by Peter Gibbs, one of the BBC's leading forecasters, on January 11th offered a wonderful insight into all the complexities of the difficult science of predicting the weather. Peter, who is also co-chairman of Gardeners' Question Time on Radio 4, pointed out that the weather happens on many different scales, both in space and time, ranging from a shower of a short duration to depressions covering hundreds of miles. And answering the simple question - when is it going to rain? - can involve computers making millions of calculations a second as the atmosphere swirls, whilst the Earth continues its rotation.

SINCLAIR MCKAY
February 8th 2013
One of the greatest feats of wartime skill and endurance was the operation at Bletchley Park, the estate in Buckinghamshire, where ciphers and codes from several enemy countries were decryted - leading to such a high level of intelligence that the war was shortened by several years and countless lives were saved.

The Secret Intelligence Service bought the estate in 1938 when it was felt necessary to expand code-breaking operations and, in his talk on February 8th, Sinclair detailed how it brought together people from all social backgrounds, including academic specialists, such as mathematical geniuses like Alan Turing, cryptographers, linguists, Egyptologists and, amazingly, even astrologers. Some were recruited because of their exceptional original-thinking, but others were initially hired simply because they were related to men who played golf with Bletchley Park’s director, Alastair Denniston.

TRICIA STEWART
March 15th 2013
For years, the annual Women's Institute calendar had been the paragon of convention - but then eleven women aged between 45 and 65 from the Yorkshire Dales blew all that apart in 1999 when they posed naked to highlight traditional WI crafts. The calendar became a global sensation and sold in its tens of thousands to raise money for leukaemia research. It was the brainchild of Tricia Stewart, who told a packed hall on March 15th how the women of the Rylstone and District WI, near Skipton, went from developing a novel idea to appearances on prime-time US television shows and the release of a major film chronicling their project, as well as stage productions throughout Europe.

Following the launch, there was global interest. The story featured in the national press and the women modelled at the Savoy during London Fashion Week and took calendars to Buckingham Palace for the Queen and the Queen Mother, whilst the Oldie magazine awarded them “The Oldie Exposure of the Year” and they were made Women of the Year

RICHARD O. SMITH
April 12th 2013
Our 50th talk, with springtime in the air, required an evening of extreme fun and Richard O. Smith provided the perfect recipe. Over the course of a hilarious hour on April 12th, he examined two great sources of amusement - eccentric British sports and mischief at Oxford over the centuries.

Perhaps only the British would conceive of sports like the pantomime-horse Grand National, toe-wrestling, the 100-metre sprint in high heels, or wrestling in in Lancashire in a pond of gravy supplied by Bisto - with participants hosed down by the fire brigade afterwards

NICHOLAS CLEOBURY
May 3rd 2013
For many musicologists, Benjamin Britten is given the same genius tag as John Dowland, Henry Purcell and Edward Elgar - but to others, his music is seen as lacking in memorable melodies and quite dour.

But Nicholas Cleobury, in his wonderful talk on May 3rd, made a convincing case that Britten was, indeed, a towering musical force who had put 20th Century English music on the world map.