Welcome to the Hull Lit & Phil Society
GUEST SPEAKER PROGRAMME 2026 / 2027 SEASON AT THE GUILDHALL, HULL
13th October 2026
The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood
Irving Finkel
Irving Finkel is Senior Assistant Keeper in the Department of the Middle East in the British Museum, where he reads cuneiform inscriptions on tablets of clay from ancient Mesopotamia. In this illustrated lecture Dr Finkel reveals how decoding the cuneiform inscription on a 4,000-year-old piece of clay led to a radical new interpretation of the Noah’s Ark myth. This enthralling real-life detective story began with a quiet-seeming event at the British Museum – the arrival one day in 2008, thanks to a member of the public, of one modest-sized Babylonian cuneiform tablet – such as the ancient Mesopotamians used for their everyday documents.
This particular tablet, dating from about 1850 BC, proved to relate the beginning of the Babylonian Story of the Flood, including instructions for building a large boat to survive the flood. This decipherment led to a series of adventures with quite unanticipated revelations and culminated in his work The Ark Before Noah.
20th October 2026
Agent Zo, Courageous Second World War Resistance Fighter
Clare Mulley
Clare Mulley is an award-winning author focused on the female experience during WWII. Her debut, The Woman Who Saved the Children, won the Daily Mail Biographers’ Club Prize. The Spy Who Loved delves into the daring exploits of Britain’s first female special agent in WWII.
The Women Who Flew for Hitler is a gripping biography of Nazi Germany’s two female test pilots, who ended their lives on opposite sides of history.
Most recently, Agent Zo won the Polish Foreign Ministry History Book Prize and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize. Clare contributes to TV, radio and podcasts, and newspapers. www.claremulley.com
27th October 2026
‘Expedition Cyclops - Attenborough’s “lost” echidna and the origins of the world’s most biodiverse island’
James Kempton
In the summer of 2023, James Kempton led an international and multidisciplinary team in Expedition Cyclops, a scientific research project to the Cyclops Mountains of Papua, Indonesian New Guinea. In 1961, a new species of egg-laying mammal, an echidna, was discovered there, but the animal had not been seen again by science in the following 62 years.
Expedition Cyclops was an attempt to rediscover this animal, called Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, which was feared extinct, as well as being a mission to uncover the evolutionary origins of New Guinea’s enigmatic fauna. James will discuss the outcomes of the expedition and what conservation action is being galvanised in response.
3rd November 2026
Life, Death and Memory set in Bomber Command in World War II, based on the novel “Skylarks over Daisy Hill”
Bill Habergham
Bill Habergham takes you on an emotional journey using his Yorkshire based novel Skylarks over Daisy Hill to tell the true story of the lives of a crew of a Lancaster bomber as they flew brutally dangerous missions over Germany. Only one statistic is relevant – 40% of the men who volunteered for flying duties never returned – the highest casualty rate of any allied service in the war.
Come on an actual bombing raid over Germany in 1944 using real BBC recordings from the time, overlaid with modern virtual reality. Share the sights, sounds, emotions, the fear and the professionalism of the crews as they fly into the heart of Nazi Germany.
10th November 2026
‘CONTROL, ORDER, HOPE’ A manifesto for prison safety
Prof Ian Acheson FRSA
In this talk, Professor Ian Acheson will reflect on 25 years’ national and international experience from the front line to the boardroom. He will examine how to manage very dangerous people, the mistakes we make and the solutions we need.
His life’s work in the criminal justice system and specifically on the management of terrorist offenders provide the backdrop for a unique and provocative glimpse into a world few have visited or would want to.
17th November 2026
Bloomsbury Partnership – A Personal Account
Robin Horspool FRSA
Robin Horspool is an East Riding born artist, writer, historian and lecturer. Having lived and worked in Yorkshire, London, Sussex and the South of France, he and his wife, Rose, inhabit a converted Methodist Chapel, from which they run their own business, Vista Arts.
He has a particular affinity with 19th and 20th century English painting and design, with the Bloomsbury Group coinciding with two generations of his own artistic family.
Bloomsbury has always seemed familiar to him, particularly having lived for ten years near Charleston Farmhouse. His talk, partly historical, is also his personal appreciation.
24th November 2026
The 10,000 Day Journey Home
Karl Bushby
Karl Bushby is an English ex-paratrooper, walking adventurer and author from Kingston upon Hull, currently attempting to be the first person in history to walk an unbroken path around the world.
On 1st November 1998 he set out on an extraordinary journey from Punta Arenas, Chile with a few hundred dollars in his pocket. He turned north for home and stepped onto a line drawn on a map which covered over four continents, a frozen sea, deserts, mountains, jungles, and 50,000 kms of the unknown.
The plan: keep walking, swim when he must, until the line returns him to his mother’s house in Hull more than 10,000 days later. No transport to advance. No going home until he arrives on foot.
12th January 2027
“Blood, Sweat and Snakebites: The making of an Herpetologist"
Prof Mark O’Shea MBE
Mark O’Shea, Professor of Herpetology at the University of Wolverhampton, is an internationally renowned herpetologist, TV presenter, author, advocate for herpetological conservation issues and supporter of snakebite research. Every year up to 138,000 people die of snakebite. “Blood, Sweat and Snakebites” tells how Mark turned his passion for reptiles into his vocation, and how, after dropping out of school to work in the NHS, he charted an action-packed career as a jungle explorer, expedition herpetologist, snake venom extractor, reptile house curator and host of his own international TV series.
He returned to academia to obtain a PhD and was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2020 for reptile conservation and snakebite research.
19th January 2027
Lost Towns of the Holderness Coast with particular regard to Ravenser Odd
Phil Mathison
Phil Mathison has researched local history for over thirty years, with a particular emphasis on Holderness and Spurn Point.
As the author of The Legendary Lost Town of Ravenser, he was involved with the University of Hull in the search for its location in 2021 / 2022, and with the University of Sussex in its Ravenser lectures and exhibition at the Hull History Centre in 2024.
Subject to funding, further investigations are anticipated in 2026, and Phil hopes to be involved with the University of Hull on this project as well.
26th January 2027
Gertrude Jekyll: Artist – Plantswoman – Gardener
Rose Horspool MA
Rose Horspool’s life is art and design; she has taught art, art history, garden design and history to degree level as well as freelanced as an illustrator and a garden designer. She is particularly interested in the history of garden design and designers.
She has a deep admiration for Gertrude Jekyll, one of the first professional plantswomen and designers. Gertrude spanned the 19th and 20th centuries working in close collaboration with Sir Edwin Lutyens and their resulting influential gardens have inspired the quintessential ‘English Garden’ style for over 100 years.
2nd February 2027
Let’s REALLY Feed The World
Adam Smith
Adam Smith talks about his journey that led to creating The Real Junk Food Project and Surplus to Purpose. He addresses the positive environmental impact of reducing edible food waste.
Adam covers many themes including the importance of collaboration, teamwork, resilience, sustainability, mental health and getting society to think about how we value food as a resource.
9th February 2027
Mothers-in-War: The Women of the Wars of the Roses
Annie Garthwaite
Accounts of the Wars of the Roses are dominated by men – kings and kingmakers, traitors and tyrants. But they were equally shaped by women, driving the action and risking their lives to secure the throne for their sons. From Cecily Neville, matriarch of York, to Margaret Beaufort, mother of the Tudor dynasty, Annie Garthwaite traces the risks they took and the prices they paid.
Annie is the acclaimed author of two novels that bring the women of the Wars of the Roses to life: Cecily, a Sunday Times ‘top pick’ and a Waterstones ‘Best Book of 2021’, and The King’s Mother, a Times ‘Book of the Month’.
16th February 2027
200 Years of Animal Welfare, Kindness and Compassion
Matt Wright
Join Matt Wright, Head of Operations RSPCA Hull & East Riding, for an inspiring talk exploring more than 200 years of animal welfare, kindness and compassion. From William Wilberforce’s role in the founding of the (R)SPCA in 1824 and Queen Victoria’s Royal Patronage, to the creation of the independent Hull Branch in 1904, this fascinating journey brings local history vividly to life.
Matt will share remarkable stories from the Branch’s past, including the opening of the Clough Road site, animal rescues during the Blitz, and the charity’s fight for survival in the 1990s to a much brighter future.
23rd February 2027
From Hull to Windsor Castle: Violence, Redemption and the Road to Real Freedom
Steve Gallant
Born and raised in Hull, Steve Gallant’s life has encompassed violence, imprisonment, personal transformation and extraordinary courage. After serving more than 16 years of a life sentence in prison, he became widely known for helping to stop the terrorist attack at Fishmongers’ Hall and on London Bridge in November 2019, during his first day release.
His actions earned him a Royal Prerogative of Mercy and the Queen’s Gallantry Medal. Steve is the author of The Road to London Bridge, writes for national news outlets, and now speaks and advises on desistance, extremism, prison reform, and the mindset and conditions that enable genuine change.
Join us for our next guest lecture at hull guildhall
One hour talks, many illustrated, are given by professional speakers on a wide variety of subjects. We would be delighted to see you there and can assure you of a warm welcome.
Doors are normally open at 6.45pm but access may be delayed if lecture preparations are not complete. The audience are requested to please be in their seats before 7.25pm as all talks start at 7.30pm prompt.
Annual subscription for this season is only £60 which covers entry into all lectures.
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