Our Beautiful Universe Series at The Museum in the Park
Special Guests in Conversation with Jo Durrant
Jo Durrant will be back at The Museum in the Park, following her successful series last year. She looks forward to presenting a new series of ‘In Conversations’ with special guests, with diverse topics spanning history, photography, Shakespeare and more. These events will inspire and inform, spark curiosity, and invite us to look at the past and present world with fresh eyes.
Jo Durrant is the award-winning presenter of the independent arts and science podcast ‘Jo Durrant’s Beautiful Universe’. She’s a highly respected and accomplished interviewer and event chair, and a familiar face at literature, history, and science festivals. Jo is freelance but for over 20 years was a presenter, producer & reporter with BBC radio and interviewed hundreds of people, from Melanie C to Tim Peake.
Each conversation will be followed by a chance to ask questions and chat over tea and coffee if you wish. Several guests will bring new books which you can buy and have signed.
Tickets cost £7 standard price, or £5 concessions and Museum in the Park Members - Membership is free to join. Museum Members can also bring a guest for free - look out for our ‘2 for 1’ ticket offer on selected events this year.
See below for details or click here to book.
3pm, Saturday 29 March: ‘From Railways to Royalty’ with Jack Boskett, Photographer
How do you tell a story through a photograph? Award-winning professional photographer Jack Boskett started his Tewkesbury based business at the age of just 19 and his passion for photography coincided with his love of railways. His work has brought him much acclaim and recognition in railway publications and his skill has led him to photograph stars of stage and screen, prime ministers and especially members of the Royal Family. In fact, Jack took the only known photograph of a senior member of the Royal Family leaning out of a moving train!
Join Jack in conversation with Jo Durrant as he talks about his passion for photography, the different areas he’s worked in, what it’s like to capture Royalty and Railways and much more.
2.30pm, Wednesday 23 April: ‘Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers’ with Dr Darren Freebury-Jones
“He was not for age, but for all time” is what Ben Jonson famously said of William Shakespeare. But how did Shakespeare’s contemporaries, such as Jonson, Christopher Marlowe and John Fletcher influence him?
In his book ‘Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers’ author and lecturer Dr Darren Freebury-Jones uses the latest techniques in textual analysis to provide a fresh look at the community of playwrights that shaped Shakespeare’s work.
On the Bard’s birthday, join Darren in conversation with Jo Durrant as he talks about his passion for early modern drama and why over 400 years on from his death, there are still new stories to uncover about the person many consider to be the greatest playwright of all time.
7.30pm, Thursday 22 May: ‘Glorious Gloucestershire’ with Mark Cummings
How did Gladys’ Leap in Cranham get its name? What was the real Rosie from ‘Cider With Rosie’ like? And why did George Holloway have a huge impact on Stroud? Find out with travel writer, broadcaster, and author of ‘Glorious Gloucestershire’, Mark Cummings. His book takes you on a journey around the county, exploring literary links, world-changing innovations, quirky place names and much more. Mark will talk about the book, his love of Gloucestershire and will have plenty of Stroud stories for you too. Museum and Garden open 7pm - 9pm so you can enjoy exploring before or after the event.
2.30pm, Saturday 21 June: ‘The Waiting Game’ with Dr Nicola Clark
Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour – just three of the six wives of Henry VIII. But behind every Tudor Queen were her ladies-in-waiting. They were her confidantes and her chaperones. They had the right to enter her most private chambers, dressing and undressing her and listening to her secrets. But they had unique power too – and political agency.
In her book ‘The Waiting Game: The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens’ lecturer and author Dr Nicola Clark explores their daily lives and why they had to make choices about loyalty that simply didn’t exist before. Nicola will be sharing some of the stories of these remarkable women when she joins Jo Durrant in conversation.
Dr Nicola Clark is a Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Chichester and writes about women in the Tudor period. Her first book, ‘Gender, Family, and Politics: The Howard Women, 1485-1558’, was published by Oxford University Press in 2018. She also writes for public audiences, with work featured in History Today and History Extra, and has appeared on television as part of the BBC's ‘The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family’, and More4's ‘Royal Scandals’.
2.30pm, Saturday 5 July: ‘History Lessons’ with Shalina Patel
Fancy a whistle stop history tour, taking in all the big moments from the Romans to the two World Wars? But featuring individuals you might not have met before? Award-winning history teacher, writer and historian Shalina Patel is the creator of the sensational Instagram account @thehistorycorridor, which posts bite sized history lessons. In her book ‘The History Lessons’ she invites you to reclaim your history education, by celebrating stories and people that are less familiar but no less fascinating.
Shalina Patel has over 15 years of experience in the classroom and is Head of Teaching and Learning at Claremont High School Academy in London. In 2018 she won the Silver Pearson Teaching Award for Outstanding Teacher of the Year. She has been featured in publications from the Guardian to The Times and on programmes like BBC Woman’s Hour, BBC’s Teach Me a Lesson and Newscast. Shalina’s first book ‘The History Lessons’ was released in May 2024 and was heralded by the Guardian as aiming to ‘show adults their historical blind spots’ by ‘highlighting stories traditionally left out of the textbooks.
2.30pm, Saturday 2 August: ‘Young Elizabeth’ with Dr Nicola Tallis
She’s one of England’s most famous monarchs, but queenship was by no means certain for Elizabeth I. Before she was three years old had been a princess and then declared illegitimate following the brutal execution of her mother, Anne Boleyn. In fact, many dangers and tragedies plagued her early life and by the time she did succeed to the throne in November 1558, she’d experienced more drama than most at the age of just 25.
Dr Nicola Tallis explores all of this turbulence and more in her book ‘Young Elizabeth’. Nicola is a historian and author who has also written about the lives of Lady Jane Grey and Margaret Beaufort. She joins Jo Durrant to talk about the longest reigning Tudor and some other incredible women from history.
Dr Nicola Tallis is an independent author and historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She has worked as a curator, researcher, and lecturer, and specialises in the use of jewels in late medieval and Tudor England. Nicola has spoken at many prestigious events and venues including the Emirates Festival of Literature, the Tower of London, Hampton Court, and the National Archives. She has made numerous television and radio appearances, including on BBC’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, Channel 5’s ‘The Vikings’ and ‘The Gunpowder Plot’, and Channel 4’s ‘Frankie Boyle’s Farewell to the Monarchy’. Nicola is the author of five books, and her latest, ‘Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen.’ was Book of the Week in The Times.
It’s a subject many of us love to talk about – the weather! But how do forecasters make their predictions? And what role do mathematical equations play in forecasting models? Dee Atkins-Greig is a maths and meteorology tutor and a certified coach. Her early meteorological career was as a forecaster with the Royal Navy before she later became a weather presenter for BBC South on TV and local radio.
Dee joins Jo Durrant to share her passion for this subject, discussing everything from how storms are named to what constitutes a heatwave, and her favourite clouds. Plus, she’ll reveal some of the behind-the-scenes secrets of TV weather presenting.
Dee is a maths tutor, meteorology enthusiast, and ICF-trained coach. She began her career as a Royal Navy forecaster before moving into BBC local TV and radio as a weather presenter. She later became an instructor at the Met Office College and was partly responsible for the training of Tom Schafernaker and Chris Fawkes among other BBC weather presenters. After retraining as a secondary maths teacher and a short stint as a classroom teacher, Dee moved to Warsash Maritime Academy where she taught GCSE level maths and meteorology to Merchant Navy deck cadets. Now, as a dedicated maths and meteorology tutor, Dee helps students build confidence and develop independent learning skills.
She is passionate about weather and clouds and is on a one woman mission to educate the world on how to get the best from their weather app!
This event series takes place in the Museum’s Walled Garden Pavilion, the glass-fronted room set within the gorgeous ‘secret garden’ borders hidden away at the heart of Stratford Park. Access is via Museum Reception, then via a sloping pathway or steps up into the garden. Advance booking highly recommended.
