Presented by nature writer Richard Mabey
This is an online event hosted on the British Library platform. Bookers are sent a link in advance giving access and can watch at any time for 48 hours after the start time.
Gilbert White was perhaps the first English naturalist, whose careful observations of his village laid the foundations of modern ecology, influencing Charles Darwin and generations of writers and artists.
Celebrate the summer equinox with ‘Britain’s foremost nature writer’ Richard Mabey who will tell White’s story, drawing from his book which won the Whitbread Biography Prize in 1986.
White’s
The Natural History and Antiquities at Selbourne was published in 1789 and was an immediate success. The book has never been out of print and is considered one of the earliest contributions to natural science. White was visionary in his scrupulous attention to the interconnected lives of the plants and animals on his doorstep.
A celebration with Neil Gaiman, Salena Godden, John Higgs, Robin Ince and Kae Tempest.
This is an online event hosted on the British Library platform. Bookers will be sent a link in advance giving access and will be able to watch at any time for 48 hours after the start time.
William Blake (1757 – 1827) was a poet, artist, visionary and author of the unofficial English national anthem Jerusalem .
An archetypal misunderstood genius, his life passed without recognition and he worked without reward, mocked, dismissed and misinterpreted. Yet from his ignoble end in a pauper s grave, Blake now occupies a unique position as an artist who unites and attracts people from all corners of society, and a rare inclusive symbol of English identity.