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02 September 2026The making of Kenneth Clark's "Civilisation" TV series 1969
07 October 2026Thomas Cromwell, the Goldsmiths’ Company and the Mint
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The making of Kenneth Clark's "Civilisation" TV series 1969 Jonathon Conlin Wednesday 02 September 2026

This is the story of the landmark series of 1969, including live footage and interviews in the series inspired by David Attenborough, and which involved the latest in colour film from the 13 countries visited.

Jonathon Conlin is an historian and author particularly interested in the history of great museums/collectors.

He writes: All my talks draw on my own research, allowing me to take audiences behind the scenes: sharing the surprise discoveries as well as the questions that we still haven't been able to answer. In 2024 I wrote the National Gallery's official bicentenary history, and appeared alongside Claudia Winkleman and Michael Palin in My National Gallery, a film about the National Gallery, shown on ITV and in over 300 UK cinemas. Previous books include a biography of the oil baron and art collector Calouste Gulbenkian and a comparative history of Paris and London. These books have been praised for their readability and their research by the Sunday TimesDaily MailSpectator, New York Post and other mainstream media. Alongside lecturing for Arts Society groups, I also teach, as Professor of Modern History at the University of Southampton. Born in New York, I studied History and Modern Languages at Oxford, subsequently moving to the Courtauld Institute and Cambridge for my MA and PhD.