Heritage Head to Give Bedford Park Lecture

Simon Thurley will speak at annual John Betjeman event

Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, will be giving the Bedford Park Society’s annual John Betjeman lecture on November 26th at the Arts Educational Schools’s new Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Theatre in Bath Road, W4.

Simon’s talk will look at the place of Bedford Park in English architecture, over a period of some hundred years, when England was the epicentre of world architecture, engineering and technology.

Having recently put Bedford Park on his list of the 10 most important buildings in the country, his talk will explain why, like Sir John Betjeman, he considers it “the most important suburb in the Western world.”

A leading architectural historian, Dr. Simon Thurley, CBE, has been head of English Heritage since 2003, having previously run the Museum of London. He has written several books and many articles on historical architecture as well as presenting television programmes.
English Heritage looks after the National Heritage Collection of historic sites and monuments and is keeper of over 500,000 objects as well as holding 12 million photographs in its public archives.

Tickets, price £10, are available in advance from Zecca in Turnham Green Terrace or at the door. The lecture starts at 8.15pm, but the theatre bar will be open from 7.30pm.

The Society's web-site is www.bedfordpark.org.uk

October 24, 2014