Archive footage of The Christmas Lectures

10th October to 10th November 2011

Everyone is invited to drop in to watch a selection of famous scientists in the unique space of the Michael Faraday Museum. As part of the Reel History of Britain project, run in conjunction with the London Screen Archives and the BBC, we are screening a selection of the lectures from the 1970s as well as archive clips of demonstrations from William Lawrence Bragg's lectures for The nature of things from 1959. 

The Christmas Lectures were set up by Michael Faraday in 1825 and have been running ever since, from 1966-7 they were broadcast on the BBC, becoming a Christmas tradition for many families across the country. You can find out more about the lectures in our brief guide to their history.   

The series we are showing are:

Week 1: Christopher Zeeman, Mathematics into pictures

Week 2: Lawrence Bragg, The nature of things

Week 3: David Attenborough, The language of animals

Week 4: Carl Sagan, The planets

These series have been chosen to show the diversity of topics covered by the Ri Christmas Lectures by some of the world's leading scientists.

You'll find the screenings in the museum just opposite the doors to the lift, if you miss your favourite you can catch up on the (very) small screen with our webcast archive.

About the project

This project at the Ri is part of the BBC's Hands on History project following on from the success of the recent BBC Two series "Reel History of Britain" with Melvyn Bragg. The aim is to use archive films to connect people with their past. London's Screen Archives Network, supported by Film London, have spent the last two years working with organisations across the city to track down rare films and make them accessible to the public, often for the first time.

The public can continue their history experience online by visiting the Hands on History website, where there are family activities to do at home along with BBC Archive clips and suggestions for groups who want to put on their own reminiscence workshops.  There are also details of other events and activities happening in London.

The new London's Screen Archives website also includes a guide for running reminiscence events; help with finding a film collection near you and an online catalogue listing over 16,000 films made in or about London.