Idler Academy: Courses and talks now booking
Happy New Year… We are pleased to announce that we are now taking bookings for our first courses and events at the Idler Academy in Notting Hill. Doors will open in late February, and events start on Tuesday 1st March. There follows a list of three courses and ten talks. Watch this space as we’ll be organizing new events all the time. Book now and take advantage of our early VAT-free prices. Please note that our telephone is not yet connected and therefore all enquiries should be addressed to secretary@idler.co.uk. TH
Idler Academy
Spring Term
Classes and courses
Latin for Beginners
Learn the rudiments of the Latin language with Susanna Hislop
Dates: Tuesday 1 March and the five subsequent Tuesdays
Times: 11am till 12.30pm, with coffee break
Duration: Six weeks
Price: £120
Outline: It’s well known that Latin has been largely dropped from the mainstream curriculum. This is a huge shame because as well as being great fun and satisfying in itself, learning Latin has manifold benefits. It expands our knowledge of etymology. It sharpens the mind. It improves the memory. This six week course for beginners with Susanna Hislop will seek to instil the basics of grammar and vocabulary.
Teacher profile: Susanna Hislop is a writer, performer and teacher. She read English and Classics at Oxford University and trained at the Oxford School of Drama and the London International School of Performing Arts. She recently founded the theatre company Slip of Steel, whose first show, Of Women and Horses I have Known, premiered at the Edinburgh festival last year.
Times: Tuesday 1st March at 11am and every subsequent Tuesday for six weeks.
To book online click here.
Or write to secretary@idler.co.uk.
Ancient Philosophy
An Introduction with Mark Vernon
Dates: Tuesday 1 March and the five subsequent Tuesdays
Times: 7 till 8.30pm
Duration: Six weeks
Price: £120
Outline: Here’s your chance to get a proper grounding in the work of the greatest classical philosophers. During this course Mark Vernon will teach you about the pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and the various schools that followed, such as the Cynics, the Epicureans and the Stoics. The course will end in around 529AD, when the first Christian monastery was founded.
Teacher profile: Mark Vernon used to be a priest in the Church of England and is now a writer and journalist. He is the author of numerous books including The Good Life, The Meaning of Friendship, Plato’s Podcasts and After Atheism. He has degrees in theology, philosophy and physics. He also teaches at the School of Life. www.markvernon.com
To book online click here.
Or write to secretary@idler.co.uk.
Life Drawing with Iris Palmer
Learn the Basics of Drawing
Dates: Wednesday 2nd March and the five subsequent Wednesdays
Times: 4pm till 6.15pm
Duration: Six weeks
Price: £144
Outline: Taking a a formal and traditional approach, Iris Palmer will teach the basic rules of drawing from observation over six classes. Materials available for purchase in the shop.
Teacher profile: Iris Palmer is an artist. She trained at the Prince’s Drawing School, and has been drawing from observation all her life.
To book online, click here.
Wednesday Lectures and Merriment Thursdays
March and April Programme
Note: Please book in advance to avoid disappointment, as these events are fairly intimate. Ticket price includes free wine. Doors open at 7pm and close at 9pm.
Harry Mount: Latin for Loafers
Wednesday 2nd March.
Join the hilarious and erudite Telegraph journalist Harry Mount, author of the best-selling Latin primer Amo, Amas, Amat, for an introduction to the pleasures of learning Latin.
7pm. Tickets £12.50.
Charles Hazlewood: A Singing Lesson
Thursday 3rd March.
Irrepressible conductor Charles Hazlewood will amaze you by unleashing your vocal powers. By the end of the evening you’ll be joyfully singing Tudor love songs in the round.
7pm. Tickets £12.50.
QI Night: John Mitchinson on Lent
Wednesday 9th March.
Today is Ash Wednesday, first day of Lent, and we have invited none other than John Mitchinson—QI’s Director of Information and co-author of the million selling QI books—to give a lecture on the history and meaning of this most resilient period of fasting, which was being decried as old-fashioned in 1535.
7pm. Tickets £12.50.
Gustav Temple: On Being a Chap
Thursday 10th March.
Gustav Temple, that louche, debonair and most exquisitely dressed editor of The Chap magazine, comes to the Academy to share his tips on living as an anarcho-dandy in the 21st century.
7pm. Tickets £12.50.
John-Paul Flintoff: Make Your Own Clothes POSTPONED
Wednesday 16th March.
Clothes prices are set to rocket and the Primark era may be coming to an end. John Paul Flintoff, author of Sew Your Own: Man Finds Happiness and Meaning of Life by Making Clothes, has the answer: make your own. It is surprisingly cheap, easy and enjoyable to make beautiful garments, and John-Paul is an engaging and witty evangelist for the DIY revolution.
7pm. Price £12.50.
Alex Bellos: The Joy of Maths
Wednesday 23rd March
Alex Bellos is the author of the brilliant Sunday Times bestseller, Alex’s Adventures in Numberland. He comes to the Academy to introduce pupils to the wonder and delights of mathematics.
7pm. Tickets £12.50.
Gavin Pretor-Pinney: The Art of Cloud Collecting
Wednesday 30 March.
Gavin is co-founder of the Idler magazine aand founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society. He takes us on a tour of the sky, from the common Cumulus to the rare and fleeting Kelvin-Helmholtz wave cloud. He shows how to distinguish the different formations and why you should start your own cloud collection. Don’t be brainwashed by the sun fascists – the clouds are one of Nature’s most beautiful and varied displays. So spend an evening in the company of these ‘patron goddesses of idle fellows’.
7pm. Tickets £12.50.
Will Self: Philosophers’ Forum
Wednesday 6 April.
Socrates was Plato’s teacher. He famously never wrote anything down, preferring to teach through live debate. Tonight Will Self plays the Socrates role, and answers Academy pupils’ philosophical conundrums. Be sure to bring some thorny problems for Will to tackle.
7pm. Tickets £12.50.
Tom Hodgkinson: Songs of Love, Liberty and Idleness
Thursday 7 April.
Idler editor and Academy headmaster plays radical tunes on the ukulele, and makes clear the link between laziness and political radicalism.
Tickets £12.50.
John Nicholson on John Michel
Wednesday 20 April.
To commemorate Notting Hill mystic John Michel’s ‘death day’ of 22 April, historian John Nicholson gives a talk on Michel’s life and work.
7pm. Tickets £12.50.
Toby Young: The Decline in Grammatical Standards
Wednesday 27 April.
In this hilarious talk, author, journalist and free schools pioneer Toby Young laments the contemporary decline in grammatical standards. Toby will read out howlers from teachers, bureaucrats and sundry officials and make an argument for the reintroduction of proper grammatical training in schools.
7pm. Tickets £12.50
