A full programme of talks and events for visitors to the National Maritime Museum (NMM) and Queen’s House (QH), Greenwich. For Royal Observatory, Greenwich and Peter Harrison Planetarium events please contact the Press Office on 020 8312 6790/6732. All events can be booked at www.rmg.co.uk or call 020 8312 6608.

Autumn highlights

Black History Month: Black Mariners’ Study Day, 31 October

The National Maritime Museum marks Black History Month with this special one-off study day examining role played in Britain’s naval and merchant fleets by black seafarers over the centuries. In association with the Black Cultural Archives.

Trafalgar Day, 21 October

Join us for a celebration of Nelson’s famous victory with a day of free events including talks, a walking tour, an archive session viewing ships plans with curator Quintin Colville, and sea shanty singing with shantyman Chris Roche.

Master classes in the Naval Novel, 24–25 November

Four archive-centred sessions for aspiring writers of historical naval fiction. These short courses will enable aspiring writers to use archive material effectively to plan and develop aspects of novel-length writing (from characters to setting). Featuring Julian Stockwin, author of the Thomas Kydd novels (Victory, Invasion, Mutiny) and Margaret Elphinstone (The Sea Road, Voyageurs, Hy Brasil)

'Traders Unpacked', October 2011–February 2012

A new gallery, Traders: The East India Company and Asia, opens on 28 September 2011, showcasing the Museum’s world-famous collection of objects relating to Asia and the Indian Ocean. Starting in October and running until February 2012 Traders Unpacked, sponsored by Sharwood’s, is a wide-ranging festival of music, film, fashion, debate and spoken word which explores the complex legacy of one of history’s most remarkable and controversial companies.

Full event schedule

A Londoner’s Guide to the East India Company

The East India Company established London’s commercial stature and influenced its place names, memorials, language, fashions, ethnic mix and culinary traditions. But would you be able to spot its mark on the City today? Join us for an immersive one-day crash-course of talks, screenings, walks and performance. Part of Traders Unpacked.
Date: 2 October
Times: 11.00–17.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: FREE

Orangery Tea Parties

Over 150 million cups of tea are drunk in Britain every day. But what is the real story of this quintessentially British addiction and what do you think about when enjoying a cuppa? Join artist Sadia Ur-Rehman, local residents, museum staff and volunteers for a tea party experience with a twist in the beautiful surroundings of the Queen’s House. Part of Traders Unpacked.
Date: 2 October (English tea party), 16 October (Persian tea party), 20 November (Indian tea party)
Times: 14.30–16.00
Venue: QH
Cost: FREE but advance booking is necessary.

Traders Unpacked daytime lecture series: Traders: The East India Company and Asia

Curators John McAleer and Robert Blyth open the lecture series with an overview of the new Traders: The East India Company and Asia gallery.
Date: 6 October
Times: 11.00–13.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £7.50 or £40/£30 concessions for the full series

Traders Unpacked Lates: Noise of Art

DJ Ben Osbourne of the Noise of Art collective takes inspiration from unexpected urban forms unleashed by early travels through Eastern sea routes. A clash of club culture, music and contemporary arts, with DJ Ritu of Asian club night Kali, surround projections, deep house from Singaporean act Portfolio, contemporary dance troops and Japanese psychedelia, Plus The City Sea Shanty Band, audio-visual installations by Jason Singh and video portraits of the first Chinese film star, Anna Mae Wong. Also featuring a unique post-colonial pub quiz hosted by artist and quiz mistress Yara El-Sherbini in our very own pop-up pub.
Date: 6 October
Times: 18.30–22.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: FREE

Conference: Paper from the East

An opportunity to learn about traditional paper-making techniques in China and Asia. In association with China Culture Connect. Part of Traders Unpacked.
Date: 7 October
Times: 10.00–18.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £99 / £75 concession

Tall Tales of the Monsoon Trade

Are you sitting comfortably? Then let us tell you a story. The Traders Unpacked official storyteller-in-residence Seema Anand, will be joined by authors and poets spinning beguiling yarns. From Tipu Sultan’s tiger toy to the maritime expeditions of the Company, this event will be filled with thrilling tales, many untold. Featuring poet Daljit Nagra (author of Tippoo Sultan’s Incredible White-Man-Eating Tiger Toy Machine!!!), and Robert Blyth (co-author of Monsoon Traders). In association with the DSC South Asian Literature Festival.
Date: 12 October
Times: 18.30–20.30
Venue: NMM
Cost: £8

'Traders Unpacked' behind the Scenes: The Astronomer’s Clothes

Get up close and personal with some of the Museum’s most precious objects in this look at Astronomer Royal Neville Maskalyne’s clothing, and its connection to India with curator Amy Miller.
Date: 12 October
Times: 14.00–16.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £12

Traders Unpacked Daytime Lecture Series: The East India and the Making of its Maritime World

Huw Bowen, Professor of Modern History at Swansea University is an expert on the history of the Company and co-author of Monsoon Traders: the Maritime World of the East India Company, the book which accompanies the new gallery.
Date: 13 October
Times: 11.00–13.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £7.50 or £40/£30 concessions for the full series

Traders Unpacked Lates: The Traders’ Sandpit

An evening of nautical-themed games for grown-ups, curated by Hide&Seek. If you've ever wanted to sip tea over parlour games, wander the galleries trading herbs and spices with rival merchants, or run around dodging the enforcers of the East India Company, then this is the night for you. Hide&Seek have commissioned brand new games from artists, designers and theatre-makers, which will be running alongside traditional Indian, Chinese and sailors’ games. Whether you fancy something quiet and cerebral, or fun and frantic there’s something for you.
Date: 13 October
Times: 18.30–21.30
Venue: NMM
Cost: £5

Curry and a Pint

Discover the origins of the ‘Great British curry’, the story behind India Pale Ale, and how the East India Company changed the eating and drinking habits of a nation. An evening of masala, manuscripts and migrations that is guaranteed to stimulate the imagination and the taste buds. Speaking on this series of unique learning and dining events will be historian Rozina Visram, author of Curry: The Story of the Nation’s Favourite Dish, Shrabani Basu, and the beer writer and convivial raconteur, Peter Haydon. Ticket price includes a delicious Indian meal and a pint of India Pale Ale. Part of Traders Unpacked.
Date: 14 October, 28 October, 25 November
Times: 19.30–21.30
Venue: NMM
Cost: £25

Traders Unpacked Film Season: Junoon

(The Obsession) (Shyam Benegal, India, 1978)

A season of Friday night films programmed by Cary Rajinder Sawhney, these films explore the intense human dramas that unfold against the backdrop of war and empire. A classic of Indian New Wave cinema with an all-star cast, Junoon is a story about 1857. Anglo-Indian Ruth escapes with her British mother from a massacre at a church, only to be hunted down by Pathan Javed Khan keen to make her his wife.
Date: 14 October
Times: 19.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £7 per film / £30 for the season

Traders Unpacked daytime lecture series: The Real Crusoe

Katherine Frank, author of Crusoe: Daniel Defoe, Robert Knox and the Creation of a Myth talks about the real life castaway and East India Company captain who may have been the inspiration for one of Defoe’s most celebrated creations.
Date: 20 October
Times: 11.00–13.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £7.50 or £40/£30 concessions for the full series

Trafalgar Day

This year the National Maritime Museum celebrates Nelson’s famous victory with a day of free events including talks, a walking tour, archive session viewing ships plans with curator Quintin Colville and sea shanty singing with shantyman Chris Roche.
Date: 21 October
Times: 11.00 – 17.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: FREE

Traders Unpacked daytime lecture series: Storm and Conquest

Stephen Taylor discusses Storm and Conquest, his dramatic account of East Indiamen voyages undertaken as the Company battled for control of the Indian Ocean. Sea battles, storms and shipwrecks all feature along with the stories of crew and passengers from the brutal Captain Corbet to the scandalous Lady Elizabeth Barlow.
Date: 27 October
Times: 11.00–13.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £7.50 or £40/£30 concessions for the full series

Counting the Days: Greenwich Time Symposium

A day for the curious about calendars, clocks and controlling the time. Discover the different schemes and radical reconstructions that have been experimented with in history and how we’ve come to have the system we use today. Chaired by Royal Observatory Curator of Horology Rory McEvoy. Speakers will include author Matt Shaw on time and the French Revolution.
Date: 29 October
Times: 11.00–16.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £20 (£16 concessions)

Black History Month: Black Mariners’ Study Day

Discover the role played in Britain’s naval and merchant fleets by black seafarers over the centuries. In association with the Black Cultural Archives.
Date: 31 October
Times: 19.00–20.30
Venue: QH
Cost: £35 /£28 concessions

Traders Unpacked daytime lecture series: The East India Company and Ceylon

Dr Sujit Sivasundaram, Lecturer in International History at the LSE, tells the story of the East India Company’s relationship with modern day Sri Lanka.
Date: 3 November
Times: 11.00–13.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £7.50 or £40/£30 concessions for the full series

Traders Unpacked daytime lecture series: The Opium War

Dr Julia Lovell, author of The Opium War: Drugs. Dreams and the Making of China, discusses her book which looks at the causes and consequences of the first Opium War as well as its role in the story of modern China.
Date: 10 November
Times: 11.00–13.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £7.50 or £40/£30 concessions for the full series

Diwali at the National Maritime Museum

A family-friendly day of celebrations to mark the Hindu festival of Lights and British maritime connections with India. The day will culminate in a lantern-lit outdoor procession in Greenwich Park by Emergency Exit Arts, with live music from Parapar. The day includes a film screening of Today’s Special – a feel-good comedy about young chef; lantern-making and Rangoli workshops; a ‘Scratch-and-Sniff’ history of the East India Company with Sharwood’s chefs and professional herbalists; and drop-in gallery talks including ‘Tipu Sultan’ and ‘The Spice Trade’.
Date: 12 November
Times: 11.00–18.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: FREE

Arctic Convoy Ships’ Plans at the Brass Foundry

Join the National Maritime Museum’s Curator of Historic Photographs and Ship Plans on a revealing archive journey into the careers of ships that survived the Arctic Convoys, and of some of those that did not.
Date: 14 November
Times: 14.30–16.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: FREE

'The Corporation that Changed the World ' –

What Can We Learn from the East India Company for Today's Business Practices?

The English East India Company has been described as the 'mother of the modern multinational'. During its 270-year existence, the Company’s rise and fall exemplified many of the critical issues facing modern business: ensuring ethical conduct across a global network and confronting financial speculation and corruption, as well as how to deliver private benefits while protecting the public interest. This panel will tackle the relevance of the Company's corporate legacy, and ask what we can really learn for today's business practices. Panellists include Nick Robins, author of The Corporation that Changed the World, Jon Wilson, author of The Domination of Strangers: Modern Governance in Eastern India, 1780–1835 and Ben Yeoh, investment analyst and playwright. Chaired by The Guardian's economics leader writer, Aditya Chakrabortty.
Date: 15 November
Times: 18.30–20.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £8

Traders Unpacked at London Jazz Festival

Iconoclastic clarinettist Arun Ghosh headlines this evening of eclectic live music reflecting the rhythms of the Asian maritime world. Sweet melodies give birth to soaring improvisations and raag explorations, driven by an exhilarating mix of dub-reggae bass, tabla trickery and ferocious drum explosions. Also featuring Moushumi Bhowmik and her Anglo Bengali band Parapar (Shore to Shore) with their unique mix of Bengali folk, blues, and Indian and Western classical music. In association with BBC Radio 3.
Date: 16 November
Times: 18.30–21.30
Venue: NMM
Cost: FREE

Traders Unpacked behind the Scenes: The private journals of Edward Barlow

Get up close and personal with some of the Museum’s most precious objects with historian Steve Martin and paper conservator Paul Cook.
Date: 16 November
Times: 14.00–16.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £12

Traders Unpacked Film Season: The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khilari)

(Satyajit Ray, India, 1977)

A season of Friday night films programmed by Cary Rajinder Sawhney, these films explore the intense human dramas that unfold against the backdrop of war and empire. The East India Company, led by General James Outram (Richard Attenborough), begins the annexation of the Indian state of Awadh, while its effete monarchs, surrounded by courtly trappings, ignore the impending military threat and instead lock themselves in a game of chess.
Date: 18 November
Times: 19.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £7 per film / £30 for the season

Veterans of the Arctic Convoys

Meet veterans of the Arctic Convoys and hear about their experiences on what Winston Churchill called ‘the worst journey in the world’. Veterans from the Navy and Merchant Navy will be in the gallery to meet visitors on this special day. This will be a unique opportunity to hear first-hand their memories of surviving extreme temperatures, attacks at sea, and day-to-day life on board these dangerous voyages.
Date: 19 November
Times: 11.30–16.30
Venue: NMM
Cost: FREE

'In Which We Serve' – introduced by Kevin Brownlow

David Lean’s directorial debut is a stirring wartime drama of peril at sea shown to mark the opening of Arctic Convoys 1941–1945. The film will be introduced by Lean biographer and one of the UK’s leading film historians Kevin Brownlow.
Date: 20 November
Times: 14.00–16.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £7

And a Star to Steer her by: Master Classes in the Maritime Novel

A pair of master classes is designed for both experienced and new writers interested in maritime novel writing. A variety of subjects will be covered in these informal teaching sessions. This short course will enable aspiring writers to use archive material effectively to plan and develop aspects of novel-length writing (from characters to setting). Featuring Julian Stockwin, author of the Thomas Kydd novels (Victory, Invasion, Mutiny) and Margaret Elphinstone (The Sea Road, Voyageurs, Hy Brasil)
Date: 24–25 November
Times: 10.00–16.00
Venue: NMM, QH
Cost: £125 per day / £200 for both days (price includes lunch)

Traders Unpacked daytime lecture series: Eighteenth-Century India

Professor Jeremy Black discusses Britain’s role as an imperial power in 18th-century India, where the British Empire’s rise to dominance was not uncontested. This talk explores the ways in which Britain competed not just with local rulers such as the Nawab of Bengal, but also with other imperial powers including the Persians and the French.
Date: 17 November
Times: 11.00–13.00
Venue: NMM
Cost: £7.50 or £40/£30 concessions for the full series

General Information

The National Maritime Museum, Queen’s House and Royal Observatory Greenwich are open: 10.00–17.00 daily. (Closed 24–26 December).

General admission to the National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House is free. Admission to the Astronomy Centre at the Royal Observatory Greenwich is free. Admission to the Royal Observatory’s historic Flamsteed House, Time Galleries, Meridian Line Courtyard and Meridian Building is £7 for adults (£5 concessions). Entry for children under 16 is free.

For advance bookings and further pricing information please call 020 8312 6608 or email bookings@rmg.co.uk.

For updated information prior to visit please visit our web site: http://www.rmg.co.uk or phone (020) 8858 4422.

-ends-

Issued September 2011 by the National Maritime Museum Press Office.

For further information or images please contact:
National Maritime Museum Press Office
Tel: 020 8312 6732 | 07903 547 268
Email: press@rmg.co.uk