GNE-Mission-Statement

JOHN WYATT is a specialist in African birds and animals having worked for 12 years in Northern Rhodesia/Zambia. In 1971 he began lecturing on wildlife and archaeological subjects and has now given over 3000 such talks. He co-authored and published the highly acclaimed British Teach Yourself Bird Sounds cassette series and led wildlife tours to many parts of the World but especially Africa and The Netherlands. At present the World`s only full-time Ornitho-Egyptologist undertaking research in Egypt and elsewhere for a book on Birds in Ancient Egypt : A Guide to their Identification which is scheduled for publication in August 2012.

Ian White is a retired research scientist, who worked on computer and communications systems, but developed an interest in horology over twenty years ago. This includes its science, its history, and the social role of time.
He has earlier published a history of the Watch and Clockmakers in the City of Bath. Click clock-makers-at -batth for more information.
He has also advised Sotheby’s in 2010 on the history of a clock they recently sold (for $520,000).
He has worked in The Hague for four years, (1993–1997).
 

John Pilkington has been called “one of Britain’s greatest tellers of travellers’ tales”.
In 1983, after journeys in Africa and Latin America, he completed a 500-mile solo crossing of the western Nepal Himalaya, and told the story in his first book, Into Thin Air. His interest in Asia grew further with the opening in 1986 of the border between Pakistan and China, making it possible – for the first time in forty years – to retrace virtually the whole of the Silk Road. John was one of the first modern travellers to do so, and he wrote about the journey in An Adventure on the Old Silk Road. This was followed in 1991 by An Englishman in Patagonia; recounting eight months spent exploring the southernmost tip of South America.
In 2000 he became one of only four people in modern times to walk the 1,600-mile Royal Road of the Incas in the Andes of Ecuador and Peru. In 2003 he explored the Mekong River and, with two Tibetans, reached and mapped its source at over 17,000 feet. In 2006 he turned his attention to the Sahara Desert, and joined a camel caravan carrying salt for 450 miles from the mines of Taoudenni to Timbuktu.

Dr Florian Schweizer is Director of the Charles Dickens Museum and leads the global Dickens 2012 campaign.
He studied in Germany and Britain and holds a PhD in English Literature from the University of London. He has worked at the Charles Dickens Museum since 2002 and is now managing a major redevelopment project which will establish the Museum as the most accessible literary museum in England. He has published and lectured widely on Dickens, the Victorians and British culture.

Anne Marie Evans MA FLS earned a Distinction in Fine Art at the ‘Bath Academy of Art’ and, then studied for a Masters at the ‘De Montfort University’, also graduating with a Distinction.  She is a world-famous artist who originally developed the English Gardening school’s - Diploma Course in Botanical Painting. She teaches worldwide and is co-author of An Approach to Botanical Painting.
For details see: Teaching and learning art with Anne Marie Evans and English Gardening School

Mrs Evans will try to bring the Highgrove Florilegium for the audience to see.

Julian Paren is a physicist by training with a PhD in glaciology awarded by the University of Cambridge for research on the electrical properties of ice carried out at the Scott Polar Research Institute.  After a spell as Nuffield Senior Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham he joined the British Antarctic Survey in 1976 and made nine visits to Antarctica.  In his later years at BAS he was Director’s Assistant and Head of Information and Archives.  Throughout his time at BAS and in retirement he ran adult-education courses for the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning.

John McAleer is Curator of Imperial and Maritime History in Greenwich (London).
He tries to convey the importance of imperial and maritime history using the rich and unique collections of objects and artefacts held at the National Maritime Museum. He does this in all sorts of ways from working on exhibitions and publishing scholarly articles to giving lectures and facilitating education sessions. He contributes regularly to conferences and journals by giving papers and writing articles and reviews related to my area of expertise.