Enjoy wine and canapés before a talk on the city’s highs and lows – the wars, revolutions, famines and diseases that have shaped our spirit – and the way these have affected the representation of religion in the capital. Bernard will take us from the Roman Temple of Mithras and St Paul’s Cathedral to the Hindu Temple at Neasden, the Mosque in Regent’s Park, Westminster Abbey, and a Jewish Menorah. From earliest times, when Romans built their temple to Mithras, now reborn in the Bloomberg building near the Thames, the story follows religious changes in the city when monasteries were destroyed, a great cathedral burned, new churches were built and London almost disappeared during The Blitz.

Drinks and canapés at 6.30pm
Talk begins at 7pm sharp

Philippa Bernard is an academic at the Open University and the University of London, where she has lived most of her life. For many years, she and her husband Leo had an iconic antiquarian bookshop in Chelsea which attracted visitors from around the world. She has written several books on religious themes and a biography of the poet Kathleen Raine. She is a frequent lecturer on historical subjects and is a member of The Society of Authors.

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