Our food comes from all over the world but what is its real story? Why are carrots orange? Why do we refer ‘peppers’ when they are not peppery? Who invented fish and chips? Academic and author, Professor Mike Haynes, explores the strange history of our food and the conflicts which it continues to give rise to.

The stars and planets have long inspired poets, writers, musicians and spiritualists. Science and astonomy expert Andrew Lound takes us on an odyssey through the cosmos via the observations of astronomers throughout history - from the very first telescopic views of the planets to the latest images from the Webb Telescope. Stunning photographs are complemented with music and a passionate performance in costume with props.

Photo: Cosmic cliffs of Carina Nebula, one of the first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, in 2022. © United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Rob Elliott is an 18th Century re-enactor specialising in the 1745-46 Jacobite Rebellion and the Seven Years War. His talk features a wide selection of period clothing and weaponry, all on display for the audience to examine.

Photo: A painting by David Morier, held in the Royal Collection Trust. It depicts a scene from the Battle of Culloden, part of the Jacobite Rebellion - an attempt to regain the British throne for the exiled House of Stuart.

It was once the fourth-largest city in Roman Britain; the site of a mediaeval manor and subsequently a 20th century hamlet. The cast of characters you might have met there over the last 2,000 years include a Roman Emperor, Thomas Telford, Charles Darwin and ‘Ronnie’ from Wallasey. William King gives us the humorous and unlikely story of Wroxeter - a remarkable spot on the River Severn.

Photo: The ruins of Viroconium's public baths at Wroxeter. © Stephen Jones

The Twentymans of Bilbrook Manor were one of the village’s most pre-eminent families. Between the 1930s and 1970s, Richard Twentyman designed numerous private houses, commercial buildings, public houses and schools - all now an integral part of the fabric of the West Midlands. His churches are highly distinctive and represent an inventive period in church architecture - as will be explained tonight by CJ Kennedy and A Ridyard, who have also published an accompanying book.

Photo: Bushbury Crematorium, Wolverhampton, was also designed by Richard Twentyman. © John M

Sir Nikolaus Pevsner was an art historian who moved to England from Germany to escape Nazism. He taught at the Universities of London, Oxford, and Cambridge and is best known for his writings on architecture, especially his 46-volume series of county-by-county guides The Buildings of England (1951–74). It is considered one of the great achievements of 20th-century art and his 1974 Staffordshire volume was the last to be published. In this talk, David Wilkinson, a former archaeologist at Stafford Borough Council, highlights his favourite selections from Pevsner’s Staffordshire.

Photo: Sir Nikolaus Pevsner. © Unknown

This is the remarkable story of a partially-sighted vagrant as he tramped around the British Isles. At each town he visited, Harry Payne earned a few pence by writing a review of the place for the local newspaper. His articles provided a unique ‘worms-eye’ view of Britain before and during the Great War. These perceptive snapshots, presented by historian and local history writer Quintin Watt, challenge the myth that poor people left no written evidence of their lives and experience.

Photo: Children barefoot outside their home in a slum area before the First World War. Harry Payne would have witnessed such sights on his journey around the British Isles. © Imperial War Museum

Admiral Sir George Back was one of the first Europeans to systematically explore and map the Canadian Arctic coast. He was also a very good artist - and the ancestor of tonight’s speaker, Nigel Metcalfe. Nigel looks at Back’s five Arctic expeditions by land and sea and describes his life at home and in public once his exploring days were over. His talk is illustrated with many of Back’s own drawings and paintings.

Photo: Admiral Sir George Back in 1863. © Unknown

Tonight’s speaker, Corinne Brazier, is Heritage Manager at the West Midlands Police Museum. Her talk explores the true, gritty history of late-Victorian and early 20th-century Birmingham gangs using archival records, early mugshots, and real criminal case files. Corinne contrasts the BBC-TV drama Peaky Blinders with actual historical data on Birmingham's street ruffians and racecourse racketeers. She will showcase some of the earliest prisoner photographs dating back to the 1890s from the Steelhouse Lane Lock-Up records and highlight some real-life career criminals, gamblers and cop-killers who ended up detained there.

Photo: The Steelhouse Lane Lock-up was a Victorian cell block on Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham, operational from 1891 until 2016, after which it became the home of the West Midlands Police Museum. Photo © Gilbert911