Johnson Society of London

Programme October 2023– April 2024

Unless otherwise indicated, meetings take place at Charles Dickens Museum, and over Zoom.

Zoom links will be emailed to members a few days prior to each meeting.

14 October, 2:30 pm

Beryl Bainbridge’s ‘According to Queeney’: Johnson’s life without Boswell

Dr Jane Darcy

Chair: Lois Potter

18 November, 2:30 pm

Johnson’s history of the theatre: the Drury Lane Prologue

Dr John Lavagnino

Chair: Miriam Al Jamil

9 December

The Annual Johnson Commemoration

2:00 pm, Westminster Abbey. A wreath will be laid on Johnson’s grave by Karin Fernald.

4.00 pm, Dr Johnson’s House. Richard Thrale Memorial Lecture and reception (see separate booking form).

‘The rattlesnake and the elephant’: the story of the friendship between Samuel Johnson and Hester Thrale

Karin Fernald

Chair: Michael Bundock

13 January 2023, 2:30 pm

Readings of or about Johnson by Society members

Chair: Lois Potter

Details of this meeting will be circulated in due course.

10 February, 2:30 pm

‘The Vision of Theodore, the Hermit of Teneriffe, found in his cell’: a case study of Samuel Johnson’s exploration of human nature

Dr Stefka Ritchie

Chair: Celine Luppo McDaid

9 March

1.30 pm. Annual General Meeting

2.30 pm. Dr Johnson and the new ‘aristocracy of talent’ in eighteenth-century Britain

Professor Penelope Corfield

Chair: Lois Potter

13 April, 2:30 pm

Dr Johnson, francophobia and the Haymarket Theatre riot of October 1738

Dr Robert Kenny

Chair: Julian Currall

13 May

A copy of the programme suitable for printing can be downloaded here.