Programs

Evelyn Wrench Speaker Program

Named in honor of the English-Speaking Union's founder, the Evelyn Wrench Speaker Program sends eight eminent British and American speakers across the country each year to the ESU Branches who host their presentations.  Wrench speakers address topics relating to current events, history, language and literature, art and architecture, and travel.  Regional tours of Wrench speakers are underwritten by the ESU National Headquarters and planned and in cooperation with the Branches. 

2012-2013 EVELYN WRENCH SPEAKERS

Region I: Northeast

Nicholas Bennett

Former British Government Minister and Member of Parliament

Topic: Up Close and Personal with a Member of the British Parliament

Spring 2013

Region II - South

Roger Pringle

Retired Director, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon

Topic: Americans, Shakespeare and Stratford

October 2012

Region III -

TBA

Region IV - Virginia and North Carolina

Stephen Prickett

Regius Professor Emeritus, University of Glasgow; Honorary Professor, University of Kent

Topics: The Making of the King James Bible;
Victorian Fantasy Writers and Illustrators;
Did Shakespeare Have a Hand in the King James Bible?;

April 2013

Region V - Florida

Sir Robert Corbett

Last Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin; Military Historian

Topic: Berlin and the Fall of the Wall

March 2013

Region VI - MidWEST

Julia Boyd

Noted British Author and former governor of the ESU of the Commonwealth

Topic: A Dance with the Dragon: The Vanished World of Peking

April 2013

Region VII - Southwest

Lee Prosser

Curator of Historic Buildings, Historic Royal Palaces 

Topics: Kensington Palace Revealed;
Secrets of the Royal Palaces, and
Eighteenth-Century Kitchens and Royal Eating

April 2013

This tour is co-sponsored by Historic Royal Palaces

Region VIII - West

Ian Strathcarron

Noted British Journalist, author and businessman

Topic: Innocence and War: Mark Twain's Holy Land Revisited

April 2013