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2.00pm to 3.30pm

Ludlow Assembly Rooms

French Can-Can has long been synonymous with the "Gay Paree" of the Moulin Rouge, immortalized by Parisian artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. While researching the history of can-can, Jonathan was surprised to discover that this famous dance, supposedly the "national dance" of the French, in fact owed its origin as much to London as to Paris. In this lecture, he reveals how an unlikely Anglo-British, cross-Channel exchange of artists, impresarios, and tourists led to the creation of can-can: a fusion of a revolutionary Parisian dance (the chahut) and London's rather more coy skirt-dancing.

Jonathan (website, LinkedIn) is a historian and author particularly interested in the history of great museums/ collectors. His talks draw on his own research, allowing him to take audiences behind the scenes: sharing the surprise discoveries as well as the questions that we still haven't been able to answer. In 2024 he wrote (and spoke to ASTV about) the National Gallery's official bicentenary history, Previous books include a biography of the oil baron and art collector Calouste Gulbenkian and a comparative history of Paris and London.

Alongside lecturing for Arts Society groups, Jon is Professor of Modern History at the University of Southampton. He has a first degree from Oxford, an MA from the Courtauld, and a PhD from Cambridge