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London's societies, institutes and universities, and the doors they open to everyone else: lecture theatres, libraries, collections and free exhibitions at institutions that have been arguing about the world since the seventeenth century. Most of it costs nothing. Events are also listed under What's On.
Talks and exhibitions this week are in What's On
Free public lectures since 1597, roughly one every weekday in term, given by professors appointed to do nothing else.
Public talksFree to enterWorth it for the building
Sir Thomas Gresham, who built the Royal Exchange, left money in his will for seven professors to lecture the citizens of London for nothing. The college has done that since 1597 without ever enrolling a student or awarding a degree - there is no one to teach but whoever turns up, which is the whole design. The professorships are still the original subjects plus later additions, and the holders are appointed for a few years to give a series and then hand on.
The programme runs at roughly a lecture a weekday in term and every one is free. A week might hold the changing sky, the mathematics of whips and dinosaur tails, whether the HIV pandemic is over, and what a jury trial is actually for. Registration is asked for because the hall is not large.
Barnard's Inn Hall is the home: a fifteenth-century hall with a timber roof, one of the last survivors of the Inns of Chancery that once trained lawyers around here. Not every lecture is given in it - the college also uses the Museum of London, LSE and other rooms when the subject draws a crowd - so the booking page is worth reading before setting off.
The hall opens for lectures rather than to fixed hours; register in advance, and note the lectures are not all given here.
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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.