A date for your diary. On 22nd January at 2.30pm I will be giving a lecture and slide show at the Royal Geographical Society in London on the remarkable story of Willie Read and his 1912 hunting expedition from Srinagar in Kashmir to Barnaul in Siberia – a journey of almost 3,000 miles.

Regular readers will recall my articles earlier this year about how I identified Willie Read as the creator of a set of magic lantern slides that I had purchased. My talk at the RGS, entitled A Magic Lantern Mystery Tour, and presented as part of the ‘Be Inspired’ series organised by Eugene Rae, will give me the opportunity to talk about my findings in public for the first time. It will also be available online. Free for RGS/IBG members and £5 for others. More information here. Hope to see you there.