Name: history @ temperance | Deadly Witness : Bernard Spilsbury (walk and talk)
Start: 2024-10-27T15:00:00+01:00
End: 2024-10-27T18:00:00+01:00
Location: 33 Bath Street,Leamington Spa,CV31 3AF,GB

history @ temperance | Deadly Witness : Bernard Spilsbury (walk and talk)

You are invited to join Adam Wood for a new walk around the historical old town of Leamington and talk about Bernard Spilsbury.
Narrated by Adam Wood (Crime through Time), this event consists a new 1hr walk around the darker sides of the old town in Leamington (optional), followed up by a 1hr talk at Temperance about Bernard Spilsbury, the father of forensic medicine. He was born and raised in the adjacent building on Bath Street in Leamington.
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DEADLY WITNESS: BERNARD SPILSBURY (LIVE TALK AND WALKING TOUR)
Part One: A Walking Tour of Leamington’s Old Town
Meet at 2pm at Temperance. 1hr walk starts 2:30pm.
Join local crime historian Adam Wood for this brand new walk on the dark side of the streets surrounding Temperance, with true crime tales from Leamington's grim history on almost every corner, including the theatre manager who blew his brains out in his Clemens Street home, the barmaid stabbed by a jealous drinker, and the highly-respected doctor whose suicide note left for his landlady said, “Cheerio, dearie. I am going for a holiday.”
Following the tour we return to Temperance for...
Part Two: A Talk on the Life and Career of Sir Bernard Spilsbury
Meet at 3:30pm. 1hr talk starts 4:00pm
Born above his father’s chemist shop in Bath Street, Leamington Spa in 1877, Sir Bernard Spilsbury is regarded as the father of modern forensics. It was down to Spilsbury that Scotland Yard adopted the so-called ‘Murder Bag’, a pre-packed kit containing forensic items such as rubber gloves, tweezers, evidence bags and a ruler, for detectives to take to crime scenes - as seen on every crime drama broadcast today.
Spilsbury made his name with his evidence in the Dr Crippen murder case, which resulted in the conviction and execution of the American for the murder of his wife. This was followed by the Brides in the Bath murders by George Smith, the Brighton Trunk murderer Tony Mancini, and the Burning Car puzzle in which Alfred Rouse was convicted.
When Spilsbury gave evidence, jury members at the Old Bailey sat up and took notice.
Yet behind this dazzling career was an increasing self-belief in his own infallibility; Spilsbury simply refused to accept that he could be wrong. Court juries, who knew no different, unquestioningly agreed with his evidence.
It has been shown in recent years that dozens of people went to the gallows through miscarriages of justice. Following his conviction Norman Thorne, found guilty of murdering his sweetheart in 1924 said, “I am a martyr to Spilsburyism.”
Join crime historian Adam Wood for this talk to hear the rise of Bernard Spilsbury, some of the notorious cases he worked on, and how his tragic personal life may have had an impact on his feelings of invincibility.
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Talk only £10. Walking tour AND talk £20.