Name: Leaping into the Unknown
Start: 2026-04-22T19:00:00+01:00
Location: The Poets Ale & Smoke House

Tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/leaping-into-the-unknown-curious-histories-in-hove-tickets-1983725763158
Three trail-blazing biographical tales from Alexandra Loske, Annika Mombauer, and Pete Fijalkowski grace Curious Histories' return to Hove's Poets Ale and Smokehouse. Our show is in aid of a fabulous local charity: Food and Friendship. More about this great little outfit below...
Doors will open at 6.45pm, with first talk beginning around 7.15pm. There will be an interval, and we aim to finish about half-nine. Do come early if you would like to sample the Poets' excellent menu before the show.

Our talks:
Gavrilo Princip: Villain or Hero?
Professor Annika Mombauer uncovers the thorny and contested case of Gavrilo Princip. He seems destined to be remembered in the public mind as the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and, perhaps, as the man who started the First World War. There is, however, far more to his story, and to his legacy, than popularly imagined.
Yves Klein: Godfather of Modern Art!
Pete Fij's third talk for Curious Histories investigates the trail-blazing figure of Yves Klein. Though he died at age 34 and his artistic career lasted less than a decade, Klein packed an awful lot into that time. His maverick work pre-figured many later, more celebrated pieces. He incorporated extended silence into a musical piece prior to John Cage's 4' 33", and destroyed his artworks as a form of art sixty years before Banksy's self-destructing painting caused a stir at auction. Pete exposes an enigma who was at once full of fun and artistic mischief, yet at the same time deeply serious about art's purpose.
Finding Miss Gartside: A visionary Shropshire Lad(y)
Dr Alexandra Loske, curator of the Royal Pavilion, returns to Curious Histories with the story of an unique personal pilgrimage. For many years, she had been researching, writing and lecturing about a certain Miss Gartside (c.1754-1819), the first known woman in Western culture to have published an illustrated treatise on colour. Like many creative women in history, Gartside had been overlooked or marginalised, but her pioneering spirit and thinking becomes clear when comparing her daring writing and abstract illustrations with other works on colour from the Georgian period. Alexandra made it her mission to bring this intriguing botanical painter and colour theorist out of the darkness of history. In 2024, she published the first stand-alone monograph on Gartside, as well as writing her Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry. While on holiday in Shropshire in the summer of 2025, Alexandra decided to search for where Gartside last lived and where she died in the winter of 1819. This turned into a moving journey of exploration, conversation and discovery, with surprising findings. This talk tells the story of finding Miss Gartside.

Our speakers:
Alexandra Loske is curator of the Royal Pavilion and a colour historian. She is the author of several books on colour and other topics, including the substantial Book of Colour Concepts (TASCHEN) and The Artist's Palette (Thames & Hudson). Her research on Gartside and other women in colour history is supported by the Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research at the University of Sussex.
Pete Fij runs one of Sussex's most well-known spoken word events, the Speakeasy Club in Worthing. He's appearing at Curious Histories for a third time, following his thrilling tales of Wojtek the soldier bear in 2024 and sports-and-adventure comics last year. He's also an accomplished singer-songwriter and a "brilliant storyteller and raconteur" (David Bramwell of Brighton's Catalyst Club).
Annika Mombauer is Professor of Modern European History at the Open University and an international expert on the origins of the First World War. She is the author of numerous books and articles, notably The Causes of the First World War: The Long Blame Game (Routledge) and Helmuth von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War (CUP).

Our chosen charity:
We're asking for a small donation to attend the lecture, but we're delighted to say that all proceeds from the show will be going to help Food and Friendship. It's a small and intensely local charity which provides lunch clubs for the elderly and those with learning disabilities in Brighton and Hove. Many of its guests suffer reduced social networks due to bereavement, restricted mobility, health conditions such as dementia, and sensory impairments. Food and Friendship's lunch clubs provide a vital social lifeline that helps people feel connected to their community and improves their mental wellbeing.