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In the spring of 1827, an event took place in the north east of England that was a landmark in the related worlds of art and natural history. At this time the charismatic and larger than life wildlife artist and publisher John James Audubon was on a tour of the United Kingdom in order to raise subscriptions for his planned magnum opus “The Birds of America.” Newcastle and its surrounding area were one of his ports of call.

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”
― Groucho Marx

For the Lit & Phil's very first online competition we invite you to create a haiku, a form of Japanese poetry of just seventeen syllables in three lines of five, seven and five.

Ah, solving that question

Brings the priest and the doctor

In their long coats

Running over the fields

Philip Larkin

What constitutes "reading" a book? Do you have to have a physical object made of paper (a book) or plastic and metal (an ebook reader) in your hands? Now that members of the Lit & Phil can access the excellent Naxos Spoken Word Library, the question arises ...

Is it possible to have too much music? Discuss.... but while you're thinking about it have a look at Naxos Music and take note that as a Lit & Phil music library member you can access their excellent streaming service.

The capacity to be offended is not just a phenomenon attributable to the age of instant messaging (although by virtue of their ease of use,  they have arguably exacerbated it). The Lit & Phil has always had members with strongly held views on many many topics, some interesting and important and some of a rather trivial nature.

Sometimes when you’re sitting in the Lit and Phil, you slowly become aware that other lives going on out there. In the outside world, I mean.

This shocking revelation usually happens at very quiet times, shortly after opening perhaps. Noises begin to impinge gently on your consciousness...

Several years ago I was playing piano on a gig at the Side Café in Newcastle. It was a small upstairs room, full of character and on the weekly jazz nights, often full of characters. 

After one of the numbers in the second set, an animated lady stood up and said (in all seriousness) “Where are all the notes coming from?!” She meant, I think quite literally – where are the dots? Where’s the music?