This Flight Tonight
Date: May 27
2:00 pm
- 3:00 pm
Where: Theatre
On the 15th of June 1919, a Sunday morning, the greatest flight of all time came to an end when Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown landed their Vickers Atlantic Vimy close to the Marconi Transmitting Station a few miles beyond Clifden, Ireland. The poet Tony Curtis, in poems, stories and flights-of-fancy, tells the heroic tale. In March 1919, a chance meeting at the Vickers factory in Weybridge, Surrey brought together Alcock and Brown. Alcock, the veteran long-range bomber pilot; Brown, the electrical engineer with an extensive, but untested, knowledge of aerial navigation. Aviator and soldier, two brave souls ready to take on Lord Northcliffe's Daily Mail challenge: the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Newfoundland to Ireland. The prize: the glory, the honour, and ten thousand pounds. Tony Curtis was born in Dublin in 1955. He studied Literature at Essex University and Trinity College Dublin. An award-winning poet, Curtis has published ten warmly received collections. He has read his poetry all over the world to great acclaim. In May of this year, his latest book This Flight Tonight - a book that celebrates the lives of Alcock & Brown and their incredible flight from a field in St. John's, Newfoundland, to a bog in the west of Ireland in June 1919.
Events & Programs
Behold the Blades of the Sea: Join historian, Lee Gillis as he explores the rich history and evolution of swords featured in The Rooms permanent collection.
From Napoleonic sabers to ceremonial swords of the First World War, learn how political upheaval and global conflict shaped the advancement of sword design and technology.
Cost: $12 plus HST. Free for Rooms members. Get your tickets online or by calling (709) 757-8090.
About the Presenter:
Historian, Lee Gillis specializes in arms and armor. While his primary focus has been on the medieval period, he has worked with weapons and objects ranging from the Bronze Age to World War II.
He earned a B.A. in History from Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) and later completed a Master’s Degree in Museum and Artefact Studies at Durham University in England.
To support this research, Lee began training in sword fighting in 2012 and took up blacksmithing and blade-making to gain a comprehensive understanding on the form and function of bladed weaponry.
Since October 2024, he has been volunteering at The Rooms, where he has identified, researched, and catalogued nearly one hundred objects in the collection, including a significant number of swords and other bladed weapons.