Favorite Insight Lecturers

I wonder if anyone would like to share impressions of favorite and/or memorable Insight Speakers with the board?

I like Bill Miller, although having seen him on a few Christmas cruises in a row I realize that his presentations tend to reuse the same material from one year to the next.

I grew up during the Apollo program so I got a big kick out of seeing Rusty Schweickart.

I think the most moving, was Tery Waite. Many passengers were in tears throughout his talks. But I also found Nicholas Owen very interesting, particularly when talking about being the news anchor on the day the Princess of Wales died.

I wonder if anyone would like to share impressions of favorite and/or memorable Insight Speakers with the board?

Ted (Theodore) Scull is always a great speaker. Interestering when he speaks as you enter New York.

One of my favorites was Chase Untermeyer former US ambassador in Qatar.

Bill Miller and Kate Adie were two memorable speakers. Although not an "official" guest speaker, Patricia Pearce touched everyone talking about the Dreamflight charity. I also was thrilled to hear one of my favorite authors, Bill Bryson, speak. Cunard does an amazing job getting such a diverse and interesting group of speakers.

Cunard does an amazing job getting such a diverse and interesting group of speakers.

I quite agree.

My favourites...

Dr. Stephen Payne.

Commodore Ron Warwick.

Lynne Truss. Very funny author

Ian Brown. Crime expert with dry sense of humour

Dr. Seth Gopin. Art Historian

Ted Scull. Writer

Happy memories :)

We immensely enjoyed Nigel West's lecture on espionage and The Master - Steven Payne!

Nigel West was a guest speaker on a Celebrity cruise we did and I agree, he was brilliant. Loved the fact that at the start of every talk he would announce that he would talk for ****minutes and ****seconds and he was always right! You could see people checking their watches :D

Have done two crossings and sadly none of the speakers live in the memory. Hoping third time lucky.

My favorite was Roger McGuinn from the rock group The Byrds. He gave several talks during the QV 2014 WV. As he talked about his music career, he would play his guitar and sing.

Brought back many great memories.

Don

Stephen Payne and Christine Roussel. I've skipped two M&Gs because some well meaning but clueless Superorganizer overlapped their presentations.:confused:

Bill Miller and Kate Adie were two memorable speakers. Although not an "official" guest speaker, Patricia Pearce touched everyone talking about the Dreamflight charity. I also was thrilled to hear one of my favorite authors, Bill Bryson, speak. Cunard does an amazing job getting such a diverse and interesting group of speakers.

Thanks Kathy for your very kind words. I did two lectures on Dreamflight coming back from Sydney to Southampton. I did the first one and apparently it was so popular I was asked to repeat it. Have a big head now

I wonder if anyone would like to share impressions of favorite and/or memorable Insight Speakers with the board?

I found John McCarthy, a hostage, was an excellent speaker. I also saw Jenny Bond. Very good

Stephen Payne and Christine Roussel. I've skipped two M&Gs because some well meaning but clueless Superorganizer overlapped their presentations.:confused:

For me, that choice would take half a nanosecond ;) .

The ones that I can remember best -

Edwina Currie (British politician)

Stephen Payne

Peter Snow (Historian, Journalist) - talked about the burning of the White House, Wellington & Waterloo

Joshua Levine - (Historian) - talked about the Blitz, WW1 pilots

Simon Dinsdale (Retired British Policeman)

Caroline Aston - talked about Lady Cunard, Royal Mistresses

As an admirer of the great popular songwriters of yesteryear I always enjoy the very informative talks given by music-historian Roy Hunt. Not only is Roy a very amusing and interesting speaker he invariably accompanies his talks with a short burst on the ukulele. Just the thing to put a smile on your face on a boring sea-day!

I particularly remember the lectures of Dr George McGavin and Stephen Payne. Margaret Gilmore is also a very eloquent speaker.

In my opinion the quality of the speakers has improved over the years; Cunard seem have to have ditched some of the boring ex-diplomats and those who have difficulty putting a good technical presentation together.

I also was thrilled to hear one of my favorite authors, Bill Bryson, speak.

The queue of passengers waiting for Bill Bryson to sign books was immense ---he must have been signing for well over an hour. I was towards the tail-end of that line. What struck me was how gracious and dear he was, when it was finally my turn. The personality that shines through in his writing is so genuine.

It is also a delight to see the speakers about the ship, away from the podium. DH chatted with Roger McGinn for 20 minutes at a Cruise Critic gathering before I learned from his wife that he was one of our lecturers. Such a nice couple! We never passed them about the ship without exchanging warm "hellos."

Stephen Payne

The late Mr. Maxtone-Graham

Rick Senat ( Warner Bros. Films)

Bill Miller for his in-depth knowledge and funny stories about ships

Sir Alan Collins gave a couple of very good lectures about the Olympics in 2013 on the QV.

Matt Costello (horror/sci-fi writer and computer games designer) was good on the QV in 2007. Hardly anyone went to his talks, but I suppose computer games design is maybe not that much of an interest of a lot of Cunard customers ? Still, I enjoyed them and we still exchanged the odd email even after 8 years.

Many of my favourites have been mentioned several times by others, so I will just name two who have not:

Maureen Ryan (former purser)

Brian Hoey (Monarchy)

Maureen Ryan was on our TA in July, she did 2 talks, she was brilliant and very funny.

Susan

Simon Weston, it was standing room only, very forthright but so emotional!

Jackie

Stephen Payne and Christine Roussel. I've skipped two M&Gs because some well meaning but clueless Superorganizer overlapped their presentations.:confused:

lol...i have NO idea who you would be talking about....

but I agree Christine Roussel is spellbinding, she can spin a yarn about greek/arabic/egyptian/great monument history that brings it to life,

I also enjoy Kenneth Vard who talks maritime history.

Have found the list of speakers for our November crossing. I've looked up their bios on line but wondered if anyone has actually heard them speak.

Dr Suzanne Fagence Cooper (Art Historian)

Ted Miley (Navigation & Air Traffic)

Andy Adam (Medical)

Gloria Barnett (Oceanography)

Thanks in advance.