Our speakers
If you've attended CULTure Babylon’s previous events, or the 2016 Fear in the Fens Festival, you’ll know that we put the CULT into culture, by combining great films with speakers who provide further insight into the themes explored.
We'll have some outstanding speakers this year too, and will be announcing them as soon as they are confirmed, so keep checking back frequently
Michael Clarke
Over the past fifteen years Michael Clarke has lectured extensively on systems of magic, particularly folk magic.
And started the Great Yarmouth Pagan Moot (meeting).
He has carried out extensive research on the folk magic and witchcraft of East Anglia, and is also an expert in the Nightside Qabala of modern occultism, with its repertoire of strange and antinomian techniques which had its source in the heretical Judaism of Eastern Europe.
CULTure Babylon stalwarts will remember that Michael gave a fascinating talk on Voodoo and Hoodoo at one of our 2013 events in King's Lynn, so we are very pleased to be inviting him back to talk about Jewish Folk Magick and the Quabalah.
Robert Lloyd Parry
A graduate of Brasenose College, Oxford (Classics) and the Courtauld Institute of Art (Greek and Roman Art History) Robert Lloyd Parry is a writer, historian and performer with a particular interest in the works of H G Wells and MR James, the master of the English ghost story.
As a writer and historian, he has worked with the Fitzwilliam Museum, the British Museum, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, The National Gallery and other leading museums and galleries both in the UK and abroad.
His published journalism and writing have appeared in:
The Daily Telegraph
The Spectator
The Fortean Times
The Literary Review
The British Film Institute
The Stage
Minerva
What’s On
Plays International
The Ham and High
The Cambridge News
Phaidon Press
Everyman Publishing
Millennium Books
Swan River Press
ZCZ Films.
An inventive scriptwriter and adapter for stage and radio, he is also currently working on a biography of MR James.
However, it is in his role as writer, producer, performance story teller and award-winning actor for which he is perhaps best known. As ‘Princeps, Imperator et Grand Panjandrum’ of Nunkie Theatre Company, his unique and riveting performances have brought the work of MR James and other writers to life for many thousands of people.
CULTure Babylon is delighted to welcome Robert Lloyd Parry as both a performer and a speaker at this year’s Fear in the Fens Festival.
Gavin Baddeley
Gavin Baddeley is an English writer specialising in the devilish
and decadent, Gothic and macabre.
In addition to penning books such as:
Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock and Roll
The Gospel of Filth: A Bible of Decadence and Darkness
Goth: Vamps and Dandies
Goth Chic
Vampire Lovers
Dissecting Marilyn Manson
God's Assassins: The Medieval Roots of Terrorism
Saucy Jack: The Elusive Ripper
Vlad the Impaler,
he has also written for a diverse range of periodicals and
newspapers, including the Observer, Knave,
Metal Hammer and Medieval History magazine.
Gavin was personally ordained as a priest in the Church of Satan
by the ‘Black Pope’, Anton LaVey, and has subsequently made
numerous media appearances and advised sundry bodies as a
leading expert on the dark arts.
Gavin's talk, The Midlife Crisis of Dracula was our keynote talk at the 2016 Fear in the Fens and we're delighted that he's coming back this year.
Jim Peters
Jim Peters was one of the first to be recruited as an administrator for the then newly formed Folk Horror Revival in 2014 – a group that started out as a page on Facebook but now has over 20,000 members worldwide.
As well as hosting their own events across the UK and publishing books on the subject of Folk Horror the admins often speak at events and give interviews to help open up the world of Folk Horror to a wider audience.
Jim has been involved in the shadowy and fearful side of music for many years, remixing and producing, creating mixes under the title of `Melmoth The Wanderer’ and also with his own solo project `Septimus Keen’ and as a part of the mysterious musical collective known as `The Mortlake Bookclub’.
He has just completed work on the first major publication about the music of Folk Horror - which should be out later this year. During the day Jim is a Collections Manager at The British Museum (where he organised last year’s sell out Folk Horror Revival event) and is lucky enough to be responsible for the care of such magnificent objects as the Lewis Chessmen, Lindow Man – the Iron Age bog body, The Sutton Hoo ship burial and Dr John Dee’s mirror among many other delights.
