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 Sleeping and dreaming is the subject of the latest exhibition at Wellcome Collection.  Designed, one would think, for those who prefer going to bed with the proverbial lark to rising with it.  In fact an alarming number of the exhibits are for the insomniac and relate to the dangers of sleep deprivation, about which we know more than sleep itself. The exhibition features the salutary tale of the New York DJ who stayed awake for over 200 hours broadcasting from a booth in Times Square . It was a high price to pay for fame. His life and career went into freefall and friends said that after the stunt he was never the same again.

Interested in the arts? Then why not join NADFAS…

Founded in 1968, NADFAS is an arts-based charity whose aim is the advancement of arts education and appreciation and the preservation of our artistic heritage. There are over 340 local Decorative and Fine Arts Societies in the UK and mainland Europe . 

Local societies promote these aims through lectures on the fine and decorative arts in their widest sense, through study days, visits and tours and through volunteering activities, such as Church Recorders, Heritage Volunteers and Young Arts and the giving of grants.

The London contemporary art world – until recently a poor relative of New York , Paris and almost every other major capital – found a new internationalism following the inauguration of Tate Modern in 2000. Now that the building has been deemed inadequate to deal with its 5million annual visitors, planning permission was given earlier this year for a massive extension by Herzog and de Meuron, the architects behind the original transformation from power station to top London tourist destination. Like all London architectural projects, it is due to be completed in time for the 2012 Olympics.

Nicholas Barber is one of our members. He is chairman of the Ashmolean museum. Founded in 1683, the Ashmolean is the oldest museum in Britain .  The collections include the largest and most important selection of Raphael drawings in the world, the greatest collection of Egyptian pre-Dynastic material outside Cairo , the finest Anglo-Saxon treasures beyond the British Museum and the only great Minoan collection outside Heraklion.  It is located in the centre of Oxford and is part of the university

It all began one night in 1959 when I went to see a variety show for the first and only time. The venue was the Finsbury Park Empire in North London . Those were the dying days of live entertainment due to the increasing popularity of the cathode ray tube – that’s television to you and me