Karin Fernald is an actor, writer and entertaining speaker who researches and creates a vivid picture of a historical character and period. An established speaker for the Arts Society (National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies.), Karin is known for her lively lectures on charismatic wits, diarists and writers from the 18th and 19th centuries. All her subjects are connected with the fine arts; some - Queen Victoria, Hans Christian Andersen - are artists themselves. Karin's entertaining lectures and shows are illustrated with a wide variety of pictures, portraits and caricatures of the day. She has taken them round the world.

Karin began in the theatre, where she played roles ranging from Sally Bowles in CABARET to the Dormouse in ALICE IN WONDERLAND. On TV she played Anne Forsyte in THE FORSYTE SAGA. On radio she compiled a programme on the celebrated potter Bernard Leach for BBC Radio 3, shortlisted for a Prix Italia. Her comically illustrated children's book on the youth of Queen Victoria was published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books, was shortlisted for a Young Quills award and can be found on the English Heritage website.

Among Karin’s many subjects are Florence Nightingale, Queen Victoria, Dr Samuel Johnson, Hans Christian Andersen, Virginia Woolf and Jane Austen, on whom she has 3 powerpoint lectures– JANE AUSTEN AT HOME; JANE AUSTEN AND THE SEA; JANE AUSTEN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. She is currently working on 2 new lectures for the Arts Society; NOT A DOG IN LONDON BUT KNOWS HIM on the Victorian animal painter Edwin Landseer, and ENGLISH WOMEN IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. Next May she tours Australia for the Arts Society.

Click here to visit Karin's website >> www.karinfernald.com

1. Three lectures on Hans Christian Andersen, all with paintings of his day and illustrations to the Stories.

1a Hans Christian Andersen, wit, writer, traveller; a biographical sketch..
1b Hans Christian Andersen, storyteller; with origins of some famous stories including THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES
1c Hans Christian Andersen, artist; with Andersen's sketches and beautiful papercuts; and with some of his poems set to music by Scandinavian composers.

2. "I was most excessively delighted" - Young Queen Victoria's watercolours & hilarious diaries

3. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; their enjoyable friendships with artists at their court

4. Florence Nightingale's concerns in youth and age; before and after the Crimean War: letters & diaries, with drawings by family & friends.

5. Fanny Burney, superb diarist, novelist, lady in waiting to King George lll from diaries and letters, with caricatures, paintings & portraits of the day

6. Jane Austen: letters, life & lesser-known works, with sketches and watercolours

7. Virginia Woolf, an evening with the great Bloomsbury novelist, feminist and raconteur NO SLIDES

8. The Trees Wave, the Clouds Pass - Virginia Woolf on Life & Art: works by Vanessa Bell & the Camden Group WITH SLIDES

9. Dr Johnson & Hester Thrale, Blue Stocking & Wit - with paintings & caricatures of the day

10. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel "The Black-Brow'd Cantor." Felix Mendelssohn's composer sister, with pictures by Caspar David Friedrich and music by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel.

11. Benjamin Robert Haydon, the tragi-comic tale of the history painter & diarist (1786-1846), with paintings of the day

12. Perdita Robinson: Actress, Poet, Fashion Icon mistress of the future King George lV, with paintings, portraits and caricatures of the day.

Karin lectured on SAGA PEARL ll throughout a Xmas Cruise of the Mediterranean in 2014-15. In 2016 she lectured on BRAEMAR for Fred Olsen on a tour of German Waterways. In 2017 she again lectured for Fred Olsen on the BALMORAL, cruising from A Coruna to Bilbao, Spain.

The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.