| Where | Great Broughton Village Hall | Type of Event | Illustrated Talk |
| When | Monday 16th April 2018 at 7.30 pm | Tutor | Chris Lloyd |
This lecture was delivered by Chris Lloyd, of the Northern Echo and Chief Feature Writer of the Darlington & Stockton Times.
I suspect that for many of us we were not especially aware of WT Stead. But this man was clearly larger than life. He became editor of the Northern Echo at the remarkable age of 22 years. A campaigning editor who “attacked the Devil”, otherwise known as anyone of whom he disapproved. His forthright articles, in which he did not mince his words, made him famous. He attacked child abuse, both in articles and public speaking, murderesses and Bulgaria. He even managed to be convicted and sent to prison for his efforts, an achievement of which he appeared to be proud. Later in life he became a spiritualist and it was this which led to his ill-fated voyage on the Titanic. He was one of the 1517 people who died in the disaster, largely because of a shortage of lifeboats, which, it is claimed, he predicted in an article in 1866.
What also surprised some of the audience was the connection between Darlington and the building of the Titanic. Darlington Forge Limited built parts of the ship. Tiny Tim, a large forge hammer, is to be found at the Beamish Museum.
This was a polished talk which kept the attention of the audience throughout. A lively question session followed.