salon london's ma cherie amour

Art & Culture

Salon London brings the 16th century social salon bang up-to-date, with guest speakers from science, the arts and psychology.

Salon London is one of those ideas thats so good, R$N wishes it had thought of it first. This throughly modern update of the 16th century salon combines our love of the arts (well, we read) with a healthy dose of psychology (well, weve read American Psycho) and some very palatable science (er, come back to us in a minute). Nights out that are both educational and entertaining are few and far between, lets be honest, but Salon London manages to get world-class speakers for its events; this time they boast two former Salon favourites (forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes and Professor Kevin Dutton) alongside newcomer ( and wine expert / writer / broadcaster) Jane Parkinson to present Ma Cherie Amour.

First off, Kerry Daynes will address Love as a Mental Illness i.e. the scientific fact that people who are in love and people who are insane share many of the same traits; when it comes to brain waves, that is. Terrified? You should be and apparently if youre that scared, youre also more likely to fall in love, so probably best to check this out, just to be on the safe side. Dont worry though, you can trust Kerry; as a forensic psychologist shes given legal testimony on everything from Hannibal Lectors to people who cant stop shoplifting, so your hearts in safe hands.

Next up, the booze…, er the arts side of the evening, with Jane Parkinsons guide to Spanish Fino. Turns out theres more to this misunderstood beverage (fino means fine in Spanish) than the stuff your nan drinks, which is why you currently cant move in Soho without being offered some

Then finally we get on to the psychos, always a Salon London fave Professor Kevin Dutton (Fellow of St Edmunds College, Cambridge presents The Wisdom of Psychopaths, a theme he has literally written the book on. Psychopaths can be charming, persuasive, entertaining and very, very good at getting what they want. So far, so useful, just keep a hold of your conscience whatever you do

Salon Londons Ma Cherie Amour takes place at the Adam Street members club on Thursday 4th April from 7.30pm.

Check out the Salon London website here for further details.

Manu Ekanyake