By the flamboyant tomb of Lionel Lockyer in Southwark Cathedral, discover how words, wit and wild claims once sold miracle cures.

Step into the world of Lionel Lockyer, Southwark’s richest charlatan, who claimed he could bottle sunbeams and sell them as pills. Quack doctors like Lockyer thrived not only on their concoctions but also on their captivating language: extravagant promises, venomous rivalries and flagarant self-promotion.

In this workshop, set beside Lockyer’s ornate tomb in Southwark Cathedral, you will explore the colourful history of miracle cures and medical showmanship. Then, drawing on the wit and invention of quackery, you will create your own poetic remedy, a recipe in verse designed to charm, dazzle and heal through the power of words.

About Michelle Lovric

Michelle Lovric is a novelist, poet and non-fiction writer whose work explores Venice, art and the history of medicine. Her adult novels include The Book of Human Skin (a TV Book Club pick) and The Remedy (longlisted for the Women’s Prize). For children, she wrote The Undrowned Child and sequels. She co-authored the bestselling memoir My Sister Milly about Milly Dowler. A Royal Literary Fund Fellow and a Companion of the Guild of St George, she lives between London and Venice, and is active in community and environmental causes in both places.