Get ready for a delightfully edifying, amusing and sensational talk by Judith Bowers about the entertainment and theatre history of Glasgow.

You will discover tales of ghostly pipers, dancing bears, flea circuses, executions (once the only permitted entertainment in the city), Penny Geggies, the first theatres of Glasgow and some of the celebrities who have visited the city throughout its history.

Fundraising Talks for Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival 2026

This enchanting talk linked to our festival theme: Glasgow Goes Out: The Places That Made Us is the second of three special fundraising events organised by Glasgow Building Preservation Trust (GBPT) at the Festival Hub in the ARC, University of Glasgow, to raise money to support the sustainability of Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival.

Tickets are £11.70 each, with all proceeds after transaction fees will go directly to GBPT, a Registered Scottish Charity (SC015443) and proud organiser of the festival for the last 37 years. Your support will directly help us keep Scotland’s largest free community and heritage festival free, accessible and thriving for years to come.

Judith Bowers Biography

Although originally from Weymouth in Dorset, on the southwest coast of England, I have been in Scotland since 1986, and I love it! The people, the culture, the history, the romance, the shopping, the architecture and the breathtakingly majestic scenery make this tiny country a massive joy to live in and visit.

My working life began as a field archaeologist. This career gave me the opportunity to travel across Scotland for four years, working on a Roman Fort, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Viking settlements.

I changed career to tour guide when I moved to Glasgow in 1991 and founded the Spirit of Glasgow Tour Company. I offered walking tours, including: The Ghost Tour, Victorian Square Mile of Murder, Afternoon Tea Tour and Historic Pub Tour  - all with a theatrical flair. In 1995 I also became a guide with Scotguide Tours & Services (now City Sightseeing) and gained experience taking visitors across Scotland.

In 1997 my life changed forever when I opened an old door and found a long-forgotten theatre. The experience was so profound I began a campaign to save it. Today the theatre is open to the public as the world's oldest surviving music hall, the Britannia Panopticon, and is famous for the debut of a teenage Stan Laurel.

During my years of campaigning for the music hall, I have provided talks and tours for various Probus, Rotary, Soroptomists, Universities, historic societies, U3As, church guilds and social groups across the west of Scotland. I have also presented talks in the City Varieties in Leeds and Hale’s Ales Palladium in Seattle.  

Books and Publications

The Magic Lantern Trilogy– historic novels; a time travelling adventure series set in the Panopticon and inspired by one of Glasgow’s most notorious unsolved murders from 1908. Books 1 and 2 are now available, book 3 will be out in February 2027 ( self-published with Jasami Publishing & Productions CIC)

Glasgow’s Lost Theatre – with Foreword by Michael Grade(book published by Birlinn). A history of the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall published in 2014. Now available on Amazon Kindle

Stan Laurel and Other Stars of the Panopticon (book published by Birlinn) 2007

Obscure History of the Merchant City (pamphlet printed by Glasgow City Council and GCHT)

The Best of Edinburgh and Glasgow (travel/shopping guide published by Absolute Press)

Sir Percival, 42 and the Dragon from Mars (self-published children's book illustrated by Becca McCall).

Papers:

Publication name: Capturing the Essence of Performance(SIBMAS 2008) – paper title: Intangible Britannia

Publication name: The Old Glasgow Club Centennial Book (OldGlasgow Club 1999) – paper title: Life in Old Ghosts

In addition to the aforementioned publications Judith has also written the historical text for the wall on the ground floor of the City Halls.

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