Date & Time
Saturday 10 October, 12pm – 6pm
Guests
Members are welcome to bring a guest
Dress code
Smart casual with membership pins
Parking
Limited parking will be available on the Queens’ Road Playing Fields from 9am until 9pm. Vehicles are left at the owner’s risk.
Booking deadline
Monday 21 September
Terms and Conditions
Please review our event terms and conditions and our Alumni Code of Behaviour.
General information
For further information, or if you have any questions, please contact us at: beaufortsociety@joh.cam.ac.uk
Beaufort Society
Annual Meeting 2026
The Master of St John’s College, Heather Hancock, and the President of the Beaufort Society, The Rt Hon Sir Richard Aikens, are pleased to invite you to the Annual Meeting of the Beaufort Society on Saturday 10 October. This event is an opportunity for the College to thank you personally for your continued generosity and support of St John’s.
Programme
12pm: Champagne on arrival in the Central Hall, Old Divinity School. Welcome note from the Master, Heather Hancock.
1pm: Lunch in Hall
3.30pm: Afternoon lecture with Professor Simon Conway Morris, Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John’s in the Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
No extraterrestrials and unique humans: what on earth is going on?
Evolutionary convergence, such as the independent origins of the octopus and human camera-eyes, was until recently largely over-looked, but is now mainstream. Two potential consequences are: a) if large brains, warm-bloodedness, bipedality, precision grip, etc have all arisen multiple times (and they have) then something like a human seems to be a likely product of evolution across the galaxy (and beyond). But “out there” it is very, very quiet. As the physicist Enrico Fermi asked: “Where are they?” b) humans are patently descended from the great apes and Darwin sensibly insisted the differences were one of degree not kind. Unfortunately this seems very unlikely. Of all the animals only humans have language, only they teach and so too revel (at least in St John’s) in wrestling with abstract realities. No animal has the foggiest idea of such concepts. How did humans break into these new realms? Hush! I see philosophers and theologians approaching.
4.45pm: Tea and cake in the Senior Combination Room.
5.45pm: Event closes.
6.30pm: Evensong in the Chapel.
