What's On

We are delighted to announce a Festival in collaboration with the University of Oxford and Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, “Read Between The Lines: From Hieroglyphs to Emojis” on Tuesday 11th November, 3.30 – 5.30pm at Cheney School – followed by a Labyrinth escape!

The “Read Between The Lines” event (but not the Labyrinth Escape) will be British Sign Language interpreted.

Emojis, scare quotes, cartouches in Egyptian hieroglyphs, and many more elements of written texts exist between, around, or on top of the words themselves, and help us read between the lines.

They may provide emotional cues, let the writer use a word without quite “believing” in it, tell us what to focus on, or make the name of an important person like Tutankhamun stand out… This event will celebrate ancient and modern inventions for reading between the lines!

Activities will include experiments on ancient and modern writing, designing your own emoji, deciphering a Linear B tablet, making a cuneiform or an Egyptian hieroglyphic text look professional…all with Minoan dancing, facepainting and refreshments!

At 3.05pm, 4pm, and 5pm, there will be a ten-minute performance of a fun new play, “Where have the ancient emojis gone?”, directed by Paul O’Mahony and followed by a discussion with experts on all sorts of symbols.

The whole event will be followed by a very exciting Labyrinth Escape Show at 5.30pm – not to be missed!

The event is free and open to all ages. We welcome school groups as well as individuals and families. To book, please fill in this form. If you have any questions, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This project has been supported by the University of Oxford’s PCER Fund; the Philological Society; the TORCH Performance Research Hub (University of Oxford); the Faculty of Classics (University of Oxford); the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology & Phonetics (University of Oxford); the Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies (University of Oxford); Wolfson College, Oxford; the Institute of Classical Studies; the General Fund for Assyriology (University of Oxford); the Iris Project; and the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies.

We are delighted to announce a first event of its kind organised by the Rumble Museum at Cheney School.

Nature Late will celebrate the world of nature on site at Cheney through talks, workshops, stalls, activities and exhibitions. The schedule is as follows:

6 - 6.30pm - "Saving Our Insects" - opening talk by Professor Dave Goulson.

6 - 8pm - Ecology Festival for all ages with a large range of science and nature-themed stalls and activities

8 - 11pm - Moth Night - FULLY BOOKED

You can read the full brochure for the event here.

If you would like to attend any part of the event, please fill in this form. 

It is free and aimed at all ages. There will be live performances by artists Rachel Sophia and Mac Palazon & David Nebres, refreshments and a wide number of stalls and activities, crafts, talks and workshops.

Our new collection of bird prints around Oxford will also be available to view and purchase.

The Rumble Museum regularly organises a very wide range of speakers to deliver talks on all sorts of topics. Recent ones have included A.I., medicine, economics, astronomy, neuroscience and the role of religion in public life. You can listen again to some of our recent talks below by clicking on the images.