The city that built the Titanic

Heritage Malta, in collaboration with the British High Commission, is organising a public lecture by Roger Dixon, the head of the Library and Document Archive at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museums.

Among the treasures in his care are the maritime archives, which include plans and other documents relating to many of the world's most famous ships including the Titanic. Mr Dixon also writes, lectures and broadcasts regularly on the history and culture of Northern Ireland.

Mr Dixon is particularly interested in using digitisation to bring together diverse collections to help illuminate the past. He chairs the Newsplan project which is charged with preserving Northern Ireland's historic newspaper collections through microfilming and digitisation.

Mr Dixon has been a member of the New Opportunities Fund Expert Panel on Digitisation, Chairman of the Library and Information Services Council and a member of the British Library Advisory Council. He is currently a member of the Cabinet Office Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information and is Chairman of a multi million pound Public Private Partnership to rebuild Belfast's schools. He was awarded the MBE in 2004 for services to museums.

The Titanic was built in Belfast and it left the Harland and Wolff Shipyard on April 2, 1912. Thirteen days later the liner sank on its maiden voyage with a loss of over 1500 lives.

Mr Dixon's lecture will be entitled: "Belfast, The City that Built the Titanic - How we illuminate our past" and will be held at the St. Angelo Hall of the Malta Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Admission is free of charge. For further information, contact Heritage Malta on 2295-4000.