By Joel Frady

Ever wonder about the history of wine, or who the first people to use it were? How did wine develop, or what is

America's contribution to it?

Anyone who has wondered about any of these questions can find out the answers, and more, when "stand-up scholar" Elliot Engel returns to the Ashe Arts Center in West Jefferson on Thursday, March 12, to give his presentation The History and Mystery of Wine.

Engel, a former English professor at N.C. State University, has been making the trip to Ashe County for several years and given presentations on topics like Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and the history of the English language.

Jane Lonon, executive director of the Ashe County Arts Council, said that Engel brings a lecture-style format and has amassed a "tremendous following, year after year" in the county.

Lonon said, of Engel's previous performance of The Genius of Mark Twain, "what he brings is about a 45-minute presentation on any number of authors or subjects. It's not that he's performing as Mark Twain, but he's giving you more facts and figures about Twain than you ever thought imaginable.

She later noted that Engel's presentations are "one of those things that you have to sit through to see how absolutely fascinating it is."

Engel described his act as "a combination of anecdotes, analysis and large doses of humor." He noted that someone once called him "a stand-up scholar, and that's probably what I am."

He said that he has over 80 topics that he has written lectures about, many inspired by foreign travels. Still, he feels each lecture needs the proper topic.

"I only pick topics that people know something about, but not much," he said. "Nobody is a good enough speaker to pick something completely obscure and think you can make it interesting. All my topics are something everyone's heard of and are interested in."

While Engel has been giving these lectures for years, it was actually something he stumbled upon. While still full-time with N.C. State, the university asked Engel to travel and help attract high school students to the university.

"The university really launched me into it because they wanted me to give talks to high school students that would be entertaining and educational," he said. He spoke to students around the state and also with county Ag Extension offices (which are affiliated with N.C. State) when "a few national speaker's bureaus heard me and picked me up."

Since then, he has traveled across the nation performing - he said that 80 percent of his work is out of state - but loves returning places with new material.

"I'd much rather go back to a group I've already done with a new topic than to find a new group for my same old topic," he said.

In addition to Thursday night's performance, Engel will also perform A Light History of the English Language for students at Ashe County High School and The Tortured Genius of Edgar Allen Poe at Ashe County Middle School on Thursday.

Engel will perform The History and Mystery of Wine at 7 p.m. on Thursday. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Representatives from New River Winery will also be holding a wine tasting for an additional charge.

To find out more, contact the arts council at (336) 846-2787. To find out more about Engel, click to www.authorsink.com.