The recent observation of gravitational waves by LIGO has revived interest in the work on the theory of gravitational radiation done at King's and elsewhere in the 1950's and early 60's. It is well known that after predicting gravitational waves in 1916 Einstein became uncertain about their physical reality. It wasn't until the 1950's and early 60's that their physical status was clarified. Important contributions to the development of the theory of gravitational radiation were made at this time by members of the King's relativity group such as Hermann Bondi, Felix Pirani and Roger Penrose. In 1958 Andrzej Trautman from Leopold Infeld's relativity group in Warsaw delivered a series of highly influential lectures on gravitational radiation at King's. In this talk the work of the Warsaw group, and Trautman in particular, will be discussed and its influence on the development of gravitational wave theory will be explained. Refreshments will be available after the lecture. Please RSVP to: D C Robinson david.c.robinson@kcl.ac.uk