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PODCAST

Gresham College Lectures

Gresham College

Gresham College has been providing free public lectures since 1597, making us London"s oldest higher education institution. This podcast offers our recorded lectures that are free to access from the Gresham College website, or our YouTube channel.

education

All Episodes

52:27

The Sondheim Showstopper: ‘Send in the Clowns -...

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/10/25

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/gtCsGQ14nU0This lecture examines ‘Send in the Clowns’, probably the most commercially successful song written by the revered Stephen Sondheim. Yet it confounds the expectations of a showstopper by being written for an actress of limited singing ability, the late Glynis Johns. This lecture reflects on how it works in the context the musical A Little Night Music and explores how it came to be covered by major singers including Frank Sinatra, Judy...

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51:11

Is the Public Lecture Dead? - Martin Elliott

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/10/22

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/wiAFxEnq8t4Gresham College has been delivering public lectures since 1597 through times of great social, political and technological change. Its commitment to deliver lectures for free to the general public has led to intermittent financial challenges to its generous sponsors. The arrival of the internet, mobile devices and social media have offered both opportunity and further challenge.In an era supposedly characterised by shorter atten...

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43:38

How do we secure Europe? - Catherine Ashton

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/10/22

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/YltPv0VUFgQWith the ongoing war in Ukraine, long-term planning for security in Europe is essential. What will be the role of NATO, EU enlargement, and the support of the UK to ensure a Europe of peace and prosperity? Against the backdrop of Russian aggression, potential changes in US policy and rising populism, what elements will constitute a new European security architecture?This lecture was recorded by Baroness Catherine Ashton&n...

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41:21

Do Microbes have Immune Systems? - Robin May

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/10/11

Watch the Q&A session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDRNuI4VwmkWe often think of immunity as being a human, or at least mammalian, phenomenon. But in fact almost all living organisms have some form of immune system. In this lecture we’ll lift the lid on the astonishingly diverse immune mechanisms used by bacteria, amoebae, nematodes and many other microbial forms of life in their constant battle against viruses and each other.This lecture was recorded by Robin May on 2nd October 2...

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51:58

How to raise the Net Zero conversation - Myles Allen

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/10/08

Watch the Q&A session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKaTcobzidkIn a year of elections, climate change is emerging as a divisive political issue, and in many countries for the first time. This may be partly a consequence of past efforts to keep it apolitical through over-reliance on stealth policies and technocratic institutions. This lecture will discuss the need political debate about climate and the calls for an emphasis on “third way” climate solutions, designed to appeal to th...

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44:49

Were Laws created by Greek Legends? - Melissa Lane

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/10/04

While Lycurgus of Sparta and Solon of Athens are now the best-known lawgivers of Greek antiquity, there were many others, from king Minos in Crete to Zaleucus and Charondas in southern Italy. This lecture explores the specific roles attributed to Greek lawgivers in fact and legend, revealing how and why they captured later political imaginations – with mention of how some even set laws to music.This lecture was recorded by Melissa Lane on 26th September 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Meli...

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36:31

Human Rights Law: Bringing Power to the Powerless -...

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/10/01

This first lecture looks at the power that is given to advocates in a country that has a constitutional structure like the US. I have brought The American Constitution powers an American lawyer in ways unavailable to the British. I will illustrate this difference from my own experience of bringing 88 cases against the President of the US. I have thus far lost just one.This lecture was recorded by Clive Stafford Smith on 19th September 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Clive is the Gres...

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45:27

What is Modern Paganism? - Ronald Hutton

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/09/23

What is modern Paganism, and how does it relate to witchcraft, Druidry and other phenomena? This lecture is designed to answer that question, and in doing so to provide an overview of the different traditions that make up Paganism today. It will show what they have in common, and what makes each one unique. It will suggest the ways in which Paganism differs from other religious traditions and what it has especially to offer the modern world. It will also address the question of its relationsh...

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55:07

Does having a big brain make your smarter? - Alain...

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/09/20

Watch the Q&A session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFCDvsq6N5gFor centuries scientists have tried to identify what is special about the human brain. How do we approach this problem from a mathematical standpoint? The first hypothesis is that bigger is better, in some sense. In this introductory lecture, scaling laws and simple ideas from statistics will be used to study this problem, both in humans and animals, as well as uncover some basic principles that govern brain size ...

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44:15

A Mirror in the Sky - Chris Lintott

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/09/17

The first lecture in the series considers the most famous telescope of all, the Hubble space telescope. A project more than forty years in the making, Hubble overcame an initial disaster with a misshapen mirror to drive a revolution in every part of astronomy, providing iconic views of everything from a comet crashing into Jupiter to a surprisingly vibrant, distant Universe. This lecture focuses in particular on what Hubble has revealed about the life - and death - of stars.This lecture was r...

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35:29

The Stories We Make Up & The Stories That Make Us -...

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/09/06

Many decades ago, as a young graduate from drama school, I was presented with a stark choice – either to shape my story myself, through writing, or to feel aggrieved at the detrimental narratives circulating about people like me in Britain at that time. I chose the latter, and in this talk I will talk about how story-making is a conscious act of speaking ourselves into being - drawing on literature, theatre and the visual arts.This lecture was recorded by Bernardine Evaristo on 25th June 2024 at

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36:55

Does the UK Constitution need reform? - Charles...

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/08/21

The Gray's Inn Reading 2024Does the UK’s constitution provide too much freedom for those that wish to abuse it? Specific examples of this might include Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s lawbreaking during COVID, the selection of Liz Truss as Prime Minister, the ability of the Government to force controversial policies (such as the Rwanda Bill) and the sacking of the Cabinet Secretaries and Permanent Secretaries. Or does the UK constitution, perhaps in contrast to that of the United States and many

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39:34

Plato's Cave: Thinking about Climate Change - Melissa...

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/08/09

In The Republic, Plato explores the predicament of the Cave: a passive citizen body, a conniving and self-interested set of sophistic opinion-formers and demagogic political leaders, a systematically misleading and damaging order of political structures and common beliefs and appetites.Does this have lessons for tackling climate change? In clinging to our current way of life and its fossil-fuel infrastructure, are we trapping ourselves in a modern version of Plato’s Cave—and if so, how might we

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41:56

The Bloomsbury Group: A Queer History - Nino Strachey

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/08/02

This lecture will explore the world of the second Bloomsbury generation, delving into the intricacies of being young and queer in the 1920s, and how their open way of living and loving is still relevant to our present day. Lesser known than their predecessors, they continued the celebration of freedom of expression and creativity.The lecture will introduce artists and intellectuals such as Eddy Sackville-West, Stephen Tomlin and Julia Strachey, who led an unapologetic life by pushing gender

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53:24

Are Financial Markets Efficient? - Raghavendra Rau

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/07/26

One of the crucial ideas in finance is that markets are efficient – that they fully reflect all available information. If so, what about market bubbles?Over the last year, people have been willing to pay exorbitant amounts for extremely odd assets such as Non-Fungible Tokens, meme stocks etc. Why do they do this?This lecture will explore some investors’ systematic behavioural biases, and how these can be used to predict returns.This lecture was recorded by Raghavendra Rau on 10th June 2024 at

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48:48

Witch-Hunting in European and World History - Ronald...

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/07/22

This lecture confronts the worldwide phenomenon of the persecution of suspected witches, now a serious, contemporary problem condemned by the UN in 2021.It will show what has been unusual about Europe in this global pattern, and why the notorious early modern witch hunts there commenced and ended.This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on 5th June 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, LondonThe transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College

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51:09

A Mathematician's View of Proof - Sarah Hart

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/07/12

The idea of proof is fundamental to mathematics. We could argue that science consists of testable theories, and therefore that it is about what can be disproved, not what can be proved. In law, the test is “beyond reasonable doubt”.Famous conjectures in mathematics have been tested by computers for trillions of numbers – but we still call them conjectures.In this lecture we’ll talk about what mathematicians mean by proof, and I’ll show you some of my favourites.This lecture was recorded by Sarah

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57:20

Experts in politics: Lessons from Socrates and...

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/07/09

Socrates sought to test the expertise of everyone around him: the bombastic know-it-alls, the bashful youths, the confident generals, those (including the enslaved) with unsuspected mathematical competence, the workaday artisans. Aristotle later explored the ways in which expert claims can be made credible to popular judgement.This lecture considers the role of experts in contributing to public debate in a democracy, bringing Aristotle's work on rhetoric to bear on norms for expert

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59:40

First light: Revealing the Early Universe - Chris...

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/07/02

The final lecture in the series returns to the theme of how insight is derived from observations, considering the cosmic microwave background.This oldest light in the Universe, emitted just 400,000 years after the Big Bang, contains the seeds of the structures we see around us, and tells us about conditions at the Universe's beginning.It will also consider how measurements of the Universe's expansion, made using the CMB, are leading to unexpected results, creating tension in modern

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70:54

Race, Disability & Education: Law's Uphill Battle -...

Gresham College Lectures ·

2024/06/24

This lecture traces the history of race and disability law in the English education system. It examines the impact of discriminatory policies on Black children, children of colour, and disabled children, and how narratives around race and disability have changed.The lecture questions why inequality persists and explores possible solutions.This lecture was recorded by Leslie Thomas KC on 23rd May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, LondonThe transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham

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178 results

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