Dear all,
The first half of the 2019-20 programme has seen some very interesting lectures and big attendances. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, the committee made a major effort to involve schools with the selection of topics. Our decision to focus on the Tudor period was a response to their input. The two Tudor lectures drew a very pleasing number of attendees from a good range of schools. The other schools focused Historical Association event was a non-public round of the Great Debate Historical Association speech contest. The event was hosted by St John’s School, Leatherhead. It was a really excellent evening. The venue was ideal and the standard of the talks was very high. We had nine candidates from seven schools and colleges. The topic was “Should we judge historical figures by the morals of today?” The winner was James Perkins from St. Johns. One teacher who attended the national final last year commented that she thought the standard at the heat was higher than at the final. It was a very encouraging evening.
The second half of our programme offers, I think, a good balance between the historic, the modern and the contemporary and between national and international. I suspect that these presentations will engender lively Q & A sessions. Please note the additional presentation in June. Dr. Blick will attempt to put Brexit into some constitutional framework. I have to sympathise with his comment, ’Quite what I will be talking about is as yet unclear!’ History in the making.
Tuesday 21 January 2020:
‘Donald Trump in Historical Perspective’
Speaker: Professor Tony Badger, President of the Historical Association (University of Northumbria)
Tuesday 25 February 2020:
‘Aspects of American Foreign Policy in the Nuclear Age’
Speaker: Dr Jonathan Hunt, Lecturer of Modern Global History (University of Southampton)
Tuesday 17 March 2020:
‘The Crisis of the Tudor Throne 1540-60’
Speaker: Dr Lucy Wooding, Langford Fellow and Tutor in History (Lincoln College, Oxford)
Tuesday 28 April 2020
‘Accidental Death in Tudor Surrey: How People Died Reveals Much About How They Lived’
Speaker: Professor Steven Gunn, Professor of Early Modern History (Merton College, Oxford)
Tuesday 19 May 2020:
‘When Does an Empire Truly End? Exploring India’s Imperial Ties in the Decades after Independence’
Speaker: Dr Taylor Sherman, Associate Professor, Department of International History (LSE)
Tuesday 9 June 2020:
Brexit and the Stretching of the Constitution-The Brexit Shock in Historic Perspective
Dr Andrew Blick, Reader in Politics and Contemporary History and Director of the Centre for British Politics and Government, King’s College London.
Chris Mitchinson
Chairman