Past Lectures & Visits

Another popular former speaker, Dr Robert Saunders, returns. Having previously spoken to us about Chartism – when he unforgettably broke into song – and Margaret Thatcher, on this visit he will address "The scum gathers when the nation boils": Sir Robert Peel, the Corn Laws and the Crisis of Conservatism. Dr Saunders is Reader in Modern British History at Queen ...
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Dr Eleanor Parker of Brasenose College, Oxford, will deliver a lecture on the subject of her recent book, Conquered: Last Children of Anglo-Saxon England. Dr Parker will take a novel angle on a well-covered period by focusing on the lives of children whose lives were turned upside down by the extraordinary events of 1066. Dr Parker’s book has been widely ...
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In February we turn to a subject that has been somewhat neglected in previous programmes: Twentieth Century Spain. Dr David Brydan from King’s College London will discuss Uncivil Peace: Politics, Repression and Memory in Spain since 1939. Dr Brydan is a member of the Centre for the Study of Internationalism as well as a Reviews Editor for Contemporary European History ...
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Professor Penelope Corfield is President of the International Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, as well as Emeritus Professor at Royal Holloway, University of London. Following the publication of her wide-ranging new book, The Georgians, earlier this year, she will address The New Aristocracy of Talent in Eighteenth-Century Britain - and What it Meant ...
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Our last lecture of the year will see Professor David Stevenson from the London School of Economics discuss The Marshall Plan after Seventy-Five Years. His books on various aspects of twentieth century history have been widely acclaimed and Professor Stevenson has been one of our favourite speakers for many years. This lecture will be on Zoom as Professor Stevenson is ...
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Julian Pooley is Public Services and Engagement Manager at Surrey History Centre as well as Visiting Fellow at the University of Leicester.  Julian will deliver a lecture entitled The Gentleman’s Magazine: A Panorama of Georgian England, which will be richly embellished by his research into the period in Surrey and beyond. This lecture is postponed until the new year ...
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Professor Anne Curry, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of Southampton, returns to the branch for the first time since 2006 when she compared Agincourt and Bosworth. On this visit she will address English views of Joan of Arc from the 15th to 21st centuries. Vice-President of the Royal Historical Society and formerly President of the Historical Association ...
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Giles Milton on the topic of his book Checkmate in Berlin. Mr. Milton is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a renowned author who specialises in narrative history. The Times described Milton as being able to “take an event from history and make it come alive”. His lecture will tell the story of the epic first clash of ...
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Annie Garthwaite. Author of the highly acclaimed historical novel CECILY. Hailed by some as the new Hilary Mantel. Cecily Neville, the 15th century's most powerful matriarch.   How to write a historical novel and how women exerted power and influence in the late Medieval period. Cecily-mother of two kings-Edward IV and Richard III, wife of the most powerful noble, as a ...
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Dr Elena Woodacre, Reader in Renaissance History, University of Winchester on Queens as co-rulers: Examining power sharing and ruling partnerships in the premodern world ...
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George Morton-Jack. The Indian Empire at War. The response to the publication of The Indian Army at War, a ground breaking account of the role of the Indian Army in World War 1, was almost universal acclaim. "Extraordinarily original" Max Hastings; "Superb Revelatory and written with brilliant verve” Andrew Roberts; “Fills a gap that should have been dealt with long ...
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