Gresham College Lectures

The Immigration Act 1971: Celebrated or Flawed?

30 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Commonwealth citizens once enjoyed the right to live, work and settle in the UK without any restrictions. But a racist backlash against Black and Asia...

Early Universe

29 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture will examine the evidence for and the significance of events that unfolded in the early Universe. "Early" here refers to within...

Apes in Science Fiction

27 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Because apes seem most like humans, science fiction has used them as a mirror in which to view ourselves. The philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau saw in...

Modernism Rampant: Shostakovich and Mosolov

23 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The most outrageous Russian modernist composers of the 1920s were Dmitry Shostakovich in Leningrad, and Alexander Mosolov in Moscow. They were not mer...

The Failure of the First Protestant Missionaries

22 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's usually said that Protestant and evangelical Christians made very little missionary effort in the 16th-18th centuries. In fact, there was mu...

How to Save and Invest

21 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture will explore the essentials of financial planning. What are the different ways to save and invest, such as bank accounts, bonds, shares, ...

Mars Missions 2021: Early Discoveries

20 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Three new missions arrived at Mars in February 2021, to look at weather, water and life. This lecture looks at new results from the UAE's Hope mi...

Nostalgia and Music

16 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The music we listened to when we were young makes us feel emotional and often nostalgic, transporting us to a particular time and place. Composers ove...

The Spanish Culture of Charles I's Court

15 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1623, Charles I (as heir to the throne) made a secret and hazardous trip to Madrid to win the hand of a Spanish princess. For eight months he was t...

Complexity and the Law

17 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Common Law was conceived as a thing comprising beautiful and simple principles. Has English law and procedure lost its way? Where are we to go in ...

Private Palaces: The Mansions of the Marlboroughs

15 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Due to the Duke of Marlborough's military genius and the crush that Queen Anne had on his wife, the duchess, the Marlboroughs were presented with...

The Barbican Centre at 40 - Past, Present and Future

10 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nicholas Kenyon looks back at the development of one of the most distinctive buildings of our time, shedding new light on its origins, looking at the ...

England's Radical Reformation

09 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

England's Reformation was supposed to bind the nation into a single 'Church of England'. In fact the country was shattered into a kalei...

Nudging Society to Better Decisions

08 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We often think that psychological biases worsen decision making - but they can also be harnessed for good. This talk will discuss how "nudging&qu...

The History of Synagogue Music in London

08 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Jewish communities of London have a rich musical-liturgical history, stretching back to the mid-17th century. This lecture will consider some of t...

Cyborg Piano: Magnetic Resonator Piano

07 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Magnetic Resonator Piano invented by Andrew McPherson sees electromagnets suspended above the strings of a regular grand piano, allowing for contr...

Witness Anonymity: "I Want to Look Into The Eyes Of My Son's Killer And Know His Name"

03 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The screening of witnesses for anonymity in the context of inquests and public inquiries is hugely contentious. Why does putting witnesses behind a sc...

Theatres of War: Crusade, Colonialism and Chivalry in the Middle Ages

03 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Were the Crusades an early example of European colonialism? What value did the crusading frontier hold for the knights who fought to defend it? What w...

Caroline Herschel: Discoverer of Comets

02 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Caroline Lucretia Herschel (1750-1848) was the first woman professional astronomer, and by the time of her death she had been awarded the Royal Astron...

The Astronomer and the Witch: Kepler's Mother

01 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1615 Katharina Kepler, illiterate mother of the astronomer Johannes Kepler, was accused of being a witch. At that time in Germany, there was a witc...

Maths vs. Covid-19

27 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mathematics has been used as a tool to understand and control infectious disease for over a century, but Covid-19 brought along a whole epidemic of ne...

Cynics, Stoics, Epicureans

27 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Several different schools of philosophy emerged at the same time and shortly after the famous traditions of Platonism and Aristotelianism in ancient G...

Performing with Toy Pianos

26 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Toy pianos were first made in the 19th century. This lecture/recital tells the story of an instrument originally marketed at children, that subsequent...

The Future of Computer Security

25 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It is now easier to breach the security of people's personal and business lives than perhaps at any time in recent human history. Technology has ...

Russian Piano Masterpieces: Shostakovich

20 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At one point in his life, Shostakovich considered the career of a concert pianist. He was talented enough to become a Soviet competitor at the interna...

Trends in Health in the UK: The Implications for the NHS

19 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What the NHS has provided and had to treat over its existence has changed much more radically than most people realise. Some of this change is rightly...

Cosmic Vision: Space-Quakes

19 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When black holes merge, the world shakes. Such quakes in space-time are now detectable and indeed the detection of such gravitational waves from cosmi...

Investing in Nature

18 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The nature of investment is changing to better reflect the ecosystem of the planet we live on. The days of fossil fuel are numbered by the move to ren...

Seeing God in Art: The Christian Faith in 30 Images

17 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lord Richard Harries has selected 30 images to convey the essential truths of the Christian faith, some ancient and some modern. Drawn from both the W...

Myra Hindley: Rape-Murderers

13 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Serial murderer Myra Hindley is often portrayed as an "evil icon". Her crimes of sadistic murder against children continue to shock. There a...

Tackling Knife Violence Through Simulation

12 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Knife violence is one of the biggest challenges facing our society. Simulation offers a way to involve young people in exploring the consequences of c...

How Companies Profit From Our Mistakes

11 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

CEOs make mistakes due to their own psychological biases - but they also profit from the biases of others. Some exploit investors by catering to senti...

Artificial Intelligence and Humour

11 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Could AI replace stand-up comedians and scriptwriters? This may not be an impossible dream if you accept that nothing we do is forever beyond the scop...

The Politics of Judicial Appointment

10 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Has the time come for some form of political appointment of Supreme Court judges? Should there be parliamentary scrutiny of judicial appointments? Thi...

Should The State Be More Candid About Sudden Death?

06 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Should there be a legal duty on the state to be more transparent in sudden and unexpected death cases? The lecture discusses the duty of candour, name...

Napoleon: Shadows & Gardens

06 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture will explore Napoleon's life through his interactions with the natural world and a series of gardens that were important to him duri...

The Maths of Life and Death

04 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Every time you look at the world you are building a model. With every new experience these representations of your environment are refined and reconfi...

A Just and Rights-Based Framework for Nature

27 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

International negotiations concerning our environment such as on climate and biodiversity, often put the scientific case behind economic and political...

Where do Mathematical Symbols Come From?

27 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Where do we get our mathematical symbols from? Why is the set of integers called ℤ ? When was the equals sign first used? How about zero? Good notat...

Space Sounds: The Music of the Cosmos

26 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

"In space, no one can hear you scream". The chillingly accurate tagline of Ridley Scott's 1979 space horror classic, Alien, is often be...

Is Incitement to Religious Hatred The New Blasphemy?

22 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The criminalisation of religious speech before the ordinary courts in England began in 1676. Although the law on blasphemy was finally abolished in 20...

Dickens's Public Readings: A Tale of Two Desks

22 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This illustrated lecture marks 150 years since Dickens's death by reflecting on the nature of his creative genius and his legacy. It examines the...

England's Anglican Reformation

21 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The English Reformation gave rise to the global Christian communion called Anglicanism: but neither immediately nor directly. This highly distinctive ...

Networks: The Internet and Beyond

20 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Networks were seen as a rather arcane and dull area in computer science. Then along came the internet, and everything changed for ever. The internet i...

Lymphoma, Leukaemia and Myeloma

19 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lymphoma, leukaemia and myeloma arise from different parts of the white blood cell system. Unlike the solid tumours they can be widely distributed in ...

BBC Radio in the Digital Era (1982-)

15 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On 17 August 1982, the first commercial CD was released. Digital recording and editing have changed the face of music by making recordings easy to ori...

Fiction and the Supernatural

14 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

From Horace Walpole to Ann Radcliffe, renegade novelists of the eighteenth century wanted to claim back the supernatural for fiction and so invented t...

Dickens: The Last Decade

14 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the last ten years of his life Charles Dickens related to his adoring public in a number of different ways; as novelist, as journalist, as public s...

Intergenerational Justice and Climate Change

13 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Climate change and the over-exploitation of resources now may mean that unless the current generation modifies its behaviour, generations ahead may ei...

How I Became A Barrister

01 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Emeritus Law Professor Jo Delahunty QC and guests will explore what the future holds for the next generation of barristers: will they better reflect t...

Food Oppression

31 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Food-related conditions - cancer, heart disease, and strokes - are the leading causes of preventable deaths in the UK. Common wisdom is that health re...

Cyber War Crimes

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Cyberwar is not waged on physical battlefields following rules of engagement. Aggressors worry less about collateral damage, in part because they aren...

The South Sea Bubble of 1720

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The London stock market boomed and crashed in 1720. The financial bubble is known to posterity as the South Sea Bubble. In the three hundred years sin...

The Politics of Judging

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the wake of the decision in the parliamentary prorogation case Miller (No.2), the question of the politics of the judiciary has been thrust into th...

Russian Piano Masterpieces: Prokofiev

25 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Prokofiev followed in the footsteps of Rachmaninov and Scriabin as a joint graduate in piano and composition, but his final graduation performance mad...

What Can We Do About Rising Obesity?

24 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The rising prevalence of obesity is a major threat to current and future health of individuals, the public, and the NHS. It is sometimes seen as too d...

Spying for Queen and Country

23 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Spying for Queen Elizabeth I was very different from modern-day intelligence services - or was it? This lecture brings together historian Stephen Alfo...

Darwin's Troubled Legacy

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Darwin's Descent of Man was dominated by the theory of sexual selection, which Darwin used to explain peacock's tails, but also to argue tha...

Nurse Ratched: Evil Nurses

18 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nurse Ratched is the evil nurse in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962). She is the Evil Woman as autocratic, the absolute pow...

Royal Restoration: Estates of the Duke of Monmouth

17 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Charles II's illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, became one of the most influential and powerful men at the Restoration court. He married a S...

The Mistakes CEOs Make

16 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We often think that leaders are particularly strong in decision making - that's why they've made it to the top. But evidence shows that even...

Could Streaming Change the 'Classic Film' Canon?

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Cinema's original canons were based on a small number of works most highly esteemed by archivists and historians. But access to the history of fi...

England's Protestant Reformation

10 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When England's Reformation began, only a small band of idealists - or fanatics - truly wanted a Protestant England. Nevertheless, within a single...

Computers: A History

09 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Even the most humdrum of electrical devices nowadays contains at least one computer; yet surprisingly few people are aware of their history, their for...

Mathematical Structure in Fiction

09 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mathematical concepts have often been used to create new structural forms in fiction, as in the works of Raymond Queneau and Jorge Luis Borges. The me...

Restraining Police Restraint

04 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We hear too often about sudden death in adults following prolonged and often unnecessary police restraint. What do people know about the dangers of re...

Aristotle

04 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Plato's most brilliant student and perhaps the most significant intellectual in world history, Aristotle of Stageira built on the doctrines he ha...

Cosmic Vision: Fast & Furious

03 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Highly energetic particles from outer space travelling at the speed of light, known as cosmic rays, originate from the sites of extreme particle accel...

Putting Wellbeing and Prosperity First

02 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There is a seismic shift underway in economics, hastened by the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Communities and countries around the world are beg...

Russian Piano Masterpieces: Stravinsky

26 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Stravinsky's solo piano output may be modest in size, but it contains one of the absolute pinnacles of piano virtuosity, the Three Pieces from Pe...

Crime in Fiction

24 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Why did stories of criminals become irresistible for novelists? Starting with works like Moll Flanders in the eighteenth century, this lecture goes on...

What Clinicians Can Learn From Forensic Scientists

17 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Clinical practice depends on the acquisition and analysis of evidence - detailed information from each patient's clinical history, laboratory tes...

Should We Inherit?

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Transfer of resources between currently existing generations. There is a clear link with the previous time scale, for a collective solution will mean ...

Giotto and the Early Italian Renaissance

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Italo-Byzantine art will be considered as background to the early or 'proto' Renaissance at a time when Italy was a focus of stylistic cross...

Far From Hollywood: New Kinds of Classic Film

15 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Canons of taste and value in other media, such as literature, art and music, have been challenged in recent decades by proponents of sexual and ethnic...

Mata Hari: Femme Fatales

11 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mata Hari was an erotic dancer who, in 1917, was executed by the French army for treason. She has been portrayed as the ultimate femme fatale, extract...

Vaccination

10 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

All of the UK adult population is to be offered a COVID-19 Vaccination by September 2021. Many other countries are aiming for similar roll-outs in one...

Mathematical Journeys into Fictional Worlds

09 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Literary satire has long used mathematical concepts to reinforce its points. Gulliver's Travels (1724) played with ideas of dimension, size, and ...

The Secrets of Darwin's Greenhouse

08 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Despite the controversy, evolution was widely accepted by many naturalists within a few years of the Origin's appearance. An important reason for...

Is There a Level Playing Field at Inquests? From Death on the Rock to the Birmingham Pub Bombings

04 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Is there is a level playing field between participants at inquests? What does 'equality of arms' mean? Is such a concept appropriate when lo...

England's Tudor Reformation

03 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The English Reformation - unlike many of the other Reformations convulsing sixteenth-century Europe - was at heart more about politics and law than ab...

Cosmic Vision: Unravelling Rainbows

03 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When light is dispersed into its constituent colours, it can become possible to discern rich dynamical information about an evolving system in space, ...

An Introduction to Programs

02 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Niklaus Wirth said Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs. But programs are more than that. They are ubiquitous in modern life, but only a tiny minor...

Building Back Better - The City's Role in a Green-Led Economic Recovery

01 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Solving climate change is not something that can be achieved overnight; it is a long journey, one that is complicated by the economic problems we face...

Neutrino: The Particle that Shouldn't Exist

01 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1930, the great physicist Wolfgang Pauli did something that "no theorist should ever do": he invented a new particle that he thought nobo...

BBC Radio in the LP Era (1948-1982)

28 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The long-playing record and the BBC's Third Programme changed the face of classical music in Britain. In popular music the 45 rpm record became t...

Russian Piano Masterpieces: Scriabin

21 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Scriabin was Rachmaninov's classmate at the Moscow Conservatoire, and he likewise received a Gold Medal for his combined studies in piano and com...

Will Computers Outsmart Mathematicians?

20 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Humans use computers to do gigantic calculations which would be impossible to do by hand - for example, weather prediction. But could an AI go beyond ...

What Makes a Film Classic?

18 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For nearly seventy years, what might be called 'the canon' of greatest films has been arbitrated by an international poll of critics deliver...

Amelia Dyer: Baby Killers

14 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Amelia Dyer was one of the most prolific murderers in Victorian Britain. She made a living as a "baby farmer", or someone paid to care for u...

Screening: When is it Useful, When is it Not?

13 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most powerful tools in public health is screening - whether for cancers like cervical or breast cancer, genetic abnormalities, or infectiou...

Connected Knowledge

12 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The interconnectivity of living organisms and the planet is brought to light through the development of digital intelligence of the planet. This lectu...

The Political Jury

11 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Is the jury system the bulwark of individual liberty? This lecture will look at the role of the so-called "perverse jury" in acquitting defe...

What Surgeons Can Learn from Polar Explorers and Fighter Pilots

06 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Trauma surgery, combat flying and polar exploration require professionals to work in risky conditions where error can lead to catastrophe. One key ski...

The Mathematics of Bell Ringing

05 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture will look at change ringing, which is ringing a series of tuned bells (as you might find in the bell tower of a church) in a particular s...

Boris Ord's King's College Carols

10 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Boris Ord composed one tiny Christmas carol - 'Adam lay ybounden'. But Ord's largest contribution to the carol genre was his work as ch...

Christmas Lies and Legends

09 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Is Santa really Dutch? Were Christmas Trees introduced by Prince Albert? Was Christmas once a time of faith, rather than riotous feasting? In this lec...

The Mistakes Investors Make

08 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sound investment decisions are critical for our long-term financial future. But psychological biases can lead investors to make costly mistakes - over...

Bowel Cancer and Digestive Cancers

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in both men and women. A substantial proportion of bowel cancer is preventable. The outlook depends stron...

Who Investigates Sudden Death?

03 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How do we investigate violent and unexpected deaths at the inquest? Who investigates? When do deaths get referred to the Coroner? Are inquests non-adv...