LECTURE FASTI

MICHAELMAS TERM 2016

Monday 12th September 7.30 pm Ashton Theatre Art Society

Humphrey Ocean, R.A. “Getting Nearer” Humphrey Ocean has painted some of the most memorable portraits of our time, and among his sitters are Paul McCartney and – a portrait which was described by the writer as ‘unanswerable’. His work can be seen in the British Council Collection, The Whitworth Art Gallery, , Wolverhampton Art Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, and he has had solo exhibitions at Tate Liverpool, and Jesus College Cambridge. His series of portraits A Handbook of Modern Life was shown 2012-13 at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Humphrey Ocean’s talk Getting Nearer, is about his work as a painter and Royal Academician, where he was appointed Professor of Perspective in 2012.

Thursday 15th September 7.30 pm Ashton Theatre Classical Society

Dr Niall Livingstone, Senior Lecturer in Classics, “Persuasion: Rhetoric from Classical Times to Today” Dr Livingstone works on ancient Greek literature and thought. His research focuses on the relationship between myth, philosophy, science and drama, and how these different ways of thinking and putting forward a view of the world paved the way for one of antiquity’s most important – and most challenging – legacies to the modern world: democracy.

Forget 'spin' as being a modern concept! Dr Livingstone explores the methods, means – and tricks - which the most famous historical figures of the Classical World have employed when using words as tools to persuade, cajole, and convince, and their influence on more recent figures on the world stage up to the present day in the European Referendum and US election with Obama and Trump.

Thursday 29th September 7.30 pm Ashton Theatre Darwin Society

Professor Marcus Munafo, University of Bristol “Choice and Corporations” Marcus Munafo is Professor of Biological Psychology in the School of Experimental Psychology at the University of Bristol, and Director of the Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group.

We like to think of ourselves as free agents making informed decisions as to what we drink and eat, but in fact our behaviour is often shaped by unconscious influences. The tobacco, alcohol and food industries are aware of this, and have engineered the products we buy, and the environments we consume them in, in order to maximise their profits. Professor Munafo will outline some examples of this, and discuss how this influence extends into the conduct of scientific research.

Friday 30th September 7.30 pm Hodgson Hall Auditorium Bastille Society

Dr Carl Watkins, Magdalene College, Cambridge “Thinking About Medieval History” Dr Watkins carries out research into religious culture in the central and later middle ages and is especially interested in beliefs about, and conceptualisations of, the supernatural in this period. His work encompasses the methodological problems of studying medieval religion, 'high' theological change and 'popular' beliefs about the afterlife and ghosts, angels and demons, miracles and divine signs. He has written about concepts of sinfulness and the emergence of purgatory, has completed a book for Cambridge University Press which explores beliefs about the supernatural in a medieval English context and has, more recently, explored beliefs about the dead during the middle ages and beyond in a wider-ranging book published by Bodley Head. He is a fellow of Magdalene College where he directs studies in history.

Dr Watkins will discuss what life was really like in the Middle Ages. A hugely engaging and authoritative speaker, Dr Watkins will shed light on the social, political and economic forces that shaped Middle Age Britain and ways in which students should approach wider Medieval History.

Friday 30th September 7.30 pm Moser Library Sidney Society

Dr Laura Ashe, Worcester College, Oxford “The Minds of Others: Fiction and Culture” Dr Ashe is Associate Professor and Tutorial Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford University, and works on the literature, history and culture of England during the High Middle Ages, c. 1000-1400. Her research has been focused on the multiple languages of English literature after the Conquest, and on the social, political, legal, and cultural developments involved in this time of great change. Her latest book, ‘Early Fiction in England: from Geoffrey of Monmouth to Chaucer’, shows how fiction was reinvented in the twelfth century after an absence of hundreds of years. Her current major project is volume one of the new 'Oxford English Literary History (1000-1350)', which aims to give meaningful shape and coherence to a relatively under-studied, but important and complex, period of literary history. Dr Ashe can also be found on BBC Radio 4's programme In Our Time, and has made a number of television appearances.

Dr Ashe will be joining us to discuss her research in relation to texts studied for the English A’ Level.

Wednesday 5th October 7.30 pm Ashton Theatre Geographical Association

Professor Richard Waller, Keele University “New Processes in Old Glaciers” Professor Waller is a practising glaciologist working at Keel University. He has studied at Oxford University, Southampton University and has worked with the well know A level author Peter Knight. He is a passionate mountain biker!

Professor Waller will address glacial processes relevant to all shades and colour of the A level / Pre U syllabus. He will particularly look at some of the very latest research and findings on the way in which ice modifies the pre-existing landscape. A must for all AS and A2 students who enjoy physical geography.

Friday 7th October 7.30 pm Science Lecture Theatre Darwin Society

Dr Ben Pilgrim, Fellow of Corpus Christi, Cambridge “The Curious Chemistry of Water” Dr Pilgrim undertook his undergraduate studies in Chemistry at St John's College, Oxford University from 2005-2009, for which he was awarded the Gibbs Prize and the Brian Bannister Thesis Prize. Ben remained at Oxford for his D.Phil. studies in Organic Chemistry with Prof. Timothy Donohoe from 2009-2013. His thesis entitled 'Novel Palladium-Catalysed Routes to Aromatic Heterocycles' received a commendation from the Divisional Board. Ben moved to Cambridge in October 2013 to take up a Herchel Smith Research Fellowship in the Nitschke group, in conjunction with a Fellowship at Corpus Christi College. In 2016 Ben was awarded a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Research Fellowship to be undertaken at the University of Cambridge.

What is the history and the significance of water – why is it so important? Dr Pilgrim will explain chemical concepts, such as why water is blue and why chemical bonds in heavy water are stronger than in normal water (the kinetic isotope effect for all you chemists out there). Some explosive demonstrations of the properties of water’s constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen are also promised to entertain.

Monday 10th October 7.30 pm Art School Art Society

Mark Beaven, O.S. “Rembrandt’s Etchings and Drawings” Mark Beaven is an Old Salopian who was in Oldham’s Hall and was taught Art by John Alford. Since his time at Shrewsbury he has forged a successful career as a Fine Artist and exhibited widely both in the UK and abroad. He also runs an independent Art school in Nottingham which helps prepare student portfolios and serves the wider community with evening and weekend classes. He runs courses in painting in Italy and gives lectures to various Art Societies up and down the country.

Mark Beaven will talk about the more personal and intimate aspects of Rembrandt’s art by discussing his drawings and prints. Rembrandt’s drawings are some of the most expressive and individual in Western art and he is justly considered one of the greatest printmakers. His etchings, highly original and often experimental, represent an extraordinary achievement for a single artist. This lecture puts Rembrandt’s graphic art into its historical and social context, looks at his use of different media and techniques, and argues that by examining the wide range of subject matter in his drawings and prints, we see Rembrandt at his most personal and brilliant.

Wednesday 9th November 7.30 pm Ashton Theatre Geographical Association

Daniel Kawczynski MP “Brexit and Migration Issues” Daniel Kawcznyski is a British Conservative Party politician and the Member for Parliament for Shrewsbury and Atcham in Shropshire. Born in Poland, he was raised in England from the age of seven. He is a well know Brexiteer, and sat on the Government’s committee for immigration issues. He will deliver a talk about his vision of post Brexit Britain focusing on migration issues. He will also take a slightly longer than usual Question and Answer session.

We are incredibly fortunate to have Daniel Kawcznyski to come and speak to us. The EU and the UK's role in the EU has been a large topic in Geography A levels, all this changed at a stroke with the referendum! Daniel was a keen advocate to leave the EU, and has much to inform us on the UK's post Brexit landscape, particularly on such matters as migration. This lecture would appeal to all A level students interested in Geography, GPR, Economics, Business Studies or current affairs.

Friday 11th November 7.30 pm Maidment Building Art Society

Dr David Boyd Haycock “Art, Propaganda and the Great War” Dr David Boyd Haycock is a writer and free-lance art historian who has written widely on British Art and Modernism. His book, A Crisis of Brilliance, was nominated for the best non-fiction category in 2010 Writers' Guild Awards.

On the 13th November 1917 the official war artist Lieutenant Paul Nash wrote an impassioned letter to his wife from the Western Front. ‘I am no longer an artist interested and curious,’ he informed her, ‘I am a messenger who will bring back word from men fighting to those who want the war to last for ever. Feeble, inarticulate will be my message but it will have a bitter truth and may it burn their lousy souls.’ When his government-sponsored drawings were exhibited in London the following year, the critic from The Times would write that they might be used ‘in the propaganda of a league of peace’. In this lecture, one of our series on the theme of Persuasion, Dr David Boyd Haycock will examine the aims and ambitions of the British war artists’ programme, and how its various participants responded to its demands.

Wednesday 30th November 7.00 pm Ashton Theatre Bastille Society

Jeremy Hunter “North Korea Exposed – Daily Life in the Hermit Country” Jeremy Hunter is a British-based investigative photo-journalist, shining a light into the darkest corners of the world. Prior to this, he worked for 35 years as a Current Affairs TV Producer and News Reporter for NIR- TV Tehran, Granada TV, BBC and Channel 4, reporting from 65 countries across 5 continents.

The government of North Korea has created the most powerful propaganda machine in the world and it is used to promote a utopian idyll of the country as the Land of Perfect Bliss in every aspect of daily life. In his vividly illustrated talk North Korea Exposed, Jeremy Hunter describes daily life in DPRK through its own propaganda – its newspapers, printed media, posters, portraits, monuments and architecture.

All details in this Fasti are subject to confirmation.