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Shakespeare's Heroes

What do we mean by a hero and where does our understanding of the ‘heroic’ idiom come from? In this lecture, Jonathan Bate will show how Shakespeare’s idea of the hero was shaped by the classical tradition, going back to the ancient tale of Troy and Virgil’s epic poem The Aeneid.

Homer's Iliad via the Movie Troy (2004)

Homer’s Iliad, the earliest Greek poem, narrates the archetypal war between ‘Europeans’ and ‘Asiatics’ divided by the Hellespont. Looking at Wolfgang Peterson’s blockbuster Troy (2004), the lecture describes the genesis of the Iliad between the Mycenaean Late Bronze Age and the 8th centu

Shakespeare's London and Ancient Rome

Jonathan Bate tells the story of how and why Shakespeare was steeped in the classics, from his earliest plays such as Titus Andronicus and The Comedy of Errors to his dramatisations of the stories of Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.

Multimedia 1900: Experience and Entertainment in Everyday Life

Suppose we try to imagine a 'day in the life' of some Londoners in 1900, what would we find?

A World Without News?

An economic model for news that have existed for 200 years or more is disappearing. Are we facing the prospect of societies without 'news' as previously understood? And why does it matter?

From Test-Tube to YouTube

This lecture tells a startling and unexpected story of science-communication success: the YouTube channel 'The Periodic Table of Videos,' which boasts over 130 million views in more than 200 counties. What is the secret to this educational success?

Shakespeare's Sonnets and the Use of Personification

'When well-appareled April on the heel / Of limping winter treads'. A calendar month cannot dress, nor can a season walk. This lecture will explore the magic of personification in Shakespeare's poetry.

Shakespeare's Astronomy

Amongst all his astronomical allusions, Shakespeare demonstrates a deep knowledge of the night sky and its movements, including the new Copernican world-view. What can we learn of Elizabethan astronomy and Shakespeare's knowledge of it from the plays?

Theatre and Love: Tom Stoppard, 'The Real Thing'

It would be churlish to finish a series of lectures...

A Play Within A Play: Behind the Phrase 'House of Cards'

When referring to the play within the play ‘The Real...

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