Gresham College provides outstanding educational talks and videos for the public free of charge. There are over 2,500 videos available on our website. Your support will help us to encourage people's love of learning for many years to come.
How can we find the best explanation of what we observe? Why do human beings enjoy pondering puzzles, such as the meaning of life? We can we learn much from Dorothy L. Sayers, whose detective novels and religious writings saw human beings as searching for 'patterns' in life.
This lecture will explore Utopia’s links both with London and with the civic culture of Renaissance Europe more generally. It will focus on the significance of Utopia at the time when it was written, with some reflections on its remarkably varied legacy.
The English Civil Wars of 1642-8 began as the last of Europe’s wars of religion and ended as the first modern revolution. This restless spirit manifested itself in various sects and fellowships, united by a loathing of complacency and hypocrisy, which both supported and undermined the republic.
With London already Europe’s biggest metropolitan consumer market and continuing to grow, and the move to ever larger container ships in the Port, what is the future for the River Thames?
The lecture will look at the industrial river Thames and consider the changing needs of shipping with the transition from sail to steam and the impact on London as a port.