Chalke Talk

America Trumped: How Did This Happen?

Who better than the charismatic broadcaster Matt Frei to explain the extraordinary phenomenon which was the then President of the United States of America? The award-winning journalist was Washington correspondent for the BBC and Channel 4 News for many years and recently made the documentary ‘Meet the Trumps: From Immigrant to President.’ So how did Donald Trump become leader of the free world?

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Copenhagen and After

Michael Frayn is one of our most successful and revered playwrights and Copenhagen one of his highly acclaimed and award-winning plays. In this very special talk he discusses the play’s subject: the visit of German atomic scientist Werner Heisenberg to Copenhagen in 1941 to visit fellow scientists Margrethe and Niels Bohr and their subsequent discussions about the rationale of creating an atomic bomb.

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The Easter Rising 1916: Remembering the Irish Revolution

The desire for self-transformation, to define themselves apart from their parents and a determination to reconstruct the world, united the young and disparate of Ireland to form the revolutionary generation. By sifting through letters, journals and photographs, eminent historian Professor Roy Foster FBA examines the vivid public and private lives of the disparate group that were the Easter 1916 rebels.

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Trident Debate: Britain's Nuclear Deterrent Should Be Consigned to History

This is a fierce debate about whether or not Britain should retain her nuclear deterrent. Speaking for the motion are David Edgerton, Professor of Modern British History at King’s College London, and Kate Hudson, General Secretary of CND. Speaking against are Lord Hennessy, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary University of London and Philip Dunne MP, Minister of State for Defence Procurement at the time.

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The Islamic Enlightenment: The Modern Struggle Between Faith and Reason

The Muslim world has often been accused of failing to modernise, reform and adapt. But, from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present day, Islamic society in its Middle Eastern heartlands has in fact been transformed by modern ideals and practices. Acclaimed author Christopher de Bellaigue covers 200 turbulent years of Middle Eastern history to tell the forgotten story of the Islamic Enlightenment.

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Boots on the Ground: Britain and Her Army Since 1945

In May 1945, the German High Command surrendered to the Allies on Lüneberg Heath. Seventy years later, the British Army finally left their garrisons next to the Heath. General the Lord Dannatt, former Chief of General Staff, follows the compelling story of the British Army since then, tracing Britain’s transformation from a leading military power to its significantly reduced place on today’s world stage.

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Socrates in Love: The Making of a Philosopher

Socrates was the philosopher who gave birth to the European tradition of philosophical thought. Yet his trial and death are better known than his life story. Professor Armand D’Angour explores Socrates’ early years revealing what - and who - inspired him to become a philosopher. What emerges is the figure of Socrates as a heroic warrior, an athletic wrestler and passionate lover, and an explosive discovery that places a woman at the origins of Western philosophy.

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Was Hitler a Popular Dictator?

In this talk for junior schools, Chris Culpin shows how Hitler disdained democracy and thereby defeated his political opponents leaving “One people, one nation, one leader”. Was he popular? He was certainly successful as there was no opposition, nor opposition newspapers. This was partly through fear but also as a result of brilliant propaganda with the extensive distribution of radios, cheap holidays, and the promise of cars for ordinary people.

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Secret Pigeon Service: Operation Columba, Resistance & the Struggle to Liberate Occupied Europe

Between 1941 and 1944, sixteen thousand pigeons were dropped as part of ‘Columba’ – a secret British operation to bring back intelligence from those living under Nazi occupation. Gordon Corera, Security Correspondent for BBC news, tells a dramatic and tragic tale of espionage, starring not just pigeons but the networks of ordinary people who were prepared to take huge risks to answer a call for help.

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The Big Bad Glossies

With a career that has spanned 30 years at the most senior levels of Condé Nast International, no one is better placed to give an insider view of the world of the glossy magazine than Nicholas Coleridge, at the time, Chairman of Condé Nast Britain. In this talk, he combines anecdote and scholarship to review The Glossy Years - the power, pomp and peccadillos of the key British magazines.

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