Gresham College Lectures

Amidst the increasingly material penury of the early medieval world, Rome and Byzantium (that is to say New Rome, now Istanbul) offered a continuing example of opulence and luxury that was expressed in worship with expensive textiles, precious metals and sonorous titles of office, including now the singer or cantor, that proclaimed supreme honour and eternal victory through liturgy. In the Western kingdoms, to maintain rich services, with a staff of good singers, was one of the ways in which a king came into his inheritance as surely as moving into the old governor’s palace. In this lecture we shall explore what the singing of Rome meant far afield: in northern England, Ireland, Spain and Germany.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/roman-singing-and-its-influence-across-europe

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

The Liberal Party was formed in the 1850s and was the dominant force in British politics for the next 30 years. But, after the First World War, it fell into decline, and it was almost extinguished in the 1950s. Since then, however, the Liberals and their successor party, the Liberal Democrats, have enjoyed a revival, and they re-entered government in 2010 for the first time since 1945.

What is the explanation for the decline and subsequent revival of the party?

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-liberal-party-and-the-liberal-democrats

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

The Liberal Party was formed in the 1850s and was the dominant force in British politics for the next 30 years. But, after the First World War, it fell into decline, and it was almost extinguished in the 1950s. Since then, however, the Liberals and their successor party, the Liberal Democrats, have enjoyed a revival, and they re-entered government in 2010 for the first time since 1945.

What is the explanation for the decline and subsequent revival of the party?

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-liberal-party-and-the-liberal-democrats

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

Some of the world’s most influential carol tunes were published in 1582. These Pious Songs’ were collected by a student of Danish parentage, who was born in Finland, grew up in the Russian Federation, studied in Germany, worked in Sweden, and died in Poland. Without one of Queen Victoria’s ambassadors who rescued the collection from obscurity, the English-speaking world would never have known ‘Good King Wenceslas’ or ‘Gaudete’.

Jeremy Summerly unwraps this Nordic Christmas gift, accompanied by the St Luke’s Carollers.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/now-thats-what-i-call-carols-1582

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

If the fundamental constants of nature differed from their measured values, life as we know it would not have emerged. Stars are witness to the forces of electromagnetism and gravity - displace this equilibrium and the existence of nuclear-burning stars is at risk. In such a universe, stars would never have formed, or might have collapsed to black holes.

Theories of the multiverse suggest that life-containing universes are incredibly rare. We live in one of these, whether by cosmological natural selection or by the consequences of a theory yet to be formulated.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/how-special-is-our-universe

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

During the Middle Ages, London was home to one of the largest and richest merchant communities in the world. These men and their families invested heavily in fine architecture both for business and pleasure.

In the first of two lectures with the theme ‘Merchants, Money and Megalomania’, Simon Thurley will unearth the lost mercantile buildings of medieval London and show how influential they were.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/house-shop-and-wardrobe-in-londons-merchant-community

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

What do judges do in the Family Court? Follow me through a virtual week as a Roving Judge. Learn what goes on behind the scenes: how the family court room works and who is needed to make it work.

A judge’s approach to a case can fundamentally affect the way the parties perceive the trial as fair. What makes for a good judge? What training do they have? Do they properly reflect society’s makeup? Is diversity left at the red baize door and kept outside the corridors of power?

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/what-do-judges-do-in-the-family-court

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

During the Middle Ages, London was home to one of the largest and richest merchant communities in the world. These men and their families invested heavily in fine architecture both for business and pleasure.

In the first of two lectures with the theme 'Merchants, Money and Megalomania', Simon Thurley will unearth the lost mercantile buildings of medieval London and show how influential they were.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/house-shop-and-wardrobe-in-londons-merchant-community

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

If the fundamental constants of nature differed from their measured values, life as we know it would not have emerged. Stars are witness to the forces of electromagnetism and gravity - displace this equilibrium and the existence of nuclear-burning stars is at risk. In such a universe, stars would never have formed, or might have collapsed to black holes.

Theories of the multiverse suggest that life-containing universes are incredibly rare. We live in one of these, whether by cosmological natural selection or by the consequences of a theory yet to be formulated.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/how-special-is-our-universe

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

Some of the world's most influential carol tunes were published in 1582. These Pious Songs' were collected by a student of Danish parentage, who was born in Finland, grew up in the Russian Federation, studied in Germany, worked in Sweden, and died in Poland. Without one of Queen Victoria's ambassadors who rescued the collection from obscurity, the English-speaking world would never have known 'Good King Wenceslas' or 'Gaudete'.

Jeremy Summerly unwraps this Nordic Christmas gift, accompanied by the St Luke's Carollers.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/now-thats-what-i-call-carols-1582

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show