Aneurin Bevan and the Socialist Ideal - Professor Vernon Bogdanor

Aneurin Bevan was the leading postwar representative in Britain of the socialist ideal. He is best remembered for the creation of the National Health Service which he regarded as a symbol of applied socialism, a national service free at the point of use and available to all. But, even before he resigned from the postwar Labour government in 1951, this ideal was being eroded. Were his hopes doomed to disappointment?

Building the Victorian City: Splendour and Squalour - Dr Simon Thurley

By 1900 Britain had produced the world’s largest cities and the first industrial cities. These phenomena led to vast technical, social and architectural challenges. Victorian architects and engineers met these with some of the most impressive feats of construction since the cathedrals of the middle ages.

Anatomy Museums: Past, Present and Future - Professor William Ayliffe

A short history of dissection, anatomy museums and some of the gruesome characters involved.

The Black Death - Professor Sir Richard Evans

The history of the Bubonic Plague and its devastating effects on medieval Europe, but also its other appearances in world history such as in 6th Century Byzantium and in Asia throughout the 19th century.

The Lost World of 1962 - Dominic Sandbrook

In this lecture, Dominic Sandbrook, the acclaimed historian of Sixties Britain, marks the 50th anniversary of the City of London Festival by looking back at Britain in 1962. Fifty years on, the Britain of Harold Macmillan, Acker Bilk, Jimmy Greaves and James Hanratty feels like a vanished world. But was life back then really so different?

Illuminated Psalter Manuscripts - Dr Sally Dormer

Psalters containing the 150 Psalms were immensely popular medieval manuscripts, used by a wide array of patrons for liturgical, scholastic and devotional purposes. This lecture explores how the Psalms inspired a rich tradition of literal, historical and interpretative illustration, from the 9th to the 14th centuries, across Europe.

Drawings in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts - Dr Sally Dormer

Medieval drawings are frequently viewed as the poor cousins of fully-painted miniatures. But in England, an appreciation of drawing persisted throughout the Middle Ages. Based within the late 10th and early 11th centuries, this lecture proves that drawing was more than an expedient alternative to full paint.

The Making of Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts - Dr Sally Dormer

Illuminated manuscripts are some of the most beautiful artefacts to survive from the Middle Ages. Their production involved transforming animal skins into parchment; copying texts; painting and gilding minatures; and binding folios between boards, a process that reveals much about medieval scribal and artistic practice.

Britain in the 20th Century: Thatcherism, 1979-1990 - Professor Vernon Bogdanor

Margaret Thatcher’s governments encouraged the spread of ownership in Britain and 'Thatcherism' seemed for a time to be in accordance with the trends of social change. So why did it come to an end? What was the cost? How should we judge her leadership of the nation today?

The Roman Denarius and the Euro: A precedent for monetary union? - Dr Andrew Burnett

A look at the way the Roman Empire has sometimes been used as an historical precedent for the European Union, and specifically the way that the integration of the Roman monetary system has been seen as a (sometimes justifying) precedent for modern European monetary union.

Decolonization: The End of Empire? - Professor Richard J. Evans

A history of Empire in the 20th Century, by one of Britain's leading Modern Historians.

Twenty-first Century Threats: Tuberculosis - Professor William Ayliffe

A cultural and medical history of TB, and an overview of the threat it poses in our own time.

The Lost Hospitals of London: St Luke’s - Professor Nick Black

The extraordinary story of this neglected quarter of London that in the late 19th century boasted seven major hospitals, of which only one survives today.

To Wear or Not to Wear: Changing social norms with regard to eyewear - Neil Handley

The fascinating story of the technical and cultural history behind spectacles.

The Lost Hospitals of London: Bethlem Hospital - Colin S Gale

An overview of the 681-year history of this legendary mental health institution and London icon.

Britain in the 20th Century: The Collapse of the Postwar Settlement, 1964-1979 - Professor Vernon Bogdanor

The history of British politics as the post-war socialist dream soured into the winter of discontent.

London’s Forgotten Children: Thomas Coram and the Foundling Hospital - Dame Gillian Pugh

The history of the UK’s first children’s charity, and the orphanage it was connected to, created in central London in 1739.

The Lost Leprosy Hospitals of London - Professor Carole Rawcliffe

The surprising history of leprosy hospitals between 1100 and 1500, when the disease was seen as either a punishment for sin or a mark of divine favour.

Empire: Exploitation and Resistance - Professor Richard J Evans

A lecture on the impact of empire on the colonizers and the colonized, looking in particular at the comparison between the British Empire and the Belgian Congo.

English Architecture, 1760 to 1830: Engine House - Professor Simon Thurley

England’s take off as the first industrial nation created a whole new language of building underpinned by technology and by an emerging view of the rest of the world.