Richard described his tussles with the publisher over the book’s title over concerns about public preconceptions limiting the books ‘shelf’ appeal should the wrong impression be given. Those preconceptions originating in the large volume of writings on, or set in, Yorkshire since the Industrial Revolution driven by demand from the increasingly affluent residents of the …
Susan Owens is a freelance writer, curator and art historian – until a few years ago Curator of Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She says she’s now transitioning to becoming a ‘cultural’ historian, and this broadening of approach certainly showed in her deeply fascinating lecture. The Waterfront Hall was packed (yet …
Chris Renwick teaches Modern British History at the University of York; and in 2017 he achieved fame beyond the confines of the academic world with the publication of his book Bread For All, in which he put forward a new and challenging view of the origins of the British Welfare State. Having done his first …
Tim Birkhead launched the 2018/9 Season in great style to a hall filled to capacity. Tim delivered his information packed talk in jargon free plain English. Opening, saying that he ducked answering when reporters inevitably asked the question “Which came first the chicken or the egg”, he went on to describe the history of “Oology” …
Biomarkers – why medicine is about to undergo the biggest single change ever Professor Tony Freemont Proctor Professor of Pathology, University of Manchester and Director of MMPathIC (Manchester MRC/EPSRC Molecular Pathology Innovation Centre). A brief history of medical advancement If you look at medical care over the past few centuries through the eyes of learned people …
Dr Tom Mills The BBC: Public Servant or State Broadcaster? Our warm shared memories of favourite children’s television colours our attitude to the BBC – the well-meaning Auntie of the nation, provider of our popular cultural heritage. However, Dr Tom Mills, from the Centre for Critical Inquiry into Society and Culture at Aston University, speaking …
Judith Weir is one of the country’s leading composers and was appointed to the ancient office of Master of the Queen’s Music in 2014. Part of her role is to bring a greater awareness of music to the wider public, and her talk for Hebden Bridge Literary and Scientific Society made clear her conviction about …
Before the Big Bang Professor Jeff Forshaw 6th October 2017 Jeff Forshaw is a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Manchester, specialising in the phenomenology of particle physics. He is passionate about communicating the excitement of the pursuit of science, earning the Institute of Physics Kelvin Prize (2013) for “…outstanding contributions to the …
Or how Plato can help us deal with Donald Trump: Professor Angie Hobbs 24th March 2017 Angie Hobbs is the first academic to be appointed Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy in the UK (if not the world). With demagoguery on the rise Professor Hobbs believes it is imperative to keep in mind the …
Inequality and Social Anxiety Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson 5th February 2017 Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson are Professors of Epidemiology who have collaborated for several years to investigate data relating to inequality. Their 2009 book The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, which explored the effects of greater inequality within societies, became …
12th November 2016 With an artist as prolific as Picasso there are always new ways to approach his work, perhaps as many ways of looking and thinking as he found ways of portraying. Dr Nicholas Cullinan is the recently appointed Director of the National Portrait Gallery and returned to his home town of Hebden Bridge …
Sir Mark Elder, Music Director of the Hallé Orchestra 1st October 2016 One of the oldest cultural societies in Hebden Bridge is undergoing something of a renaissance. The Hebden Bridge Literary and Scientific Society was founded in 1905, but grew directly from the aspirations of local Co-operative Society members and their links with Oxford University …