Gresham College Lectures
Episodes
3038 episodes
Healing and the Spirit: Medicine and the Church
As Rector of St Marylebone, The Reverend Christopher Hamel Cooke established the innovative Healing and Counselling Centre in the church's crypt. In this lecture he reviews the important work of the Centre and considers possibilities for collabora...
Healing and the Spirit: Holistic Biology
Dr Roger Taylor explains how, as a scientist, he walks a tightrope between reductionism and holism. What is the place of complementary or homeopathic healing in medical science?
Business, Ethics and the Law
This series of lectures included the following talks:Is it enough to be legal?7th March 1990Business and the Role of the Law14th March 1990...
Healing and the Spirit: Ancient Medicine
Do we suffer because of a 'compartmental' way of living? In this lecture, The Revd Professor Richard Chartres advocates a broader and multi-disciplinary approach to healing, based on the complementary healing styles of the Ancient World.
Part Two: 'A British view of Pan-European Banking and Currency' and 'The Philosophy of Regulation'
Part One: 'A New Financial Europe', 'Challenges for the International Stock Exchange' and 'Using Security Markets for International Investments'
The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem: Ravages of Fanaticism
The Reverend Professor Richard Chartres continues to outline the history of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, in light of recent archaeological evidence and the Gresham Jerusalem photogrammetic survey. What impact did the arrival of Isl...
The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem: Imperial Archaeology
In the fourth century AD, the first Christian Emperor, Constantine, gave his consent for excavation beneath the Temple of Aphrodite in Jerusalem. They were looking for the Tomb of Christ - but what did they find?The Reverend Professor Richard ...
The Turin Shroud - An Update
In October 1988, the Cardinal Archbishop of Turin, Cardinal Balestero announced the results of scientific tests done to date the Turin Shroud: it was almost certainly created between 1260 and 1390.But is this use of science the end of the ...
Who is responsible for bringing up our children: home or school?
A hundred years ago it was almost unanimously accepted that parents should be the ones to 'bring up' their children, but this reposnsibility has been transferred in recent times to the school. Teachers are now required to cover certain 'cross-curr...
The Place of Competitions in the Personal and Musical Development of Young People
Do musical competitions necessarily have to be damaging? Can they be used in a responsible way, thereby presenting a creative challenge to young musicians? In this lecture, Professor Renshaw critically compares two competition models: the 'marketi...
How do we create good schools?
The best laid plans of a government come to nothing if the schools themselves are not 'good' enough to deliver their policies. But what constitutes the difference between a good and a bad school?This lecture is part of Professor Rae's series, ...
London Churches under the First Elizabeth
Richard Chartres considers the most important religious figures and dilemmas to gain prominence during the reign of Elizabeth I.
The Religious Life of Sir Thomas Gresham
While not known or celebrated as a religious thinker, Thomas Gresham lived through a turbulent period in the history of the Church of England. How does his career reflect or illuminate the religious contradictions and difficulties of that time?
The Decline of Socialism
The worldwide decline of socialism has been more total and pervasive than that of liberalism. A dominant system of politics and economics has been abandoned - because it has failed. What are the repercussions of this decline, on the first world an...
How should we organise the school system?
The aim of the British school system should be to produce a well-educated population and not a well-educated elite. How might the Education Reform Act of 1988 impact on our ability to realise this objective?
Introduction to Catastrophe Theory and its Application to Physics and Sociology
Professor Zeeman is one of the foremost scholars in the field of 'catastrophe theory'. In this introduction to the subject, he considers how the theory might relate to matters as diverse as electromagnetism, the 'fight or flight' mechanism and ani...
What should we teach the children?
The National Curriculum is the single most important reform to British education. In this lecture, Professor Rae explains why the central government should be deciding what is taught in schools and outlines his own ideal curriculum.This lectur...
The Armenians: Church and Culture
Professor Chartres offers an overview of the history and culture of the Armenian nation, including the genocide of 1915.
The Russian Millennium: The Morning After
In June 1988, the Russian Orthdox Church celebrated the millennium of the Christianisation of Russia and the baptism of St Vladimir. In this lecture, Richard Chartres explores the significance of St Vladimir, a figure considered equal to the apost...
Gyroscopes and Boomerangs
Professor Zeeman guides us through the geometry and the mechanics of spinning objects.
Do the British know what education is for?
What should the aims of education be? Does Britain have a clear idea of what its education system is trying to do?This lecture is part of Professor Rae's series, 'The Education Reform Act 1988 in its Historical and International Context'. The ...
Does a high-tech building have to look like a carbuncle?
In 1984, Prince Charles described Richard Rogers' proposed extension to London's National Gallery as a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend". The term has since been used by many critics to condemn the perceived "ugl...
Where did the war-time dream go wrong?
In 1944, the Butler Act introduced the 'Tripartite System' to schools in England and Wales and made secondary education free for all pupils. But what promises did this Act leave unfulfilled?This lecture is part of Professor Rae's series, 'The ...
Gambling Fever: The Mirage of Sudden Riches
Gambling is an activity as old as human social life itself, sometimes carried out alone but, more often than not, by crowds or whole nations. Lottery systems have historically been used as a means of allowing 'Fate' to decide upon the distribution...
Miracle Cures: Spas, Shrines and Spirits
Professor John Pick outlines an 'industry' of relics, religious or otherwise, and the influence of these objects on mass behaviour and belief.This lecture is part of Professor Pick's series, Rumour, Disease and the Madness of Crowds. The other...
Money Mania: The South Sea Bubble
At the beginning of 1720, almost the whole of England thought that investing money in the South Sea Company was an admirable idea; by the end of 1720, they were equally convinced that the company was made up of nothing but rogues and vagabonds. Wh...
God Speaks First to His Englishmen: The Armada of 1588
Was English success against the Spanish Armada an instance of divine 'deliverance'? Reverend Professor Richard Chartres examines the evidence.
Victorian Values: Lecture Three
In his final lecture on nineteenth-century values, Richard Chartres looks at Archbishop Benson, who stood in great contrast to his predecessors. He was apathetic towards both sport and politics, uncomfortable speaking to laypeople and intolerant o...
Victorian Values: Lecture Two
The subject of Richard Chartres' second lecture on Victorian morality is Archibald Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury between 1868 and 1882. Tait was a champion of tolerance and demonstrated great faith and optimism towards the times he lived in. Was ...
1888: Jack the Ripper
What were the rumours surrounding the grisly murders of 1888 and how do they compare to the rumours attached to later serial killers? This lecture is part of Professor Pick's series, Rumour, Disease and the Madness of Crowds.
Victorian Values: Lecture One
The Revd Professor Richard Chartres begins his series on Victorian morality by considering Charles Thomas Longley (1794-1868), perhaps the most critically neglected Archbishop of Canterbury of the nineteenth-century.
1848: The Chartists' Revolution in London
Pollsters and percentages have, to a degree, done away with that species of political rumour that precedes and predicts revolutions. Professor Pick outlines how this type of rumour operated in the context of a feared Chartist revolution in Victori...
1665: The Great Pestilence of London
By the end of 1664, talk of plague in Europe was beginning to spread throughout England. What rumours occurred and how did rumour operate before and during the time of the Great Plague in London? How did the Government attempt to silence the 'rumo...
Advances in Medicine and their Social Aspects
There have been far greater advances made in medicine over the last twenty years than in the past four centuries. What are the implications for society?
Popular and Unpopular Science
The popularisation of science has never been very popular - particularly amongst scientists, who equate it with a lowering of standards. Nevertheless, while pure and applied science have transformed the world we live in beyond recognition over the...
Recent Developments in the Legal Regulation of Deep Seabed Mining: Lecture Two
Much debate and dispute surrounds the exploration and exploitation of deep ocean polymetallic nodules. In the second of two lectures, Professor Kenneth Simmonds untangles the complicated political and legal issues of seabed mining.
Recent Developments in the Legal Regulation of Deep Seabed Mining: Lecture One
Much debate and dispute surrounds the exploration and exploitation of deep ocean polymetallic nodules. In the first of two lectures, Professor Kenneth Simmonds untangles the complicated political and legal issues of seabed mining.The second le...
The Religious Picture Today in the Soviet Union
Richard Chartres looks in detail at a number of contemporary developments concerning the Soviet Union's Council for Religious Affairs. He considers the resurgence of Islam in Central Asian republics, Baptist advances in the Ukraine, and the sense ...
Forty Years of the Health Service
Professor John Griffiths charts the history of the National Health Service and its precursors. What have been its major benefits and drawbacks? How might it improve?
Making Music Live in the Community
Peter Renshaw outlines the work of a project committed to integrating musical performance into the wider community. He explores how workshops within social institutions such as schools, hospitals and prisons might increase the accessibility and re...
Audience for Music in the Year 2000
Peter Renshaw looks ahead to musical performance in the 21st century, highlighting opprtunities for change: the physical context of a performance space, the social backgrounds of an audience and attitudes towards communicating knowledge.This i...
The Christian Church in the Soviet Period
Ever since the Revolution of 1917, Russia has considered atheism to be a precondition for social progress. Religion is dismissed as "an opiate for the people" (Marx) or as "moonshine" (Lenin). How has the Russian Orthodox Church, the main Christia...
The Russian Orthodox Church Before the Revolution
There are older Christian Churches existing within the Soviet Union, but none can compare with the Russian Orthodox Church in terms of its impact on Russian culture. Richard Chartres guides us through its long history, from the tenth-century to th...
Laughter and Television
The comedian today is in crisis. The ways of making us laugh have become fewer and blander, and there are less opportunities for comics to learn the tricks of the trade. Television, and the media more generally, should be uniting the nation in lau...
Stand-Up Comedy
Professor Pick traces the evolution of the modern stand-up comic, a figure that emerged out of the music halls and American vaudeville circuits at the end of the nineteenth-century.This lecture is part of Professor Pick's 'Comedy and Laughter'...
The Radio Comedians
What makes the British laugh? Professor Pick looks in detail at the role of comedy on BBC radio, particularly between the years of 1930 to 1950, arguing that comedians should be seen as some of the greatest artists of the twentieth-century.
Uranus' Eccentric Magnetic Field
Professor Hide explains what makes the planet's magnetic field so extraordinary.
Jupiter's Red Spot
Jupiter's Great Red Spot was first discovered in 1664 by former Gresham Professor Robert Hooke, but thanks to images captured by the Voyager space probe, it has attained a new popularity in the twentieth-century. Professor Hide outlines its import...
Pictorial Representation: The Twentieth Century
Professor Kilmister considers the impact of the advent of computers on graphical representation in mathematics.
Pictorial Representation: Nomography
Historically, how did people make calculations and solve equations without using a slide rule? Professor Kilmister considers in detail one possible method: the nomogram.
Pictorial Representation: The Slide Rule
What has been the role of pictorial representation in geometry? Is it now little more than a lost art? Professor Kilmister begins his series by examining the history and uses of the slide rule.
Alternative Medicine: Are Elizabethan Disciplines Relevant Today?
Professor Griffiths is joined by Dr Siân Griffiths and Robin Rusher, acupuncturist, to explore the links between Elizabethan medicine and contemporary alternative therapies.
Why Geometry?
The Professorship of Geometry established by Sir Thomas Gresham is the oldest Chair of mathematics in Britain, predating the Savilian Professorship at Oxford by 23 years and the Lucasian Chair at Cambridge by 67 years. What induced Thomas Gresham ...
The Japanese Market and Services
Simon Crow provides an overview of the Japanese service industry. Why should the Western financial sector bother with Japan and how might it do so?
Science Today and Science Then
Professor Hide compares contemporary science with science as it was at the time of the foundation of Gresham College in 1597.
The Japanese Political System
How can a country be democratic when it has been ruled without interruption by a conservative party for over thirty years? Is parliamentary democracy as practiced in Japan a mere façade for oligarchic rule by the Japanese establishment? Sir Hugh C...
Is Shakespeare Still Our Contemporary?
Professor Jan Kott, author of the highly influential study, Shakespeare Our Contemporary, explores the continued importance of the Bard in our lives. He considers the impact of twentieth-century theatre, including the works of Brecht and Beckett, ...
Japanese Management Practice in the UK
In this lecture, Dr Malcolm Trevor looks at Japanese companies in the UK in the light of quality control, and the problematic relations between local component manufacturers and the main Japanese assemblers they supply. What are the implications o...
The Rise and Fall of the Entrepreneur
The entrepreneur is an innovator, a promoter, often a risk-taker, someone with a desire to create and a willingness to take full responsibility for his or her actions. In this lecture, The Rt Hon The Lord Young of Graffham charts the changing role...
Adopting a 'Philosophical' Approach to Life
Determinist biology, collectivist psychology and relativist morality: these three ideologies summarise the unspoken assumptions and values that shape the people we are and the world we live in - but not for the better. In this lecture, Dr Jules Go...