WEA Courses

The Later Stuarts: From the Restoration to Queen Anne 10 meetings on Mondays starting 24/09/2018. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: Sheila Ephraim

Courtly intrigues and the Glorious Revolution: come and explore the Restoration Stuarts from the reign of the ‘merry monarch’ Charles II, devoted to courtly pleasures, through rising religious tensions and absolutist trends leading to the flight of James II from the forces of William of Orange, and ending with the tragic Queen Anne.

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The Art of Photography 10 meetings on Tuesdays starting 25/09/2018. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: Sandra Smith

Photography was invented in the 1840s but it was never intended specifically as an art form. In this course we will examine the development of photography from the invention of the medium in the 1840s to the present day. Many photographers used prevailing art forms, notably painting, to inform the subjects and composition of their pictures, but it eventually gained its own language, exploiting the technical aspects of the medium.

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Economics in the News 10 meetings on Tuesdays starting 25/09/2018. 2:00pm - 4:00pm Tutor: Dick Smethurst

We are daily bombarded with economics in the media – not just about Brexit but also, for example, questions about funding the NHS, increasing productivity, controlling large corporations, tackling inequality. In this course the class itself will decide, week by week, which current controversy should be analysed. Though designed to follow on from previous economics courses, anyone with some grasp of economic theory and a lively interest in discussing policy will be welcome.

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The Art of Trade: Treasures From Around the World 7 meetings on Wednesdays starting 26/09/2018. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: Glenis Kerr-Elliott

Trade follows the flag and empire builders brought luxuries home to decorate castles and cottages. This course looks at pigments, textiles and spices from Central Asia, India, China and South America and how they affected us in Europe. Fashions, home decorative fabrics and exotic items were collected from all over the world, influencing ways of living in Britain, Spain and Portugal, and the Netherlands.

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Ancient Egypt: From the Black Pharoahs to Alexander 10 meetings on Wednesdays starting 26/09/2018. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: John Billman

We will explore the fascinating Late Period of ancient Egypt; a time which juxtaposes strength, renaissance, trade, cultural fusion and autonomy with occupation, conflict and division. The rule of Nubian Pharaoh Taharqa is followed by brief Assyrian involvement leading to Twenty-Sixth dynasty Egypt which, with high quality art and monumental tombs, should be considered one of the gems of Pharaonic history.

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The Music of Revolution: France 1785-1825 10 meetings on Wednesdays starting 26/09/2018. 2:00pm - 4:00pm Tutor: Tony Short

France was aflame with revolutionary fervour in the 1790s and beyond, culminating in Napoleon’s eventual coronation as emperor. This course highlights the confident role that music played in reshaping French cultural life during this time of bloody, political upheaval, and will examine the far-reaching repercussions of revolutionary ideals on a generation of composers, from Beethoven to Berlioz.

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The Glories of Venetian Art 10 meetings on Thursdays starting 27/09/2018. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: Dalila Castelijn

In this course we shall examine Venetian art and architecture from its Byzantine origins in Torcello, through Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces by Bellini, Titian, Longhena and Tiepolo, to the innovative works of Scarpa and Gianquinto. Mosaics and paintings, sculpture and buildings will be studied within the unique context in which they were created.

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Literary Travelling Companions: From Homer's Odyssey, to Chaucer's Pilgrims, to The Life of Pi 10 meetings on Thursdays starting 27/09/2018. 2:00pm - 4:00pm Tutor: Shirley Roberts

Explore new places and meet new people in the company of great writers who shed light on human experience and help you make more sense of the world. Insights will be gained from Homer’s great epic, Chaucer’s fascinating literary portraits and even from the modern fantasy of The Life of Pi. This will be a wide-ranging course, breaking the boundaries of time and place.

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Life: What is it, where does it come from and where is it going? 8 meetings on Thursdays starting 27/09/2018. 2:00pm - 4:00pm Tutor: John Fletcher

The findings of modern biology challenge many of our most cherished assumptions about life as a special, privileged domain and they undermine the view of humans as a species endowed with unique properties, with a central place in the natural world. This course will introduce the key ideas of biology and explore the implications of these ideas for understanding ourselves and the future of our species.

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How Do You Know? Philosophical Scepticism and Knowledge 10 meetings on Fridays starting 28/09/2018. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: Jumbly Grindrod

There is always a chance – however slight – that you are wrong in what you think. So how do we ever know anything? How do you know you are not being deceived by an evil demon? How do you know you are not a brain in a vat? The problem of knowledge has always attracted the attention of philosophers, and continues to do so today. This course will explore the most important philosophical responses to scepticism about knowledge in the Western philosophical canon, considering the thoughts of René Descartes, G.E. Moore, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and others more recent.

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The Architecture of Germany and Central Europe 8 meetings on Mondays starting 01/10/2018. 2:00pm - 4:00pm Tutor: Keith Hasted

In this course we will survey the principal periods of architecture, taking in Roman Trier, Charlemagne’s Aachen, the glorious Romanesque abbey of Maria Laach, the Gothic in Cologne, Prague and Vienna, Baroque in Würzburg, mad King Ludwig’s nineteenth century Neuschwanstein; and in the twentieth century both Albert Speer’s plans for Hitler’s “Germania” and remaking the Reichstag for a re-unified Germany.

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Discovering and Deciphering Ancient Writings 1 meeting on Saturday 13/10/2018. 10:00am - 4:00pm Tutor: Diane Davies

This study day will reveal how some of the world’s ancient writings have been discovered, the problems involved in deciphering these writings and examples of successes and failures in decipherment. A background to ancient writings will be given, followed by examples of their discovery in both the Old and New Worlds. We will then move on to discuss the issues inherent in translating ancient scripts, noting successes and failures. Finally, we will try our hand at deciphering both a known and an unknown script.

 

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St Paul's Cathedral: Its History and Role in the Life of the Nation 1 meeting on Friday 19/10/2018. 10:00am - 4:00pm Tutor: Val Pretlove

 Sir Christopher Wren's baroque cathedral in the City of London is one of the great iconic buildings of the world. Born out of the ruins of the Great Fire in the 1660s, it rapidly became a place that hosted many important events and became the resting place for leading figures in our national life. Join us to examine the fascinating story of St Paul's, from its birth right up to the present day.

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The Irrepressible Lenny: The Music of Leonard Bernstein 1 meeting on Saturday 27/10/2018. 10:00am - 4:00pm Tutor: Gwyn Parry-Jones

In the centenary of Bernstein’s birth, we look at the American maestro’s prodigious achievements as composer, conductor and educator. Although best-remembered for the ever-popular ‘West Side Story’, his works include symphonies, choral works and chamber pieces. The course will chart Bernstein’s musical development, and also assess his ground-breaking recordings and legendary TV lectures.

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London's Great Railway Stations: Architectural Masterworks 1 meeting on Saturday 24/11/2018. 10:00am - 4:00pm Tutor: Mike Grundy

This study day uncovers the glories of London’s great railway termini. It celebrates the wonders of early Victorian design and engineering at Paddington and Kings Cross, the late Victorian Gothic of St Pancras, through to the post-war Modernism of Euston. The course reviews the story of each of London’s 12 great termini over the last 150 years, and reveals how after a century of neglect they have become treasured and enhanced over recent years.

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