All Courses

In this course, Professor Malcolm Gaskill (University of East Anglia) explores the history of witchcraft in early modern England. In the first module we explore what we mean by witchcraft and how this changed over the centuries. We then turn to...

In this course, Dr Catherine McGlynn (University of Huddersfield) explores the politics of Northern Ireland, from the opening of the first Northern Irish Parliament in 1921 to the present day. We begin in the first module by tracing the history of...

In this course, Professor Jeremy Jennings (King’s College, London) explores the history of conservatism as a political philosophy, from its beginnings in the 18th century to election of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister in December 2019. In the two...

In this course, Dr Nicholas Morton (Nottingham Trent University) thinks about the military orders in the Crusader States between 1119-87, focusing in particular on the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller ...

In this course, Dr Richard O’Connor (University of Hull) explores different ideas within the field of cognitive development that go beyond the work of Jean Piaget. In the first lecture, we introduce the violation-of-expectation looking time method...

In Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's first tragedy, the fragmentation of sacrificed and mutilated bodies gives rise to a polyphony of dismemberment. Over the course of these six lectures, Andrew Zurcher explores how Shakespeare figures the...

In this course, Dr James Cooper (York St John University) explores the presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981-89). After a brief introduction in which we think about Reagan’s legacy today, the subsequent five modules explore five key questions ...

In this course, Professor Thomas Pink (King's College, London) explores the philosophical problem of free will. The course begins by thinking about what free will actually is, before going on to ask why free will is actually a problem for...

In this course, Dr Marcella Sutcliffe (University of Cambridge) explores Italy's unification movement, starting with Napoleon’s invasion of Italy in the late 1790s, and ending with the unification of Italy in 1861. As we move through the course,...

In this course, Professor Beat Kümin (University of Warwick) explores the German Reformation. He begins by looking at the causes of the Reformation, before thinking about the role of Martin Luther himself, wider socio-cultural consequences, the...

In this course, Dr David Lewis (University of Edinburgh) explores slavery in ancient Greece. We begin by looking at the earliest evidence for slavery in the Greek world, focusing in particular on the descriptions of slavery in the Linear B ...

In this course, Professor Armand D’Angour (University of Oxford) introduces some of the more popular metrical forms of Greek and Latin poetry. In the first module, we look at dactylic hexameter, the metre used in Greek and Roman epic poetry....

In this course, Professor Bas Aarts (University College, London) provides an introduction to English grammar in context. In the first two modules, we ask the questions 'What is grammar?' and 'Why study grammar?', before turning in the third module...

In this course, Dr Rob Johnson (University of Oxford) looks at the First World War from the point of view of the military strategies of each side. The course begins by considering the preparations for war, particularly those of Germany,...