All Courses

In this course, Dr Simon Potter (University of Bristol) explores the final decades of the British Empire, from the end of the Second World War in 1945 to Britain’s withdrawal of troops “East of Suez”, announced by Harold Wilson in...

In this course, Dr Sarah Richardson (University of Warwick) explores British politics between the start of the French Revolution in 1789 to the Great Reform Act of 1832. As we move through the course, we think about seven key historical...

In this course, Professor Kevin Butcher (University of Warwick) looks at the reign of Augustus through the evidence of coins. The first part of course provides a general introduction to numismatics—what do coins tell us about the past?—as well as...

Before the Emperor Augustus died in 14 AD, he boasted that he had found Rome a city of brick, but left it a city of marble. In this course, Professor Matthew Nicholls (University of Reading) explores Augustus’ rebuilding of the...

In this course, Professor Valentine Cunningham (University of Oxford) explores Victorian Poetry, looking specifically at the poetry of Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Thomas Hardy. As we...

In this course, Professor Sir Drummond Bone (University of Oxford) discusses the life and poetry of Lord Byron. After a brief introduction to the man himself—once famously described as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know”—we then provide a brief...

In this course, Dr Alfie Bown (University of Manchester) explores Dickens’ 1849-50 novel David Copperfield. After a brief introduction that sets the novel in its historical context, we turn to some of the major themes of the novel, including how...

In this course, Dr Alfie Bown (University of Manchester) explores Dickens’ 1854 novel, Hard Times. As we move through the course, we think about the philosophy of Utilitarianism (thinking in particular about Mr. Gradgrind), about class (thinking...

In this course, Ms Karen Hewitt (University of Oxford) explores Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles. As we move through the course, we think about the social context of the novel—particularly Victorian ideas about female sexuality—and the...

In this course, Professor Geoff Horrocks (University of Cambridge) provides an introduction to Comparative Linguistics, the study of how languages are related, and how and why languages can change over time. This course makes use of Greek, Latin...

In this course, Dr James Morwood (University of Oxford) explores Euripides’ Hippolytus, a play in which the goddess Cypris, takes revenge on Hippolytus for his refusal to worship her. As we move through the course, we focus on six scenes...

In this course, Professor Edward Harris (University of Durham) explores Lysias’ speech Against Simon, a case apparently concerning a fight between two men over a boy, Theodotus. In particular, we think about the rule of law in ancient Athens, the...