Public Lectures at Canterbury Christ Church University

The stories of English – development of the language from Anglo-Saxon times to the present

David Crystal is currently patron of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) and the Association for Language Learning (ALL), President of the UK National Literacy Association, and an Honorary Vice-President of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, the Institute of Linguists, and the Society for Editors and Proofreaders, and Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. The lecture is in conjunction with the English Speaking Union and will be focusing on the way accents and dialects have evolved in parallel with the standard language - and continue to evolve worldwide

Minister for Sport and Olympics

Hugh Robertson MP, was promoted to the Conservative front bench in November 2002 as a Conservative Whip before becoming Shadow Sports Spokesman in September 2004. He became Shadow Minister for Sport in February 2005 and was re-elected to Parliament. He was reappointed Shadow Sports Minister. Following the successful bid for the London Olympics, Hugh was also appointed Shadow Olympics Minister. Hugh was re-elected to Parliament again in 2010 and was appointed Sports and Olympics Minister for the new Coalition Government.

Material Girls: the nineteenth century sensation novel and the ethics of the marketplace

This lecture will look at the role of women writers in the boom in sensation fiction in the nineteenth century and the ways in which novelists like Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Ellen Wood both participated in a burgeoning literary marketplace and in debates about the commodification of literature. The talk will also look at some of the ways in which the women’s sensation novel explored the ethics of materialism and consumption.

Dreamland Margate

The Dreamland Margate project is being led by Jonathan Bryant, who has a wealth of experience in the heritage and leisure sectors and business leadership. Jonathan will be giving an insight into the project to restore Dreamland in Margate to one of the country’s leading amusement parks. He will describe the history behind the site and the work which remains to be done before it can re-open its doors.

How to make a living from music

David will give a short history of the music business and how copyright has developed for songwriters and performers. He will discuss the use of music in film, TV productions, advertising and video games and why it is so important. He will also discuss the transition from physical sound carriers to digital online delivery and what the solutions are.

An insight into the visual effects industry

The visual effects industry in the UK is one of the most highly regarded in the world, regularly producing work on the biggest Hollywood blockbusters. This talk will give you an insight into the various disciplines that make up this field and how they fit together, plus an overview of the major companies that make up the European and International market. The topics will be covered in a way that is easy to grasp, whether you are looking for a job in this area or would just like to know more about this rapidly growing industry.

The linked conundrum of nuclear weapons and nuclear power

John will look, in layman’s terms, at how modern nuclear reactors work, the prospects for a new generation of nuclear power stations, in Britain and worldwide, and how, if they are built, to make them as safe and secure as possible. Where are the catches in this ‘clean’ power generation, and how can the potential link of parts of the nuclear fuel cycle to the production of nuclear weapons be internationally policed and controlled. Why has the spread of nuclear power generation not led to the wider spread of nuclear weapons predicted in the 1960s? To a remarkable degree, so called ‘non proliferation’ has worked to date, but will the Non Proliferation Treaty be fit for purpose in the 21st Century, and what are the key indicators to look for to judge its success or failure?

Nick Burton Memorial Lecture: Culturally English filmmaking in the 2000s

Running through much of Professor Andrew Higson’s work is a concern for questions of national cinema; his article ‘The concept of national cinema’, first published in Screen in 1989, has proved very influential and has been translated and/or reprinted several times. He has published various papers since 1989, which revise his arguments about national and transnational cinema as well as papers on the British heritage film, on the British new wave, on silent cinema, on Channel 4 television and on film acting. He is currently working on three separate projects. He is editing the Routledge Encyclopedia of Film History, with Kristian Moen, Nathalie Morris and Jonathan Stubbs. He is working on a history of Anglia Television, the ITV company for the East of England. He is completing a book on British cinema in the 1990s and 2000s, provisionally entitled Film England, 1990-2008: (Trans)National Cinema, English Literature and Narratives of the Past and Present some of which forms the basis for the Nick Burton Memorial Lecture 2011. 

Ethics for the 21st Century: a heros journey

Mention any of the big issues facing us in the 21st century - abortion, euthanasia, embryo research, designer babies, saviour siblings, genetically modified animals, human guinea pigs, animal research, nuclear power, pregnant men, assisted suicide or climate change - and you will inevitably start a debate. All of these issues, and everything else for that matter, has an ethical dimension. This lecture aims to set out the ethical challenges of life in the 21st century, and to inform the discussion about what's right and what's wrong.

The next stages of welfare reform

Frank Field’s entire career has been concerned with improving the lives of those worst off in society, initially as Director of the Child Poverty Action Group, and for the last thirty years as MP for Birkenhead. The new Coalition Government has now asked him to lead an independent review on poverty and life chances. The Review will look at how we measure poverty in Britain today - whether low income alone constitutes poverty, and if not what are the other aspects of poverty, and how they are measured - what the key determinants of good life chances are - taking account of the importance of a child's development before attending school and how good influences at this stage of a child's life can best be embedded in society.