Mr Darcy in the bath and other temptations... public lectures at the University of York
Posted on 9 September 2003
The Autumn term programme kicks off on 6 October with a lecture by Professor Richard Dawkins. Author of the best-selling book on evolution The Selfish Gene, Professor Dawkins will give a talk on the strangeness of science. Professor Dawkins, who is Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, is often controversial in his opinions, and is responsible for such quotes as, "we are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further".
On 30 October Home Secretary, David Blunkett will explore how unity can be created with diversity in multi-faith Britain, in this year's Heslington Lecture.
On the same day, Andrew Davies, screenwriter of major BBC literary adaptations, including Pride and Prejudice will talk about the pleasures and pitfalls of adapting the classic novel for television. His talk will be illustrated with clips from some of his work, including Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Moll Flanders.
In November, Baroness Susan Greenfield, Director of the Royal Institution, will deliver this year's WB and JB Morrell Memorial Address on Toleration. Baroness Greenfield is one of the UK's leading communicators of science.
A series of lectures marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth I and explores a number of aspects of Elizabethan England. Lectures will focus on religion, the darker side of the end of Elizabeth's reign, and Elizabethan life in York and Yorkshire.
Other lectures include one on York in art in the eighteenth century, and a talk by writer, Aiping Mu, on what has happened to the Red Guard generation in China since the Cultural Revolution.
All public lectures at the University are free and open to all.
Notes to editors:
- The Vice-Chancellor's Lecture
Monday 6 October
Queerer than we can suppose: the strangeness of science
Professor Richard Dawkins, Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science, University of Oxford
7pm, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall. Entry by free ticket only. Contact the Communications Office on 01904 432029 - 1st Gerald Aylmer Lecture
Saturday 11 October
Government and information in seventeenth-century England
Professor Paul Slack FBA, University of Oxford
5pm, room A/TB056-7, Seebohm Rowntree Building - Wilkins Lecture
Monday 27 October
Dr Wilkins's boy wonders
Professor Lisa Jardine, Queen Mary, University of London
5.30pm, room V/045, Vanbrugh College - Heslington Lecture
Thursday 30 October
One nation, many faiths: creating unity with diversity in multi-faith Britain
David Blunkett, Home Secretary
5.30pm, Central Hall - Open Course Lecture
Thursday 30 October
Mr Darcy in the bath and other temptations: adapting the classic novel for television
Andrew Davies, Screenwriter of major BBC literary adaptations
5.30pm, room A/TB056-7, Seebohm Rowntree Building - Open Course Lecture
Tuesday 4 November
Religion under Elizabeth I: via media or uneasy compromise?
Dr Bill Sheils, Department of History
8pm, room P/L001, Physics - WB and JB Morrell Memorial Address on Toleration
Wednesday 5 November
Will future generations be more or less tolerant of individual weakness?
Baroness Susan Greenfield, CBE, Fullerian Professor of Physiology, University of Oxford
8pm, room P/X001, Physics - Open Course Lecture
Tuesday 11 November
A society under stress? The social crisis of the 1590s
Professor James Sharpe, Department of History
8pm, room P/L001, Physics - Open Course Lecture
Tuesday 18 November
York and Yorkshire, a city and a county under Elizabeth I
Dr Bill Sheils, Department of History
8pm, room P/L001, Physics - Open Course Lecture
Wednesday 19 November
Dancing beneath the red banners: Chairman Mao's Red Guard movement during the Cultural Revolution
Dr Aiping Mu, Writer
6pm, room P/T005, Physics - Open Course Lecture
Thursday 27 November
Art and the city: picturing York in the eighteenth century
Dr Mark Hallett, Department of History of Art
8pm, room P/L001, Physics
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