Explore Culture, History & Humanities Courses

“I have a way of filming things and staging them and designing sets. There were times when I thought I should change my approach but in fact, this is what I like to do. It’s sort of like my handwriting as a movie director.” Explore the signature style and adventurous cinema of Wes Anderson from coming of age films through stop motion animation to comedy dramas.

We will explore various themes related to ‘insanity’ and altered states of consciousness by examining a number of 19th-century works of fiction. Novelists and poets often had the greatest insights into the workings of the mind, and many Victorian psychiatrists cited works of fiction in their case studies. Among the authors we will cover are Charlotte Bronte, Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, Gogol, Herman Melville and Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Famed Victorian novelist and travel writer, skilled artist, intrepid and renowned Egyptologist. No wonder that London born Amelia Blanford Edwards (1831-1892) was dubbed the ‘Queen of Egyptology’ by her American fans. Our concentration is on her legacy to London, and we end our day by visiting one of her enduring foundations in the capital: UCL’s Petrie Museum.

Get an overview of Tate Modern with this straightforward and lively insight into the gallery’s current displays and the role of the gallery in the contemporary art world. #arthistory #tatemodern.

Myth permeated all aspects of ancient society and much the same can be said today. Investigate the relevance and perseverance of the Greek myth and why these tales continue to fascinate.

Carefully-curated Christmas cornucopia overflows with seasonal films, from new entry The Holdovers (2023 Alexander Payne) to Home Alone (1990 Chris Columbus/John Hughes). This is a celebration of the genre of the Christmas film packed with clips and hidden gems: Scrooge (1951 Brian Desmond Hurst) remixed as a film noir, Lindsay Anderson’s Every Day Except Christmas (1957), his film about the old Covent Garden market later seen in My Fair Lady (1964) or Hitchcock’s Frenzy (1972) just before it closed down. Full of delights, discussions and a grown man dressed as an Elf (2003).

Beginning around the middle of the 19th century, a ‘new Christmas’ came into the fore; a reinvented Christmas, if you will. Why did this Christmas shift as it did – to produce the modern celebration many people still enjoy today? In this course, the stories of those groups and individuals who impacted this ‘reinvention of Christmas’ will be shared.