Explore Culture, History & Humanities Courses

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George II is perhaps best remembered as the last British monarch to lead his troops into battle and also as the



instigator of the custom of standing for the Hallelujah Chorus in Handel’s Messiah. His reign marked the high point of



Handel’s career which the King did much to promote but also saw other great achievements in British culture with the art of Hogarth and the works of Pope and Swift. In politics, Robert Walpole created the post of Prime Minister and Bonnie Prince Charlie’s rebellion was the last attempt by the Stuarts to regain power and made him into an instant legend. Towards the end of the reign men like Pitt, Wolfe and Clive laid the foundations of the British empire whilst the Agricultural Revolution was transforming British society.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Embark on a journey to explore the intricate interplay between philosophy, ethics and capitalism. Join our exploration into aligning values with the demands of a dynamic global economy. Explore how values and principles can harmonise with the demands of a global economy.

Learn how to turn real-life experiences into gripping fiction in this fun short course for fiction-writing beginners and experienced writers. Develop your writing skills and explore techniques for transforming personal stories into strong narratives.

Ever wondered what's going on in the mind of contemporary artists? This course explores the ideas and historical background behind some of today’s most intriguing works, from Conceptualism and Video to Body Art and Installation.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Curious about art history? Join us for this taster session where we explore different ways into visual art and its histories from the ancient to the contemporary.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

An in-depth online discussion about two artists that represent to different styles of the Italian Renaissance, but who may have more in common than we think.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

This course introduces major forms of African art in their regional and global contexts. It studies classical traditions of carving, metal casting, architecture and textile arts as well as twentieth-century and contemporary developments, including the work of photographers and conceptual artists.

This Tuesday afternoon art history course spotlights the work of artist Lubaina Himid, one of Britain's most thought provoking artists.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Indigenous Australian art has, in recent years, been increasingly exhibited and discussed in Britain. Yet little is known about the history and development of this art movement and the oeuvres of the artists responsible for its creation. This introductory course will provide a history of how Indigenous Australian artists have changed and challenged the course of national and international art fields in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

“The more beautiful everything is, the more it will hurt without you”—Gene Kelly as An American in Paris (1951) singing to Leslie Caron. Happy endings are hard won in fifties’ musicals and The End is where they were heading. MGM was the studio of musicals in the 1950s. During this decade other studios presented only occasional musicals. The musical was big business for Hollywood in the 1950s and so was the western, so bringing them together made sense. Annie Get Your Gun had been a big success for MGM so Warner Bros. decided to get a piece of the action with Calamity Jane (1953 David Butler with Doris Day). Judy Garland was sacked by MGM in 1951, then followed Joan Crawford to Warner Brothers where she staged a big comeback in, fittingly, A Star is Born (1954 George Cukor). Oklahoma (1955 Fred Zinnemann) and Carousel (1956 Henry King) from 20th Century Fox introduced Shirley Jones. And don’t forget Leonard Bernstein’s score for On the Waterfront (1954) that anticipated West Side Story (1961). (See related courses on Fifties Melodrama and Film Noir and 50 Films From the ‘50s: Hollywood’s Last Stand).

Discover the secrets of the Old Masters and learn how they created their wonderful effects in this introductory course on painters and painting. We will consider the physical history and scientific examination of artworks in relation to aspects including forgeries, hidden paintings and conservation/ restoration.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.