Explore History, Culture & Writing

Discover the origins of carpets, their threads, materials, patterns and trends as well as patrons and places of manufacture. Find out also their representations on the canvases of famous Renaissance artists.

In the house where many of them were written, we will explore why Keats’s poems are regarded as exceptionally beautiful. How did he achieve this? We will see that it wasn’t luck or simply inspiration, but the result of choices which reflect important aspects of Keats’ personality. Includes ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, Ode to a Grecian Urn’ and ‘To Autumn’.







This course will take place at Keats House, 10 Keats Grove, Hampstead, London NW3 2RR.

In this course we will examine the historical changes to poverty in the US and begin to unpick the causes and effects of poverty in one of the world’s wealthiest nations.

What is drawing and what is its unique place in the history of art? Come to understand this special medium through an exploration of some of the greatest draughtspeople in Western European art.



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

Robert Altman served a long apprenticeship in movie-making before his great breakthrough , the Korean War comedy M*A*S*H (1969). It became a huge hit and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, but also established Altman's inimitable use of sound and image, and his gift for handling a repertory company of actors. The 1970s then became Altman's decade, with a string of masterpieces: McCabe and Mrs Miller (1971 revisionist western), The Long Goodbye (1973 revisionist Raymond Chandler), Thieves Like Us (1974 remake of Nicholas Ray’s 1948 They Live By Night), Nashville (1976 completely and absolutely original widescreen mural of America and Hollywood). In the 1980s Altman struggled to fund his work, but he was restored to prominence in 1992 with The Player, an acerbic take on Hollywood. Short Cuts, an inspired adaptation of Raymond Carver, and the Oscar-winning Gosford Park, (2001), underscored his comeback. (See separate but related courses on Once Upon a Time in New Hollywood, Francis Ford Coppola, David Lynch and the Coen brothers).

The Maya Calendar, previously little known outside the realm of academic research, rose to worldwide prominence in 2012, since the cycle of the Calendar ended on 21st December of that year and the myth arose that the world would end when that cycle of the Calendar ended. This misinterpretation of the Calendar arose out of a lack of understanding of Maya culture, an understanding which can be obtained, at least in part, through a careful analysis of the Calendar itself.

Come on a walking tour of public art through the City of London created by Refugees and Immigrants. We will explore artworks such as the 17th century carvings on the Monument and a Victorian plaques relocated on to the post Modern Number One Poultry by economic immigrants to the country as well as looking at mainly works by 20th century artists from refugee backgrounds who were either commissioned to make art works for site specific places or their works have been bought or moved to their locations.

After leaving behind the steppes of Central Asia, the Seljuks abandoned nomadism, converted to Islam and settled in Iran and later also in Anatolia.

On this course we will explore some of the many exciting archaeological discoveries in the London Borough of Southwark: a borough full of great history and of strategic importance.