Explore History, Culture & Writing

London's stations see over 1 billion journeys annually, but the buildings themselves are often ignored. Explore a different station and environs each week, discovering the architecture, history, stories and future of these lifelines of London. The course starts with an initial zoom lecture followed by a series of walking tours.



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

Discover the work of selected British artists whose innovative practice shaped the development of modern art in Britain from the 1950s to 2000. Explore how and why the ideas and themes behind their work continue to be relevant to today’s audiences.

Come and join us at the Cultureplex Ciné-Club, where once a week, for 12 weeks (and throughout the academic year), we will watch and discuss film. Taking its cue from the famous Parisian ciné-club set up by the celebrated critic and writer, André Bazin, ‘the single thinker most responsible for bestowing on cinema the prestige both of an artform and of an object of knowledge’, and the man who foresaw the emergence of film studies as a legitimate discipline of academic study, our contemporary incarnation of the film club will offer a curated series of films for detailed study, discussion and debate. Each film will be introduced, placed in both its cinematic, cultural and historic context. In sharing our viewing in City Lit’s premier screening room, the Cultureplex, we will approximate the experience of watching film in the cinema, one that is intense and fully focussed in a way that other modes of viewing often are not. After the screening we will devote the rest of the class to a collective exploration of the film, led by the tutor, but involving everyone in a participatory discussion that will allow all to express their responses, their views, their thoughts on the film screened.

Delve into a magical world of hidden secrets and bizarre symbolism as we distil the heady mix that is art and alchemy; from early manuscripts and renaissance paintings, to the surrealists and contemporary art.



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

Explore Georgian painting, sculpture and architecture, and consider them within the context of the history and culture of the 18th century exploring museums, galleries and other places in London.

This course is an introduction to the history of the Soviet regime from the moment of its victory in the Second World



War to its collapse in 1991.



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

Great poetry and prose begin when the writer puts the right words in the right places. Learn how and why the rules and conventions of language matter in this new course, which combines creative writing with opportunities to learn/revise essential points of grammar and useful literary concepts. Suitable for beginning writers looking to build confidence, and those with more experience who would like to practise these essential skills.



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

Often referred to as “the Baroque”, the seventeenth century embraces some of the most dramatic, dynamic and acclaimed artworks ever produced, yet also some of the most tranquil and gentle. We will explore a wide range of paintings and sculptures from this period, discover why they look as they do, and investigate the powerful religious and historical contexts that influenced its artists.



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