In this illustrated talk, Sarah Wise - author of The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830s London - takes us on a tour of some of London’s lesser-known graveyards, and surveys some of the highly unsentimental folk who profited from other people’s deaths and family bereavements. Some of them even turned to murder.

This course continues our exploration of Greek art considering the extent to which it relates to key ideas and issues of the time. These are exemplified by contemporary philosophy, myth, poetry, and drama. Includes a visit to the British Museum.

This course will introduce and discuss a selection of short stories by Katherine Mansfield. Noting, ‘the mind I love most must have wild places, a tangled orchard where dark damsons drop in the heavy grass, an overgrown little wood, the chance of a snake or two, a pool that nobody fathomed the depth of, and paths threaded with flowers planted by the mind’, Mansfield’s approach to art is to embrace hidden depths, to seek untamed and unhindered aspects lurking in the shadows, writing with a wild surmise in an attempt to find new literary vistas. Similarly, describing herself as ‘an alien’, we will consider her self-asserted feeling of strangeness as an outsider, and how this might manifest itself in her fictional work.

Join us for a special ‘In Conversation’ event with acclaimed artist and former City Lit student Charmaine Watkiss, who’ll be interviewed by cultural historian Michael Ohajuru in celebration of this year’s Art History Festival. This lecture is part of the 2026 Art History Festival organised by the Association for Art History.

The art collection of King Charles I (1600-1649) was magnificent and hugely influential. Explore the artists, craftsmen, agents and connoisseurs who shaped one of the most important European art collections and learn about how objects and artists from across Europe made their way to London.

Philosophy of religion is where philosophical methods meet far-reaching religious doctrines. Join this introductory course to explore some of the big questions that go to the very essence of what it means to be human.

This study day will delve into the main political and cultural events that characterise the history of the Umayyads and the Abbasids.

A whistle stop tour of almost 1300 years of Islamic Empires, meeting some of the remarkable women that created Islamic history along the way.