Encounters Lent term 2024
We are pleased to announce more diverse, exciting, and thought-provoking talks from a range of inspiring speakers. Pupils from all year groups are welcome to attend what is sure to be another fantastic term of events.
All from 4.15pm - 5.30pm. Unless otherwise stated, events are unticketed and open to all.
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Encounters Lent 2024 |
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An Encounter with Sir Winston Churchill Professor David Reynolds (including book sale of Professor Reynolds’ “Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the leaders who shaped him”) Friday 12 January David Reynolds is the award-winning and bestselling author of twelve history books and Professor of International History at Cambridge University (Christ's College). He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2005. His book awards include the Wolfson Prize and the PEN Hessell Tiltman prize. David has also written and presented critically acclaimed films and documentaries for both BBC TV and Radio 4. |
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An Encounter with the Coventry Blitz Friday 19 January James Preece is a retired aerospace engineer and former soldier of the British Army. James had a difficult beginning in life, living as a young boy in the heart of Coventry during The Blitz. James is now in his late 80’s, and wishes to share his experience of the night time raids undertaken by the Luftwaffe, as well as growing up working-class post-war in Coventry. |
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An Encounter with Napoleon Friday 26 January Michael Broers is Emeritus Professor of Western European History at the University of Oxford. His The Napoleonic Empire in Italy, 1796-1814. Cultural Imperialism in a European Context? (Palgrave, 2005) won the Prix Napoléon of the Fondation Napoléon; he was a Visiting Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 2003. In 2011-13, he held a Major Leverhulme Research Fellowship for the project ‘Napoleonic Civilisation’. He recently completed a three volume life of Napoleon for Pegasus Books NYC/Faber & Faber, London, the final volume of which was voted a Kirkus best biography of 2022. In 2021 he was elected a sociocorrispondente of the Deputazione Subalpina di Storia Patria. He was an historical adviser on Ridley Scott’s film “Napoleon”. |
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An Encounter with NATO Friday 2 February Heidi Meyer is the Master of the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick and was appointed in 2016 as the 33rd Master - the first Master being appointed in the reign of Elizabeth I. Before coming to Warwick, Dr Meyer worked for NATO as a Senior Civilian in Izmir, Turkey. Before that she worked for Department of State and Department of Defence for twelve years – spending five of those years in Kabul, Afghanistan, several years at the Pentagon working in the Office of the Secretary of Defence and a few more years working for US Army NATO in Mons, Belgium. Dr Meyer was a former British Army Officer, journalist, a teacher, founder of a charity that shipped aid worldwide and a ski instructor. She is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown with a MSc and has an Honorary PHD LLD from Warwick University. She has lived in twelve countries, moved 50 times and has joint US British citizenship. |
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An Encounter with ‘Artificial Intelligence – the existential threat’. Friday 23 February Peter Varnish is an independent author; electronics and weapons engineer specialising in defence and security. He advises corporates and Governments on the latest threats, AI resilience, and technology. He has several patents and writes and presents learned papers on technology, the threat from China and 5G; the role of ‘5Eyes’ and the management of pioneering advances in UK Universities. He began his career with the Royal Navy Scientific Service where he carried out fundamental research in lasers, radar and ultra-high power microwave weapons. In 1975 the Foreign Office posted him to the British Embassy in Washington DC. In 1982 Peter was awarded the OBE for his contribution to the Falklands War where he was key in the design of warships for low signature and became the first Director of Above Water Warfare. In 1995 he was the Director General of the UK’s Strategic Defence. His achievements include the first circumnavigation of the moon by a small-sat, and the first launch of a ballistic missile interceptor from an aircraft. In 2001 he retired from the main board of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, [now QinetiQ] and joined several technology companies. He has appeared as a key witness on the Discovery, Channel 4 and other TV channels. |
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An Encounter with the Death of a Soldier told by his sister (Two years of Ukraine at War) including book sale of Dr Khromeychuk’s 'Death of a Soldier told by his Sister' Thursday 29 February Dr Olesya Khromeychuk is the Director of the Ukrainian Institute London. She is an historian and writer. She has taught the history of East-Central Europe at several British universities, and has written for The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Der Spiegel, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Prospect and The New Statesman. Khromeychuk is the author of The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister (2022) and “Undetermined" Ukrainians. Post-War Narratives of the Waffen SS "Galicia" Division (2013). |
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“An Encounter with the world of Intelligence: from The Cold War and back again …” Friday 1 March Richard (Rich) Hunt worked in the U.K. Intelligence Services, primarily GCHQ, for over forty years, beginning his career during The Cold War before gravitating towards crisis management and a focus on Middle Eastern affairs. Rich enjoyed a number of overseas tours of duty, with many of his postings involving collaboration with foreign partners and the U.K. Armed Forces. He was awarded an OBE for services to Defence and Security in 2005. Rich graduated from Bristol University in 1976 with a degree in one of his two favourite pastimes, history. Sport and a love of Bristol Rovers football club being the other. |
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An Encounter with The Battle over Brexit Friday 8 March Stephen Hammond MP has been the Conservative MP for Wimbledon since 2005. He was Minister of State in the Department of Health and Social Care from November 2018 to July 2019 and was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport from 4 September 2012 to 15 July 2014. He served on the Treasury Select Committee from 2015-2018. He was also a local councillor in Wimbledon from 2002-2006. Before being elected to Parliament, Stephen worked in the City for a number of investment banks, including Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Commerzbank Securities. Stephen was educated at King Edward VI School in Southampton, and studied Economics at London University. |
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An Encounter with Jane Austen Monday 11 March John Mullan is Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London. His books include What Matters in Jane Austen? (2012) and, most recently, The Artful Dickens (2020). He is also a broadcaster and journalist, writing on contemporary fiction for the Guardian. He is the author of How Novels Work and in 2009 was one of the judges for the Man Booker Prize. |
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An Encounter with Anne Boleyn Friday 15 March John Guy is an award-winning historian, accomplished broadcaster, Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and the author of Mary Queen of Scots which won the Whitbread Biography Prize, the Marsh Prize, and was a Finalist for the Book Critics’ Circle Biography Award. He is a regular contributor to BBC tv and radio and has written for the Sunday Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, Economist, Literary Review, Times Literary Supplement, and London Review of Books. Julia Fox taught history in state and private schools and is the author of Jane Boleyn: The Infamous Lady Rochford and Sister Queens: Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile. |
