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Past Matters: Reading, Writing, Making History

The Department of History at the University of Bristol is hosting a series of free public events exploring journeys of reading, writing and making history.

Join us as three leading historians take us on a journey back in time to Pompeii and its Victorian visitors, to China and its imperial past, and - closer to home - to reconsider Europe over the last five centuries. All three journeys lead us back to the present, and to a better understanding of it.

 

Thursday 14 March 6pm - 7.30pm	Victorian Pompeii: triumph or disappointment? Speaker: Professor Mary Beard, University of Cambridge, is Visiting Deas Fellow in History and Society. One of Britain’s best-known Classicists, she has written numerous books and was recently awarded an OBE. Today Pompeii is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world, and it very rarely disappoints. And this summer thousands of people will be enjoying the blockbuster Pompeii exhibition at the British Museum. But has it always been such a hit? This lecture will look at the experience of visiting Pompeii in the nineteenth century and at the complaints of some visitors at what they saw -- and it will ask what has changed. Venue: City Hall (formerly The Council House), College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TR Free, but booking required in advance via the online booking form.
Tuesday 28 May 6pm - 7.30pm	The Scramble for China: Foreign Devils in the Chinese Empire Speaker: Professor Robert Bickers, University of Bristol, is the author of the prize-winning Empire Made Me: An Englishman Adrift in Shanghai and The Scramble for China. The past matters in China today as never before. This talk explores the foreign impact on the nineteenth century Chinese empire, a tale largely forgotten overseas, especially in Britain, but always close to the surface in China itself. Venue: Watershed, 1 Canon’s Road, Bristol, BS1 5TX Free, but booking required in advance via the online booking form.
Saturday 23 March 11am - 4pm	Art inspired by history Come to a History Day for all the family at Single Parent Action Network! Art activities for all ages, story telling and more. Women’s history taster session from  1- 2.30 pm. Free creche, and the café will be open. All welcome! Bring a photo or object which reminds you of your family’s history. Venue: The Silai Centre, 178 Easton Rd, Bristol, BS5 0ES Free, no booking required.
Tuesday 23 April 6pm - 7.30pm	Bristol Penguin Lecture 2013: Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, 1453 to the Present Speaker: Professor Brendan Simms, University of Cambridge, gives the Second Annual Penguin History Lecture, a joint venture with Penguin Press to present exciting new ideas to a Bristol audience. At the heart of Europe's history lies a puzzle. In most of the world sprawling empires, kingdoms or republics appear to be the norm. By contrast Europe has remained stubbornly chaotic and fractured. This lecture tells the story of Europe's constantly shifting geopolitics and the peculiar circumstances that have made it both so impossible to dominate, but also so dynamic and ferocious. Venue: Watershed, 1 Canon’s Road, Bristol, BS1 5TX Free, but booking required in advance via the online booking form.

Further information available from:

tel: +44 (0)117 33 18313

email: cpe-info@bristol.ac.uk

Part of the programme of public events.

Organised by the Department of History and the Centre for Public Engagement in association with the Bristol Festival of Ideas.