Drop In Day Tickets

This course seeks to discover intimations of the numinous on a journey with five poets. From the search for a peace that passes understanding in a post-war ‘waste land’, through the rigours of purgatorial pilgrimage to the modern cityscapes of squandered desires, loneliness and spiritual failure, graced lives appear as rather distant afterthoughts and fractured memories. If faint echoes of the transcendent may still be heard, the question is posed as to where sacred presence could be found or reimagined in the unhallowed void and transience of secular human existence.

This course will share insights about carbon dioxide and its role in sustaining life on Earth. Carbon dioxide, which is invisible and odourless, is a key component in our atmosphere.
Based on fundamental scientific principles, these lectures will delve into the scientific foundations under­pinning the mechanisms by which greenhouse and other atmospheric gases contribute to the shaping of our planet’s climate. The lectures will offer valuable insights and foster a deeper understanding of this complex yet captivating subject matter.

The Baltic Rim spawned waves of colonisers, powerful empires, Crusading Orders and international trading consortiums. They altered the fate of places thousands of miles from the Baltic Rim. But in time these successes brought their own hazards. The attention of larger political units was attracted. The native populations were ultimately too small to sustain serious political power. The role of the Baltic Rim in the modern world has changed. Instead of political competition, the Baltic Rim has become an exemplar for good values, education, freedom of expression and working democracy.

This course will bring into focus some of the great paintings produced in five European cities hitherto regarded as only of secondary importance in the history of Western art. Participants will discover how Titian advanced Renaissance painting beyond that of Florence and Rome, whilst in a turbulent London we will meet William Hogarth. We also meet Egon Schiele in Vienna and in Moscow, Wassily Kandinsky. In Berlin we encounter George Grosz and Otto Dix. Finally we meet German artist Anselm Kiefer.

Everything around us, apart from hydrogen and helium, was made inside stars. The Earth and Sun contain elements made in the many generations of stars that were born and died during the nine thousand million years before our Sun and planets were born. The story of the birth and death of stars is the story of the battle of matter against the force of gravity. In this course we follow the story from when the Universe was a few seconds old to the present day.

These lectures will demonstrate how bones and teeth of animals record various aspects of their life history. This is particularly important for deciphering the biology of animals that have been dead for a few years up to millions of years, and of which we know virtually nothing. Anatomical studies and biological signals recorded within their bones allow us to extract information about how they grew, how old they were, whether they migrated or whether they endured disease. We will show how we garner this information.

It recognized that landscapes, gardens, plants and natural environments promote mental and physical health. Architects in Japan and Europe have been required to create areas for green spaces in all new building developments. They are creating green spaces on rooftops and balconies and in ‘living walls’ of plants that create their own eco-environments. This course will explore the meaning and importance of green zones, how we respond to certain combinations of natural elements, and how we can use these in our daily lives and living spaces.

J.S. Bach, has loomed large over the musical world for the last three hundred years. What is it about Bach that has this effect on composers? This course explores answers to this phenomenon. The first lecture discusses the enigma of Bach: where did this music come from, and why is it so universally loved? The next lecture looks at Bach’s influence in the nineteenth century where the music is unapproachable and immeasurable by ordinary standards. Finally, Bach is considered as a man for all genres in modern times.

These lectures investigate the crises around imperial power and the writing of novels from the genre of the ‘spy’ or ‘espionage’ thriller. It examines the national and imperial tensions at work around the time of the novels’ writing, and how these work through into the novels’ structures and narratives. We move from the period of nineteenth-century grand imperialism (Kipling) across the First World War and the aftermath of the Second World War (Buchan and Fleming) and into the beginnings of the contemporary period of neo-liberalism and globalisation (le Carré).

This course seeks to discover intimations of the numinous on a journey with five poets. From the search for a peace that passes understanding in a post-war ‘waste land’, through the rigours of purgatorial pilgrimage to the modern cityscapes of squandered desires, loneliness and spiritual failure, graced lives appear as rather distant afterthoughts and fractured memories. If faint echoes of the transcendent may still be heard, the question is posed as to where sacred presence could be found or reimagined in the unhallowed void and transience of secular human existence.

This course will share insights about carbon dioxide and its role in sustaining life on Earth. Carbon dioxide, which is invisible and odourless, is a key component in our atmosphere.
Based on fundamental scientific principles, these lectures will delve into the scientific foundations under­pinning the mechanisms by which greenhouse and other atmospheric gases contribute to the shaping of our planet’s climate. The lectures will offer valuable insights and foster a deeper understanding of this complex yet captivating subject matter.

The Baltic Rim spawned waves of colonisers, powerful empires, Crusading Orders and international trading consortiums. They altered the fate of places thousands of miles from the Baltic Rim. But in time these successes brought their own hazards. The attention of larger political units was attracted. The native populations were ultimately too small to sustain serious political power. The role of the Baltic Rim in the modern world has changed. Instead of political competition, the Baltic Rim has become an exemplar for good values, education, freedom of expression and working democracy.

This course will bring into focus some of the great paintings produced in five European cities hitherto regarded as only of secondary importance in the history of Western art. Participants will discover how Titian advanced Renaissance painting beyond that of Florence and Rome, whilst in a turbulent London we will meet William Hogarth. We also meet Egon Schiele in Vienna and in Moscow, Wassily Kandinsky. In Berlin we encounter George Grosz and Otto Dix. Finally we meet German artist Anselm Kiefer.

Everything around us, apart from hydrogen and helium, was made inside stars. The Earth and Sun contain elements made in the many generations of stars that were born and died during the nine thousand million years before our Sun and planets were born. The story of the birth and death of stars is the story of the battle of matter against the force of gravity. In this course we follow the story from when the Universe was a few seconds old to the present day.

It recognized that landscapes, gardens, plants and natural environments promote mental and physical health. Architects in Japan and Europe have been required to create areas for green spaces in all new building developments. They are creating green spaces on rooftops and balconies and in ‘living walls’ of plants that create their own eco-environments. This course will explore the meaning and importance of green zones, how we respond to certain combinations of natural elements, and how we can use these in our daily lives and living spaces.

J.S. Bach, has loomed large over the musical world for the last three hundred years. What is it about Bach that has this effect on composers? This course explores answers to this phenomenon. The first lecture discusses the enigma of Bach: where did this music come from, and why is it so universally loved? The next lecture looks at Bach’s influence in the nineteenth century where the music is unapproachable and immeasurable by ordinary standards. Finally, Bach is considered as a man for all genres in modern times.

Are we endowed with the capacity to make our own choices? Do we have free will? This is a the big questions challenging biologists today. How can there be free will in a determined Universe? This is based on a contradictory notion of ‘compatibilism’: The world is deterministic and there is free will. The current literature provides much evidence of the integration of biology and psychology. This course will focus mainly (but not entirely) on the ideas of two major thinkers representing diametrically opposing views for and against free will.

These lectures investigate the crises around imperial power and the writing of novels from the genre of the ‘spy’ or ‘espionage’ thriller. It examines the national and imperial tensions at work around the time of the novels’ writing, and how these work through into the novels’ structures and narratives. We move from the period of nineteenth-century grand imperialism (Kipling) across the First World War and the aftermath of the Second World War (Buchan and Fleming) and into the beginnings of the contemporary period of neo-liberalism and globalisation (le Carré).

This course seeks to discover intimations of the numinous on a journey with five poets. From the search for a peace that passes understanding in a post-war ‘waste land’, through the rigours of purgatorial pilgrimage to the modern cityscapes of squandered desires, loneliness and spiritual failure, graced lives appear as rather distant afterthoughts and fractured memories. If faint echoes of the transcendent may still be heard, the question is posed as to where sacred presence could be found or reimagined in the unhallowed void and transience of secular human existence.

This course will share insights about carbon dioxide and its role in sustaining life on Earth. Carbon dioxide, which is invisible and odourless, is a key component in our atmosphere.
Based on fundamental scientific principles, these lectures will delve into the scientific foundations under­pinning the mechanisms by which greenhouse and other atmospheric gases contribute to the shaping of our planet’s climate. The lectures will offer valuable insights and foster a deeper understanding of this complex yet captivating subject matter.

The Baltic Rim spawned waves of colonisers, powerful empires, Crusading Orders and international trading consortiums. They altered the fate of places thousands of miles from the Baltic Rim. But in time these successes brought their own hazards. The attention of larger political units was attracted. The native populations were ultimately too small to sustain serious political power. The role of the Baltic Rim in the modern world has changed. Instead of political competition, the Baltic Rim has become an exemplar for good values, education, freedom of expression and working democracy.

This course will bring into focus some of the great paintings produced in five European cities hitherto regarded as only of secondary importance in the history of Western art. Participants will discover how Titian advanced Renaissance painting beyond that of Florence and Rome, whilst in a turbulent London we will meet William Hogarth. We also meet Egon Schiele in Vienna and in Moscow, Wassily Kandinsky. In Berlin we encounter George Grosz and Otto Dix. Finally we meet German artist Anselm Kiefer.

Everything around us, apart from hydrogen and helium, was made inside stars. The Earth and Sun contain elements made in the many generations of stars that were born and died during the nine thousand million years before our Sun and planets were born. The story of the birth and death of stars is the story of the battle of matter against the force of gravity. In this course we follow the story from when the Universe was a few seconds old to the present day.

These lectures will demonstrate how bones and teeth of animals record various aspects of their life history. This is particularly important for deciphering the biology of animals that have been dead for a few years up to millions of years, and of which we know virtually nothing. Anatomical studies and biological signals recorded within their bones allow us to extract information about how they grew, how old they were, whether they migrated or whether they endured disease. We will show how we garner this information.

It recognized that landscapes, gardens, plants and natural environments promote mental and physical health. Architects in Japan and Europe have been required to create areas for green spaces in all new building developments. They are creating green spaces on rooftops and balconies and in ‘living walls’ of plants that create their own eco-environments. This course will explore the meaning and importance of green zones, how we respond to certain combinations of natural elements, and how we can use these in our daily lives and living spaces.

J.S. Bach, has loomed large over the musical world for the last three hundred years. What is it about Bach that has this effect on composers? This course explores answers to this phenomenon. The first lecture discusses the enigma of Bach: where did this music come from, and why is it so universally loved? The next lecture looks at Bach’s influence in the nineteenth century where the music is unapproachable and immeasurable by ordinary standards. Finally, Bach is considered as a man for all genres in modern times.

Are we endowed with the capacity to make our own choices? Do we have free will? This is a the big questions challenging biologists today. How can there be free will in a determined Universe? This is based on a contradictory notion of ‘compatibilism’: The world is deterministic and there is free will. The current literature provides much evidence of the integration of biology and psychology. This course will focus mainly (but not entirely) on the ideas of two major thinkers representing diametrically opposing views for and against free will.

These lectures investigate the crises around imperial power and the writing of novels from the genre of the ‘spy’ or ‘espionage’ thriller. It examines the national and imperial tensions at work around the time of the novels’ writing, and how these work through into the novels’ structures and narratives. We move from the period of nineteenth-century grand imperialism (Kipling) across the First World War and the aftermath of the Second World War (Buchan and Fleming) and into the beginnings of the contemporary period of neo-liberalism and globalisation (le Carré).

This course seeks to discover intimations of the numinous on a journey with five poets. From the search for a peace that passes understanding in a post-war ‘waste land’, through the rigours of purgatorial pilgrimage to the modern cityscapes of squandered desires, loneliness and spiritual failure, graced lives appear as rather distant afterthoughts and fractured memories. If faint echoes of the transcendent may still be heard, the question is posed as to where sacred presence could be found or reimagined in the unhallowed void and transience of secular human existence.

This course will share insights about carbon dioxide and its role in sustaining life on Earth. Carbon dioxide, which is invisible and odourless, is a key component in our atmosphere.
Based on fundamental scientific principles, these lectures will delve into the scientific foundations under­pinning the mechanisms by which greenhouse and other atmospheric gases contribute to the shaping of our planet’s climate. The lectures will offer valuable insights and foster a deeper understanding of this complex yet captivating subject matter.

The Baltic Rim spawned waves of colonisers, powerful empires, Crusading Orders and international trading consortiums. They altered the fate of places thousands of miles from the Baltic Rim. But in time these successes brought their own hazards. The attention of larger political units was attracted. The native populations were ultimately too small to sustain serious political power. The role of the Baltic Rim in the modern world has changed. Instead of political competition, the Baltic Rim has become an exemplar for good values, education, freedom of expression and working democracy.

Long Covid remains mysterious. This is in part due to the difficulty in identifying an overt pathological cause, but also the complexity of understanding how organic changes result in psychological symptoms such as mental fatigue, memory problems, emotional issues, and difficulty in focusing. The first lecture will discuss Long Covid, its controversial history and prevailing ideas regarding the brain changes that result in its symptoms. The second lecture will focus on the results and implications of a recent neuropsychological study of Long Covid.

This course will bring into focus some of the great paintings produced in five European cities hitherto regarded as only of secondary importance in the history of Western art. Participants will discover how Titian advanced Renaissance painting beyond that of Florence and Rome, whilst in a turbulent London we will meet William Hogarth. We also meet Egon Schiele in Vienna and in Moscow, Wassily Kandinsky. In Berlin we encounter George Grosz and Otto Dix. Finally we meet German artist Anselm Kiefer.

These lectures will demonstrate how bones and teeth of animals record various aspects of their life history. This is particularly important for deciphering the biology of animals that have been dead for a few years up to millions of years, and of which we know virtually nothing. Anatomical studies and biological signals recorded within their bones allow us to extract information about how they grew, how old they were, whether they migrated or whether they endured disease. We will show how we garner this information.

It recognized that landscapes, gardens, plants and natural environments promote mental and physical health. Architects in Japan and Europe have been required to create areas for green spaces in all new building developments. They are creating green spaces on rooftops and balconies and in ‘living walls’ of plants that create their own eco-environments. This course will explore the meaning and importance of green zones, how we respond to certain combinations of natural elements, and how we can use these in our daily lives and living spaces.

These lectures investigate the crises around imperial power and the writing of novels from the genre of the ‘spy’ or ‘espionage’ thriller. It examines the national and imperial tensions at work around the time of the novels’ writing, and how these work through into the novels’ structures and narratives. We move from the period of nineteenth-century grand imperialism (Kipling) across the First World War and the aftermath of the Second World War (Buchan and Fleming) and into the beginnings of the contemporary period of neo-liberalism and globalisation (le Carré).

This course seeks to discover intimations of the numinous on a journey with five poets. From the search for a peace that passes understanding in a post-war ‘waste land’, through the rigours of purgatorial pilgrimage to the modern cityscapes of squandered desires, loneliness and spiritual failure, graced lives appear as rather distant afterthoughts and fractured memories. If faint echoes of the transcendent may still be heard, the question is posed as to where sacred presence could be found or reimagined in the unhallowed void and transience of secular human existence.

The Baltic Rim spawned waves of colonisers, powerful empires, Crusading Orders and international trading consortiums. They altered the fate of places thousands of miles from the Baltic Rim. But in time these successes brought their own hazards. The attention of larger political units was attracted. The native populations were ultimately too small to sustain serious political power. The role of the Baltic Rim in the modern world has changed. Instead of political competition, the Baltic Rim has become an exemplar for good values, education, freedom of expression and working democracy.

Long Covid remains mysterious. This is in part due to the difficulty in identifying an overt pathological cause, but also the complexity of understanding how organic changes result in psychological symptoms such as mental fatigue, memory problems, emotional issues, and difficulty in focusing. The first lecture will discuss Long Covid, its controversial history and prevailing ideas regarding the brain changes that result in its symptoms. The second lecture will focus on the results and implications of a recent neuropsychological study of Long Covid.

This course will bring into focus some of the great paintings produced in five European cities hitherto regarded as only of secondary importance in the history of Western art. Participants will discover how Titian advanced Renaissance painting beyond that of Florence and Rome, whilst in a turbulent London we will meet William Hogarth. We also meet Egon Schiele in Vienna and in Moscow, Wassily Kandinsky. In Berlin we encounter George Grosz and Otto Dix. Finally we meet German artist Anselm Kiefer.

These lectures will demonstrate how bones and teeth of animals record various aspects of their life history. This is particularly important for deciphering the biology of animals that have been dead for a few years up to millions of years, and of which we know virtually nothing. Anatomical studies and biological signals recorded within their bones allow us to extract information about how they grew, how old they were, whether they migrated or whether they endured disease. We will show how we garner this information.

These lectures investigate the crises around imperial power and the writing of novels from the genre of the ‘spy’ or ‘espionage’ thriller. It examines the national and imperial tensions at work around the time of the novels’ writing, and how these work through into the novels’ structures and narratives. We move from the period of nineteenth-century grand imperialism (Kipling) across the First World War and the aftermath of the Second World War (Buchan and Fleming) and into the beginnings of the contemporary period of neo-liberalism and globalisation (le Carré).

D-Day liberated Europe from Nazi German occupation. It was the greatest amphibian operation ever planned. 2024 marked its 80th anniversary. A handful of the original participants were still alive to celebrate. Among them were several South African divisions. It was one of the most minutely planned operations in history. So many things could have gone wrong. In the event, although it was far from plain sailing, and hugely costly in terms of human lives, almost nothing went wrong. It remains a feat of astonishing military, organisational and human achievement.

Drawings, prints and sculpture by indigenous artists from the Circumpolar North have captured international attention at contemporary art events. This course offers a cultural perspective on the resurgence of contemporary art from the Far North. It explores its rich history and disentangles some of the complicated encounters between circumpolar communities and settlers that gave rise to beautiful visual and material expression of indigenous identity. The Inuit of the northern regions of Canada will be at the centre of this course, but examples from other Arctic communities will also be discussed.

This course discusses the work of figures such as Mistral, Pagnol, Cézanne and Milhaud, all born in Provence, as well as significant visitors to the area. The south of France had a profound impact on artistic sentiments, resulting in beautiful works of art; the invention of paints in tubes enabled painters to work en plein air, fuelled by fine fare from the local markets. The impact of light, temperature, cuisine and landscape clearly played a significant role in original creativity – artistic, musical and literary.

For millennia homo sapiens had only the Sun for illumination. Then we discovered how to make fire, creating light after dark. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the generation of electric current became possible and the world changed. The creation of the electric light bulb was not simple, and the various models we use today took over 50 years to create This course will discuss how the discovery and use of electricity has made one of the greatest changes in the way in which we live today.

We are currently living in an ice age, with a major ice sheet situated over Antarctica. This course will explore the rock record of past ice ages, our understanding of how our current ice age came about and the future possible fate of ice on Earth, given global warming. The rock record of southern Africa includes evidence of Snowball Earth, of the end-Ordovician ice age in the Pakhuis Formation that sits atop Table Mountain, of the end-Devonian ice age from deposits in the Cape Fold Belt and of the Carboniferous-Permian Gondwanan ice age in the Dwyka tillites of the Karoo Basin.

Manet’s work represents a crucial turning point between the realism of Gustave Courbet and the ‘new painters’. His extremely expressive and accurate painting technique influenced the young Impressionists. Two works led to him to become the undisputed leader of the avant-garde, and a pariah at the École des Beaux Arts. Both works, ‘Déjeuner sur l’herbe’ and ‘Olympia’, reference the great Renaissance works of Giorgione and Titian. A deeper side of him is revealed in his moving works of 1864 and 1865 on the theme of death.

Alongside written scripture, there is a long tradition of depictions of Christ in painting. This course, jointly presented by a cleric and a historian, considers the varying purposes of Christian art: devotional, didactic and doctrinal. It examines how the human and divine natures of Christ are depicted in widely differing styles and schools of art. How did these images change over time, and why?

This illustrated course is an introduction to both the history of landscape design and gardens, focusing on the practicalities of working with nature to create places of harmony, recreation and sustainable development. It will explore and uncover the influences and inspirations for garden design throughout the centuries, from ancient Persia to modern Prairie gardens. It will include some examples of maps, plans, plants and details, but the focus will be the overall impression that is created by designers when working with nature in an environmentally sustainable way.

This course will explore the most famous of poetic forms, the sonnet, from its earliest days to the present, with a close critical reading of selected sonnets. The course will discuss the form and development of the sonnet and its strange capacity for resolving itself and life’s questions, the mystery of fourteen lines, the power of metre and rhyme and the famous ‘volta’. Texts will be provided in class.

Few topics in philosophy have more immediacy than existentialism. Its many proponents and eminent thinkers address the most fundamental questions asked by all thinking humans and religions. Questions addressed include: What are we, how did we become us, where are we, are there other sentient beings in the Universe? What does it mean to be human, what may become of us? Are there alterable determinants of our destiny that may affect – individually – each of our ultimate destinies? Will it ever end, and if so, when and how?

D-Day liberated Europe from Nazi German occupation. It was the greatest amphibian operation ever planned. 2024 marked its 80th anniversary. A handful of the original participants were still alive to celebrate. Among them were several South African divisions. It was one of the most minutely planned operations in history. So many things could have gone wrong. In the event, although it was far from plain sailing, and hugely costly in terms of human lives, almost nothing went wrong. It remains a feat of astonishing military, organisational and human achievement.

Drawings, prints and sculpture by indigenous artists from the Circumpolar North have captured international attention at contemporary art events. This course offers a cultural perspective on the resurgence of contemporary art from the Far North. It explores its rich history and disentangles some of the complicated encounters between circumpolar communities and settlers that gave rise to beautiful visual and material expression of indigenous identity. The Inuit of the northern regions of Canada will be at the centre of this course, but examples from other Arctic communities will also be discussed.

This course discusses the work of figures such as Mistral, Pagnol, Cézanne and Milhaud, all born in Provence, as well as significant visitors to the area. The south of France had a profound impact on artistic sentiments, resulting in beautiful works of art; the invention of paints in tubes enabled painters to work en plein air, fuelled by fine fare from the local markets. The impact of light, temperature, cuisine and landscape clearly played a significant role in original creativity – artistic, musical and literary.

For millennia homo sapiens had only the Sun for illumination. Then we discovered how to make fire, creating light after dark. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the generation of electric current became possible and the world changed. The creation of the electric light bulb was not simple, and the various models we use today took over 50 years to create This course will discuss how the discovery and use of electricity has made one of the greatest changes in the way in which we live today.

We are currently living in an ice age, with a major ice sheet situated over Antarctica. This course will explore the rock record of past ice ages, our understanding of how our current ice age came about and the future possible fate of ice on Earth, given global warming. The rock record of southern Africa includes evidence of Snowball Earth, of the end-Ordovician ice age in the Pakhuis Formation that sits atop Table Mountain, of the end-Devonian ice age from deposits in the Cape Fold Belt and of the Carboniferous-Permian Gondwanan ice age in the Dwyka tillites of the Karoo Basin.

Manet’s work represents a crucial turning point between the realism of Gustave Courbet and the ‘new painters’. His extremely expressive and accurate painting technique influenced the young Impressionists. Two works led to him to become the undisputed leader of the avant-garde, and a pariah at the École des Beaux Arts. Both works, ‘Déjeuner sur l’herbe’ and ‘Olympia’, reference the great Renaissance works of Giorgione and Titian. A deeper side of him is revealed in his moving works of 1864 and 1865 on the theme of death.

Alongside written scripture, there is a long tradition of depictions of Christ in painting. This course, jointly presented by a cleric and a historian, considers the varying purposes of Christian art: devotional, didactic and doctrinal. It examines how the human and divine natures of Christ are depicted in widely differing styles and schools of art. How did these images change over time, and why?

This illustrated course is an introduction to both the history of landscape design and gardens, focusing on the practicalities of working with nature to create places of harmony, recreation and sustainable development. It will explore and uncover the influences and inspirations for garden design throughout the centuries, from ancient Persia to modern Prairie gardens. It will include some examples of maps, plans, plants and details, but the focus will be the overall impression that is created by designers when working with nature in an environmentally sustainable way.

This course will explore the most famous of poetic forms, the sonnet, from its earliest days to the present, with a close critical reading of selected sonnets. The course will discuss the form and development of the sonnet and its strange capacity for resolving itself and life’s questions, the mystery of fourteen lines, the power of metre and rhyme and the famous ‘volta’. Texts will be provided in class.

Few topics in philosophy have more immediacy than existentialism. Its many proponents and eminent thinkers address the most fundamental questions asked by all thinking humans and religions. Questions addressed include: What are we, how did we become us, where are we, are there other sentient beings in the Universe? What does it mean to be human, what may become of us? Are there alterable determinants of our destiny that may affect – individually – each of our ultimate destinies? Will it ever end, and if so, when and how?

This course will explore how wildlife documentary filmmakers in southern Africa came to re-shape and dominate the field. It will move from the making of Cherry Kearton’s Dassan (1930) to Craig Foster’s My Octopus Teacher (2020), looking at what helped local filmmakers triumph. Participants are advised to watch as many wildlife documentaries from the relevant filmmakers as possible. Many of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom films are online while other films, or excerpts from them, are on YouTube or available at a fee through Vimeo.

D-Day liberated Europe from Nazi German occupation. It was the greatest amphibian operation ever planned. 2024 marked its 80th anniversary. A handful of the original participants were still alive to celebrate. Among them were several South African divisions. It was one of the most minutely planned operations in history. So many things could have gone wrong. In the event, although it was far from plain sailing, and hugely costly in terms of human lives, almost nothing went wrong. It remains a feat of astonishing military, organisational and human achievement.

Drawings, prints and sculpture by indigenous artists from the Circumpolar North have captured international attention at contemporary art events. This course offers a cultural perspective on the resurgence of contemporary art from the Far North. It explores its rich history and disentangles some of the complicated encounters between circumpolar communities and settlers that gave rise to beautiful visual and material expression of indigenous identity. The Inuit of the northern regions of Canada will be at the centre of this course, but examples from other Arctic communities will also be discussed.

This course discusses the work of figures such as Mistral, Pagnol, Cézanne and Milhaud, all born in Provence, as well as significant visitors to the area. The south of France had a profound impact on artistic sentiments, resulting in beautiful works of art; the invention of paints in tubes enabled painters to work en plein air, fuelled by fine fare from the local markets. The impact of light, temperature, cuisine and landscape clearly played a significant role in original creativity – artistic, musical and literary.

For millennia homo sapiens had only the Sun for illumination. Then we discovered how to make fire, creating light after dark. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the generation of electric current became possible and the world changed. The creation of the electric light bulb was not simple, and the various models we use today took over 50 years to create This course will discuss how the discovery and use of electricity has made one of the greatest changes in the way in which we live today.

We are currently living in an ice age, with a major ice sheet situated over Antarctica. This course will explore the rock record of past ice ages, our understanding of how our current ice age came about and the future possible fate of ice on Earth, given global warming. The rock record of southern Africa includes evidence of Snowball Earth, of the end-Ordovician ice age in the Pakhuis Formation that sits atop Table Mountain, of the end-Devonian ice age from deposits in the Cape Fold Belt and of the Carboniferous-Permian Gondwanan ice age in the Dwyka tillites of the Karoo Basin.

This course look. at book collecting, whether it be a mere sidelight on one’s reading choices or a focused and specialized gem. Modern book collecting need not be expensive, nor does one’s collection need to be vast. Today collectors curate their collections in unusual or neglected areas and become ‘hunter-gatherers’ of their field. In turn they can develop unique knowledge and create a collection that can have value – both scholarly and financially – for the future and for others to share.

Manet’s work represents a crucial turning point between the realism of Gustave Courbet and the ‘new painters’. His extremely expressive and accurate painting technique influenced the young Impressionists. Two works led to him to become the undisputed leader of the avant-garde, and a pariah at the École des Beaux Arts. Both works, ‘Déjeuner sur l’herbe’ and ‘Olympia’, reference the great Renaissance works of Giorgione and Titian. A deeper side of him is revealed in his moving works of 1864 and 1865 on the theme of death.

Alongside written scripture, there is a long tradition of depictions of Christ in painting. This course, jointly presented by a cleric and a historian, considers the varying purposes of Christian art: devotional, didactic and doctrinal. It examines how the human and divine natures of Christ are depicted in widely differing styles and schools of art. How did these images change over time, and why?

This course explores the complexities of Africa-China relations, one of the most significant developments in global affairs of the twenty-first century. First, the development and advancement of political ties will be discussed, second, the economic dimension of Africa-China ties and lastly, China’s growing security footprint on the African continent will be examined. This course will especially appeal to those interested in international relations, global affairs, global political economy, China’s foreign policy, China in the Global South, South-South cooperation and African development.

This illustrated course is an introduction to both the history of landscape design and gardens, focusing on the practicalities of working with nature to create places of harmony, recreation and sustainable development. It will explore and uncover the influences and inspirations for garden design throughout the centuries, from ancient Persia to modern Prairie gardens. It will include some examples of maps, plans, plants and details, but the focus will be the overall impression that is created by designers when working with nature in an environmentally sustainable way.

This course will explore the most famous of poetic forms, the sonnet, from its earliest days to the present, with a close critical reading of selected sonnets. The course will discuss the form and development of the sonnet and its strange capacity for resolving itself and life’s questions, the mystery of fourteen lines, the power of metre and rhyme and the famous ‘volta’. Texts will be provided in class.

Few topics in philosophy have more immediacy than existentialism. Its many proponents and eminent thinkers address the most fundamental questions asked by all thinking humans and religions. Questions addressed include: What are we, how did we become us, where are we, are there other sentient beings in the Universe? What does it mean to be human, what may become of us? Are there alterable determinants of our destiny that may affect – individually – each of our ultimate destinies? Will it ever end, and if so, when and how?

This course will explore how wildlife documentary filmmakers in southern Africa came to re-shape and dominate the field. It will move from the making of Cherry Kearton’s Dassan (1930) to Craig Foster’s My Octopus Teacher (2020), looking at what helped local filmmakers triumph. Participants are advised to watch as many wildlife documentaries from the relevant filmmakers as possible. Many of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom films are online while other films, or excerpts from them, are on YouTube or available at a fee through Vimeo.

This course explores the growing impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in key sectors: biology, medicine, energy, transportation and the environment. Participants will gain insights into AI’s breakthroughs in drug discovery, diagnostics and personalised medicine, alongside its contributions to energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, examining everything from smart grids to climate modelling. Each lecture will include a blend of case studies, ethical discussions and technological advancements, equipping participants with a comprehensive understanding of how AI is reshaping critical aspects of our world.

Drawings, prints and sculpture by indigenous artists from the Circumpolar North have captured international attention at contemporary art events. This course offers a cultural perspective on the resurgence of contemporary art from the Far North. It explores its rich history and disentangles some of the complicated encounters between circumpolar communities and settlers that gave rise to beautiful visual and material expression of indigenous identity. The Inuit of the northern regions of Canada will be at the centre of this course, but examples from other Arctic communities will also be discussed.

This course explores the music and ideas of Claude Debussy. We discover how Debussy liberated music from traditional Germanic modes of expression and initiated new ways of composing. The term Impressionism is explored. Debussy is introduced, and the manner in which he transferred these ideas to music is discussed. The second lecture explores the work of the Impressionist painters and their influence on composers in countries other than France. We see how their ideas influenced the succeeding generation of artists, paving the way for new trends in the twentieth century.

This course look. at book collecting, whether it be a mere sidelight on one’s reading choices or a focused and specialized gem. Modern book collecting need not be expensive, nor does one’s collection need to be vast. Today collectors curate their collections in unusual or neglected areas and become ‘hunter-gatherers’ of their field. In turn they can develop unique knowledge and create a collection that can have value – both scholarly and financially – for the future and for others to share.

Picasso dominated the twentieth century. His arrival in Paris at the age of nineteen plunged him into the toxic atmosphere of Montmartre and led to life-changing relationships with people such as Gertrude and Leo Stein, Fernande Olivier, Max Jacob, Guillaume Apollinaire, the legendary art dealer Ambroise Vollard, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, and many others. Picasso’s sensitivity to the zeitgeist and his prophetic instincts about the coming of a world war are to be traced in his works leading up to 1914. This course looks at what happened afterwards.

This course explores the complexities of Africa-China relations, one of the most significant developments in global affairs of the twenty-first century. First, the development and advancement of political ties will be discussed, second, the economic dimension of Africa-China ties and lastly, China’s growing security footprint on the African continent will be examined. This course will especially appeal to those interested in international relations, global affairs, global political economy, China’s foreign policy, China in the Global South, South-South cooperation and African development.

This course will explore the most famous of poetic forms, the sonnet, from its earliest days to the present, with a close critical reading of selected sonnets. The course will discuss the form and development of the sonnet and its strange capacity for resolving itself and life’s questions, the mystery of fourteen lines, the power of metre and rhyme and the famous ‘volta’. Texts will be provided in class.

This course will explore how wildlife documentary filmmakers in southern Africa came to re-shape and dominate the field. It will move from the making of Cherry Kearton’s Dassan (1930) to Craig Foster’s My Octopus Teacher (2020), looking at what helped local filmmakers triumph. Participants are advised to watch as many wildlife documentaries from the relevant filmmakers as possible. Many of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom films are online while other films, or excerpts from them, are on YouTube or available at a fee through Vimeo.

This course explores the growing impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in key sectors: biology, medicine, energy, transportation and the environment. Participants will gain insights into AI’s breakthroughs in drug discovery, diagnostics and personalised medicine, alongside its contributions to energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, examining everything from smart grids to climate modelling. Each lecture will include a blend of case studies, ethical discussions and technological advancements, equipping participants with a comprehensive understanding of how AI is reshaping critical aspects of our world.

Drawings, prints and sculpture by indigenous artists from the Circumpolar North have captured international attention at contemporary art events. This course offers a cultural perspective on the resurgence of contemporary art from the Far North. It explores its rich history and disentangles some of the complicated encounters between circumpolar communities and settlers that gave rise to beautiful visual and material expression of indigenous identity. The Inuit of the northern regions of Canada will be at the centre of this course, but examples from other Arctic communities will also be discussed.

This course explores the music and ideas of Claude Debussy. We discover how Debussy liberated music from traditional Germanic modes of expression and initiated new ways of composing. The term Impressionism is explored. Debussy is introduced, and the manner in which he transferred these ideas to music is discussed. The second lecture explores the work of the Impressionist painters and their influence on composers in countries other than France. We see how their ideas influenced the succeeding generation of artists, paving the way for new trends in the twentieth century.

This course look. at book collecting, whether it be a mere sidelight on one’s reading choices or a focused and specialized gem. Modern book collecting need not be expensive, nor does one’s collection need to be vast. Today collectors curate their collections in unusual or neglected areas and become ‘hunter-gatherers’ of their field. In turn they can develop unique knowledge and create a collection that can have value – both scholarly and financially – for the future and for others to share.

Picasso dominated the twentieth century. His arrival in Paris at the age of nineteen plunged him into the toxic atmosphere of Montmartre and led to life-changing relationships with people such as Gertrude and Leo Stein, Fernande Olivier, Max Jacob, Guillaume Apollinaire, the legendary art dealer Ambroise Vollard, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, and many others. Picasso’s sensitivity to the zeitgeist and his prophetic instincts about the coming of a world war are to be traced in his works leading up to 1914. This course looks at what happened afterwards.

This course explores the complexities of Africa-China relations, one of the most significant developments in global affairs of the twenty-first century. First, the development and advancement of political ties will be discussed, second, the economic dimension of Africa-China ties and lastly, China’s growing security footprint on the African continent will be examined. This course will especially appeal to those interested in international relations, global affairs, global political economy, China’s foreign policy, China in the Global South, South-South cooperation and African development.

This course will explore the most famous of poetic forms, the sonnet, from its earliest days to the present, with a close critical reading of selected sonnets. The course will discuss the form and development of the sonnet and its strange capacity for resolving itself and life’s questions, the mystery of fourteen lines, the power of metre and rhyme and the famous ‘volta’. Texts will be provided in class.