Glossop Guild for enquiring minds
Zooming Through the Autumn
On-line Courses
October 2021 ~ December 2021
Your Zoom Season Pass
In order to make "Zooming Through the Autumn" on-line term as flexible as possible, we are again offering a single payment "season pass" which will entitle you to join any or all of the autumn sessions below. The Autumn Zoom Season Pass costs just £25 for members or £35 for non-members*.
* To pay for the lectures as a non-member select the arrow in the white box opposite to this text, then on the drop-down menu select the non-member price of £35, next select "Buy Lectures" and follow the prompts.
Note:- The non-member price of £35 means you get the Autumn Zoom Season Pass and Guild Membership, entitling you to member discounted prices for all our other autumn and future spring term courses until the end of April 2022.
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After receipt of payment you will receive a joining invite to each individual session which contains a session ID, password and internet link.
Note: These invites are usually sent out on the preceding day of each course.
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The Autumn Zoom pass is no longer available as this term has concluded. You can however buy a Zoom pass for the 2022 Spring Term here:-
Cinema & Society in Iran Since 1945
Tutor: Alan Sennett
Monday 4th, 11th & 18th October 2021
10.00am - 12.00pm
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These 3 sessions will look primarily at Iran’s New Wave cinema which was inspired, among other influences, by post-war Italian neorealism. We will first survey the history of Iranian cinema and set it in the changing context of post-WW2 Iran. The course will examine the tense relationship between filmmakers and Iran’s governments over the period of the Shah’s dictatorship and Iranian Revolution of 1979, considering some of the ways in which cinema responded to societal crises. In terms of the films and filmmakers, we will focus largely upon the more recent generation of filmmakers of the so-called Iranian “New Wave” who have been astounding audiences at the major serious film festivals for over two decades and even scored a “hit” (Best Foreign Language) at the Oscars with Asghar Farhadi’s 2011 film A Separation.
Windrush
Tutors: Mike Milligan, Steve Millward & Creina Mansfield
Thursday 7th, 14th & 21st October 2021
10.00 am - 12.00pm
Arriving on June 22nd 1948 on the Empire Windrush, a group of Caribbeans came to Britain to work in ‘the Mother Country’ of the Empire to which they belonged. What happened to them and those that followed is the subject of this short course.
We shall look at:
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‘The Windrush generation’: migrants from the Caribbean in the 1950’s and 60’s.
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The recent scandal where some were deported.
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Examples of the talent that emerged from the Windrush generation.
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The academic career of Stuart Hall,
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Caribbean music, & Small Island (2004) , a novel by Andrea Levy.
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WINDRUSH (part 1)
Mike Milligan & Steve Millward
Thursday 7th October, 10.00 – 12.00pm
Immigration & the Scandal
Mike Milligan will tell the Windrush story and cover the political scandal.
Songs for Windrush: Caribbean Music comes to Britain
Steve Millward The period of Windrush emigration, 1948-71, coincided with the golden age of Caribbean music and some of its leading artists were on the very first Windrush voyage. Steve will describe the main styles and show how, once here, the music spread from the Caribbean community into British culture as a whole.
WINDRUSH (part 2)
Mike Milligan & Creina Mansfield
Thursday 14th October, 10.00 – 12.00pm
Stuart Hall, Immigrant & Cultural Theorist (i)
Mike Milligan will talk about Stuart Hall, who is seen as the founder of cultural theory. Hall migrated from Jamaica to England in 1952 and built on the work of some very English theorists including Richard Hoggart, Raymond Williams and E.P. Thompson. Hoggart invited him to set up the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS). We will look at his work at the Centre and his later theories on identity and race.
Small Island, the novel by Andrea Levi (i)
Creina Mansfield will discuss Small Island (2004) by Andrea Levy Andrea Levy’s own father came over on the Empire Windrush. When Andrea searched for literature that told the story of her parents, she found none, and so she wrote a novel that has become a classic. As the reviewer in The Sunday Herald, Scotland put it, ‘Andrea Levy has written one of those rare fictions that tells you things you didn’t know but feel you should have known’.
WINDRUSH (part 3)
Mike Milligan & Creina Mansfield
Thursday 21st October, 1.30pm – 3.30pm
Mike and Creina will conclude their discussions on - Stuart Hall and Small Island.
Stuart Hall
Historical Myths & Memory
Tutor: Kevin Harrison
Monday 25th October 2021
1.30pm - 3.30pm
Humans are governed more by their myths than by reason. This is certainly true when one looks at how history is used to create group identities: whether they be nations, political movements or religions. There is something in this talk to offend everybody as many powerful historical myths are identified and challenged.
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The Myth
Upon being informed that the citizens of France had no bread to eat, Marie Antoinette, Queen-consort of Louis XVI of France, exclaimed "let them eat cake", or "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche". This cemented her position as a vain, airheaded woman who didn't care for the common people of France, or understand their position, and is why she was executed in the French Revolution.
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The Truth
She didn't utter the words; critics of the Queen claimed she had in order to make her look insensitive and undermine her position.
Marie Antoinette
The Seventies: Keeping in Step: An Exploration of Events & Music
Tutors: Frank Vigon & Steve Millward
Thursday 4th, 11th, 18th & 25th November & 2nd December 2021
5 weeks 10am - 12pm
A period when music continued to move forward to new highs from the sixties by leading groups such as the Beatles and the Stones to experimental innovations from Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen and the very British dominance of the punk scene.
Television was firmly entrenched as a major part of life, at times threatening to reduce cinema attendance. Hollywood responded with blockbusters, pushing the European cinema even further to the precipice.
Politically and socially, it was still a time of change, with the continued rise of feminism set against the emerging power of political wonder women such as Margaret Thatcher and Eva Peron. It was an age of extremes of political violence and economic strife.
This was the revolution of the computer and video games, mass marketed for the young generation who continued to be financial drivers of consumerism. And all the time this purchase power was reflected in a wealth of new music on both sides of the Atlantic.
EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE ALL WIGHT (1970)
Thursday 4th November 10am – 12pm
The organisers billed the 1970 Isle of Wight Pop Festival as the Last Great Event. That turned out to be an understatement since the festival, one of the biggest-ever mass gatherings in this country, was a turning point in the history of youth culture. It marked the end of the hippy dream and the start of a decade of conflict and discord
AUNTIE BBC “OH DAD YOU IS A DIRTY OLD MAN” – SITUATION COMEDIES, SOAPS & CRIME
Thursday 11th November 10am – 12pm
Television became a social game changer in the seventies with comedy series developing as spin offs that became part of the British psyche. It was a time of escapism and daring with mass audiences choosing to laugh rather than cry. Soaps and crime series dominated and the Xmas show became as important as the Queen’s Speech.
WOMEN ON THE RISE: EVITA TO MARGARET HILDA - DON'T CRY FOR ME FINCHLEY CENTRAL
Thursday 18th November 10am – 12pm
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Despite social changes in the sixties, women were still free “but everywhere in chains”. While some continued to struggle to make their voices heard, other women reached the top of the greasy political pole but that did nothing or extraordinarily little to change things for the better.
As the pop world got used to life without The Beatles, numerous candidates were advanced to fill the void – most of them progressive rock bands. But there was virtually no role for women in "prog rock". That changed towards the middle of the decade when the macho pop star model was turned on its head.
PLEASE MRS ROBINSON: ART & CULTURE - THE WAR OF THE BLOCKBUSTER
Thursday 25th November 10am – 12pm
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This was the age of the iconic American movies: films that impressed themselves on the audience and challenged the European cinematographers. The Godfather, Star Wars and Smokey and the Bandit produced sequels and squeezing the golden goose devised prequels – were Bond and Carry On equal to the struggle?
In the mid-seventies, the sexuality of British pop stars was national news. Although these revelations were liberating for huge numbers of young people, the recession that followed brought with it rising youth unemployment and widespread feelings of alienation. All of this was reflected in the music.
THE POLITICS OF VIOLENCE – THE AGE OF DICTATORS, TERRORISTS & PROTEST
Thursday 2nd December 10am – 12pm
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The seventies were a period of significant political instability. Rulers were overthrown, religion became a driving force for terrorism and all over the world repressive regimes tried to keep the lid on the pressure for change. The decade began with the shooting of young Americans by their own troops and ended with 2 million deaths in Cambodia.
Punk rock exploded in Britain in 1976 and, while its heyday was brief, it transformed British pop music. There was now space for previously under-represented parts of the youth community and black and white styles began to mix. Women singers were now free to abandon stereotypical images and take control of their own careers.
The Easter Rising, Dublin 1916
Tutor: Tim Cockitt
Monday Evening 15th November 2021
7.30pm - 9.30pm
The Easter Rising in Dublin 1916 was a significant moment in Irish history. Whilst Britain was preoccupied with fighting World War One, Irish Nationalists made a bid for independence. The Rising was unexpected and tragic.
Tim Cockitt will provide an outline of the background, introduce some key people and step through the events of the week.
One important rebel was Countess Constance Markiewicz, who was one of the best marksmen involved. She was later the first woman to be elected to the British Parliament, but never took her seat.
The talk will include a virtual tour of several of the locations involved. Should you get to visit Dublin yourself, you can look for those places and seek evidence of the Rising for yourself.
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Sackville Street (Dublin) after the 1916 Easter Rising
Alan Turing
Tutors: Dave Kissack & Tim Cockitt
Monday Evening 29th November 2021
7.30pm - 9.30pm
Alan Turing may be best known for his significant contribution to the British war effort in code breaking at Bletchley Park. His relatively short life still has significance nearly 70 years after his death.
This session will try to place this work in the context of Turing’s academic brilliance, which would stand in its own right, and the challenges in his personal life which ultimately led to his early death.
The discussion is shared between Dave Kissack and Tim Cockitt, who will cover Turing’s early years, WW2 code breaking, Turing, the father of Computer Science and his final years.
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Christmas Zoom Quiz
Monday afternoon
6th December, 2.00 pm