An exploration of the traditional culture of Sussex, featuring the landscape and the customs which are rooted in the seasonal and life cycles. Sussex witchcraft, herbal remedies and early Christian lore associated with the cult of saints and pilgrimages will be considered as well as the rich heritage of folksongs and oral tales in Sussex. Also, the ethos of skilled traditional occupations such as fishing and shepherding, and moonlighting activities such as smuggling and poaching. We are planning a Saturday afternoon visit to the Sussex Folklore Museum at West Hoathley and the legendary Devil’s Dyke near Brighton.

This course will explore the ways in which London has been presented in films from the birth of cinema to the present day. You will discover “London” to be both a real place and an artistic construct. Using numerous film clips to illustrate a series of lectures and discussions, we will consider the filmic documentary record: with films like “Fires were Started” (1943)and “Terminus” (1961). The ways in which an invented London has been used in historical drama will also be an important focus: in different film versions of Dickens’ “Oliver Twist”, for example.The long tradition of London as a fictional place of crime and of fears of nightmarish apocalypse will also be considered in such films as “The Blue Lamp” and “Quatermass II”. But cinematic London also has a romantic and farcical face, so warm spirited classics like “Passport to Pimlico”, “Notting Hill” and “Sliding Doors” are an important part of the story. The course will be lavishly illustrated with film extracts; there will be helpful handouts on each of the topics and plenty of suggestions for further reading and investigation. The weekend will also feature a full-length screening of a rarely seen film.

The weekend will look at how London has evolved since its Roman foundation almost 2000 years ago. The capital has developed in a largely unstructured way over the centuries, still a historic city despite the ravages of fire, bombing and new building. London’s signature buildings include Wren’s City churches, stucco classical style terraces, leafy squares, Victorian Gothic edifices and today’s skyscrapers. The lectures will look at major themes behind the emergence of such buildings, the use of the classical style from Christopher Wren to John Nash, the development of the square in the aristocratic estates of the 18th and 19th centuries and the revival of Gothic design in the 19th century. Styles were slimmed down in the 20th century, buildings became more utilitarian and new materials were introduced. We will look at the construction of Canary Wharf and the creation of the Olympic site in the Lea Valley. London’s architecture had a considerable influence on provincial cities and, as a special feature of the weekend, we will visit Pallant House in Chichester which has excellent examples of Queen Anne and Georgian architecture and now contains a fine collection of modern art.

Over the weekend we shall explore “Julius Caesar” and “Antony and Cleopatra”, both Roman history plays. Each has a contemporary relevance in that “Julius Caesar” explores important political issues, such as the reality behind the façade of “the leader” (how far is he what he claims?) and how political opportunists seize power. “Antony and Cleopatra” shows Shakespeare at the height of his poetic powers, though the play is also a hard-nosed investigation, among other things, of the compatibility of power with a personal life and of what constitutes weakness in the political world. The two plays in conjunction may help us reach a definition of the “Roman play”, which poses many questions about power politics. The weekend will involve play reading, close analysis, discussion and examination of film versions.