Lewes U3A The Lewes Lectures 2003-2015
Local history, science, literature, consciousness, women in politics, history of art, music, the press, politics, sociology – these some of the many topics presented by authoritative speakers during the last eleven years in the Lewes Open Lecture Series.
The lectures have been presented since the late 1990s, are open to the public and frequently attract capacity audiences. They are ordinarily held in the Lewes Town
Hall Council Chamber.
Below is a list of the topics and speakers during the last twelve years. The description of speakers is correct to the day of delivery.
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2015
February 10
Magna Carta: History and Myth
Prof John Gillingham
John Gillingham is Emeritus Professor of History at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Fellow of the British Academy. His books include Richard
I (1999); 1215: The Year of Magna Carta (2004), (with Danny Danziger) and
Conquests, Catastrophe and Recovery: Britain and Ireland 1066-1485 (2014).
March 24
Shakespeare puzzles’
Prof. Cedric Watts
Cedric Watts, MA, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of
Sussex. His recent publications include Final Exam: A Novel ( by ‘Peter Green’,
2013), praised by Ian McEwan as ‘a stimulating blend of high-energy intellectual and sexual tease’, and Shakespeare Puzzles (2014), deemed ‘lively...informative entertainment’ by the Times Literary Supplement . He edits Wordsworth Classics’
Shakespeare Series.
May 19th
What determines how much we eat: how Western lifestyles promote overeating
Prof. Martin Yeomans
Professor Martin Yeomans is Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex, and an international expert on effects of food and drink ingredients on mood and cognitive performance. His current focus is developing an integrated approach to understanding eating motivation, combining cognitive, sensory and nutritional signals. These factors in turn impact on food choice and on causes of overeating.
June 16
Richard Masefield
Travels with an author: a novelist invites you to travel the world with his characters
Sussex author, Richard Masefield comes from a family of writers and is a cousin of the poet John Masefield. His first published novel was written whilst milking a herd of Friesian cows at Laughton. He still occupies his farm there, and is currently working on a story set in Eastbourne in 1963.

2014
April 1
The Monks of Saint Pancras: Lewes Priory, England's Premier Cluniac Monastery
Dr Graham Mayhew
Dr Mayhew taught for over 30 years for Sussex University and the Open University.
He is the author of a recent major work on Lewes Priory. He is a former three-times
Mayor of Lewes.
February 11
Philip Larkin: Funny Man
Dr John White
Dr White is Emeritus Reader in American History at the University of Hull. He is
Jazz Consultant to the Philip Larkin Society, and co-editor of Larkin: Jazz Writings,
1940- 1984.
2013
November 12
Rodin, Caro, Moore and Nash in Lewes
Paul Myles
Paul Myles was apprenticed at the Phoenix Ironworks, one of the last apprentices to go through. He has built many major structures in the South of England including
Lewes Leisure Centre. He lectures at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and the
University of Brighton, on alcohol and other substance misuse
October 8
Why read novels?
Dorothy Harrison, with readings by Ann Thomas.
Dorothy Harrison is a retired teacher of English in a number of local schools and colleges. She has been a guide at Charleston for twenty-one years.
June 25
Caring for the Sussex Poor: Social Security before Beveridge
Dr John Kay
John Kay was a Reader in Biochemistry at the University of Sussex, Associate Dean of the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and previously the Director of the Centre for Medical Research. Since his retirement he has been actively involved with local history particularly of Ringmer and Lewes.
May 28
Consciousness and the Ravenous Brain
Dr Daniel Bor
Daniel Bor is a cognitive neuroscientist at the Sackler Centre for Consciousness
Science at the University of Sussex. Previously, he was a research fellow at the
University of Cambridge.
March 26
Incident at Gondokoro: the Rise and Fall of Consul John Petherick
Dr John Fletcher

After a career in secondary and further education, Dr John Fletcher joined the School of Education at Cardiff University lecturing and researching in education management up to doctoral level. (In the absence of Dr Fletcher due to illness, the lecture was presented by Dr Malcolm Cornwall.)
February 14
The Beatles as Socio-Cultural Zeitgeist
Prof. Sheila Whitely
Sheila Whitely is Professor Emeritus at the University of Salford. She is a feminist musicologist with strong research interests in issues of identity and subjectivity
2012
November 29
Is there a future for the Past?
Baroness Kay Andrews
Baroness Andrews is the first woman Chair of English Heritage. Kay Andrews was a policy adviser to Neil Kinnock. She was awarded an OBE in 1998 and was created a life peer as Baroness Andrews of Southover in the County of East Sussex in 2000.
March 14
Fool Figures in Shakespeare’s plays
Terry Hodgson
Terry Hodgson is a Senior Lecturer in Drama and Literature in the University of
Sussex, where he was responsible for art programmes in the Centre for Continuing
Education.
February 16
The Diggers in the English Revolution
Prof. William Lamont
Willie Lamont taught at Hackney Downs School and Aberdeen before thirty years at the University Sussex, where he is Emeritus Professor of History. (Delivered at the
White Hart Hotel)
2011
November 29
Eleanor Rathbone M.P. - Britain's greatest woman politician of the 20th Century?
Dr Sybil Oldfield
Sybil Oldfield is Research Reader in English at the University of Sussex. She is the author of numerous books related to British women.
November 15 Convenient marriages and inconvenient deaths
Linda Lamont
June 9
The Power of Music
Dr Roy Wales

Director, Rottingdean Music Festival. He has conducted and taught throughout the world with orchestras and choirs including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and
BBC Singers and with singers such as José Carreras, Bryn Terfel and Lesley Garrett.
March 17
Sussex on Film
Dr Frank Gray
Director, Screen Archive South East at the University of Brighton
February 7
Story of the Peace Rose
Grace Davies
2010
November 24
The Buried Pleasure: Three forgotten Novels of the 20th Century
Dorothy Harrison
Dorothy Harrison is a retired teacher of English in a number of local schools and colleges. She is still actively interested in literature and also in art, having been a guide at Charleston for twenty-one years.
October 7
Celebrating Chopin: a recital and talk to mark the bicentenary year of the composer’s birth
Eugenia Jannis (piano) and Alice Smol (speaker) (held at Westgate Chapel, Lewes).
June 3
Climate Science and Climate Change
Dr Tom Crossett
Tom Crossett is an environmental scientist who has been Chief Scientist in the
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries and has played a leading role in many national and regional committees concerned with planning and the environment.
April 23
Men, Women and Poetry
Prof. Laurence Lerner
Emeritus Professor of English, University of Sussex. A prolific author, poet and critic,
Prof Lerner’s latest book is on women’s poetry.
March 18 Is Higher Education worth it?
Prof. Sir David Watson
Sir David is an historian and Professor of Higher Education Management at the
Institute of Education, University of London. He was Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Brighton between 1990 and 2005. He has contributed widely to developments in UK higher education. He was a member of the Dearing Committee, and chaired the national Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning which reported in September 2009.

February 11 “How was it for you?” ordinary people tell the story of the NHS over sixty years.
Linda Lamont and Fran McCabe
Linda Lamont (formerly Director of the Patients Association and Research Fellow) and Fran McCabe (nurse and NHS senior manager) are publishing a report based on their research on Health and the NHS using the Mass Observation Archive at the
University of Sussex.
2009
November 19
Thomas Turner, Shopkeeper Extraordinary: the play
Dr Micheal Turner
Micheal trained as an actor, and as a schoolteacher. He has been a director of theatre in London, and numerous plays in Lewes, and the author of four plays, all of which have been produced. He is a member of Lewes District Council and is currently
Deputy Mayor.
October 22
Lewes and the Gages, from the reign of Henry VIII
Helen Poole
Helen Poole was Director of Lewes Castle and Museum and a Lewes Priory Trustee.
She is the author of various books on Sussex and Lewes.
May 21
Bad News: What’s Wrong with the Press
Nick Davies
Nick Davies, author and journalist, has been named Journalist of the Year, Reporter of
Year and Feature writer of the Year for his investigations into crime, drugs, poverty and other social issues.
April 23
Lost Cities of the Indian Sub-Continent: the different phases of Indian civilisation between 2500 BC and modern times.
Jak Baksi
Jak Baksi is Indian by birth but has lived in the UK since his teens, and for the last 34 years in Lewes.
March 26
Every child matters: improving the quality of life for disabled children, through the work of Chailey Heritage Clinical Services
Dr Yasmin Khan
Dr Khan is Consultant Paediatrician in Neurodisability & Clinical Director, Chailey
Heritage Clinical Services, South Downs NHS Trust.
February 26
Calcutta to the Caribbean, 1838: a ship's surgeon's record of the very first Indians to travel to the West Indies.
Brigid Wells

Brigid Wells is the author of The First Crossing published by Derek Walcott Press in
November 2007.
2008
November 20
A Christmas present for Austerity Britain: Alan Bush’s ‘Winter Journey (1946)
Rev John Lowerson
Reader in History, University of Sussex
October 23
Should Rider Haggard be taken seriously?
Prof. Norman Vance
Prof. of English University.of Sussex and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
May 22
The Reluctant Greens: persuading ourselves that the Earth really is in trouble
Alex Kirby
Alex Kirby worked for 26 years with the BBC, reporting from the Islamic world and later as their environmental correspondent.
April 24
The Conrad Controversy: Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” and its critics
Prof Cedric Watts
Research Reader in English, Univ. of Sussex, international authority on Conrad, and
Shakespeare scholar.
6 March 15
From Dag Hammarkjöld to Kofi Annan: UN General Secretaries I have known
Dr Michael Irwin
United Nations Secretariat as Director of Personnel; UNICEF Representative in
Bangladesh; and, for ten years, UN Medical Director in New York.
February 15
Industry, Art and Culture in Imperial Russia: Merchant patronage and the art world,
1870-1914
Beryl Williams
Emeritus Reader in History, University of Sussex 2007 November 15 The
Fragmenting Family Prof. Brenda Almond, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy,
University of Hull
October 11
British Women Humanitarians: 1900-1950
Dr Sybil Oldfield
Research Reader in English at the University of Sussex. Her latest book is 'Doers of the World: British Women Humanitarians 1900-1950’.
May 10
Deepening Insight: Kipling’s later short stories
Dorothy Harrison

A retired teacher of English at schools and colleges, Dorothy Harrison wrote her
University of Sussex MA thesis on Kipling.
April 26
Portraits of the Artist: 500 years of self-portraits.
Prof Laurence Lerner
Larry Lerner is Emeritus Professor of English, University of Sussex. He is a prolific poet and literary critic. His latest book is You Can’t Say That: English Usage Today
(2007).
March 15
The Demon Defeated?: the Story of Smallpox in Sussex.
Diana Crook
Diana Crook is an author, speaker and editor on Local History, who has written several books on Lewes-related topics, including her latest, Defying the Demon.
February 15
The four forces of nature
Prof Peter Kalmus OBE
Emeritus Professor of Physics, Queen Mary College, University of London.
Researcher in high-energy physics who contributed to the discovery of two fundamental particles
2006
November 23
Why Theatre? - The Raison D'être for Theatre Over the ages
Victoria Thompson
Writer, speaker and Director of Lewes Little Theatre.
October 19
Fools, Damned Fools and Non-Statisticians: How Statistics Succeed When Intuition
Has Failed
David Hitchin
Former Senior Consultant in Statistical Computing, University of Sussex.
June 15
Arthur Miller: an Appreciation
John Whitley.
Emeritus Reader in English, University of Sussex.
May 18
“Yes, Health Minister”: 40Years Inside the NHS Working for Children
Dr Sonja Baksi,
Retired Senior Paediatric Consultant. Author of Yes, Health Minister (May 2006).
March 2
Hidden Musicians: amateur operatics and British culture
Rev. John Lowerson,
Reader in History, University of Sussex.

January 26
The Magic of Soap Bubbles
Dr Cyril Isenberg,
Senior Lecturer in Physics, University of Kent
2005
November 10
Daughter of Cluny
Dr Graham Mayhew, FRHistS.
Author of a forthcoming book, The Priory of St Pancras, Lewes 1077-1539.
October 20
Patching up our Genes protects us from cancer
Prof Alan Lehman,
Chairman, Genome Damage and Stability Centre, University of Sussex.
June 16
Behind the Scenes at the Opera: the Unsung Role of the Vocal Coach/Repetiteur
Carol Kelly
Opera Repetiteur, vocal coach, translator.
May 26
How Bad Housing Affects Health
Prof. Peter Ambrose,
University of Brighton
March 17
Democratic Constitution-Making
Prof. Vivien Hart
Research Prof. of American Studies, University of Sussex.
February 24
Mediation Not War: Who Were the Women Behind the Hague Peace Conference of
1915?
Dr Sonya Leff,
Pediatrician
January 20
Computation, Evolution, Culture: Uneasy Bedfellows?
Prof. Margaret Boden OBE
Research Professor of Cognitive Sciences, University of Sussex.
2004
November 18
English Gentleman or Perfidious Albion? How foreigners saw England in the
Nineteenth Century
Michael Hart, CBE
Formerly Head of Millhill School and Head of the European School Luxembourg.

October 14
Learning the Truth: the creation of Israel and the Israeli myth.
Irving Weinman
American novelist.
June 21
HIV/AIDS in Rwanda: a Christian Response
Dr Richard Rowland,
GP and Missionary
May 24
The Problem of Hard Drugs: Is Legalisation the Answer?
Ben Whitaker CBE
Broadcaster, Author, Lawyer, former MP for Hampstead.
April 19
Race and race relations in Brazil
Prof. Sam Baily
Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA
March 22nd
Going Home? What makes refugees want to return?
Prof. Richard Black
Professor of Geography, University of Sussex
February 16
Refugees, wars, and fascism: 1930s and Today
Prof. Rod Kedward,
Emeritus Professor of History, University of Sussex
[Speakers in 2003 included: Baroness Gould, Sir Richard Jolly, Sir David Watson and
Professor Alasdair Smith.]
Malcolm Cornwall, Organiser April 2014 for more information contact malcolm.cornwall@gmail.com