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The Manchester
Lit and Phil
Discussion for lively minds since 1781
240
THE MANCHESTER
LIT AND PHIL
1781 - 2021
April to July 2021
2 3
Introduction from the President
Welcome to our Summer 2021 termly brochure. There If you’re interested in becoming a member of the Society
are some really fascinating topics coming up this term
and we’re sure there will be something to interest everyone. you can apply online:
The Society was formed on 28th February 1781 and we manlitphil.ac.uk/membership
recently celebrated our 240th birthday! Did you see our
social media campaign? We celebrated the numerous Alternatively, for all the latest news join our mailing list
ways many of our former members have contributed to
the development of Manchester and beyond over the
years. Please see our website to read their stories.
Due to ongoing Covid restrictions all our lectures will be online this term,
but we hope to resume some ‘live’ events as soon as we can safely do so. Online Summer 2021 Events - A Short Guide
Meanwhile, we are closely in touch with our usual venues and they are as
keen as we are to host us in the future.
This Summer term the Manchester Lit & Phil will offer two types of events:
Many members miss the ‘social’ side of Society membership, including
online ‘live’ lectures and pre-recorded lectures.
robust discussions before and after events – I certainly do! Which is why
I was very pleased to see the introduction of the ForeWords & AfterWords Online ‘live’ lectures are more like a usual Lit & Phil lecture in that
online socials. This initiative has been launched by one of our Council they are scheduled for a specific date and time and registration
members, Joanna Lavelle. You will find further details on our website; and is required as places are limited. We use a software called ‘Blue-
you can email manlitandphilsocials@gmail.com to book for the sessions. Jeans’ to stream these lectures and you can register for a place
via our website. Once you have registered, you will then be sent a
We also encourage current members to engage in our online forum – at unique link to access the lecture. Further instructions to help you
https://the-manchester-lit-phil.mn.co/ . The forum is regularly updated make the most of the event will be sent to you before the event.
with articles and news that we feel would be of interest to members, so do
take a look.
Pre-recorded lectures are recorded in advance with the speaker
If you are not yet a member and are thinking about joining the Society,
and the video is then made available to event registrants at the
then please see our website for more information. Members have the ben-
scheduled time. You can either watch these talks as soon as they
efits of priority booking, special invitations to ‘members-only’ events, and
are made available or watch them at your own convenience - it’s
full access to our annual ‘Manchester Memoirs’ publications. Guests and
non-members are of course welcome to attend our lectures, and it would
entirely up to you!
be much appreciated if a donation can be made to the Society to cover our
running costs.
Look out for the icons next to each lecture description in this programme
I hope to see you online soon! for guidance.
Dr Susan Hilton, President
www.manlitphil.ac.uk I events@manlitphil.ac.uk The Manchester Lit & Phil - Discussion for lively minds since 1781
4 5
April 2021
Mike Higginbottom Professor Isobel Hook
Tuesday 13th April Wednesday 21st April, 6.30 pm
Interesting Times, Interesting Supernovae and the search for
People Dark Energy
Arts Science & Technology
From Cemeteries and sewers, to theatres; St Just over 20 years ago, two teams of astronomers
Pancras Station in London, to the “ windy city”. discovered that the expansion of the Universe is
Pre-recorded Live event
Mike Higginbottom’s lecture programme offers a accelerating. The 2011 Nobel Prize for physics was
*Lecture available to diverse, informative and entertaining look at social awarded to Perlmutter, Schmidt and Riess for this
view from 6.00 pm
and architectural history. His lectures are packed unexpected result, which was based on careful
*Live Q&A at 7.15pm
with entertaining facts and stories, and his dry measurements of Type Ia supernovae. The discovery
sense of humour makes his talks appealing to all implies that something, often now referred to as
audiences. “Dark Energy”, is pushing the universe apart against
Mike’s history work focuses on country houses, the pull of gravity.
towns and cities, and transport. He specialises in Professor Isobel Hook was a member of Perlmutter’s
particular aspects of Victorian and twentieth- team. In this talk she will describe the work that led
century history. Themes include: ‘Fun Palaces: the to the initial discovery of the accelerating expansion
history and architecture of the entertainment industry’; of the universe. This includes the original motivation
and ‘Cemeteries and Sewerage: the Victorian pursuit for the work, the challenges along the way, and the
of cleanliness’. surprise of the discovery itself. Professor Hook will
His experience of running tours has provided a rich then discuss the major projects that have taken
collection of encounters with people and places. place since then to test, improve and explain the
And his stories illustrate the many ways in which visiting results.
places can be both educational and enjoyable. In The talk will conclude with a discussion about
conversation with Council member Joanna Lavelle, the exciting prospects for the future of supernova
Mike explains what drew him to the different topics; cosmology; as new telescopes - which are being
and chats about some of more memorable experiences planned and constructed now - come into operation.
he has encountered.
www.manlitphil.ac.uk I email:events@manlitphil.ac.uk The Manchester Lit & Phil - Discussion for lively minds since 1781
6 8
April 2021 (cont’d)
Professor Barbara Sahakian fMRI studies have also indicated that many people
who would not regard themselves as racist show
Tuesday 27th April
a racial bias in their emotional responses to faces
Sex, Lies and Brain Scans of another racial group. Meanwhile, the reliability of
Council fMRI as a lie detector in murder cases is being debated.
The recent explosion of neuroscience techniques What if the individual believes, falsely, that he or
has proved to be game-changing. Signif icant she committed a murder?
progress is being made in how we understand the Professor Sahakian’s talk considers what the technique
Pre-recorded
healthy brain, and the development of neuropsychiatric of fMRI entails, and what information it can give us -
*Lecture available to treatments. revealing which applications are possible today,
view from 6.00 pm One of the key techniques now available to us is and which ones are science fiction.
*Live Q&A at 7.15pm Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).
This technique allows us to examine the human
brain non-invasively, and observe brain activity in
real time. Through fMRI, we are beginning to build a
deeper understanding of our thoughts, motivations,
and behaviours.
It was recently reported that some patients who
demonstrated indicators of being in a persistent
vegetative state, were actually showing conscious
awareness. The patients were in fact able to communicate
with researchers. This finding demonstrates the most
remarkable and dramatic use of fMRI. But this is only
one of the most striking examples in which fMRI is being
used to ‘read minds’, albeit in a very limited way.
As neuroscientists unravel the regions of the brain
involved in reward and motivation, and in romantic
love, we are likely to develop the capacity to influence
responses, such as love, using drugs.
www.manlitphil.ac.uk I email:events@manlitphil.ac.uk The I @manlitphil
Manchester Lit & Phil
www.manlitphil.ac.uk I events@manlitphil.ac.uk
- Discussion for lively minds since 1781
8
May 2021
Dr Alan Sennett Contrary to claims by some on the political Right,
Dr Alan Sennett will argue that understanding Orwell’s
Tuesday 4th May, 6.30 pm
commitment to a form of socialist democracy is
George Orwell: A Political Life fundamental to appreciating his world view and,
Arts hence, his writings.
Why does George Orwell matter today? Those who
know something of his writings can probably name
at least two of his books - Animal Farm and Ninety
Live event Eighty-Four - and appreciate their importance has
to do with his analysis of authoritarian regimes.
Many of his phrases and concepts have entered the
lexicon: ‘Big Brother’, ‘newspeak’ and ‘room 101’. To
use the term ‘Orwellian’ is to invoke ideas of dystopia
and authoritarianism. The intrusive state, and falsification
of history. ‘Fake news’, repression and manipulation.
In our age of the Alt-right, ‘QAnon’, and many other
conspiracy theories circulating through social media,
it would seem Orwell’s political insights have never
been so apposite. Orwell’s analysis of
the role of the intellectual in society, the nature of
state power and the positive arguments he advanced
for what might be called ‘democratic socialism’, need
to be understood in the context of his own experience
as an imperial policeman in Burma; a struggling writer
during the Depression; a f ighter against Fascism in
Spain; wartime radio propagandist; and analyst of
the emerging Cold War.
www.manlitphil.ac.uk I email:events@manlitphil.ac.uk The Manchester Lit & Phil - Discussion for lively minds since 1781
10 11
May 2021 (cont’d)
Professor Karl Dayson Professor David M. Schultz
Thursday 20th May, 6.30 pm Wednesday 26th May, 6.30 pm
Back to the Future Part 1 or Part 2? How will extreme weather events
Research and Higher Learning in alter due to climate change?
the Mid-Twenty-First Century Social Philosophy
The Percival Lecture - *Members Only* Headlines f rom newspapers and websites scream
The notion of Industry 4.0 is permeating all aspects out the soundbite that anthropogenic climate
Live event Live event
of the global economy, creating a narrative rooted change is causing more extreme weather:
in more intensive automation of work and globalisation.
Yet, recent years have witnessed a return to the • ‘Climate change means more extreme weath-
nation state as the primary actor of socio-economic er – here’s what the UK can expect if emissions
change. This challenges the notions of ‘megatrends’ keep increasing.’
and the associated assumptions that have under- • ‘Why extreme weather is the new normal.’
pinned much thought on the future of our societies, • ‘Man-made climate change had role in some of
including research and higher education. 2015’s extreme weather.’
In this talk Prof Karl Dayson, PVC Research and
Innovation at the University of Salford, critically explores For better or worse the potential and deadly serious
how research and higher education will have to navigate effects of anthropogenic climate change are often
these tensions and the future outcomes that could communicated through the soundbite. This has
result. become popular with scientists and the media but
neglects important caveats. What do we mean
Every year the Lit & Phil holds a ‘Percival Lecture’ hosted in turn, very by ‘extreme weather’? Where does this extreme
kindly, by the University of Manchester, the University of Salford, and Man-
weather occur on Earth? Will all types of extreme
chester Metropolitan University. It is an arrangement which started in 1947,
with the aim of ‘bridging the gap’ between academics and the general
weather be affected equally? Have we already
population of Manchester, and to allow both established and new profes- seen changes in extreme weather? Is anthropogenic
sors the opportunity to reach out to a wider audience within the commu-
climate change responsible? How will these changes
nity. Thomas Percival himself was a founder member of the Lit & Phil back
in 1781, and a key figure in medical science and specifically medical ethics, affect society?
much of which still lies at the heart of the profession today.
(continued over)
You can find out more about Thomas Percival on our website.
www.manlitphil.ac.uk I email:events@manlitphil.ac.uk The Manchester Lit & Phil - Discussion for lively minds since 1781
13
May 2021 (cont’d) June 2021
Thus, the seemingly simple question of how does
Jonathan Walton
climate change affect extreme weather becomes
Wednesday 2nd June, 6.30 pm
much more complicated upon further reflection.
No doubt these questions may be obscured or
Science, Politics and Adventure in
even unasked in the modern media landscape, Antarctica
but that does not mean that they aren’t important Council
questions to ask. Humans have messed up six of the world’s seven
In this lecture, Professor David Schutlz will present continents. At the height of the Cold war, in 1961, 12
Live event
the science behind how different extreme weather powerful nations signed a major treaty: the Antarctic
events may – or may not – change in the future as Treaty. It has withstood 60 years of political pressure
the global climate warms. He will present results and indeed now has 48 signatories. The treaty aims
f rom studies on tropical cyclones and tornadoes to look after Antarctica for all mankind, maintaining
and will consider the factors that have affected, it primarily as an international scientif ic laboratory.
and will affect, their changes in intensity, frequency, and It has generated major scientif ic breakthroughs and
spatial distribution on Earth. Professor Schultz that continent has seen some wonderful examples
will also discuss the relatively recent approach of true International Scientif ic Collaboration.
called climate-change attribution - where the role While astoundingly beautiful, the Antarctic is a
of anthropogenic climate change in individual hostile environment to humans. Temperatures
extreme weather events can be quantitatively rarely rise above f reezing and have dropped as low
addressed. as -89C. The sun is sometimes absent for months on
By the end of the lecture, Professor Schultz hopes end. Gathering information in these conditions is
to give the audience the tools to evaluate media never easy.
stories about climate change and extreme weather The f irst scientists to attempt serious work on the
with a critical eye. continent were there in 1901, less than 120 years
ago. They very quickly realised the diff iculty of their
endeavours and there are many fabulous and well
known tales of hardships and human endurance as
a result.
(continued over)
www.manlitphil.ac.uk I email:events@manlitphil.ac.uk The Manchester Lit & Phil - Discussion for lively minds since 1781
14 15
June 2021 (cont’d)
Less known are the experiences of many adventurous Henry Cyril Paget inherited the marquisate in 1898
young men (almost entirely men!) over the years doing aged 23, with extensive estates on Anglesey and in
their bit to add to human knowledge. Staffordshire, and an annual income of £110,000.
Jonathan Walton’s talk will lift the lid on everyday Within four years, he had bankrupted the estate,
life in Antarctica, as experienced by him. 99% of spending exponentially on jewels, furs, cars, boats,
humans on the planet know virtually nothing about perfumes, potions, medicines, toys, dogs, an adopted
the continent. It is over three times as big as Europe child and theatricals. The chapel at Plas Newydd
and during the Winter season has less than 1,000 was converted into a theatre, and he ‘stole’ a
people living on it. This presentation will open up professional theatre company performing with
horizons and generate curiosity about the past, the them in his ‘bijou’ theatre. In 1903, he toured with
present and the future of Antarctica - and perhaps a production of Wilde’s ‘An Ideal Husband’, until
the rest of our planet too! bankruptcy and ill-health forced him to retire to the
continent. Everything f rom the estate was sold –
down to Jacko, the talking parrot. The Marquis died
in Monte Carlo in 1905.
Professor Vivien Gardner The talk will focus on the marquis’s obsession with
Monday 7th June, 6.30 pm collecting - cars, jewels, photography, electricity,
“Sensation, Sensation, Sensation”: mechanical toys, and even a child. His acquisition of
Collecting the New Age ‘stuff’ was, arguably, not simply fashion, but a rejection
of Victorian ‘collecting’ - characterised by scientific
- the extraordinary case of the 5th
taxonomies, classical aesthetics and, for the aristocracy,
Marquis of Anglesey heredity - in favour of an engagement with objects
Live event Arts though sensation, power and transience, which
Professor Gardner’s presentation will offer a unique marked late Victorian and Edwardian Britain.
snapshot of Britain’s fascination with the ‘new’ that Paradoxically, the Marquis’s collecting, the talk will
characterised the lifestyle of many of the cultural argue, was only made possible by those very aristocratic
elite at the turn of the last century – viewed through privileges under threat f rom the major social and
the lens of the remarkable life of the 5th Marquis of political shifts taking place in the period.
Anglesey.
www.manlitphil.ac.uk I email:events@manlitphil.ac.uk The Manchester Lit & Phil - Discussion for lively minds since 1781
16 17
Cathedral Lecture Series June 2021
We are delighted to be collaborating with Manchester Cathedral in 2021, as Tim Cockitt
they celebrate 600 years since the granting of a licence from King Henry V
and Pope Martin V to establish a collegiate church in Manchester in 1421. Tuesday 15th June, 7.00 pm
The college was established by royal charter, with a warden, eight fellows, Manchester and the Civil
four singing clerks and eight choristers.
War
The Cathedral will be holding many special events, including a series of Council - Cathedral Lecture
lectures, in collaboration with the Society, commemorating successive
centuries. In the 17th Century Manchester was a peaceful, quiet and
unexceptional market town. However, at this time, there
Live event
These lectures will reflect memorable Manchester-related features of each was growing unease with the monarch, Charles I. By 1642,
century, up to the present day. the people of Britain were beginning to take sides,
joining the Parliamentarian, or Royalist, factions. Manchester
declared for Parliament, whereas Salford declared for the
Tues 15th Jun Tim Cockitt 1621 - 1721 Manchester and the English King. Charles raised his royal standard in Nottingham on
Civil War
August 22nd, 1642. This event is widely seen to mark the
formal beginning of the English Civil War. Shortly afterwards,
Weds 15th Sep Prof. Hannah 1721 - 1821 Life in a city of business,
a Royalist force, led by James Stanley (Lord Strange, but
Barker noise and strangers: work,
family, faith in Industrial later the Earl of Derby) laid siege to Manchester, in September
Revolution Manchester 1642.
Tim Cockitt’s lecture will include an account of the week-
long siege of Manchester, which involved St. Mary’s
Tues 26th Oct Prof. Tom 1821 - 1921 Lessons from Medieval
McLeish Science for Science, and Church (now the Cathedral) and what was Lord Strange’s
Science-Theology today town house (now Chetham’s Library and Music School).
Lord Strange was keen to collect the gunpowder and
Tues 23rd Nov Dean Rogers 1921 - 2021 A Cathedral for the 21st other arms stored in his town house. The siege was very
Govender Century much an amateur affair, with few experienced soldiers on
either side. It did not help the attackers that it rained all
week! “Bradshaw’s Defence of Manchester” is one of the
famous murals in the Town Hall. The siege is also com-
memorated by a blue plaque at the site of Alport Lodge
on Deansgate.
www.manlitphil.ac.uk I email:events@manlitphil.ac.uk The Manchester Lit & Phil - Discussion for lively minds since 1781
19
THE MANCHESTER June 2021 (cont’d)
LIT AND PHIL
1781 - 2021 2 4 0 Professor Helen Gleeson
Tuesday 22nd June, 6.30 pm
From cat skin to submarines
- new materials that are a bit
The Manchester Lit and Phil is
of a stretch
now 240 years old!
Council
Liquid crystals are self-organising fluids that are
Did you see our recent 240th birthday celebrations Live event
perhaps best known for their use in displays (LCDs).
on social media? If so, we hope you found the stories
Much of the research in the area over the past 30 years
about our former notable members interesting. We
has been focused on achieving faster switching and
certainly enjoyed delving into our archives to find out
more complex images in flat panel TVs. However, such
more about them and what they did for Manchester.
technology is now mature and for some time now new,
exciting properties of liquid crystals that might lead to
If you missed the campaign, all of the stories can be
rather futuristic applications have been emerging.
found on our website.
Professor Helen Gleeson’s talk will concentrate on liquid
crystal elastomers – rubbers that are formed from
And if you’re not already following us on social media,
liquid crystal units that have remarkable properties.
please join in our commemorations online - there is
Suggested applications include artificial irises,
much to celebrate this year!
self-cleaning surfaces for solar panels and artificial
muscles. Thin films of these materials have been
shown to lift many times their own weight. Scientists
@manchesterlearning recently discovered a completely new property in
liquid crystal elastomers - auxetic behaviour – whereby
the material gets thicker when stretched rather than
@manlitphil thinner. This is a property shared with cat skin and of
potential use in submarines! Our initial understanding
@manchesterlitphil and some potential applications will be described in
the talk.
www.manlitphil.ac.uk I email:events@manlitphil.ac.uk The Manchester Lit & Phil - Discussion for lively minds since 178120
June 2021 (cont’d)
Brian Healey
Monday 28th June, 6.30 pm
Hans Holbein and the Ambassador’s
Secret
Arts
The double portrait identif ied only in the last
century as two ambassadors to the court of Henry
Live event
Vlll at the time of his “Great Matter” – his divorce
f rom Katherine of Aragon - and which hangs in the
National Gallery, is a painting that has been subject
to much interpretation and research. Most notably
in the early twentieth century by Mary Hervey; and
more controversially in recent years by John North.
Brian Healey’s lecture will look closely at the possible
signif icance of the painting’s many details and the
relevance they may have to the political background
that was threatening to destabilize the then known
world.
What was for centuries interpreted by many as just
a double portrait conceived as an elaborate memento
mori is now known to have been much more. It was
executed almost certainly with the
collaboration of the King’s astronomer, Nicholas
Kratzer. The full title of the painting is ‘Jean de
Dinteville and Georges de Selve (The Ambassadors)’.
Painted in 1533, it was acquired by the National Gallery
in 1890.
www.manlitphil.ac.uk I email:events@manlitphil.ac.uk The Manchester Lit & Phil - Discussion for lively minds since 178122 23
July 2021 Notes on booking for our online lectures
Caroline Churchill Booking for our online events is a two-stage process:
Tuesday 13th July, 6.30 pm 1. If you would like to register for an event - be it a live lecture, live
Delia Derbyshire and Q&A or pre-recorded talk - please click on the ‘Register for the
event’ link on the event page on our website. This will take you to
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop the Blue Jeans registration page where you can input your name
Social Philosophy and email address to request a place.
Caroline Churchill (who works under her professional
2. Once your details have been approved by a moderator you will
name of ‘Caro C’) will talk about The BBC Radiophonic receive an email with a unique link and details on how to ‘join the
Live event
Workshop (1958 to the late 1990s), a somewhat event’ on the night.
obscure department of the BBC that provided sound
Please note:
and music for TV and radio. With no “real” musical
* Registration closes at 5.30pm on the day of the event
instruments this department became synonymous * Members have priority booking - if you are not a member and are interested
with invention, innovation, “found sounds” and other in attending one of our events, please bear in mind that we will only be
creativity as the world of music technology was able to approve your registration request if there are places available, and
that this will generally be just a few days before the event date.
developing in the UK.
Arguably their most famous output, the iconic Dr Who If you would like to find out more about the technical side of our
theme, will be deconstructed as a fine example of the online events, including more detailed event attendee guides,
visionary and collaborative work of the Radiophonic please visit our website.
Workshop. Caro will unpack who actually made the
original Dr Who theme and how it was made, passing
Blue Jeans Events - Attendee Guides
on accounts from one of the producers of the theme. IMAGE CREDITS
FRONT COVER: Details of portraits (L-R) – Thomas Percival (artist unknown); John Leigh Philips (artist un-
The talk will explore this hub of British pioneers who known) ; Robert Owen by William Henry Brooke ; John Dalton by Charles Turner after James Lonsdale (mez-
zotint); Peter Mark Roget by Thomas Pettigrew; William Gaskell by Annie Louisa Swynnerton, courtesy of
inf iltrated the consciousness of many an electronic Manchester Art Gallery ; James Prescott Joule (photographer unknown) ; Richard Pankhurst (photographer
unknown) ; Ernest Rutherford (photographer unknown) ; Margaret Pilkington (photographer unknown),
music artist and producer today (of a certain age) courtesy of the University of Manchester Library ; Alan Turing (photographer unknown); Kathleen Olleren-
via childhood radio and TV. shaw, courtesy of the University of Manchester.
INSIDE: p3 ‘Microphone’ by Rediffusion from the Noun Project, ‘Tape’ by Marko Fuček from the Noun Project;
p4 photographic portrait of Mike Higginbottom by Ismar Badzic; p5 photographic portrait of Prof. Isobel
Hook by Jill Jennings; p6 photographic portrait of Prof. Barbara Sahakian courtesy of Clare Hall, Cambridge;
p7 detail of prismatic photograph by Malcolm Brown; p9 photograph of Trump demo in Denver, Colorado,
USA, by Logan Weaver on Unsplash; p10 photographic portrait of Prof. Karl Dayson courtesy of the University
of Salford; p12 photograph (detail) of ‘cloud to ground’ lightning by NOAA on Unsplash; p19 photographic
portrait of Prof. Helen Gleeson courtesy of the University of Leeds; p21 detail of ‘The Ambassadors’ by Hans
Holbein the Younger – Google Art Project.
BACK COVER: collage of images of ‘Delia Derbyshire Radiophonic Workshop Tape’ (courtesy of Caroline
Churchill)
www.manlitphil.ac.uk I email:events@manlitphil.ac.uk The Manchester Lit & Phil - Discussion for lively minds since 1781If you’re interested in becoming a member of the Society
you can apply online:
manlitphil.ac.uk/membership
We ask that non-members who attend our online or in-person The Manchester Lit and Phil
lectures consider making a voluntary donation to help the Society to COLONY Jactin House
meet its costs. A minimum amount of £5.00 per lecture is suggested. 24 Hood Street, Ancoats
Manchester M4 6WX
07312 090503
Registered Charity No. 235313 events@manlitphil.ac.ukYou can also read
