Show Notes
00:00 | Introduction: Hutton's Final Lecture as Gresham ProfessorUploaded 07-08-2600:42 | The Morrigan: Bridget's Dark Alter Ego01:26 | A Modern Icon: Global Fame and Worship02:34 | Pop Culture: Madonna, Villains and Modern Devotees03:53 | What Does "The Morrigan" Mean? A Name in Dispute05:35 | Nightmare Queen: Tracing Her Terrifying Etymology06:13 | Decades of Scholarly Disagreement Over Her Identity07:58 | Building Blocks, Never a Structure: The Lecture's Thesis14:15 | Battle Spirits: Generic Terrors and Named Goddesses18:02 | Meet the Big Five War Goddesses21:44 | Magic as a Neutral Cosmic Power27:09 | Macha's Three Contradictory Origin Stories31:17 | The Badb: Crow Spirit and Doom-Prophet36:45 | At Last, The Morrigan: What Makes Her Distinct37:59 | Three Distinguishing Features and Cosmic Prophecy40:18 | Propositioning Cú Chulainn: Rejection and Revenge41:20 | Global Parallels: Athena, Ishtar and Gilgamesh43:18 | The Death of Cú Chulainn and the Raven on the Shoulder48:00 | What She Is: A War Goddess of Love and Combat51:32 | Reclaiming The Morrigan: Freedom in ReinterpretationWatch the Q and A session here: https://youtu.be/Yb15EWQL59MThe Morrigan functions today largely as the supreme dark Celtic goddess, associated with violence, sex, shape-shifting and sorcery: the scary side of female power. This talk is designed to search for her in her medieval Irish roots, in order to explain her modern reputation and also to see if she was once a rather different and more complex figure. It locates her as originally one of five different Irish war goddesses, each with their own distinctive characteristics, of whom she was the most unusual. By doing so it also shows why she has survived as a modern celebrity while the others have been forgotten, but also how those others have contributed to her modern image.This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on the 17th of June 2026 at Barnard's Inn Hall, LondonProfessor Hutton is Professor of History at the University of Bristol. He took degrees at Cambridge and then Oxford Universities, and was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. He is now a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries and the Learned Society of Wales, and has won awards for teaching and research.He has lectured all over the world, authored twenty books and ninety-six essays, appeared in or presented scores of television and radio programmes, and sits on the editorial boards of six journals concerned with the history of religion and magic.The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/goddess-morriganGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/Website: https://gresham.ac.ukTwitter: https://twitter.com/greshamcollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollege Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Sydney's botanic garden, founded in the early nineteenth century, was expected to ship new plants 'home' to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from where they could be transplanted to other colonial gardens, to see if they could become valuable new crops to enrich the British Empire. Such plans had varying degrees of success, leaving botanists to question why specific plants would only grow in particular places. Uploaded 10-06-26This lecture looks at how Kew addressed such questions, and the tensions between its role in the advancement of science, and as a public park.A lecture by Jim Endersby, Visiting Professor of the History of Science 2 DecemberThe transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/gardens-of-empireGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege Support the show (https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/one-donation) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Despite the onslaught of legislative initiatives surrounding AML/CTF, it is difficult to make any conclusive remarks on the effectiveness of the broader system that attempts to control money laundering and terrorist financing. Based on his new book on 'Technology and Anti-Money Laundering', the speaker will unravel much of the complexity surrounding AML and offer practical advice for financial institutions.Uploaded 30-01-12The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/unweaving-the-anti-money-laundering-and-counter-terrorist-financing-systemGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website.http://www.gresham.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Patience is a virtue. But does it have value? Andrew Haldane will discuss the importance of patience to growth and stability, its recent evolution and its implications for financial markets and systems. There is evidence that capital market myopia -- short-termism -- may be mounting. If so, what if anything should be done about it?Uploaded 05-12-11Andy Haldane delivers this year's Sir Thomas Gresham Docklands lecture. The event is chaired by Professor Michael Mainelli. The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-sir-thomas-gresham-docklands-lecture-get-shortyGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website.http://www.gresham.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
0:00 // Introduction — Chinese independent documentary and the question of going globalUploaded 30-06-263:28 // The Sundance-K'Nex workshops — training Chinese filmmakers for overseas markets7:40 // Story as commodity — character-driven narrative and the three-act structure10:07 // The humanitarian industrial logic — NGOs, storytelling and the Open Society Foundation14:12 // Plastic China — the film, its subjects and its international success16:01 // How the film works — two families, a child's right to education and formal choices23:03 // The narrowing of focus — from structural critique to personal story28:12 // What the format does — harmonising contradiction rather than confronting it31:02 // Screening Plastic China in the UK — what audiences actually felt33:21 // Audience responses — moving, shocking, overwhelming36:10 // What viewers said they would do next — individual action over structural change38:02 // Political mimesis and its limits — affect that short-circuits critique40:16 // Worrying about China — liberal frameworks and the problem of difference43:14 // Conclusion — the compromises Chinese independent documentary makes to go globalWatch the Q and A session here: https://youtu.be/QJMOYmf0CmQThis lecture will focus on independently produced Chinese documentary cinema as it has entered the Anglophone industry market. Using “Plastic China” by the award-winning director Wang Jiuliang as a case study, I will explore what the implications of cross-border collaborations are for documentary form and content, and how this may encourage a particular set of viewer responses. This will allow me to locate the documentary form in relation to broader liberal arguments over China’s place in the world system and assess the limitations of this approach to “going global” for independent Chinese documentary.This lecture was recorded by Luke Robinson on the 27th of May 2026Luke Robinson is a Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Film Studies in the Faculty of Media, Arts, and Humanitiies, University of Sussex.He is the author of Independent Chinese Documentary: From the Studio to the Street, and the co-editor of two further collections on Chinese film culture: (with Chris Berry) Chinese Film Festivals: Sites of Translation and (with Chris Berry, Lydia Wu and Sabrina Yu) Chinese Independent Cinema: Past, Present, and a Questionable Future.His writing has appeared in books and journals including DV-made China, The New Chinese Documentary Movement, Vocal Projections, Screening China’s Soft Power, positions: Asia cultures critique, Film Studies, Screen, and Journal of Chinese Cinemas.Between 2019 and 2025 he was co-investigator on the AHRC-funded project, “Independent Cinema in China: State, Market, and Film Culture”. One of the outcomes of this grant was the establishment of the Chinese Independent Film Archive, located at Newcastle University.The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/chinese-documentaryGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Website: https://gresham.ac.ukX: https://x.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In its passage from manuscript composition to audible performance, a musical work passes through the hands of editors, teachers, interpreters, recording engineers and many others, all of whom make decisions, often based on personal choices, and have to satisfy the tastes and needs of a changing public. With over a century of recorded sound as evidence, we can now assess the options and expectations of the modern performer, and measure these against the evidence available to the interpreter today, and the range of choices to be made.Uploaded 12-08-11The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-past-is-a-foreign-countryGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website.http://www.gresham.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices