Black's History Week

Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart continue their exploration of the English countryside and discuss how the government has increased its control over it.

Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart travel outside of the English town to explore the English countryside, and how it has been perceived and depicted.

English towns are still recovering from the legacy of the pandemic. Jeremy Black joins Graham Stewart to discuss whether more centralised or decentralised government provides the answers to their economic woes. 

Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss English towns in the final decades of the 20th century, from suburbia to inner city crime.

In the 1980s-90s Britain deindustrialised, changing the English town forever. 

Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart explain how English towns gained cultural dynamism in the 1960s, and how some of them underwent economic decline in the 1980s.

Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss post-war English towns, the drive for urban redevelopment, the rise of modernism, and the birth of new towns.

Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss English houses from the 1920s to the 1950s — how to heat them, how to feed their inhabitants and how to stop them from being levelled by German bombs.

The expansion of the suburbs in early 20th century England had wide-ranging impacts on social and economic life. 

The late 19th century saw the rise of the English middle class shape urban development. 

As English cities grew, the need for social reform and sanitation grew with them. Jeremy Black joins Graham Stewart to talk sewers, urbanism and do-goodery.  

Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss the politics of urban life in the nineteenth century, from the condition of the poor to concerns about the effects of alcohol.

19th century English Towns were more than political and industrial centres, they came to shape and influence our collective imagination. Jeremy Black joins Graham Stewart to discuss the English city in history and in literature. 

Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart ask whether the eighteenth century English town really offered a higher quality of life. Fortunes could be made, but there was also conflict and disillusionment.

London expanded and ports boomed, but many provincial towns lagged behind — Jeremy Black joins Graham Stewart to discuss the uneven progress of urban England in the eighteenth century.

Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss the politics of British urban life in the 17th and 18th centuries. How were townspeople represented, and how did they differ from ruralites? 

England's urban landscape was forever transformed by the ravages of plague, and the march of reform. Jeremy Blacks joins Graham Stewart to discuss the 17th century town. 

Jeremy Black joins Graham Stewart to discuss English towns during the Civil War, and how the royalist-parliamentarian divide ran through every community. 

The 16th century was a time of economic, demographic and religious ferment and change for English towns. Jeremy Black joins Graham Stewart for another in his ongoing series on English urban history. 

The medieval English town was subject to fire, flood, plague — and revolution. Jeremy Black joins Graham Stewart to discuss how growing wealth fueled urban conflict. 

Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart continue discussing the history of the English town, from the Saxon period to the Norman era and the early Medieval period

Jeremy Black joins Graham Stewart to discuss the birth, development and decline of British towns in the Roman and Dark Ages. 

Must a city have a cathedral? Must a place with a cathedral be a city? Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss the often contested evolution and definition of English towns and their historical significance.

In this new series on the history of English towns, Professor Jeremy Black talks about various aspects of town life, including social experiences, economic opportunities, political views, and cultural aspirations.

Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss the future of higher education. How can institutions be more efficient and effective? Find out in this final episode on our mini-series on the academia.