The Reith Lectures

This year's Reith Lecturer is British lawyer Lord Radcliffe. He was Director-General of the Ministry of Information during the Second World War, and is most famous for his role in Partition, the division of the British Indian Empire, His work led directly to the creation of Pakistan and India as independent nations. He examines the features of democratic society, and considers the problematic noti...

This year's Reith Lecturer is British historian Arnold J Toynbee. The former Director of Studies at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, he is currently the Koraes Professor of History at London University. He considers how Europe interacts with other countries in his Reith Lecture series entitled 'The World and the West'. In his fifth lecture entitled 'The Psychology of Encounters', Prof...

This year's Reith Lecturer is American theoretical physicist Robert Oppenheimer. Professor of Physics at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, he has been described as the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project while Director of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory between 1943–45. In his Reith lectures entitled 'Science and the Common Understanding', he examines the...

This year's Reith Lecturer is the Chairman of Lloyds Bank, Sir Oliver Franks. He is the former Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, and the former Professor of Moral Philosophy at University of Glasgow. He was the British Ambassador in Washington, DC, between 1948 and 1952, and has been described as "one of the founders of the post-war world". He delivers his Reith series entitled 'Britain and Tide...

This year's Reith lecturer is Dr Nikolaus Pevsner, the German-born British scholar of history of art and architecture, and author of the county guide series, The Buildings of England (1951–74). In this series, Dr Pevsner explores the qualities of art which he regards as particularly English, as illustrated in the works of several English artists, and what they say about the English national charac...

This year's Reith lecturer is Dr Nikolaus Pevsner, the German-born British scholar of history of art and architecture, and author of the county guide series, The Buildings of England (1951–74). In this series, Dr Pevsner explores the qualities of art which he regards as particularly English, as illustrated in the works of several English artists, and what they say about the English national charac...

This year's Reith lecturer is Dr Nikolaus Pevsner, the German-born British scholar of history of art and architecture, and author of the county guide series, The Buildings of England (1951–74). In this series, Pevsner explores the qualities of art which he regards as particularly English, as illustrated in the works of several English artists, and what they say about the English national character...

This year's Reith lecturer is Dr Nikolaus Pevsner, the German-born British scholar of history of art and architecture, and author of the county guide series, The Buildings of England (1951–74). In this series, Pevsner explores the qualities of art which he regards as particularly English, as illustrated in the works of several English artists, and what they say about the English national character...

This year's Reith lecturer is Dr Nikolaus Pevsner, the German-born British scholar of history of art and architecture, and author of the county guide series, The Buildings of England (1951–74). In this series, Pevsner explores the qualities of art which he regards as particularly English, as illustrated in the works of several English artists, and what they say about the English national character...

This year's Reith lecturer is Dr Nikolaus Pevsner, the German-born British scholar of history of art and architecture, and author of the county guide series, The Buildings of England (1951–74). In this series, Pevsner explores the qualities of art which he regards as particularly English, as illustrated in the works of several English artists, and what they say about the English national character...

This year's Reith lecturer is Dr Nikolaus Pevsner, the German-born British scholar of history of art and architecture, and author of the county guide series, The Buildings of England (1951–74). In this series, Pevsner explores the qualities of art which he regards as particularly English, as illustrated in the works of several English artists, and what they say about the English national character...

This year's Reith Lecturer is the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh Sir Edward Appleton. From 1939 to 1949 he was Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and in 1947 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the knowledge of the ionosphere, which led to the development of radar. In his Reith series entitled 'Science and...

This year's Reith Lecturer is the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh Sir Edward Appleton. From 1939 to 1949 he was Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and in 1947 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the knowledge of the ionosphere, which led to the development of radar. In his Reith series entitled 'Science and...

This year's Reith Lecturer is American adviser, diplomat, political scientist, and historian George Frost Kennan. He is best known as "the father" of the USA Containment Policy and is a leading authority on the Cold War. In his series 'Russia, the Atom, and the West', he considers the relationship between the two superpowers Russia and the USA. In his third lecture entitled 'The Problem of Eastern...

This year's Reith Lecturer is American adviser, diplomat, political scientist, and historian George Frost Kennan. He is best known as "the father" of the USA Containment Policy and is a leading authority on the Cold War. In his series 'Russia, the Atom, and the West', he considers the relationship between the two superpowers Russia and the USA. In his fourth lecture entitled 'The Military Problem'...

This year's Reith Lecturer is Professor Bernard Lovell, the first Director of the Jodrell Bank Experimental Observatory, and Professor of Radio Astronomy at Manchester University. During the Second World War, he helped to develop radar systems for aircrafts, for which he received an OBE in 1946. He delivers six lectures on the wonders of the solar system in his series entitled 'The Individual and...

This year's Reith Lecturer is Professor Bernard Lovell, the first Director of the Jodrell Bank Experimental Observatory, and Professor of Radio Astronomy at Manchester University. During the Second World War, he helped to develop radar systems for aircrafts, for which he received an OBE in 1946. He delivers six lectures on the wonders of the solar system in his series entitled 'The Individual and...

This year's Reith lecturer is the Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at University College London, Peter Brian Medawar. His work on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance has been fundamental to the practice of tissue and organ transplants. In his Reith lecture series entitled 'The Future of Man', Professor PM Medawar considers how humans will continue to evolve i...

This year's lecturer is the first and current Professor of Art History at Oxford University, Edgar Wind. The German-born British professor specialises in iconology in the Renaissance era. In his Reith Series entitled 'Art and Anarchy', Edgar Wind explores the concepts of creative energies produced through turmoil. In this lecture entitled 'The Fear of Knowledge', Edgar Wind challenges the idea tha...

This year's lecturer is the first and current Professor of Art History at Oxford University, Edgar Wind. The German-born British professor specialises in iconology in the Renaissance era. In his Reith Series entitled 'Art and Anarchy', Edgar Wind explores the concepts of creative energies produced through turmoil. In this lecture entitled 'The Mechanization of Art', Edgar Wind considers how machin...

African affairs writer and lecturer Margery Perham discusses the effects of colonialism in tropical Africa. In 1939 she became the first female fellow of Nuffield College at Oxford University before being appointed as Director of the Oxford Institute of Colonial Studies in 1945. In her Reith series entitled 'The Colonial Reckoning', she highlights problems of colonial rule. In this lecture entitle...

African affairs writer and lecturer Margery Perham discusses the effects of colonialism in tropical Africa. In 1939 she became the first female fellow of Nuffield College at Oxford University before being appointed as Director of the Oxford Institute of Colonial Studies in 1945. In her Reith series entitled 'The Colonial Reckoning', she highlights problems of colonial rule. In this lecture entitle...

Professor of Psychological Medicine at the University of Edinburgh Professor George Carstairs contemplates the patterns of social anthropology in his Reith series 'This Island Now'. In this lecture entitled 'Vicissitudes of Adolescence', Professor Carstairs explores how violence and sex have been linked to teenage behaviour. Are adolescents more sexually promiscuous? Are teenagers more aggressive?...

This year's Reith lecturer is Dr Albert E Sloman, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex. He was previously Gilmour Professor of Spanish at Liverpool University and Dean of the Faculty of Arts. Dr Sloman explores what is needed to make an institute for higher education in Essex in his series entitled 'A University in the Making'. In this lecture entitled 'The Fulfilment of Lives', Dr Sloman ex...

Leading British industrialist and pioneer of automation Sir Leon Bagrit continues his Reith lectures. He is the Chairman and Managing Director of Elliott Automation Ltd, one of the first companies in Europe devoted to automation, and speaks on this topic in his series entitled 'The Age of Automation'. In this lecture entitled 'Automation: Industrial and Economic Consequences', Sir Bagrit asks how...