Date/Time: Thursday 11 June 2020, 17:30 - 18:00

What’s the point of universities at a time of crisis? University branding focusses on the contribution of medical science, but how can students and society justify expending time and money on something so apparently trivial as the humanities? This talk draws on the wartime writings of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, professors of English Literature, who grappled with similar questions during the Second World War. The talk will revisit CS Lewis’ forgotten 1942 visit to Newcastle University (then King’s College), which led to the publication of one of his most important books.

The lecture will be followed by a live Q&A with the speaker.