I’m delighted to announce that Robert’s courses for autumn are now available for registration, so without further ado…

First up, by popular request, we’re giving A History of Russia another outing.

“What?” I hear you cry, “So soon?”

To which, the reply is “Why yes!”

Several of you have told us that you’d like to do this - not least to get a broader, historically-informed understanding of the awful things which are currently happening - but couldn’t this term.

So voila: another chance to explore a thousand years of Russian history. We hope that you agree that this warrants a “Huzzah!”

Secondly, we have our Inaugural Denizens’ Choice offering: Byzantium!

That’s right, folks - in our continuing bid to respond to what you, O Denizens of Wright History, would like, Byzantium Rides Again! Fancy some Beautiful Byzantine Bling and …er… Cultural History (I couldn’t come up with an alliterative description for that, alas. Even I stop short of Bygone Beefs…) to while away your autumn Monday evenings? Well here’s your chance!

Next up, something for those of you who might enjoy a course which is both geographically and chronologically wide-ranging, with one of the most fundamentally influential cultural phenomena of all textual history at its heart: A History of the Bible: The Good Book through the ages.

Please note that this is NOT a spiritual or theological course. We will, of course, do our utmost not to offend any religious sensibilities passim, but as our focus is on the earthly, cultural, and historical factors across the millennia, which have resulted in the Bible as we know it today, it’s possible that it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

It’s also worth noting that neither personal faith (or lack thereof) nor more than the most fleeting of awareness of Scripture is required to enjoy this one.

[Dear Lawyers, Advertising Standards People, and Ecclesiasts, Have I covered us sufficiently there…? Yours, etc….]

Our next offering features another enduring and profoundly influential cultural phenomenon against a wide geographical backdrop, but this one keeps its focus safely on long-ago Days of Yore: The Hellenistic Age: The triumph of Greek culture. This is a natural choice for those of you who have enjoyed our recent classical adventures, but as ever, don’t worry - no prior knowledge is presumed, so it will be equally suitable whether you’re classics-curious or already a fan!

Our final full online course for autumn is in our now-established arts strand, and takes us into rather different pastures to most of our online arts adventures thus far: Romance and Revolution: History, art, and culture, 1780-1870.

I confess that I’m less familiar with this period, but as you’ll see, Robert promises (inter alia) balance, harmony, chaos, colour, violence, and some exotic disorder…

Well I for one am certainly intrigued! What about you…?

Finally for now, a new Short & Sweet Saturdays course is now open for registration: The Silk Road.

This has been much-requested by lots of you over the months, and it will pretty much do what it says on the tin, in ‘Imself’s inimitable Robertian style.*

*[I’ll get into sooo much trouble for using that phrase…! Oh well. Live by the word, die by the word, n’est-ce pas?]

We hope that you agree that silky medieval adventures across a whole continent will provide suitable entertainment for two October Saturdays.

We’ve a few more things up our sleeves, which we’ll announce as soon as we can (sneak preview: they include a short Wright History autumn in-venue course at Pickering - no really! - and two more online courses in our Short & Sweet Saturdays strand), and we’ll post a new After This Term indicative schedule as soon as we can, to give you an idea of what we’re currently thinking of for January and beyond.

We very much hope that you like the sound of our autumn programme. We continue to do our best to offer what you’ve said would make your eyes twinkle, and we continue to be grateful that so many of you are willing to help us attempt to do so!

To see all courses now available in calendar order (along with our summer courses which we posted last month), click here. Alternatively, click on the relevant course title[s] in this post to go directly to the relevant page[s].

It only remains for me to thank those of you who have kindly been asking how Duffy is doing. Alas, she is still unable to put weight on one of her hind legs, so it seems almost certain that some serious intervention will be necessary. She’s spending this Thursday with the vet for some sedation, manipulation, and an x-ray, so hopefully we’ll have a clearer idea of things very soon. Do please keep your fingers crossed for us come Thursday!