I always find the first term of the academic year especially exciting - metaphorical new pencil cases at the ready, and the nights drawing in as my favourite season of the year beds in! It’s so lovely to see those of you who are with us this term, and we hope that you’re enjoying our current programme as much as we are.

Inevitably, however, we’re also looking further ahead, and given the response to the sneak preview recently offered on these pages, it seems that many of you are too! I’m delighted, therefore, to announce that our courses for January are now available for booking - hurrah!!

I call, therefore, upon the services of our Friendly Fanfare Flunkies…

Ladies and Gentlemen… For your delight, delectation, and general entertainment during wintery afternoons and evenings, we present unto you…

For those of you who like your history to be really old, it doesn’t get much older than this…

From Stone to Iron: Pre-historic cultures and the birth of Europe

For those of you who fancy sailing oceans blue, as well building upon some of the Silk Road-related themes which have been so enjoyed recently…

The Voyages of Discovery: Exploration, power, and profit

We are not, of course, forgetting those Denizens who like their history to be on a slightly smaller scale and a bit closer to home (chronologically speaking). We proudly present unto you, therefore, the prospect of exploring five wonderfully dynamic decades of European history, via the lens of its remarkably varied and vigorous culture, with Changing Times: A Cultural History of Europe, 1848-1914

And as if things weren’t exciting enough already… as announced in our sneak preview, we’re seeking - as ever - to respond to your requests. We know that some of you aren’t always able to commit to a full ten weeks. Changing Times has, therefore, been designed to also work as two courses, of five weeks apiece, which can be booked separately. To paraphrase a hallowed sportsing metaphor, Changing Times is a course of two halves: each “half” stands in its own right, but the two together will provide a seamless 10-week course. For details of that seamless 10-week course, follow one of the links (just a few lines up!) to Changing Times.

The earlier 5-weeker, taking us up to half term, is Cultures of Realism…

…and the later one, which starts after half term, is Fin de Siècle

Please note that the necessary pricing of Cultures of Realism and Fin de Siècle mean that if you know that you want to do both, it will be cheaper to book Changing Times.

Also in response to your requests, we’re experimenting in a different way in our usual Wednesday slot. Instead of one long course, we present a smörgåsbord of tasty Short & Sweet Schooldays courses - just the same as our now-established Short & Sweet Saturdays (2 sessions of 2.5 hours each), but on a Schoolday! - which will allow you to dip in and out of a series of juicy morsels as your hearts desire!

First on the menu is something which naturally complements Luminists and Realists, which was so enthusiastically received back in February:

Northern Light: Landscape, history, and the sublime in Scandinavian art, 1815-1900

As always, however, no prior knowledge is required, so please don’t feel that you won’t enjoy this if you didn’t make Luminists and Realists.

Next up, we travel further afield both in terms of geography and chronology, with

The Mandate of Heaven: Ancient China

We know that many of you have enjoyed recent forays into the Orient, and are excited to expand our oriental adventures with this.

Finally (for now…) we offer Persia's Golden Age, which is in direct response to several specific requests, and needs, I suspect, little further explication here!

There are one or two further possibilities on the drawing board - most immediately, another bricks-and-mortar course at Pickering. The jury is still out as to whether there’s sufficient interest in the York area for us to offer a bricks-and-mortar course in York next term - but never say never! There’s still time for more registrations to come in for The Age of Charlemagne at Guppy’s later this month, and we continue to keep our fingers crossed that there may be sufficient interest for subsequent local courses. We’ll update you on all fronts as things develop.

Finally, two important housekeeping notices.

First, we are stripping things back in terms of booking administration for courses from January, and will not be able to accept payment by credit card for these courses. I shan’t bore you with the details (trust me - they are very boring!) unless you would like to know them, and we sincerely hope that this does not cause any disappointment or inconvenience. Registration can be completed as it was before we implemented the new system - i.e. via BACS or cheque - and the “Register now” button on each course page will take you to the registration form.

Secondly, I’m afraid that we have had to slightly amend our ‘twofer’ option for two people sharing one screen (the ‘twofer’ price for each type of course is on each course page). We very much hope that you feel that the new ‘twofer’ price-point still represents a worthwhile discount.

Phew! We hope that you’re as excited about what we’ve got lined up for you as we are. Here’s to a lovely autumn - may you all remain warm, cosy, and well!

To see all courses now available in calendar order (including this term’s upcoming Short & Sweet courses) click here.