Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Thursday, 2 October 2014

Neil MacGregor on German History




Continuing the German theme of the last two posts this one is to encourage readers to listen to Neil MacGregor's excellent series on German history which is being broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and can be found on the Radio 4 website at Germany: Memories of a Nation.

I missed the first one - on the Brandenburg gate - but the second and third, dealing respectively with the Berlin Wall and its legacy and with those great German cities of Prague (with the oldest German University and former seat of government of the Holy Roman Empire) and Königsberg (the ceremonial capital of Prussia and home of Kant) which are no longer German, were excellent, and provided fifteen minutes of erudition and insight to keep you thinking long afterwards.

For those who want more there is an online article, with links to other pieces on the cathedral and other features, about Königsberg here, and another article about current discussion of plans to rebuild the city centre at Architectural Competition Held to Rebuild Königsberg City Center.





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