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History & The Arts
The poetry of Sorley MacLean
Sorley MacLean (1911-1996) is regarded as one of the greatest Scottish poets of the twentieth century. This free course, The poetry of Sorley MacLean, will introduce you to his poetry and give you an insight into the cultural, historical and political contexts that inform his work. MacLean wrote in Gaelic and the importance of the language to ...
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History & The Arts
Scoring the Shoreline
George Revill considers the synergy between sound waves and ocean waves - how the coast of Britain has inspired the nation's musical heritage.
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Recording music and sound
This free course, Recording music and sound, provides an historical introduction to music and sound recording in the creative industries and offers some guidance about making your own recordings. Many of the processes that have been developed and the issues that have been raised in the first 150 years of recording are still relevant today, and a...
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Society, Politics & Law
Key events in Scotland, 1920s-2016: A timeline
An interactive timeline of the most important events in Scottish political, cultural and economic history.
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History & The Arts
London's 1818 public health crisis
200 years ago today, the Morning Post shared a report into a health crisis gripping London - and how public health solutions offered a way out of the mess.
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History & The Arts
Charles Dickens and the dinosaurs
How was Charles Dickens influenced by Victorian interest in dinosaurs? John C Murray explores how Dickens might have been shaped by the work of Richard Owen in this review of Gowan Dawson's Dickens, Dinosaurs, and Design in Victorian Literature and Culture 44.4
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Science, Maths & Technology
If Infinity Wars had peer review instead of script editors
Bill Sullivan imagines the feedback facing The Avengers, if Hollywood worked the way scientific journals work. WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Football culture: the use of banners
What role do team banners play in the wider context of football culture?
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Exploring Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts
This free course introduces Virginia Woolf’s last novel, Between the Acts (1941), with the aim of understanding how she writes about time, memory, and ideas about identity. It also considers why Woolf’s fiction is often considered difficult. Selected extracts from her essays on writing help to clarify some of these perceived difficulties, ...
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Society, Politics & Law
The weakness of European Wales
Why did ‘left-wing’ Wales vote to Leave the EU?
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OpenLearn Ireland
The Good Friday Agreement - 20 Year Anniversary
10th April 2018 marks 20 years since the Good Friday Agreement was made.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Are selfies a terrible thing?
Is the rise of the selfie a sign of a culture collapsing into narcissism - or is there something positive in the trend of arm's length self portraiture?