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The ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ History Society are pleased to invite ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Old Members to the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ History Society Dinner which will take place on Saturday 22 February 2025. This is a student-led initiative which aims to strengthen the community of historians past and present.

The event will start at 5.45pm with drinks in the McGregor Matthews Room, and then a talk by guest speaker, Professor Julian Wright (pictured below). This will be followed by dinner in the Founder’s Library at around 7.30pm.

What’s in the tin? War, family, and the music of history:
A tin of US Coast Guard rations, dated 1944, turned up in my grandfather’s house after he died. During the Second World War he was a Prisoner of War in Germany. The contents of the tin are still there, rumbling around inside, even as the writing on the tin starts to fade. 

The presence of the Second World War is still with us, especially when we think of people whom we love who lived through it. Its presence is deeper, more horrid but also more gently personal, than history alone can describe.  Music and poetry bring other insights, emotional and affective, into the strange presence of wartime.

The cost is £80.00 per person. If you would like to attend, you can make your payment through the . During the booking process there will also be an opportunity for you to let us know about any dietary requirements/allergens that we might need to be aware of. There will also be a chance to request a parking space, if needed. The dress code is lounge suit or equivalent.

About the speaker:
Julian Wright is Professor of History at Northumbria University, having completed a term as Head of Humanities at Northumbria from 2017 to 2022. Julian’s undergraduate and postgraduate studies were at Oxford, and he was a lay clerk in the choir of ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ while a DPhil student in the late 1990s. After a Junior Research Fellowship at Christ Church, he taught at Durham University for thirteen years.

Julian is interested in the ideas and experiences of time, in history, culture, and music. He has published widely on European history, particularly modern France. His recent volume with the Proceedings of the British Academy, Time on a Human Scale, puts the human present back into the cultural, philosophical, and literary history of Europe between 1860 and 1930. He is working on a book about how people living during the Second World War wrote themselves back into time, through the chaos that war drove into everyday lives.

Looking ahead, Julian is developing a new project that will ask how music and history might speak to one another more deeply. His musical commitments have continued in recent years with a fifteen-year term as Music Director of the Durham Singers.

The History Society aims to put on several events over the year.

• Hilary Term: Society Annual Dinner

The Society’s annual dinner will be open to ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ History undergraduates, fellows, and Old Members, bringing together all generations of ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ historians.

• Michaelmas Term and Trinity Term: Speaker Series

The Society will host a world-leading academic to discuss their most recent work. These lectures will be open to all current ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ historians.

We also hope that you might consider supporting the Society with a regular contribution. The financial needs are not great, but such support will:

• cover travel costs and drinks associated with the Speaker Series
• subsidise the costs of dinner for students who might otherwise not be able to attend
• provide funds for future events to connect Old Members and undergraduates

We greatly appreciate any support you can offer and, if you wish to make a gift, please complete the .

We are extremely grateful to those Old Members who currently contribute; thank you for your continued support.

With best wishes,

Raphael Maurin and Jess Taylor
Co-Presidents of the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ History Society