1776: How the Magnificent Seven made America great

Posted on: May 18th, 2026 by Alan Wareham

The very same year that the Manchester Lit&Phil was founded in 1781, British troops surrendered to George Washington’s make-shift army in Yorktown, Virginia – and the United States of America was on its way to independence and future ‘greatness.’ 

Today, as America celebrates its 250th anniversary since Thomas Jefferson’s defiant Declaration of Independence in 1776, the world reflects on how and why that landmark moment was achieved, and who were the prime movers.  

No doubt Donald Trump will claim the credit, even though his grandfather didn’t arrive until the late 19th Century from Bavaria, with his mother arriving from the Scottish isles in 1930. 

Writer Lindsay Sutton believes that success was largely down to the influence and actions of those he calls ‘The Magnificent Seven.’ Individually, this disparate collection of individuals from across the Atlantic – one a radical British writer and thinker – made a huge contribution to ‘the cause’, seeking liberty and freedom from colonial rule.

Rather than be overly military with a ‘battle, battle, battle’ offering, Lindsay has opted for human interest stories about vital people who influenced the fight for independence from the British colonial yoke.

Practical Information

The talk includes a Q&A session and light refreshments can be purchased from the venue’s bar.

Booking is essential.

Accessibility Information

The venue is wheelchair accessible with an accessible toilet on the ground floor. Please contact us regarding any specific accessibility requirements you may have by emailing events@manlitphil.ac.uk

The Gaskells and the Cultural Life of Victorian Manchester

Posted on: May 7th, 2026 by Alan Wareham

Manchester was the first industrial city in the world, a triumph of science, engineering and private enterprise, although technically it did not gain city status until 1853 when it received a royal charter. Many saw this metropolis as a cultural desert, but there were many artists, writers and musicians who lived and thrived in Manchester, proving that there was more to this city than its mills and foundries. Looking at art, music and literature, I trace how the arts thrived in the city, from the Manchester Music to the founding of the famous Halle Orchestra; from the Art Treasures Exhibition in Old Trafford to the setting up of a Society of Women Painters, the city was alive with exciting cultural events. Ruskin and Dickens both lectured in Manchester, the writers Geraldine Dewsbury (Zoe and the Half Sisters) and Mrs. Isabella Banks (The Manchester Man) lived in the city, while Francis Hodgson Burnet (Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Lass O’Lowries) though born in Cheetham Hill, later moving across the border in Salford. I leave Elizabeth Gaskell until the end, as she lived in the city and worked hard to improve the lives of its workers. Through her connections with writers and industrialists and her great love of art and music, it is possible to trace how the arts, science and engineering became intrinsically linked. And, of course, Gaskell’s Mary Barton divided the nation because she took up the plight of the factory workers against her own peers; at least that is what many believed.

This talk explores how Elizabeth Gaskell and her circle were at the centre of Manchester’s cultural life during the mid-19th century and how two of her daughters continued her legacy.

Practical Information

The talk includes a Q&A session.

Booking is essential. Lit&Phil members: we recommend logging into the website to make booking your free member ticket quicker and easier.

Accessibility Information

The venue is wheelchair accessible with an accessible toilet on the ground floor. Please contact us regarding any specific accessibility requirements you may have by emailing events@manlitphil.ac.uk

It’s a Gas

Posted on: April 30th, 2026 by Alan Wareham

Why are most gases invisible, odourless and tasteless? Why do some poison us and others make us laugh? And why do some explode while others are content just to make drinks fizzy? Taking us back to that exhilarating, and often dangerous, moment when scientists tried to work out exactly what they had discovered, Mark Miodownik shows that gases are the formative substances of our modern world, each with its own weird and wonderful personality. We see how seventeenth-century laughing gas parties led to the first use of anaesthetics in surgery, how the invention of the air valve in musical instruments gave us bicycles, cars and trainers, and how gases made us masters of the sea (by huge steamships) and skies (via extremely flammable balloons). This talk reveals the immense importance of gases to modern civilisation.

Practical Information

The talk includes a Q&A session.

Booking is essential. Lit&Phil members: we recommend logging into the website to make booking your free member ticket quicker and easier.

Accessibility Information

The venue is wheelchair accessible with an accessible toilet on the ground floor. Please contact us regarding any specific accessibility requirements you may have by emailing events@manlitphil.ac.uk

Image Credits

Upper Left – A person playing a saxophone in a dark room – Nice M Nshuti – Unsplash

Upper Right – Zeppelin-ramp de Hindenburg / Hindenburg zeppelin disaster – By Sam Shere – Public Domain

Lower Left – ISAF Headquarters Public Affairs Office, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Upper Right – Zeppelin-ramp de Hindenburg / Hindenburg zeppelin disaster – By Sam Shere – Public Domain

From Peterloo to Deliberative Assemblies

Posted on: March 31st, 2026 by Alan Wareham

Greater Manchester has been the site of many democratic movements.

The Peterloo Massacre saw the state kill its own citizens because they had the guts to demand the electoral franchise include working class men. The Chartists, whose presence was particularly strong in the North West, extended the struggle for suffrage that inspired Peterloo. Their demands were reasonable yet remain radical in our contemporary context. And the suffragists, then the suffragettes, with their tireless campaigns to extend suffrage to women, mobilised from across our city-region.

In Greater Manchester, something is brewing. A new way of doing things. People are coming together to demand change because we are sick of ordinary people’s voices being ignored. It’s a movement for real people power, a movement to give ordinary people a seat at the table. It is the movement for a permanent and powerful Citizens’ Assembly of Greater Manchester.

Citizens’ assemblies are deliberative decision-making bodies that work like juries. They bring together a representative group of ordinary people, selected by lottery to prevent self-selection by those with particular interests. Anyone in the local area can be selected, including non-citizens, people without fixed addresses and younger people. Participants are paid so everyone can participate equally. They then work together for over 30 hours to make decisions on a particular topic. Participants hear and watch testimony from experts with lived and learnt experience on the subject and then discuss potential solutions among themselves.

From Belfast to Paris to Fortaleza, decisions that affect ordinary people are made by ordinary people through these mechanisms. This is how we defend and rebuild our democracy: through deliberation.

Join Willie Sullivan, from the Electoral Reform Society, and Liv Ouwehand, from the Sortition Foundation, for a discussion about democratic reform, deliberative democracy and citizens’ assemblies.

Practical Information

The talk includes a Q&A session and light refreshments can be purchased from the venue’s bar.

Booking is essential.

Accessibility Information

The venue is wheelchair accessible with an accessible toilet on the ground floor. Please contact us regarding any specific accessibility requirements you may have by emailing events@manlitphil.ac.uk

 

Artificial Light and Biological Time

Posted on: March 27th, 2026 by Alan Wareham

Can we use smart lighting choices to have our cake and eat it?

Life on earth has evolved to use changing patterns of light to keep track of time over the 24hrs of the day and 12 months of the year. The appearance of artificial light disrupts the ancient relationships between light and time and represents an unprecedented challenge for biological clocks.

Professor Robert Lucas will talk about this conflict between human choices and biological time. Professor Robert Lucas will cover what biological clocks are, how they work, and their relationship with light. Professor Robert Lucas will then explore how the conflict between biological and anthropogenic time shapes the modern human experience and impacts the living world around us.

Professor Robert Lucas will finally consider the extent to which we can use smart lighting choices to have our cake and eat it.

Who should attend?

This talk will appeal to anyone curious about sleep, health, modern life, and the natural world, from students, researchers, and science enthusiasts to parents, shift workers, designers, planners, and anyone interested in how artificial light affects our bodies, behaviour, and environment.

Questions to consider

About people and health

  • What are the most important ways light influences our biological clocks?
  • How much artificial light at night is enough to disrupt sleep or circadian rhythms?
  • Are some people more vulnerable than others to light disruption?
  • What is the impact of screens compared with room lighting or street lighting?
  • What practical changes can people make at home to better support healthy biological timing?

About modern life

  • Is it possible to balance 24-hour societies with the needs of our biological clocks?
  • What are the biggest conflicts between human schedules and biological time?
  • Are shift workers facing unavoidable harms, or are there realistic ways to reduce them?
  • Has modern lighting fundamentally changed human behaviour in ways we still underestimate?

About design and policy

  • What do “smart lighting choices” actually look like in homes, workplaces, and cities?
  • Can lighting be designed to improve health while still meeting needs for safety, productivity, and comfort?
  • What should architects, employers, schools, or local authorities be doing differently?
  • Is there good evidence that changes in public lighting can reduce harm to wildlife?
  • Where is the line between helpful innovation and overreliance on technology?

About the wider environment

  • How does artificial light affect animals, plants, and ecosystems?
  • Are there particular kinds of lighting that are especially damaging to the living world?
  • Can reducing light pollution benefit both biodiversity and human wellbeing?
  • What lessons can humans learn from how life on earth evolved with natural light cycles?

Practical Information

The talk includes a Q&A session.Booking is essential.

Accessibility Information

The venue is wheelchair accessible with an accessible toilet on the ground floor. Please contact us regarding any specific accessibility requirements you may have by emailing events@manlitphil.ac.uk

Frederick Douglass: A Global Life

Posted on: March 23rd, 2026 by Alan Wareham

Inaugural Frederick Douglass Lecture – SOLD OUT

The Inaugural Frederick Douglass Lecture, presented in a partnership between the Manchester Lit & Phil, The University of Manchester and CARISMA.

Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama, Bridgeford Street, Manchester M13 9PL

Context

In 2021, the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society (the Lit &Phil) commissioned independent research into Society members’ links with the transatlantic slave trade between 1780-1865. In response to the findings (published in 2023) and their wider present day societal implications, the Society committed to a series of actions to widen its reach and diversify its offering. One of those actions was to establish the Frederick Douglass Lecture series – to commemorate a leading, inspirational black abolitionist campaigner who, born into slavery, rose to become one of the leading social reformers of his time. He had close links to Manchester in the 1840s and to several prominent Lit & Phil abolitionist members. His contributions to political philosophy and human rights are enduring, not least in our continuing discussions today about racism, inequality and social justice. In honouring Douglass, we aim to recognise the complex and difficult legacies of the slave trade in British culture, celebrate those who fought against slavery and look forward, seeking ways to promote inclusivity, equality and respect for diversity within society at large.

“FREDERICK DOUGLASS – A GLOBAL LIFE“

Frederick Douglass was an international figure, not only because his writing took his words and his message across continents, but because he spent over 4 years of his life living travelling outside the United States. He first left the US in 1845 as a ‘fugitive slave’, travelling to Britain and Ireland to escape the possibility of recapture and re-enslavement. In 1859 he returned to Britain and on both trips gave powerful speeches against American slavery. In the 1880s, after the Civil War, Douglass again crossed the Atlantic to tour Europe and the Mediterranean and at the end of the same decade he lived and worked in the Republic of Haiti, as the US government’s Minister Resident and Consul General. It was during his four years outside the United States that Frederick Douglass became a free man. It was in Britain and Ireland that he developed as an orator and acquired the funds to start his first abolitionist newspaper – The North Star.

The 2026 Inaugural Frederick Douglass Lecture will be delivered by British Nigerian historian David Olusoga OBE, who is a BAFTA winning film-maker, author and Professor of Public History at The University of Manchester. Professor Olusoga explores how his time outside of the United States – in particular his years in England and Ireland – helped forge Frederick Douglass.

The event will be chaired by Professor Erinma Bell MBE.

An audience Q&A will follow the discussion.

David Olusoga OBE

David Olusoga OBE is a British Nigerian author, historian, presenter and BAFTA-winning film-maker. He is Professor of Public History at The University of Manchester and was awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to history and community integration. He specialises in the British Empire and how we experience its lasting effects in modern society. David has presented historical television programmes on the BBC. His television credits include Civilisations, Black and British, Our NHS: A Hidden History, A House Through Time and the BAFTA award-winning Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners.

Professor Erinma Bell MBE DL

Professor Erinma Bell MBE DL is an Honorary Patron of the Lit & Phil and a Manchester-based academic and community peace practitioner with longstanding experience in conflict resolution, youth violence prevention, and community-centred social development. Professor Bell has contributed significantly to public dialogue on social justice, ethical leadership, and inclusive civic participation. Her involvement reflects the Series’ commitment to informed public engagement and to connecting historical enquiry with contemporary moral and social questions.

Creative Manchester

Creative Manchester is an interdisciplinary research platform based at The University of Manchester. The platform champions research in creativity and creative practice, bringing together research communities with external stakeholders to explore new research areas and address strategic opportunities. Please visit the website for more information Creative Manchester.

Register here to receive regular updates on upcoming Creative Manchester news, events and funding opportunities. You can also connect with Creative Manchester via our Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

The Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society

Founded in 1781, the Manchester Lit & Phil is the oldest scientific and literary society in the UK outside London. Established to promote the advancement of knowledge through discussion and lectures, today the Lit & Phil continues its tradition of public engagement by offering regular talks and events across science, technology, philosophy, and the arts, serving as a forum for intellectual exchange in Manchester and beyond. The 2023 research report was produced by the University of Central Lancashire’s Black Atlantic Research Institute and can be read, alongside Erinma Bell’s response, at: https://www.manlitphil.ac.uk/read-watch-listen/the-manchester-literary-philosophical-society-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-1780-1865/

CARISMA

CARISMA (Community Alliance for Renewal Inner South Manchester Area) is a Manchester-based programme working to build safer, more inclusive and cohesive communities. It supports children, young people, adults and families through peacebuilding, community leadership, hate crime awareness, and inclusive wellbeing programmes. Its founder and and director, Professor Erinma Bell, will chair this event.

Accessibility

If you have particular access or dietary needs, please let us know in advance by providing details when registering for your ticket or by emailing creative@manchester.ac.uk

Exploring the Surface of Titan

Posted on: March 23rd, 2026 by Alan Wareham

What does it take to land on one of the most mysterious worlds in the Solar System?

After a 7-year journey of 1.5 billion km, the joint NASA–ESA Cassini-Huygens mission reached Saturn in 2004. On Christmas Day 2004, the European-built Huygens probe separated from Cassini and began its final approach to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Just over two weeks later, Huygens descended through Titan’s dense, orange atmosphere for more than two hours, transmitting extraordinary data all the way down before making a historic soft landing. It continued sending images and measurements from the frozen surface for over an hour — and remains, to this day, the most distant soft landing ever achieved in the Solar System.

This remarkable mission also has a Manchester story. One of the instruments carried all the way to Titan was designed by Dr John Geake of the University of Manchester. Decades later, a small piece of Manchester technology still rests on Titan’s cold, hazy landscape.

In this special talk, Professor John Zarnecki, Principal Investigator for a collection of instruments in the Huygens Science Surface Package, will offer personal insights into one of the great adventures of modern space exploration. He will explore how the mission came together, what its scientific objectives were, what Huygens discovered about Titan’s atmosphere and surface, and what we can expect from Dragonfly, NASA’s upcoming mission to return to Titan.

If you are fascinated by space exploration, planetary science, engineering, or the stories behind ambitious scientific missions, this is an event not to miss.

There will be time for questions and discussion. Early booking is strongly recommended.

Who Should Attend?

This event will appeal to:

  • anyone interested in space, astronomy, and planetary science
  • students and lifelong learners curious about how space missions are designed and delivered
  • people interested in NASA, ESA, and the history of major space exploration missions
  • audiences keen to hear a first-hand account from a leading scientist involved in the mission
  • those with an interest in Manchester’s contribution to global scientific discovery

No specialist knowledge is required.

Questions This Talk Will Explore

  • How did the Cassini-Huygens mission begin, and why was Titan such an important target?
  • What were the mission’s main scientific objectives?
  • What did Huygens reveal about Titan’s atmosphere, surface, and weather?
  • What made landing on Titan so technically challenging?
  • What role did scientists and engineers from Manchester play?
  • Why is Titan still one of the most exciting destinations in the Solar System?
  • How is NASA’s Dragonfly mission progressing, and what could it discover next?

Practical Information

The presentation will include time for questions and discussion.

Booking is strongly advised.

Access

Access to the event is via the Altrincham Street entrance.

Accessibility Information

If you have any specific accessibility requirements, please contact us at events@manlitphil.ac.uk.

Manchester Lit&Phil Annual Percival Lecture

Posted on: March 10th, 2026 by Alan Wareham

The Percival Lecture

From Manchester, for the world: The University of Manchester’s 2035 strategy

Professor Duncan Ivison: President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester 

The University of Manchester was born as an answer to a question posed amid the Industrial Revolution: what kind of new knowledge and citizens were needed for Manchester to thrive in a world undergoing profound change? As it enters its third century, it stands at a similarly pivotal moment. Technological, geopolitical, economic and social revolutions are reshaping the world. What knowledge and skills does the digital age demand? What big leaps lie ahead for the University?

Since arriving in Manchester in 2024 to become its President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Duncan Ivison has led the development of a new strategy, Manchester 2035, following a year-long process of consultation with staff, students, alumni and external partners. Published in 2025, this new strategy addresses the question: what it means to be a truly great civic university for the 21st century?

In this talk, Professor Ivison will outline how the University plans to work with its city and region in new ways, where this deep-rooted sense of place is matched by global reach, through researchers, partners and alumni who share its purpose to improve lives, strengthen communities and tackle the world’s biggest challenges. He will talk about the importance it will place on partnerships, academic freedom, freedom of speech, teaching and research excellence, and inclusion.

 

Manchester Li &Phil Annual Percival Lecture

Manchester Lit&Phil is nearly 250 years old, which makes it one of the oldest learned societies in the United Kingdom. Its members have been sharing knowledge and ideas ever since the first meeting in 1781, paving the way for giant leaps forward in the way we understand the world. Past members include Ernest Rutherford, John Dalton and James Joule.

Thomas Percival was the Manchester Lit&Phil’s first President, and the Percival Lecture was established in 1947 to celebrate his legacy.

 

Location

Lecture theatre G.003, Alliance Manchester Business School, Booth St W, Manchester M15 6PB

 

Event schedule

Drinks reception for members and special guests: from 6.00 pm at The Mill. (Located directly opposite G.003.)

Talk starts: 6.45 pm 

Event ends: 8.00 pm

 

Practical Information

Booking is essential. This is a Lit&Phil Members Only Event: We recommend logging into the website to make booking and paying for your ticket quicker and easier.

 

We are very grateful to The University of Manchester for hosting this year’s Percival Lecture. This is a members-only event and places are limited.

Under attack: 15 Years spent photographing Britain

Posted on: February 3rd, 2026 by Alan Wareham

Joel Goodman will talk about his specific experiences as a photojournalist, framed with the context of his photographs and publications. He will be discussing why it should matter to him beyond his own self-interest, what success and failure look like to him, what values he tries to bring to his practice and the pressures of working independently in sometimes hostile and unforgiving environments.

Most of his photography involves politics and “hard news” – unscheduled coverage of breaking stories or of live events – and, when he does his job well, the work can be published widely in print, online and on television, around the world. Often this coverage results from images photographed and then transmitted directly from his camera, where the only editing is in the focal length and composition he chose at the moment of capture.

Questions to Reflect On

  • What does “success” versus “failure” look like for a hard‑news image?
  • Walk us through one frame shown tonight: where you stood, focal length, and timing—why those choices?
  • How do you stay safe and de‑escalate in hostile or fast‑moving situations?
  • What pressures do independent freelancers face – from subjects, police, editors, or online audiences – and how do you keep your independence and values?
  • In the UK context, how do you balance public interest with minimising harm – handling consent, privacy, minors, victims, and arrestees?
  • With images sent straight from camera, how do you caption and verify under time pressure and prevent miscontext?

Practical Information

The presentation will include time for questions and discussion. Booking is strongly advised.

Access

Access to the event is via the Altrincham Street entrance.

Accessibility Information

Please contact us regarding any specific accessibility requirements you may have by emailing events@manlitphil.ac.uk

What’s in a Name?

Posted on: January 23rd, 2026 by Editor-Jo

How do we know Shakespeare was Shakespeare? Could a glover’s son who left school at fifteen really be the author behind such masterpieces as Hamlet, King Lear and The Tempest?

Yes! says historian Susan Amussen. She transports readers back to early modern England, to travel the path that carried William Shakespeare from humble origins in Stratford to literary greatness on the London stage. This was a society undergoing rapid change. Grammar schools made education in Latin and Greek available to commoners, while touring players brought the latest dramatic productions to the masses. And in London, a metropolis filled with European visitors, ordinary people had the opportunity to see courtly life up close.

No serious historian doubts that Shakespeare was the author of the plays that bear his name. Susan Amussen shares what they know: that Shakespeare’s England was a complex and cosmopolitan place, with everything a talented young playwright needed to develop his craft and furnish his imagination.

Practical Information

Booking is essential. Lit&Phil members: we recommend logging into the website to make booking your free member ticket quicker and easier.

Accessibility Information

The venue is wheelchair accessible with an accessible toilet on the ground floor. Please contact us regarding any specific accessibility requirements you may have by emailing events@manlitphil.ac.uk

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