This author has not written his bio yet.
But we are proud to say that Penelope J. Corfield contributed 172 entries already.
If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2013) The answer is unequivocally No. (Obvious really but worth saying still?) History as a subject is far, far too important to become a political football. It teaches about conflict as well as compromise; but that’s not the same as being turned into a source […]
If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2013) If post-seminar questions are less memorable that the papers or lectures which precede them, then the answers tend to be even less anecdotable. I can think of only a handful, among thousands of intellectual encounters, which remain in my memory. Nevertheless, answers in an […]
If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2013) What? what? what? Always good to ask questions. Not always easy to manage a good one. In the debates following the thousands of public lectures and seminar papers that I’ve heard, a few examples stand out. One was simplicity itself. It caught out a […]
If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2013) Apart from the routine lectures that form the bread-and-butter of an academic’s job, we constantly give special lectures and/or papers. These presentations are made to a miscellany of research seminars, public meetings, specialist societies, academic conferences and other outlets, at home and overseas. From […]
IN NEW TRANSLATION BY CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON AT LONDON’S VAUDEVILLE THEATRE, THE STRAND WC1 Viewed by Penelope J. Corfield and Tony Belton 14 December 2012 ‘Basically, life in Russia sucks’, summarised the young man in the row behind us, for the benefit of his somewhat bemused companions, who had obviously expected something jollier. We had all […]
If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2012) How do we champion (not merely defend) the study of History in schools and Universities? Against those who wrongly claim that the subject is not commercially ‘useful’. Here are three recommendations. Firstly, we should stress the obvious: that a knowledge of history and an […]
If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2012) Politicians have a duty to attend to civics as well as to economics. Indeed, we all do. So talking about whether the study of History is ‘useful’ for the economy is a very partial way of approaching an essential component of human’s collective living. […]
If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2012) Isn’t it shocking that, in the UK, school-children can give up the study of History at the age of 14? Across Europe today, only Albania (it is claimed) shares that ignoble distinction with Britain. A strange pairing. Who knows? Perhaps the powers-that-be in both […]
AT THE NATIONAL: LYTTLETON THEATRE (August 2012) Viewed by PJC, with Tony Belton. It’s a witty script and the audience was engaged throughout by this production of the Doctor’s Dilemma. Penelope laughed a great deal; and, having read Shaw’s play many times (as a historian of the professions), she was particularly delighted to see it […]
If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2012) When choosing Blog topics, I draw from my professional experiences as an academic historian and my grass-roots life as a long-term party activist and former Labour councillor. But today’s theme of Trust/or No trust comes from both fields of endeavour. Can society trust people? […]
Penelope J. Corfield is a historian, lecturer and education consultant. She currently serves as the President of the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ISECS).
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