The Oregon Trail and I
A personal talk about the Oregon Trail and how it became a part of my life. How a small idea was developed into hugely successful role play event. How we tried to use it to involve pupils into decision making that promoted discussion, arguments and help develop their personal skills.
Women & The Oregon Trail
The role of women in the Oregon trail. The women carried the burden of this 6 months trek across the continent. A view that is not often heard. The large silent group that helped change a nations development. Without them we would know far less of the journey and the events that happened. They were the diary writers, the cooks and bottle washers, the nurses and washer women that held the glue that kept the trek together.
Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots
Royal cousins at war! The two most powerful women of their age. An age that was dominated by Kings not Queens. How their lives and their fates crossed. Did they ever meet?
Black Peoples of America, their enslavement and the fight for civil rights.
Two topics in one. How the trade started and changed the United States of America. Then how those changes needed reconstructing to allow the black peoples of America a chance for some equality. Was slavery really get abolished by the Civil war? Who or what was Jim Crow? What were sharecroppers? Who was Emmett Till and why was he a catalyst in the civil rights movement?
The Plains Indians – The Sioux
The Sioux – Their way of life on the plains and how it changed with westward expansion and the discovery of ‘gold in them there hills’. How a nations culture and way of life was destroyed. How did they live? How different was their way of life?
Conversation with an executioner
A chance to chat with the man that removed a King’s head (No! It’s not a pub!). A look at the events that led to Charles I losing his head! A one-off event in British history. How did it feel to stand before the crowd with axe in his hand? Ask him!
Underground Railroad or Underground Railroads and Quilts – 2 separate talks
The Underground Railroad. Its not a railroad – It does not go underground. So, what is it? How did it work? How ran it? What did it achieve?
When you add quilts then it’s a shorter version of the main talk and a look how quilts might have played a part gaining freedom for black slave’s keen to seek their freedom.
The Armada
How did a small island led by a protestant queen overcome the might of the strongest nation in the world backed up by the Catholic Church? Why did the Spanish decide to invade?How was the strongest Navy in the world to fail?
Wharram Percy – A year in a medieval village
Life in a medieval village on the Yorkshire Wolds.
The Wright Brothers
Orville & Wilbur – The boys from Dayton, Ohio… who taught the world to fly.
The History of The Oregon Trail
The real history of the Oregon Trail—The journey from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. How it started and why so many travelled across a continent in the search for a new life – The opening up of America as a nation.
Portraits
From Henry VIII to David Beckham. What is the artist trying to tell us? A look at portraits from Henry VII & Elizabeth I to David Beckham. How have they evolved, how portraiture developed as did the fashions so often shown. Plus, those hidden messages that are not visible at first sight.
The Stuarts
The Stuarts – more dysfunctional than the Tudors – Honestly! I like the Tudors but there is something about the Stuarts that needs to be cherished. They were the bridge between the total rule by a monarch and the start of parliament and the people getting a chance for change.
London 1665 – The Plague
A comparison to our pandemic! How the plague spread throughout London in 1665 – The disease, the symptoms and how the city responded. How did they handle such a huge event in a time without the technological advantages we have had during Covid-19?
Emmett Till, Death in Mississippi…
The tragic tale of Emmett Till.
A Chicago teenager who tragically lost his life in Money, Mississippi in August 1955. The subsequent investigation, trial, verdict and funeral made an impact round the world.
1066 – How the Saxons lost the country in a day?
Yes! One battle and one day! Well almost… a tale retold with the help of the Bayeux Tapestry. However, we must remember that that tapestry was made by the Norman conquerors – so there maybe other facts we need to know.
Growing up in the 50’s & 60’s in rural Norfolk
Was it really the good old days? How much has life changed in those 60 years? Did the bath really hang on the garage wall? Are grocery deliveries really a modern concept?
The Gunpowder Plot
Do we really understand what happened before, during and after that fateful day on November 1605? Why was the new king so unpopular? How was the religious terrorist stopped?
Katherine Johnson
A hidden figure that helped take the USA to the moon and back. A black women who helped break down barriers both in space and diversity. A woman ahead of her time!
Witchcraze
The witch craze – a period of intense and widespread witch-hunts between roughly 1450 and 1750. Fuelled by religious conflict, superstition, and social tensions, this mass hysteria led to the execution of hundreds of people, most of them women.