Highlights
12th March 2021 - 6:30 pm
Online - GMT
An Evening With Isabel Allende
Legendary novelist Isabel Allende joins us for a meditation on power, feminism and what it means to be a woman.
GO TO EVENT7th March 2021 - 9:15 pm
Online - GMT
The Disunited States
Lionel Shriver and Angelia Wilson
After the tumultuous tenure of Trump, what is next for America?
GO TO EVENT9th June 2021 - 6:00 pm
Online - EST
Edward St. Aubyn: Double Blind
In conversation with Adam Gopnik
Edward St. Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose series marked him as “the most brilliant English novelist of his generation” (Alan Hollinghurst).
GO TO EVENT10th March 2021 - 6:00 pm
Free Online - GMT
The Earth Convention: Biodiversity
Partha Dasgupta, Gabrielle Walker, and Tony Juniper
5×15 and Rathbones present the fifth session in The Earth Convention series which looks at biodiversity, natural capital and oceans.
GO TO EVENT28th March 2021 - 6:30 pm
Online - GMT
A Night In with Nicola Benedetti
Fane Online presents A Night in with Nicola Benedetti in conversation with Edward Seckerson.
GO TO EVENTFeatured Events
Free Online
Time 100 Talks: Angeline Jolie and Vanessa Nakate
Angelina Jolie
Concerned about her country’s rising temperatures, Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate, 23, spent months protesting alone outside the gates of Parliament in Kampala....
3rd March 2021 - 6:00 pm
Online - EST
Kazuo Ishiguro
In Conversation With Kate Darling
Harvard Book Store welcomes Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro for a discussion of his latest novel, Klara and the Sun....
4th March 2021 - 6:30 pm
Online - GMT
Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain
Dr Lisa Feldman Barrett
Why do you have a brain and how does it work? One of the top 1% most cited scientists in the world for her revolutionary neuroscience research, Lisa Feldman Barrett is here with answers....
4th March 2021 - 7:00 pm
Online - GMT
Recollections of My Non-Existence
Rebecca Solnit and Mary Beard
We are delighted to bring together Rebecca Solnit and Mary Beard in a digital event to celebrate the paperback publication of Recollections of My Non-Existence....
4th March 2021 - 7:15 pm
Online - GMT
Is Cancel Culture Attacking Our Liberties?
Zoe Strimpel
Does cancel culture really exist? Is it simply a refusal to give a platform to views many find unpalatable or is it a basic assault on the oldest of freedoms – freedom of speech?...
6th March 2021 - 6:45 pm
Online - GMT
How to Stay Sane
Elif Shafak
Award-winning novelist, TED speaker and activist Elif Shafak returns to Jewish Book Week with her concise and urgent call for conscious optimism in the age of division....
7th March 2021 - 9:15 pm
Online - GMT
The Disunited States
Lionel Shriver and Angelia Wilson
After the tumultuous tenure of Trump, what is next for America?...
10th March 2021 - 6:00 pm
Free Online - GMT
The Earth Convention: Biodiversity
Partha Dasgupta, Gabrielle Walker, and Tony Juniper
5x15 and Rathbones present the fifth session in The Earth Convention series which looks at biodiversity, natural capital and oceans....
11th March 2021 - 7:00 pm
Online - GMT
Unquiet: Stephen Fry and Jonathan Biss on Beethoven
Stephen Fry joins renowned pianist and musical thinker Jonathan Biss to discuss Biss’s moving new audio book Unquiet: My Life with Beethoven....
12th March 2021 - 6:30 pm
Online - GMT
An Evening With Isabel Allende
Legendary novelist Isabel Allende joins us for a meditation on power, feminism and what it means to be a woman....
17th March 2021 - 6:30 pm
Online - GMT
Chris Patten Meets Philip Stephens
Britain Alone: Brexit and Beyond
Where next for Britain in 2021? Join the last governor of Hong Kong and the award-winning FT journalist for an erudite, insightful account of our post-Brexit future....
18th March 2021 - 6:30 pm
Online - GMT
Bari Weiss Meets David Baddiel – Jews Don’t Count
Bari Weiss in Conversation with David Baddiel
Has identity politics failed one particular identity? It is David Baddiel’s contention that one type of prejudice has been left out of the fight against homophobia, disablism, transphobia, and racism....
19th March 2021 - 6:30 pm
Online - GMT
Paul Krugman Meets Richard Layard
Can We Be Happier?
When Richard Layard made the case for measuring happiness alongside GDP, governments listened. Nobel laureate and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman joins him to discover how we can build back happier....
26th March 2021 - 6:30 pm
Online - GMT
The World Before Us – a New Story of Our Human Origins
Oxford Professor Tom Higham
Tom Higham was at the forefront of the discovery of a new species of human: the Denisovans. What do we know about these elusive humans – and how did they interact with homo sapiens?...
28th March 2021 - 6:30 pm
Online - GMT
A Night In with Nicola Benedetti
Fane Online presents A Night in with Nicola Benedetti in conversation with Edward Seckerson....
29th March 2021 - 8:00 pm
Online - GMT
A Night In with Vanessa O’Brien
Join record-breaking mountain climber Vanessa O’Brien in-conversation as she marks the publication of To the Greatest Heights, which takes its readers on an extraordinary adventure around the world....
6th April 2021 - 7:00 pm
Online - EST
The Legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Gloria Steinem and Professor Amanda Tyler
Join women’s rights icon Gloria Steinem and Berkeley School of Law Professor Amanda Tyler for a deep examination of the life and work of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg....
8th April 2021 - 6:30 pm
Online - GMT
The God Equation – The Quest to Find a Theory of Everything
Michio Kaku In Conversation With Robin Ince
The superstar physicist takes on the mind-bending ride through the twists and turns of an epic scientific journey: the quest to find a Theory of Everything....
26th April 2021 - 6:30 pm
Online - GMT
An Evening With Edmund de Waal: Letters to Camondo
One of our most renowned contemporary artists as well as an award-winning biographer, Edmund de Waal returns to How To Academy to bring a new history of loss and exile to life....
9th June 2021 - 6:00 pm
Online - EST
Edward St. Aubyn: Double Blind
In conversation with Adam Gopnik
Edward St. Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose series marked him as “the most brilliant English novelist of his generation” (Alan Hollinghurst)....
International Highlights
UPDATE
As all talks are currently online only, we are incorporating Unmissable talks organised outside the UK in the UK section so you don’t have to look in two sections. When live talks start to happen again we will revert to UK and International....
Museums and Galleries
16th February 2021 - 7:00 pm
Online - GMT
The Brutish Museums with author Dan Hicks
Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at the University of Oxford and Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum Dan Hicks makes a powerful case for the urgent return of the objects from European and American museums stained by colonization
20th February 2021 - 11:00 am
Online - EST
Louvre Museum Live Interactive Virtual Tour
It is a licensed guide led webinar packed with photos, videos, polls and a fully interactive chat function which makes this anything but a lecture video. There is also a live Q&A at the end satisfying all your questions about the Louvre and Paris.
Curator Chats Series: The Significance of African Americans in Sports
With Dr. Damion L. Thomas
Damion Thomas discusses experiences that sparked his interest in researching the history of African Americans in sports, and some of his favorite objects in our Sports: Leveling the Playing Field exhibition.
Free Online
New Solutions to Plastic Pollution
Live talk with David de Rothschild
Hosted by leading environmental change advocate, NHM Ambassador and founder of the Voice for Nature Foundation David de Rothschild, the panel will discuss their unique takes on how to tackle plastic pollution, encouraging us all to become advocates for the planet.
Free Online
Marking Time: Indigenous Art from the NGV
National Gallery of Victoria
Marking Time: Indigenous Art from the NGV looks at the persistence of images, signs or text painted or drawn on a range of surfaces in Indigenous Australia, from ancient times until now.
Free Online
The Museum of the World
The British Museum
For the first time ever, discover objects from the British Museum’s collection from prehistory to the present using the most advanced WebGL (Web Graphics Library) technology available.
Theatre, Opera and Concerts
Free Online
Barbican Centre Concerts
Various Artists
Each Sunday and Thursday (from 22 March) Barbican Centre will be streaming a concert from our archive on our YouTube channel....
Free Online
Berliner Philharmoniker
Various Artists
Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall presents a variety of free concerts in the upcoming weeks and months....
Vanessa Kirby in Julie
National Theatre Live
Wild and single, Julie throws a huge party in her luxurious London house which rapidly descends into a fight for her own survival. Vanessa Kirby plays Julie in Polly Stenham’s shocking and fiercely relevant new version of August Strindberg’s play Miss Julie....
Online
Barenboim Plays Chopin
Led by Lahav Shani with Daniel Barenboim
Available 13 Feb - 1 Jun. A deep soul relationship is what binds Lahav Shani and Daniel Barenboim. And you hear that when they make music together....
Festival Highlights
18th November 2021
Royal Geographical Society, London
How to Change the World 2021
Supported by The New York Times
Supported by The New York Times, How To Change The World 2021 is your guide to the future. We bring together globally renowned innovators, engineers, activists and entrepreneurs to share their insights into paradigm-shifting technologies, ground-breaking campaigns, and exhilarating new scientific research....
Unmissable Long Reads
The Secret Life of the White House
Susannah Jacob
The residence staff, many of whom have worked there for decades, balance their service of the First Family with their long-term loyalty to the house itself.
Kazuo Ishiguro Sees What the Future Is Doing to Us
Giles Harvey
With his new novel, the Nobel Prize-winner reaffirms himself as our most profound observer of human fragility in the technological era.
The Lockdown Showed How the Economy Exploits Women. She Already Knew.
Jordan Kisner
Silvia Federici has been warning for decades of what happens when we undervalue domestic labor.
Want Israeli-Palestinian Peace? Try Confederation
Bernard Avishai and Sam Bahour
Politicians and experts should not doubt a two-state solution. But they should finally consider a plausible version of it.
Il Maestro: Federico Fellini and the lost magic of cinema
Martin Scorsese
Flash forward to the present day, as the art of cinema is being systematically devalued, sidelined, demeaned, and reduced to its lowest common denominator, “content.”
How a Young Activist Is Helping Pope Francis Battle Climate Change
David Owen
Molly Burhans wants the Catholic Church to put its assets—which include farms, forests, oil wells, and millions of acres of land—to better use. But, first, she has to map them.
My Urge to Fail and Fail Again
David Duchovny
This is why I must write—to make these searching guesses and to justify all the time my parents put into seeding my brain with the ideas that were meaningful to them.
The Case for Semicolons
Lauren Oyler
There are very few opportunities in life to have it both ways; semicolons are the rare instance in which you can; there is absolutely no downside.
Adam Curtis Explains It All
Sam Knight
A few years ago, the British filmmaker Adam Curtis came across Garrison’s memo in “The Prankster and the Conspiracy,” a book by the zine writer and self-described crackpot historian Adam Gorightly.
Waking Up from the American Dream
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Growing up undocumented, I learned that the price of my innocence was the guilt of my parents.
Unmissable Podcasts
Israel Story – Ep. 1: Faking It
Mishy Harman and Ira Glass
From our relationship with Ira Glass to priceless antiquities all the way to coveted sick passes – Israeli stories that are anything but real. In our very first episode, the Israel Story team delves into the realm of fakes, forgeries, and mimicry. Three stories, from different periods and places, of people pretending to to be something they are not....
The Portal
Eric Weinstein
The Portal is an exploration into discovery, including conversations with thought leaders....
Revisionist Revisited: A Good Walk Spoiled
Malcolm Gladwell
Golfers everywhere love to hate this episode. Since its debut in Season 2, the subject of golf ignites Malcolm's Twitter feed like no other. Revisionist History is Malcolm Gladwell's journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood....
Normal People, The How To: Academy, The Ultimate Top 100 Classical Music Hits and the Virtual Great Wall of China
Lockdown Culture With Ed Vaizey by Country and Town House
Our Culture Editor Ed Vaizey is finally taking to the airwaves, recording from his bedroom, to give you his tips for staying in touch with all things cultural, highbrow, lowbrow and everything in between....
How to Fail: Mo Gawdat on how to cope with anxiety in a time of Coronavirus
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
Elizabeth Day and Mo Gawdat, the former Chief Business Officer for Google [X], talk about how to handle negative thoughts, how to practise gratitude and the concept of 'committed acceptance', working out what you can actively do to make life better....
Donna Tartt and Rick Stroud
Borris House Festival of Writing and Ideas
A rare interview with novelist Donna Tartt, author of The Secret History and The Goldfinch, with writer, producer, and friend Rick Stroud, in which they talk about writing, art and adventure....
How To Academy Podcast
Meet the global thought leaders visiting London's How To Academy to share ideas for changing our selves, communities, and the world....
The Origins Podcast
The Origins Podcast, hosted by Lawrence M. Krauss features in-depth conversations with some of the most interesting people in the world about the issues that impact all of us in the 21st century....
Talking Politics
Professor David Runciman and his colleagues in the University of Cambridge Politics department bring their considerable erudition to bear on the critical issues of the present....
Free Thinking
The BBC's unashamedly highbrow arts and ideas magazine, with conversation and debate at the intersection of politics, culture, and cutting edge academic research....
99% Invisible
Why did Freud choose a couch rather than a chair? Where do fortune cookies come from? Take a deep dive into the things we don’t think about — the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world....
The Daily
Ready by 6 a.m. five days a week, this podcast distills the biggest stories from The New York Times into a single, essential, 20 minute listen....
Reasons to be Cheerful
The former Labour leader Ed Milliband and radio host Geoff Lloyd meet the world's smartest thinkers....
This American Life
No directory of Unmissable Podcasts would be complete without the original and the best that public radio has to offer: Ira Glass's world-renowned documentary series, This American Life....
Global GoalsCast
Global GoalsCast is a podcast that inspires and empowers listeners to make the world a better place by sharing the stories individuals, companies, and organisations that are advancing and achieving a more sustainable world....
