Work Experience in Marketing - Niamh Yale-Helms

15 July 2016

Work Experience in Marketing - Niamh Yale-Helms

I am a sixth form student from Hawarden High School studying Mathematics, History, English Language and Media Studies. After having started my year 12 syllabus in History studying British Prime Ministers and already gaining a strong interest in William Gladstone and his work, I immediately thought of Gladstone’s Library as an apt location for work experience as it’s just a few minutes down the road from where I live and has an abundance of literary works which link into the British Parliamentary Reform I have been studying.

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Entertaining Judgment: An interview with Greg Garrett

15 July 2016

Entertaining Judgment: An interview with Greg Garrett

On 22nd -24th July, author and Professor at Baylor University Texas, Greg Garrett leads a course at Gladstone’s Library exploring depictions of the afterlife in contemporary film, music and literature. The course is entitled Entertaining Judgment: The Afterlife in Popular Imagination and follows Greg’s book of the same name…

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Reading List: Politics of the Mid-Tudor Crisis

1 July 2016

Reading List: Politics of the Mid-Tudor Crisis

A Reading List for Gladstone’s Library.

Bloody Mary, The Life of Mary Tudor – Carolly Erickson (1996)

This biography contains information not only on the early life and the short but ruthless reign of Mary I, but the political manoeuvring which took place after the death of Edward V on 16th July 1553, when, on his deathbed, he named Lady Jane Grey as his successor, despite his father’s Third Act of Succession. This left both of Henry VIII’s daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, without a legal claim.

The book details how Mary then raised an army to take the throne for herself and the turning of the Council of Lords on Jane and John Dudley.

*Available in Gladstone’s Library at shelfmark M 27 M1 / 12

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Reading List: European dictators of the 20th century

1 July 2016

Reading List: European dictators of the 20th century

A ‘dictator’ is defined as ‘a person exercising absolute power, especially a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control in a government without hereditary succession’ (www.dictionary.com).

During the 20th century, Europe experienced some of the most manipulative and cunning dictators in history, including Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin. Below are a series of reading lists relating to this topic, to some of the most brutal dictators Europe has known.

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Stronger Together by Emma Rees

24 June 2016

Stronger Together by Emma Rees

Last weekend I ran a workshop for around 20 people as part of my writing residency at Gladstone’s Library. I arrived a week earlier, on the Sunday when the news was breaking about the brutal murders of dozens of people at Pulse, an LGBTQI nightclub in Orlando. On Thursday, as the ghastly news from America had only just begun to soak into the fabric of the world’s narrative palimpsest, I was writing at my desk when I heard about the murder of Jo Cox on the streets of West Yorkshire. That same day, I read, Boko Haram had shot dead 18 women who were attending a funeral in Kudu, Nigeria. The news reports on all three cases, and the Twitter updates and Facebook posts about them, combined to have the effect of making the world – already a dangerous place – feel somehow more urgently precarious.

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A translation of Gladstone’s German annotations

16 June 2016

A translation of Gladstone’s German annotations

William Ewart Gladstone, the founder of Gladstone’s Library, was a diligent and intelligent man. Apart from being Britain’s longest serving Prime Minister to this day, he also managed to read 22,000 books and even found the time to annotate 11,000 of them. And not just in his native language, English; he also annotated his books in at least five other languages: Latin, Italian, Greek, French and German.

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Work Experience diary - Ewan Jackson

8 June 2016

Work Experience diary - Ewan Jackson

The reason I wanted to spend my Work Experience at Gladstone’s Library was because I wanted to be surrounded by literature. Gladstone’s Library offered a fantastic chance to be personally enhanced by its vast selection of books and debates whilst advancing my career skills and vocabulary. The Library also provided a prime opportunity to understand the versatility necessary to be a successful employee.

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Work Experience diary – Beth Morgan

8 June 2016

Work Experience diary – Beth Morgan

I am a year 10 student in St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, studying English Literature, French, and Drama. Outside of school (and my time at Gladstone Library), I go to my local drama group. The reason I wanted to spend my Work Experience at Gladstone Library was because I was looking for a place that fitted in with my three GCSE options. After researching some different options.

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The Film & Theology DVD collection at Gladstone’s Library

3 June 2016

The Film & Theology DVD collection at Gladstone’s Library

Over the last week, the Film & Theology DVD collection at Gladstone’s Library has almost doubled in size. Why? Thanks to a substantial donation from Warden Peter Francis of over 160 new DVDs from his own personal collection. 

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Nature Notes from the Reading Rooms

27 May 2016

Nature Notes from the Reading Rooms

If you’ve used the Reading Rooms here at the Library in the last few weeks, you may have heard some peculiar noises. Library Assistant Gary Butler explains all…

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