Brighton & Hove French Circle

There will be a mini-quiz on the theme of French cheeses and a chat by a few members on their favourite French cheeses.

A brief outline of the historical context, before we look at a few key events of these fifteen years which transformed French society.

Charles de Gaulle is a national hero, like Joan of Arc and Napoleon.
He has left an indelible stamp on the history of France of the 20th century. Leader of the Free French after the 1940 defeat, founder of the 5th Republic, his destiny is also deeply linked to the history of the United Kingdom, where he took refuge in 1940. Facing him, a no less eminent figure : Winston Churchill.

Later, as head of State, he opposed the entry of the United Kingdom into what was then the Common Market. This was according to his conception of Europe and of the European idea, but also of the place of the United Kingdom in the European entity.

These are the two themes that the lecturer will aim to clarify and examine in greater depth.

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In this talk I will present the extraordinary lives of Catherine II and Voltaire, through the letters they exchanged for 15 years, which reveal their great friendship and their influence on thinking and politics in the Age of Enlightenment.

Cinema is one of the cultural expressions that allows us to explore a society at a given time. This conference will take you on a journey through time, from the cinema of daddy (post Second World War) to the New Wave (1950s and 1960s) and cinéma de banlieue, to discover and discuss the place of women and their evolution in French society.

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A brief historical and cultural tour of the “French Rome”, capital of the département of the Gard in Occitanie (the region formerly known as Languedoc-Roussillon).

In response to a high demographic growth, Montpellier has managed to expand towards the sea whilst taking care of its environment.

The success rate of asylum applications in France is now lower than the average for European countries, and yet, France has historically considered itself a ‘safe haven’. As Maryline Baumard noted in a 2015 article for Le Monde at the time of the refugee crisis, with this development, part of France’s sense of itself, of its traditions, hangs in the balance.

This talk will look at the picture of France circa 1870 painted by Alphonse Daudet in his Contes du lundi, together with the memorable characters that fill it. However, Daudet was not a historian but a novelist: the events that form the backdrop to his stories, such as the Franco-Prussian war and the siege of Paris, are therefore seen from his individual perspective, showing us aspects of history unknown to historians—aspects which, although imagined, contain their own truth.

Two young fish encounter an older fish swimming the opposite way. He nods and at them and says, “Morning, boys, how’s the water? – which prompts one of the young fish to ask the other, “What the hell is water?”. Between two cultures, the language alone is often not enough to understand the other. To which extent, the awareness of that “water”, this invisible culture, can contribute to the “real entente”?

Join me on a rapid journey through the years from Monifieth to Brighton. En route and aided by music we will do a whistle stop tour of Kenya, Europe, including France of course, Asia and Peru.

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Reading Aloud. It is about a “living reading” as we speak about “living theatre”. Diverse techniques are needed to read aloud which allows you to become one with the text, to understand its meaning and to pass on it. Reading Aloud is, therefore, another way to approach the writing, to find out different rhythms, prosody, phonetics…

Generally speaking, Reading Aloud aims to read for other people: whether it be in public, with family, between friends, for teenagers, children or babies, for those who are learning a foreign language…

Reading Aloud can ask some questions : Why? What is it for? For who? How to do?... Thus, in trying to answer generally and in giving some practical examples, we will be able to tackle this subject, which can attract book or poetry or texts of all kinds lovers, and why not, those who pass by there by chance.