One Book One Southampton Initiative

Through 2014-15, the Centre took an active part in the new One Book One Southampton initiative. The chosen book was Jeremy Paxman’s Empire, a popular history of the British empire. Christer Petley represented the Centre at regular meetings of the OBOS steering committee, and Chris Prior recorded a series of podcasts, expanding on themes raised in the book, with colleagues in History with relevant research interests. Christer Petley represented History and the Centre at a public lecture by Jeremy Paxman on 4 March 2015 and at the subsequent reception, hosted by the VC. In addition, Stephanie Jones initiated a university wide student essay competition on the theme of empire, which was judged by a small panel including Centre members (Stephanie Jones and Christer Petley).