A Year of Dickens on ARTE

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 23 January 2025 > What's On

2025 is the year to catch up on your Charles Dickens classics on ARTE. There are four TV adaptations of Dickens’ works on the station’s platform until 25 November. Oliver Twist Like the 1948 musical film classic by David Lean, this 2007 mini-series adaptation tells the story of an orphan, Oliver, who runs away to … Continue reading “A Year of Dickens on ARTE”

Edinburgh at 900

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 12 December 2024 > Celebrate Shine Bright Collège

Scotland’s capital is celebrating its 900th birthday! Edinburgh was one of the five royal burghs founded by King David I in 1124. From a small town in the Middle Ages, it has enlarged to a diverse city of 500,000 people. The contrasting medieval Old Town culminating in the Castle high on a volcanic rock and … Continue reading “Edinburgh at 900”

New Reading Guide: Pride and Prejudice

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 14 November 2024 > Pedagogy Shine Bright Lycée

As promised, our latest Reading Guide for Terminale LLCER, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, is at the printers and will be available in the middle of November. The six novels Jane Austen published between 1811 and 1817 (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma and the posthumously published Persuasion and Northanger Abbey) have never … Continue reading “New Reading Guide: Pride and Prejudice”

Henry VIII’s Six Wives

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 26 July 2024 > What's On

King Henry VIII is such an overwhelming character in British culture that his six wives tend to be reduced to a footnote of history. A new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London puts the women in the spotlight. Henry VIII had a famously tumultuous love life. In fact most British schoolchildren learn the … Continue reading “Henry VIII’s Six Wives”

Your Money or Your Life!

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 09 April 2024 > Shine Bright Collège Shine Bright Lycée What's On

Dick Turpin was a highway robber in early 18th-century England. Unlike Robin Hood, he didn’t rob the rich to give to the poor. But he became a legend thanks to early “tabloid media”: broadsheets and penny dreadfuls. A new TV series takes a humorous look at the historic criminal. Dick Turpin could be considered as … Continue reading “Your Money or Your Life!”

Princess Suffragette

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 05 April 2024 > Ready to Use

Everyone has heard of the Suffragettes and their actions, yet, have you heard of Princess Suffragette? This Indian princess, whose father was the last ruler of the Sikh Empire, gave up her socialite life in order to fight for a cause. Meet Sophia Duleep Singh, goddaughter to Queen Victoria who got involved in Emmeline Pankhurst’s … Continue reading “Princess Suffragette”

Rumours, Rumours

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 12 March 2024 > What's On

Definitely not one to show your pupils! Wicked Little Letters is a delicious comedy with Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley,  set in a 1920s English seaside town, where the population starts receiving defamatory letters full of profanities. An Irish migrant with a good stock of swear words in her vocabulary, Rose Gooding is accused of … Continue reading “Rumours, Rumours”

Doing the Right Thing

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 20 February 2024 > What's On

Most people would feel proud of saving hundreds of mainly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia just before the outbreak of World War II. But Sir Nicholas Winton was haunted by all the children he couldn’t save. Until a surprise 50 years later on a TV programme showed him all the good he had done. A new … Continue reading “Doing the Right Thing”

New Names for London Train Lines

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 19 February 2024 > In the News

You’re no doubt familiar with London’s iconic Underground map, and the names for Underground lines like Victoria, Circle, Bakerloo and Jubilee. But now the Overground trains in the network are being given new  names reflecting the history and culture of the city. In fact, they’re being given names for the first time — up until … Continue reading “New Names for London Train Lines”