7 January 2010
BBC presenter to launch new season of Saturday Evening Lectures
Economist, journalist and television presenter Evan Davis will kick off the new season of the University of Dundee’s popular Saturday Evening Lecture Series next week when he examines 'The Truth About Dishonesty'.
An exciting programme of speakers, ranging from those who have ventured into the Dragons Den to those who have journeyed to the North Pole, have been lined up to deliver varied and thought-provoking lectures over the coming months. The changing face of the engineering from Brunel to Wallace and Gromit, the transformation of Scotland during the 20th century, and Arctic exploration are among the topics to be covered.
Evan Davis has been BBC economics editor since 2001. He currently presents Radio 4's Today programme and the hugely successful venture-capitalist series Dragons' Den.
His lecture, taking place on Saturday, January 16th, will examine the instances when it pays for those in journalism, politics and business to be candid, and when it benefits them to be less so. He will argue that, in the long run, the truth usually emerges and so the main consequence of not being honest is a lack of trust.
Evan said that the 'art of exaggeration' was used by everyone, but that it was also often abused.
'Exaggerating to make our stories appear wittier is something we all do,' he said. 'To an extent I’ll be defending lower-level dishonesty, but I’ll also be looking at whether the communications industry - politics, business, journalism and public relations - is less candid than it needs to be.'
'Clearly it sometimes pays to be somewhat economical with the truth. Politicians, for example, might not be outright lying, but they do try very hard to shape the public perception of what they are saying. I’ll be looking at times when it would pay to be more honest than they currently are.'
'There is also the danger that when people are too economical with the truth, and become too embroiled in spin, they become detached from the reality of a situation. They begin to believe that things are the way they desperately want them to be, rather than the way they really are.'
'What we’ve seen from the world of finance recently is that no amount of financial engineering can make a sub-prime mortgage into a prime mortgage. Looking at the communications industry, are there times when you can take a sub-prime message and turn it into a prime one?'
The Saturday Evening Lecture Series, now in its 86th year, is Scotland's oldest continuous free public lecture series. Each year it attracts thousands of people eager to hear from prestigious, world-class speakers.
Award-winning author William Fiennes, travel writer Sara Wheeler, and historians Lynn Abrams andCallum Brown are among the other presenters who will be stimulating debate during the 2010 Series.
All lectures will take place in the Dalhousie Building and start at 6pm. Each lecture is followed by a drinks reception.
Tickets for all lectures, which are free, will be available through the University’s online store or by contacting the Events office on 01382 385564.
The full list of lectures is:
- January 16th: Evan Davis -
'The Truth About Dishonesty'
- February 13th: William Fiennes -
'The Importance of Words'
The award-winning author is also the founder of First Story, a groundbreaking scheme to get young people writing. First Story places writers into challenging schools and works with the students to develop their writing skills and creativity, publish anthologies of their stories, and arrange events where the students read their work aloud. He will discuss his own books, his work in schools, and the lessons Dundee might learn from First Story.
- March 6th: Sara Wheeler -
'Tips About Icebergs: An Arctic Journey'
Smashing through the Arctic Ocean with the crew of a Russian icebreaker, herding reindeer with Saami, and shadowing the Trans-Alaskan pipeline with truckers - just some of the experiences recounted by Sara Wheeler in her critically acclaimed book The Magnetic North. This powerful and funny lecture will look at the beautiful, brutal reality of the Arctic, its past and its future.
- April 24th: Sir Christopher Frayling -
'From Brunel to Wallace and Gromit - the changing public image of the engineer'
Sir Christopher Frayling, writer and presenter of a number of television series, will follow changing public perceptions of engineers and designers from the 1930s to the present day. Starting with the "missionary" image in the I930s, the "boffin" in the Second World War, the "teacher of the world" in the 1950s, the lecture moves on to discuss "Q" in the James Bond franchise ... and concludes with an eccentric potting-shed engineer and his plasticine dog.
- May 1st: Lewis Wolpert -
'The Development of Pattern and Form'
The D’Arcy Thompson Commemorative Lecture, recognising the huge contribution made to biological science by Dundee’s first Chair of Biology, will see Lewis Wolpert, Emeritus Professor of Biology as applied to Medicine at the University College London, look at the influence of Thompson’s 1917 book, `Growth and Form’. He will examine how Thompson’s attempts to account for the variety of biological shapes in terms of physical principles continue to help shape our understanding of nature.
- May 15th: Professors Lynn Abrams and Callum Brown -
'Troubled transition to modernity: Scottish everyday life in the 20th century'
Starting in 1900, when Scotland was one of the least prosperous industrial zones in Europe, Professors Abrams and Brown will examine the nation’s transformation over the 20th century. By 2000, Scotland was transformed, with a liberal and mostly secular culture, spacious homes, the world's largest arts festival in Edinburgh, and a 'liberated' sexual culture. In this lecture, Abrams and Brown present an illustrated account of this often traumatic transition in everyday life for Scots, most of it concentrated in the period since 1960.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
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