Sir Christopher Frayling is Rector of the Royal College of Art and Professor of Cultural History. He was until recently Chairman of Arts Council England and former Chairman of the Design Council. He is well-known as an historian, critic and an award-winning broadcaster. His many books include: Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula (1992); The Yellow Peril – Dr Fu Manchu and the Rise of Chinophobia (2014); Inside the Bloody Chamber: on Angela Carter, the Gothic and other weird tales (2015); Sergio Leone: Once Upon a Time in Italy (2005)

Wednesday January 16^th, 6pm (Huston School) Frankenstein - The first two hundred years

(lecture - followed by screening of “Bride of Frankenstein”)

Thursday January 17^th,  3pm (Huston School) Once Upon a Time in the West: Shooting a Masterpiece 

 (lecture followed by screening “Once Upon a Time in the West”)

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FRANKENSTEIN - the first two hundred years.

Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' was first published on New Year's Day 1818. This illustrated lecture will celebrate the novel's 200th birthday by exploring its difficult journey into print, and its colourful afterlife on stage, in films, and within everyday culture. In the era of artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, IVF treatments, robotics, three-parent families and animal-human interfaces, the lecture will argue that the modern creation myth of 'Frankenstein' - the one where it is the scientist who does the creating - has never been more relevant. 'Frankenstein' is one of the most-filmed stories of all time - up there with Sherlock Holmes and Dracula. This lecture will discuss some of the reasons why...

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ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST - SHOOTING A MASTERPIECE

Sergio Leone's film 'Once Upon a Time in the West' set out to be the ultimate Western - a celebration of the power of classic Hollywood cinema, a meditation on the making of America, and a lament for the decline of one of the most cherished of film genres in the form of a "dance of death". The original Italian title 'C'era una volta il West ' translates as "Once Upon a Time There Was the West". With this film, Sergio Leone said a fond farewell to the noisy and flamboyant world of the Italian Western, which he had created with 'A Fistful of Dollars' and sequels (1964-6), and aimed for something much more ambitious - an exploration of the relationship between myth ('Once Upon a Time...'), history ('...in the West') and his own autobiography as an avid film-goer.