The John Hamilton Lifelong Learning Annual Lecture
The John Hamilton Lifelong Learning Lecture celebrates the life and legacy of John Hamilton (1922–2006), a Liverpool teacher and political leader who dedicated himself to widening access to education. Thanks to the fund he left to the University of Liverpool, we have been able to continue his mission: promoting opportunities for working-class people to learn, grow, and shape the future of the City.
Past events - 2007-17 lecture series
• 2012 lecture. 'Being Human. Becoming a Person'. Speaker: Steven Rose
• 2013 lecture. ‘Inequality: the enemy between us’. Speaker: Kate Pickett.
• 2014 lecture. ‘Art Galleries Should Be More Like Newspapers’. Speaker: Bob and Roberta Smith
• 2016 lecture. 'Leaving Reality: The UK and the rest of Europe'. Professor Danny Dorling
The John Hamilton legacy - 2024 and beyond
By bringing back the John Hamilton Lifelong Learning Lecture, we want to strengthen the connection between the University and the City it calls home. The lecture both honours a local figure who made a lasting mark on education and the University, and shows our appreciation for Liverpool itself and for the students who come to us from this City.
The John Hamilton Lifelong Learning lecture programme relaunched on 30 October 2024 with a lecture held at FACT Liverpool. Guest speaker Professor Beth Johnson, Professor of TV and Media at the University of Leeds, spoke on the topic of 'Class Dismissed: Work and inequalities behind the scenes of British TV and Film"
Contact johnhamiltonlectures@liverpool.ac.uk to find out more and to receive updates on our public lectures.
Read more about the 2024 lecture
Dr Mark O'Brien, Student Experience & Enhancement Directorate, reported:
Beth’s talk was comprehensive, covering the topics of ‘credit crunch commissioning’, the work of the Policy and Evidence Centre, the ‘What’s On? Rethinking class in the television industry 2023-26’ research project looking into representations of class in television and the media (in partnership with the BBC and Channel 4), the research-led film series ‘Industry Voices’ and what the future holds.
Dramatic tropes in television display representations of working life in various ways. In 2014 Channel 4’s Benefits Street was launched onto our television screens, charting the lives of the inhabitants of James Turner Street in Birmingham. Branded as ‘poverty porn’ by a hostile tabloid press, the programme expressed the mood of resentment across the most deprived sections of British society and captured popular narratives about the economic state of the country. Today, BBC 2’s Alma’s Not Normal captures the pathos and humour in the personal and family life of Alma, a working-class woman who aspires to being a successful actor.
Beth talked about research by the national Policy and Evidence Centre that focuses upon the inequalities that continue to mar how class and ethnicity is represented in television and film.
“There are longstanding inequalities in the arts, culture and heritage sectors. It is well known that the workforces and audiences have uneven representations of social classes and ethnic groups.” (Policy and Evidence Centre)
She also shared insights from the ‘What’s On? Rethinking Class in the television industry 2023-6’ research project being undertaken in partnership with Channel 4, the BBC and Candour Productions (Leeds). This work, addressing the questions ‘Who produces television drama?’, ‘What is made?’, and ‘How is class represented and understood?’ uses network ethnographies, fieldwork interviews, textual analysis and audience analysis and data to reveal insights into the interactions of representation, production and reception.
And finally in Industry Voices, Beth shared the recorded testimonies of those working in the UK screen industries, telling their stories of having to struggle against barriers connected to their identity characteristics to find their place in an industry that often keeps them in the wings.
This was a compelling lecture, with important insights into the ways in which our television and film industries continue to reproduce social inequality.
Thank you to Professor Johnson.