Watch Emeritus Professor John Beckett's valedictory lecture on the history of the university
To mark his retirement, on 26 June, John Beckett delivered the Cust Foundation Lecture: The Creation of a Civic University, reflecting on the history of the university itself and his role in the Department of History over the past few decades.
The talk details the collegiate origins of the University of Nottingham - once Nottingham University College - as it gradually separated from the technical college, which was to become Trent Polytechnic, and sought a charter for full university status.
John explains who Harry Cust was and the significance of the annual Cust Foundation Lecture created in his name, in our bid for the university charter. Along the way we are introduced to the key characters who founded and developed the institution and its campuses through the war years, and given anecdotes on some its most notable speakers.
The lecture is introduced by Dr Richard Gaunt, who will be taking over John's role managing our Local History seminar series, with kind support from the Thoroton Society.