Bletchley Park is the site where British and allied code-breakers decrypted ciphers and codes during World War II, including the famous Enigma code. How was it possible that 10,000 people were able to work in complete secrecy? What was the fabric of such an organisation? Rebecca Mahay spoke to Professor Chris Grey, the author of a new book, Decoding Organization: Bletchley Park, Codebreaking and Organizational Studies.
Honorary Warwick alumnus, Carlos Fuentes, who died last week at the age of 83, was a prolific author and a fierce intellect whose work documented the political and cultural changes of Mexico. The son of a diplomat, Fuentes became used to travelling the Western hemisphere, creating links between Latin America and the wider world. Here, Professor John King remembers an energetic man whose independence of thought sometimes led him into conflict.
To mark the anniversary of the bombing raids, Professor Mark Harrison asks whether the activities of 16th-17th May 1943 stemmed from a mistaken belief in a 'powerful knock-out blow' that would somehow disable the German war machine, and explores how sustained Allied bombing brought forward Hitler's defeat.
Although many mothers in both Britain and the US are in paid employment, recent research has found important country differences in couples' decisions to work while children are still young. To coincide with Mothers' Day in the US, Dr Clare Lyonette and colleagues argue that many American women are forced back to work full-time after having children because of the importance of employer-provided health insurance.
With Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande going head-to-head for the French vote on Sunday, France's political landscape is now more polarised than it has been for many years. As tension around the French Presidency mounts, Warwick Professor Nick Hewlett casts a critical eye over the two remaining candidates.
The emergence of a new commerical society in 18th-century Britain saw the creation of literary clubs and societies which became the 'social networks' of their day. Amazingly, some of these networks still exist today in the form of book clubs. In this article Research Fellow Georgina Green introduces a Warwick project that explores the role of clubs and socities from 1760 to 1840 and looks at the ways in which they were considered places of individual improvement.
What is the role of elected mayors in providing strategic leadership to cities? This is the question at the heart of the Warwick Commission's most recent report. The Commission - comprising interviews with elected mayors, council leaders and their staffs across the globe - offers a timely review of the evidence on elected mayors including why they have risen to the surface of Britain's political agenda.
Genies appear in the Quran, the apocrypha, folklore and mystical literature, but probably the best known appearances of them in literature are in The Arabian Nights. Marina Warner explains why genies are inexorably linked with objects such as Aladdin's lamp.
The works and flamboyant character of Charles Dickens have been widely celebrated in 2012, his bicentenary year. But one aspect of Dickens's life not widely touched on are his efforts to preserve Shakespeare's memory in the playwright's home county of Warwickshire. In this video, Dr Charlotte Matheison, Professor Stanley Wells and the Rev. Dr Paul Edmondson explore Dickens's special relationship with Shakespeare's birthplace.
A Venetian Miscellany is a new book of essays which celebrates Warwick's long connection with the city of Venice - not least its occupation of the Palazzo Pesaro Papafava, which has become the University's permanent Italian base. In this extract, Professor Carol Rutter examines Elizabethan Venice: a dazzling Renaissance capital of culture that Shakespeare probably never visited.
Shakespeare's plays and poetry may be as familiar to us as old friends, but the day-to-day details of the Tudor world he lived in remain tantalisingly elusive. Political decisions made by the monarch are well documented, yet we know little about the concerns of the ordinary London dwellers who paid to see Shakespeare's plays. What did the world look like to someone in the late 16th century?
Why do producers stick to tried and tested Victorian books and novelists when making television and film drama adaptations? Is it time for them to break the mould and showcase Britain's lesser-known literary heritage?
What are the consequences to the UK of unchecked immigration levels? The Vice Chairman of Migration Watch, Alp Mehmet - who is himself a first generation immigrant - makes the case for controlled immigration in his talk at the University of Warwick's One World Week 2012.
Why was 2011 such a turbulent year politically in the Middle East? What's the connection with these events and the general feeling of dissatisfaction on Wall Street and elsewhere? In his talk for One World Week 2012, Nadim Shehadi examines representations of conflict in the Middle East from a Western perspective.
Be careful what you wish for, as it may develop a life of its own. 'Nation brander' Simon Anholt discovered this when his ideas were turned into propaganda by impatient governments and greedy marketeers. He told One World Week 2012 his story.
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DECODING BLETCHLEY PARK
CARLOS FUENTES, 1928-2012
THE DAM BUSTERS: THEIR PLACE IN (ECONOMIC) HISTORY
BRINGING UP BABY
LEFT OR RIGHT? FRANCE FACES A POLITICAL CROSSROADS
SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE 18TH CENTURY
ELECTED MAYORS AND CITY LEADERSHIP
THE GENIES OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
DICKENS AND SHAKESPEARE
SHAKESPEARE'S VENICE
SHAKESPEARE'S RESTLESS WORLD
A NOVEL IDEA: THE VICTORIAN BOOKS THAT TV FORGOT
ECONOMIC MIGRATION: CURSE OR SALVATION?
THE MIDDLE EAST: MYTH AND MALCONTENT
THE GLOBALISATION OF CULTURE