Lecture Theatre was bursting at the seams for the latest guest speaker, on this occasion invited by The Geography Society. Esteemed geo-political journalist, author and broadcaster, Tim Marshall gave a fascinating insight into the politics of space.
Here are two accounts from our pupils in the audience.
Jonny & Roshan (Year 9)
On Wednesday 13 March, we were lucky enough to have eminent author Tim Marshall come to speak. A packed-out Lecture Theatre listened to a lecture on the politics of space. It was fascinating and very informative, as well as often being highly entertaining. He explained some of the potential causes of conflict which could arise in space. One fascinating potential cause was the satellites which are designed to clear up space junk as the arm, which is meant to throw broken/redundant satellites into the atmosphere to burn up, could also be used to grab working ones. Many pupils said they learnt a lot of new and interesting things and encouraged them to think more on the future of politics, conflict and wider geography as a whole in space.
Leonardo (Year 12)
The Geography Society was honoured to welcome esteemed geo-political journalist, author and broadcaster, Tim Marshall. Mr. Marshall has written seven books including three Sunday Times bestsellers – with one of his books: Prisoners of Geography, being a New York Times bestseller.
An absolutely heaving Lecture Theatre of over 160 pupils, teachers from the Geography and Politics department as well as other members of staff waited in anticipation of his arrival – with many pupils holding copies of his books for signing.
His talk primarily focused on his latest book: The Future of Geography. The audience was given a perceptive insight into early space history and how the technologies of the three main space superpowers: China, Russia and the USA, have developed, and the problems that may arise as we seek to further explore and exploit this new territory in the future. For the remainder of the evening, Mr. Marshall answered questions from both pupils and teachers. These included questions regarding the degree to which war has accelerated the development of space technologies and the role of public approval in fuelling space exploration.
A wonderful evening was concluded with booming applause from the audience. Before making an exit, Mr. Marshall stayed behind to answer questions and queries on geo-political matters from individual pupils. Speaking to pupils and teachers afterwards, everyone agreed that it was an invaluable experience.
