2012 Programme: Festival weekend overview

The Festival weekend includes more than 70 debates which are listed below ordered by time slot and room. To see Saturday or Sunday sessions only, select the day you want from the menu on the left or select sessions by Theme.

Or view and print out the Timetable as a two-page PDF.

Saturday 20 October: 10.30am-12.00pm
Fountain Room
Who needs art anyway?
Saturday 20 October: 12.15pm-1.15pm
Lunchtime Debates Cinema 1
High and low culture: separated at birth?
Fountain Room
Bored of the Booker: prizes, prizes, everywhere
Saturday 20 October: 1.30pm-3.00pm
Keynote Controversies Cinema 1
Lessons from America: the new culture wars
Fountain Room
All together now: the rise of the choir
Saturday 20 October: 3.30pm-5.00pm
Fountain Room
In search of originality: navigating the artistic canon
Saturday 20 October: 5.15pm-6.30pm
Fountain Room
Who is the greatest artist? Balloon debate
Garden Room
Commons people: music in a digital age
Sunday 21 October: 9.30am-10.15am
Frobisher 4-6
Baby culture vultures
Garden Room
Illuminating the Middle Ages
Sunday 21 October: 6.30pm-7.30pm
Fountain Room
Looking back today
Garden Room
No future: has pop lost its radical edge?

Doing it for charity?

"The Battle of Ideas was a great success; it enabled large numbers of people to hear and interact with well-known speakers who have thought about and contributed significantly to the discussions of many important issues."
Richard Swinburne, emeritus professor, philosophy of religion, University of Oxford; author, 'The Existence of God and The Evolution of the Soul'

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