Baggs Memorial Happiness Lecture 2017

Location
Great Hall - Aston Webb (R6 on campus map)
Dates
Thursday 9 November 2017 (18:30-19:45)
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John Lloyd CBE
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This year’s Baggs Memorial lecture on the theme of Happiness will be delivered by the creator of BBC’s QI, and the producer responsible for some of Britain’s most loved comedies, John Lloyd CBE.

Described as ‘comedy royalty’ by the Telegraph, John Lloyd is the man behind iconic TV comedy classics such as Not The Nine O’Clock News, Spitting Image, Blackadder and QI, as well as the popular BBC radio show The News Quiz. He has also penned a number of popular books, including The Meaning of Liff, with Douglas Adams.

As well as the successful BBC TV series, the QI ‘universe’ now encompasses an online encyclopaedia, series of books, apps, live events, podcasts and radio series.  John can currently be heard presenting the QI spin-off, The Museum of Curiosity, on BBC Radio 4, now in its eleventh series.

John’s first major TV production was Not the Nine O’Clock News with Mel Smith, Griff Rhys Jones, Rowan Atkinson, and Pamela Stephenson. The show also provided a platform for writers including Richard Curtis and Clive Anderson. John then went on to produce all four series of Blackadder, working again with Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis, as well as Ben Elton.

John was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to broadcasting.

This year’s Baggs Memorial Lecture is the 39th, the series began in 1976. Born in Birmingham in 1889, Thomas Baggs was an alumnus of the University of Birmingham who bequeathed a substantial sum to the University to provide an annual public lecture on the theme of ‘Happiness – what it is and how it may be achieved by individuals as well as nations.’