Sarah Tarlow, Professor Andrew Doig, Colin Philpott

A Good Death

Description

Is there such a thing as a good death and, if so, what does it look like? Join our panellists as they explore the delicate subject of mortality and what it means to have ‘a good death’.

Andrew Doig, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Manchester and author of This Mortal Coil, and Sarah Tarlow, Professor of Historical Archaeology at the University of Leicester and author of The Archaeology of Loss, will discuss whether or not the definition of a good death has changed through history. They will be joined by Colin Philpott, author of Deathday: a novel set in 2045 where euthanasia at ninety is compulsory. Together, they will consider what a good death, and indeed a bad one, might look like not just in the past, but also in the future.

Join them for this special event addressing a question that all too often gets swept under the carpet.

About the Authors

Sarah Tarlow

Sarah Tarlow

Sarah Tarlow is a British archaeologist and academic. As professor of historical archaeology at the University of Leicester, Sarah is best known for her work on the archaeology of death and burial. She has written or edited ten academic books about archaeology and history. The Archaeology of Loss is her first memoir.

Professor Andrew Doig

Andrew Doig is a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Manchester. He studied Natural Science and Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, and Biochemistry at Stanford University Medical School. He became a lecturer in Manchester in 1994, where he has been ever since. His research is on computational biology, dementia (via a spin-out company called PharmaKure), developmental biology and proteins. For fun, he runs, climbs, plays chess and does quizzes. This Mortal Coil is his first book.

About the Chair

Colin Philpott

Colin Philpott

Colin Philpott is the author of four books. His first novel Deathday , published in April this year, imagines England in 2045 when euthanasia has been made compulsory at the age of 90. Previously he wrote three non-fiction books A Place in History – the stories of places affected by news events in twentieth century Britain; Relics of the Reich about how Germany has dealt with the architectural legacy of the Nazi period; and Secret Wartime Britain telling the stories of secret or hidden locations in WW2 Britain. Colin is a former BBC programme maker and former Director of the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. He is a Trustee of the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation.