Hello and welcome

Hello!

And welcome to our Magna Carta blog. Thank you for visiting, you legend.

2015 is a pretty special year. Here at Oxford Brookes University we’re celebrating our 150^th birthday (we know, we don’t look it) whilst it’s also the 800^th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta, the ‘Great Charter’ that for the first time limited the power of the King and laid out rights for some of the people of Britain. As a result it is one of the most famous documents in the world and probably the most important in British history. It’s a close tie between that and David Beckham’s autobiography at least.

The Magna Carta (www.bl.uk)

Anyway, as a result of this chronological coincidence we’re having a joint birthday celebration with the lovely folk on the Magna Carta 800^th Committee. We’re hoping at some point this will involve party poppers and goody bags, but for the time being it’s all about raising awareness of the Magna Carta and the issues it still represents today, such as rights, liberty and freedom. At Oxford Brookes we’re focusing on doing this amongst young people, like you, both in Oxfordshire and beyond. Because hey, you guys are the future. And you've got great hair.

If you don’t know much about the Magna Carta at the moment then don’t worry - you’re probably not 800 years old and the purpose of this blog is to help you to find out lots more about it over the coming months. Check back here regularly for resources, invitations to events and loads of links to further information about the good ol’ MC. Heck, here are a few now to get you started:

An example of great hair
(www.pinterest.com)

The official Magna Carta 800^th anniversary website:

www.magnacarta800th.com

A BBC article explaining what the Magna Carta is:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30641742

Or, if you’d prefer, a short British Library video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xo4tUMdAMw

And finally for now, as an example of a contemporary issue with links to the key themes of the Magna Carta, here’s Emma Watson talking about rights and gender equality at the UN last year:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-iFl4qhBsE

If you’d like to get in touch with us at all about anything to do with the Magna Carta then please drop us an e-mail at magnacarta2015@brookes.ac.uk and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. We’re too old-fashioned (800 years old-fashioned to be precise) to have a Twitter or Facebook page, but at least we’re not asking you to tie a letter to an owl.

Thanks again for visiting our blog and we hope to see you again soon,

The Oxford Brookes Magna Carta Team