This illustrated talk, led by Robert Poole, will look at the making and meaning of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and in particular its place in the space age of the 1960s. As humanity began making its first steps beyond Earth orbit, Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick sought to prepare people for the shock of ‘first contact’ by means of a ‘realistic myth’. The genesis and impact of this extraordinary film were, almost literally, out of this world.Robert Poole is a cultural historian at St Martin’s College, Lancaster who has written and lectured on ‘2001’.Tickets: £2.50