Speaker:
Michael Sheridan
Bio:
Michael Sheridan read history at Jesus College, Cambridge, and became a
foreign correspondent in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
He first reported from China in June 1989 and later served as Far East
Correspondent of The Sunday Times for twenty years from 1996 to 2016,
covering the rise of China, the handover of Hong Kong and news across the
region from Peshawar to Pyongyang.
He interviewed many historical figures including the Burmese icon Aung San
Suu Kyi and the first leader of independent Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew.
Earlier he worked for Reuters, ITN television news and The Independent
reporting on wars in the Middle East, international diplomacy and European
politics, with postings in Rome, Beirut and Jerusalem.
His biography of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping, The Red Emperor, (2024) has
been translated into fourteen languages, including Polish, Japanese and
Ukrainian.
He is also the author of The Gate to China (2021), an acclaimed history of Hong
Kong, chosen as a Book of the Year by BBC History.
His first book, Romans: Their Lives and Times (1994), was described by Richard
Holmes in the Daily Telegraph as "a subtly unfolding series of ten essays, each
shaped and crafted like a short story…brilliantly revealing."
His work has also appeared in Vanity Fair, The Spectator, The Tablet, The Times
Literary Supplement and the Hong Kong Economic Journal.
His new book Beirut 1983 examines the origins of the Long War in the Middle
East and is to be published by Hachette in January 2027.
foreign correspondent in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
He first reported from China in June 1989 and later served as Far East
Correspondent of The Sunday Times for twenty years from 1996 to 2016,
covering the rise of China, the handover of Hong Kong and news across the
region from Peshawar to Pyongyang.
He interviewed many historical figures including the Burmese icon Aung San
Suu Kyi and the first leader of independent Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew.
Earlier he worked for Reuters, ITN television news and The Independent
reporting on wars in the Middle East, international diplomacy and European
politics, with postings in Rome, Beirut and Jerusalem.
His biography of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping, The Red Emperor, (2024) has
been translated into fourteen languages, including Polish, Japanese and
Ukrainian.
He is also the author of The Gate to China (2021), an acclaimed history of Hong
Kong, chosen as a Book of the Year by BBC History.
His first book, Romans: Their Lives and Times (1994), was described by Richard
Holmes in the Daily Telegraph as "a subtly unfolding series of ten essays, each
shaped and crafted like a short story…brilliantly revealing."
His work has also appeared in Vanity Fair, The Spectator, The Tablet, The Times
Literary Supplement and the Hong Kong Economic Journal.
His new book Beirut 1983 examines the origins of the Long War in the Middle
East and is to be published by Hachette in January 2027.
Date:
4 November 2026
Time:
7:30pm – 9:00pm
Add to your calendar
4 November 2026 19:30
4 November 2026 21:00
Europe/London
Lecture: Michael Sheridan
Summary
This lecture will draw on my biography of Xi Jinping to examine models of authoritarian governance, compare the Chinese version to other examples in Asia and discuss how globalisation has furthered the export of political ideas and the promotion of alternatives to liberal capitalist democracy.
There will be a few jokes to lighten the load, of course.
