The Joel Lane Museum House, where Wake County was born, has announced a special talk on "Sir Walter Raleigh: Fortune's Tennis Ball" by Professor Christopher Armitage of UNC-CH on Sunday February 3, 2013.
Sir Walter Raleigh, for whom North Carolina's capital was named, was an 16th and 17th century soldier, explorer, businessman, and favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. Admission to the talk is $15.00 for the general public and $10.00 for members of the Joel Lane Historical Society. Seating is limited, and advanced payment is necessary to secure your reservation, so contact the Visitor's Center at 919-833-3431 with your credit card information and the names of all attendees in your party. Refreshments will also be served.
Christopher Mead Armitage, Professor of Distinguished Teaching, Adjunct Professor of Peace, War and Defense Department, and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UNC-Chapel Hill will discuss the ambiguities and reversals in Raleigh’s life. Armitage joined the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty in 1967, anbd specializes in seventeenth- and twentieth-century English and Canadian literature. His lively style and personal interest in his students have earned him several awards for excellent teaching: UNC Board of Governors Award for career excellence in teaching in 2009, a Tanner Award for excellence in undergraduate instruction in 2003, his second Bowman and Gordon Gray chair (1986-1989, 2005-2010) for excellence in inspirational teaching of undergraduates, the first UNC Professor of Distinguished Teaching in 1995, and the Nicholas Salgo Award in 1981. Armitage earned a bachelor’s degree with honors (1954) and a master’s degree (1958) from Oxford University. He earned a second master’s degree from the University of Western Ontario in Canada in 1964, and a doctorate from Duke University in 1967. Since 1970 he has returned annually to England to conduct a six-week study program on “Shakespeare in Performance” for students and alumni. In addition, Armitage lectures frequently for the Carolina Speakers program. He appeared on horseback and in eighteenth-century costume to represent William R. Davie at UNC’s Bicentennial and on later occasions. His recent publications include The Poetry of Piety: An Annotated Anthology of Christian Poetry, which he compiled with UNC alumnus Rev. Dr. Ben Witherington; and “Blue China and Blue Moods: Oscar Fashioning Himself at Oxford” in Oscar Wilde: The Man, His Writings and His World, ed. Robert N. Keane.
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