Dr Claire Preston, professor at Queen Mary University of London, spoke to an attentive audience of Sixth Formers on Tuesday 5 December.

Students from schools as close as Chelsea Academy and as far Lady Eleanor Holles joined us, for an eye-opening analysis of The Great Gatsby – and perhaps for the wonderful tea our catering team provided. Dr Preston opened her discussion with an analysis of the well-known colour imagery of Daisy Buchanan’s white flapper dresses, and led us through the whole text to consider the slippery relationship between the real and the imaginary. The talk will be very helpful for revision, and gave us a very exciting example of what it would be like to study English at university level.