From the
TEDxGrantham desk.
Updates from the organising team: speaker reveals, behind-the-scenes notes, and longer-form pieces on ideas worth spreading.
What TED talks on nudges miss about Grantham's parking
Retail vacancy in Grantham exceeds the national average, and out-of-town shopping dominates. One-hour free parking addresses parking friction when the actual barrier is destination appeal—a structural problem behavioural nudges cannot overcome.
What TED talks on school selection miss
King's School Grantham educated Isaac Newton and Margaret Thatcher over seven centuries of selective entry. The consistent outcome: exceptional talent identified and dispatched outward, leaving the town with no accumulated civic intellectual culture.
What TED talks on memory say about Grantham's oldest inn
An inn on a Grantham high street has stood since 1203, its stone accumulating eight centuries of history — most visibly in the King's Room's medieval fireplace, where Richard III signed a death warrant in 1483.
What TED talks on curiosity reveal about Newton's school
Isaac Newton's schooling in 1650s Grantham was shaped by an ordinary grammar school serving local families, an apothecary's household full of materials to examine, and a schoolmaster's advocacy—the three conditions curiosity requires: observation, time, and institutional support.
Newton's school and the TED case for failing better
Students who grapple with problems before receiving instruction outperform those taught first; the principle research now confirms was embedded in Isaac Newton's iterative working method across decades of scientific practice.
What TED talks miss about Grantham's Market Place
Underground power supply and fixed street furniture at Grantham's Market Place removed noise and exhaust barriers for autistic visitors, created predictable routes for wheelchair users, and improved air quality for those with asthma—routine infrastructure decisions that shape public access.