The Headstrong Club was an 18th-century

debating society Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

operating out of an upstairs room at The White Hart in

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of t ...

whose notable members included

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

and Thomas 'Clio' Rickman.

Legacy

A modern iteration of the club, with the same and purpose, was launched in 1987, on 30 January, the 250th anniversary of the birth of

. Sir

Richard Jolly Sir Arthur "Richard" Jolly, (born 30 June 1934) is a leading development economist who was named one of the fifty key thinkers globally in this field of economics. Jolly currently serves as Honorary Professor and Research Associate of the Inst ...

created The Headstrong Society at the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

(UNDP) in New York City in 1998. The purpose of the group was to bring experts from

United Nations agencies The United Nations System consists of the United Nations' six principal organs (the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the UN Secretariat) ...

together to discuss

current events News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. ...

Notes

External links

Headstrong club website
{{Thomas Paine Debating societies History of East Sussex 18th century in England 1987 establishments in England Thomas Paine