Tag Archives: #AtoZChallenge
Edward Elgar’s birthplace
Not all museums are housed in grand custom built buildings. Sometimes it is the building itself that is the Museum, none more so than the birthplace of a famous person, like an artist, writer or musician.Edward Elgar, a British composer, famed for his Pomp and Circumstance Marches and Enigma Variations, was born in a house […]
Duxford, the aviation museum
If you want to get fit, walking the length of Duxford airfield will give you plenty of exercise. Duxford in Cambridgeshire is home to the Imperial War Museum’s (IWM) aviation museum and is built on a suitably historical site. Duxford airfield was constructed by German prisoners of war in 1918. It has housed RAF squadrons […]
British or Beamish – the museum dilemma.
The mother of museums, but not the oldest, founded in 1753 during period of Enlightenment. World famous, controversial, imperial, and a tourist magnetic. Famed for its library and antiquities, the legacy of the vast sprawl of the British Empire. The objects in the British Museum embody knowledge from which both public and scholars might learn, […]
A to Z Theme Reveal
Soon it will be April and this blog will for a while spring back to life. Why? It’s the A to Z blogging challenge, where I get to post every day (barring four Sundays) and try to keep you entertained. My chosen theme for this year, as with my previous years, is historical and focused […]
York Mystery Plays – theatre on the streets
The concept of a touring theatre group is nothing new. Its origins go back much further. Ever since Antiquity, plays have been performed, and in the absence of great amphitheatres, towns and cities were home to pageants and feasts, bringing music and drama to the streets. Perhaps the most famed of these are the mystery […]
Sadler’s Wells – the home of dance
My theme – British theatre through the ages – has so far covered many forms of entertainment, but to date, I’ve omitted one key one: dance. So today, I’m off to Sadler’s Wells, home of ballet and dance. However, given the theatre’s long history, dance is a relatively recent arrival at Sadler’s Wells. In fact […]
Royal Lyceum Edinburgh – the dramatic theatre
Theatres are all about people. The actors, the audience, the backstage crew, the writers and directors (and the ghosts…) Don’t forget the money – the producers and the owners who take a risk to build theatres and put on shows. The Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh is another one of CJ Phipps creations and was […]
Palace Theatre, the house of entertainment.
When I think of theatres I think of plays – comic, dramatic, tragic or controversial. Yet so many theatres began life entertaining with music, circus and pantomime. The Palace Theatre (not to be confused with the Victoria Palace) on Charing Cross Road, which was built in 1891, was no exception, it was originally called Royal […]
The Old Vic – for those who dare
It’s a nickname, Old Vic, and it’s been around for a long time, since at least 1880. It stands for Royal Victoria Theatre. But that wasn’t its first name. Just like the Royal family, the theatre had a Germanic name – Royal Coburg Theatre. Designed in 1818 by Rudolph Cabanel, a German architect, the theatre […]
The National Theatre, a long time coming.
The establishment of a national theatre in Britain was a long affair. Given that the country is home to Shakespeare and other great early playwrights it might seem odd that it was only in the 1960s that the country finally had one… not a dedicated building, but a national theatre company. In 1847 Dramaticus (a […]
The Quiet Writer 