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| Happy Birthday, the Unforgettable Rosie.... |
One of my teaching chums had a birthday recently at the Steampunk-themed bar in Selby. Was there drink? Oh, yes there was. Were there spectacular chocolatey cakes? Why, certainly, my lord. And did you get out of the Back from the Future Escape Room? Maybe not…. but that’s not my fault. I’d already had a little fizz at that point. And my other excuse is that my previous two experiences of Locked-In games were accompanied by whippersnappers in their twenties and here I was stuck with geriatrics wearing Doc Brown wigs and bow ties…. Also, to be fair, I don’t think my brain cells are what they once were…. but many thanks to Rosie for a memorable Easter Monday. I think the other members of the party (Anarchy of the Seas and World of Wizardry) got more clues right but still weren’t fully freed….
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| World of Wizardry, Back from the Future, Anarchy of the Seas |
Film costumes on Easter Sunday
A day out in north Lincolnshire had an awesome surprise in an unexpected place. I thought we were visiting a medieval hall but didn’t expect to see a display of costumes as worn by the stars in famed productions. See if you can identify in the collage below the costumes worn by Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth, Kristen Scott Thomas in The Darkest Hour, Emily Blunt in Young Victoria, Helena Bonham Carter in Suffragette, Daniel Craig in Moll Flanders, Sean Bean in the Sharpe series, Aiden Turner in Poldark, Robert Downey Junior in Restoration, and from Shakespeare in Love: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes and Judi Dench. Most thrilling for me was Kenneth Branagh’s battle costume from Henry V. The “Historical Hall of Fame” exhibition is on until September 2nd so if you’re anywhere near Gainsborough, have a gander.
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| Historical Hall of Fame film costumes at Gainsborough Old Hall |
Gainsborough Old Hall
Built by the Burgh family in the 1400s, Gainsborough Old Hall turns out to be spectacular in itself, whether or not it happens to be housing an enticing costume exhibition. After the Burghs, only the Hickman and Bacon families inhabited it, so it retains a great number of original features despite at various times being a theatre, a meeting hall, a Masonic temple and a pub. The restoration work is sympathetic and the wooden-beamed Hall is a wonder to behold.
Audio-Guide
Audio-guides can be hit or miss but on the whole I think English Heritage are doing a great job with all the ones I’ve heard recently. The one here includes dramatised monologues bringing different rooms to life, for example the ghostly corridor in the East Range and some different important visitors: Richard III (gotta love him), Henry VIII (gotta hate him) and Katherine Howard (gotta take my hat off to her.)
Living History
Most memorable after the Great Hall is, in my view, the original medieval kitchen complete with immense chimneys and lively interpreters actively doing kitchen stuff in front of your eyes. And busy antechambers with resident pompous Clerk, giving a sense of how the house must have been teeming with social (argumentative and smelly) interactions. I much prefer, as I’ve blogged before, this rough-and-tumble imaginative and social view of history, rather than any dry rendition of documents.
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