Podcast appearances and mentions of dick whittington

Join us at Bradgate Park in Leicester with Jules Acton, author, former podcast guest and Trust ambassador, while our regular host Adam enjoys a summer holiday. We meet senior park ranger Matt who gives us a tour as he explains his role in caring for the site and its amazing trees. We've come to the park to see one in particular: a magnificent 830-year-old oak. It's in the running for Tree of the Year 2025. This year's contest celebrates our cultural connections with trees, shining a light on those that are local landmarks, sources of passion, inspiration and creativity. Find out what makes Bradgate Park's oldest oak special and vote for your favourite by 19 September.   Don't forget to rate us and subscribe! Learn more about the Woodland Trust at woodlandtrust.org.uk Transcript You are listening to Woodland Walks, a podcast for the Woodland Trust. We protect and plant trees for people to enjoy, to fight climate change and to help wildlife thrive.  Jules: Good morning. I'm Jules Acton. I'm an ambassador for the Woodland Trust. I've been in this job for 10 years this month and it's been a fantastic 10 years. I've loved every day because I get to meet some amazing trees and woods and even more than that, I also get to meet lots of amazing people who love trees and woods and who are inspired by them. So Woodland Trust members, other supporters, staff and volunteers. And I think one of the reasons people love trees so much is not just for the fact they provide all the wonderful services they they store our carbon, they provide fresh air, they can help filter pollution. But they're also absolutely entwined in our culture. And that's been taking place over hundreds and thousands of years. So our, particularly our native tree species tree species are absolutely embedded in our culture, and every old tree has a story to tell. Now, the reason we're here today is that we're going to talk about Tree of the Year and the theme of the Tree of the Year is culture and the way trees are embedded in culture. Ten magnificent trees have been chosen by a panel of experts. Each has a wonderful story to tell, and members of the public can go and vote for their favourite tree on the Woodland Trust website.  We are here in Bradgate Park car park. It is a golden morning and we're surrounded by trees. I can see oak trees, hawthorns, birches, hazels. It's absolutely gorgeous with the dappled sunlight falling down on us through the leaves. We're here to meet a particularly special tree. It's Bradgate Park's oldest oak tree, and it's about 20 minutes walk from the car park. So I see my colleague Natasha. She's over there waiting at the edge of the car park, waiting for Matt. Hello Natasha.  Natasha: Hello. Ohh hi!  Jules: Can you tell us a bit about your role, Natasha and what you do at the Woodland Trust?  Natasha: Yeah, I'm a social media officer, so I just help create and schedule all social media content, jump on whenever there's an opportunity like today.  Jules: And today you're going to be helping with the recording.  Natasha: Yeah, getting a few clips behind the scenes of how we record the podcast so we can share that and a few bits for our website as well and YouTube.  Jules: Thanks Natasha. Now I think we have just seen somebody drive up who might well be Matt. He's he's appeared in a very groovy looking buggy. And here we go. I believe this is Matt. Hello.   Matt: Good morning, Jules.   Jules: Hello, Matt, hi, lovely to meet you.  Matt: Nice to meet you. Welcome to Bradgate Park.  Jules: Thank you. Can you tell us a little bit about your role, Matt?  Matt: So yeah so I've I've worked at Bradgate Park for just over 20 years now and main sort of roles on on the site are woodland management and caring for the ancient trees that we've got that that are of European importance. And I also get quite involved with the drystone walls and repairing them. I lead a a group of volunteers on a Thursday and as we go across the site, I'm sure I can show you some of the work that we've been doing.  Jules: Oh brilliant, and you're going to particularly show us a very special tree, I believe.  Matt: Yes, I believe we might be able to find that. Yeah, the tree is approximately 830 years old. It predates the Magna Carta and I'd certainly like to take you to the tree and tell you a bit more about it.  Jules: All right. We're just getting ready to go and all around us are people enjoying the park, there are some people walking up hills. There are lots of dogs. There's one very cute little brown dog that's having a little dip in, in a little stream, a little brook, really at the edge of the park and it's already quite a warm day, so I think it's having a nice little cool down.  We're back en route towards the special tree with the beautiful drystone wall to our right and across to the left are, well there's a tree, there's a plantation, and then there's also a sort of a bit of a wood pasture environment would you call it Matt, with some native trees dotted around in the landscape?  Matt: Yeah, very much so. So this is Hallgates Valley. We're looking across to Dale Spinney. The park itself is 830 acres, of which spinneys represent about 10% of the parkland area, so it's quite a large proportion. All the spinneys were planted on the, on the hilltops across the park, that's that's not just by chance. And they were created around about 1830s-40s by the 6th early of Stamford and and now we see the spinneys that we've got here today so you've got quite a mature, mature standard trees. Quite a lot are softwood, but then we've got a mixture of hardwoods in there. We certainly replant hardwoods in the spinneys.  Jules: How would you define a spinney as opposed to, you know, other kinds of woods?  Matt: Nice easy question *laughs*. I would I would say you've obviously got different names of woodlands and you know we're, we're, we're in Charnwood Forest, but a a forest isn't just trees, it's clearings. And I would say a copse is a small woodland. I would say the spinney is is probably like slightly larger than that and then you go up towards a wood. I could be totally wrong! *both laugh*  Jules: I like it though. So Matt you say, you've you've been here 20 years.   Matt: Yeah, 22.  Jules: 22. So you obviously love it. And what is it that keeps you here?  Matt: I was born in Leicester and came here as a young child playing and you know to end up working here as a job, it's certainly a nice place to be coming to and huge, beautiful surroundings, fresh air and and then I've I've just got a real passion for particularly the a lot of the heritage crafts that we keep alive on the estate. So yes, we go down and we manage the woodlands, but we're actually carrying out coppicing operations and that, they go back to the Stone Age and and then other work on the site for instance drystone walling, which we're approaching a gap now that we've been repairing and is obviously another heritage craft, and for me, I I just think it's really important that we're passing on these skills, heritage crafts on to the next sort of generation.  Jules: That that's brilliant. And do you do you train sort of volunteers or or is it staff members in in this kind of thing?  Matt: I've trained up to Level 2 in walling. That's something I I went up to Derbyshire to do. We've actually got another chap on site now, Leon. He's, he was in the armed forces and and and Leon is doing his levels in walling as well. I believe he's already got Level 1 and 2. He's working towards his 3, we might be able to pop and see him in a bit, but I guess the focus should be trees today *laughs*.  Jules: Yeah, well if we have time, that'd be great. See how we go.  Matt: This is certainly a large gap of wall that we've been doing on the estate. We've got 17 miles of drystone wall to maintain. The deer park itself goes back to 1241, but it's, the boundaries changed slightly over over the years and the largest extent of the deer park was probably around about 1550 and that would have, certain parts of the boundary are drystone wall and and that's obviously what what we're left with today and we need to maintain that. Not only does it keep the deer inside the park, which is obviously beneficial for a deer park, it's fantastic habitat for various, you know, sort of reptiles to live in and adders, grass snakes, things like that.  Jules: Fantastic, so we're looking at at one of the drystone walls and it's I'd say about shoulder height, would you say and it's a grey sort of almost sort of slaty looking stone actually, do you, can you tell us what kind of the stone it is?  Matt: Yeah so on on this side of the park, it's it's it's it's a little bit more slaty towards Newtown Linford, that's that's more of a granite, the walling that we do on the, that we we do on the park is is called random coursed walling. So yes, as we build the wall up, you start with the larger stones at the bottom and as the as the wall tapers up, it angles in, that's called the batter of the wall, you can see the frame we've got and that that we're working to, we've got the building lines in. So this one is 80 centimetres at the bottom, tapering up to 40 centimetres at the top. Originally this was actually a lime mortar wall and a lot of walls on the park are lime mortar, but it is possible to rebuild dry, but we do a mix a mixture of both on the estate.  Jules: That's great and it's just lovely to see these heritage practices being kept alive and you mentioned the coppicing as well, which is absolutely very much part of woodland culture going back centuries. I believe it goes back to the Vikings, maybe even earlier, I don't know if you know anything about the history of it, Matt?  Matt: Yeah, well, certainly the Stone Age coppicing going back, going back to the Stone Age, it's the process of cutting the tree down to ground level. Not all trees will coppice, certainly oak will. That's where Copt Oak gets the name from, coppiced oak. Hazel is the primary tree species that we are coppicing, certainly in Swithland Woods and we've got a management plan in place. We've we've just come to the end of a 10-year management plan that was supported by, there's a lady called Liz Sharkey who comes up with a great plan for us. We're just starting in, in November will be the next 10-year plan and the intention of that is to create the most diverse habitat that Swithland Woods is and it will create a mosaic of habitats, different age stands within the structure of the woodland and and part of that will be coppicing rotation and that will open up and the the the floor of the woodland, let light in and that will benefit bluebells and wood anemone and all the related bird species and invertebrates.  Jules: This is all music to our Woodland Trust ears. Thank you, Matt. Shall we continue on our little tour?  Matt: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I will turn this very loud... *banging*  Jules: *laughs* I'm not actually sure how to get out the car, but ohh, OK, yeah, yeah. Natasha's on it. Thanks Natasha. OK, so we are walking up to not the tree we're here to see, but we couldn't resist this one because it's really special and it's a gnarly oak tree, kind of growing out of what looks like a big craggy load of rocks. Yeah, Matt, could you tell us a bit more about this tree?  Matt: Yes, I can. So it's English oak and some of the, it's growing out of granite and some of the rocks on the park are actually some of the oldest rocks, certainly in Britain and and the world, 560-million-year-old rocks that we've got on the park and it's all part part of the designation, actually, of the park, it's a SSSI, geological interest in the park and also the veteran trees are also part of that designation and we have just become a National Nature Reserve as well, Bradgate Park.  Jules: Well, congratulations! Could you just explain the SSSI to us just so people understand what the abbreviation means?  Matt: It's a Site of Special Scientific Interest, so there's many layers to Bradgate Park, people might just want to come have a nice walk, enjoy the views, and people that might be more interested in the geology of the park, so we get a lot of people that are coming out and looking at the rocks and looking for fossils and they're able to from that age, the rocks on the park and then other designations that we've got are related to the ancient trees and and that all forms a a bigger picture that makes the park so important that it has to be protected.  Jules: Fantastic. And one of the things that I've just noticed on both this very old oak tree and also on the rocks are, there's a lot of lichens. They're gorgeous. So they're sort of just splattered with them, some of them just look like, like, little sort of paint splats, don't they? They are different colours, we've got white ones, green ones on the rocks, I'm looking at, sort of greyish ones. Some are crusty, some are very flat, which is I think the nature of lichens. Do you know much about the lichens?  Matt: I certainly know that we need to keep the lichens exposed to the sunlight, so we have to clear bracken so they're not getting shaded out. They take a long time to form and I certainly know that they need good clean air. So that is a good sign, if you're seeing lichens, you're in a good place as a human being.  Jules: Yeah, absolutely. And and one of the things about oak trees as well is because they, they're long-lived trees, they provide particularly important habitat for lichens, cause some, many lichens are really, really slow growing, so they need a very slow, you know, stable habitat, so whether it be the rocks or or the very old tree and you'll get different species associated with the different environments as well.  Matt: Yeah, exactly right. And and you can see as well as the being lichens on the rock, you look up into the oak tree and in to the, up the, into the crown of the tree and we are seeing lichens on on the oak tree.  Jules: Yeah. Aed one of the other things about lichens is that they are also embedded in our culture as well, so we use them to to make dyes, some people cook with them, so again, a bit like bit like the oak trees and and other native trees, they're really entwined in our cultural history. This isn't the tree we're here to see, but it's absolutely marvellous! So I, gosh, I hope this becomes, goes on the Tree of the Year shortlist at some point because it deserves it!  Matt: Well, it's nice to have more than one entry.   Jules: Yeah, that would be good, wouldn't it?  Matt: I guess it would in in increase the chances of winning, but seeing as it's the first time you've come to the park, Jules, I thought you may as well see this.  Jules: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love it. It looks quite elephantine from this, elephantine I should say, from this angle with this sort of like this great, long limb sticking out, it's almost like a trunk isn't it and up into the into the blue.  Matt: It certainly is, and I think that's certainly going to be the word of the day. I'm not, I'm not certainly going to try and trump that!   Jules: OK, yeah, let's, let's, let's try and use it again, in the next stop! *both laugh* OK. We're going back to the car now the the buggy, the T, TVA. No, the, what is it?  Matt: The ATV *both laugh* As we go back towards the ATV, we can see a absolutely stunning tower on a hill. It's gorgeous. It's kind of like, well it looks like it's in a fairytale to me. Could you tell us a bit about that?  Matt: So Old John Tower was, they started building it 1784 and and it is a folly and it was somewhere that the Greys, the owners, the Earls of Stamford could entertain guests and around the base of the tower, the rear is the remnants of an old racetrack, at the side of the tower, there's an old stable block and the Greys were certainly great horse fanciers and they entered racehorses into various events and along the the the old racetrack there's still remnants of old furlong markers and they were able to entertain the guests, stand up on the the roof of the of the tower and get an idea of of how good the how well the horses were performing.  Jules: Brilliant. And and the the Greys being the family of Lady Jane Grey, is that right?   Matt: Yes, that's right yeah.  Jules: OK. So it's it's absolutely stunning. It looks like the sort of, yeah, if you're drawing a scene in a fairytale, you'd be drawing a little turrety round tower on top of a hill, wouldn't you? And there'd be probably Rapunzel at the top, letting down her hair. On this occasion we've got a, on this occasion we've got a a very fit looking person who's just run a ring around the bottom of the tower and is now running towards us, obviously making use of this wonderful environment to to keep up their fantastic fitness. Right. OK. Now we are going back to the vehicle. And I think is next stop the the tree, our destination?  Matt: Yes it certainly is.  Jules: OK, OK, brilliant. I think I've actually worked out how to get in this time, which is ohh no, Matt's letting me in, thank you, what a gent, thank you. Right, we are now out of the vehicle and we are walking towards the special tree. And how long, how much of a walk is it from here?  Matt: So I can see it already and I'd say we're only about 200 yards away from it.  Jules: *laughs* Ohh, I still haven't seen it!  Matt: I'm I'm I'm deliberately walking in a way that it's going to appear.  Jules: Oh he's hiding it from us.   Matt: Yeah. There we go, fallow deer.  Jules: Ohh, there's ohh my goodness two fallow deer. The beautiful spotty backs, sort of trotting away. And then they've stopped and have given, they're looking at us. They're not too shy, actually are they?  Matt: No, no, they're not.  Jules: They look just like double Bambi. They're very beautiful.  Matt: You'll you'll you'll notice on all the trees, and there's about a dozen smaller oak trees that we planted, and these are about 30 years old now. Again, you can see how we've we've literally topped the smaller trees and and that's because we don't want to leave these trees just to get huge a. and maidens and straight and tall. So we want these to be stunted and more open grown. And so we've cut the tops off and and thinned them slightly. And then, again, we're hoping that that will make them longer lived.  Jules: Yeah, yeah. And of course, the oak trees love a lot of light, don't they? And these have got quite a lot of light and space around them.   Matt: Yes.   Jules: Ohh, I can see it now. Oh my goodness. What a beast. How fantastic. So it does, so it's the Bradgate Park's oldest oak, isn't it, so does it have a name, another name beyond that?  Matt: I think people people give it various names but it's just ‘the oldest tree in the park' *laughs*  Jules: Yeah, yeah.  Matt: Trying, I suppose for many years we've tried to keep it a bit bit sort of secret. That's probably for the benefit of the tree and certainly, the fact that it's within a spinney, people aren't walking up to it, and that's helped the tree. I feel that it's in a, it's obviously found some good growing conditions and despite the general habitat of the park being poor, upland soil, shallow, it's found some incredible growing conditions here it's been sheltered so that it's not being exposed to too much, too much wind force. And also it's it's nice and open so as the, as you know sort of from midday to right through into the evening, it's gonna get plenty of light as well. So there's I think there's been a number of factors that have certainly helped to prolong the life of the tree.  Jules: Yes, absolutely. Wow, it is a stunner. So just to try and describe this tree, it it's immensely tall. It's probably about the size of a, what about the height of a house would you say?   Matt: Yeah it's a good, good 45 feet.  Jules: Yeah. And it's got a very gnarly bole. I call it a bole rather than a trunk because it's really big, broad, and it's kind of split into two, kind of more than two. And it's got some dead branches coming out the middle. It's got one gorgeous, great, long, twisted limb reaching out. And it's that that's they're they're propped up, but it's kind of snaking, isn't it, ooh, it's elephantine that's what it is! Yeah, let's use our favourite word of the day.  Matt: I'd I'd say it's definitely elephantine *both laugh*  Jules: Yeah. And you can see kind of, it looks like there's faces everywhere, aren't there? It's like in that they've dead bit of branch there, you can see like a sort of twisted sort of face and a great long nose. And ohh it's, what a beautiful beast. So Matt, could you tell us a bit about its cultural connection to human beings?  Matt: Well, it certainly, it it was aged back in 2014 by a tree consultancy called Bosky and we we obtained a grant funding to tag and map many, many trees across the estate of this, being one of them, and it was it was aged at 818 back then, which puts us at around about the 830 mark now. In terms of relations to humans, it predates the Magna Carta and one of the most notable former residents of Bradgate Park obviously being Lady Jane, when she was a child living on the park, the tree would have already been quite a mighty oak of about 300 years.  Jules: Gosh, so, so Lady Jane Grey would have known this tree.   Matt: Yes, yeah.  Jules: She would probably sat underneath it.  Matt: Which is somewhat remarkable.  Jules: Yeah. Maybe had a little picnic under here. *Matt laughs* That's what I would have done. Fantastic. And it's wonderful that you're protecting it and actually, despite this sort of really craggy bole, it's it's looking in pretty good health, isn't it, it's got loads of leaves all around. Are you feeling sort of confident about its its future given given how it is?  Matt: Well, certainly, yeah you you've you've pointed out the props and these props have been in place supporting certainly this this limb. If we walk around the other side of the tree, you can you can get a bit more of an impression as to what the props are actually achieving for the tree and in due course, and I believe we'll we'll probably upgrade these props, which are basically telegraph posts with Land Rover tyres that have been cut, which is certainly an effective way of doing things, but we have evolved the propping techniques that are now, you can see the tree in the distance over there by the compound that's called the Pheasant Garden. And there's a there's an oak tree there that supported by a prop and that is manufactured using metal, sort of steel work and then there's a cup section that's manufactured and then that that's a more sympathetic way of actually supporting that bough.  Jules: Yeah, yes.  Matt: Regarding, you know the actual cover of the foliage, like you say, totally agree that it's it's still got reasonable foliage cover, certainly certain things that we do have to watch out for is shade. And that is partly why we've cut the tops off the trees around it. But also you can see where we've got a bit of interference here with this Scots pine at the back.  Jules: Oh yes, it's actually actually touching I think, almost touching.  Matt: So that is something that we would look to keep keep in check. So this Scots pine, as as lovely as it is, that Scots pine is more like 70 years old, and we wouldn't want that to be shading out so that's something we'll we'll probably climb up there and just cut that, cut the limb off off the Scots pine and stop that, because you can see if we just leave that doing what it's doing, it's going to start shading out and it's really important that we keep the living mass of this tree, so there's a balance there between the living mass and the dead mass of the tree, the static mass. And it's that balance as a ratio for the tree, you know, if you, if you look at a younger tree there, you can say that almost almost 100% of of the of the crown of that tree is alive. Whereas you look at this tree and you start thinking maybe 50%. So the closer that ratio between the living mass and the dead mass is, the closer that gets more like to a one to one, then the the tree will will then gradually just just just be going into decline. So you know, the tree will not live forever but I'm pretty confident it's going to outlive us guys *laughs*  Jules: Yes. It's an amazing thought, isn't it? And it's obviously very loved and and and I think the importance is is not just about the tree itself, is it? So really ancient oaks like this, they support enormous numbers of species, some of which only live on ancient oaks. So that's why we need to protect this tree as much as we possibly can and also bring on those veteran oaks of the future that you you, you're, you're that you're you're doing just that, aren't you, here in the park. Absolutely vital.   Matt: Yeah, very much so, very much so. As we've driven across the park, we've seen various planting that's been supported by the Tree Council. And like you say, that has, that certainly has been planting more oak trees, but then also other nectar bearing species, rowan, blackthorn, hawthorn, gorse. And these are all important, like you say for the deadwood insects that, that, that live within the ancient oak tree and and then as the tree gets older it then develops more veteran features and those crags, holes are very important roosting habitats for, certainly for owls and bats.  Jules: Yeah. And so oak trees in the UK collectively support more than 2,300 species, some of which are completely reliant on oak trees. They couldn't survive without oak trees, and one of the things we were talking about earlier as we drove up was the fact that there are, you know, some, some beetles, for example, some longhorn beetles, for example, they spend their lives as larvae living in deadwood. But then the adults, they need nectar when they grow up, so again, it's really important to have those nectar sources nearby isn't it?  Matt: Yeah. So very, very much is. Yeah. And that's what we're looking to do on the park we are we are planting those, those supporting plants.  Jules: Fantastic. Wonderful. This incredible tree that we're standing in front of is one of the ten contenders in this year's Tree of the Year competition and the theme of this year's competition is culture and the the the the history and culture associated with trees in our world. Ancient oaks are absolutely threaded in our culture. I'm particularly interested in them, I wrote a book about about oak trees called Oaklore, and one of the things that I talked about was the way that the oak tree intertwines with our lives with with lots of different species, but also with human lives and with our culture. There were so many stories associated with the oak tree. One of my favourites is the story of Charles II and the Boscobel Oak. So before Charles II was, became king he was fighting the parliamentarians and he took a terrible drubbing at a battle. And he needed to escape. And he escaped to Boscobel House. And he was with this soldier called Colonel Careless, and this soldier suggested that they hide in the oak tree overnight rather than the house. And they did. And even though the parliamentarian troops were were wandering nearby, they didn't find the king and his soldiers, and they escaped. And eventually they returned and that led to the restoration of the monarchy. The thing I like about this story is the cultural links then go on and on. Because at that point, a day of national celebration was declared throughout the land, and that was 29 May and that became Oak Apple Day and everybody would party and if the best people at the party, the coolest people at the party, they waved oak branches and wore oak leaves and and if you were super cool, you had lots of oak apples on your, so little galls on your oak branches. And if you didn't have little symbols of oaks, then others were apparently within their rights to take a bunch of nettles and and and attacked you with nettles, which wasn't so nice. So it was also called Nettle Day. It was also known as Pinch Bum Day and Maids Ruin Day. The story goes on, but the other sort of fun cultural connection to that is it also came, it also brought about lots of pubs called the Royal Oak, and the last time I looked there were about 400 oak trees, 400 sorry pubs called the Royal Oak throughout the land, so the cultural tales just go on and on. And that's just the oak tree. But all of our native trees have some fantastic stories associated with them in. In fact every old tree has a story to tell. It's like us, like every older person, we've all got a story, a history to tell. Yeah. OK.  Matt: So yeah, we're just walking back from the oldest tree now, and we're just sort of musing over just that connection that human, humans have got to trees. I think it's the fact that an oak tree can sort of live centuries and really, that puts our lifetimes somewhat in perspective. And the fact that an oak tree can just go from the tiniest of acorns to a huge mass of of timber and that is just really fantastic, how you could you could cut open a tree and see all those different tree rings, those years of growth and then just sort of put that in context, what was happening was, was it Dick Whittington that was the Lord Mayor of London for the last time, was it was it the Battle of Agincourt, was it the Magna Carta? And and it's for people like you that actually write books about it, Jules, that can say it a lot better than me *both laugh*  Jules: No that was brilliant and we're not gonna cut this one in half though are we, Matt?   Matt: No, we're certainly not. And the fact that it's hollow, we just can't see those rings anymore.  Jules: No. Thank you. Brilliant. Right. This is our final leg on our walk and we're now in a polytunnel and it's really warm because the sun's beating down outside and it smells gorgeous and and we are surrounded by lots of little trees. Matt, can you tell us a little bit about these?  Matt: So the polytunnel was funded by the Tree Council and it's just very important that we're growing on oaks for the future from acorns that have been collected on site. So they've got the genetic continuity of the long-lived oak trees and hopefully they'll grow and carry on into long into the future.  Jules: And are they, is it a a mix of acorns from all different trees in in here or is it, or is, are you, are you taking them from specific trees?  Matt: It's yeah, it's a bit of a mix. Sometimes, you know, where where we can and where they're viable, if we if we get to the acorns from a veteran tree before the deer, then that's certainly something that we we're looking to grow on. So generally that's what we're that's that's where we'll try and harvest them from that, we've put a frame down before with a bit of a grill, so we can collect the acorns, but then they don't get eaten and that's certainly quite a good technique. And and then we we we grow on from the old trees where we can, yes.  Jules: They're really lovely. So we've got really tiny little trees with, some of them have got like, you know, about 5 or 6 leaves. And then they go up to sort of above our just above our heads. And I think what always strikes me is the, the the diversity in in leaf shape and colour that you that you see all around you. So even the same place within within oak trees, it's incredible, the different shapes and sizes you get, isn't it?  Matt: Yeah, it really is. And you know, look, looking some of the some of the oaks have been collected from Swithland Woods as well. And and where you've got a stalked leaf, that is a sessile oak.   Jules: Ah yes.  Matt: And and where you've got a a leaf that's coming off that isn't stalked, that is an English oak, but but that will have a stalked acorn.  Jules: Yes. So that's the the key way to tell the difference isn't. Yeah, brilliant. Thank you. I love it. The Bradgate Park oak is one of ten iconic trees across the UK in the running for the Tree of the Year competition. Other examples include the Tree of Peace and Unity in County Antrim. That's an iconic lime tree, I say a lime tree, it's actually two lime trees which are fused together so that the trunk has become bound as one and it's, they've become inseparable and as such they've become a symbol of harmony and hope. So newly married couples sit beneath that tree for a blessing and it became a particular symbol of peace and reconciliation when Tony Blair, David Trimble and John Hume met here in 1998 at the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. Another example is the Argyle Street Ash in Glasgow. This tree is growing right next to some historic flats and it's seen as a symbol of local resilience. It has survived all kinds of things, including Victorian industry, the Clydeside Blitz, recent development and so far, ash dieback. One of its cultural connections is that it was featured in a 1935 book by James Cowan. The book was called From Glasgow's Treasure Chest and in it he describes the tree as ‘quite the most graceful ash I have seen'. Well, that's enough of me. Meanwhile, thank you so much to Matt and Natasha. It's been great fun talking trees with you.  Thank you for listening to the Woodland Trust Woodland Walks. Don't forget to subscribe to the series on iTunes or wherever you're listening to us and do give us a review and a rating. And why not send us a recording of your favourite woodland walk to be included in a future podcast? Keep it to a maximum of five minutes and please tell us what makes your woodland walk special or send us an e-mail with details of your favourite walk and what makes it special to you. Send any audio files to podcast@woodlandtrust.org.uk. We look forward to hearing from you. 

Listen back to Tony's full review!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A bumper chapter where the Story of London follows the tale of the city as it deals with the aftermath of the death of Henry V; a tale of the city's economy starting to be reborn; why it came within an inch of seeing a pitch battle on London bridge between residents north of the river and those from Southwalk; whose side it picked in the growing partisan politics of the new regency; and above all, we look at the legacy of Dick Whittington, the three-and-one-half times mayor of the city, whose legacy transformed the city and remains to this day.

Content Warning: Child Death and Familial Death. Timestamps to skip: 1:01:00 - 01:12:52 .We spend some time in StarClan today. Considering fears, meeting new friends and old, and getting a really, REALLY hard riddle. Jaypaw could probably figure it out if grandpa wasn't busy trying to lose another life.Book: Warriors, Series 3: Power of Three #5: Long ShadowsSupport us on Ko-fi! WCWITCast Ko-fiFollow us on BlueSky! WCWITCastFollow us on Instagram! WCWITCastCat Fact Sources:Whittington Stone - WikipediaYoutube - OLD STORIES FROM ENGLAND | Dick Whittington - Jules MarrinerWhittington StoneDick Whittington. The Whittington stone, London | The Whitti… | FlickrPurr-n-Fur UK | The Tale of Dick Whittington and his CatThe Story of Dick WhittingtonWHITTINGTON, Richard (d.1423), of LondonRichard Whittington - WikipediaThe Real Dick Whittington - LondonA trip to Highgate in search of a famous cat (and other animals). – Symbols & SecretsAdditional Episode Sources: (CW: Child and Familial Death)Arkansas Democrat GazetteCybils Award WebsiteMusic:The following music was used for this media project:Happy Boy Theme by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3855-happy-boy-themeLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This transformative podcast work constitutes a fair-use of any copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US copyright law. Warrior Cats: What is That? is not endorsed or supported by Harper Collins and/or Working Partners. All views are our own.

The Story returns with an episode that examines one of London's loveliest folklore tales- the tale of Dick Whittington and his cat; beloved of pantomimes and children's books, This week we peer behind the scenes to look at the actual events in London behind the elevation of this man to Mayor of the City… and the dangerous political climate he found himself in.A tale of an increasingly erratic king, members of the royal family being smothered to death with a mattress, a shocking wedding, show trials in Westminster, a royal posse racing across the English countryside in the middle of the night and more; welcome to the harsh truth behind the myth.

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! After three weeks away, Heather is back! Which means all of those euphemistic jokes (alliterative or otherwise) that you've been missing are back.  With a vengeance. Like, a big one... Ken picked the story for Heather to read. It's by previous a new author in the Campfire Classics catalogue name Flora Annie Steel. She's the daughter of a wealthy English family during the height of the British Empire, so  naturally we're all holding our breath just hoping she doesn't write anything socially problematic. Your hosts skate through pretty easily on their vocabulary, but discuss the under-the-bed dirty mag stash, reference the 1993 film Boxing Helena, and try to make up for all the missed innuendos of the last three weeks. "Dick Whittington and His Cat" was published 1918. Email us at 5050artsproduction@gmail.com. Remember to tell five friends to check out Campfire Classics. Like, subscribe, leave a review. Now sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

In this episode Neil chats with several members of the cast and production team from Stage-Ed's 2024 Gaiety Theatre Pantomime Dick Whittington which opens this Friday evening, 20th December.

Michelle Ford chats with telly legend Basil Brush and comedienne/panto fairy Hilary O'Neill join Michelle for laughs, sauciness and a chat about Dick Whittington at Theatre Royal Windsor.

Recorded for release W/C 2nd Dec This week Danny Rice tells us about the new Wolverhampton branch of Andy's Man Club, we meet the Principal cast of Dick Whittington the Walsall Arena Panto and the Principals from Stafford Gatehouse's Panto Jack and the Beanstalk as we are joined by Mark Rhode, Davis Phips-Davis, Wink Taylor, Wendy Abrahams, Theo the Mouse and Ollie Hart-Bradford.

If you're coming to the Audio-Described performance of Dick Whittington and his Cat on Sun 8 Dec at 1pm, or any of the other performances during the run, and want to hear what the characters will sound like before your visit, have a listen here.

If you're coming to the Audio-Described performance of Dick Whittington and his Cat on Sun 8 Dec at 1pm, or any of the other performances during the run, and want to hear what the characters will sound like before your visit, have a listen here.

If you're coming to the Audio-Described performance of Dick Whittington and his Cat on Sun 8 Dec at 1pm, or any of the other performances during the run, and want to hear what the characters will sound like before your visit, have a listen here.

If you're coming to the Audio-Described performance of Dick Whittington and his Cat on Sun 8 Dec at 1pm, or any of the other performances during the run, and want to hear what the characters will sound like before your visit, have a listen here.

If you're coming to the Audio-Described performance of Dick Whittington and his Cat on Sun 8 Dec at 1pm, or any of the other performances during the run, and want to hear what the characters will sound like before your visit, have a listen here.

If you're coming to the Audio-Described performance of Dick Whittington and his Cat on Sun 8 Dec at 1pm, or any of the other performances during the run, and want to hear what the characters will sound like before your visit, have a listen here.

If you're coming to the Audio-Described performance of Dick Whittington and his Cat on Sun 8 Dec at 1pm, or any of the other performances during the run, and want to hear what the characters will sound like before your visit, have a listen here.

If you're coming to the Audio-Described performance of Dick Whittington and his Cat on Sun 8 Dec at 1pm, or any of the other performances during the run, and want to hear what the characters will sound like before your visit, have a listen here.

Join hosts Bobby and Steffan for a magical new episode with the delightful Chloe-Jo Byrnes, who will soon be enchanting audiences as Fairy Daffodil in Dick Whittington in Newport!

The tenth Manx Bard, Jordanne Kennaugh, talks to H about her inspiration and thoughts for the year ahead, some of the cast of this year's panto "Dick Whittington" drop into the studio to cook up some mayhem and a challenge ahead of European Folk Day

Send us a fan message! DICK WHITTINGTON AND HIS CATA story from England Adapted and read by Rehannah Mian. This is the story of how a poor boy turned misfortune into fortune... with the help of a cat.   MAGICAL STORYBOOK YOUTUBE CHANNEL We now have a YouTube channel that you can find by clicking here YOUTUBE   We'd love it if you visited and subscribed for free to our channel! FREE READ-ALONG BOOKS! Learning to read is fun with our free downloadable read-along books. You can follow the words while you listen to your favourite Magical Storybook: English Nanny Bedtime Stories by clicking here -> FREE DOWNLOADABLE READ-ALONG BOOKS.The music:All music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/1. Midnight Meeting by Kevin MacLeod2. Poison Apple by Quincas Moreira3. Wholesome by Kevin MacLeod4. Heart of Nowhere by Kevin MacLeod5. Folkround by Kevin MacLeod 6. Dark Star by Kevin MacLeod7. Mirage by Chris HaugenSupport the Show.

Whilst taking a hiatus from her run as Anne Boleyn in Six, Laura Dawn Pyatt is currently part of the ensemble of 42 Balloons by Jack Godfrey.Laura first joined the cast of 42 Balloons when the musical had a concert run in the West End at the Vaudeville Theatre. The show is now receiving its fully staged premiere at The Lowry in Salford and Laura is reprising her performance for this new iteration of its journey. 42 Balloons is inspired by the highly improbable true story of how Larry, and his partner Carol Van Deusen, convinced their friends and family to help Larry achieve his dream of flying. Featuring an 80s pop-inspired score, 42 Balloons questions how far you would go to make your dreams come true; is the sky actually the limit, and what happens if it doesn't all go to plan?Laura joined Six The Musical's UK & International tour cast in April 2023, starring as Anne Boleyn. She has taken a break from the show to do 42 Balloons and is set to return to the company to finish off her run later in the year. Some of Laura's other theatre credits include performing with Bat Out Of Hell at the Big Night of Musicals (AO Arena Manchester), playing Claire in Ordinary Days directed by Julie Atherton (Cockpit Theatre), Dick Whittington and Jack & The Beanstalk (Royal & Derngate) and Eliza in Brass (Bernie Grant Arts Centre). Laura has worked as a choreographer, performed in concerts, appeared on screen and been part of many other projects. Recorded during a break from rehearsals, in this episode Laura discusses what it's like to be back in 42 Balloons, conquering her confidence with Six, navigating her career after leaving drama school without an agent and lots more. 42 Balloons runs at The Lowry in Salford 18th April - 19th May 2024. Visit www.42balloons.com for info and tickets. Hosted by Andrew Tomlins  @AndrewTomlins32  Thanks for listening! Email: andrew@westendframe.co.uk Visit westendframe.co.uk for more info about our podcasts.  46s Film Making 46s: Filmmakers talk origins, challenges, budgets, and profits.Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

This week on the blog, a podcast interview with writer (and director and playwright and author and podcaster) Ken Levine about the business of writing and directing situation comedies.LINKSA Free Film Book for You: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/cq23xyyt12Another Free Film Book: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/x3jn3emga6Fast, Cheap Film Website: https://www.fastcheapfilm.com/Ken Levine's Website: http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/Eli Marks Website: https://www.elimarksmysteries.com/Albert's Bridge Books Website: https://www.albertsbridgebooks.com/YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BehindthePageTheEliMarksPodcastTRANSCRIPTWas being a writer always a goal?Ken Levine: I don't know if it was always a goal. It was something that I always did. Honestly, I did not get a lot of encouragement in high school. I was a cartoonist. I still am. And I was a cartoonist on the school newspaper. And I said, “Well, I also want to write. You know, can I cover sports or do a humor column or something?”And they said, “You're the cartoonist, just stick to cartoons.” And I said, “Well, I really want to write. And if you won't let me write, then I'm going to quit the paper.” And they said, “Then fine, quit the paper.” So, that's how much my cartoons were even valued. They called your bluff on that one, I guess. Ken Levine: They called my bluff, yeah.Just as a little tangent—just because I'm a big fan of your cartoons—did you have a couple of cartoonist heroes when you were growing up? Guys that you looked at and went, that's the kind of writing I want to do?Ken Levine: Well, my cartoonist heroes were more due to their cartooning than anything. Al Hirschfeld, who did the caricatures of the New York Times, was my god. And Mort Drucker would be another. Jack Davis. A lot of those Mad magazine guys. Originally, I wanted to be in radio. I mean, I really loved radio. And a lot of my comic influences early on were disc jockeys, you know. Bob and Ray and Dan Ingram and Dick Whittington. So, radio was a goal. I got out of college and became a Top 40-disc jockey.Let me back up. When I was in college, I got a job as an intern at KMPC in L.A. We're the big, full-service radio station. They had the Angels and the Rams and the Bruins and, you know, they were big music personalities. And their afternoon drive time jock was Gary Owens, who was on Laugh In at the time. You know, “From beautiful downtown Burbank.”And I would write comedy material for Gary, for him to use on the air. I never charged him for it. I mean, I was just so thrilled that someone of the caliber of Gary Owens would use my material on the radio. And one day I get a call to appear in George Schlatter's office. George Schlatter was the producer of Laugh In. And this is when Laugh In was getting 50 shares. And I'm like, what does George Schlatter want with me? So, I go to the meeting obviously. And apparently, unbeknownst to me, Gary submitted my comedy material to him. And George Schlatter offered me a job as a writer on Laugh In. And it's funny, we laughed about it because George is still around and he was a guest on my podcast, and I talked about this.And I said, “Can I do this part time or from home?” And he goes, “What? No, this is a job. You come to the office every day. We're paying you a lot of money to write the number one show in America.” And I said, “I would lose my 2S deferment and I would wind up drafted in Vietnam.” So I couldn't take it. I had to turn down Laugh In. So, I was almost a writer six years before I actually broke in.Okay. So how did you end up then meeting up with David Isaacs?Ken Levine: Like I said, I became a disc jockey out of college. My draft number was four. And like I said, I was at KMPC and one of our disc jockeys, Roger Carroll, was one of the main AFRTS disc jockeys. I shopped around looking, is there a decent reserve unit I could join that would keep me out of the army? And I saw that there was an armed forces radio reserve unit in LA. And through Roger, he helped pull some strings and got me in the unit. You know, it's like one of those things where you get a call saying, “Okay, there's an opening in the unit, but you got to go down to Torrance and sign up for it tomorrow.” And so, you don't have time to think, “Boy, do I want to risk this? Is there a way I can get a medical thing?” And it's six years. It's a six-year commitment. Go.So that's what I did. I got into that unit. And we were at summer camp three years later and somebody new to the unit was David Isaacs. And we met and started talking and we both kind of had desires to be writers. And when summer camp ended, I was at the time working as a disc jockey in San Bernardino. I got fired, which was a frequent occurrence. And I came back home to live with my parents in LA. I called David and I said, “Hey, remember me from the army? I want to try writing a script. You want to try writing it with me?” And he said, “Okay.” And so, we got together and decided to partner up and we wrote a pilot. But we didn't know anything. We had no clue what we were doing. And I had to literally go to a bookstore in Hollywood and on a remainder table were TV scripts. And so, for two dollars I bought a copy of an episode of The Odd Couple and looked at that.Oh, Interior Madison Apartment Day. That's what that is. This is the format, and this is how long they are. So, David and I wrote a pilot about two kids in college, which was the sum total of our life experience back then. We were both 23. And it didn't go anywhere, obviously, but we had a good time doing it. And we then learned the way to break in is to write spec scripts from existing shows.So that's what we did. And eventually we broke in. So, had you written anything with him before that or seen any of his writing? What was it that made you think this is the guy?Ken Levine: No, no. He just seemed like a funny guy. Neither of us had written anything. Neither of us had any writing samples for the other. No, we just sat down together and just tried doing it. It probably was a help that we were both starting from the same place, which was nowhere. You know, it's just kind of one of those happy accidents where you go on a blind date, and it turns out to be your wife.How many years did you guys write together?Ken Levine: Well, we're still writing together, if somebody would hire us. Fifty years.Congratulations. Ken Levine: October of 73 is when we started. And I'm trying to remember, was it The Tony Randall Show or The Jeffersons where you sold your first script? Ken Levine: The Jeffersons. And how did that happen? Ken Levine: Well, we had written a spec Mary Tyler Moore and a spec Rhoda, and another spec pilot. Which was better but didn't go anywhere.And one day my mom is playing golf with a guy who says he's the story editor of The Jeffersons, a new show that just came on. My mom says, “Oh, well, my son is a great young writer.” And he's like, “Oh Christ.” And he says, “All right, well just have him call me.” So, I called him, and the guy says, “You have a script?” And I said, “Yeah.” And he goes, “All right, send the script. If I like the script, we'll talk.” And I sent off our Mary Tyler Moore Show, and I got a letter back saying, “Oh, this is a really good script. Make an appointment, come on in and pitch stories.” And we pitched stories, and they bought one. And so that's how we got our assignment. Thinking back, is there one moment that you felt like was really pivotal that officially launched you guys? Ken Levine: Yeah, doing that first MASH episode. We had done The Jeffersons, we had done episodes of Joe and Sons, which was a terrible show on CBS. We had done some stories for Barney Miller, but Danny Arnold always cut us off before we got to script. We did a backup script for a pilot that didn't go. And then we got MASH And our first episode of MASH, which is the one where the gas heater blows up and Hawkeye is temporarily blind. And that script was like our golden ticket. It's a very memorable episode. Ken Levine: Oh, thank you. I remember it.I spoke with—I don't know if you know her—April Smith, and she said she learned everything she learned about writing in a room from Gene Reynolds. Where did you learn about writing in a room? Ken Levine: Well, I don't know about writing in a room from Gene, because we never worked in a room, really, with Gene. But, I learned more about storytelling, and more about story construction, from Gene Reynolds, than everybody else combined. I've been very lucky to have a lot of great mentors along the way, or to work with, you know, really talented writers and smart enough to just shut up and listen and learn from them. But if I had to pick one true mentor, it would be Gene Reynolds. I cannot say enough about Gene Reynolds. I owe my career to Gene Reynolds. What was his special gift? Ken Levine: First of all, he was very much a gentleman. So, when he would give you notes, if he didn't like a joke, he wouldn't go, “Jesus, guys, what the fuck?” He would go, “And, um, you might take another look at this. You might take another look at that joke.” Okay. Gene had a great story sense that was combined with a real humanity. It had to be more than just funny. It had to be grounded. There had to be, like I said, some humanity to it and the humanity and nice moments and things had to be earned. And he was very clever in constructing stories where things were set up and then got paid off in a somewhat surprising way. You know, look for inventive, different ways of finding a solution. It's why to me, storytelling is always so hard, because each time you tell a story, you want it to be different. You don't want to just keep retelling the same story over and over again. And Gene would look at a thing and go, “Is there a better way of conveying this? Is there something more interesting that Hawkeye could do once he learns this information?” You could give Gene an outline, and everyone can go, “Okay, well, this doesn't work.” Gene could go, “This doesn't work, and here's why. And here's how you can fix it. If Radar knows this, and then HotLips does this, then you could do a fun thing where it's a thing and…. And you're going like, man, he just, you know, just solved it. Just, just solved it. I thank him for that. He was very tough on story, which I took from him. And again, there's the humanity aspect of it, which normally you think, well, okay, that's just part of it. But when I see shows today—and I know I'm going to sound like an old guy, “get off my lawn”—but when I see shows today, like White Lotusand a lot of these other shows that are just mean spirited, where the laughs are coming from watching horrible people do horrible things to each other. And, look, comedy changes and, you know, society changes, et cetera. But to me, there has to be some heart to it. There has to be some, some humanity. And that was so drummed into me by Gene. Gene also talked about the value of research, which I have learned a lot.You know, you go off to write a project about whatever. You're going to do a pilot about the Department of Motor Vehicles. You sort of know a lot about the Department of Motor Vehicles. You've stood in the lines and everything. Gene would say, “Go there. Talk to those people. What is that job really like?What do they really do? And immerse yourself in that world.” And that's what I've always done since. Jim Brooks, who worked with Gene on Room 222, would say the same thing, that he learned the value of research from Gene. And when Jim Brooks did Broadcast News, he spent a tremendous amount of time in newsrooms, talking to those people, getting a sense of authenticity. It requires work, it requires a lot of extra legwork, but it makes the scripts richer and more authentic. And it's worth putting in the time and effort. I just had Michael Conley on as a guest on my podcast. And one of the things I asked him—he does the Bosch books and The Lincoln Lawyer and he's my favorite mystery writer—and I said, “So with all the detectives out there, what's so special about yours and your books?”And he said, “The authenticity.” He spent years on the crime beat at The Los Angeles Times and really got to know the inside working of the LAPD. There is an authenticity to his books that you don't get with a lot. It makes a difference. Research pays off. Okay, one more TV question. What inspired your move into directing? Ken Levine: I'd been a writer for many, many years. A lot of those years I was on staff of a show, and years when I wasn't on staff on a show—since I'm a good joke guy—I would get a job as a consultant on a show. Meaning, I would work one night a week, which was always rewrite night.What a great gig.Ken Levine: It was a great gig. You worked long hours, but it was a great gig. And at the time the pay was ridiculous. There was one season I was on four shows. So, I was working basically four nights till two, three o'clock in the morning. And it got to the point where I would go down to the stage and I would kind of dread going down to the stage, because all I was worried about was, “Okay, let this not be a train wreck. Okay, let this be in good shape, so that I can go home at 10 or 11 or 12.”And I thought to myself, “There's something wrong here. You get into the business, you should want to be on the stage.” So, I thought, be a director and be on the stage and play all day with the actors. And then when it comes time for rewriting, “Good luck guys. You go to the room and rewrite, and I'll go to a Laker game.” So that was my motivation. It should be fun. If you're in television and you're in multi-camera shows, you should look forward to going down to the stage. And if you don't, then it's time to change things around. So, that was my motivation. Did you feel like you had any advantages as a director because of your background in writing and your understanding of scene construction?Ken Levine: Yes. Number one: The writing served me very well. I was talking to Jim Burrows once, who is the Mozart of TV comedy directors.And I was asking him about shots and this and that. And he said, “Look, if the story works, you can have one camera and just shoot the master of the whole show and it'll work. And if the story doesn't work, you can have all the camera angles and cutting you want. It's not gonna save it.” So yes, it was a big help to me, having that experience, being able to say to the actors, “Okay, I see what's wrong here. You need help with the script. You need a few more lines before you can get this angry. Okay. The reason why you're having trouble here is you have to go from zero to 70 in two lines. And you need help here.”And I was also able—this is something Jimmy did and no other director I know of other than me would do the same thing—and that is, we would go back to the writer's room after the run through and I would sit with the guys while we discussed what was wrong and what needed to be fixed. And I would kind of help them along that line as much as I could, which proved to be very helpful.And also, it was very helpful because you go down to the stage the next morning and you have your table reading. And you're able to say to the cast, “Okay, this is what they did last night. These were the problems. This is how they addressed it.” And there were certain things where actors would go, “Where's my joke?” And you're able to say, “The script was long. It was not you. You did a good job with the joke. The script was really long. It's a joke that was easily liftable as opposed to something that was more integral to moving the story forward. That's why you lost the joke.” So, it helped in communication. Also, by that time I had been a showrunner. So, I was used to coming down to the stage, and if I saw something I didn't like—with blocking or something—I'd go, “Wait a minute, why is she here and she over there? This is a private conversation. Put them together. Why are they standing back there in the corner? Why did you put them at this table? The audience can't see them over here. You put them over here at this front table, and then we can have background and you can have some depth and geography.” And stuff like that.So, I have that aspect. I also spent a lot of time editing these shows. So, I would work with the editor, and I'd say, “Okay, go to the wide shot where we see the full costume.” And he goes, “We don't have it.” “Wait, what? It's a costume joke. He comes in dressed like Mr. Pickwick and you only have it up to here?” So, as a director, I go, “Okay, this is what I need to make this joke.” And also reaction shots are so important. You know, when the director is directing a multi camera show—which is like directing Rubik's cube—you have a camera coordinator who works with you, making sure that all the shots are rights. And so, he'll go down the script and it's like, “Okay, Kelsey's line. All right, we have Kelsey on camera A, and then his line we have on camera C, and then Roz we have here.” And he's making sure that everything is covered. But I also want reaction shots. They aren't in the script, but I know when Sam says this, you're going to want to cut to Diane's reaction to it. So, I had that going in my head.And also knowing like, “Okay, this show is running a little long. I suspect that they may cut this section of a scene.” So, when I block it and when I set my cameras, do it in such a way where you can make that lift. Don't have somebody cross the stage during that section, because then if you lift it, the guy pops onto the other side of the room. Don't just have a master, so that there's nothing to cut away to. So, there's like all kinds of things that are going through your head, besides just directing the actors, that my experience was able to help me with.Well, you said Rubik's Cube, and that's what it sounds like: a Rubik's Cube on stage. Ken Levine: You've got five, six people on stage, and you have four cameras. You want to get a master and singles and reaction shots, and two shots. And it's all happening fluidly while the scene is going on. And then when somebody moves around the couch, then the cameras have to move, and are you covered? And those guys are amazing, the camera people in LA, if you're nice to them. I remember there was an episode of Becker that I was directing, and it was in the diner. And somebody had to go way upstage in the corner to the coat rack. And so, as I'm camera blocking that scene. I'm saying, “All right, I'm going to have to do a pickup. Fred, I'm going to have to send you way up the line to give me Ted in the corner there.”And he said, “I can get there.” And I go, “Fred, you have like a line and a half, because I've got you on Reggie. And then they cut away to Bob saying, ‘I looked at my lunch pail and I didn't have anything.' That's all the time you got. You got three seconds to get up there and frame it and do it.”And he says, “I get it. I can get it for you.” And for them, that was kind of part of the fun, was sort of the challenge. If they like you. If they don't like you, good luck.

Episode 63 - Dick Whittington - We saw this production at the Theatre Royal Nottingham  Here is more detail about the production...  https://trch.co.uk/star-studded-pantomime-launches/ This production over now but you will be sure to see more pantos fun in the future!  Follow us Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @upstagedownstagepod

Full On Pantomime this week – Dick Whittington 2024 Notion App – https://www.notion.so/ A Workspace for Wiki, Docs and Projects All connected together Ultimate Brain – https://thomasjfrank.com/brain/ Quick Capture – brain dump for ideas Filtering of tests is very good Very powerful – check it out Free account available with limits – subscription also available ... Read more

The tale of Dick Whittington (and his cat) is one that has flowered through folklore and onto the stage, becoming a pantomime staple several centuries after London's most popular medieval mayor left his mark on the capital. The original rags to riches story, a young boy eaves his home in the country in search of fortune and his place in the world, naturally he heads for London, where he is told, the streets are paved with gold! But who was Dick Whittington, and why do we still tell stories of this man several hundred years after his death? Listen now to find out the facts behind the fable... Hosted by Katie Charlwood  Part of the Airwave Media Network - www.airwavemedia.com Listen to me guest on Shite Talk History with Kevin & Jason Wishlist Wishlist Donate at:  Patreon  Tip Jar Follow me on… Twitter Instagram TikTok Facebook Business Enquiries: katie@whodidwhatnowpod.com Looking to Advertise, Contact: advertising@airwavemedia.com Fan Mail: Who Did What Now Podcast C/O TAG 11 Market Square Lettekenny Co. Donegal F92 R8W2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the past 200 years, Dick Whittington has become one of Britain's best-loved pantomime heroes. Yet, as today's long read explores, the real-life story that inspired Dick's rags to riches tale is even more remarkable than the fiction. Based on his interview with author Michael McCarthy, Jon Bauckham considers how this fascinating medieval merchant morphed into an icon of the stage.  HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today's feature originally appeared in the October 2023 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

可以搜索公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】或者添加【luluxjg2】咨询课程or加入社群，查看文稿和其他精彩内容哦~Hello everyone, and welcome to bedtime stories with 安澜. In this segment, I'm going to be telling you some famous stories from Britain and many other countries. So get comfortable and let me take you on a journey far away, The story of Dick Whittington. Long ago, a poor little boy lived on the streets in torn and dirty clothes. He never saw or knew his parents or his birthplace. He called himself Dick Whittington. One fine day, he met a man driving a wagon who was on his way to London. Dick asked if he could join him on his journey. The kind man agreed but did not ask him to pay. Little Dick was very excited to see London and imagined that its streets were made of gold. However, to his utter disappointment, London was covered in dirt and there was no sign of gold. Dick was soon all by himself. He had gone days without food or money. He was cold and starving. He begged for food, work, and money but no one showed him any kindness. Out of exhaustion and hunger, he collapsed one day at the door of a kind merchant Mr. Fitzwarren. The cook at his place was a cruel woman who told Dick to leave or she would pour hot water on him. Mr Fitzwarren, who had just returned from the London Exchange, took pity on the boy and brought him in. He ordered his servants to provide him with food and drink and the cook to let him work in the kitchen as her helper. Just when little Whittington hoped for brighter days, the servants mocked him and the cook beat him. When the kind merchant's daughter, Miss Alice, found out about it, she felt sorry for him and ordered everyone to be nice to Dick. Dick Whittington slept in a bed in a tiny attic room that was full of rats and mice. They troubled him enough to prevent him from having a good sleep. A gentleman once visited Mr Fitzwarren who rewarded Whittington with a penny in return for brushing his shoes. Whittington set out with that penny to buy something for himself. On the way, he saw a woman with a cat. He wanted to buy the cat from her but the price was too high. He explained his situation and said, “A penny is all I have.” The good woman allowed him to have the cat for a penny. He named her Miss Puss and hid her in his attic room. She soon got rid of all the rats and mice and helped him sleep peacefully. Soon afterwards, it was time for Mr Fitzwarren's ship to set sail on a voyage. As per custom, the master ordered each servant to send something of their own for trade so they could possibly earn a fortune. Poor Whittington had nothing to offer but Miss Puss whom he unwillingly gave for the voyage.Dick Whittington's troubles were far from over. The cruel cook continued beating him and laughing at him for sending his cat on the voyage. Fed up with the situation, the poor boy fled from the house. While deciding which direction to continue his journey away from London, he heard St. Mary-le-Bow church's bells ringing.

A young boy's legendary rise from crushing poverty to London's highest office combines fact, folklore and a fearless feline heroine. It's a “Man's Best Friend” story, if a clever cat wrote it, instead of just knocking the pen off the desk...again and again.

So many questions... so little time with THE icon... THE Diva... THE Goddess... THE one and only Sinitta! (SAY WHAT?! *I would faint but I still don't believe it!*) This week, Britain's Got Fashun, Dahling, as this heavenly artist joins AW for a kiki about all things Mama Sin. But first, it's a Slaughter on 10th Avenue with Mick Ronson, before we let down our HAIR for the original broaday cast. Plus, we chat about the Attinis16, Sinitta Podtales, Shock Treatment, Queen Miquel Brown, Queen Amii Stewart, taking back the narrative from the tabloids, working with SAW, and SO-MACHO-MORE in this epic episode!Sinitta's Socials:Twitter: https://twitter.com/sinittaofficialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesinittaofficial/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesinittaofficialWebsite: https://www.sinitta.com/Sinitta Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3EAXAwVqUa6EV1bwVRa1AR?si=9b14ede652814c4b Dick Whittington (2023-24 Pantomime) Tickets: https://www.eshertheatre.com/panto Spencer: https://twitter.com/SpencerSher_Charlie/Tarzan/Hunchback tickets: https://www.tuacahn.org/Juxtaposing Metal with Musicals - joined by iconic guests from the worlds of Music, Broadway, Hollywood, and more! https://www.thetonastontales.com/listen -- https://www.patreon.com/bloomingtheatricals - https://twitter.com/thrashntreasurehttps://linktr.ee/thrashntreasure*****Help support Thrash 'n Treasure and keep us on-air, PLUS go on a fantastical adventure at the same time!Grab your copy of The Tonaston Tales by AW, and use the code TNT20 when you check out for 20% off eBooks and Paperbacks!https://www.thetonastontales.com/bookstore - TNT20 ***** ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Fun Fables are a collection of classic children's audio stories, fairy tales, fables and nursery rhymes that are fun and educational. Perfect for bedtime stories and car trips.  The episodes have all the key elements of the tradition tales but at the same time are unique and add a bit of humour along the way. In this episode: Dick Whittington (otherwise known as Dick Witty) and his cat (otherwise known as Kitty) travel to London expecting to find roads made of gold. Email: hello@funfablespodcast.com Website: www.funfablespodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kinderlingkids Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kinderlingkids/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kinderlingkids Created and produced by: Josh Newth Narrated by: The Narrator Man Published by KinderlingSee omny.fm/listener for privacy information.

Dick Whittington - who died 600 years ago this month - is a familiar name to generations of pantomime goers. But Richard Whittington's real life was far more compelling than the theatrical story suggests. He was a civic reformer, an enemy of corruption, the author of an extraordinary social legacy, who contributed to Henry V's victory at Agincourt, building works at Westminster Abbey, and to London's ceaseless development.In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis is joined by biographer Michael McCarthy, to trace Whittington's life - from his arrival in London as a young boy to his death in 1423. This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.We've teamed up with Tripsmiths to provide our History Hit subscribers the opportunity to join Matt Lewis, on a 2 night break to delve into the story of King Richard III. You'll be travelling through 500 years of history to explore his life, death, and rediscovery. Go to historyhit.com/leicester to book now.If you're enjoying this podcast and are looking for more fascinating Medieval content then subscribe to our Medieval Monday newsletter here >If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android > or Apple store > Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nick is joined by performer Dee Tails who performed many creatures and droids for Lucasfilm in recent years including appearing as the troll Falken in Willow, L1 in Rogue One a Star Wars Story, the Pike Quay Tolsite in Solo A Star Wars Story and Slowen Lo in The Last Jedi - just to name a few. He shares his story of how he got to where he is today and the role that Star Wars played in his life.The Streaming Star Wars Network brings content to #StarWars Fans of all ages and generations. With Around the Galaxy, we bring you that magic moment when Star Wars fans meet for the first time. On Podcast of the Whills, we take a deep dive into the canon or a particular aspect of the saga. And our LIVE Friday night call-in talk show, Force Connect, looks at the latest in news and conversation in the Star Wars universe. From #disneyplus content, to comics to news and rumors, Chris, Pete and Nick have you covered! www.StreamingStarWars.comTikTok: @TheSSWNetworkInstagram: @TheSSWNetworkFacebook.com/StreamingStarWarsTwitter: @TheSSWNetwork & @ATGcastPatreon.com/StreamingStarWars (c) 2023 Pete in the Seat StudiosFrom IMDB:Dee Tails is a rising British trained actor who got his start in an RnB Band called MN8 signed to Columbia Records topping the U.K/E.U charts in the 90's, and were also added to the Bad Boys movie soundtrack. They were soon requested by Janet Jackson to join her on her 1995 European tour, while having several tours of their own as Britain's Biggest All Male Black boy band of the 90's.Soon after the huge success of band Dee found himself finally on the West End Stage performing in Shakespeare's Macbeth and Romeo And Juliet. He was also booked to reprise such roles as The Genie Of The Lamp and Dick Whittington's Cat Tommy, in Christmas Theatre Pantomime productions for the Hiss and Boo Company, as his first creature.After landing an exclusive 2011, Nescafé commercial in Cape Town, S. Africa. Dee went on to perform in his first feature film 2015's Art Ache a low budget film where he plays a wing man/best friend role to the lead, creating the humor in those scenes and in less than a year after acting in that film found himself head hunted by Neal Scanlon's CFX Department for an extremely secret 2015, Disney and Lucasfilm project, that went on to become Star Wars The Force Awakens directed by J.J Abrams.Immediately following this Dee was then tracked down by ITV who were interested in him performing on their 2015's big budget new show Jekyll and Hyde, as the reoccurring Harbinger (half man half dog creature) The show ran for one season but in that time his character proved to be a keeper and great for exposition.But Disney and Lucasfilm weren't quite finished with Dee just yet. It was while performing on the set of The Force Awakens and in between takes that caught the attention of both Neal and J.J realizing that they had access to an actor who could perform through whatever suit they threw at him. Which caused them to not only cast him in 2016's Rogue One as L1 where he was originally going to play the main droid K2so (until further development required a bigger name) but then going on to cast him in supporting roles in 2017's The Last Jedi as Slowen Lo and ultimately 2018's Solo, playing his biggest role to date within Star Wars as Quay Tolsite.In 2018 even one of the biggest Games in the world requested Dee to step in and cover a performance of its biggest character Cayde-6 in Destiny 2 Forsaken landing him his first ever gaming performance courtesy of Bungie.It's very clear to see that this versatile up and coming actor is one to watch for, as validated by some of the biggest studios in the world of entertainment and would be a huge asset to any production.

Come check out Dick - was he everything we were led to believe?! Thrice Lord Mayor of London? Surely not... We talk about Dick Whittington in pantomimes and stories, and we think we know him. How much of it is true? Join me and my guest Simon Whitehouse to find out if any of it is accurate! Find Simon - on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bluebadgesimon Although good luck ever getting him to respond to you!! He's so busy! Visit https://www.ladieswholondon.com for more information. Get in touch! Instagram; @ladieswholondonpodcast Email; ladieswholondon@gmail.com Websites; www.ladieswholondon.com Alex's guiding website - www.alexlacey.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you grew up watching pantomimes, then you'll likely be familiar with the story of Richard “Dick” Whittington – the poor country boy who ends up becoming three-times Lord Mayor of London. But did you know that Whittington was a real person? Michael McCarthy tells Jon Bauckham the tale of the wealthy merchant who inspired the tale, and explains why – on the 600th anniversary of his death – he deserves to be remembered today. (Ad) Michael McCarthy is the author of Citizen of London: Richard Whittington – The Boy Who Would Be Mayor (Hurst, 2022). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fcitizen-of-london%2Fmichael-mccarthy%2F9781787387911 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The acclaimed theatre, television and film director, Dominic Cooke, chats to us about his new production of Euripides's classic tragedy, ‘Medea', starring Oscar-nominated Sophie Okonedo as Medea, spurned wife of Jason, hellbent on brutal and bloody revenge. Dominic explains why all the male parts are being played by Ben Daniels and tells us why he decided to stage it at Soho Place, the first new purpose built theatre in the West End for 50 years. Most people will know the devastating, bloody climax to the story, and Dominic tells us why he wanted to direct such a harrowing play and elaborates on what Sophie Okonedo brings to the role. We finish this episode with a tribute to Kit Hesketh-Harvey, the brilliant, wickedly funny entertainer, writer who has died suddenly. Kit and McConnel, his regular cabaret act with musician James McConnel, has been delighting and outraging audiences here and abroad for many years. As our guest twice, we celebrate Kit's extraordinary career and treat you to a clip of him talking to Ed and me about the joys – and importance - of pantomime and playing King Rat in Dick Whittington.

RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey is joined again by Vidar Hjardeng MBE, Inclusion and Diversity Consultant for ITV News across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands for the next in his regular Connect Radio theatre reviews. This week as we are still just inside panto season Vidar was reviewing the relaxed performance of Dick Whittington at the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre on Wednesday 25 January 2023 at 12 noon with audio description by professional Audio Describers Julia Grundy and Jonathan Nash. Birmingham Hippodrome's panto was paved with gold, as Marti Pellow returned to Birmingham as The Ratman in the ultimate pantomime adventure, Dick Whittington. Marti was joined by Birmingham panto legend Matt Slack, TV celebrity Dr Ranj and actress, singer and television personality Suzanne Shaw in this star-studded, action-packed adventure full of laughter, music and dance. Vidar began by explaining to Toby what a relaxed performance is all about and how the show is made more accessible and friendly to everyone with audio description, British sign language, greater lighting levels in the auditorium, chill out spaces and a slight change to parts of the show too. You can find out more about what a relaxed performance is all about by visiting the Official London Theatre website – https://officiallondontheatre.com/news/what-is-a-relaxed-performance/ (Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)

Mrs Fitzwarren teaches Dick, Lucky and Alice how to spot a rat.

Bow the Pigeon sings a song to try and stop Dick Whittington leaving London.

Stilton, Turnip and Sprout march and sing to convince everyone that rats are great.

London dances and sing as the excitement builds for Christmas.

From a Norwich workhouse to performing as "The American Voltigeur" - Pablo Fanque, or William Darby as he was born, was a star of 1830s circus in Britain. Nearly a hundred years later one of the names topping the bill was Lillian Leitzel. Kate Holmes is also an aerial performer and she shares her research into female aerialists with John Woolf, author of Black Victorians. Plus the presenter Shahidha Bari is also joined by New Generation Thinker Naomi Paxton who compares researching early music hall and pantomime performers with the experience of taking part in a professional panto and by novelist Lianne Dillsworth whose novel Theatre of Marvels imagines a Black British actress who performs at Crillick's Theatre as the "Great Amazonia". Producer: Sofie Vilcins Black Victorians: Hidden in History by John Woolf and Keshia N Abraham is out now. John Woolf has also published The Wonders: : Lifting the Curtain on the Freak Show, Circus and Victorian Age Naomi Paxton made a Sunday Feature for Radio 3 about suffragette theatre and Punch and Judy https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008qdl She is now playing the baddie, Queen Rat in Dick Whittington at The Theatre Chipping Norton Lianne Dillsworth's Theatre of Marvels is out now. You can find more programmes on Free Thinking about Victorian life Oskar Jensen and Fern Riddell are amongst Matthew Sweet's guests in a conversation about Victorian Streets https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0017v2s Kathryn Hughes talks Victorian Bodies and George Eliot https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088jl64 How the Victorians tried to make us sound the same looks at ideas about accents and reading https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fng4 Matthew Sweet looks at the career of impresario Philip Astley and 250 years of the circus https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09k8gyw How we talk about sex and female bodies, including Saartje Baartman https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000f5n6 Swing High short documentary film was directed by Jack Cummings, and was produced by Metro Goldwyn Mayer in 1932.

Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth interview with Peter Noone, Superstar Lead Singer of British Band “Herman's Hermits” About Harvey's guest: Today's special guest, Peter Noone, is a singer-songwriter, musician, actor and radio host who's been entertaining audiences since he was a child actor on “Coronation Street”.   After studying at the Manchester School of Music, where he won the Outstanding Young Musician Award, he became an international superstar at the age of FIFTEEN, as lead singer of the phenomenally popular British pop band, “Herman's Hermits”, selling over 60 million records and 7 gold albums, with 14 gold hit singles including "I'm into Something Good", "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat", "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter", "Silhouettes", "Wonderful World", "I'm Henry the 8th, I Am", "There's a Kind of Hush", "The End of the World", and many more.   “Herman's Hermits” were twice named by Cashbox magazine as "Entertainer of the Year", and they opened the 1970 Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium.   Our guest has appeared on hundreds of TV shows including Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Dean Martin, Sonny and Cher, “Laverne and Shirley”, “Quantum Leap”, “Married with Children”, and of course, as “Paddington” on the ever-popular “As the World Turns”.   And he's starred in TV movies including “The Canterville Ghost”, “Pinocchio”, and “Dick Whittington”, as well as a number of feature films including “Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter”, “Hold On!”, “When The Boys Meet The Girls”, “Never Too Young to Rock”, and the unforgettable “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band”.  As a solo artist, he recorded the hit singles, “Oh! You Pretty Things", "Meet Me on the Corner Down at Joe's Cafe", and "I Think I'm Over Getting Over You", as well as his solo album, “One of the Glory Boys”.   He also conquered London's West End AND Broadway, playing the role of the dashing young hero, “Frederic”, in “The Pirates of Penzance”, which he took on tour all over the world.  And when he's not performing concerts before sold-out audiences, he's hosting his own immensely popular show on Sirius XM's 60's Gold station. For more interviews and podcasts go to: https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com/ https://www.facebook.com/PeterNooneHH/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBtp_gpEjO8&list=RDEMM2OWP0ie6DKozYtIXg6kJg&start_radio=1https://instagram.com/peternoone #PeterNoone   #HermansHermits   #harveybrownstoneinterviews

“Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London.”

Today we're joined by Olivier nominated original Six Queen Jarnéia Richard-Noel (also known as Jaye'J) who is currently starring in the London production of Millennials by Elliot Clay at The Other Palace. Jarnéia originated the role of Catherine of Aaragon in Six The Musical. As part of the original cast, Jarnéia took the musical from its first tour, to a sell out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to the West End where she stayed with the show for almost three years at the Arts Theatre, Lyric Theatre and Vaudeville Theatre. Alongside her fellow OG queens, Jarnéia was nominated for the 2019 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical. Earlier this year, Jarnéia and the original West End cast of Six reunited for three sell-out performances at Hampton Court Palace, before shooting a filmed movie of Six at the Vaudeville Theatre. After training at the Urdang Academy, Jarnéia made her professional debut as a singer/dancer for P&O Cruises. After leaving Six, she played Alice in Dick Whittington at the Norwich Theatre Royal before joining the UK tour of Hairspray as a swing for the Dynamites.From six to seven, Jarnéia is part of the girl group SVN alongside the original West End cast of Six. Following the release of multiple singles, SVN recently played their debut headline show at the O2 Academy Islington.In this episode, Jaye'J discusses her path into theatre, her journey with Six and why she's excited to be showing a different side of her talents in Millennials.  Millenials runs at The Other Palace until Sunday 4th September. Hosted by Andrew Tomlins. @AndrewTomlins32  Thanks for listening! Email: andrew@westendframe.co.uk Visit westendframe.co.uk for more info about our podcasts.  

Fresh from her run in Cinderella, Georgina is starring in the brand new British musical Millennials at The Other Palace Studio. Written and composed by Elliot Clay, Millennials turns up the microphone on the lives, the losses and the frustrations of young people in the modern world. After completing her training at Arts Ed, Georgina made her stage debut starring as Alice in Dick Whittington at the National Theatre. She then joined the original cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella at the Gillian Lynne Theatre as alternate Cinderella which saw her play the role two performances each week. Georgina received a Black British Theatre Award nomination in 2021 for Best Recent Graduate. Elsewhere, her workshop credits include Mandela (Young Vic) and The Enormous Crocodile (Roald Dahl Story Company). Millennials runs at The Other Palace Studio until 7th August 2022. Visit www.theotherpalace.co.uk for info and tickets. Hosted by Andrew Tomlins. @AndrewTomlins32 Thanks for listening! Email: andrew@westendframe.co.uk Visit westendframe.co.uk for more info about our podcasts. 

Who put the arrow in Harold's eye? Why did Dick Whittington have a cat? Where did the pointed arch come from? These are all questions that the curious and energetic antiquarians of the late 18th and early 19th centuries asked, and often managed to answer.In the third episode of her series looking at the way history was transformed in the Romantic period, Rosemary Hill talks to Roey Sweet about the new breed of multi-disciplinary investigators, who, in the years after the French Revolution, studied everything from woollen threads to tombstones in their efforts to imagine the past.Buy Rosemary Hill's book, Time's Witness, from the London Review Bookshop here: https://lrb.me/hillSubscribe to the LRB and get 79% off the cover price plus a free tote bag: https://lrb.me/history See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tim Jones leads the London Culture Mile, an initiative of international significance. This is the UK capitol's most advanced cultural precinct, at the heart of the city's financial district, connecting world class institutions such as the famous performance space, the Barbican Centre, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London Museum and the London Symphony Orchestra. Hosted by the City of London Corporation, the unique council whose history includes once having Dick Whittington as Mayor, the Culture Mile initiative has under Tim Jones been working to create a vibrant area of inner London where whether in the public or private sectors or in the local community the value of creativity is shared by all. In this podcast Tim Jones talks about the main focus of the Mile and how COVID actually galvanised their engagement with the local community and business, taking collaboration to a higher level. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"if we go back to Roman times..."

If you were called to give a gift to a king across the sea what would you choose? Discover the answer with Isabelle Hauser sharing Csenge Zalka telling "The King and the Mit-mit Bird" and Danyda Feldman telling "Dick Whittington". Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/storystorypodcast)

Every year, panto season rolls around again, and amid the usual mixture of fairy tales and family favourites, we often find several versions of Dick Whittington around the country. Unlike Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, Dick Whittington professes to be based on a real person. Indeed, Richard Whittington was a real historical figure. But cats are mysteriously absent from his biography, and the rags-to-riches story from the pantomime is somewhat different in reality. So what is his legend, and why did it become such a popular retelling of a real person's history? Let's find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore. Find the images, videos and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/dick-whittington/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a Patron for bonus exclusive episodes at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Enjoyed this episode and want to show your appreciation? Buy Icy a coffee to say 'thanks' at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Tweet Icy at https://twitter.com/IcySedgwick Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/