Podcasts about Lord Chamberlain

In Shakespeare's plays, he talks about “Travel” or “Traveller” just under 80 times, including references that suggest people travelled by foot and by horse, the Queen Mab speech by Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet talks about a wagon used for transportation, and there are references that indicate there were items which would add comfort to someone's travel, and one reference from Comedy of Errors talks about being “stiff and weary” from long travel. We also know that in a personal connection to William Shakespeare the man, playing companies often travelled around England visiting various inns and establishments of their patrons who hired out a production, this applied to the Lord Chamberlain's Men as well. With all of this travel, it begs the question of exactly what getting around England, particularly in a large group, might have entailed. What kind of vehicles would have been traversing the cities and countryside for Shakespeare's England? Were there paved roads, dirt paths, or maybe cobblestone streets? What about rules of travelling such as stop signs, round abouts, or other kinds of travel infrastructure? Whose job was it to decide where a road would be put, and then who carried the responsibility of maintenance of the paths? Could you get a traffic ticket in Elizabethan England? Here today to help us answer these questions, including sharing with us what kind of vehicles travelled along England's roadways in Shakespeare's lifetime, details about what the roads were like, and the rules for travelling them, is our guest, Robert Bucholz.   Get bonus episodes on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He was the grandson of Mary Boleyn, a trusted courtier of Elizabeth I, and a patron of Shakespeare's acting company—but history has largely overlooked George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon.     Born into Boleyn blood, Carey rose through the ranks of Elizabethan society, earning knighthood, securing key military positions, and even becoming Lord Chamberlain, one of the most powerful roles at court. But one of his greatest legacies? His patronage of The Lord Chamberlain's Men—the very company that brought Shakespeare's plays to life!    From Hamlet to Much Ado About Nothing, Carey's influence helped shape the golden age of English theatre. But how did he rise to power? And why has his name faded into history?     Listen now to uncover the fascinating story of George Carey, the nobleman who helped bring Shakespeare's works to the world!   #OnThisDay #TudorHistory #Shakespeare #ElizabethanTheatre #BoleynBlood #GeorgeCarey #RoyalCourt #TheLordChamberlainsMen #HistoryLover

The Curtain Theatre was built in 1577 in a section of London called Shoreditch. Constructed only about 200 yards, or 600 feet, away from The Theater, which is the building James and Richard Burbage built as the first purpose built theater in London. For context, this distance about half a city block in Manhattan, and little less than 1 city block in Chicago. In 1585, the Burbages took advantage of this close proximity and struck a deal with the owner of The Curtain to use it as a second performance venue. From 1597-1599, The Curtain was home to the Lord Chamberlain's Men and saw the staging of some of Shakespeare's most famous plays including Romeo and Juliet, and Henry IV Part 1 and 2. The Curtain also staged contemporary plays by John Marston and even one production of Ben Jonson's Every Man in His Humour in 1598, which is a significant production for Shakespeare history, since William Shakespeare was listed as a member of the cast, making The Curtain theater a place we know Shakespeare would have performed himself. There are no records of the Curtain after 1627, so historians are unclear what happened to cause the theater space to be closed down, but a recent development of a square in Shoreditch is bringing The Curtain back to life by having uncovered remains of The Curtain theater that have not only been preserved, but are being showcased as the new Museum of Shakespeare in London, that will allow patrons to literally stand where Shakespeare once stood. Here today to share with us the details behind the dig, and how you can visit the Museum of Shakespeare, is our guest, and lead archaeologist for the excavation with the Museum of London Archaeology, Heather Knight.  Get bonus episodes on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tiger, Tiger: His Life, as It's Never Been Told Before by James Patterson   James Patterson--the only major author to have nine holes-in-one--gets inside the mystery of Tiger Woods as only he can. How did Tiger become the G.O.A.T., what drove him to fall so spectacularly, and how has he made his way back to the pinnacle of golf? In Patterson's hands, Tiger's story is an unputdownable thriller.  On April 13, 1986, ten-year-old Tiger Woods watches his idol, Jack Nicklaus, win his record sixth Masters.  Just over a decade later, chants of "Ti-ger, Ti-ger!" ring out as the twenty- one-year-old wins his first Green Jacket.  He blazes an incredible path, winning fourteen major titles (second only to Nicklaus himself) by the time he's thirty- three, smashing records and raising standards.  Then come multiple public scandals and potentially career-ending injuries.  The once-assured champion becomes an all-American underdog. "YouTube golfer" is how his two children know their father--winless since 2013--until he wins the 2019 Masters, his fifteenth major, before their eyes.  But the story doesn't end there.  Tiger, Tiger is the first full-scale Woods biography of the decade. In James Patterson's hands, this story is a hole-in- one thriller.    By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult  In 1581, Emilia Bassano—like most young women of her day—is allowed no voice of her own. But as the Lord Chamberlain's mistress, she has access to all theater in England, and finds a way to bring her work to the stage secretly. And yet, creating some of the world's greatest dramatic masterpieces comes at great cost: by paying a man for the use of his name, she will write her own out of history.  In the present, playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. Although the challenges are different four hundred years later, the playing field is still not level for women in theater. Would Melina—like Emilia—be willing to forfeit her credit as author, just for a chance to see her work performed?  Told in intertwining narratives, this sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire asks what price each woman is willing to pay to see their work live on—even if it means they will be forgotten.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I saw Hamlet performed by The Lord Chamberlain's Men at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire on June 22, 2024. This theater company performs Shakespeare plays the way they were done back in the Bard's day: no microphones, minimal sets, props, and costumes, and an all male cast. It was a fascinating experience to see Hamlet performed … Continue reading "141 – Hamlet Unplugged Review"

Among the male players who performed thousands of new plays in the Elizabethan repertory, the most famous were Richard Burbage and Will Kempe, members of the company known first as the Lord Chamberlain's Men and later the King's Men, the company of William Shakespeare. In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Siobhan Keenan to find out more about these two extraordinary actors for whom Shakespeare created some of his most enduring characters.This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcastEnjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code TUDORS - sign up here.You can take part in our listener survey here.

Episode 122:The fourth and final part of the biography of Shakespeare.The rise of Shakespeare as actor and playwright for the Lord Chamberlain's Men.‘The Comedy of Errors' performed at Grey's Inn, ‘the night of errors.'The influence of the inns of court.Plays for special occasions.Francis Meres' comments on Shakespeare.Shakespeare's involvement in a legal summons.The move from The Theatre to The Globe.The opening of The Globe.The sharers at The Globe.Shakespeare lodging on Silver Street and his involvement with the Mountjoy family.Shakespeare's interests in Stratford-Upon-Avon.The death of Hamnet Shakespeare.New Place – Shakespeare's home in Stratford.Shakespeare's business interests in Stratford.The accession of James 1st and the creation of the King's Men.The King's Men's record of performance at Court.The King's Men take on the indoor Blackfriars Theatre.Shakespeare buys a house near the Blackfriars Theatre.The last works with collaborators.The burning down and rebuilding of The Globe.The last years in Stratford.The death of Shakespere.Support the podcast at:www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.comwww.ko-fi.com/thoetpwww.patreon.com/thoetpThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

The lost years of Shakespeare's early life have given space for some myths and legends to grow over the centuries, before we can trace a few facts of his early life in London.The myth of Shakespeare and the Crab-tree.The myth of Shakespeare the deer slayer.Nicholas Rowe – the first editor of Shakespeare.The Queen's men in Stratford.The myth of Shakespeare's early days in London.Was Shakespeare's first London home in Shoreditch?Tracing Shakespeare's moves through London via tax records.London in the late 15th century.The ‘upstart Crow' commentShakespeare's growing popularity with the Henry 6th plays and others.Shakespeare the poet: Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.Shakespeare finds a patron – The Earl of SouthamptonThe formation of the Lord Chamberlain's Men and Shakespeare's part in it.Support the podcast at:www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.comwww.ko-fi.com/thoetpwww.patreon.com/thoetpThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

When Saved was banned in 1965 by the Lord Chamberlain's office, the Royal Court theatre turned itself into a private club to allow performances of Edward Bond's drama to be staged. This may be the most famous incident in the career of the playwright, who has died aged 89, but he was the author of over 50 plays, including several written for young people to perform, and others designed for broadcast on BBC Radio and he also worked on film scripts, wrote poems and long prefaces to his works. Joining Matthew Sweet to discuss his life and writing are the playwright Mark Ravenhill, actor Kenneth Cranham who starred in a 1969 production of Saved, Jen Harvie who is a Professor of Contemporary Drama at Queen Mary, London, Tony Coult, a writer and teacher of drama who has run Edward Bond's website for the past five years and written introductions to his play texts, and Claudette Bryanston, who commissioned The Children for a performance in a local Cambridge school with teenagers acting alongside adults. Producer: Robyn Read

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 1080, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Patrons Of The Arts 1: 7 National Medals of Arts have gone to corporate patrons of the arts, like Exxon, Sara Lee and this card company. Hallmark. 2: In 1603 Shakespeare's company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, switched to royal patronage and to this name. the King's Men. 3: Gustave Caillebotte was the main backer of several of these exhibitions, and his own work is kind of in that style. Impressionist. 4: Luciano of this colors-ful Italian clothing company is a noted arts patron through a center called Fabrica. Benetton. 5: As well as the Sistine Chapel, named for Sixtus, Pope Paul III got Michelangelo to fresco this chapel, named for himself. the Pauline Chapel. Round 2. Category: Collegiate Movie Titles 1: Demi Moore was Esmeralda's voice in this epic from Disney. The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 2: Coach K knows all about this 2005 Johnny Knoxville film, based on a TV series. The Dukes of Hazzard. 3: We found Matthew Fox; he was in this 2006 movie with Matthew McConnaughey. We Are Marshall. 4: The title of this Homeric film is also a Sun Belt Conference school located in Alabama. Troy. 5: This 1984 Spielberg sequel had nothing to do with a Philadelphia university. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Round 3. Category: Tv Series Episodes 1: "McGarrett is Missing". Hawaii Five-O. 2: "A Bionic Christmas Carol". The Six Million Dollar Man. 3: "The Ghost of General Lee". The Dukes of Hazzard. 4: "The Gamesters of Triskelion". Star Trek. 5: "Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man". The X-Files. Round 4. Category: The B.G.'S. With B.G. in quotation marks 1: In 2013 this Bee Gee launched his Mythology tour in tribute to his late brothers. Barry Gibb. 2: Classic ones include Parcheesi and Sorry!. board games. 3: In 2013 one of these worn by Jackie Robinson, possibly in the 1955 and '57 World Series, sold for $373,002 at auction. a baseball glove. 4: It's how to say good morning or good day in Italian. buon giorno. 5: This colorful Kentucky city made Forbes' list of the 25 best places to retire in 2014. Bowling Green. Round 5. Category: Taekwondo 1: (Zee James presents the clue.) Taekwondo means the art of kicking and punching, and it's renowned for powerful kicks like this turning one with the circular structure in its name. roundhouse. 2: (Zee James presents the clue.) A punch delivered on the front foot side of a stance is called an obverse punch; one delivered from the back foot side is called this. reverse. 3: (Zee James presents the clue.) Blue represents the negative, red the positive in the Taegeuk, the symbol of this country that in 2018 named taekwondo its official sport. South Korea. 4: (Zee James presents the clue.) Kung fu master Bruce Lee advised students to be like this natural substance; taekwondo students learn to emulate it in the flowing movements of the form called Taegeuk Yook Jang. water. 5: (Zee James presents the clue.) Used for both offense and defense, the 1-legged stance, named for this wading bird, can be used to unleash a powerful side kick. crane. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/ AI Voices used

In this episode we discuss the theft of a building by William Shakespeare's troupe the Lord Chamberlain's Men, bridges and barges, and death by planet.

Introduction: Minutes 0 to 6:00 We'll have episodes out for the next two weeks and we'll be off for two or more weeks for the holidays. Last week I named the podcast #162 when it was actually #163. I watched the documentaries The Bleeding Edge on Netflix about the medical device industry and Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God on HBO. Chandra recommends Fair Play on Netflix and she loves the second season of The Gilded Age. Royals: Minutes 6:00 to 28:15 Chandra tweeted last Saturday that she had signed an NDA to read Omid Scobie's Endgame and that Scobie lays out how “none of the left-behind Windsors can manage their way out of a paper bag.” The Telegraph ran a story on that claiming that Omid was sending his book to “Sussex Squad influencers.” We're floored by how good and thorough Endgame is and by Scobie's pithy cutting observations. It's an excellent book, well written and entertaining. It's a great read for both royal followers and for people with a casual interest. Endgame has so much more of Scobie's voice than Finding Freedom and it's so impressive. The British media is mischaracterizing Scobie's book and focusing on the wrong things. They called him misogynistic for mildly criticizing Kate's worth ethic. One of the big stories out of Endgame is that Meghan mentioned two names of royal racists who inquired about her baby's skin color when she was corresponding with King Charles after the Oprah interview. If you read the transcript of the Oprah interview, it's clear that there were “several conversations” about it, both when Harry first started dating Meghan and again when she was pregnant with Archie. We first heard about Meghan's correspondence with Charles earlier this year. Chandra thinks that this was leaked by Buckingham Palace as a way to explain why Meghan didn't go to the Coronation. Scobie was careful and didn't name the royal racists in Endgame, however the Dutch translation of the book named Charles. Scobie said in an interview that Fleet Street journalists were aware of the names of the two royal racists for some time. He has said it's not true that his book had the names in it. Piers Morgan claimed that Kate was named in that inaccurate translation too. William's press secretary Christian Jones bargained with renowned blackmailer and abuser Don Wootton to bury the story about William's affair with Rose Hanbury in exchange for negative stories about the Sussexes. Wootton is the one who published the details about the Sussexit in early 2020. When Harry tried to call out Jones for leaking details to Wootton the firm protected Jones over Harry. We heard about this in the Byline Times report in late October and Scobie has more details and a timeline. Jones leaked the news about the Sussexit as the statement was being written. Harry was threatened in 2020 by The Lord Chamberlain, the most senior officer in the royal household, who said Harry would face severe consequences if he didn't back down. Harry's security and financial support was later withdrawn although we wonder about the timeline. Piers Morgan also wrote in his column in The Sun that “Harry would do well to heed the warning of Dionysius the Tyrant who was left a broken man by his constant warmongering and got finally bumped off by his own fed-up family.” He's basically threatening that Harry will be murdered! Piers is close with Camilla. Morgan also mentioned Samantha Markle in that column, and we think he's behind her lawsuit against Meghan. Comments of the Week: Minutes 28:15 to end Chandra's comment of the week is from Crowhood on the post about Linda Evangelista not wanting to hear a man breathing. My comment of the week is from Concern Fae on Rosie's post where Jennifer Garner was showing what's in her backpack. Thanks for listening bitches!

HelloWelcome to Life Points with Ronda, the podcast that helps you navigate life's challenges with practical wisdom and actionable advice. where we discuss important topics that affect our everyday lives. Today, I'm speaking to the collective and our topic for today is: "The Intriguing Controversy: Did William Shakespeare Plagiarize Amelia Bassano?"In the literary world, a handful of debates persist despite the passage of centuries, and one of the most fascinating among them is the authorship question surrounding the works of William Shakespeare. One particular theory that has been gaining traction in recent years suggests that a woman named Amelia Bassano (also known as Emilia Lanier), often overlooked in traditional literature history, may be the true author of some of Shakespeare's most renowned plays and sonnets. Here, we delve into this contentious topic, examining the evidence and arguments that have been presented.Amelia Bassano, a woman of Jewish-Italian descent and a known writer in the Elizabethan era, has now been placed at the center of this controversy. Bassano was one of the first women to publish a volume of poetry, "Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum," in 1611. While her work was largely disregarded for centuries, recent studies have illuminated her potential role in the creation of what are traditionally considered Shakespeare's works.The argument for Bassano as the real "Shakespeare" stems from several key pieces of evidence. Firstly, Bassano's documented life experiences and knowledge align more closely with the content of Shakespeare's works than the Bard's own known history. For example, Bassano was educated, multilingual, and was likely familiar with court life and Italy - experiences reflected in Shakespeare's plays.Secondly, there is the matter of Bassano's unique voice and themes that echo throughout Shakespeare's works. Bassano, who was raised in the household of Henry Carey, first Lord Hunsdon and Queen Elizabeth I's Lord Chamberlain, had access to a world few women of her time were privy to. Her poetry reflects an intimate knowledge of these settings and circumstances, knowledge that is mirrored in many of Shakespeare's plays.The most compelling argument for Bassano's authorship is the alignment of her personal circumstances and experiences with the themes in Shakespeare's plays. Bassano, a woman of Jewish heritage living in a Christian society, often infused her poetry with a sense of alienation and discrimination. These themes are pervasive in Shakespeare's works, most notably in "The Merchant of Venice."Despite these intriguing arguments, it's important to remember that the evidence remains largely circumstantial. There are no definitive documents or direct evidence linking Bassano to Shakespeare's plays. Scholars who argue for Bassano's authorship often rely on textual analysis and historical context, which, while compelling, don't provide irrefutable proof.The theory of Shakespeare's plagiarism or the proposition of Bassano as the 'true' author, therefore, needs to be approached with a healthy dose of skepticism. Yet, regardless of whether or not Bassano penned Shakespeare's works, recognizing her as an influential figure of the Elizabethan literary scene is long overdue. Her poetry, which so often tackled themes of gender and power dynamics, started conversations that are still relevant today.In conclusion, the debate around ShakespSupport the showhttps://chat.openai.com/g/g-8E47AuJfB-life-points-assistanthttps://FaceBook.com/Lifepointswithronda1https://youtube.com/@lifepointswithronda2968https://TikTok.com/@lifepointswithrondahttps://Instagram.com/@lifepointswithrondahttps://Patreon.com/@lifepointswithrondahttps://Lifepointswithronda.com

Today's episode of The Other Stories has been sponsored by Voice123, the world's first voice over marketplace with over 30,000 projects of all genres flowing through annually. voice123.co/TheOtherStories.The Rescue'A hero makes a final assault on Faraway Keep, where the Lord Chamberlain has locked away the heir to the throne.'Written and narrated by Andy Conduit-Turner (https://twitter.com/andyctwrites)Produced by James Barnett AKA Jimmy Horrors (https://www.JamesBarnettCreative.com)With an opening theme composed by Duncan Muggleton (https://soundcloud.com/duncanmuggleton)Based on the original music by Thom Robson (https://www.thomrobsonmusic.com/)Additional music in today's episode has been provided by Dark Fantasy Studio (http://darkfantasystudio.com/)And sound effects provided by Freesound.org and Zapsplat.comThe episode illustration was provided by Luke Spooner of Carrion House (https://carrionhouse.com/)A quick thanks to our community managers, Joshua Boucher and Jasmine ArchAnd Joshua Boucher and Carolyn O'Brien for helping with our submission reading.And to Ben Errington for creating a social media fairy tale, each tweet a new adventure, every post a happy-ever-after.Andy Conduit-Turner is a writer, editor and podcaster from the UK. You'll find Andy himself @ AndyCTWrites on Twitter.James Barnett is the producer of the Night's End podcast. www.JamesBarnettCreative.comJoin TOS+ to access over 75 exclusive episodes, get regular stories in higher quality audio, a week early, and ad-free, at https://theotherstories.net/plus/Support the show, get audiobooks, and more at https://www.patreon.com/hawkandcleaverJoin our communities for book clubs, movie clubs, writing exercises, and more at https://theotherstories.net/community/Leave a voicemail or get in touch at https://theotherstories.net/submissionsCheck out our writing courses at https://theotherstories.net/courses/Grab some merch at https://gumroad.com/hawkandcleaverThe Other Stories is a production of the story studio, Hawk & Cleaver, and is brought to you with a Creative Commons – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. Don't change it. Don't sell it. But by all means… share the hell out of it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bram Stoker's Dracula was first introduced to the world NOT via his canonical novel, but rather in the pages of a seldom-performed - and by all accounts appalling - play-reading at London's Lyceum Theatre on 18th May, 1897. The stage version was not intended to reach a mass audience; but was rather a clever wheeze of Stoker's to ensure he was recognised as the creator of his iconic characters - as the script needed to be rubber-stamped by the Lord Chamberlain's office prior to performance. In this episode, Olly, Arion and Rebecca reveal the copyright battle Stoker's widow nonetheless endured with the makers of ‘Romanian knock-off' ‘Nosferatu', consider the benefits of Stoker's ‘found footage' approach to authorship, and reveal how an incident in Rhode Island, of all places, may have inspired Stoker to write his play... Further Reading: • Some pages from Stoker's manuscript at the British Library: https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/bram-stokers-stage-adaptation-of-dracula# • Watch ‘Nosferatu', on Timeless Classic Movies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC6jFoYm3xs • Stoker's life at the Lyceum in ‘Henry Irving & Bram Stoker: A Working Relationship' from The Irving Society: https://www.theirvingsociety.org.uk/henry-irving-bram-stoker-a-working-relationship/ ‘Why am I hearing a rerun?' Every Thursday is 'Throwback Thursday' on Today in History with the Retrospectors: running one repeat per week means we can keep up the quality of our independent podcast. Daily shows like this require a lot of work! But as ever we'll have something new for you tomorrow: podfollow.com/Retrospectors   Love the show? Join

Widge became an apprentice of The Lord Chamberlain's company!!!!!

It's new co-host time! Come and welcome our new Lady Who Londons into out little podcasting family! Join me - Alex - and for her first time in an official capacity, Fiona Lukas! We still miss Emily, and Fiona has big boots to fill, but we are starting out strongly with a look at the curious and bonkers world of theatre licensing, or 'when they banned the boob' (and other less obvious stuff!) How does the Lord Chamberlain (of all people!) link into what happens on London's famous stages? Find out here in Fiona's first OFFICIAL co-host episode! Woo hoo! Visit https://www.ladieswholondon.com for more information on this week's episode. Get in touch! Instagram; @ladieswholondonpodcast Email; ladieswholondon@gmail.com Websites; www.ladieswholondon.com Alex's guiding website - www.alexlacey.com Fiona's guiding website - https://britainsbestguides.org/guides/fiona-lukas/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Lord Chamberlain's Men is known as “Shakespeare's playing company” and was a group of actors for which Shakespeare wrote plays most of his career. By 1603, The Lord Chamberlain's Men were so popular that James I himself chose to patronize the company making it The King's Men. Today we are going to look at the man who made the company The Lord Chamberlain's Men, and that's Henry Carey, the First Lord Hudson, and the Lord Chamberlain who patronized The Lord Chamberlain's Men when it was founded by Elizabeth I in 1594. This week we are delighted to welcome historian Stephanie Kline to the show to share with us the life and history of Henry Carey and his role in the career of William Shakespeare.   Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We continue our look back at the movies released by independent distributor Vestron Pictures, focusing on their 1988 releases. ----more---- The movies discussed on this episode, all released by Vestron Pictures in 1988 unless otherwise noted, include: Amsterdamned (Dick Maas) And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim) The Beat (Paul Mones) Burning Secret (Andrew Birkin) Call Me (Sollace Mitchell) The Family (Ettore Scola) Gothic (Ken Russell, 1987) The Lair of the White Worm (Ken Russell) Midnight Crossing (Roger Holzberg) Paramedics (Stuart Margolin) The Pointsman (Jos Stelling) Salome's Last Dance (Ken Russell) Promised Land (Michael Hoffman) The Unholy (Camilo Vila) Waxwork (Anthony Hickox)   TRANSCRIPT   From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   At the end of the previous episode, Vestron Pictures was celebrating the best year of its two year history. Dirty Dancing had become one of the most beloved movies of the year, and Anna was becoming a major awards contender, thanks to a powerhouse performance by veteran actress Sally Kirkland. And at the 60th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the films of 1987, Dirty Dancing would win the Oscar for Best Original Song, while Anna would be nominated for Best Actress, and The Dead for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Costumes.   Surely, things could only go up from there, right?   Welcome to Part Two of our miniseries.   But before we get started, I'm issuing a rare mea culpa. I need to add another Vestron movie which I completely missed on the previous episode, because it factors in to today's episode. Which, of course, starts before our story begins.   In the 1970s, there were very few filmmakers like the flamboyant Ken Russell. So unique a visual storyteller was Russell, it's nigh impossible to accurately describe him in a verbal or textual manner. Those who have seen The Devils, Tommy or Altered States know just how special Russell was as a filmmaker. By the late 1980s, the hits had dried up, and Russell was in a different kind of artistic stage, wanting to make somewhat faithful adaptations of late 19th and early 20th century UK authors. Vestron was looking to work with some prestigious filmmakers, to help build their cache in the filmmaking community, and Russell saw the opportunity to hopefully find a new home with this new distributor not unlike the one he had with Warner Brothers in the early 70s that brought forth several of his strongest movies.   In June 1986, Russell began production on a gothic horror film entitled, appropriately enough, Gothic, which depicted a fictionalized version of a real life meeting between Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, John William Polidori and Claire Clairemont at the Villa Diodati in Geneva, hosted by Lord Byron, from which historians believe both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and John William Polidori's The Vampyre were inspired.   And you want to talk about a movie with a great cast. Gabriel Byrne plays Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Shelley, Natasha Richardson, in her first ever movie, as Mary Shelley, Timothy Spall as John William Polidori, and Dexter Fletcher.   Although the film was produced through MGM, and distributed by the company in Europe, they would not release the film in America, fearing American audiences wouldn't get it. So Vestron would swoop in and acquire the American theatrical rights.   Incidentally, the film did not do very well in American theatres. Opening at the Cinema 1 in midtown Manhattan on April 10th, 1987, the film would sell $45,000 worth of tickets in its first three days, one of the best grosses of any single screen in the city. But the film would end up grossing only $916k after three months in theatres.   BUT…   The movie would do quite well for Vestron on home video, enough so that Vestron would sign on to produce Russell's next three movies. The first of those will be coming up very soon.   Vestron's 1988 release schedule began on January 22nd with the release of two films.   The first was Michael Hoffman's Promised Land. In 1982, Hoffman's first film, Privileged, was the first film to made through the Oxford Film Foundation, and was notable for being the first screen appearances for Hugh Grant and Imogen Stubbs, the first film scored by future Oscar winning composer Rachel Portman, and was shepherded into production by none other than John Schlesinger, the Oscar winning director of 1969 Best Picture winner Midnight Cowboy. Hoffman's second film, the Scottish comedy Restless Natives, was part of the 1980s Scottish New Wave film movement that also included Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl and Local Hero, and was the only film to be scored by the Scottish rock band Big Country.   Promised Land was one of the first films to be developed by the Sundance Institute, in 1984, and when it was finally produced in 1986, would include Robert Redford as one of its executive producers. The film would follow two recent local high school graduates, Hancock and Danny, whose lives would intersect again with disastrous results several years after graduation. The cast features two young actors destined to become stars, in Keifer Sutherland and Meg Ryan, as well as Jason Gedrick, Tracy Pollan, and Jay Underwood. Shot in Reno and around the Sundance Institute outside Park City, Utah during the early winter months of 1987, Promised Land would make its world premiere at the prestigious Deauville Film Festival in September 1987, but would lose its original distributor, New World Pictures around the same time. Vestron would swoop in to grab the distribution rights, and set it for a January 22nd, 1988 release, just after its American debut at the then U.S. Film Festival, which is now known as the Sundance Film Festival.    Convenient, eh?   Opening on six screens in , the film would gross $31k in its first three days. The film would continue to slowly roll out into more major markets, but with a lack of stellar reviews, and a cast that wouldn't be more famous for at least another year and a half, Vestron would never push the film out to more than 67 theaters, and it would quickly disappear with only $316k worth of tickets sold.   The other movie Vestron opened on January 22nd was Ettore Scale's The Family, which was Italy's submission to that year's Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The great Vittorio Gassman stars as a retired college professor who reminisces about his life and his family over the course of the twentieth century. Featuring a cast of great international actors including Fanny Ardant, Philip Noiret, Stefania Sandrelli and Ricky Tognazzi, The Family would win every major film award in Italy, and it would indeed be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, but in America, it would only play in a handful of theatres for about two months, unable to gross even $350k.   When is a remake not a remake? When French filmmaker Roger Vadim, who shot to international fame in 1956 with his movie And God Created Woman, decided to give a generational and international spin on his most famous work. And a completely different story, as to not resemble his original work in any form outside of the general brushstrokes of both being about a young, pretty, sexually liberated young woman.   Instead of Bridget Bardot, we get Rebecca De Mornay, who was never able to parlay her starring role in Risky Business to any kind of stardom the way one-time boyfriend Tom Cruise had. And if there was any American woman in the United States in 1988 who could bring in a certain demographic to see her traipse around New Mexico au natural, it would be Rebecca De Mornay. But as we saw with Kathleen Turner in Ken Russell's Crimes of Passion in 1984 and Ellen Barkin in Mary Lambert's Siesta in 1987, American audiences were still rather prudish when it came to seeing a certain kind of female empowered sexuality on screen, and when the film opened at 385 theatres on March 4th, it would open to barely a $1,000 per screen average. And God Created Woman would be gone from theatres after only three weeks and $717k in ticket sales.   Vestron would next release a Dutch film called The Pointsman, about a French woman who accidentally gets off at the wrong train station in a remote Dutch village, and a local railwayman who, unable to speak the other person's language, develop a strange relationship while she waits for another train that never arrives.   Opening at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on New York's Upper West Side on April 8th, the film would gross $7,000 in its first week, which in and of itself isn't all that bad for a mostly silent Dutch film. Except there was another Dutch film in the marketplace already, one that was getting much better reviews, and was the official Dutch entry into that year's Best Foreign Language Film race. That film, Babette's Feast, was becoming something more than just a movie. Restaurants across the country were creating menus based on the meals served in the film, and in its sixth week of release in New York City that weekend, had grossed four times as much as The Pointsman, despite the fact that the theatre playing Babette's Feast, the Cinema Studio 1, sat only 65 more people than the Lincoln Plaza 1. The following week, The Pointsman would drop to $6k in ticket sales, while Babette's Feast's audience grew another $6k over the previous week. After a third lackluster week, The Pointsman was gone from the Lincoln Plaza, and would never play in another theatre in America.   In the mid-80s, British actor Ben Cross was still trying to capitalize on his having been one of the leads in the 1981 Best Picture winner Chariots of Fire, and was sharing a home with his wife and children, as well as Camilo Vila, a filmmaker looking for his first big break in features after two well-received short films made in his native Cuba before he defected in the early 1980s. When Vila was offered the chance to direct The Unholy, about a Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans who finds himself battling a demonic force after being appointed to a new parish, he would walk down the hall of his shared home and offered his roomie the lead role.   Along with Ned Beatty, William Russ, Hal Holbrook and British actor Trevor Howard in his final film, The Unholy would begin two weeks of exterior filming in New Orleans on October 27th, 1986, before moving to a studio in Miami for seven more weeks. The film would open in 1189 theatres, Vestron's widest opening to date, on April 22nd, and would open in seventh place with $2.35m in ticket sales. By its second week in theatres, it would fall to eleventh place with a $1.24m gross. But with the Summer Movie Season quickly creeping up on the calendar, The Unholy would suffer the same fate as most horror films, making the drop to dollar houses after two weeks, as to make room for such dreck as Sunset, Blake Edwards' lamentable Bruce Willis/James Garner riff on Hollywood and cowboys in the late 1920s, and the pointless sequel to Critters before screens got gobbled up by Rambo III on Memorial Day weekend. It would earn a bit more than $6m at the box office.   When Gothic didn't perform well in American theatres, Ken Russell thought his career was over. As we mentioned earlier, the American home video store saved his career, as least for the time being.    The first film Russell would make for Vestron proper was Salome's Last Dance, based on an 1891 play by Oscar Wilde, which itself was based on a story from the New Testament. Russell's script would add a framing device as a way for movie audiences to get into this most theatrical of stories.   On Guy Fawkes Day in London in 1892, Oscar Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, arrive late at a friend's brothel, where the author is treated to a surprise performance of his play Salome, which has recently been banned from being performed at all in England by Lord Chamberlain. All of the actors in his special performance are played by the prostitutes of the brothel and their clients, and the scenes of the play are intertwined with Wilde's escapades at the brothel that night.   We didn't know it at the time, but Salome's Last Dance would be the penultimate film performance for Academy Award winning actress Glenda Jackson, who would retire to go into politics in England a couple years later, after working with Russell on another film, which we'll get to in a moment. About the only other actor you might recognize in the film is David Doyle, of all people, the American actor best known for playing Bosley on Charlie's Angels.   Like Gothic, Salome's Last Dance would not do very well in theatres, grossing less than half a million dollars after three months, but would find an appreciative audience on home video.   The most interesting thing about Roger Holzberg's Midnight Crossing is the writer and director himself. Holzberg started in the entertainment industry as a playwright, then designed the props and weapons for Albert Pyun's 1982 film The Sword and the Sorcerer, before moving on to direct the second unit team on Pyun's 1985 film Radioactive Dreams. After making this film, Holzberg would have a cancer scare, and pivot to health care, creating a number of technological advancements to help evolve patient treatment, including the Infusionarium, a media setup which helps children with cancer cope with treatment by asking them questions designed to determine what setting would be most comforting to them, and then using virtual reality technology and live events to immerse them in such an environment during treatment.   That's pretty darn cool, actually.   Midnight Crossing stars Faye Dunaway and Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti in his first major movie role as a couple who team with another couple, played by Kim Cattrall and John Laughlin, who go hunting for treasure supposedly buried between Florida and Cuba.   The film would open in 419 theaters on May 11th, 1988, and gross a paltry $673k in its first three days, putting it 15th on the list of box office grosses for the week, $23k more than Three Men and a Baby, which was playing on 538 screens in its 25th week of release. In its second week, Midnight Crossing would lose more than a third of its theatres, and the weekend gross would fall to just $232k. The third week would be even worse, dropping to just 67 theatres and $43k in ticket sales. After a few weeks at a handful of dollar houses, the film would be history with just $1.3m in the bank. Leonard Klady, then writing for the Los Angeles Times, would note in a January 1989 article about the 1988 box office that Midnight Crossing's box office to budget ratio of 0.26 was the tenth worst ratio for any major or mini-major studio, ahead of And God Created Woman's 8th worst ratio of .155 but behind other stinkers like Caddyshack II.   The forgotten erotic thriller Call Me sounds like a twist on the 1984 Alan Rudolph romantic comedy Choose Me, but instead of Genevieve Bujold we get Patricia Charbonneau, and instead of a meet cute involving singles at a bar in Los Angeles, we get a murder mystery involving a New York City journalist who gets involved with a mysterious caller after she witnesses a murder at a bar due to a case of mistaken identity.   The film's not very good, but the supporting cast is great, including Steve Buscemi, Patti D'Arbanville, Stephen McHattie and David Straithairn.   Opening on 24 screens in major markets on May 20th, Call Me would open to horrible reviews, lead by Siskel and Ebert's thumbs facing downward, and only $58,348 worth of tickets sold in its first three days. After five weeks in theatres, Vestron hung up on Call Me with just $252k in the kitty.   Vestron would open two movies on June 3rd, one in a very limited release, and one in a moderate national release.   There are a lot of obscure titles in these two episodes, and probably the most obscure is Paul Mones' The Beat. The film followed a young man named Billy Kane, played by William McNamara in his film debut, who moves into a rough neighborhood controlled by several gangs, who tries to help make his new area a better place by teaching them about poetry. John Savage from The Deer Hunter plays a teacher, and future writer and director Reggie Rock Bythewood plays one of the troubled youths whose life is turned around through the written and spoken word.   The production team was top notch. Producer Julia Phillips was one of the few women to ever win a Best Picture Oscar when she and her then husband Michael Phillips produced The Sting in 1973. Phillips was assisted on the film by two young men who were making their first movie. Jon Kilik would go on to produce or co-produce every Spike Lee movie from Do the Right Thing to Da 5 Bloods, except for BlackkKlansman, while Nick Weschler would produce sex, lies and videotape, Drugstore Cowboy, The Player and Requiem for a Dream, amongst dozens of major films. And the film's cinematographer, Tom DiCillo, would move into the director's chair in 1991 with Johnny Suede, which gave Brad Pitt his first lead role.   The Beat would be shot on location in New York City in the summer of 1986, and it would make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market in May 1987. But it would be another thirteen months before the film arrived in theatres.   Opening on seven screens in Los Angeles and New York City on June 3rd, The Beat would gross just $7,168 in its first three days.  There would not be a second week for The Beat. It would make its way onto home video in early 1989, and that's the last time the film was seen for nearly thirty years, until the film was picked up by a number of streaming services.   Vestron's streak of bad luck continued with the comedy Paramedics starring George Newbern and Christopher McDonald. The only feature film directed by Stuart Margolin, best known as Angel on the 1970s TV series The Rockford Files, Newbern and McDonald play two… well, paramedics… who are sent by boss, as punishment, from their cushy uptown gig to a troubled district at the edge of the city, where they discover two other paramedics are running a cadavers for dollars scheme, harvesting organs from dead bodies to the black market.   Here again we have a great supporting cast who deserve to be in a better movie, including character actor John P. Ryan, James Noble from Benson, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs from Welcome Back Kotter, the great Ray Walston, and one-time Playboy Playmate Karen Witter, who plays a sort of angel of death.   Opening on 301 screens nationwide, Paramedics would only gross $149,577 in its first three days, the worst per screen average of any movie playing in at least 100 theatres that weekend. Vestron stopped tracking the film after just three days.   Two weeks later, on June 17th, Vestron released a comedy horror film that should have done better. Waxwork was an interesting idea, a group of college students who have some strange encounters with the wax figures at a local museum, but that's not exactly why it should have been more popular. It was the cast that should have brought audiences in. On one side, you had a group of well-known younger actors like Deborah Foreman from Valley Girl, Zack Gailligan from Gremlins, Michelle Johnson from Blame It on Rio, and Miles O'Keeffe from Sword of the Valiant. On the other hand, you had a group of seasoned veterans from popular television shows and movies, such as Patrick Macnee from the popular 1960s British TV show The Avengers, John Rhys-Davies from the Indiana Jones movies, and David Warner, from The Omen and Time after Time and Time Bandits and Tron.   But if I want to be completely honest, this was not a movie to release in the early part of summer. While I'm a firm believer that the right movie can find an audience no matter when it's released, Waxwork was absolutely a prime candidate for an early October release. Throughout the 1980s, we saw a number of horror movies, and especially horror comedies, released in the summer season that just did not hit with audiences. So it would be of little surprise when Waxwork grossed less than a million dollars during its theatrical run. And it should be of little surprise that the film would become popular enough on home video to warrant a sequel, which would add more popular sci-fi and horror actors like Marina Sirtis from Star Trek: The Next Generation, David Carradine and even Bruce Campbell. But by 1992, when Waxwork 2 was released, Vestron was long since closed.   The second Ken Russell movie made for Vestron was The Lair of the White Worm, based on a 1911 novel by Bram Stoker, the author's final published book before his death the following year. The story follows the residents in and around a rural English manor that are tormented by an ancient priestess after the skull of a serpent she worships is unearthed by an archaeologist.   Russell would offer the role of Sylvia Marsh, the enigmatic Lady who is actually an immortal priestess to an ancient snake god, to Tilda Swinton, who at this point of her career had already racked up a substantial resume in film after only two years, but she would decline. Instead, the role would go to Amanda Donohoe, the British actress best known at the time for her appearances in a pair of Adam Ant videos earlier in the decade. And the supporting cast would include Peter Capaldi, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, and the under-appreciated Sammi Davis, who was simply amazing in Mona Lisa, A Prayer for the Dying and John Boorman's Hope and Glory.   The $2m would come together fairly quickly. Vestron and Russell would agree on the film in late 1987, the script would be approved by January 1988, filming would begin in England in February, and the completed film would have its world premiere at the Montreal Film Festival before the end of August.   When the film arrived in American theatres starting on October 21st, many critics would embrace the director's deliberate camp qualities and anachronisms. But audiences, who maybe weren't used to Russell's style of filmmaking, did not embrace the film quite so much. New Yorkers would buy $31k worth of tickets in its opening weekend at the D. W. Griffith and 8th Street Playhouse, and the film would perform well in its opening weeks in major markets, but the film would never quite break out, earning just $1.2m after ten weeks in theatres. But, again, home video would save the day, as the film would become one of the bigger rental titles in 1989.   If you were a teenager in the early 80s, as I was, you may remember a Dutch horror film called The Lift. Or, at the very least, you remember the key art on the VHS box, of a man who has his head stuck in between the doors of an elevator, while the potential viewer is warned to take the stairs, take the stairs, for God's sake, take the stairs. It was an impressive debut film for Dick Maas, but it was one that would place an albatross around the neck of his career.   One of his follow ups to The Lift, called Amsterdamned, would follow a police detective who is searching for a serial killer in his home town, who uses the canals of the Dutch capital to keep himself hidden. When the detective gets too close to solving the identity of the murderer, the killer sends a message by killing the detective's girlfriend, which, if the killer had ever seen a movie before, he should have known you never do. You never make it personal for the cop, because he's gonna take you down even worse.   When the film's producers brought the film to the American Film Market in early 1988, it would become one of the most talked about films, and Vestron would pick up the American distribution rights for a cool half a million dollars. The film would open on six screens in the US on November 25th, including the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills but not in New York City, but a $15k first weekend gross would seal its fate almost immediately. The film would play for another four weeks in theatres, playing on 18 screens at its widest, but it would end its run shortly after the start of of the year with only $62,044 in tickets sold.   The final Vestron Pictures release of 1988 was Andrew Birkin's Burning Secret. Birkin, the brother of French singer and actress Jane Birkin, would co-write the screenplay for this adaptation of a 1913 short story by Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig, about a about an American diplomat's son who befriends a mysterious baron while staying at an Austrian spa during the 1920s. According to Birkin in a 2021 interview, making the movie was somewhat of a nightmare, as his leading actors, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Faye Dunaway, did not like each other, and their lack of comfort with each other would bleed into their performances, which is fatal for a film about two people who are supposed to passionately burn for each other.   Opening on 16 screens in major markets on Thursday, December 22nd, Burning Secret would only gross $27k in its first four days. The film would actually see a post-Christmas bump, as it would lose a screen but see its gross jump to $40k. But after the first of the year, as it was obvious reviews were not going to save the film and awards consideration was non-existent, the film would close after three weeks with only $104k worth of tickets sold.   By the end of 1988, Vestron was facing bankruptcy. The major distributors had learned the lessons independents like Vestron had taught them about selling more volumes of tapes by lowering the price, to make movies collectables and have people curate their own video library. Top titles were harder to come by, and studios were no longer giving up home video rights to the movies they acquired from third-party producers.   Like many of the distributors we've spoken about before, and will undoubtedly speak of again, Vestron had too much success with one movie too quickly, and learned the wrong lessons about growth. If you look at the independent distribution world of 2023, you'll see companies like A24 that have learned that lesson. Stay lean and mean, don't go too wide too quickly, try not to spend too much money on a movie, no matter who the filmmaker is and how good of a relationship you have with them. A24 worked with Robert Eggers on The Witch and The Lighthouse, but when he wanted to spend $70-90m to make The Northman, A24 tapped out early, and Focus Features ended up losing millions on the film. Focus, the “indie” label for Universal Studios, can weather a huge loss like The Northman because they are a part of a multinational, multimedia conglomerate.   This didn't mean Vestron was going to quit quite yet, but, spoiler alert, they'll be gone soon enough.   In fact, and in case you are newer to the podcast and haven't listen to many of the previous episodes, none of the independent distribution companies that began and/or saw their best years in the 1980s that we've covered so far or will be covering in the future, exist in the same form they existed in back then.    New Line still exists, but it's now a label within Warner Brothers instead of being an independent distributor. Ditto Orion, which is now just a specialty label within MGM/UA. The Samuel Goldwyn Company is still around and still distributes movies, but it was bought by Orion Pictures the year before Orion was bought by MGM/UA, so it too is now just a specialty label, within another specialty label. Miramax today is just a holding company for the movies the company made before they were sold off to Disney, before Disney sold them off to a hedge fund, who sold Miramax off to another hedge fund.    Atlantic is gone. New World is gone. Cannon is gone. Hemdale is gone. Cinecom is gone. Island Films is gone. Alive Films is gone. Concorde Films is gone. MCEG is gone. CineTel is gone. Crown International is gone. Lorimar is gone. New Century/Vista is gone. Skouras Films is gone. Cineplex Odeon Films is gone.   Not one of them survived.   The same can pretty much be said for the independent distributors created in the 1990s, save Lionsgate, but I'll leave that for another podcast to tackle.   As for the Vestron story, we'll continue that one next week, because there are still a dozen more movies to talk about, as well as the end of the line for the once high flying company.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon.   Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

We continue our look back at the movies released by independent distributor Vestron Pictures, focusing on their 1988 releases. ----more---- The movies discussed on this episode, all released by Vestron Pictures in 1988 unless otherwise noted, include: Amsterdamned (Dick Maas) And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim) The Beat (Paul Mones) Burning Secret (Andrew Birkin) Call Me (Sollace Mitchell) The Family (Ettore Scola) Gothic (Ken Russell, 1987) The Lair of the White Worm (Ken Russell) Midnight Crossing (Roger Holzberg) Paramedics (Stuart Margolin) The Pointsman (Jos Stelling) Salome's Last Dance (Ken Russell) Promised Land (Michael Hoffman) The Unholy (Camilo Vila) Waxwork (Anthony Hickox)   TRANSCRIPT   From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   At the end of the previous episode, Vestron Pictures was celebrating the best year of its two year history. Dirty Dancing had become one of the most beloved movies of the year, and Anna was becoming a major awards contender, thanks to a powerhouse performance by veteran actress Sally Kirkland. And at the 60th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the films of 1987, Dirty Dancing would win the Oscar for Best Original Song, while Anna would be nominated for Best Actress, and The Dead for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Costumes.   Surely, things could only go up from there, right?   Welcome to Part Two of our miniseries.   But before we get started, I'm issuing a rare mea culpa. I need to add another Vestron movie which I completely missed on the previous episode, because it factors in to today's episode. Which, of course, starts before our story begins.   In the 1970s, there were very few filmmakers like the flamboyant Ken Russell. So unique a visual storyteller was Russell, it's nigh impossible to accurately describe him in a verbal or textual manner. Those who have seen The Devils, Tommy or Altered States know just how special Russell was as a filmmaker. By the late 1980s, the hits had dried up, and Russell was in a different kind of artistic stage, wanting to make somewhat faithful adaptations of late 19th and early 20th century UK authors. Vestron was looking to work with some prestigious filmmakers, to help build their cache in the filmmaking community, and Russell saw the opportunity to hopefully find a new home with this new distributor not unlike the one he had with Warner Brothers in the early 70s that brought forth several of his strongest movies.   In June 1986, Russell began production on a gothic horror film entitled, appropriately enough, Gothic, which depicted a fictionalized version of a real life meeting between Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, John William Polidori and Claire Clairemont at the Villa Diodati in Geneva, hosted by Lord Byron, from which historians believe both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and John William Polidori's The Vampyre were inspired.   And you want to talk about a movie with a great cast. Gabriel Byrne plays Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Shelley, Natasha Richardson, in her first ever movie, as Mary Shelley, Timothy Spall as John William Polidori, and Dexter Fletcher.   Although the film was produced through MGM, and distributed by the company in Europe, they would not release the film in America, fearing American audiences wouldn't get it. So Vestron would swoop in and acquire the American theatrical rights.   Incidentally, the film did not do very well in American theatres. Opening at the Cinema 1 in midtown Manhattan on April 10th, 1987, the film would sell $45,000 worth of tickets in its first three days, one of the best grosses of any single screen in the city. But the film would end up grossing only $916k after three months in theatres.   BUT…   The movie would do quite well for Vestron on home video, enough so that Vestron would sign on to produce Russell's next three movies. The first of those will be coming up very soon.   Vestron's 1988 release schedule began on January 22nd with the release of two films.   The first was Michael Hoffman's Promised Land. In 1982, Hoffman's first film, Privileged, was the first film to made through the Oxford Film Foundation, and was notable for being the first screen appearances for Hugh Grant and Imogen Stubbs, the first film scored by future Oscar winning composer Rachel Portman, and was shepherded into production by none other than John Schlesinger, the Oscar winning director of 1969 Best Picture winner Midnight Cowboy. Hoffman's second film, the Scottish comedy Restless Natives, was part of the 1980s Scottish New Wave film movement that also included Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl and Local Hero, and was the only film to be scored by the Scottish rock band Big Country.   Promised Land was one of the first films to be developed by the Sundance Institute, in 1984, and when it was finally produced in 1986, would include Robert Redford as one of its executive producers. The film would follow two recent local high school graduates, Hancock and Danny, whose lives would intersect again with disastrous results several years after graduation. The cast features two young actors destined to become stars, in Keifer Sutherland and Meg Ryan, as well as Jason Gedrick, Tracy Pollan, and Jay Underwood. Shot in Reno and around the Sundance Institute outside Park City, Utah during the early winter months of 1987, Promised Land would make its world premiere at the prestigious Deauville Film Festival in September 1987, but would lose its original distributor, New World Pictures around the same time. Vestron would swoop in to grab the distribution rights, and set it for a January 22nd, 1988 release, just after its American debut at the then U.S. Film Festival, which is now known as the Sundance Film Festival.    Convenient, eh?   Opening on six screens in , the film would gross $31k in its first three days. The film would continue to slowly roll out into more major markets, but with a lack of stellar reviews, and a cast that wouldn't be more famous for at least another year and a half, Vestron would never push the film out to more than 67 theaters, and it would quickly disappear with only $316k worth of tickets sold.   The other movie Vestron opened on January 22nd was Ettore Scale's The Family, which was Italy's submission to that year's Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The great Vittorio Gassman stars as a retired college professor who reminisces about his life and his family over the course of the twentieth century. Featuring a cast of great international actors including Fanny Ardant, Philip Noiret, Stefania Sandrelli and Ricky Tognazzi, The Family would win every major film award in Italy, and it would indeed be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, but in America, it would only play in a handful of theatres for about two months, unable to gross even $350k.   When is a remake not a remake? When French filmmaker Roger Vadim, who shot to international fame in 1956 with his movie And God Created Woman, decided to give a generational and international spin on his most famous work. And a completely different story, as to not resemble his original work in any form outside of the general brushstrokes of both being about a young, pretty, sexually liberated young woman.   Instead of Bridget Bardot, we get Rebecca De Mornay, who was never able to parlay her starring role in Risky Business to any kind of stardom the way one-time boyfriend Tom Cruise had. And if there was any American woman in the United States in 1988 who could bring in a certain demographic to see her traipse around New Mexico au natural, it would be Rebecca De Mornay. But as we saw with Kathleen Turner in Ken Russell's Crimes of Passion in 1984 and Ellen Barkin in Mary Lambert's Siesta in 1987, American audiences were still rather prudish when it came to seeing a certain kind of female empowered sexuality on screen, and when the film opened at 385 theatres on March 4th, it would open to barely a $1,000 per screen average. And God Created Woman would be gone from theatres after only three weeks and $717k in ticket sales.   Vestron would next release a Dutch film called The Pointsman, about a French woman who accidentally gets off at the wrong train station in a remote Dutch village, and a local railwayman who, unable to speak the other person's language, develop a strange relationship while she waits for another train that never arrives.   Opening at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on New York's Upper West Side on April 8th, the film would gross $7,000 in its first week, which in and of itself isn't all that bad for a mostly silent Dutch film. Except there was another Dutch film in the marketplace already, one that was getting much better reviews, and was the official Dutch entry into that year's Best Foreign Language Film race. That film, Babette's Feast, was becoming something more than just a movie. Restaurants across the country were creating menus based on the meals served in the film, and in its sixth week of release in New York City that weekend, had grossed four times as much as The Pointsman, despite the fact that the theatre playing Babette's Feast, the Cinema Studio 1, sat only 65 more people than the Lincoln Plaza 1. The following week, The Pointsman would drop to $6k in ticket sales, while Babette's Feast's audience grew another $6k over the previous week. After a third lackluster week, The Pointsman was gone from the Lincoln Plaza, and would never play in another theatre in America.   In the mid-80s, British actor Ben Cross was still trying to capitalize on his having been one of the leads in the 1981 Best Picture winner Chariots of Fire, and was sharing a home with his wife and children, as well as Camilo Vila, a filmmaker looking for his first big break in features after two well-received short films made in his native Cuba before he defected in the early 1980s. When Vila was offered the chance to direct The Unholy, about a Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans who finds himself battling a demonic force after being appointed to a new parish, he would walk down the hall of his shared home and offered his roomie the lead role.   Along with Ned Beatty, William Russ, Hal Holbrook and British actor Trevor Howard in his final film, The Unholy would begin two weeks of exterior filming in New Orleans on October 27th, 1986, before moving to a studio in Miami for seven more weeks. The film would open in 1189 theatres, Vestron's widest opening to date, on April 22nd, and would open in seventh place with $2.35m in ticket sales. By its second week in theatres, it would fall to eleventh place with a $1.24m gross. But with the Summer Movie Season quickly creeping up on the calendar, The Unholy would suffer the same fate as most horror films, making the drop to dollar houses after two weeks, as to make room for such dreck as Sunset, Blake Edwards' lamentable Bruce Willis/James Garner riff on Hollywood and cowboys in the late 1920s, and the pointless sequel to Critters before screens got gobbled up by Rambo III on Memorial Day weekend. It would earn a bit more than $6m at the box office.   When Gothic didn't perform well in American theatres, Ken Russell thought his career was over. As we mentioned earlier, the American home video store saved his career, as least for the time being.    The first film Russell would make for Vestron proper was Salome's Last Dance, based on an 1891 play by Oscar Wilde, which itself was based on a story from the New Testament. Russell's script would add a framing device as a way for movie audiences to get into this most theatrical of stories.   On Guy Fawkes Day in London in 1892, Oscar Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, arrive late at a friend's brothel, where the author is treated to a surprise performance of his play Salome, which has recently been banned from being performed at all in England by Lord Chamberlain. All of the actors in his special performance are played by the prostitutes of the brothel and their clients, and the scenes of the play are intertwined with Wilde's escapades at the brothel that night.   We didn't know it at the time, but Salome's Last Dance would be the penultimate film performance for Academy Award winning actress Glenda Jackson, who would retire to go into politics in England a couple years later, after working with Russell on another film, which we'll get to in a moment. About the only other actor you might recognize in the film is David Doyle, of all people, the American actor best known for playing Bosley on Charlie's Angels.   Like Gothic, Salome's Last Dance would not do very well in theatres, grossing less than half a million dollars after three months, but would find an appreciative audience on home video.   The most interesting thing about Roger Holzberg's Midnight Crossing is the writer and director himself. Holzberg started in the entertainment industry as a playwright, then designed the props and weapons for Albert Pyun's 1982 film The Sword and the Sorcerer, before moving on to direct the second unit team on Pyun's 1985 film Radioactive Dreams. After making this film, Holzberg would have a cancer scare, and pivot to health care, creating a number of technological advancements to help evolve patient treatment, including the Infusionarium, a media setup which helps children with cancer cope with treatment by asking them questions designed to determine what setting would be most comforting to them, and then using virtual reality technology and live events to immerse them in such an environment during treatment.   That's pretty darn cool, actually.   Midnight Crossing stars Faye Dunaway and Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti in his first major movie role as a couple who team with another couple, played by Kim Cattrall and John Laughlin, who go hunting for treasure supposedly buried between Florida and Cuba.   The film would open in 419 theaters on May 11th, 1988, and gross a paltry $673k in its first three days, putting it 15th on the list of box office grosses for the week, $23k more than Three Men and a Baby, which was playing on 538 screens in its 25th week of release. In its second week, Midnight Crossing would lose more than a third of its theatres, and the weekend gross would fall to just $232k. The third week would be even worse, dropping to just 67 theatres and $43k in ticket sales. After a few weeks at a handful of dollar houses, the film would be history with just $1.3m in the bank. Leonard Klady, then writing for the Los Angeles Times, would note in a January 1989 article about the 1988 box office that Midnight Crossing's box office to budget ratio of 0.26 was the tenth worst ratio for any major or mini-major studio, ahead of And God Created Woman's 8th worst ratio of .155 but behind other stinkers like Caddyshack II.   The forgotten erotic thriller Call Me sounds like a twist on the 1984 Alan Rudolph romantic comedy Choose Me, but instead of Genevieve Bujold we get Patricia Charbonneau, and instead of a meet cute involving singles at a bar in Los Angeles, we get a murder mystery involving a New York City journalist who gets involved with a mysterious caller after she witnesses a murder at a bar due to a case of mistaken identity.   The film's not very good, but the supporting cast is great, including Steve Buscemi, Patti D'Arbanville, Stephen McHattie and David Straithairn.   Opening on 24 screens in major markets on May 20th, Call Me would open to horrible reviews, lead by Siskel and Ebert's thumbs facing downward, and only $58,348 worth of tickets sold in its first three days. After five weeks in theatres, Vestron hung up on Call Me with just $252k in the kitty.   Vestron would open two movies on June 3rd, one in a very limited release, and one in a moderate national release.   There are a lot of obscure titles in these two episodes, and probably the most obscure is Paul Mones' The Beat. The film followed a young man named Billy Kane, played by William McNamara in his film debut, who moves into a rough neighborhood controlled by several gangs, who tries to help make his new area a better place by teaching them about poetry. John Savage from The Deer Hunter plays a teacher, and future writer and director Reggie Rock Bythewood plays one of the troubled youths whose life is turned around through the written and spoken word.   The production team was top notch. Producer Julia Phillips was one of the few women to ever win a Best Picture Oscar when she and her then husband Michael Phillips produced The Sting in 1973. Phillips was assisted on the film by two young men who were making their first movie. Jon Kilik would go on to produce or co-produce every Spike Lee movie from Do the Right Thing to Da 5 Bloods, except for BlackkKlansman, while Nick Weschler would produce sex, lies and videotape, Drugstore Cowboy, The Player and Requiem for a Dream, amongst dozens of major films. And the film's cinematographer, Tom DiCillo, would move into the director's chair in 1991 with Johnny Suede, which gave Brad Pitt his first lead role.   The Beat would be shot on location in New York City in the summer of 1986, and it would make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market in May 1987. But it would be another thirteen months before the film arrived in theatres.   Opening on seven screens in Los Angeles and New York City on June 3rd, The Beat would gross just $7,168 in its first three days.  There would not be a second week for The Beat. It would make its way onto home video in early 1989, and that's the last time the film was seen for nearly thirty years, until the film was picked up by a number of streaming services.   Vestron's streak of bad luck continued with the comedy Paramedics starring George Newbern and Christopher McDonald. The only feature film directed by Stuart Margolin, best known as Angel on the 1970s TV series The Rockford Files, Newbern and McDonald play two… well, paramedics… who are sent by boss, as punishment, from their cushy uptown gig to a troubled district at the edge of the city, where they discover two other paramedics are running a cadavers for dollars scheme, harvesting organs from dead bodies to the black market.   Here again we have a great supporting cast who deserve to be in a better movie, including character actor John P. Ryan, James Noble from Benson, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs from Welcome Back Kotter, the great Ray Walston, and one-time Playboy Playmate Karen Witter, who plays a sort of angel of death.   Opening on 301 screens nationwide, Paramedics would only gross $149,577 in its first three days, the worst per screen average of any movie playing in at least 100 theatres that weekend. Vestron stopped tracking the film after just three days.   Two weeks later, on June 17th, Vestron released a comedy horror film that should have done better. Waxwork was an interesting idea, a group of college students who have some strange encounters with the wax figures at a local museum, but that's not exactly why it should have been more popular. It was the cast that should have brought audiences in. On one side, you had a group of well-known younger actors like Deborah Foreman from Valley Girl, Zack Gailligan from Gremlins, Michelle Johnson from Blame It on Rio, and Miles O'Keeffe from Sword of the Valiant. On the other hand, you had a group of seasoned veterans from popular television shows and movies, such as Patrick Macnee from the popular 1960s British TV show The Avengers, John Rhys-Davies from the Indiana Jones movies, and David Warner, from The Omen and Time after Time and Time Bandits and Tron.   But if I want to be completely honest, this was not a movie to release in the early part of summer. While I'm a firm believer that the right movie can find an audience no matter when it's released, Waxwork was absolutely a prime candidate for an early October release. Throughout the 1980s, we saw a number of horror movies, and especially horror comedies, released in the summer season that just did not hit with audiences. So it would be of little surprise when Waxwork grossed less than a million dollars during its theatrical run. And it should be of little surprise that the film would become popular enough on home video to warrant a sequel, which would add more popular sci-fi and horror actors like Marina Sirtis from Star Trek: The Next Generation, David Carradine and even Bruce Campbell. But by 1992, when Waxwork 2 was released, Vestron was long since closed.   The second Ken Russell movie made for Vestron was The Lair of the White Worm, based on a 1911 novel by Bram Stoker, the author's final published book before his death the following year. The story follows the residents in and around a rural English manor that are tormented by an ancient priestess after the skull of a serpent she worships is unearthed by an archaeologist.   Russell would offer the role of Sylvia Marsh, the enigmatic Lady who is actually an immortal priestess to an ancient snake god, to Tilda Swinton, who at this point of her career had already racked up a substantial resume in film after only two years, but she would decline. Instead, the role would go to Amanda Donohoe, the British actress best known at the time for her appearances in a pair of Adam Ant videos earlier in the decade. And the supporting cast would include Peter Capaldi, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, and the under-appreciated Sammi Davis, who was simply amazing in Mona Lisa, A Prayer for the Dying and John Boorman's Hope and Glory.   The $2m would come together fairly quickly. Vestron and Russell would agree on the film in late 1987, the script would be approved by January 1988, filming would begin in England in February, and the completed film would have its world premiere at the Montreal Film Festival before the end of August.   When the film arrived in American theatres starting on October 21st, many critics would embrace the director's deliberate camp qualities and anachronisms. But audiences, who maybe weren't used to Russell's style of filmmaking, did not embrace the film quite so much. New Yorkers would buy $31k worth of tickets in its opening weekend at the D. W. Griffith and 8th Street Playhouse, and the film would perform well in its opening weeks in major markets, but the film would never quite break out, earning just $1.2m after ten weeks in theatres. But, again, home video would save the day, as the film would become one of the bigger rental titles in 1989.   If you were a teenager in the early 80s, as I was, you may remember a Dutch horror film called The Lift. Or, at the very least, you remember the key art on the VHS box, of a man who has his head stuck in between the doors of an elevator, while the potential viewer is warned to take the stairs, take the stairs, for God's sake, take the stairs. It was an impressive debut film for Dick Maas, but it was one that would place an albatross around the neck of his career.   One of his follow ups to The Lift, called Amsterdamned, would follow a police detective who is searching for a serial killer in his home town, who uses the canals of the Dutch capital to keep himself hidden. When the detective gets too close to solving the identity of the murderer, the killer sends a message by killing the detective's girlfriend, which, if the killer had ever seen a movie before, he should have known you never do. You never make it personal for the cop, because he's gonna take you down even worse.   When the film's producers brought the film to the American Film Market in early 1988, it would become one of the most talked about films, and Vestron would pick up the American distribution rights for a cool half a million dollars. The film would open on six screens in the US on November 25th, including the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills but not in New York City, but a $15k first weekend gross would seal its fate almost immediately. The film would play for another four weeks in theatres, playing on 18 screens at its widest, but it would end its run shortly after the start of of the year with only $62,044 in tickets sold.   The final Vestron Pictures release of 1988 was Andrew Birkin's Burning Secret. Birkin, the brother of French singer and actress Jane Birkin, would co-write the screenplay for this adaptation of a 1913 short story by Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig, about a about an American diplomat's son who befriends a mysterious baron while staying at an Austrian spa during the 1920s. According to Birkin in a 2021 interview, making the movie was somewhat of a nightmare, as his leading actors, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Faye Dunaway, did not like each other, and their lack of comfort with each other would bleed into their performances, which is fatal for a film about two people who are supposed to passionately burn for each other.   Opening on 16 screens in major markets on Thursday, December 22nd, Burning Secret would only gross $27k in its first four days. The film would actually see a post-Christmas bump, as it would lose a screen but see its gross jump to $40k. But after the first of the year, as it was obvious reviews were not going to save the film and awards consideration was non-existent, the film would close after three weeks with only $104k worth of tickets sold.   By the end of 1988, Vestron was facing bankruptcy. The major distributors had learned the lessons independents like Vestron had taught them about selling more volumes of tapes by lowering the price, to make movies collectables and have people curate their own video library. Top titles were harder to come by, and studios were no longer giving up home video rights to the movies they acquired from third-party producers.   Like many of the distributors we've spoken about before, and will undoubtedly speak of again, Vestron had too much success with one movie too quickly, and learned the wrong lessons about growth. If you look at the independent distribution world of 2023, you'll see companies like A24 that have learned that lesson. Stay lean and mean, don't go too wide too quickly, try not to spend too much money on a movie, no matter who the filmmaker is and how good of a relationship you have with them. A24 worked with Robert Eggers on The Witch and The Lighthouse, but when he wanted to spend $70-90m to make The Northman, A24 tapped out early, and Focus Features ended up losing millions on the film. Focus, the “indie” label for Universal Studios, can weather a huge loss like The Northman because they are a part of a multinational, multimedia conglomerate.   This didn't mean Vestron was going to quit quite yet, but, spoiler alert, they'll be gone soon enough.   In fact, and in case you are newer to the podcast and haven't listen to many of the previous episodes, none of the independent distribution companies that began and/or saw their best years in the 1980s that we've covered so far or will be covering in the future, exist in the same form they existed in back then.    New Line still exists, but it's now a label within Warner Brothers instead of being an independent distributor. Ditto Orion, which is now just a specialty label within MGM/UA. The Samuel Goldwyn Company is still around and still distributes movies, but it was bought by Orion Pictures the year before Orion was bought by MGM/UA, so it too is now just a specialty label, within another specialty label. Miramax today is just a holding company for the movies the company made before they were sold off to Disney, before Disney sold them off to a hedge fund, who sold Miramax off to another hedge fund.    Atlantic is gone. New World is gone. Cannon is gone. Hemdale is gone. Cinecom is gone. Island Films is gone. Alive Films is gone. Concorde Films is gone. MCEG is gone. CineTel is gone. Crown International is gone. Lorimar is gone. New Century/Vista is gone. Skouras Films is gone. Cineplex Odeon Films is gone.   Not one of them survived.   The same can pretty much be said for the independent distributors created in the 1990s, save Lionsgate, but I'll leave that for another podcast to tackle.   As for the Vestron story, we'll continue that one next week, because there are still a dozen more movies to talk about, as well as the end of the line for the once high flying company.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon.   Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

Jacobean Era (1603-25) theatre plays were performed by The King's Men, an acting company to which William Shakespeare (1564-1616) belonged for most of his career. Formerly known as the Lord Chamberlain's Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, they came to be the King's Men in 1603 when King James ascended the throne and became the company's patron, during a period that greatly influenced the early settlement and culture of North America. Check out the YouTube version of this episode at https://youtu.be/S4g_TaYIB3E which has accompanying visuals including maps, charts, timelines, photos, illustrations, and diagrams. William Shakespeare Books, Plays & AudioBooks available at https://amzn.to/3v8LN96 Support this channel by enjoying a wide-range of useful & FUN Gadgets at https://twitter.com/GadgetzGuy Go follow our YouTube page to enjoy additional Bonus content including original short 60 second capsules at https://bit.ly/3eprMpO Mark Vinet's TIMELINE video channel at https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Get exclusive access to Bonus episodes, Ad-Free content, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on Patreon at https://patreon.com/markvinet and receive an eBook welcome GIFT or Donate on PayPal at https://bit.ly/3cx9OOL and also receive an eBook welcome GIFT. Denary Novels by Mark Vinet are available at https://amzn.to/33evMUj Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Twitter: https://twitter.com/TIMELINEchannel Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 YouTube Podcast Playlist: https://www.bit.ly/34tBizu Podcast: https://anchor.fm/mark-vinet TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@historyofnorthamerica Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WadeOrganization

From his early childhood in Alexandria, through the building of his multi-million pound global empire, Mohamed Al Fayed had an unwavering fascination with the British Royal Family culminating in his purchase of the former home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in Paris. After extending an invitation to the Queen to visit the refurbished 'Villa Windsor', Mohamed is disappointed when the Lord Chamberlain comes in her place and takes back several of the items he has had lovingly restored. Still hoping to win the Queen's favour, he attends the Windsor Horse Show and has a fateful meeting with Princess Diana who he introduces, for the first time, to his eldest son – Dodi.In this episode, Edith Bowman talks with Writer Peter Morgan, Director Alex Gabassi, Head of Research Annie Sulzberger, and the actor portraying Mohamed al-Fayed, Salim Daw.The Crown: The Official Podcast is produced by Netflix and Somethin' Else, in association with Left Bank Pictures.

Phil Cannon from the Who's He? podcast joins Tyler this week to discuss a film unfairly overlooked by the Academy - Spike Milligan's The Great McGonagall from 1974. Written by Spike and Joe McGrath (Casino Royale, Digby the Biggest Dog in the World, Not Only But Also) and starring Milligan as the titular poet & tragedian, the film also featured Peter Sellers as Queen Victoria (kneeling on a skateboard), John Bluthal, Victor Spinetti and Julia Foster. Considered by many to be the worst poet who ever drew breath, William Topaz McGonagall had long been a favourite of Sellers and Milligan and indeed had been woven into the fabric of The Goon Show, turning up as a character in occasional episodes (notably The Tay Bridge in 1959). This film takes constant liberties with the truth and is about as far away from being a faithful account of the poet's life as any biopic could credibly claim to be. That said, several of his poems were used and a handful of scenes were at least partly based on actual events. The film was shot over three weeks entirely at Wilton's Music Hall and was not a success, receiving only limited release. It did garner a few fairly favourable notices (Richard Eder, writing in the New York Times, described it as a "radiant failure") but most reviewers were chilly towards it. Time Out thundered: "The humour is forced and the social/political comment embarrassingly exposed... it looks like some tiresome theatrical junket brought out in the wake of the departing Lord Chamberlain, crammed full of previously vetoed references to the Royal Family!" Calm down Time Out, it's a low-budget British comedy, it's not trying to be Pather Panchali. Despite this (or perhaps because of it!) Tyler and Phil had an enjoyable time chatting about it and would welcome listeners to check out the film if they haven't already seen it: available for a few quid on DVD and for free on YouTube (as of time of writing). Who's He?: http://www.whos-he-podcast.co.uk/

The statues all shrieked and ran for their lives.

White House speaks what? Lord Chamberlain. King James and attempted murder. Some never preach it. #podcast #podcasting #ChristianradioThe Voice in the Wilderness does not endorse any link or other material found at buzzsprout.

Londres.- Cuando en la capilla de San Jorge, en el Castillo de Windsor, el Lord Chamberlain, antiguo jefe del MI5, rompió el bastón de mando y lo dejó

Peter Straker's first big break was in the West End première of the musical Hair in 1968, following which he has had a long and impressive career in both musical and non-musical theatre and as a recording artist, notably collaborating with his close friend Freddie Mercury. His show based on the songs of Jacques Brel was a hit a few years ago at the Edinburgh Fringe, but this year, he is trying something new with Adventures of Straker, featuring songs from various musicals accompanied by musician Gabriele Baldocci. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Peter about his Edinburgh show, as well as a bit about his journey from Jamaica to the West End stage, performing in the taboo-breaking musical Hair just as the censorship of the Lord Chamberlain was ending on the British stage and a few other highlights of his career, plus some of his packed future plans. The Adventures of Straker will be at theSpace @ Niddry Street in Edinburgh from 15 to 20 August 2022 each day at 6:55PM. For more information, see www.adventuresofstraker.co.uk, or to book tickets, go to www.edfringe.com. You can find more information about Peter Straker and his work at his own web site, newsite.peterstraker.com.

Join Maria Lovelady & Michael Alan-Bailey as they chat to the Chief Executive of the brand spanking new Shakespeare North Playhouse, Melanie Lewis. With a variety of productions ready to bring the playhouse to life, our hosts discuss everything from Ken Dodd's Memorial Garden to The Lord Chamberlain's Men, with a brief stop including glow sticks and Johnny Vegas on the way! Find out more about how you can get involved with the Shakespeare North Playhouse and be part of their grand opening on the 15th of July 2022 at ... https://shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk/event/all-the-joy-that-you-can-wish. Appear on the show and leave us a voice message at https://www.speakpipe.com/TwiceNightlyThePodcast Get in touch - twicenightlythepodcast@gmail.com IG - twicenightlytheatrepodcast Twitter - @twicenightlypod Facebook - Twice Nightly: The Podcast Brought to you by Frame This Presents... Key words: Shakespeare, Prescot, Liverpool, Theatre, Playhouse, Ken Dodd, Jimmy McGovern, Johnny Vegas, Judi Dench, The Globe, The RSC, Man vs Bee, Rowan Atkinson, Comedy, Play, Show, Regional Theatre

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcastCompetition ends October 1st 2022. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://www.hrp.org.uk/https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-londonhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cate-milton-585a8613/https://superbloom.hrp.org.uk/content/ticket-options Transcriptions: Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. Each episode, I speak with industry experts from the attractions world.In today's episode, I speak with Cate Milton, Customer Experience Programme Officer at Historic Royal Palaces. Cate shares her infectious passion for customer experience and talks us through the six-month customer journey mapping exercise they carried out with KPMG. If you like what you hear, subscribe on all the user channels by searching Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Cate, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. I'm really excited to speak to you.Cate Milton: Thank you so much. I'm really just as excited to speak about anything that's customer experience. So I'm excited.Kelly Molson: It's going to be a good chat, then. But first of all, I have to ask you some icebreaker questions, so we don't get to chat about customer experience quite yet. I'm going to ask you what your favourite breakfast food is.Cate Milton: Oh my God, that's a curve ball. I don't really do breakfast.Kelly Molson: Oh.Cate Milton: I get up in the morning and I feel it's way too early for my stomach to be dealing with anything like food, so I think if I'm being good, then it's usually a yogurt or some raisins. That makes me sound a lot healthier than I am.Kelly Molson: My goodness, doesn't it?Cate Milton: I mean, today it was a blueberry muffin, so it pretty much depends what's nearby. Yesterday, it was Cheeselets. So yeah, I hope my mum doesn't listen. Her main fear of me is that I'm not eating properly, and I just proved her correct there on breakfast.Kelly Molson: Oh yeah, well, listen to this though. Although, I would say that Cheeselets are an extremely tasty breakfast, so why not?Cate Milton: Honestly, I'm addicted, and now they're coming out in the picnic boxes and every time this year my entire family's like, "Find them. Stock up." Find them for me. But yeah, it's maybe not the most nutritious start to the day, but there we go.Kelly Molson: All right. Cheeselets or yogurt and raisins.Cate Milton: Yeah, not all together. Not all together, just-Kelly Molson: A balanced breakfast. Okay. What show on Netflix did you binge-watch embarrassingly fast? Cate Milton: Oh, that's a good question. So, my absolute favourite one... I got obsessed with it during lockdown like everybody else did when there was nothing else to do... was Mindhunter. So, it's kind of about the beginning of the FBI. So, anything with that kind of psychological twist. I mean, I am the cliche millennial in the true crime and I'm there like, "Oh, what's wrong with all these people?" But, Mindhunter was so good. I think they only did a couple of series and they keep kind of promising maybe a third, but nothing yet. But yeah, I did that in about two or three days... But there was nothing else to do. Everyone go watch it. Maybe if everyone watches it, then maybe they will make a third series. But yeah, the beginning of the FBI and all that kind of profiling and where all that came from.Kelly Molson: This is on my list, because I like a little true crime-Cate Milton: Oh, amazing.Kelly Molson: ... series as well. So that is on our list to watch, so I'm really glad that you recommended that, because I wasn't quite sure.Cate Milton: So good. And Jonathan Groff is in it, because he also plays the King in Hamilton. So it's really strange seeing him do this. I think he's known for musical theatre a bit more, and then in this kind of really straight role about kind of creating that psychological profiling of kind of the worst that humanity has to offer, yeah, he's amazing. But yes, watch it, put it to the top of your list. Definitely.Kelly Molson: I will do that. Third and final icebreaker question: if money and time were no object, what would you be doing right now?Cate Milton: Traveling, 100%. But that's misleading. I'm not ever going to pretend I'm the kind of traveler with a rucksack. I need something on wheels, so I would be going places with the suitcases, not having to worry about what the cheapest airport transfer is, how to get places. I would be having a lovely time. I'd never see winter again, definitely. I'm not a winter person. I'm loving the sun. So yeah, from a very selfish point of view, rather than trying to fix the rest of the world, I would be just following the sun all year round, having a lovely time.Kelly Molson: That's fine. It's your money, it's your time, you do whatever you want with it.Cate Milton: I would also donate to charity and save the whales.Kelly Molson: Saved it. Now that was a classic millennial answer.Cate Milton: Okay, yeah.Kelly Molson: All right, Cate, what is your unpopular opinion? What have you got for us?Cate Milton: I feel like this is quite unpopular. I'm also a little bit worried that if I say it that anyone listening straight away going to be like, "Well, she has no idea what she's talking about, so I'm not going to listen to the rest of this."Kelly Molson: Don't worry. Honestly, there's been some real shockers on here. You'll be good.Cate Milton: So, my unpopular opinion is that I think that tea, coffee, and alcohol are the most disgusting things on the planet. I do not understand how so much of this country is powered by one of those three things. I can't stand the taste of any of them, so I have lived my life without any of them. Maybe it's more I've got the taste palette of a child, although there's also a possibility I'm a super taster, so I'm just very sensitive and that's probably a superpower. So actually, it's all you guys that are wrong. I've just evolved out of the universe.Kelly Molson: I love this, but this is how you look so fresh-faced as well, because you don't drink the coffee-Cate Milton: Well, I don't know.Kelly Molson: ... and you don't drink the alcohol. So we are in the wrong.Cate Milton: It helps more in the money point of view, I'm not going to lie. That definitely makes a night out cheaper, but no, any fresh-facedness is down to my very complex skincare regime that I developed over the lockdown, so that's where all the money goes instead.Kelly Molson: Okay. Not enough care days. Right, listeners, tell us how you feel about Cate's unpopular opinion. Yeah, it's an interesting one. My husband's actually teetotal at the moment. He's just gone off the alcohol. Just doesn't like the effects that it leaves him with. It really affects his mood. So yeah, he's just cut it out and it's quite liberating really, isn't it?Cate Milton: Honestly, too, I've had it all the way through, so it made uni quite difficult because as soon as anyone will meet you the first question you're having to answer is, "Why don't you drink?" But definitely in the last kind of five years or so it's not a question I get so much anymore. It's just say, "Oh, okay then." So, I think there is a general trend in people... for whatever reason. There's a whole range of reasons, like trying not to drink for a little while or deciding they don't want that in their lives anymore. It's a lot more common. So, I don't have to answer that question so often because the next bit was always, "It's okay. I've got something that you'll love."Kelly Molson: But it shouldn't be a question, should it? It's just, "I don't drink." Okay.Cate Milton: How it is. I can just about manage the super sweet, if it's really sweet. So just a lot of sugar, then I can just about nurse one cocktail for about... But it will take me six hours or so to drink it. It's not something that I enjoy and it goes down nice and smooth. So yeah, unless somebody's bought it for me because they're being nice, it's not something that I partake in most of the time.Kelly Molson: Then there's the guilt of having to drink it, I guess.Cate Milton: Yeah, exactly. I'm just there sipping like, "Yeah, no, I don't need another one. This is really nice. Thank you."Kelly Molson: Okay. Right, tell us how you feel. I don't think that's too unpopular at all, Cate. Cate, you are the Customer Experience Programme Officer at Historic Royal Palaces.Cate Milton: Yes.Kelly Molson: I want to know about this role. Tell us what it involves because I'm guessing very broad.Cate Milton: Yes, you could say that. So, yeah. So I work for Historical Palaces. I actually work across all six sites. So, I'm based at the Tower. The Tower is my home and I've got the most experience in the Tower, because I originally started in Heritage, in Operations at the Tower of London. But now yeah, I work across the Tower, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Banqueting House, Kew Palace, and as well as Hillsborough Castle over in Northern Ireland. So yeah, I'm kind of there looking across customer experience and initiatives across those sites, trying to make sure that we've kind of got that one standard for HRP and what customer experience means, customer service means from an HRP point of view.Cate Milton: So yeah, it is quite broad. It's anything from kind of creating our customer service standard that I did with colleagues in Operations, goodness, two years ago now, I think, just before we reopened from the first lockdown, right up to more strategic things about where we need to aim for, where we need to focus our attention, having a look at a lot of customer journeys and understanding the end-to-end journey for all our sites.Cate Milton: I am the only one in my department. I am a department all by myself, so there's a lot of advocating for what customer journeys mean and joining up bits of the organisation. Not entirely by myself: I have the support of my visitor experience group, which is our operations directors, our public engagement, director and our commercial director, and all the op scenes across the site, too. I think in Operations you know how complex the journey is, you see the whole thing. So I think they're the teams I work most closely with; as well as overseeing things that are related to visitor feedback.Cate Milton: So, there's so much data. We have so much information on our visitors and what they think, what they feel, what their expectations are. So there's a little kind of work with our customer insight manager about how we best collate that, use it, spot the trends. So yeah, and also I just get deployed, really, to any kind projects that might need... Yeah, I suppose a little focus on customer experience, and I pipe up with annoying things like, "That's not customer journey-"Kelly Molson: Not thought about this.Cate Milton: "... So can we not do that." Yeah. I'm so lucky I get to get involved in basically anything that needs that kind of customer focus, which, in a visitor attraction, is nearly everything. So, it's an amazing role and, yeah, in a great place.Kelly Molson: What a job. What a job.Cate Milton: I landed on my finger this one. It's not too bad.Kelly Molson: Well, I mean, firstly: they are not terrible places to go to work every day, are they? I mean, what a place.Cate Milton: It ruins you for life though, because if anyone says to me now that you have to go to work in an old office block, it's very much, "Yeah, so where's the armed guard outside the office door? How many draw bridges do I have to go over? How many portcullises are there to go under? None? Okay, no. Well that's boring, isn't it?"Kelly Molson: It's not for me, then.Cate Milton: Exactly. Like it's, I say, "I'm sorry. I'm a palace-only person these days." But no, honestly, it's absolutely stunning. And actually, the previous governor who worked here, who kind of gave my first chance at the tower... So he's been very much a mentor to me, but I always remember him saying that, "If you ever come to work one day and you're not just awed by where you are, then it's time to leave and let somebody else come in, because you should just never forget the sites you're working at and the kind of connection to history that they've got." Yeah, I still, I still get the kind of, "Oh my God, the White Tower." It's still absolutely... I've been here coming here on and off eight years, with different roles and everything, and I still don't get over it.Kelly Molson: That's amazing. So you still get the goosebumps, you still get the-Cate Milton: Oh, completely, completely. You just walk under an archway and there are little faces carved into the arch, and they've seen every monarch since Henry III. Every single monarch we've had, like some of the biggest events in world history, have happened within these walls or at Hampton Court with Henry VIII, or Banqueting House. Charles the First was executed outside Banqueting House. So, some real key history where it happened moments have happened at our sites, and it's amazing that we get to kind of invite people in to share those stories.Kelly Molson: Well, how did you get... because you said that this, you've really landed on your feet. This is a dream role.Cate Milton: Yeah.Kelly Molson: What did you study beforehand to bring into this role?Cate Milton: So, I started... uni-wise, I did English and history degree, and then, because I graduated in the last recession, so I ended up working in schools in Essex and as a PA, and at the time, honestly, that's all I wanted to be. I was just like, I'm happy being a PA. I like organising things." It's a brilliant job if you like organising you, just sitting there really understanding nuts and bolts of things. And then I saw the PA job advertised for the governor of the Tower of London, and the Tower has been, honestly, my favourite place in the world since I was about five or six. I have a picture my grandmother took of me at the gates, kind of just like, "Let me in, let me in."Cate Milton: So getting it was a complete, complete dream come true, but I got it based on the fact I just sat there and said, "Yeah, I just want to be a PA. That's my dream. I just want to be a PA. I've got no other aspirations." But within nine months I had made the most of an opportunity to move into Ops, and then from then on I was just like, "This is what I should do. I love making stuff happen, I love working here, I love heritage. This fits who I am. This is what I want to do." So, I was there for a little bit. I was lucky enough to run an event called The Constable's Installation.Cate Milton: So, every four or five years, the Queen nominates her representative at The Tower of London, which is known as the Constable of the Tower. We've had one since 1078, so it's not a position that many people have had. And we had this big ceremony that the Lord Chamberlain comes to to install the Constable, and I was fortunate enough to be the first woman and the first civilian to run that installation in 2016.Kelly Molson: Gosh.Cate Milton: And I mean, it's still one of the best days of my life, but I peaked really, really early. I peaked at 28. That's it now, it's all downhill for now on. But doing that mix of operations and big ceremonies and events, I was kind of pinched by English Heritage to be their event manager for a couple of years, actually working with Lucy Hutchings, who I've then been working with at Hampton Court-Kelly Molson: Oh, lovely.Cate Milton: That's been really nice. Yeah. And then, I kept an eye on what was happening at HRP, because it was very much like... English Heritage is an absolutely fantastic organisation, but I'm very London-centric, so yeah, when this role came up I had the right combination of, "I've been in Ops, I've been on the front line. I understand, I care about what that experience looks like." So yeah, I applied for the role and the mothership called me home and I came back to the Tower.Kelly Molson: Oh, goodness. That's so amazing.Cate Milton: Yeah. So, I've had a lovely time the last eight years. I've been very lucky.Kelly Molson: Yeah.Cate Milton: I've been here for the last four, and it's been such a learning curve, because we originally started with a programme called [inaudible 00:14:47] and Distinctive, which is around customer experience and that's now become a little bit more kind of business as usual. But I've learnt so, so much in the last four years and really cemented that customer experiences is the bit I love the most, that I really want to do.Kelly Molson: Oh. You've left the PA dreams. You've left them behind.Cate Milton: I know. Yeah, they've fallen by the wayside a little bit and then now it's just like, I want to run things.Kelly Molson: Bigger dreams. Cate Milton: Exactly.Kelly Molson: Bigger dreams.Cate Milton: Absolutely.Kelly Molson: There's a lot... I've got so many questions for you based on what you just talked through, but we spoke a couple of weeks ago and you talked to me about the customer journey mapping exercise that you went on with KPMG, and I was really interested in this because it is really... It's similar to what we do in digital. So, we look at user journeys and we plot out where people are going to go on the site and what journeys we want to take them on, and it sounds very similar, but obviously it's in the real world. And I wanted to get you to talk that through. Tell us how you go about that. What was the need for it, to start with?Cate Milton: Yeah. So, customer journey mapping is such a vital tool for understanding the entire end-to-end journey for your customers. For example, at HRP sites we had departments who are kind of looking after individual touchpoints of our customer journey, particularly on site. But, in order to make the journey as seamless as possible and to be the best possible experience, it's essential that all of those touchpoints link together beautifully and they don't kind of jar that one department wants to do things this way and another does it this way, and... It just gets a bit jarring to go through that journey.Cate Milton: So, the customer experience overall suffers a little bit. But when you're looking at customer journey map, it really gives you that picture of this is where our customer starts, and this is the kind of thing that they're feeling, these are emotions, this is what their expectations are, and then takes you through every single touchpoint, right until the end, which is in, our case, they've gone offsite. What kind of post-visit relationship do we have with them after that?Cate Milton: So, for us it was very much the ambition to visualise that, to map that out, to get a, I suppose like a Bible of customer experience where everything is in that one place, so we can all be working to the same document, we can all understand the same thing, have the same vision, and really start kind of picking out those areas that we could focus on to improve what is... don't get me wrong... already an excellent visitor experience. We are some of the most amazing sites, some of the most amazing front-of-house teams. So it's going from good to great, rather than, "Oh my God, this is horrendous. We need to fix this."Cate Milton: So it's just where those little areas are that we could push ourselves kind of up a little bit more. So yeah, we got the help of KPMG to do that, because it was, it was not an approach that HRP had had done previously, so we needed that kind of outside consultancy, advice on how to go about that. And yeah, we worked with them on the processing of gathering all the information, the data and insight that we had, which was a mammoth task. We have a lot. We have all sorts of kind of surveys that are done about different exhibitions, or exit surveys. We have the ALVA benchmarking. There's so much information that we have just dotted around at different places, so trying to bring that all together to understand the picture that our visitors have been telling us, the information is there: what they want to see, what their expectations are, motivations, what they need on site. So, it's all that information.Cate Milton: We also ran workshops and did service safari. So, that is essentially taking a cross-palace team and kind of giving them a role for the day, giving them a persona. So, for example, you're the Walker family today. So, get your mind... We did some empathy mapping to really get people's minds into, "I'm a family. I've got a young child and a slightly old child, what do I need? Have I got buggy? Have I got to take things, am I going to need changing rooms?" All those kind of considerations. So, we gave people different personas so they could really kind of connect with some of our general groups of visitors. This is one of the frustrations, because you can't cover everybody. You do have to be very general, and there are going to be gaps in that, but some of that you can kind of cover off later. But yes, we did these service safaris and got our teams to do a visit, and to start looking at things from a visitor's point of view.Kelly Molson: That's so interesting. So, it is your own internal team that you take through this process?Cate Milton: Exactly, exactly. And it was always important to make sure that we had other members of staff who aren't used to that particular site. So, with KPMG we did Kensington and Tower of London, and it's one of those things with the best one in the world: you get blindness with your own site, because you see things day after day, you know what you're trying to focus on, what you're trying to improve, but sometimes you just stop seeing some of the things; stop seeing through the trees kind of thing. So, it's really helpful to get those other members of staff that aren't there every single day, and it's fascinating what comes out, and it's so useful for members of staff to really see like, "Oh yeah, why are we expecting us to do that?" Or, "That's actually quite difficult. Why are we doing it like that?"Cate Milton: It's so useful, and honestly, I mean, even if it's not a process, the customer data mapping is not a process that other organisations want to go through, I completely recommend doing service safaris. It really opens people's eyes. But we also had a lot of kind of one-to-one conversations with members of staff from across the organisation, and one of the most important groups in that was front of house. Visitor feedback is essential in understanding what our visitors want, and their opinions on stuff, but a lot of stuff that we got, for example, in our CRM, where visitors have contacted our contact centre, that's either the stuff that they absolutely love and is amazing or the stuff that's really upset them.Cate Milton: There's a massive gap in the middle there that our front of house team see every day in terms of minor irritations. It puts friction in, but it's not enough for someone to complain about. We need to look at that stuff as well. That's the everyday stuff that just jars with you a little bit. You just think, "Oh, that was a bit rubbish." And that stays in you. It might not be that's something you want to complain about later on, but it's still that you're going to go to friends and sort of say, "Yeah, it was good. I mean, this bit was a bit annoying."Cate Milton: So, it's so important to engage front of house teams to kind of have spies on the ground, to know what they're always asked about, to know the visitors always go the wrong way in this bit. Is it clear what room they're in? Is it clear where the toilets are, if the map's okay? So, we did quite a bit of work about talking to those guys, as well. And it's just kin of collating all of this data that everybody's got. It's just a matter of putting it together and, yeah, putting it into this, this tool that shows you what's happening at at each touchpoint. The most valuable thing, I think, the snapshot that comes from it, is the emotional journey of the customer.Cate Milton: So, obviously what you want in an ideal world is that they come in feeling okay and they leave thinking, "This is the most amazing thing. That was great. I loved every connection I had with that organisation." And that's what you're aspiring to, as well as everything nice and green and happy in the middle. But, that emotional journey graph really gives you a snapshot of, "Oh, okay. Well, things are dropping a little bit here. What going wrong here, or what can we improve here, or how has something earlier on not set this up properly? And if we fix this, is this going to effect later on?" So, it's such a valuable tool to really get that idea of what our visitors, what our customers are actually going through.Kelly Molson: That's epic though, isn't it? I mean, the amount of information that you need to have for that, and to do it really well, too. How long does a process like that take?Cate Milton: So, in terms of the data we already had, obviously we were talking kind of years of data. Customer journey mapping, you could either do it as a snapshot of the current state, or you can be a bit more aspirational and do it as a snapshot of kind of where you want to get to. It's most useful, really, to kind of have a combination of... to have two. But yeah, for us it was doing an in-depth audit of all the bits of information we had, making sure that KPMG had access to that, and we went through it with them about what this means, what this doesn't. There's also that kind of complication of, well, something exceptional happening three years ago. That means that's skewed that data a little bit.Kelly Molson: Right.Cate Milton: So what can we look into that is the kind of justification. So, for example, if our ticketing system had a blip and we get loads of complaints about that, we know that, we've solved that, and we don't need to worry too much about that, but we maybe need to record it's annoying if the ticking system has a moment. But overall, I mean, it took us maybe about six months to do with KPMG and kind of getting through all these stages of looking at the visitor staff, looking at the employee staff, looking at which departments feed into which parts, and also just identifying all the touch points. I think we've ended up with something around 70 to 80 individual touchpoints from start to finish on an onsite journey.Cate Milton: So that's only what we're talking about when visitors actually come online on site. We also have, like you were saying earlier, digital journeys that our digital engagement team look at. We have membership, we have schools, we have people with accessibility requirements. They all have a different journey.Cate Milton: There's all sorts of different things to layer on top of that you can kind of factor in. But, it was, it was very in depth and just absolutely fascinating, and a really good opportunity to kin of get everyone on board the same thing as well, and to get departments that kind of sit alongside each other, but maybe don't overlap so often. Or, we're the same as many other organisations, multi-site organisations that sometimes silos or kind of barrier, and doing things like this really starts to show everyone how they're part of the entire, and that cross-department working is really, really useful.Kelly Molson: Yeah, it's re-engaging the internal team with the visitor as well, isn't it, because you've put them in their in their shoes-Cate Milton: Absolutely.Kelly Molson: ... and you've mentioned empathy. What was it you called it?Cate Milton: Yeah. So, we did some empathy mapping, where essentially we kind of, before we sent people out on that service safari we gave them these personas and we gave them kind of questionnaires about, "What do you think this person or this group of people is looking for? What do you think their main considerations are? What do you think their main worries are? What do they need on site? What they trying to get out of it?" I mean, KPMG made us, created us some personas that combined things like our cultural segments, as well and making sure we've got that overlap between motivations and needs. Personas are a key part of customer journey mapping, and yeah, kin of creating... Say it's the general kind of average visitor, which is incredibly difficult for a lot of sites, because we've got-Kelly Molson: They don't exist, do they?Cate Milton: Exactly. Do you know what I mean? We've got people from all over the world or different backgrounds, so that is a difficult thing. But, I think one of the other things to kind of bear in mind with customer journey mapping is you don't want to get analysis paralysis. I suppose you don't want to kind of get into that mindset where you are kind of analyzing so much that you don't just get something done. It is so important to get started because the thing with customer journey maps is they're not static documents. That's not it. You don't create one and then, "Oh, we're done now. This is what it looks like."Cate Milton: You take it, you learn from it, you update it, you review it, you take kind of opportunities from it. You look at how else you can track and wonder about trends, so if you can prove something you kind of keep an eye on feedback, see it and re-improve that. So, it keeps moving. That's its value, is that it's a live document that you keep updating to see how the journey moves and where the weak points get to, and eventually you end up with just five across the board and you're like, now you're done. Now you-Kelly Molson: I'm sure that is not the case.Cate Milton: No, I don't think so.Kelly Molson: You went through this process six months. Actually, yeah, that was interesting, because I thought that you were going to say it was longer. I was expecting you to say it was a year's process.Cate Milton: Yeah.Kelly Molson: So, six months. What were the outcomes from that, and what have you had to improve because of it?Cate Milton: So, I think one of the biggest outcomes... Because I should also say that we, the delivery of this, got pushed forward slightly because the end of the world happened. So, we kind of got to spring 2020, getting to the point where we were just about to understand everything there is to know, and then obviously it just disappeared.Kelly Molson: Right? The world went, "Ah-ah-ah-ah."Cate Milton: Yeah, exactly.Kelly Molson: "Ready or not."Cate Milton: Like, "Okay then, so there's no customers to improve the experience of right now." So, that obviously put a pause on things for a little while, but one of the biggest things I think it gave a focus to, which is one of the major outcomes, was like you said, kind of helping people refocus on the visitor, on the customer. What it meant was we were able to demonstrate that operations really have ownership of that entire journey, and we have kind of... I mean, they're a bit more than subject matter experts, but like our interpretation teams, our curatorial teams, they support Ops and Ops support them to deliver.Cate Milton: But, it was just really important that we started moving towards an organisation where operations control and own that end-to-end journey, so that someone does and so that there's consistency in delivery, so that we aren't switching back and forth between different departments, which, internally we can work like that. That's fine. We understand about how it's this person interpretation and it's this person, but we don't want our visitors to feel like there's effort between touchpoints. They see it as sterile palaces, that's what we need to present it as. So, it made sense for operations to really kind of, I suppose, step up and take ownership of that, and our structure now reflects that as well.Cate Milton: So, I think in terms of kind of outcomes, it was a lot of kin of realisation of how best to run a customer experience. And also, just the fact that, like I said, we had so many different overlaps of things, and it kind of starts drawing out as well the themes throughout the entire organisation, but also there's places where the palaces, are different and there's a balance to be struck there about, they have to be different. They tell different stories, they have different personalities, but we want it to be an HRP standard, so how does that apply to each of the different sites?Cate Milton: So, after we did Tara Kensington, we've also got a ticketing journey map as well. I've just done the Hampton Court one. So, for the first time HRP has done a customer journey map by themselves, so I went out and did the Hampton Courts customer journey map, and we'd just come to the conclusion of that and fed back to the workshop group. So, kind of having that learning about how to approach these things, how to do it, how to be sustainable on our own so that we don't have to keep going back and say, "We've got another one. Can you help us do another one?" Yeah, and hopefully we'll be able to do Hillsborough and then go back and start, as I said before, layering the schools and community visits; absolutely layering accessibility.Cate Milton: A colleague of mine made the really good point that that should be a priority for us, and 100% agree. Some of our sites are incredibly challenging for people with different access requirements because they weren't built that way.Cate Milton: Tower London in particular was built to keep people out, rather than welcoming two million or so visitors. So, there's challenges around that, and I think any other historic site would sympathise with that. So, I think it just kind of focused us, really. It focused us on what we can do for customer experience, and that it's an ongoing thing. It's not a, "we'll do it, we'll fix it, we'll move on." But also just the fact that... I think I've said briefly before that it's not about fixing individual touchpoints, and the best example, I guess... I keep wheeling out this one example to everyone to demonstrate it. It's where we've kind of, as everybody has moved to a more online ticketing model... Because that's the fluid expectations of customers, that's what people expect. They want to be able to self-serve and be able to sort themselves out. Great. We're brilliant, we're on that, people can do that.Cate Milton: But the problem is that if we are moving to that model and the majority of our visitors are booking online, when they turn up onsite, if they come to the West Gate at Hampton Court, the West Gate at Tower of London, they haven't had a chat with our great admissions team, so they haven't had a chance to orientate themselves. They haven't had a chance to be given a map and be told what's going on that day. They've kind of been able to skip that and go straight to a gate. So it's kind of, okay, so we've made that bit better and more seamless, but now we've moved a problem further down the line. So, it's understanding the changes to one touch point and how that impacts the rest of the journey. You can't just fix one thing in isolation and think, "Excellent, that will be up and green now," without considering its position in the entire, in the rest of the journey I think.Kelly Molson: That is such an excellent point, isn't it? You can't fix one touch point without it impacting another.Cate Milton: Absolutely.Kelly Molson: And how do you monitor the impacts when you do?Cate Milton: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Oh, goodness. I was going to ask you what was your biggest learning from the process, but it sounds like one of the biggest learnings was being able to do it yourself.Cate Milton: Yes. I don't have to do it now. No, it absolutely was. I was so valuable to watch the the guys from KPMG, because in terms of consultancy support they are some of the best, KPMG, some of the best in that kind of area of customer experience. So, it was amazing to kind of go through that. Also kind of understand some of the psychology behind it, and what we're trying to achieve and why, and even kind of watching them watching our visitors up on Tower Hill and understanding how they're moving, and how we might be able to improve that, and where their hesitations are, and what might be going on. That kind of understanding, that psychological factor, was so useful... so, so useful for me taking it on boards and taking it further for the organisation.Kelly Molson: Do you think as a result of this, as well, that the internal teams work better... Even though this was a process to help improve the customer's experience... do you think it's actually helped the internal teams?Cate Milton: Oh, completely, 100%, because it's now something we've got to refer to and they can see where they fit in. And that's not to say that people didn't realise that before, and it's absolutely not to say that everyone was just working in their own little kingdom before, but I think it gives a central focus point.Cate Milton: And so, the end of the world got in the way the little bit, so we are looking now to kind of... Now we've got the Hampton court one and we're putting in place the process for reviewing that, for reviewing our kind of customer experience backlog documents that we now have for each palace, to understand we need to get on with this area, this element. So for example, Hampton Court, we need some better signage in the car park, so we can get on with that first. That's a priority. We know that's a, that's a pain point.Cate Milton: So, we've kind of got these lists and we're putting in place this process for reviewing those, keeping us, holding ourselves to account, making sure we're getting on with things as and when we can; the same with, basically I guess, every other kind of museum, gallery, heritage attraction resource and funding is an issue for us at the moment. So it's just understanding kind of where those priorities are. But yeah, understanding that process and how we review it, and bringing all of those departments in and kind of working together on how we fix things or improve things, I think, is definitely going to be getting better and better as we go on. We're kind of about to relaunch it, in a way, now that we've got the Hampton Court one as well.Kelly Molson: Yeah.Cate Milton: Because it's taken a while for everyone to come back to work, to find their feet again. I don't know about anyone else, but it took me a long time to be able to focus for any more than five minutes at time, so now that we're back there and it's starting to look a bit more normal. We can really start kind of launching that, making sure the entire organisation understands what we've got, why we've got them, and how we intend to use them. So, that will be kind of a job for this summer and into the autumn.Kelly Molson: I mean, what a great experience, what a great process to go through, and it's had so many incredible outcomes.Cate Milton: Yes.Kelly Molson: What would be your top tips for any organisation that's about to embark on something similar?Cate Milton: I think that the most important thing is involve your colleagues, and involve them early. A lot of people... Obviously, there's always going to be demands on kind of time and energy, but making sure that people understand early how important they are to, and how important their work in their departments are to understanding everything is vital, and organisations can only be stronger for it. I'd also say in terms of our kind of visitor attraction organisations, front of house teams, making sure that their voice is absolutely heard, because it's one thing for somebody who's in the back office, tapping away, to start coming and saying, "We think this, and we're going to fix it with this," if you haven't actually asked the guys who are out on the grounds, answering the question of where the toilets are for the 50th time in hour.Cate Milton: So, I think that was the biggest thing for me, was making sure to whatever extent that you do customer daily mapping... because you can do a pretty informal version. You can take it to the extent that we did, but it's make sure that your front of house teams are heard and are a big part of it, I think.Kelly Molson: Good tip. Weirdly, that's where we go and start, as well, from digital perspective-Cate Milton: Oh, really?Kelly Molson: ... because people often think that you just talk to the marketing department because that's who you are engaged with, that's who's brought you on. But for us to understand where digital can support the organisation, we need to understand what challenges front of house are having, and then bring the two together?Cate Milton: Completely that.Kelly Molson: Completely. So glad. I knew we'd be aligned, Cate. I knew you would be. Right. We need to talk about Superbloom.Cate Milton: Yeah.Kelly Molson: I mean, spectacular. You're in the midst of it right now. For anyone who's watching this, or anyone who's listening to this and not watching the video... Why aren't you watching the video, because we are fabulous. Cate's in a high-vis jacket right now because she's actually on site-Cate Milton: Yep.Kelly Molson: ... in the midst of Superbloom.Cate Milton: Absolutely, yes. I'm out there as an event coordinator today. So, yeah, running around looking after our volunteers and our visitors, making sure that everything's running smoothly and, yeah, everyone's happy, which is a lot easier in beautiful sunshine like this.Kelly Molson: It is a glorious, glorious day, and it is an absolutely spectacular show piece, what you have there, so congrats on pulling it off.Cate Milton: Thank you so much. I mean, I can't take really any credit for it. Honestly, it's our interpretation teams have been working on this for about three years. It's been a really long buildup to the project. The work started onsite in about October, and then there's been a lot of, kind of, since I think late March, early April, a lot of kind of staring at soil, kind of like, "Are we okay? Are they coming?"Kelly Molson: "Please work."Cate Milton: And the thing is... I mean, honestly, I can't even explain what an amazing job they've done, and there's something like 20 million seeds planted in that moat, so that the scale of it cannot be underestimated.Kelly Molson: Gosh.Cate Milton: But yeah, we got there, we opened officially on the 1st of June just in time for the Jubilee weekend, and it was something that we learned from our commemorations of World War I's, for both the poppies and the flames: that the public really liked having the Towers as kind of a place, essential place to come and take part in national events. So, that's kind of where the thought came from about celebrating the Queen's Jubilee, with that kind of changing the moat again. We've upgraded from ceramic poppies to the real thing. There's a wonderful scattering of California poppies down there at the moment, so it's looking absolutely stunning. We've got everything from different smells going on, there's music down there, which honestly is so Zen. It's my favourite place to be. I'll just go walk through like, "I'm so calm right now. There is no City of London out there, there's no traffic. I'm just in the bed of flowers and this amazing music."Cate Milton: But yeah, it's been going really well, and yeah, it's one of those times where you just realise how strong your teams are. We've got kind of event coordinators who all have other jobs, that volunteered to come out and help on their days off or alongside their regular jobs. We've got volunteer coordinators who are mostly our front of house teams, who, as anyone will know, in a summer it's so busy onsite anyway, and then for them to offer to come and help in Superbloom on days off is incredible. So, it does... Yeah, without being too kind of gooey about it, it makes you really proud to be part of an organisation that kind of has the vision to do this and then moves forward and actually does it. And we also have a slide, which is-Kelly Molson: Oh, well, I mean, if you weren't sold before Cate mentioned the slide, I mean, tick. I'm there.Cate Milton: Come and slide into the moat. Do you know what, it's the most joyous thing. The kids love it, obviously, but my absolute favourite thing has been watching adults. We have grandmothers going off and going down, and it just... I want to be like them. I want to still have that kind of, I think, playfulness, but I'm kind of closer, a little bit closer, to the end of my run on this earth, but-Kelly Molson: Oh, phenomenal, yeah.Cate Milton: Absolutely. Yeah. It's a great event, and it's just something completely different in the city, and it represents the biggest change we've made to the moat... or, not HRP, but has been made to the moat since the Duke of Wellington drained it in eight, I think 1843.Kelly Molson: Okay.Cate Milton: So, since then it's been mostly turf. It's been kind of used for other practicalities, like allotments in World War II and so on, but yeah, it hasn't been changed to this extent since then, so it's a big mark in the history of the Tower, as well; as well as kind of acknowledging the Queen's achievement, and just helping the biodiversity a little bit of city of London, as well.Kelly Molson: Yeah.Cate Milton: One of the best bits is you are walking through the flowers, if you stop and look, they're moving. There's so many pollinators and wildlife in there. It's just, yeah. It's amazing. It's a very kind of wholesome, grounding, life isn't so bad kind of place to be.Kelly Molson: Yeah. I mean, Cate, you've absolutely sold it. Absolutely.Cate Milton: Oh good, everybody come.Kelly Molson: Everyone go visit. I mean, how could you not after that? Cate, thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure to talk to you. We always ask our guests to recommend a book, a book that you love, that you'd recommend to our listeners. What have you got for us?Cate Milton: So, this was so hard, honestly. I was sat there looking at my bookshelves because I've got everything from basically every book that's ever been written on Henry V, because I'm a geek on that side of things. I think one of the ones that kind of really woke me up to understanding the psychological side of customer experience a little bit more was Thinking Fast and Slow, which most people in this environment, I'm sure, have read or heard of. But, it's a great way of understanding what's going on in people's minds when they're just going around their everyday life. So yeah, that's been so helpful in terms of working out how to make things more seamless and making sure that people can do things automatically, and it's intuitive and obvious, which means the bigger part of them is free to enjoy and be happy and be excited about where they are.Cate Milton: So, I think that's definitely a big one for me. But, from a kind of personal side of view, if I'm not looking at heritage, then whales and dolphins are my absolute, absolute passion, and there's a book, called Leviathan, by Philip Hoare, who's... He's also a whale fanatic, and it's just his relationship with understanding the oceans, understanding kind of the history of whales, of whaling, the changing relationship between humanity and whales. It's my absolute favourite book. So yeah, if you want something a bit out there, a bit random, then Leviathan is an amazingly well-written book.Kelly Molson: That sounds beautiful. Well, I mean, neither of those books have been recommended on the podcast before. This is really interesting.Cate Milton: It's like, Thinking Fast and Slow, I was just like, I feel like everyone would've said that one because it's, yeah. The chapters are really short. It's kind of a concentrating read, but absolutely, it really sets out how humans think and why we are as we are, so I think it's really, really valuable in terms of thinking about customer experience.Kelly Molson: Yes, great. I'm absolutely amazed that nobody has recommended it before, but, right. Okay. So we... Well, Cate has blown my marketing budget, like most people do. So, we'll give you two books to win this month.Cate Milton: Thank you, thank you. Sorry about that.Kelly Molson: You know what to do, listeners: head over to our Twitter account, find this episode announcement, and retweet it with the words, "I want Cate's book..." Uh, books because there's two.Cate Milton: Yeah, sorry. Sorry.Kelly Molson: And you'll be in with a chance of winning them. So, go over and do that. Cate, it's been such a pleasure. Thank you.Cate Milton: Thank you so much. I honestly, I'm such a geek on this stuff, so it's so nice to have an excuse to talk about it.Kelly Molson: I've loved it. Well, feel free to come back on any time and talk more about it, because it's been a delight.Cate Milton: Thank you so much.Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five-star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.  

As Jinny Webber explains in this interview, a “bedtrick” is a literary device through which a character is deceived into spending the night with someone unexpected, trapping that character into an unwanted commitment. William Shakespeare used the device in All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure. So it is a fitting title for this novel about the gender-bending that was so much a part of Shakespeare's comedies—most notably, Twelfth Night. There were practical reasons for having female characters appear as men throughout much of a play, but Webber takes this historical reality and twists it into the essence of her plot. Her main character, Alexander Cooke, is a gifted actor with the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the company where Shakespeare serves as playwright. Sander, as Alexander is known to family and friends, specializes in female roles, which in Elizabethan times could be played only by males—usually pre-pubescent boys. Only a select group of confidants knows that Sander was born Kate Collins, a village girl who fled her home to avoid an unwanted marriage and found her place among the traveling actors of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. When Sander's brother—Johnny, another member of the acting company—gets his lover pregnant and refuses to marry her, Sander steps in to protect the mother-to-be, Frances, and her unborn child. Although it is illegal for two women to marry in sixteenth-century London, Sander persuades a priest to perform the ceremony. Frances's position as Elizabeth I's Silkwoman is secured, but the story of Sander and Frances is just beginning. Like all married couples, they must find a way to live together, even as England itself suffers from unrest and uncertainty caused by the aging queen's reluctance to name her successor. Filled with quotations from Shakespeare and an insider's view of his plays, this is a charming story of love triumphing in the midst of intolerance.  A longtime college teacher, Jinny Webber has always been fascinated by the theater and society of the Elizabethan era, and in particular its complicated gender roles on stage and off. She has written short stories, screenplays, and novels, of which Bedtrick is the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/historical-fiction

As Jinny Webber explains in this interview, a “bedtrick” is a literary device through which a character is deceived into spending the night with someone unexpected, trapping that character into an unwanted commitment. William Shakespeare used the device in All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure. So it is a fitting title for this novel about the gender-bending that was so much a part of Shakespeare's comedies—most notably, Twelfth Night. There were practical reasons for having female characters appear as men throughout much of a play, but Webber takes this historical reality and twists it into the essence of her plot. Her main character, Alexander Cooke, is a gifted actor with the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the company where Shakespeare serves as playwright. Sander, as Alexander is known to family and friends, specializes in female roles, which in Elizabethan times could be played only by males—usually pre-pubescent boys. Only a select group of confidants knows that Sander was born Kate Collins, a village girl who fled her home to avoid an unwanted marriage and found her place among the traveling actors of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. When Sander's brother—Johnny, another member of the acting company—gets his lover pregnant and refuses to marry her, Sander steps in to protect the mother-to-be, Frances, and her unborn child. Although it is illegal for two women to marry in sixteenth-century London, Sander persuades a priest to perform the ceremony. Frances's position as Elizabeth I's Silkwoman is secured, but the story of Sander and Frances is just beginning. Like all married couples, they must find a way to live together, even as England itself suffers from unrest and uncertainty caused by the aging queen's reluctance to name her successor. Filled with quotations from Shakespeare and an insider's view of his plays, this is a charming story of love triumphing in the midst of intolerance.  A longtime college teacher, Jinny Webber has always been fascinated by the theater and society of the Elizabethan era, and in particular its complicated gender roles on stage and off. She has written short stories, screenplays, and novels, of which Bedtrick is the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

As Jinny Webber explains in this interview, a “bedtrick” is a literary device through which a character is deceived into spending the night with someone unexpected, trapping that character into an unwanted commitment. William Shakespeare used the device in All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure. So it is a fitting title for this novel about the gender-bending that was so much a part of Shakespeare's comedies—most notably, Twelfth Night. There were practical reasons for having female characters appear as men throughout much of a play, but Webber takes this historical reality and twists it into the essence of her plot. Her main character, Alexander Cooke, is a gifted actor with the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the company where Shakespeare serves as playwright. Sander, as Alexander is known to family and friends, specializes in female roles, which in Elizabethan times could be played only by males—usually pre-pubescent boys. Only a select group of confidants knows that Sander was born Kate Collins, a village girl who fled her home to avoid an unwanted marriage and found her place among the traveling actors of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. When Sander's brother—Johnny, another member of the acting company—gets his lover pregnant and refuses to marry her, Sander steps in to protect the mother-to-be, Frances, and her unborn child. Although it is illegal for two women to marry in sixteenth-century London, Sander persuades a priest to perform the ceremony. Frances's position as Elizabeth I's Silkwoman is secured, but the story of Sander and Frances is just beginning. Like all married couples, they must find a way to live together, even as England itself suffers from unrest and uncertainty caused by the aging queen's reluctance to name her successor. Filled with quotations from Shakespeare and an insider's view of his plays, this is a charming story of love triumphing in the midst of intolerance.  A longtime college teacher, Jinny Webber has always been fascinated by the theater and society of the Elizabethan era, and in particular its complicated gender roles on stage and off. She has written short stories, screenplays, and novels, of which Bedtrick is the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

From music hall to Red Dwarf, pantomime to Absolutely Fabulous, we look at the history of British comedy, the names, shows, and historical events that made it what it is today. Like what you hear?  Become a patron of the arts for as little as $2 a month!   Or buy the book or some merch.  Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs.  Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter,  or Instagram. Music: Kevin MacLeod, Steve Oxen, David Fesliyan.  . Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Podchaser: Moxie got me through 2,500 miles. I listened to every episode regardless of audio quality from the vault. I got my fix of facts with a personality that kept me entertained the entire time. I shared it with everyone I knew that would appreciate the facts, wit and hilariously subtle segues. Profile avatar 2 months ago byBoredatwork23 Book: David Nowlin 5.0 out of 5 stars Be prepared to be amazed at what you needed know, but did not. Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2021 Great book. Read it cover to cover, but am planning to reread it again and again. It is so full of such wonderful pieces of information that I use to interject conversations whenever I can. Thank you Moxie for such a wonderful gift, and the book is great too Gift and merch “The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created.  This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”  Thus begins Douglas Adams' Restaurant at the End of the Universe, sequel to his culture touchstone The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  That's the book that gave us the answer to life, the universe and everything, though not the question.  Welcome to episode number 42, which I have decided to devote to [drumroll] the history of British comedy.  That means we're going to try to cram hundreds of years, thousands of performers, and a dozen mediums into a half-hour show.  But don't panic.  My name's Moxie and this is your brain on facts.    British comedy history is measured in centuries, from chase scenes and beatings into Shakespeare's comedies to the misadventures of Mr. Bean.  Even as times, tastes, and technologies changes, some themes are eternal.  Innuendo, for example, has been a staple in the literature as far back as Beowulf and Chaucer, and is prevalent in many British folk songs.  King Charles II was such a fan of innuendo that he encouraged it to the point that Restoration comedy became not only its own genre, but an explicit one at that.  The repressive Victorian period gave us burlesque, though not in the same form as the shows you can see today - more vaudeville than striptease.  Absurdism and the surreal had always been an undercurrent, which firmly took root in the 1950's, leading Red Dwarf, The Mighty Boosh, and Count Duckula.  Though the British Empire successfully conquered ¼ of the globe, but its individual people struggled and suffered.  Plagues, wars, poverty, class oppression, and filthy cities gave rise to, and a need for, black humor, in which topics and events that are usually treated seriously are treated in a humorous or satirical manner.  The class system, especially class tensions between characters, with pompous or dim-witted members of the upper/middle classes or embarrassingly blatant social climbers, has always provided ample material, which we can see in modern shows like Absolutely Fabulous, Keeping Up Appearances, and Blackadder.  The British also value finding humor in everyday life, which we see in shows like Father Ted, The IT Crowd, and Spaced, which also incorporates a fair amount of absurdity.   But there's nothing the Brits do better than satire and nobody does it better than the Brits.  “The British, being cynical and sarcastic by nature do have a natural flair for satire,” says BBCAmerica.com writer Fraser McAlpine.  “There's a history of holding up a mirror to society and accentuating its least attractive qualities that goes back hundreds of years...Sometimes the satire is biting and cold, sometimes it's warm and encouraging, but if you want someone who can say a thing that isn't true, but also somehow IS true in a really profound way. You need look no further.”  There are three principal forms of satire.  Menippean satire uses fantasy realms that reflect back on modern society.  Everything from Alice in Wonderland to the works of Terry Pratchett fit here, as would Dr. Who.  Horatian satire skewers cultural moments of silliness using parodic humor.  These are the kind of thing you tend to see most of in comedy TV shows, like The Office.  We're laughing at people being inept and harassed, but not evil.  Juvenalian satire skewers everything with abrasive, often bleak, wit.  If there's an element of horror at the topic being discussed, that's a clue that it's Juvenalian.  John Oliver is a fair hand with Juvenalian satire.  Most political cartoon and black humor fall under this heading.   Though comedy is as old as laughter, we're going to begin today's time travel with the music hall.  (FYI, the narrative today is going to overall linear, but there will be a fair amount of bouncing around.)  Music halls sprang up as an answer to proper theater, which was at the time heavily monitored and censored by the government.  It took place in humble venues like the backs of pubs and coffee houses.  By the 1830s taverns had rooms devoted to musical clubs. They presented Saturday evening Sing-songs and “Free and Easies”. These became so popular that entertainment was put on two or three times a week.  Music in the form of humorous songs was a key element because dialogue was forbidden.  Dialogue was for the theater and if you had speaking parts, you'd be subject to censorship.  The Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737 empowered the Lord Chamberlain's Office to censor plays; this act would be in force until 1968. So, no speaking parts, less, though still some censorship.  Music halls also allowed drinking and smoking, which legitimate theaters didn't.  As the shows became more popular, they moved from the pubs into venues of their own.  Tavern owners, therefore, often annexed buildings adjoining their premises as music halls.  The usual show consisted of six to eight acts, possibly including a comedy skit (low comedy to appeal to the working class), a juggling act, a magic act, a mime, acrobats, a dancing act, a singing act, and perhaps a one-act play.  In the states, this format was essentially vaudeville.  The music hall era was a heyday for female performers, with headliners like Gracie Fields, Lillie Langtry, and Vesta Tilley.  The advent of the talking motion picture in the late 1920s caused music halls to convert into cinemas to stay in business.  To keep comedians employed, a mixture of films and songs called cine-variety was introduced.     The other critically important tradition of that era was panto or pantomime, but not the Marcel Marceau type of pantomime you might be picturing, but a type of theatrical musical comedy designed for family entertainment.  Modern pantomime includes songs, gags, slapstick comedy, dancing, and gender-crossing actors.  It combines topical humour with well-known stories like fables and folk tales.  It is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers.  It's traditionally quite popular around Christmas and New Years.  In early 19th century England, pantomime acquired its present form and featured the first mainstream clown Joseph Grimaldi, while comedy routines also featured heavily in British music halls.  British comedians who honed their skills at pantomime and music hall sketches include Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel.  The influential English music hall comedian and theatre impresario Fred Karno developed a form of sketch comedy without dialogue in the 1890s, and Chaplin and Laurel were among the young comedians who worked for him as part of "Fred Karno's Army". VODACAST   Hopping back to famous ladies of music hall, one such was Lily Harley, though her greatest claim to fame is having given birth to Charles Spencer Chaplin.  When Lily inexplicably lost her voice in the middle of a show, the production manager pushed the five-year-old Charlie, whom he'd heard sing, onto the stage to replace her.  Charlie lit up the audience, wowing them with his natural comedic presence.   Sadly, Lily's voice never recovered, and she was unable to support her two sons, who were sent to a workhouse.  For those of us who don't know workhouses outside of one reference in A Christmas Carol, think an orphanage or jail with indentured servitude.  Young Charlie took whatever jobs he could find to survive as he fought his way back to the stage.  His acting debut was as a pageboy in a production of Sherlock Holmes.  From there he toured with a vaudeville outfit named Casey's Court Circus and in 1908 teamed up with the Fred Karno pantomime troupe, where Chaplin became one of its stars as the Drunk in the comedic sketch A Night in an English Music Hall.  With the Karno troupe, Chaplin got his first taste of the United States, where he caught the eye of a film producer who signed Chaplin to a contract for a $150 a week, equivalent to over three-grand today.   During his first year with the company, Chaplin made 14 films, including The Tramp, which established Chaplin's trademark character and his role as the unexpected hero.  By the age of 26, Chaplin, just three years removed from his vaudeville days, was a superstar.  He'd moved over to the Mutual Company, which paid him a whopping $670,000 a year to make now-classics like Easy Street.   Chaplin came to be known as a grueling perfectionist.  His love for experimentation often meant countless takes, and it was not uncommon for him to order the rebuilding of an entire set or begin filming with one leading actor, realize he'd made a mistake in his casting and start again with someone new.  But you can't argue with results.  During the 1920s Chaplin's career blossomed even more, with landmark films, like The Kid, and The Gold Rush, a movie Chaplin would later say he wanted to be remembered by.  We'll leave Chaplin's story while he's on top because his private life from here on out gets, in a word, sordid.   Though Chapin was English, his film were American.  British cinema arguably lagged decades behind, but they began to close the gap in the 1940's.  Films by Ealing Studios, particularly their comedies like Hue & Cry, Whisky Galore! and The Ladykillers began to push the boundaries of what could be done in cinema, dealing with previously taboo topics like crime in comedic ways.  Kitchen sink dramas followed soon after, portraying social realism, with the struggles of working class Britons on full display, living in cramped rented accommodation and spending their off-hours drinking in grimy pubs, to explore controversial social and political issues ranging from abortion to homelessness.  These contrasted sharply with the idea of cinema as escapism.  This was the era of such notable stars as actor/comedian/singer-songwriter Norman Wisdom.  Beginning with 1953's Trouble in the Store, for which he won a BAFTA (the British equivalent to an Oscar), his films were among Britain's biggest box-office successes of their day.  Wisdom gained celebrity status in lands as far apart as South America, Iran and many Eastern Bloc countries, particularly in Albania where his films were the only ones by Western actors permitted by dictator Enver Hoxha to be shown.  He also played one of the best characters in one of my favorite and most hard to find films, “The Night They Raided Minsky's.”   There are few institutions in British history that have had such a massive role in shaping the daily lives of British citizens as the British Broadcasting Corporation, which for decades meant the wireless radio.  “For many it is an ever-present companion: from breakfast-time to bedtime, from childhood through to old age, there it is telling us about ourselves and the wider world, amusing and entertaining us,” says Robin Aitkin, a former BBC reporter and journalist.  The BBC solidified its place in the public consciousness from its beginnings in 1922 to the end of the Second World War in 1945 is of special interest because these pivotal years helped redefine what it means to be British in modern society.  This was especially true during the high unemployment of the 1920's, when other forms of entertainment were unaffordable.  The BBC was formed from the merger of several major radio manufacturers in 1922, receiving a royal charter in 1927, and governmental protection from foreign competition made it essentially a monopoly.  Broadcasting was seen as a public service; a job at the BBC carried similar gravitas to a government job.  Classical music and educational programs were its bedrock, with radio plays added to bring theater to the wireless.  The BBC strove to be varied but balanced in its offerings, neutral but universal; some people found it elitist nonetheless.  Expansion in offerings came slowly, if at all, in the early years.     Trying to bring only the best of culture to the people meant that bawdy music hall acts had little to no place on the radio.  Obscenity was judged by laws passed as early as 1727.  British libel and slander laws are more strict than in the US, so making fun of public figures was taboo even in forms that would have been legal.  And blasphemy?  Lord, no.  In 1949, the BBC issued to comedy writers and producers the Variety Programmes Policy Guide For Writers and Producers, commonly known as "the Green Book."  Among things absolutely banned were jokes about lavatories, effeminacy in men, immorality of any kind, suggestive references to honeymoon couples, chambermaids, fig leaves, ladies' underwear, prostitution, and the vulgar use of words such as "basket".  (Not an actual basket, the Polari word “basket,” meaning the bulge in a gentleman's trousers.  More on that later.)  The guidelines also stipulated that "..such words as God, Good God, My God, Blast, Hell, Damn, Bloody, Gorblimey, Ruddy, etc etc should be deleted from scripts and innocuous expressions substituted."  Where the independently tun music halls gave people what they wanted, BBC radio gave people what it felt they needed.  But comedy writers are nothing if not clever and there is always a way to slip past the censors if you try.   In the very beginning of radio, comedies lampooned the poor, because only those with money had radios.  As radio ownership grew, the topics of shows broadened.  First half-hour comedy program in 1938, Band Wagon, included musical interludes, was effectively a sitcom and set the stage for much of what came after.  By then, nearly every household had a radio.   WWII had an enormous impact on British comedy and entertainment in general.  Unlike WWI, which was fought on the continent, WWII was right on top of them, with the Blitz, blackouts, rationing, et al.  All places of amusement, which by their nature meant lots of people would gather and could be a target for bombings, were closed.  But the government soon realized comedy had an important role to play in helping its people to keep calm and carry on.  Bonus fact: The iconic 'Keep Calm and Carry On' poster was designed months before WWII began, but was never officially sanctioned for display.  It only achieved its prominent position in the public imagination after its rediscovery in 2001.  All the parody t-shirts still annoy me though.   Theater was allowed to continue, but television service was suspended.  This brought radio back to the forefront for communication and diversion.  The most popular show was It's That Man Again, which ran on BBC radio from ‘39-'49.  It's humor was a great unifier during the war, helping people to laugh at the things they were scared of.  People would often listen huddled around their radio during a blackout.  In its character archetypes, it offered a more comprehensive range of social representation than what had come before it, with characters ranging from east end charwomen to the upper class.  It was so universally popular that supposedly its catch-phrases, which is regarded as the first to really succeed with, were used to test suspected German spies.  If you didn't know who said what, they'd be shot.      During the war, Britain fought back against the Nazi propagandists' ferocious scaremongering with things like a song about the fact that Hitler may or may not have only one testicle, the other of which we were storing in a London theatre for safe keeping.  This attitude, combined with having had enough authority to last them a while, would extend to their own government at the start of the 1960's when Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller made fun of the prime minister in their stage show Beyond The Fringe, with the PM in the audience.  This would open the door for satirical news programs like 1962's That Was The Week That Was, grandfather to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.  There was also The Frost Report, whose staff of writers included five names many of know well and you know we're going to get into more detail on - Chapman, Jones, Idle, Palin, and Cleese.   The war would remain subject to comedy, either as the primary setting or a recurring plot point for decades to come in shows like Dad's Army, Allo Allo, and even Are You Being Served?, one of my personal favorites.   If you've ever seen me at my customer service day jobs, I pattern my behavior on Mrs. Slocombe, though I don't reference my pussy as often. [clip]  Experiences in the war led to the prominence of absurdism/surrealism, because nothing could match what they men had been through.  One of the most famous example was The Goon Show, with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, and Peter Sellers.  The scripts mixed ludicrous plots with surreal humour, puns, catchphrases and an array of bizarre sound effects. Some of the later episodes feature electronic effects devised by the fledgling BBC Radiophonic Workshop, who also created the theme to Dr Who.  The Goon Show and other such programs were popular with those who were students at the time, seeding their sense of humor into the next generation.  Spike Milligan in particular had wide-reaching cultural influence.  The Goon Show was cited as a major influence by The Beatles, the American comedy team The Firesign Theatre, as well as, among many others, Monty Python.   PATREON   Do you remember how I said in episode #39, Short-Lived, Long Remembered that Jackie Gleason's Honeymooner's was the first TV sitcom?  I was mistaken and I don't mind issuing a correction.  Pinwright's Progress, which ran for ten episodes starting in 1946, was the first half-hour television sitcom, telling the tale of a beleaguered shop-owner, his hated rival and his unhelpful staff.  By 1955, ⅓ of British households had a TV.  That year saw the launch of ITV, I for independent, because it was *not run by BBC with its war vets with good-school educations, but by showmen and entertainers.  Where the BBC did comedies for and about the middle-class, ITV brought full-blooded variety to TV.  The BBC was forced to loosen its tie a bit to keep up.  ITV also had commercials, which BBC shows never did -a concept that is quite foreign to the American brain- so writers had to learn to pace their shows differently to allow for the break.  One stand-out was Hancock's Half-hour, which began on radio and moved to TV.  Fom 54-61, it pushed sitcoms with a focus on character development, rather than silly set-ups, musical interludes, and funny voices of radio plays.  Two writers on the show, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, would leave to create Comedy Playhouse in 1961, ten half-hour plays.  One of these grew into the TV show Steptoe and Son (1962–74), about two rag and bone men, father and son, who live together in a squalid house in West London.  This was the basis for the American series Sanford and Son, as well as version in Sweden, Netherlands and Portugal.  For those not in the know, a rag and bone man collected salvageable rubbish from the streets, making it a bizarre name choice for a clothing company but oh well.    The tone and offerings changed considerably with the cultural revolution of the 1960's.  Rock music, the birth control pill, civil rights, everything was changing.  Round The Horne, which aired on BBC radio on Sunday afternoons was chock full of brazen innuendos and double-entendres.  Some of them were risque to the point of being ironically safe -- people who would have objected to them were not of the sensibility to catch the joke it the first place.  Their most remarkable characters were Julian and Sandy, two very obviously gay characters in a time when it was still illegal to be gay in Britain.  Julian and Sandy got away with the bawdiest of their jokes because they spoke Polari, a pidgin language made up a words from Romani, French, Italian, theater and circus slang and even words spelled backwards.  They might refer to someone's dirty dishes and the squares would have no idea that “dish” meant derriere.  Bonus fact: You probably use Polari words without even realizing it, if you describe a masculine person as “butch” or something kitchy as “camp,” even “drag” meaning clothes, particularly women's.    The Carry On Films, a franchise that put out nearly a movie a year for three decades and spun off a TV series, held up a cartoonish mirror to the depressed and repressed Britain of the 1950s and 1960s.  They blended the rapid-fire pace of music hall sketches with topicality and a liberating sense of directness.  Carry On also filled the gap left as music halls as an institution collapsed.   Monty Python's Flying Circus aired from 69-74 and enjoyed a unique watershed success not just for British comedy but also for television comedy around the world. Monty Python was unlike anything that had appeared on television, and in many ways it was both a symbol and a product of the social upheaval and youth-oriented counterculture of the late 1960s.  The show's humour could be simultaneously sarcastic, scatological, and intellectual.  The series was a creative collaboration between Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam, the sole American in a group of Oxford and Cambridge graduates.  The five Brits played most of the roles, with Gilliam primarily contributing eccentric animations.  Although sketch comedy shows were nothing new, television had never broadcast anything as untraditional and surreal, and its importance to television is difficult to overstate.  Their free-form sketches seldom adhered to any particular theme and disregarded the conventions of comedy that writers, performers and audiences had been accustomed to for generations.  Even the opening title sequence didn't follow the rules; it might run in the middle of the show or be omitted entirely.  Over the run of the series, a *few characters recurred, but most were written solely for one sketch.  The show spun-off a number of feature films, like Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979), and the Meaning of Life (1983) and even a Tony Award-winning musical comedy Spamalot, first produced in 2005, as well as books and albums like Instant Record Collection.  Decades after the show's initial run, the mere mention of some dead parrots, silly ways, Spam or the Spanish Inquisition is enough to prompt laughter from even casual fans.  All the members who continue on to successful careers, but let's follow John Cleese to his next best-known project.  I put my favorite sketch in Vodacast; see if you can guess it before you look.  And tell me yours, soc med.   Fawlty Towers has been described as the sitcom by which other sitcoms must be measured, voted number one in the BFI's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes in 2000. Its main character, Basil Fawlty, was inspired by a seethingly rude hotel proprietor John Cleese encountered while filming abroad with the Monty Python team.  Cleese actually tested the character on another show in 1971, Doctor At Large, a comedy about newly-graduated doctors, based on the books of Richard Gordon.  The setting for Fawlty Towers was a painfully ordinary hotel that Basil constantly struggling to inject a touch of class into.  His escapades included trying to hide a rat from a hygiene inspector, keeping a dead customer hidden, and pretending that his wife Sybil was ill during their anniversary party, when in fact she's walked out on him).  Basil was the perfect vehicle for Cleese's comic talents: mixing the biting verbal tirades against his wife and guests with the physical dexterity utilised to charge about between self-induced disasters.  Part of the success of the show is arguably the fact that it ran for a mere twelve episodes, so never ran out of steam.  It's been remade in other countries, but those version never really capture the success of the original.  That's one of the key differences between British and American TV series.  A British show might have 2 writers for a season of 6-10 episodes, whereas an American show will have a team of writers for a season of 13-25 episodes.  Quality over quantity, I suppose.  In part, this is a reflection of the difference between the size of the TV audience in the two countries, and the economics of television production; for decades sitcoms on US television that delivered the highest ratings, whereas; in Britain the highest ratings figures were normally for soap operas.   The tone shifted again as the 60's gave way to the 70's.  The anger of 60's revolution gave way to a more comfortable feeling in the 70's.  One of the stand-outs of the decade, which continued into the 80's, was The Two Ronnies.  A sketch show starring Ronnies Barker and Corbett, it moved away from the long-standing comic and straight-man format.  It was the BBC's flagship of light entertainment, the longest running show of its genre.  If we're talking modern comedy duos, we need to talk about Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.  Even in alternative comedy scenes, women had trouble gaining the same notoriety as their male peers.  A step in the right direction was 1987's French and Saunders, a sketch show that displayed the wilful amateurishness of much alternative comedy, but shunned both the violence and scatology or the strident politics that were staples of the big-name performers.  The duo's humour was distinctively female, but not feminist, and most of their jokes were at the expense of themselves or each other.  As audiences and budgets grew, the pair increasingly favoured elaborate spoofs of pop stars and blockbuster movies.  After the show French starred in The Vicar of Dibley and Saunders to the role she's probably best known for, Edina in Absolutely Fabulous.   And that's where we run out of ideas, at least for today.  Don't be surprised if this topic spawns a sequel.  I left out Punch and Judy, skipped right over literature, had to forgo luminaries like Morecambe and Wise, didn't get to the panel show format, and said nothing of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, which may actually be a crime, I'm not sure.  Well, it's like they say in the biz, always leave them wanting more.  Thanks for spending part of your day with em.     Sources: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/truth-behind-keep-calm-and-carry-on https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/feb/17/the-five-stages-of-british-gags-silliness-repression-anger-innuendo-fear https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goon_Show https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Wisdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hancock%27s_Half_Hour https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/apr/17/gender.filmnews https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_the_Horne http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1011109/index.html https://www.britannica.com/topic/Monty-Pythons-Flying-Circus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galton_and_Simpson http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/fawltytowers/ http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/06/history-brits-better-satire https://www.britannica.com/art/music-hall-and-variety https://www.biography.com/people/charlie-chaplin-9244327 https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1107&context=ghj https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U77CXPANrCc&list=PL9e1sByp65ixpMQlW9hpMMdomwSwGK9-Y

In today's episode, we are talking about what might be the most famous theatre in the English-speaking world: The Globe Theatre, and what we know about what it would be like to be an audience member seeing a Shakespeare play at The Globe.  Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Korey Leigh Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com   Works referenced: Alchin, L.K. “Globe Theatre Interior.” Elizabethan Era, Siteseen Ltd., Accessed on 16 May 2012 from http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/globe-theatre-interior.htm.  Bryson, Bill. “Ch. 6 Years of Fame 1596-1603.” Shakespeare: The World as Stage, Atlas Books, New York, 2016, pp. 124–127.  “Globe Theatre.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Aug. 2021, Accessed on 25 Aug. 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Theatre.  Henslowe, Philip. The diary of Philip Henslowe, from 1591 to 1609. Printed from the original manuscript preserved at Dulwich college. London, Shakespeare Society, 1845. No Sweat Shakespeare. Lord Chamberlain's Men and King's Men Company Member Timeline. Instagram, 29 August 2021, https://www.instagram.com/p/CTKPYXxr7Y6/?utm_medium=copy_link. “Who Were These People? Audiences in Shakespeare's Day.” Seattle Shakespeare Company, Seattle Shakespeare Company, 23 Jan. 2018, Accessed on 27 Aug. 2021 from https://www.seattleshakespeare.org/who-were-these-people/. 

  Leicester's Men are a group of actors who formed what many consider to be the founding company of English Renaissance Theater. Established with the sponsorship of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the playing company travelled around England and abroad performing plays with the legal protection of being in the Earls' service. The company was unique for its' time in that they separated themselves from the traditional income model of playing companies, choosing instead to operate as an independent entity where they could generate their own income instead of getting paid by their sponsor. By 1574, five men including James Burbage, John Perkin, John Laneham, William Johnson, and Robert Wilson would be listed on a royal patent for Leicester's Men, making their playing company the first to receive an official royal patent and, in so doing, giving these men the freedom to create what we know today as English Renaissance Theater. Playing companies, including Shakespeare's company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, would go on to follow the model of Leicester's Men well into the late 16 and early 17th centuries.  Here today to tell us the story of Leicester's Men and the groundwork they built for future playwrights like William Shakespeare is our guest, Laurie Johnson.

In 1603, as King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England following the death of Elizabeth I, one of the people James' tapped to walk in his coronation parade was William Shakespeare, along with the entire Lord Chamberlain's Men company who received the official patronage of James I to become the King's Men. The new title and status brought big changes to the performance of plays, the subject matter selected for play writing, and gave William Shakespeare the position in society he had long sought after. Our guest this week, Lucy Munro, is here to share her research into the King's Men and what the shift from Elizabethan into Jacobean England brought about for Shakespeare.

Sophie (age 7) and Ellie (age 5) tell the story of the Life of William Shakespeare.----more---- William Shakespeare was born into Tudor England 500 years ago. He wrote some of the most famous plays in history. We tell the story of Hamlet and Ellie points out that this the same story as Disney's The Lion King. We talk about how Shakespeare's plays are so famous that many people copy them and we watch them even today. William Shakespeare's father was a glove maker and also leant people money. He sent his son William to a local school. There he would have learned reading, writing, Latin and lots of history. Many of the things that were later in his plays are things he would have learned at school. When Shakespeare was 18 years old he met a girl called Anne. They got married and had a baby. Shakespeare then disappears for seven years from history. The girls explore the things which might have happened to him. Did he have to run away because he was caught poaching? Did he go on holiday to Italy? Did he go to London to learn how to write plays? By the time Shakespeare reappears, he is writing plays in London. We learn about what Tudor London was like – including some disgusting bits from our History of the Toilet episode.   The theatre is different then. All the parts are played by men – even women's parts. Rich people pay for groups of people to write and act in plays. Shakespeare's friends are called the Lord Chamberlains company because the Lord Chamberlain pays for them. Some people want the theatres to be shut down. They think God does want people to have so much fun. However, Queen Elizabeth like the theatre and she keeps the theatres open. Shakespeare and his friends even build their own amazing theatre called the Globe theatre.   Then the Queen dies. Luckily, the new King, King James, also likes the theatre. In fact he likes Shakespeare and his friends so much that he agrees to pay for their plays. Now they are called the Kings Company. King James is very interested in witches so Shakespeare makes a play about witches, called Macbeth.   However, Shakespeare wants to retire and go home to Anne. One of his last plays is called the Tempest and it is about a powerful magician who wants to stop being a magician. Ellie points out that this is like Shakespeare being an amazing writer of plays but wanting to stop.   Then there is an accident in one of his plays. The Globe Theatre burns down. At that point, Shakespeare really has had enough. He stops writing plays and goes back to Stratford to be with Anne. However, we still remember him and watch his plays today. BRITISH PODCAST AWARDS We have been shortlisted for the British Podcast Awards in the Kids and Family category. You can vote for us too for the Listeners Choice Award. We would love it if you could. You don't need to be in the UK to vote. Details are here: Listeners' Choice Award — British Podcast Awards, supported by Amazon Music PATRONS CLUB If you would like to join our patrons club you can join here: www.patreon.com/historystorytime We have exclusive episodes like our one on the History of Chocolate or on Napoleon and Josephine or you can choose an episode like one of our Patrons chose this episode.

Bram Stoker's Dracula was first introduced to the world NOT via his canonical novel, but rather in the pages of a seldom-performed - and by all accounts appalling - play-reading at London's Lyceum Theatre on 18th May, 1897.The stage version was not intended to reach a mass audience; but was rather a clever wheeze of Stoker's to ensure he was recognised as the creator of his iconic characters - as the script needed to be rubber-stamped by the Lord Chamberlain's office prior to performance.In this episode, Olly, Arion and Rebecca reveal the copyright battle Stoker's widow nonetheless endured with the makers of ‘Romanian knock-off' ‘Nosferatu', consider the benefits of Stoker's ‘found footage' approach to authorship, and reveal how an incident in Rhode Island, of all places, may have inspired Stoker to write his play... Further Reading:• Some pages from Stoker's manuscript at the British Library: https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/bram-stokers-stage-adaptation-of-dracula#• Watch ‘Nosferatu', on Timeless Classic Movies:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC6jFoYm3xs• Stoker's life at the Lyceum in ‘Henry Irving & Bram Stoker: A Working Relationship' from The Irving Society:https://www.theirvingsociety.org.uk/henry-irving-bram-stoker-a-working-relationship/For bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/Retrospectors The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Serving as chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen isn't what you might expect. The story of Dr. Gavin Ashenden, one of Queen Elizabeth's former honorary chaplains, is likewise something that many people weren't expecting – perhaps most of all Dr. Ashenden himself, who ended-up converting to Catholicism after 35 years as an Anglican priest. The fascinating story of his road to Rome is the focus of Part 2 in our series with Dr. Ashenden. Find out how the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, Cultural Marxism, and a local Catholic bishop all played a part in Dr. Ashenden's journey to conversion. The Devil and the Holy Spirit also make an appearance. (Guess who wins?!)0:00 - Introduction2:09 - The winding path to Rome04:15 - Employment at a secular university05:48 - Carl Jung as the foil to Sigmund Freud on campus10:08 - Interrogation by the KGB; the taste of Marxism and totalitarianism12:38 - A troubling glimpse into the future of England's demographics 16:17 - Threats of assassination; no blood on the Queen's carpet, please18:42 - A call from the Royal Household: “Dr. Ashenden, please make your way to the exit”21:39 - Media storm24:18 - Reflecting on the influence of Cultural Marxism on the Church of England27:12 - Revolution vs. revelation in Great Britain's State religion32:02 - Lessons for Catholics from the experience of the Church of England37:45 - A final word: prospects for Holy Orders?40:34 - ConclusionIf you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting Crown and Crozier with a tax-deductible donation by clicking here:  DONATEDocuments/Websites ReferencedGavin Ashenden@gavinashendenGavin Ashenden, “On Leaving the Church of England” (YouTube)K.V. Turley, “From Canterbury to Rome: Why the Queen's Former Chaplain Became Catholic”, National Catholic Register (March 8, 2020)Gavin Ashenden, “Jordan Peterson and Jesus Christ - the Ongoing Discovery” (YouTube)Carl JungFrancis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (2006)Lord Chamberlain (senior officer of the Royal Household)Tod Worner, “When Father Joseph Ratzinger Predicted the Future of the Church”, Aleteia (June 13, 2016)Rod Dreher, Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents (2020)Please note that this podcast has been edited for length and clarity.Support the show (http://missionoftheredeemer.com/crownandcrozier/)

William Shakespeare est un dramaturge, poète et acteur anglais baptisé le 26 avril 1564 et mort le 23 avril 1616. Surnommé « le Barde », il est souvent considéré comme le plus grand écrivain de la langue anglaise et le plus grand dramaturge de tous les temps. Son œuvre, traduite dans de nombreuses langues, se compose de 39 pièces, 154 sonnets et quelques poèmes supplémentaires, dont certains ne lui sont pas attribués de manière certaine. Originaire de Stratford-upon-Avon, dans le Warwickshire, Shakespeare se marie à 18 ans avec Anne Hathaway, qui lui donne trois enfants. À une date inconnue entre 1585 et 1592, il entame sa carrière d'acteur et auteur à succès à Londres au sein des Lord Chamberlain's Men, une troupe dont il est actionnaire. Il semble s'être retiré à Stratford vers 1613 pour y mourir trois ans plus tard. Il ne subsiste guère de traces de l'homme Shakespeare, ce qui a engendré de nombreuses spéculations concernant son apparence physique, sa sexualité, sa religion. Des théories marginales avancent que son œuvre a été en réalité écrite par un autre. Shakespeare rédige la majeure partie de ses pièces entre 1589 et 1613. Les premières sont surtout des comédies et des pièces historiques, puis il se consacre davantage aux tragédies comme Hamlet, Othello, Le Roi Lear et Macbeth. À la fin de sa vie, il rédige des tragi-comédies et collabore avec d'autres dramaturges. De son vivant, bon nombre de ses pièces sont publiées dans des ouvrages bon marché de qualité variable. En 1623, deux de ses amis éditent le Premier Folio, un recueil qui comprend presque toute son œuvre théâtrale sous une forme définitive. Dans sa préface, Ben Jonson prédit correctement le caractère intemporel de Shakespeare, dont les pièces continuent à être mises en scène, adaptées, redécouvertes et réinterprétées au fil des siècles dans des contextes culturels et politiques variés.

William Shakespeare est un dramaturge, poète et acteur anglais baptisé le 26 avril 1564N 1 à Stratford-upon-Avon et mort le 23 avril 1616N 2 dans la même ville. Considéré comme l'un des plus grands poètes et dramaturges de la culture anglaise et aussi du monde entier1, il est surnommé le « Barde d'Avon »2, ou le « Barde immortel » (ou simplement « le Barde ») et est souvent qualifié de plus grand écrivain de langue anglaise. Son œuvre, traduite dans de nombreuses langues, se compose de 39 pièces, 154 sonnets et quelques poèmes supplémentaires, dont certains ne lui sont pas attribués de manière certaine. Après des études à Stratford-upon-Avon, dans le Warwickshire, Shakespeare se marie à 18 ans avec Anne Hathaway, avec qui il a trois enfants. À une date inconnue entre 1585 et 1592, il entame sa carrière d'acteur et auteur à succès à Londres au sein des Lord Chamberlain's Men, une troupe dont il est actionnaire. Il semble s'être retiré à Stratford vers 1613 pour y mourir trois ans plus tard. Il ne subsiste guère de traces de l'homme Shakespeare, ce qui a engendré de nombreuses spéculations concernant son apparence physique, sa sexualité, sa religion. Des théories marginales avancent que son œuvre a été en réalité écrite par un autre. Shakespeare rédige la majeure partie de ses pièces entre 1589 et 1613. Les premières sont surtout des comédies et des pièces historiques, puis il se consacre davantage aux tragédies comme Hamlet, Othello, Le Roi Lear et Macbeth. À la fin de sa vie, il rédige des tragi-comédies et collabore avec d'autres dramaturges. De son vivant, bon nombre de ses pièces sont publiées dans des ouvrages bon marché de qualité variable. En 1623, deux de ses amis éditent le « Premier Folio », un recueil qui comprend presque toute son œuvre théâtrale sous une forme définitive. Dans sa préface, Ben Jonson prédit correctement le caractère intemporel de Shakespeare, dont les pièces continuent à être mises en scène, adaptées, redécouvertes et réinterprétées au fil des siècles dans des contextes culturels et politiques variés. François Feroleto est né à Montreux, en Suisse. À 16 ans, il quitte l'école pour travailler dans la restauration en tant qu'apprenti cuisinier à Lausanne. Alors qu'il termine son apprentissage, il découvre le théâtre en jouant dans un spectacle amateur et décide de devenir comédien. Quelques mois plus tard, il se rend à Paris et s'inscrit au cours Balachova, dirigé par Vera Gregh, ainsi qu'au cours de Jean-Laurent Cochet. Parallèlement, il exerce divers métiers : il sera tour à tour vendeur, coursier, déménageur, correcteur dans l'édition… Il fait ses débuts sur scène en 1991 et, pendant quinze ans, c'est au théâtre que se déroule l'essentiel de sa carrière. Il joue principalement des auteurs contemporains, dans le théâtre public comme dans le théâtre privé, et travaille avec des metteurs en scène aussi divers que Marcel Bluwal, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean-Claude Fall, Bernard Murat, Régis Santon ou Jacques Weber et aux côtés de partenaires tels que Béatrice Agenin, Niels Arestrup, Marie-Christine Barrault, Carole Bouquet, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Roger Dumas, Édith Scob… Avec Michel Bouquet et Claude Brasseur, il joue 490 représentations de À torts et à raisons2, spectacle qui obtient 11 nominations aux Molières en 2000 et pour lequel il est nommé au Molière de la révélation masculine.

We know London was very important to Shakespeare and his evolution from life in Stratford in the 1580s when he married and had children to the early 1600s when his company became the favored actors of the King and he dressed in the King’s livery. Shakespeare’s London was a place where fortunes were made and lost, where reputations were forged and destroyed, and where life could expand to include appearances and applause at court but could also be extinguished in a street fight or the executioners axe.London was where Shakespeare lived for 20 years (at least). We know he was there by 1592 when disparaging comments were published by Robert Greene in his A Groat’s Worth of Wit. He wrote and acted in London; his plays were performed there. He lived in Shoreditch and Southwark. He successfully petitioned for the award of Shakespeare family coat of arms in his father’s name. He became a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and was involved in the building of the Globe Theatre. He purchased property in London. His reputation grew as his company was favored by James I. The company acquired Blackfriars Theatre, allowing them to put on indoor plays to a more affluent audience. Sometime around 1608 he returned to live in Stratford, although he kept ties with London and his company and continued writing plays. He retired around 1613, possibly related to the burning of the Globe Theatre—an event which was said to have devastated him. He died in 1616 in Stratford and was buried in the Holy Trinity Church.The 20 years in London shaped his life and work. His history plays, some of his early successes, were based in London and told the story of the city and the country. The theater allowed Shakespeare to explore the questions of violence, religious chaos, population growth, an influx of foreigners, and new opportunities for economic and social success that were happening around him. Let’s take a look at three of the places that were especially important to Shakespeare and his plays: the Temple, the tavern, and the Tower.London was more than a home for Shakespeare: it was a library, a laboratory, a playground. He lived and worked and watched and listened. And the world of London, as the examples of the Temple, the tavern, and the Tower demonstrate, shape the essence of his plays.

As a young upstart playwright, William Shakespeare was almost laughed out of the London theatre scene. But luckily, he had a group of friends that would figuratively and literally preserve his legacy as one of the greatest English-language writers of all time.Shakespeare's Friends: https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/blogs/shakespeares-friends-burbage-combe-and-sadler/Burbage and Shakespeare: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/richardburbage.htmlMy Favorite Friendship is a #truefriendship podcast where hosts Brian Wohl and Marc Muszynski share real stories of the most famous friendships of all time.FOLLOW US:Brian Wohl:Twitter: http://twitter.com/brianwohlInstagram: http://instagram.com/brianwohlFacebook: http://facebook.com/brianwohlMarc Muszynski:Twitter: http://twitter.com/marcmuszynskiInstagram: http://instagram.com/marcmuszynskiFacebook: http://facebook.com/marcmuszynskiMy Favorite Friendship:Facebook: http://facebook.com/myfavoritefriendshipInstagram: http://instagram.com/myfavoritefriendshipTwitter: http://twitter.com/myfavfriendship

On this day in Tudor history, 23rd July 1543, or 24th according to some sources, Marie de Guise and her baby daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, escaped from Linlithgow Palace, helped by Cardinal David Beaton, and taken to Stirling Castle.  Why? What was going on in Scotland at this time? Find out all about Mary's early months as Queen of Scots, and why Beaton helped her and her mother to move to Stirling, in today's talk from Claire Ridgway, author of "On This Day in Tudor History". You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:https://youtu.be/occfUzBMZu8 Also on this day in Tudor history, 23rd July 1596, Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, Privy Councillor and Lord Chamberlain, died at Somerset House in London. Hunsdon was the son of Mary Boleyn, nephew of the late Queen Anne Boleyn, and cousin and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Find out more about him in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/gcYG4d-6QeU 

The Nerds Amalgamated fishing trip is coming up, and we'll be going to Pluto for some ice fishing. Could Pluto have underground oceans with alien fish, and will they taste good with chips? Unfortunately it'll take a really long time to get there to find out. Maybe we'll have FTL by the next fishing trip.Metal Slug is back, again. SNK have plans to make some new Metal Slug games and not just work on porting the old ones to new consoles.The Huni Kuin tribe of Brazil have become some of the most primitive game developers in the world. Working with a team of anthropologists to preserve their tribal stories in the form of a video game.Cyberpunk 2077 is getting an Anime. The resident weebs are excited. Cross another one off on your Cyberpunk 2077 media bingo card.Billion year old plutonian ocean- https://astronomy.com/news/2020/06/pluto-has-likely-maintained-an-underground-liquid-ocean-for-billions-of-yearsMetal Slug announcements- https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-06-27-brand-new-metal-slug-game-announcedReverse game archaeology: Huni Kuin- http://www.gamehunikuin.com.br/en/abouthk/- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5m88A4oRHo- https://chacruna.net/huni-kuin-game-an-anthropological-adventure/Cyberpunk 2077 anime coming to Netflix- https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-06-25/trigger-announces-cyberpunk-edgerunners-anime-for-netflix-debut-in-2022/.161084Games PlayedProfessor– Outer Wilds - https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/Rating: 3.75/5Deviboy– Half-Life: Alyx - https://store.steampowered.com/app/546560/HalfLife_Alyx/Rating: TBADJ– Valorant - https://playvalorant.com/en-us/Rating: 3/5Other topics discussedOculus Quest: All-in-One VR Headset- https://www.oculus.com/quest/?locale=en_USOculus Quest All-in-one VR Gaming Headset – 64GB at Amazon Australia cost $649- https://www.amazon.com.au/Oculus-Quest-All-Gaming-Headset/dp/B07QY3M3Q4/ref=asc_df_B07QY3M3Q4/?tag=googleshopdsk-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=341774504578&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9879915795311276137&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1000339&hvtargid=pla-765852518281&psc=1SteamVR (SteamVR is the ultimate tool for experiencing VR content on the hardware of your choice. SteamVR supports the Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality headsets, and others.)- https://store.steampowered.com/steamvrHalf-Life : Alyx (2020 virtual reality (VR) first-person shooter developed and published by Valve. Between the events of Half-Life (1998) and Half-Life 2 (2004), players control Alyx Vance on a mission to seize a superweapon belonging to the alien Combine.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life:_Alyx- https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/- https://store.steampowered.com/app/546560/HalfLife_Alyx/Why is Pluto no longer a planet?- https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/why-is-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/Solar maximum (Solar maximum or solar max is a regular period of greatest Sun activity during the 11-year solar cycle. During solar maximum, large numbers of sunspots appear, and the solar irradiance output grows by about 0.07%)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_maximumSolar cycle (The solar cycle or solar magnetic activity cycle is a nearly periodic 11-year change in the Sun's activity measured in terms of variations in the number of observed sunspots on the solar surface. Levels of solar radiation and ejection of solar material, the number and size of sunspots, solar flares, and coronal loops all exhibit a synchronized fluctuation, from active to quiet to active again, with a period of 11 years.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycleGunter (Gunter is the penguin that most commonly accompanies the Ice King. In truth, Gunter is the primordial cosmic entity known as Orgalorg and feared as the Breaker of Worlds.)- https://adventuretime.fandom.com/wiki/GunterTom Scott - We Sent Garlic Bread to the Edge of Space, Then Ate It- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8W-auqg024Tom Scott (British YouTuber, game show host and web developer. Scott is best known for producing online videos for his eponymous YouTube channel, which mainly comprises educational videos across a range of topics including history,science,technology, and linguistics.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Scott_(entertainer)SNK (SNK Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. Classic SNK franchises include Metal Slug, Samurai Shodown, and The King of Fighters.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNKMetal Slug (Metal Slug is a series of run and gun video games originally created by Nazca Corporation before merging with SNK in 1996 after the completion of the first game in the series. Spin-off games include a third-person shooter to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the series and a tower defense game for the mobile platform.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_SlugThe King of Fighters (The King of Fighters (KOF) is a series of fighting games by SNK that began with the release of The King of Fighters '94 in 1994. The series was developed originally for SNK's Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware. This served as the main platform for the series until 2004 when SNK retired it in favor of the Atomiswave arcade board.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_FightersMetal Slug X (An upgraded version of Metal Slug 2, titled Metal Slug X, was released in March 1999 for the Neo Geo MVS. The game used a modified version of the engine from Metal Slug 3, which eliminated the slowdown problems of the original.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Slug_2#Metal_Slug_XMetal Slug Touch (Metal Slug Touch is a Metal Slug game released in 2009 for iPhones. It is completely controlled only by using the touchscreen and shaking the device.)- https://metalslug.fandom.com/wiki/Metal_Slug_TouchMetal Slug Defense (Metal Slug Defense is a tower defense game created by SNK Playmore for iOS and Android mobile devices.)- https://metalslug.fandom.com/wiki/Metal_Slug_DefenseMetal Slug Attack (Metal Slug Attack, is a tower defense game created by SNK Playmore for iOS and Android mobile devices. The game itself is a sequel to Metal Slug Defense, featuring numerous improvements and brand new game modes.)- https://metalslug.fandom.com/wiki/Metal_Slug_AttackUniversal Entertainment (Universal Entertainment Corporation, formerly known as Aruze Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of pachinko,slot machines,arcade games and other gaming products, and a publisher of video games. In 2000, Aruze bought out SNK Corporation, maker of the Neo-Geo. In exchange for the use of SNK's popular characters on their pachinko and slot machines, and a few games for the Neo-Geo, Aruze promised financial backing for the failing SNK.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_EntertainmentNeo Geo Pocket Colour (The Neo Geo Pocket Color, is a 16-bit color handheld video game console manufactured by SNK. It is a successor to SNK's monochrome Neo Geo Pocket handheld which debuted in 1998 in Japan, with the Color being fully backward compatible.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Geo_Pocket_ColorVirtual Console (Virtual Console also abbreviated as VC, is a line of downloadable video games (mostly unaltered) for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS handheld game console. Virtual Console's library of past games currently consists of titles originating from the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES, Game Boy,Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS, as well as Sega's Master System and Genesis/Mega Drive, NEC's TurboGrafx-16, and SNK's Neo Geo AES. )- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_ConsoleThe King of Fighters XIII (The King of Fighters XIII is a fighting game in The King of Fighters series, developed and published by SNK Playmore originally in 2010.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Fighters_XIIIThe King of Fighters XII (In an interview with Fighters Front Line, Producer Masaaki Kukino replies that each character took 16~17 months to complete with a team of 10 different designers.)- https://snk.fandom.com/wiki/The_King_of_Fighters_XII#DevelopmentVirtual Songlines (Bilbie Virtual Labs is continuously pushing the frontier on innovation in our Virtual Songlines development.)- https://www.virtualsonglines.org/Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a dark fantasy action-adventure game developed and published by the British video game development studio Ninja Theory. Inspired by Norse mythology and Celtic culture, the game follows Senua, a Pict warrior who must make her way to Helheim by defeating otherworldly entities and facing their challenges, in order to rescue the soul of her dead lover from the goddess Hela.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellblade:_Senua%27s_SacrificeNeuromancer (Neuromancer is a 1984 science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson. It is one of the best-known works in the cyberpunk genre and the first novel to win the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. Set in the future, the novel follows Henry Case, a washed-up computer hacker who is hired for one last job, which brings him up against a powerful artificial intelligence.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeuromancerBlade Runner (Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young and Edward James Olmos, it is loosely based on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_RunnerRendezvous with Rama (Rendezvous with Rama is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke first published in 1973. Set in the 2130s, the story involves a cylindrical alien starship that enters the Solar System. The story is told from the point of view of a group of human explorers who intercept the ship in an attempt to unlock its mysteries.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_RamaNo Man’s Sky (No Man's Sky is an exploration survival game developed and published by the indie studio Hello Games. It was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows in August 2016, and for Xbox One in July 2018. The game is built around four pillars: exploration, survival, combat, and trading. Players are free to perform within the entirety of a procedurally generated deterministic open world universe, which includes over 18 quintillion planets.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_SkyAlien 3 (Alien 3 (stylized as ALIEN³) is a 1992 American science fiction horror film directed by David Fincher and written by David Giler, Walter Hill, and Larry Ferguson from a story by Vincent Ward. It stars Sigourney Weaver reprising her role as Ellen Ripley. It is the third installment of the Alien franchise.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_3Alien 3 wooden satellite (Ward envisioned a planet whose interior was both wooden and archaic in design, where Luddite-like monks would take refuge.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_3#Start-up_with_Vincent_WardMiasma theory (The miasma theory (also called the miasmatic theory) is an obsolete medical theory that held that diseases—such as cholera,chlamydia, or the Black Death—were caused by a miasma (μίασμα, ancient Greek: "pollution"), a noxious form of "bad air", also known as night air. The theory held that epidemics were caused by miasma, emanating from rotting organic matter. Though miasma theory is typically associated with the spread of disease.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miasma_theoryThe Simpsons : Apu Headbag of Ice- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe8jOp349P8Futurama : Global Warming- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SYpUSjSgFgThe Simpsons : Skinner and The Superintendent: Aurora Borealis (One of The funniest ever moments of The Simpsons)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1h8cHUnP9kAverage life expectancy in industrial and developing countries for those born in 2018, by gender (in years) (In 2018, the average life expectancy for those born in more developed countries was 76 years for males and 82 years for females. Globally, the life expectancy for males was 70 years, and 74 years for females.)- https://www.statista.com/statistics/274507/life-expectancy-in-industrial-and-developing-countries/Apple I computer now in the Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney.- https://collection.maas.museum/object/397247- https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/499154595650600962/728216712675328020/1920px-Original_1976_Apple_1_Computer_In_A_Briefcase.pngWhile You Were Steeping (TNC podcast)- https://thatsnotcanon.com/whileyouweresteepingpodcast/Shout Outs26 June 2020 – Milton Glaser passes away at 91 - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/obituaries/milton-glaser-dead.htmlMilton Glaser, a graphic designer who changed the vocabulary of American visual culture in the 1960s and ’70s with his brightly colored, extroverted posters, magazines, book covers and record sleeves, notably his 1967 poster of Bob Dylan with psychedelic hair and his “I NY” logo passed away. Mr. Glaser brought wit, whimsy, narrative and skilled drawing to commercial art at a time when advertising was dominated by the severe strictures of modernism on one hand and the cozy realism of magazines like The Saturday Evening Post on the other. His designs include the I Love New York logo, the psychedelic Bob Dylan poster, and the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University, and Brooklyn Brewery. In 1954, he also co-founded Push Pin Studios, co-founded New York magazine with Clay Felker, and established Milton Glaser, Inc. in 1974. His artwork has been featured in exhibits, and placed in permanent collections in many museums worldwide. “I NY,” his logo for a 1977 campaign to promote tourism in New York State, achieved even wider currency. Sketched on the back of an envelope with red crayon during a taxi ride, it was printed in black letters in a chubby typeface, with a cherry-red heart standing in for the word “love.” Almost immediately, the logo became an instantly recognized symbol of New York City, as recognizable as the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty. He died from stroke and renal failure in Manhattan, New York City.27 June 2020 – Charles Webb, Author of 'The Graduate' Novel, Dies at 81 - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/charles-webb-dead-graduate-author-was-81-1300794Charles Webb, a lifelong non-conformist whose debut novel The Graduate was a deadpan satire of his college education and wealthy background adapted into the classic film of the same name, has passed away. Webb was only 24 when his most famous book was published, in 1963. The sparely written narrative was based closely on his years growing up comfortably in Southern California, his studies in history and literature at Williams College in Massachusetts and his disorienting return home. Webb's fictional counterpart, Benjamin Braddock, challenges the materialism of his parents, scorns the value of his schooling and has an affair with Mrs. Robinson, wife of his father's business partner and mother of the young woman with whom he falls in love, Elaine Robinson. His novel initially sold around 20,000 copies and was labeled a "fictional failure" by New York Times critic Orville Prescott. But it did appeal to Hollywood producer Lawrence Turman and the film company Embassy Pictures. The 1967 movie became a touchstone for the decade's rebellion even though Webb's story was set in an earlier era. Nichols' film, starring a then-little-known Dustin Hoffman as Braddock and Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson, was an immediate sensation. Nichols won an Academy Award, Hoffman became an overnight star and the film is often ranked among the greatest, most quoted and talked about of all time. Webb's book went on to sell more than a 1 million copies, but he hardly benefited from the film, for which he received just $20,000. The script, much of it by Buck Henry, was so widely praised that few realized how faithful it was to Webb, including Benjamin's famous line, "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?" He died from a blood condition inEastbourne,East Sussex.29 June 2020 – Carl Reiner passes away at 80 - https://variety.com/2020/film/news/carl-reiner-dead-died-dick-van-dyke-1234694208/Carl Reiner, the writer, producer, director and actor who was part of Sid Caesar’s legendary team and went on to create “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and direct several hit films. Reiner, the father of filmmaker and activist Rob Reiner, was the winner of nine Emmy awards, including five for “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” Reiner remained in the public eye well into his 80s and 90s with roles in the popular “Ocean’s Eleven” trio of films and on TV with recurring roles on sitcoms “Two and a Half Men” and “Hot in Cleveland.” He also did voice work for shows including “Family Guy,” “American Dad,” “King of the Hill,” and “Bob’s Burgers.” Before creating CBS hit “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” on which he sometimes appeared, Reiner and “Show of Shows” writer Mel Brooks worked up an elongated skit in which Reiner played straight man-interviewer to Brooks’ “2000 Year Old Man”; a 1961 recording of the skit was an immediate hit and spawned several sequels, the last of which, 1998’s “The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000,” won the pair a Grammy. he portrayed Saul Bloom in Ocean's Eleven, Steven Soderbergh's remake of 1960's Ocean's 11, and later reprised the role in Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen. He died at the age from natural causes in Beverly Hills, California.30 June 2020 – Queensland university teams up with NASA to discover new planet the size of Neptune- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-29/usq-nasa-discover-new-earth-sized-planet-a-mic-b/12398056- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2400-z.epdf?sharing_token=3JTENEuQF-T3APeZX4KxB9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OtWNw2qcogQBYD10PdZhvxquqAqRChzO1nFKcfFtPKYHAUuZEWATQRM6h9tEKLylR11rM5M00uEqg6rHXXliKmS5mXQef56GLCRaooyb8BXkhcAIrlIx7_Nr2K-gZjizUMUcLFUaO80eRmm9mly099uTj6Gync7Hk-5dw0DGtLhcXtSIQcYAQT4mWbAxkmL5yyaVggBeZwOqhfwy06a8j2CY1WJyMSiFGHGoRGRYSGjqQPoVLcnVYYHq91fqiYaRh2p6hlMJYTKQxNJ4rwx5ud&tracking_referrer=www.abc.net.au Queensland researchers have helped NASA discover a new planet the size of Neptune, "only" 32 light-years away. NASA first spotted the planet two years ago and have been working to confirm its existence with researchers around the world, including a team at the Mount Kent observatory, south of Toowoomba. "It's only 32 light-years away, which means the light we see tonight left it in 1988," said University of Southern Queensland (USQ) astrophysicist, Jonti Horner. The planet, AU Mic b, was found orbiting the young star AU Microscopii (AU Mic), which was trillions of kilometres from Earth in the southern constellation Microscopium. Professor Horner said AU Mic b would not be suitable for people to live on due to its intense heat of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius. The infant planet was discovered by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the recently retired Spitzer Space Telescope. These results were published in the journal Nature.Remembrances29 June 1855 – John Gorrie- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gorrie- https://patents.google.com/patent/US8080John B. Gorrie, American physician, scientist, inventor of mechanical cooling, and humanitarian. Dr. Gorrie's medical research involved the study of tropical diseases. At the time the theory that bad air — mal-aria — caused diseases was a prevalent hypothesis and based on this theory, he urged draining the swamps and the cooling of sickrooms. For this he cooled rooms with ice in a basin suspended from the ceiling. Cool air, being heavier, flowed down across the patient and through an opening near the floor. Since it was necessary to transport ice by boat from the northern lakes, Gorrie experimented with making artificial ice. After 1845, gave up his medical practice to pursue refrigeration products. On May 6, 1851, Gorrie was granted Patent No. 8080 for a machine to make ice. The original model of this machine and the scientific articles he wrote are at the Smithsonian Institution. In 1835, patents for "Apparatus and means for producing ice and in cooling fluids" had been granted in England and Scotland to American-born inventor Jacob Perkins, who became known as "the father of the refrigerator". Another version of Gorrie's "cooling system" was used when President James A. Garfield was dying in 1881. Naval engineers built a box filled with cloths that had been soaked in melted ice water. Then by allowing hot air to blow on the cloths it decreased the room temperature by 20 degrees Fahrenheit. It required an enormous amount of ice to keep the room cooled continuously. Yet it was an important event in the history of air conditioning. It proved that Dr. Gorrie had the right idea, but was unable to capitalize on it.The first practical refrigeration system in 1854, patented in 1855, was built by James Harrison in Geelong, Australia. He died at the age of 52 in Apalachicola, Florida.29 June 1997 – William Hickey - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hickey_(actor)William Edward Hickey, American actor. He is best known for his Academy Award-nominated role as Don Corrado Prizzi in the John Huston film Prizzi's Honor , as well as Uncle Lewis in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and the voice of Dr. Finklestein in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. His most important contribution to the arts, however, remains his teaching career at the HB Studio in Greenwich Village, founded by Hagen and Herbert Berghof. George Segal, Sandy Dennis, Barbra Streisand, and Sandra McClain all studied under him. He was a staple of Ben Bagley's New York musical revues, he can be heard on several of the recordings, notably Decline and fall of the entire world as seen through the eyes of Cole Porter. Hickey enjoyed a career in film, television and theater. In addition to his work as an actor, he was a respected teacher of the craft. Notable for his unique, gravelly voice and somewhat offbeat appearance, Hickey, in his later years, was often cast in "cantankerous-but-clever old man" roles. His characters, who sometimes exuded an underlying air of the macabre, usually had the last laugh over their more sprightly co-stars. He died fromemphysema andbronchitis at the age of 69 in New York City.29 June 2003 – Katherine Hepburn - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_HepburnKatharine Houghton Hepburn, American actress who was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than 60 years. She appeared in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and she received a record four Academy Awards for Lead Acting Performances, plus eight further nominations. In 1999, Hepburn was named by the American Film Institute the greatest female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema. She was known for her fierce independence and spirited personality. In the 1940s, she began a screen and romantic partnership with Spencer Tracy, which spanned 26 years and nine movies, although the romance with the married Tracy was hidden from the public. Hepburn challenged herself in the latter half of her life, as she tackledShakespearean stage productions and a range of literary roles. Hepburn famously shunned the Hollywood publicity machine, and refused to conform to society's expectations of women. She was outspoken, assertive, and athletic, and wore trousers before they were fashionable for women. She was briefly married as a young woman, but thereafter lived independently. With her unconventional lifestyle and the independent characters she brought to the screen, Hepburn epitomized the "modern woman" in the 20th-century United States, and is remembered as an important cultural figure. She died from cardiac arrest at the age of 96 in Fenwick, Connecticut.Famous Birthdays29 June 1793 – Josef Ressel - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_ResselJoseph Ludwig Franz Ressel,Austrian forester and inventor of Czech-German descent, who designed one of the first working ship's propellers. He worked for the Austrian government as a forester in the more southern parts of the monarchy, including in Motovun,Istria (modern-day Croatia). His work was to secure a supply of quality wood for the Navy. He worked in Landstrass (Kostanjevica on the Krka river in Carniola in modern-day Slovenia), where he tested his ship propellers for the first time. In 1821 he was transferred to Trieste (modern-day Italy), the biggest port of the Austrian Empire, where his tests were successful. He was awarded a propeller patent in 1827. He modified a steam-powered boat Civetta by 1829 and test-drove it in the Trieste harbor at six knots before the steam conduits exploded. Because of this misfortune, the police banned further testing. The explosion was not caused by the tested propeller as many believed at the time. Besides having been called "the inventor of the propeller", he was also called the inventor of the steamship and a monument to him in a park in Vienna commemorates him as “the one and only inventor of the screw propeller and steam shipping”. He was also commemorated on Austria's 500 Schilling banknote in the mid 1960s (P139), which shows him on the front and the ship "Civetta" on the back. Among other Ressel's inventions are pneumatic post and ball and cylinder bearings. He was granted numerous patents during his life. He was born in Chrudim,Bohemia, Habsburg Monarchy.28 June 1818 – Angelo Secchi - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_SecchiFr. Angelo Secchi, Italian astronomer by the italian region of Emilia. He was a pioneer in astronomical spectroscopy, and was one of the first scientists to state authoritatively that the Sun is a star. Secchi made contributions to many areas of astronomy. He discovered three comets, including Comet Secchi. He produced an exact map of the lunar crater Copernicus. He drew some of the first color illustrations of Mars and was the first to describe "channels" (canali in Italian) on the planetary surface.Secchi was especially interested in the Sun, which he observed continually throughout his career. He observed and made drawings of solar eruptions and sunspots, and compiled records of sunspot activity. In 1860 and 1870, he organized expeditions to observe solar eclipses. He proved that the solar corona and coronal prominences observed during a solar eclipse were part of the Sun, and not artifacts of the eclipse.However, his main area of interest was astronomical spectroscopy. He invented the heliospectrograph, star spectrograph, and telespectroscope. He showed that certain absorption lines in the spectrum of the Sun were caused by absorption in the Earth's atmosphere. Starting in 1863, he began collecting the spectra of stars, accumulating some 4,000 stellar spectrograms. Through analysis of this data, he discovered that the stars come in a limited number of distinct types and subtypes, which could be distinguished by their different spectral patterns. From this concept, he developed the first system of stellar classification: the five Secchi classes. While his system was superseded by the Harvard system, he still stands as discoverer of the principle of stellar classification, which is a fundamental element of astrophysics. His recognition of molecular bands of carbonradicals in the spectra of some stars made him the discoverer of carbon stars, which made one of his spectral classes. Secchi was active in oceanography, meteorology, and physics, as well as astronomy. He invented the Secchi disk, which is used to measure water transparency in oceans, lakes and fish farms. He studied the climate of Rome and invented a "Meteorograph" for the convenient recording of several categories of weather data. He also studied the aurora borealis, the effects of lightning, and the cause of hail. He organized the systematic monitoring of the Earth's magnetic field, and in 1858 established a Magnetic Observatory in Rome. Secchi also performed related technical works for the Papal government, such as overseeing placement of sundials and repair or installation of municipal water systems. In 1854–1855, he supervised an exact survey of the Appian Way in Rome. This survey was later used in the topographic mapping of Italy. He supervised construction of lighthouses for the ports of the Papal States. He was born in Reggio Emilia.29 June 1861 – William James Mayo - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_MayoPhysician and surgeon in the United States and one of the seven founders of the Mayo Clinic. He and his brother, Charles Horace Mayo, both joined their father's private medical practice in Rochester, Minnesota, US, after graduating from medical school in the 1880s. In 1919, that practice became the not-for-profit Mayo Clinic. On August 21, 1883, a tornado struck Rochester, killing 29 people and seriously injuring over 55 others. One-third of the town was destroyed, but young Will and his family escaped serious harm. The relief efforts began immediately with a temporary hospital being established at the town's dance hall. The Mayo brothers were extensively involved in treating the injured who were brought there for help. Mother Alfred Moes and the Sisters of Saint Francis were called in to act as nurses (despite the fact they had little if any medical experience). After the crisis had subsided, Mother Alfred Moes approached William Worrall Mayo about establishing a hospital in Rochester. In September 30, 1889, Saint Mary's Hospital opened. In September 1931, Mayo and other prominent individuals of the time were invited by The New York Times to make a prediction concerning the world in eighty years time in the future, in 2011. Mayo's prediction was that the life expectancy of developed countries would reach 70 years, compared to less than sixty years in 1931. “Contagious and infectious diseases have been largely overcome, and the average length of life of man has increased to fifty-eight years. The great causes of death in middle and later life are diseases of heart, blood vessels and kidneys, diseases of the nervous system, and cancer. The progress that is being made would suggest that within the measure of time for this forecast the average life time of civilized man would be raised to the biblical term of three-score and ten.” He was born in Le Sueur, Minnesota.29 June 1868 – George Ellery Hale - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Ellery_HaleAmerican solarastronomer, best known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots, and as the leader or key figure in the planning or construction of several world-leading telescopes; namely, the 40-inch refracting telescope at Yerkes Observatory, 60-inch Hale reflecting telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory, 100-inch Hooker reflecting telescope at Mount Wilson, and the 200-inch Hale reflecting telescope at Palomar Observatory. He also played a key role in the foundation of theInternational Union for Cooperation in Solar Research and the National Research Council, and in developing the California Institute of Technology into a leading research university. In 1908, he used the Zeeman effect with a modified spectroheliograph to establish thatsunspots were magnetic. Subsequent work demonstrated a strong tendency for east-west alignment of magnetic polarities in sunspots, with mirror symmetry across the solar equator; and that the polarity in each hemisphere switched orientation from one sunspot cycle to the next. This systematic property of sunspot magnetic fields is now commonly referred to as the "Hale–Nicholson law," or in many cases simply "Hale's law." Hale spent a large portion of his career trying to find a way to image the solar corona without the benefit of a total solar eclipse, but this was not achieved until the work of Bernard Lyot. He was a prolific organizer who helped create a number of astronomical institutions, societies and journals. He was born in Chicago, Illinois.Events of Interest29 June 1613 – The Globe Theatre in London, built by William Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, burns to the ground. - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-globe-theater-burns-downThe Globe was built by Shakespeare’s acting company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, in 1599 from the timbers of London’s very first permanent theater, Burbage’s Theater, built in 1576. Before James Burbage built his theater, plays and dramatic performances were ad hoc affairs, performed on street corners and in the yards of inns. However, the Common Council of London, in 1574, started licensing theatrical pieces performed in inn yards within the city limits. To escape the restriction, actor James Burbage built his own theater on land he leased outside the city limits. When Burbage’s lease ran out, the Lord Chamberlain’s men moved the timbers to a new location and created the Globe. On 29 June 1613, the Globe Theatre went up in flames during a performance of Henry VIII. A theatrical cannon, set off during the performance, misfired, igniting the wooden beams and thatching. According to one of the few surviving documents of the event, no one was hurt except a man whose burning breeches were put out with a bottle of ale.29 June 1975 – Steve Wozniak tested his first prototype of Apple I computer. - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/steve-wozniaks-apple-i-booted-up-tech-revolution-180958112/Apple I was the first computer from Apple. It was fully made by Steve Wozniak with little or no input from Steve Jobs. Apple I came without a keyboard, monitor and even an enclosing cabinet. It was basically a motherboard with chips. At the Homebrew Computer club in Palo Alto, California (in Silicon Valley), Steve Wozniak, a 26 year old employee of Hewlett-Packard and a long-time digital electronics hacker, had been wanting to build a computer of his own for a long time. It didn’t look like much—just a circuit board with 32 chips attached, connected to a video monitor and a keyboard. But when he turned it on? Magic. A cursor appeared on the screen—and better yet, it reacted instantly to whatever keys Wozniak pressed. “I typed a few keys on the keyboard and I was shocked!” he recalled in his memoir, iWoz. It was, he observed, the first time in history anyone had typed on a personal computer and seen the results “show up on their own computer’s screen right in front of them.” The sensation of success—he was looking at random numbers he had programmed—was “like getting a putt from 40 feet away.” The Apple I sold for only $666.66. (Wozniak picked the price because he liked repeating numbers; he had no clue about the satanic resonance.)IntroArtist – Goblins from MarsSong Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)Song Link -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJFollow us onFacebook- Page - https://www.facebook.com/NerdsAmalgamated/- Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/440485136816406/Twitter - https://twitter.com/NAmalgamatedSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6Nux69rftdBeeEXwD8GXrSiTunes -https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/top-shelf-nerds/id1347661094RSS -http://www.thatsnotcanonproductions.com/topshelfnerdspodcast?format=rssInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/nerds_amalgamated/Email - Nerds.Amalgamated@gmail.comSupport via Podhero- https://podhero.com/podcast/449127/nerds-amalgamatedRate & Review us on Podchaser - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/nerds-amalgamated-623195

In Elizabethan England, much of what we know about how theaters were operated comes from the diary of a man who ran dozens of theaters during Shakespeare’s lifetime: Philip Henslowe. Henslowe was enterprising and ambitious, setting up the Bear Garden for bear baiting, and establishing the Rose, the Fortune, and the Hope theaters, among others. Throughout his dealings with numerous playing companies including Shakespeare’s The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, Henslowe kept a diary about who he paid to perform, what productions were done, and even what props and costumes were used. The result is a fascinating tale of bits and pieces that give a real insider's look into the daily operations of what it meant to hire actors, collaborate across playing companies, and even part of how Henslowe was able to achieve a royal office in the court of James I as a theater owner in Shakespeare’s lifetime. Since we do not have a similar diary of Shakespeare’s dealings at The Globe, Henslowe’s records help us see into the world of Shakespeare’s theater to get an idea of what it was like to build dragons, stage the Battle of Shrewsbury, and where exactly the resources came from to pull off the grand feats of performance these theaters have gone down in history as having accomplished.  Our guest this week, Amy Lidster, returns to the podcast for her second visit here at That Shakespeare Life to talk with us about Henslowe and his diaries.

“ Pero el hombre, el hombre orgulloso, vestido de un poquito de autoridad, ignora lo que tiene más seguro (su alma de espejo), y como un mono enfurecido, hace unas muecas tan locas ante el alto cielo, que los ángeles lloran, cuando nuestras penas les harían morirse de risa”. “Medida por medida” Inglaterra fue el país que tuvo el privilegio de dar a la humanidad el mayor poeta y el mayor dramaturgo que ha conocido el mundo: William Shakespeare, nacido en Stratford-upon-Avon el día de San Jorge, patrón de Inglaterra, el 23 de Abril de 1.564. Casado con Anne Hathaway, ocho años menor que él, abandonó a su familia y se instaló en Londres, donde sus colegas se burlaban de él por querer serlo todo a la vez: actor, socio, autor de las piezas representadas en el teatro de Lord Chamberlain´s Men, autor de comedias, dramas históricos y tragedias. Shakespeare fue un hombre de imaginación inagotable, favorito de los reyes y del público, autor de obras taquilleras y el genio por excelencia del teatro, admirado por los poetas del romanticismo alemán y convertido en su punto de referencia. Hermano menor de Dios, multiplica la obra divina el octavo día de la Creación con su propia creación poética. Murió el día de su cumpleaños, el 23 de Abril de 1.616, fue enterrado en la iglesia parroquial de Stratford, pero sigue eternamente vivo en sus obras inmortales. Los personajes de Shakespeare siguen vivos y se pasean por todos los escenarios del mundo. Hamlet, a quién se le aparece el espíritu de su difunto padre y lo incita a la venganza, sigue luchando con la cuestión de la que Don Quijote fue víctima: ¿Era un fantasma o era real? ¿Qué criterio tenemos para probar nuestras propias observaciones?. Sólo nuestras propias observaciones. Y en ese mismo momento se abre el abismo de la reflexión: el mundo interior, la subjetividad. Y así Hamlet, ese melancólico histérico y comediante suicida, se convierte en el primer intelectual, rico en ideas y pobre en acciones, y en el arquetipo del hombre romántico que se debate con el delirio febril de sus pensamientos y las alucinaciones en las que lo sume la duda de sí mismo. Hamlet mira hacia atrás, prisionero de un pasado irredento y anclado en los crímenes y sus víctimas. Muchos de los personajes de Shakespeare han pasado a formar parte de la memoria colectiva: “Otelo, el moro de Venecia”, esposo de la bella Desdémona, presa de los violentos celos que provoca en él Yago, el maquiavélico intrigante cuya gratuita maldad nos produce pavor. O Shilock, el usurero judío, la personificación de un pueblo marginado, la encarnación del gueto, avaro y sediento de venganza, pero en cuya boca pone el autor un conmovedor llamamiento al juego limpio, a la humanidad y a la fraternidad. O Falstaff, la personificación de la fiesta y de la buena vida, inmensa montaña de carne e inmenso burlón; la unión del espíritu y el cuerpo, el transgresor y destructor del orden establecido; el bufón del príncipe, siempre capaz de inventar nuevas excusas, mentiras, ficciones y escenas, y también la encarnación del espíritu de la fiesta, en la que imperan la disipación y la embriaguez y en la que, como en el mismo drama, se decreta el estado de excepción. O Macbeth y su Lady, dominada únicamente por su ambición; un hombre enmascarado y una bruja que incita a su marido a cometer un crimen detrás de otro, hasta que como Herodes, acaba convirtiéndose en un infanticida al que hay que dar muerte como a un perro sarnoso. O el rey “Lear”, el anciano que somete a sus tres hijas a una prueba amorosa y después, como en los cuentos, expulsa a la buena y entrega su reino a las malas, que acaban echando a su propio padre, de modo que asistimos a su lento y atormentado desfallecimiento. Entre voces y protestas, el anciano pierde su poder, su papel en la sociedad, sus criados, su casa, sus hijos y hasta su cabeza, pues ya no puede soportar por más tiempo la tensión entre su impotencia y tamaños tormentos. O “Romeo y Julieta”, el arquetipo de la pareja que en una sola noche de poesía vive todo el éxtasis del amor, antes de que éste, de forma sumamente paradójica, se convierta en su contrario y sólo vuelva a encenderse en su última unión, en la muerte. Así, en un suspiro, tal y como Julieta ha previsto, la pareja de amantes estalla en miles de pedazos resplandecientes que se instalan en el cielo de la cultura europea como la constelación de los amantes, de modo que en el futuro, cada noche, las parejas puedan guiarse por ellos, mientras Romeo y Julieta susurran eternamente el soneto que Shakespeare les escribió para su primer encuentro. Y que mundos mágicos se conjuran en “El sueño de una noche de verano”, con la ruptura matrimonial de Titania, la reina de las hadas, y su Oberón, que se venga enviando al duende Puck para que siembre la confusión y haga que Titania acabe amando a un asno. En este mundo mágico en el que Shakespeare inventa su propio folclore y purifica, sometiéndolos al proceso artístico, los elementos del clásico aquelarre; un mundo en permanente transformación y de límites muy vagos; en definitiva, un mundo de máscaras y de teatro. Que abismos separan ese mundo mágico del mundo de la política en “Julio César” o “Ricardo III”; aquí solo hay cálculo, manipulación del adversario, jugadas políticas y estrategias; aquí reina el espíritu desilusionado de Maquiavelo, ya que no entiende la política desde el punto de vista moral, sino desde el punto de vista técnico. Y que diferencia tan grande entre el tenebroso infierno de “Macbeth” y “El rey Lear” y el universo idílico de “Como gustéis”, con la ingeniosa Rosalinda, o el despreocupado ambiente festivo de “Lo que queráis”, con toda esa gente embriagada, esos amantes y esos locos poetas. Resulta increíble que todo esto haya salido de la pluma del mismo poeta, pero es así. Shakespeare es un maestro de lo que podríamos llamar fusión nuclear en el ámbito del lenguaje, liberando energías que irradian sentido puro. El mundo se convierte en un escenario y el alma también se parece al teatro, porque pone al hombre frente a un espejo ya que los actores se tornan invisibles para hacer visibles a los personajes. Y es que la obra de William Shakespeare se caracteriza por su dominio de la estructura escénica y del lenguaje literario, sea en prosa o poesía, por la penetración psicológica de sus personajes y por su entendimiento de las emociones del ser humano. William Shakespeare es, sin duda, uno de los más grandes autores de la literatura universal, y clave en el desarrollo de las letras en lengua inglesa. Sus obras de teatro son consideradas auténticos clásicos atemporales y su influencia a lo largo de la historia de la literatura en indiscutible.

When James VI of Scotland became James I of England, he did so as the son of Mary Queen of Scots, and brought with him a tumultous history and risk for civil war. In an example of the King’s extraordinary gift at diplomacy and unification, he also brought into England his ability to stabilize conflict and unite warring parties around his position as King.    At 39 years old, when William Shakespeare was at the height of his career as a playwright in London, the new King would officially patronize Shakespeare’s company, and include the bard, the Burbages, and The Lord Chamberlain’s Men in his campaign to win the heart of England and unify the three nations.    Here to help us explore the story of what it was like for William Shakespeare when Elizabeth died and King James came to the throne, as well as the religious reformations that defined the cultures of these nations, and divided the Scottish Kirk from the Church of England ideologically, is our special guest Dr. James Loxley.    James Loxley is Professor of Early Modern Literature in the department of English Literature at Edinburgh. He has written widely on renaissance poetry and drama, with a particular focus on Ben Jonson and Andrew Marvell, and on the literature, politics and culture of the civil war period. His current research focuses on a collaborative project digitally mapping Edinburgh's literary cityscape, and a cultural history of the relations between England and Scotland in the early seventeenth century.   We are delighted to have him visit with us today to share with us the moment in Shakespeare’s life when he found himself finally under the official patronage of the English monarchy.

On this day in Tudor history, 23rd July 1596, Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, Privy Councillor and Lord Chamberlain, died at Somerset House in London. Hunsdon was, of course, the son of Mary Boleyn, nephew of the late Queen Anne Boleyn, and cousin and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. In today's talk, Claire Ridgway, founder of the Tudor Society, gives details of Hunsdon's background and his rise to prominence at Elizabeth I's court, as well as details on his burial and tomb. You can find a photo of his tomb at www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/henry-carey  You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:https://youtu.be/gcYG4d-6QeU You can find Claire at:https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com https://www.tudorsociety.comhttps://www.facebook.com/theanneboleynfiles/https://www.facebook.com/tudorsociety/https://twitter.com/AnneBoleynFiles https://twitter.com/thetudorsociety https://www.instagram.com/tudor.society/ https://www.instagram.com/anneboleynfiles/

Whipperginny By Robert Graves Narrated by Erin Louttit and Denis Daly This collection of fifty-three poems was written by Robert Graves between 1920 and 1923. Many of the pieces display a pastoral character and were composed in an effort by the poet to distance himself from the trauma of the First World War. The title, which is that of the first poem in the collection, refers to an obsolete card card game. Audio edited by Denis Daly This recording may be freely downloaded and distributed, as long as Voices of Today is credited as the author. It may not be used for commercial purposes or distributed in an edited or remixed form. For information about other titles in the Voices of Today catalogue please visit voicesoftoday.org

If the saying is true that you are the sum of your five closest friends, then one great way to get to know William Shakespeare is to take a look at the lives of his closest friends. John Heminges and Henry Condell helped form the foundation of the shareholder agreement Shakespeare made at The Globe and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. They would remain loyal to Shakespeare from Elizabethan England into Jacobean England as the company became the King’s Men under James I. Acting in plays together, writing plays, surviving the Globe’s famous fire, and watching each other get married, have children, and grow old together is a stronger definition of friendship than many people ever get to experience, and by all historical accounts, Heminges and Condell were just such strong friends for William Shakespeare not just until his death in 1616, but through the publication of the 1623 First Folio, and continuing ever after. As our guest this week, we are delighted to have Paul Edmondson, the Head of Research at Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and the author of one chapter about Heminges and Condell that appeared in the recent book he edited called The Shakespeare Circle. We welcome Paul today to discuss his chapter on Heminges and Condell and help us get to know Shakespeare’s extraordinary friends.

This week on Such Stuff, we go behind the scenes with the Globe Ensemble and ask: what happens when any person can play any character, and what do audiences make of this? Director Federay Holmes and Research Fellow Dr Will Tosh explain the inspiration behind the ensemble, and how Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men were radical before their time… They also talk about casting, gender swapping and giving actors parts they can really play.  Actor Shubham Saraf talks us through the rehearsal room, and asks whether audiences are ready to see his Ophelia, and Michelle Terry sits down with Jack Laskey to talk Hamlet and Rosalind, and whether gender really plays a role in playing these roles.

Imagine where we'd be without Shakespeare's plays. It's difficult to contemplate now. But it was thanks to another man that many of them were brought to life. Today, Richard Burbage is a not a household name. But he should be. He's the man for whom many of the great Shakespearean roles were created. One of the founding members of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, playing at the newly built Globe in 1599, he's one of the foundations upon which British theatre was built. Andrew Dickson talks to leading actors, rummages among the archives and dissects some of the greatest parts in acting to discover Burbage's crucial role - and realises that without Richard Burbage, there could be no Shakespeare. Producer: Penny Murphy

The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare's most riotous and farcical plays, in which merchants, masters, parents, servants and a long-suffering wife find themselves comically entwined over the course of one hectic day. The Lord Chamberlain’s Men bring their open air production to this year's festival and Rebecca Sandles met up its Artistic Director Peter Stickney. Event Details: https://brightonfestival.org/event/11024/the_comedy_of_errors/ To find out more about Brighton Festival see : http://brightonfestival.org To find out more about RadioReverb - the Broadcast Media Partner of Brighton Festival 2018 see : http://radioreverb.com #Brighton #Arts #Culture

Imagine where we'd be without Shakespeare's plays. It's difficult to contemplate now. But it was thanks to another man that many of them were brought to life. Today, Richard Burbage is a not a household name. But he should be. He's the man for whom many of the great Shakespearean roles were created. One of the founding members of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, playing at the newly built Globe in 1599, he's one of the foundations upon which British theatre was built. Andrew Dickson talks to leading actors, rummages among the archives and dissects some of the greatest parts in acting to discover Burbage's crucial role – and realises that without Richard Burbage, there could be no Shakespeare. Producer: Penny Murphy

Hello [REDACTED]! Welcome to Episode 26 of A History of Comedy in Several Objects, the best mother[REDACTED] historically focused comedy analysis podcast around! In this episode Elspeth and Olly talk about the Lord Chamberlain's blue pencil, which would edit the material that variety comedians used, thus making it legal to perform. They couldn't say words like [REDACTED] or [REDACTED]. Especially not [REDACTED] [REDACTED] into his [REDACTED]. It's a great episode about the culture, society and the comedy of mid-20th Century Britain, as well as looking at legendary acts like Max Miller and Tommy Trinder and their approaches to censorship. You [REDACTED]ers can follow us on @HistComPod and send us an email to standup@kent.ac.uk. Remember to give us 5 [REDACTED] stars on iTunes as well. Don't be a [REDACTED], do it today. Share the podcast around too! Apologies for our [REDACTED] potty-mouth.

William Shakespeare, the “Bard of Avon”, was a 16th-17th century English playwright, actor, and poet, a man widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. In grand total, Billy boasts 39 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other short works, and these pieces have all been translated into EVERY MAJOR living language, with his plays being performed more than those of any other playwright…ever. To date, no other writer’s reputation compares to his. Shakespeare was a writer of great intellect, with incredible perceptions of his characters brought to life with an unparalleled poetic power. Unlike so many before him, Shakespeare brought the stage to life, humanizing the performers of his plays and drawing the audience to invest into the play, as if they too were sucked into his imaginative story. For two decades, Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men were THE sought-after entertainment, from English royalty down to the poorest of the poor, the only exception being the Puritans, but hey, let’s face it, those guys never liked anything that was remotely fun to begin with. He died with esteem, lived a life of accomplishment, and it is why we all still recognize and know his name and works when he is brought up. But who was William Shakespeare? What can we draw from history to tell us about this man and his substantial contribution to literature? Well, that is what we are about to dig into. It’s the season finale, so let’s wrap up this first season of the podcast by analyzing the life and legacy of William Shakespeare.

Laurie Johnson is Associate Professor of English and Cultural Studies at the University of Southern Queensland. He is the President of the Australian and New Zealand Shakespeare Association, and his publications include The Tain of Hamlet (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013) and The Wolf Man’s Burden (Cornell University Press, 2001). He is currently finishing a book on the Newington Butts playhouse and the plays performed there in 1594 by the Admiral’s Men and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. This paper, ‘“The Silver Spring Where England Drinks”: Shakespeare’s Sewers and Bodily Politics’ was delivered at a conference on ‘Shakespeare and the Body Politic’ at The University of Queensland on 28 November 2016. It examines the association of sewers in Shakespeare’s time with the body politic.

Singer-songwriter Katie Melua, chef Tom Kerridge, writer Alex Wheatle and actor Nigel Havers join Libby Purves and the audience in the BBC Radio Theatre. Katie Melua, the singer and songwriter, was born in Georgia, when it was part of the Soviet Union, and moved to Belfast when she was nine. She returned to her homeland to make her new album, In Winter, working with the Gori Women's Choir. Katie recalls her early years in Georgia, and the very different life she found in Belfast, and she and the 24 members of the Choir perform two songs. Writer Alex Wheatle won this year's Guardian children's fiction prize for his young adult novel Crongton Knights, set around an inner-city estate. Born in 1963 to Jamaican parents living in Brixton, Alex spent much of his childhood in care, and says that a short stint in prison after the 1981 Brixton riots led to a passionate interest in literature, thanks to the advice of a fellow prisoner. Actor Nigel Havers rose to fame as Lord Lindsay in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, and is renowned for playing charmers, cads and conmen. He's currently playing the Lord Chamberlain in panto at the London Palladium, and his varied career includes roles in Coronation Street, Downton Abbey and a high-profile cameo earlier this year in The Archers. Tom Kerridge is chef and co-owner of The Hand and Flowers pub in Buckinghamshire - the first pub in the world to receive two Michelin stars. He is about to publish Tom Kerridge's Dopamine Diet, which draws on his own experience: he found himself very overweight, a result of the late-night lifestyle of the professional kitchen, and lost more than eleven stones after he devised a diet which remained true to the ideas which underpin his cooking. Producer Paula McGinley.

Part 1 莎士比亚生平 粒粒： William Shakespeare is one of the most remarkable playwrights(剧作家) and poets（诗人） the world has ever known. With his 38 plays（戏剧）, 154 sonnets（十四行诗） and 2 long poems（长叙事诗）, he has established his giant position in world literature. He has also been given the highest praises by various scholars and critics the world over. In the past four hundred years or so, books and essays on Shakespeare and his works have kept coming out in large quantities. Wilson: Shakespeare went to London which afforded（给予） a wonderful environment for the development of drama. Shakespeare worked both as actor and playwright. He acted and wrote for the Lord Chamberlain's Men（侍从长剧团）, which was later renamed the King's Men（国王剧团）. Shakespeare established himself so well as a playwright that Robert Greene, one of the “University Wits”（大学才子派）, resentfully(充满憎恨地) declared him to be 'an upstart crow'. 粒粒： From about 1591 to about 1611, Shakespeare was in the prime of his dramatic career（莎士比亚戏剧事业的鼎盛时期） and his plays came out one after another. Shakespeare did not confine（局限） his genius merely to the theater. In 1593 and 1594, he published two narrative poems（长叙事诗）, Venus and Adonis《维纳斯和阿多尼斯》and The Rape of Lucrece《鲁克丽丝受辱记》, both of which were dedicated to the Earl of Southampton. (两首长诗题献给当时的年轻贵族——南安普敦伯爵The Earl of Southampton ). He also wrote sonnets, which were published in 1609. Part 2 莎士比亚名言 To be, or not to be. That is the question. 生存还是毁灭，这是一个值得考虑的问题。 Better a witty fool than a foolish wit. 宁为聪明的愚夫，不作愚蠢的才子。 A light heart lives long. 豁达者长寿。 Do not, for one repulse, give up the purpose that you resolved to effect. 不要只因一次失败，就放弃你原来决心想达到的目的。 　　In delay there lies no plenty, Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty, Youth's a stuff that will not endure. 　　迁延蹉跎，来日无多，二十丽姝，请来吻我，衰草枯杨，青春易过。 　　The time of life is short; to spend that shortness basely, it would be too long. 　　人生苦短，若虚度年华，则短暂的人生就太长了。 　　Don't gild the lily. 　　不要给百合花镀金/画蛇添足。 　　The empty vessels make the greatest sound. 　　满瓶不响，半瓶咣当。 　　The course of true love never did run smooth. 　　真诚的爱情之路永不会是平坦的。 　　Love, and the same charcoal, burning, need to find ways to ask cooling. Allow an arbitrary, it is necessary to heart charred. 　　爱，和炭相同，烧起来，得想办法叫它冷却。让它任意着，那就要把一颗心烧焦。 　　Laughter is the root of all evil. 　　笑是一切罪恶的根源。 　　Words can not express true love, loyalty behavior is the best explanation. 　　真正的爱情是不能用言语表达的，行为才是忠心的最好说明。 　　Love is a woman with the ears, and if the men will love, but love is to use your eyes. 　　女人是用耳朵恋爱的,而男人如果会产生爱情的话,却是用眼睛来恋爱。 简介字数有限，关注微信公众号“为你读英语美文”获得原文

Part 1 莎士比亚生平 粒粒： William Shakespeare is one of the most remarkable playwrights(剧作家) and poets（诗人） the world has ever known. With his 38 plays（戏剧）, 154 sonnets（十四行诗） and 2 long poems（长叙事诗）, he has established his giant position in world literature. He has also been given the highest praises by various scholars and critics the world over. In the past four hundred years or so, books and essays on Shakespeare and his works have kept coming out in large quantities. Wilson: Shakespeare went to London which afforded（给予） a wonderful environment for the development of drama. Shakespeare worked both as actor and playwright. He acted and wrote for the Lord Chamberlain's Men（侍从长剧团）, which was later renamed the King's Men（国王剧团）. Shakespeare established himself so well as a playwright that Robert Greene, one of the “University Wits”（大学才子派）, resentfully(充满憎恨地) declared him to be 'an upstart crow'. 粒粒： From about 1591 to about 1611, Shakespeare was in the prime of his dramatic career（莎士比亚戏剧事业的鼎盛时期） and his plays came out one after another. Shakespeare did not confine（局限） his genius merely to the theater. In 1593 and 1594, he published two narrative poems（长叙事诗）, Venus and Adonis《维纳斯和阿多尼斯》and The Rape of Lucrece《鲁克丽丝受辱记》, both of which were dedicated to the Earl of Southampton. (两首长诗题献给当时的年轻贵族——南安普敦伯爵The Earl of Southampton ). He also wrote sonnets, which were published in 1609. Part 2 莎士比亚名言 To be, or not to be. That is the question. 生存还是毁灭，这是一个值得考虑的问题。 Better a witty fool than a foolish wit. 宁为聪明的愚夫，不作愚蠢的才子。 A light heart lives long. 豁达者长寿。 Do not, for one repulse, give up the purpose that you resolved to effect. 不要只因一次失败，就放弃你原来决心想达到的目的。 　　In delay there lies no plenty, Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty, Youth's a stuff that will not endure. 　　迁延蹉跎，来日无多，二十丽姝，请来吻我，衰草枯杨，青春易过。 　　The time of life is short; to spend that shortness basely, it would be too long. 　　人生苦短，若虚度年华，则短暂的人生就太长了。 　　Don't gild the lily. 　　不要给百合花镀金/画蛇添足。 　　The empty vessels make the greatest sound. 　　满瓶不响，半瓶咣当。 　　The course of true love never did run smooth. 　　真诚的爱情之路永不会是平坦的。 　　Love, and the same charcoal, burning, need to find ways to ask cooling. Allow an arbitrary, it is necessary to heart charred. 　　爱，和炭相同，烧起来，得想办法叫它冷却。让它任意着，那就要把一颗心烧焦。 　　Laughter is the root of all evil. 　　笑是一切罪恶的根源。 　　Words can not express true love, loyalty behavior is the best explanation. 　　真正的爱情是不能用言语表达的，行为才是忠心的最好说明。 　　Love is a woman with the ears, and if the men will love, but love is to use your eyes. 　　女人是用耳朵恋爱的,而男人如果会产生爱情的话,却是用眼睛来恋爱。 简介字数有限，关注微信公众号“为你读英语美文”获得原文

Part 1 莎士比亚生平 粒粒： William Shakespeare is one of the most remarkable playwrights(剧作家) and poets（诗人） the world has ever known. With his 38 plays（戏剧）, 154 sonnets（十四行诗） and 2 long poems（长叙事诗）, he has established his giant position in world literature. He has also been given the highest praises by various scholars and critics the world over. In the past four hundred years or so, books and essays on Shakespeare and his works have kept coming out in large quantities. Wilson: Shakespeare went to London which afforded（给予） a wonderful environment for the development of drama. Shakespeare worked both as actor and playwright. He acted and wrote for the Lord Chamberlain's Men（侍从长剧团）, which was later renamed the King's Men（国王剧团）. Shakespeare established himself so well as a playwright that Robert Greene, one of the “University Wits”（大学才子派）, resentfully(充满憎恨地) declared him to be 'an upstart crow'. 粒粒： From about 1591 to about 1611, Shakespeare was in the prime of his dramatic career（莎士比亚戏剧事业的鼎盛时期） and his plays came out one after another. Shakespeare did not confine（局限） his genius merely to the theater. In 1593 and 1594, he published two narrative poems（长叙事诗）, Venus and Adonis《维纳斯和阿多尼斯》and The Rape of Lucrece《鲁克丽丝受辱记》, both of which were dedicated to the Earl of Southampton. (两首长诗题献给当时的年轻贵族——南安普敦伯爵The Earl of Southampton ). He also wrote sonnets, which were published in 1609. Part 2 莎士比亚名言 To be, or not to be. That is the question. 生存还是毁灭，这是一个值得考虑的问题。 Better a witty fool than a foolish wit. 宁为聪明的愚夫，不作愚蠢的才子。 A light heart lives long. 豁达者长寿。 Do not, for one repulse, give up the purpose that you resolved to effect. 不要只因一次失败，就放弃你原来决心想达到的目的。 　　In delay there lies no plenty, Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty, Youth's a stuff that will not endure. 　　迁延蹉跎，来日无多，二十丽姝，请来吻我，衰草枯杨，青春易过。 　　The time of life is short; to spend that shortness basely, it would be too long. 　　人生苦短，若虚度年华，则短暂的人生就太长了。 　　Don't gild the lily. 　　不要给百合花镀金/画蛇添足。 　　The empty vessels make the greatest sound. 　　满瓶不响，半瓶咣当。 　　The course of true love never did run smooth. 　　真诚的爱情之路永不会是平坦的。 　　Love, and the same charcoal, burning, need to find ways to ask cooling. Allow an arbitrary, it is necessary to heart charred. 　　爱，和炭相同，烧起来，得想办法叫它冷却。让它任意着，那就要把一颗心烧焦。 　　Laughter is the root of all evil. 　　笑是一切罪恶的根源。 　　Words can not express true love, loyalty behavior is the best explanation. 　　真正的爱情是不能用言语表达的，行为才是忠心的最好说明。 　　Love is a woman with the ears, and if the men will love, but love is to use your eyes. 　　女人是用耳朵恋爱的,而男人如果会产生爱情的话,却是用眼睛来恋爱。 简介字数有限，关注微信公众号“为你读英语美文”获得原文

In the summer of 1594 William Shakespeare decided to invest around 50 Pounds to become a shareholder in a newly formed acting company: Lord Chamberlain's Men. This lecture examines the consequences of this decision, unique in English theatrical history. By examining the early modern theatrical marketplace and the artistic development of Shakespeare's writing before and after this moment, it is hoped that this talk shows why 1594 was, by some measure, Shakespeare's most important year.

George Frideric HANDEL 1685-1759Our version ofAllemande in Am (HWV 478)George Frideric HANDEL 1685-1759© 2012 Shiloh Worship Music COPY FREELY;This Recording is copyrighted to prevent misuse, however,permission is granted for non-commercial copying-Radio play permitted. Www.ShilohWorshipMusic.com Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)George Frideric Handel(from Wikipedia) George Frideric Handel, born in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti. By Thomas Hudson (1749)George Frideric Handel SignatureGeorge Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich Händel; pronounced [ˈhɛndəl]) (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music. He received critical musical training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before settling in London (1712) and becoming a naturalised British subject in 1727.[1] By then he was strongly influenced by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.Within fifteen years, Handel, a dramatic genius, started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera, but the public came to hear the vocal bravura of the soloists rather than the music. In 1737 he had a physical breakdown, changed direction creatively and addressed the middle class. As Alexander's Feast (1736) was well received, Handel made a transition to English choral works. After his success with Messiah (1742) he never performed an Italian opera again. Handel was only partly successful with his performances of English Oratorio on mythical and biblical themes, but when he arranged a performance of Messiah to benefit the Foundling Hospital (1750) the critique ended. The pathos of Handel's oratorios is an ethical one. They are hallowed not by liturgical dignity but by the moral ideals of humanity.[2] Almost blind, and having lived in England for almost fifty years, he died a respected and rich man.Handel is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time, with works such as Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks and Messiah remaining popular. Handel composed more than forty operas in over thirty years, and since the late 1960s, with the revival of baroque music and original instrumentation, interest in Handel's operas has grown. His operas contain remarkable human characterisation—especially for a composer not known for his love affairs.Early yearsHandel's baptismal registration (Marienbibliothek in Halle)Handel was born in 1685 in Halle, Duchy of Magdeburg, to Georg Händel and Dorothea Taust.[3] His father, 63 when his son was born, was an eminent barber-surgeon who served to the court of Saxe-Weissenfels and the Margraviate of Brandenburg.[4] According to Handel's first biographer, John Mainwaring, he "had discovered such a strong propensity to Music, that his father who always intended him for the study of the Civil Law, had reason to be alarmed. He strictly forbade him to meddle with any musical instrument but Handel found means to get a little clavichord privately convey'd to a room at the top of the house. To this room he constantly stole when the family was asleep".[5] At an early age Handel became a skillful performer on the harpsichord and pipe organ.[6]Händel-Haus (2009) – birthplace of George Frideric HandelEntrance of Teatro del Cocomero in FlorenceHandel and his father travelled to Weissenfels to visit either Handel's half-brother, Carl, or nephew, Georg Christian,[7] who was serving as valet to Duke Johann Adolf I.[8] Handel and the duke convinced his father to allow him to take lessons in musical composition and keyboard technique from Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, the organist of the Lutheran Marienkirche. He learned about harmony and contemporary styles, analysed sheet music scores, learned to work fugue subjects, and to copy music. In 1698 Handel played for Frederick I of Prussia and met Giovanni Battista Bononcini in Berlin.From Halle to ItalyThe Hamburg Opera am Gänsemarkt in 1726In 1702, following his father's wishes, Handel started studying law under Christian Thomasius at the University of Halle;[9] and also earned an appointment for one year as the organist in the former cathedral, by then an evangelical reformed church. Handel seems to have been unsatisfied and in 1703, he accepted a position as violinist and harpsichordist in the orchestra of the Hamburg Oper am Gänsemarkt.[10] There he met the composers Johann Mattheson, Christoph Graupner and Reinhard Keiser. His first two operas, Almira and Nero, were produced in 1705.[11] He produced two other operas, Daphne and Florindo, in 1708. It is unclear whether Handel directed these performances.According to Mainwaring, in 1706 Handel travelled to Italy at the invitation of Ferdinando de' Medici, but Mainwaring must have been confused. It was Gian Gastone de' Medici, whom Handel had met in 1703–1704 in Hamburg.[12] Ferdinando tried to make Florence Italy's musical capital, attracting the leading talents of his day. He had a keen interest in opera. In Italy Handel met librettist Antonio Salvi, with whom he later collaborated. Handel left for Rome and, since opera was (temporarily) banned in the Papal States, composed sacred music for the Roman clergy. His famous Dixit Dominus (1707) is from this era. He also composed cantatas in pastoral style for musical gatherings in the palaces of cardinals Pietro Ottoboni, Benedetto Pamphili and Carlo Colonna. Two oratorios, La Resurrezione and Il Trionfo del Tempo, were produced in a private setting for Ruspoli and Ottoboni in 1709 and 1710, respectively. Rodrigo, his first all-Italian opera, was produced in the Cocomero theatre in Florence in 1707.[13] Agrippina was first produced in 1709 at Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, the prettiest theatre at Venice, owned by the Grimanis. The opera, with a libretto by cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, and according to Mainwaring it ran for 27 nights successively. The audience, thunderstruck with the grandeur and sublimity of his style,[14] applauded for Il caro Sassone.Move to LondonGeorge Frideric Handel (left) and King George I on the River Thames, 17 July 1717, by Edouard Jean Conrad Hamman (1819–88).In 1710, Handel became Kapellmeister to German prince George, Elector of Hanover, who in 1714 would become King George I of Great Britain.[15] He visited Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici and her husband in Düsseldorf on his way to London in 1710. With his opera Rinaldo, based on La Gerusalemme Liberata by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, Handel enjoyed great success, although it was composed quickly, with many borrowings from his older Italian works.[16] This work contains one of Handel's favourite arias, Cara sposa, amante cara, and the famous Lascia ch'io pianga.In 1712, Handel decided to settle permanently in England. He received a yearly income of £200 from Queen Anne after composing for her the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate, first performed in 1713.[17][18]One of his most important patrons was the young and wealthy Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington.[19] For him Handel wrote Amadigi di Gaula, a magical opera, about a damsel in distress, based on the tragedy by Antoine Houdar de la Motte.The conception of an opera as a coherent structure was slow to capture Handel's imagination[20] and he renounced it for five years. In July 1717 Handel's Water Music was performed more than three times on the Thames for the King and his guests. It is said the compositions spurred reconciliation between the King and Handel.[21]Cannons (1717–18)Main article: Handel at CannonsThe Chandos portrait. The 1st Duke of Chandos was an important patron for Handel.In 1717 Handel became house composer at Cannons in Middlesex, where he laid the cornerstone for his future choral compositions in the twelve Chandos Anthems.[22] Romain Rolland stated that these anthems were as important for his oratorios as the cantatas were for his operas.[23] Another work he wrote for the Duke of Chandos, the owner of Cannons, was Acis and Galatea: during Handel's lifetime it was his most performed work. Winton Dean wrote, "the music catches breath and disturbs the memory".[24]In 1719 the Duke of Chandos became one of the main subscribers to Handel's new opera company, the Royal Academy of Music, but his patronage of music declined after he lost money in the South Sea bubble, which burst in 1720 in one of history's greatest financial cataclysms. Handel himself invested in South Sea stock in 1716, when prices were low[25] and sold before 1720.[26]Royal Academy of Music (1719–34)Main article: Royal Academy of Music (company)Handel House at 25 Brook Street, Mayfair, LondonIn May 1719 Lord Chamberlain Thomas Holles, the Duke of Newcastle ordered Handel to look for new singers.[27] Handel travelled to Dresden to attend the newly built opera. He saw Teofane by Antonio Lotti, and engaged the cast for the Royal Academy of Music, founded by a group of aristocrats to assure themselves a constant supply of baroque opera or opera seria. Handel may have invited John Smith, his fellow student in Halle, and his son Johann Christoph Schmidt, to become his secretary and amanuensis.[28] By 1723 he had moved into a Georgian house at 25 Brook Street, which he rented for the rest of his life.[29] This house, where he rehearsed, copied music and sold tickets, is now the Handel House Museum.[30] During twelve months between 1724 and 1725, Handel wrote three outstanding and successful operas, Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano and Rodelinda. Handel's operas are filled with da capo arias, such as Svegliatevi nel core. After composing Silete venti, he concentrated on opera and stopped writing cantatas. Scipio, from which the regimental slow march of the British Grenadier Guards is derived,[31] was performed as a stopgap, waiting for the arrival of Faustina Bordoni.In 1727 Handel was commissioned to write four anthems for the coronation ceremony of King George II. One of these, Zadok the Priest, has been played at every British coronation ceremony since.[32] In 1728 John Gay's The Beggar's Opera premiered at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre and ran for 62 consecutive performances, the longest run in theatre history up to that time.[citation needed] After nine years Handel's contract was ended but he soon started a new company.The Queen's Theatre at the Haymarket (now Her Majesty's Theatre), established in 1705 by architect and playwright John Vanbrugh, quickly became an opera house.[33] Between 1711 and 1739, more than 25 of Handel's operas premièred there.[34] In 1729 Handel became joint manager of the Theatre with John James Heidegger.A musical portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales and his sisters by Philip Mercier, dated 1733, using Kew Palace as its plein-air backdropThe Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket in London by William CaponHandel travelled to Italy to engage seven new singers. He composed seven more operas, but the public came to hear the singers rather than the music.[35] After two commercially successful English oratorios Esther and Deborah, he was able to invest again in the South Sea Company. Handel reworked his Acis and Galatea which then became his most successful work ever. Handel failed to compete with the Opera of the Nobility, who engaged musicians such as Johann Adolf Hasse, Nicolo Porpora and the famous castrato Farinelli. The strong support by Frederick, Prince of Wales caused conflicts in the royal family. In March 1734 Handel directed a wedding anthem This is the day which the Lord hath made, and a serenata Parnasso in Festa for Anne of Hanover.[36]Opera at Covent Garden (1734–41)In 1733 the Earl of Essex received a letter with the following sentence: "Handel became so arbitrary a prince, that the Town murmurs". The board of chief investors expected Handel to retire when his contract ended, but Handel immediately looked for another theatre. In cooperation with John Rich he started his third company at Covent Garden Theatre. Rich was renowned for his spectacular productions. He suggested Handel use his small chorus and introduce the dancing of Marie Sallé, for whom Handel composed Terpsichore. In 1735 he introduced organ concertos between the acts. For the first time Handel allowed Gioacchino Conti, who had no time to learn his part, to substitute arias.[37] Financially, Ariodante was a failure, although he introduced ballet suites at the end of each act.[38] Alcina, his last opera with a magic content, and Alexander's Feast or the Power of Music based on John Dryden's Alexander's Feast starred Anna Maria Strada del Pò and John Beard.In April 1737, at age 52, Handel apparently suffered a stroke which disabled the use of four fingers on his right hand, preventing him from performing.[39] In summer the disorder seemed at times to affect his understanding. Nobody expected that Handel would ever be able to perform again. But whether the affliction was rheumatism, a stroke or a nervous breakdown, he recovered remarkably quickly .[40] To aid his recovery, Handel had travelled to Aachen, a spa in Germany. During six weeks he took long hot baths, and ended up playing the organ for a surprised audience.[41]Deidamia, his last and only baroque opera without an accompagnato, was performed three times in 1741. Handel gave up the opera business, while he enjoyed more success with his English oratorios.[citation needed]OratorioFurther information: List of Handel's OratoriosHandel by Philip MercierIl Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, an allegory, Handel's first oratorio[42] was composed in Italy in 1707, followed by La Resurrezione in 1708 which uses material from the Bible. The circumstances of Esther and its first performance, possibly in 1718, are obscure.[43] Another 12 years had passed when an act of piracy caused him to take up Esther once again.[44] Three earlier performances aroused such interest that they naturally prompted the idea of introducing it to a larger public. Next came Deborah, strongly coloured by the Anthems[45] and Athaliah, his first English Oratorio.[46] In these three oratorios Handel laid foundation for the traditional use of the chorus which marks his later oratorios.[47] Handel became sure of himself, broader in his presentation, and more diverse in his composition.[48]It is evident how much he learnt from Arcangelo Corelli about writing for instruments, and from Alessandro Scarlatti about writing for the solo voice; but there is no single composer who taught him how to write for chorus.[49] Handel tended more and more to replace Italian soloists by English ones. The most significant reason for this change was the dwindling financial returns from his operas.[50] Thus a tradition was created for oratorios which was to govern their future performance. The performances were given without costumes and action; the performers appeared in a black suit.[51]Caricature of Handel by Joseph Goupy (1754)In 1736 Handel produced Alexander's Feast. John Beard appeared for the first time as one of Handel's principal singers and became Handel's permanent tenor soloist for the rest of Handel's life.[52] The piece was a great success and it encouraged Handel to make the transition from writing Italian operas to English choral works. In Saul, Handel was collaborating with Charles Jennens and experimenting with three trombones, a carillon and extra-large military kettledrums (from the Tower of London), to be sure "...it will be most excessive noisy".[53] Saul and Israel in Egypt both from 1739 head the list of great, mature oratorios, in which the da capo and dal segno aria became the exception and not the rule.[54] Israel in Egypt consists of little else but choruses, borrowing from the Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline. In his next works Handel changed his course. In these works he laid greater stress on the effects of orchestra and soloists; the chorus retired into the background.[55] L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato has a rather diverting character; the work is light and fresh.During the summer of 1741, the 3rd Duke of Devonshire invited Handel to Dublin to give concerts for the benefit of local hospitals.[56] His Messiah was first performed at the New Music Hall in Fishamble Street, on 13 April 1742, with 26 boys and five men from the combined choirs of St Patrick's and Christ Church cathedrals participating.[57] Handel secured a balance between soloists and chorus which he never surpassed.The use of English soloists reached its height at the first performance of Samson. The work is highly theatrical. The role of the chorus became increasingly import in his later oratorios. Jephtha was first performed on 26 February 1752; even though it was his last oratorio, it was no less a masterpiece than his earlier works.[58]Later yearsGeorge Frideric Handel in 1733, by Balthasar Denner (1685–1749)In 1749 Handel composed Music for the Royal Fireworks; 12,000 people attended the first performance.[59] In 1750 he arranged a performance of Messiah to benefit the Foundling Hospital. The performance was considered a great success and was followed by annual concerts that continued throughout his life. In recognition of his patronage, Handel was made a governor of the Hospital the day after his initial concert. He bequeathed a copy of Messiah to the institution upon his death.[60] His involvement with the Foundling Hospital is today commemorated with a permanent exhibition in London's Foundling Museum, which also holds the Gerald Coke Handel Collection. In addition to the Foundling Hospital, Handel also gave to a charity that assisted impoverished musicians and their families.In August 1750, on a journey back from Germany to London, Handel was seriously injured in a carriage accident between The Hague and Haarlem in the Netherlands.[61] In 1751 one eye started to fail. The cause was a cataract which was operated on by the great charlatan Chevalier Taylor. This led to uveitis and subsequent loss of vision. He died eight years later in 1759 at home in Brook Street, at age 74. The last performance he attended was of Messiah. Handel was buried in Westminster Abbey.[62] More than three thousand mourners attended his funeral, which was given full state honours.Handel never married, and kept his personal life private. His initial will bequeathed the bulk of his estate to his niece Johanna. However four codicils distributed much of his estate to other relations, servants, friends and charities.[63]Handel owned an art collection that was auctioned posthumously in 1760.[64] The auction catalogue listed approximately seventy paintings and ten prints (other paintings were bequeathed).[64]WorksSenesino, the famous castrato from SienaMain articles: List of compositions by George Frideric Handel and List of operas by Handel.Handel's compositions include 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, numerous arias, chamber music, a large number of ecumenical pieces, odes and serenatas, and 16 organ concerti. His most famous work, the oratorio Messiah with its "Hallelujah" chorus, is among the most popular works in choral music and has become the centrepiece of the Christmas season. Among the works with opus numbers published and popularised in his lifetime are the Organ Concertos Op.4 and Op.7, together with the Opus 3 and Opus 6 concerti grossi; the latter incorporate an earlier organ concerto The Cuckoo and the Nightingale in which birdsong is imitated in the upper registers of the organ. Also notable are his sixteen keyboard suites, especially The Harmonious Blacksmith.Handel introduced previously uncommon musical instruments in his works: the viola d'amore and violetta marina (Orlando), the lute (Ode for St. Cecilia's Day), three trombones (Saul), clarinets or small high cornetts (Tamerlano), theorbo, horn (Water Music), lyrichord, double bassoon, viola da gamba, bell chimes, positive organ, and harp (Giulio Cesare, Alexander's Feast).[65]Handel's works have been catalogued in the Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis and are commonly referred to by an HWV number. For example, Messiah is catalogued as HWV 56.LegacyA Masquerade at the King's Theatre, Haymarket (c. 1724)Handel's works were collected and preserved by two men in particular: Sir Samuel Hellier, a country squire whose musical acquisitions form the nucleus of the Shaw-Hellier Collection,[66] and abolitionist Granville Sharp. The catalogue accompanying the National Portrait Gallery exhibition marking the tercentenary of the composer's birth calls them two men of the late eighteenth century "who have left us solid evidence of the means by which they indulged their enthusiasm".[67]After his death, Handel's Italian operas fell into obscurity, except for selections such as the aria from Serse, "Ombra mai fù". The oratorios continued to be performed but not long after Handel's death they were thought to need some modernisation, and Mozart orchestrated a German version of Messiah and other works. Throughout the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, particularly in the Anglophone countries, his reputation rested primarily on his English oratorios, which were customarily performed by enormous choruses of amateur singers on solemn occasions.Since the Early Music Revival many of the forty-two operas he wrote have been performed in opera houses and concert halls.Handel's music was studied by composers such as Haydn, Mozart and BeethovenRecent decades have revived his secular cantatas and what one might call 'secular oratorios' or 'concert operas'. Of the former, Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1739) (set to texts by John Dryden) and Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (1713) are noteworthy. For his secular oratorios, Handel turned to classical mythology for subjects, producing such works as Acis and Galatea (1719), Hercules (1745) and Semele (1744). These works have a close kinship with the sacred oratorios, particularly in the vocal writing for the English-language texts. They also share the lyrical and dramatic qualities of Handel's Italian operas. As such, they are sometimes performed onstage by small chamber ensembles. With the rediscovery of his theatrical works, Handel, in addition to his renown as instrumentalist, orchestral writer, and melodist, is now perceived as being one of opera's great musical dramatists.A carved marble statue of Handel, created for the Vauxhall Gardens in 1738 by Louis-François Roubiliac, and now preserved in the Victoria & Albert Museum.Handel's work was edited by Samuel Arnold (40 vols., London, 1787–1797), and by Friedrich Chrysander, for the German Händel-Gesellschaft (105 vols., Leipzig, 1858–1902).Handel adopted the spelling "George Frideric Handel" on his naturalisation as a British subject, and this spelling is generally used in English-speaking countries. The original form of his name, Georg Friedrich Händel, is generally used in Germany and elsewhere, but he is known as "Haendel" in France. Another composer with a similar name, Handl or Händl, was an Austrian from Carniola and is more commonly known as Jacobus Gallus.Musician's musicianHandel has generally been accorded high esteem by fellow composers, both in his own time and since.[68] Bach attempted, unsuccessfully, to meet with Handel while he was visiting Halle.[69] Mozart is reputed to have said of him, "Handel understands affect better than any of us. When he chooses, he strikes like a thunder bolt."[70] To Beethoven he was "the master of us all... the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb".[70] Beethoven emphasised above all the simplicity and popular appeal of Handel's music when he said, "Go to him to learn how to achieve great effects, by such simple means".HomagesHandel Commemoration in Westminster Abbey, 1784After Handel's death, many composers wrote works based on or inspired by his music. The first movement from Louis Spohr's Symphony No. 6, Op. 116, "The Age of Bach and Handel", resembles two melodies from Handel's Messiah. In 1797 Ludwig van Beethoven published the 12 Variations in G major on ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’ from Judas Maccabaeus by Handel, for cello and piano. Guitar virtuoso Mauro Giuliani composed his Variations on a Theme by Handel, Op. 107 for guitar, based on Handel's Suite No. 5 in E major, HWV 430, for harpsichord. In 1861, using a theme from the second of Handel's harpsichord suites, Johannes Brahms wrote the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, one of his most successful works (praised by Richard Wagner). Several works by the French composer Félix-Alexandre Guilmant use Handel's themes, for example his March on a Theme by Handel uses a theme from Messiah. French composer and flautist Philippe Gaubert wrote his Petite marche for flute and piano based on the fourth movement of Handel's Trio Sonata, Op. 5, No. 2, HWV 397. Argentine composer Luis Gianneo composed his Variations on a Theme by Handel for piano. In 1911, Australian-born composer and pianist Percy Grainger based one of his most famous works on the final movement of Handel's Suite No. 5 in E major (just like Giuliani). He first wrote some variations on the theme, which he titled Variations on Handel's ‘The Harmonious Blacksmith’ . Then he used the first sixteen bars of his set of variations to create Handel in the Strand, one of his most beloved pieces, of which he made several versions (for example, the piano solo version from 1930). Arnold Schoenberg's Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra in B flat major (1933) was composed after Handel's Concerto Grosso, Op. 6/7.VenerationHandel is honored together with Johann Sebastian Bach and Henry Purcell with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on 28 July.He is commemorated as a musician in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on 28 July, with Johann Sebastian Bach and Heinrich Schütz.He is commemorated as a musician along with Johann Sebastian Bach on 28 July by The Order of Saint Luke in their calendar of saints prepared for the use of The United Methodist Church.EditionsBetween 1787 and 1797 Samuel Arnold compiled a 180-volume collection of Handel's works—however it was far from complete.[72] Also incomplete was the collection produced between 1843 and 1858 by the English Handel Society (found by Sir George Macfarren).[73]The 105-volume Händel-Gesellschaft edition was published in the mid 19th century and was mainly edited by Friedrich Chrysander (often working alone in his home). For modern performance, the realisation of the basso continuo reflects 19th century practice. Vocal scores drawn from the edition were published by Novello in London, but some scores, such as the vocal score to Samson are incomplete.The still-incomplete Hallische Händel-Ausgabe started to appear in 1956 (named for Halle in Saxony-Anhalt Eastern Germany, not the Netherlands). It did not start as a critical edition, but after heavy criticism of the first volumes, which were performing editions without a critical apparatus (for example, the opera Serse was published with the title character recast as a tenor reflecting pre-war German practice), it repositioned itself as a critical edition. Influenced in part by cold-war realities, editorial work was inconsistent: misprints are found in abundance and editors failed to consult important sources. In 1985 a committee was formed to establish better standards for the edition.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia