I can’t believe that 2014 is already almost over and we’re now hurtling towards 2015. I have had SUCH an amazing twelve months that I’ve started and abandoned this post several times over due to having FAR too much to say about it all – this was, after all, the year where I turned forty, confronted a whole bunch of silly little fears, got a book deal, ticked over six million page views on this blog and signed up with an agent so it was pretty action packed. However, for your sake, dear readers, I have therefore compiled a top fifteen (it started off as a top ten, then became a top twelve and is now a top fifteen, oops) list of the most awe inspiring moments of 2014, as far as this blog is concerned any way.
1. Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies by the RSC at Stratford upon Avon, January 2014.
‘Well, after a year of waiting and yearning and impatience and massive over excitement, the time finally came a couple of days ago for me to head up to Stratford upon Avon to see the RSC productions of Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies. Long term readers of this blog will know that I have been a massive Hilary Mantel fan girl since reading A Place of Greater Safety when it was first published and that I was subsequently blown away by her more recent vibrant, brutal, fascinating depictions of the Tudor court…’
2. The Tower of London, June 2014.
‘Now obviously I’ve been to the Tower many times over the years but it’s been over a decade since I went during the day and had a good poke around. It was a favorite day trip of mine when I was a little girl because my grandfather was in the Scots Guards and used to do guard duty there during the 1950s – so I heard lots of stories about it when I was growing up and used to love taking a look at his usual sentry box whenever I went.
Like lots of children, I was completely OBSESSED from an early age with all those glamorous beheaded Queens and the more gory aspects of British history so a trip to the Tower was always immensely thrilling for me. Happily, my own boys seem to be getting really into history as well (if you could see our house then I suppose you might agree that there is an inevitability to this) and so I thought they might find it equally enthralling as the location for so many tales of iniquity, gruesomeness and woe…’
3. The Libertine at Bristol Old Vic, May 2014.
‘Like a lot of impressionable goth adolescent girls, I developed quite a hefty crush on Milord Rochester back in the day – partially because I discerned a sort of melancholy, world weary genius behind his poetry but also because I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for a nihilistic bad boy. I wish I could say that I’ve grown up and out of such infatuations nowadays but unfortunately I’m just as in thrall to Rochester now as I was back then so I was pretty delighted to get asked along to the press night for Stephen Jeffreys’ brilliant play The Libertine where I could spend three hours indulging my terrible passion for one of British history’s most infamous and charismatic rakes…’
4. Royal Childhood at Buckingham Palace, July 2014.
‘I’m a very lucky girl indeed as once again I was invited along to a special blogger’s preview of the new Royal Childhood exhibition at Buckingham Palace along with a chance to wander through the state rooms without the usual hoards of people all craning for a view of the same thing and generally getting in the way. A visit to Buckingham Palace is a VERY special event indeed though and one that I’d definitely encourage all my fellow history buffs to experience at least once as it really is mind blowingly stunning inside and mostly big enough for the crowds not to be too annoying.
To celebrate the birth last year of Prince George of Cambridge, this year’s special exhibition at the palace focusses on the theme of royal childhood and involves amazing displays of clothes, school work and toys that have belonged to royal children from the eighteenth century onwards. This makes for a very touching and sweet display that reminds visitors of the relatively normal family life that goes on behind the royal façade, albeit in the splendid surroundings of Buckingham Palace and the other royal residences…’
5. Windsor Castle, August 2014.
‘When I posted the other day about my forthcoming fortieth birthday (eek!), many of you expressed astonishment that I had ‘visit Windsor Castle’ on my Things To Do Before I Turn Forty List. Which is fair enough – after all, I am a history blogger and have been resident in the UK for my entire life so far so how come I’ve never managed to visit?
The thing is that I HAD actually been to Windsor Castle before. Well, sort of. I spent a lovely afternoon in the private bit of the estate, near Frogmore House, there a couple of years ago with my former university tutor, the utterly amazing Desmond Shawe-Taylor, the Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures but the actual castle itself was alas not on our agenda. Clearly something had to be done about this though and I am massively grateful to the press team at the Royal Collection for making this glaring omission on my List Of Woe finally happen…’
6. Wedding Dresses 1775-2014 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, April 2014.
‘I may be just a bit of a goth but I have no problem at all admitting that I have rather a huge weakness for the traditional wedding dress – after all, there is nothing quite so dramatic and romantic as the gown that a bride chooses to wear for the most attention grabbing entrance of her entire life and the vast majority of wedding dresses are designed to reflect this and to make sure that no one else draws the eye on the bride’s big day.
I was very fortunate indeed to be invited along to yesterday’s press preview of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s brand new wedding dress exhibition, which is due to open on Saturday. As someone who is passionate about both fashion and social history, it seems to me that there are few sartorial items so fascinating as the traditional wedding dress, which often manages to be rather anachronistic with its nods to past fashions and unwieldy nature so reminiscent of Victorian crinolines or bustles and corseted bodices and yet at the same time follows its own style timeline so that despite the inherently old fashioned mode, you can still fairly accurately pinpoint when a dress was probably made…’
7. Berlin, October 2014. (There’s also parts two and three as I had, predictably, a LOT to say about Berlin.)
‘When it comes to history, there are few cities with such a chequered and fascinating past as Berlin. I’ve wanted to visit for a really long time but had been vaguely put off by friends’ accounts of a grim concrete wilderness and endless building sites as the newly prosperous and unified city pulled itself together. However, as time went on, I started hearing different reports about Berlin and how beautiful and interesting is and once again my interest was raised and I put it to the top of my Must Visit List.
Imagine my joy therefore when my rather nice husband decided to whisk me off to Berlin for five days as a very special birthday present. Okay, I was less thrilled that this trip would involve going on planes (I HATE flying!) but overall, I was pleased as punch to finally get to see the German capital with my own eyes and set to work brushing up my German and writing epic lists of places to visit and things to eat. The latter being VERY important as I’m a strict vegetarian/almost vegan and kept hearing that Berlin is BRILLIANT for vegans…’
8. The Glorious Georges at Historic Royal Palaces, April 2014. (There’s also a post about The Glorious Georges at Kensington Palace here.)
‘Last week, I was fortunate enough to be invited along to the press preview of the new Georgian installation at Hampton Court Palace, which opened to the public on Friday morning, and I have to say that I was completely blown away by it. While the Royal Collection may have the benefit of one of THE most amazing art collections in the world, the Historic Royal Palaces are definitely contenders for the most dramatic and magnificent spaces, imbued with unparalleled levels of history.
It’s impossible to visit one of their properties without finding yourself day dreaming about the incredible sights that those old walls have witnessed over the centuries and I would have to say that Hampton Court is perhaps the most evocative of all as it conjures up not just the heyday of those ridiculously over the top Tudors but also their Stuart and Georgian successors, who were no less scandalous and controversial…’
9. Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Never Lived and Will Never Die at the Museum of London, October 2014.
‘As long term readers of this blog will be VERY well aware of, I am a MASSIVE HUGE Sherlock Holmes fan. Always have been and always will be. I can’t remember when I first fell in love with Sherlock but I’m pretty sure that the Ladybird version of The Hound of the Baskervilles was involved. I’ve always been a total sucker for a bit of gothic creepiness and the classic tale of murder and iniquity in the wilds of Dartmoor ticks all the boxes as far as I’m concerned.
I’ve been thrilled over the decades by my hero’s continued popularity and indeed the fact that he seems to have become more feted than ever in the last few years thanks to the Robert Downey Jnr films (which I LOVE) and the hugely successful BBC television series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s hardly surprising though – we’re living in an era where being a geek and just a little bit eccentric is celebrated and it has to be said that Sherlock Holmes is the most eccentric and geekiest geek of them all…’
10. The First Georges: Art and Monarchy 1714-1760 at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, April 2014.
‘When I went to the special bloggers’ preview of last year’s superlative In Fine Style exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace (which those north of the border will be able to see in the Queen’s Gallery at Holyroodhouse this summer), the curator Anna Reynolds let slip to me that they were hoping to put on a Georgian themed follow up this year. Being a huge fan of the Georgians, I was really thrilled about this and really delighted when The First Georgians, the exhibition in question, was announced late last year. Therefore, it was with great anticipation that I headed off to London yesterday morning (I had to get up at 3am to make sure that I was there on time – eek!) for a sneaky peek at The First Georgians.
Although The First Georgians is very different in feel and atmosphere to last year’s In Fine Style, which was ALL about the over the top bling and swagger of sixteenth and seventeenth century court portraiture, I was still not at all disappointed with this new display, which is intended to evoke a proper sense of Georgian patronage, taste and art collecting as well as firmly placing this newly regal dynasty in the context of their own time…’
CAMP CORNER CAMP FOREVER.
11. The Hampton Court Sleepover, May 2014.
‘I met up with Cas at Waterloo for the trip to Hampton Court and after a brief excursion to a nearby pub for a couple of gins and a bit of a catch up we were raring to go. I learned last time that the best spaces in the Cartoon Gallery are against the wall so as soon as we’d checked in at the foot of William III’s wonderful painted staircase we SPRINTED with all of our assorted luggage to get a good spot in the far corner and there set up what would become known as Camp Corner Camp for the three of us – a bastion of sanity and cosiness, if you like, in a really quite odd but rather awesome world.
After this, and a bit of fun involving one of our fellow campers who didn’t really warm to us, it was time to head down to the wine reception laid on in the former cellars. This was a really good way to get to know our fellow campers and also mingle a bit with ROYALTY as Prince Fred and Princess Augusta came in to greet us all. I think I got on like a BLAZING HOUSE with the always charming Lord Hervey, although he seemed a bit dubious about agreeing to a ‘selfie’ until I said that it was Hogarth (ie Laura) taking the photo…’
12. The SS Great Britain After Dark, June 2014.
‘As the more observant among you may have noticed, I mostly seem to feature museums and historical events in the London area. We do have the occasional interesting stuff going on here in Bristol as well, but I think that if I couldn’t get to London this blog would probably die a very quick death as we’re not particularly blessed with cool historical events over this way.
HOWEVER, there are a few things in Bristol that make my history loving heart beat just a little faster and the jewel of them all is the SS Great Britain, which can be visited in Bristol harbor. In fact we probably visit at least once a month because my five year old is totally obsessed with the Titanic and BIG SHIPS and absolutely loves the SS Great Britain with all his heart…’
13. Light Up The Palace at Hampton Court Palace, December 2014.
‘It was one of the happiest days of my life when I found The Tudors on Netflix. Okay, I also own it on DVD, but there’s something really satisfying about spending a few hours lazing on the sofa, remote control in hand isn’t there? Anyway, I’ve been binge watching it all over again over the last few days and enjoying it excessively – mainly because I’d forgotten how funny it is (there’s some impressive side eye action, especially from Charles Brandon) but also because it’s perfect for this time of year. They love a bit of snow in The Tudors and all those court entertainments and rich red dresses and glittering gold decorations make it look like every day is Christmas day at Henry’s court.
With this in mind, I was especially excited to head to Hampton Court Palace, where much of the action in The Tudors is set and which is now, in my mind at least, CHRISTMAS CENTRAL, on Thursday night for a sneak preview of the amazing new Light up the Palace installation in the palace gardens, which have delighted many thousands of residents and visitors over the years. It was admittedly a bit of a hike to get there from Bristol, where I am based, but definitely well worth a bit of extra effort as we had a superb time – although, who could possibly fail to be pleased by an evening spent wandering around the lovely grounds of Hampton Court, followed by a spot of ice skating next to the iconic red brick entrance to the Tudor palace? No one, that’s who. NO ONE…’
14. Launch of From Whitechapel in Spitalfields, November 2014.
‘From Whitechapel has been well and truly launched! On a dark and gloomy evening last week, a group of various misfits gathered together in the historic Gun pub next to Spitalfields Market to celebrate the publication of my fifth novel, which is set during the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888.
The location was extremely apt as most of the book’s action takes place in the warren of streets around the market, with one character living in the old Victorian police station on Commercial Street, while another frequents the local doss houses before finding work in the Britannia pub, which once stood at the end of Dorset Street. It was pretty amazing too to be able to look out of the window and see Christ Church Spitalfields, which dominates so much action in my book, looming at the end of the street…’
15. Wells Cathedral, August 2014.
‘I don’t usually post very much about Medieval history here but due to getting really into the research for my sixteenth century novel (which has led me WAY back into the fascinating and often surprising French family tree of Mary Queen of Scots) and also FINALLY reading Helen Castor’s superb and completely gripping She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth, which is just so brilliant that I can’t BELIEVE that it’s taken me so long to read it, I have been on a little bit of a Medieval kick lately and what better way to indulge this than with a trip to one of the most fabulous examples of Medieval ecclesiastical architecture, which just happens to be a pretty short drive away from Bristol?
I’ll admit now that I don’t usually enjoy our trips to Wells, finding the town a bit stuffy and dull but I had a lovely time visiting it last weekend, probably because I was in just the right mood for a spot of idle wandering around (which isn’t usually my thing) and also, for the first time, decided to actually step inside the cathedral rather than just stand outside gawping up at it in amazement…’
Woo. Other highlights of this year have involved seeing Hole, Nine Inch Nails AND THE CURE play; getting not one but TWO tattoos; visiting Liverpool for the first and all too brief time; getting over my renewed fear of the London Underground; hanging out with my lovely friends; silly selfies with the super cool and lovely Lucy Worsley at Hampton Court Palace; ice skating for the first time ever and only falling over twice!; Robin Ince making me a Lemsip cocktail and then cheerfully letting us kidnap him and take him back to our house after his show, whereupon I regaled him with EXTREMELY POOR TASTE ‘JOKES’ (it was all the fault of Gogglebox) while feeding him Stella; a special screening of Withnail and I at the Old Vic in the presence of Paul McGann and DANNY…
…Dracula, Jane Eyre and Swallows and Amazons at the Bristol Old Vic; The Marriage of Figaro at the ENO; seeing my fifth novel in actual shops; signing a contract to write a biography of Marie de Guise; signing a contract with a very lovely literary agent; going on two planes and nothing terrible happening; discovering Black Milk Clothing; the absolutely brilliant Fury and 300: Rise of an Empire, the third season of Ripper Street; finding my blogging way a little bit more as this silly blog went over SIX MILLION PAGE VIEWS; my awesome husband and amazing boys; Kew Gardens; PEAKY BLINDERS, Vikings at the British Museum!; adventures at Hampton Court and Kensington Palace; getting 1888 coins as a present from my husband (he knows me TOO well!); lazy days at the seaside; rediscovering tarot cards; great books and you guys, sitting there, reading this and making it all worthwhile.
Here’s to an equally brilliant 2015. To quote Brad ‘Wardaddy’ Pitt in Fury (best film of the year in my opinion): ‘Best job I ever had.’
******
Set against the infamous Jack the Ripper murders of autumn 1888 and based on the author’s own family history, From Whitechapel is a dark and sumptuous tale of bittersweet love, friendship, loss and redemption and is available NOW from Amazon UK, Amazon US and Burning Eye.
‘Frothy, light hearted, gorgeous. The perfect summer read.’ Minette, my young adult novel of 17th century posh doom and intrigue is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US and is CHEAP AS CHIPS as we like to say in dear old Blighty.
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