The Lighter Side of the Lockdown

At the end of May, I published The Lighter Side of Lockdown, a booklet of poems by four Norwich friends, all self-isolating at the time. The booklet, with illsutrations by Rebecca Osborne is being sold in aid of the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital Intensive Care Unit.

The book is on sale at my online store, here: https://www.allthingsnorfolk.com/seller-form/paul-dickson-books.html

This Fine City by Lisa Redford & Friends

Norwich: A Black History Tour

Norwich: A Black History - new guided tour

 I have developed a new guided walking tour to mark Norfolk Black History Month in October 2020. Norwich: A Black History celebrates the diverse contribution of black people to the history of Norwich and Norfolk.

From street traders in the 18th and 19th centuries and Pablo Fanque, the UK's first black circus impresario, immortalised in John Lennon's song 'Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite',  to the American servicemen who brough rhythm and blues to the city and Lucas, the 1960s US airman, who settled in Norfolk and gave soul to the Orford Cellar, there is much to celebrate.

                                                                         Lucas

The tour also looks at slavery - those involved in the slave trade and abolitionists in Norfolk like Thomas Fowell Buxton, Amelia Opie and Harriet Martineau. I also explore the work of 19th century Norfolk boxing hero, Jem Mace with black boxers and the great contributions of soldier, historian, archaeologist and philanthropist, Frederick Duleep Singh and his sister Sophia who was a leading suffragette.

All tours start outside The Forum, Millennium Plain, Norwich NR2 1BH at 10.30am and also approximately 90 minutes. Tickets are £7 and can booked via Eventbrite here.

Tours are on Saturday 10 October, Friday 16 October, Sunday 25 October and Saturday 31 October.

My Word! The stories behind our favourite words - author, Peter Sargent

 

When was it good to be a bully? Who was the clown that almost wrecked Cleopatra's suicide scene in William Shakespeare's play? What have singing goats got to do with tragedy? And what connects goats, hedgehogs and supermodels with the word capricious? Were Cossack cavalrymen the first to eat in a bistro, and were twittering birds the first to use jargon? Above all, what on earth can King Henry VIII and Paddington Bear have in common?

The answers to these questions can be found in My Word!. Author, Peter Sargent, writer of historical books on East Anglia and former journalist, has long been intrigued and frequently bamboozled by the language we use in everyday speech.

In this book, he looks at nearly 100 common words that we bandy about with bandon, rarely thinking about where they came from , and how their use has changed and is continuing to change. It's an entertaining and an informative safari through the jungle of our evolving language.

Peter Sargent

Peter Sargent is a recovering ex- journalist, turned historian and author. His interest in the world of words was sparked when he studied History and English Literature at trhe University of East Anglia, Norwich in the 1980s.

After working in March, Peterborough and Cambridge, via spells in Malta and Hong Kong, he later returned to Norfolk towards the end of the 1990s to work as a journalist on newspapers and magazines. From 2004-11, he wrote weekly articles on local history, which appeared in the Eastern Daily Press newspaper, and was production editor on Let's Talkj magazione for six years, before becoming a full-time writer in 2016.

Originally from Spalding in the Lincolnshire Fens, he lives in Norwich. This is his fourth published book, following A Moment in Time (2017), A Place in History (2018) and Anglian Annals (2019).

My Word!, price £10, is published by Paul Dickson Books on Thursday 1 October 2020. Order your copy here.

 

 

We're Good To Go

We're Good To Go! My guided tours have achieved the Industry Standard mark meaning that I have met Government and Industry COVID-19 guidelines. www.pauldicksontours.co.uk

Paul Dickson Tours Start Again in Norwich With Social Distancing

Shardlake's Norwich tour on Kett's Heights - 3 July 2020

I have started doing guided tours again in Norwich, primarily Shardlake's Norwich. The first Shardlake's Norwich tour was on Friday 3 July.

I am following Government guidelines, which state that six people from different households can  meet up outside. So, I am taking a maximum of five people on a guided tour, with social distancing.

Thank you very much to Riki and Jim for their feedback following Friday's tour: "Thank you for venturing out and giving us an excellent, informative and entertaining tour yesterday. We had a great visit and returned safely to Cambridge, our eyes wide at all the different sights and images we had seen after so long remaining within the Cambridge city boundaries."

View from Kett's Heights, Norwich, July 2020

For more information about my guided tours see www.pauldicksontours.co.uk , or email paul@pauldicksontours.co.uk .

Historic Maids Head Hotel, Norwich re-opens from lockdown on July 4

The Maids Head Hotel

The Maids Head Hotel in Tombland, Norwich, one of the oldest hotels in the UK, will emerge from Covid-19 lockdown on Saturday, July 4. It is believed that this is the first time that the hotel has been closed since it started trading as the Murtel Fish Inn during the 13th century.

The Maids Head Hotel in lockdown by talented local artist @SusanHendryArt. Susan's mono drawing features the hotel's mascot, Henry Bear in colour, in an upper window, with a Covid-19 rainbow.

Commenting about the re-opening, General Manager, Christine Malcolm said: "We are looking forward to welcoming guests to the hotel after this three month closure. It will also be very good to see our staff return from furlough. We have been working very hard behind the scenes to ensure the wellbeing and safety of our staff when we re-open. We have minimised touch points and brought in a range of measures to help reassure everyone that they will have a safe visit to the Maids Head."

For more information about the Maids Head Hotel, see www.maidsheadhotel.co.uk , t. 01603 209955, email reservations@maidsheadhotel.co.uk.

 

Ranworth, Norfolk Broads - birdsong on a bridleway

Heritage Highlights: Pablo Fanque Norwich Circus Bills

The Maids Head Hotel, Norwich UK - a short history

The Lighter Side of the Lockdown - charity poetry book published

The Lighter Side of the Lockdown

Poems by Linda Marie Augood, Kathryn Bryant, Vee Pond and Carol Saunders.

The Lighter Side of the Lockdown is a collection of poems written by four friends, all self-isolating in Norwich, during the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic.

Published by Paul Dickson Books on 23 May 2020, price £5 plus £1.80 p+p.

£3 from each purchase will be donated to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals Charity in aid of ICU at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Foundation Trust. 

Vee Pond

Vee Pond was the first to start writing, to help lift her spirits during the lockdown. She posted her poems on Facebook, aiming to put a smile on the faces of her followers. Her poems inspired three of her friends, Linda Marie Augood, Kathryn Bryant and Carol Saunders to start writing as well.

Linda Marie Augood

Vee Pond explains: “Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, I wanted to keep spirits up, so I wrote a silly poem. The next day I wrote another one to do with the situation. After two or three poems, three of my friends joined in and it started from there. We got comments on Facebook and our other friends looked forward to reading the poems daily. It certainly kept their spirits up.”

Kathryn Bryant

"Now, thanks to Paul, our collection of poems has been published and we will be raising money from the sale of each book for the Intensive Care Unit at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital." 

Carol Saunders

Paul Dickson added: “Vee approached me in April, to ask if I would publish the poems and sell the booklet, in aid of the NHS. I was pleased to help get the poems into print. They give a lighter view of living in the lockdown, as the writers overcome their domestic frustations and the day to day lockdown routine.” 

"But they also pay tribute to our front line workers who have kept the country going. The last poem in the booklet particularly pays tribute to our NHS heroes. There's also a poem about Captain, now Colonel Tom Moore and his fantastic NHS fundraising success." 

Thanks go to Rebecca Osborne, who created the Captain Tom illustrations, for drawing the illustrations for this booklet and to Brendan Rallison, designer, for his support. 

To order The Lighter Side of the Lockdown, go to the Paul Dickson shop at Allthingsnorfolk.com, or send a cheque for £6.80 (includes p+p) made out to Paul Dickson to Paul Dickson Books, 8 Bridge Court, Fishergate, Norwich NR3 1UE.

Lisa Redford - 'From Afar' Music Video

The Lighter Side of the Lockdown - Charity Poetry Book

The Lighter Side of the Lockdown

Poems by Linda Marie Augood, Kathryn Bryant, Vee Pond and Carol Saunders

Publishing 30 May 2020, Price £5 plus £1.80 p+p. Published by Paul Dickson Books  

£3 from each purchase will be donated to the N and N Hospitals Charity in aid of ICU at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Foundation Trust 

This collection of poems has been written by four friends, all self isolating in Norwich during the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic.

Vee Pond was the first to start writing, to help lift her spirits during the lockdown. She posted her poems on Facebook, aiming to put a smile on the faces of her followers. Her poems inspired three of her friends, Linda Marie Augood, Kathryn Bryant and Carol Saunders to start writing as well. 

Vee approached me in April to ask if I would publish the peoms and sell the booklet in aid of the NHS. 

The poems give a lighter view of living in the lockdown, as the writers overcome their domestic frustrations and the day to day lockdown routine. But they also pay tribute to our front line workers who have kept the country going. The last poem in the booklet particularly pays tribute to our NHS heroes. There's also a poem about Captain, now Colonel Tom Moore and his fantastic NHS fundraising success.

Thanks go to Rebecca Osborne, who created the Captain Tom illustrations, for drawing the illustrations for this booklet and to Brendan Rallison, designer, for his support.

To order The Lighter Side of the Lockdown, go to the Paul Dickson shop at Allthingsnorfolk.com, or send a cheque for £6.80 (includes p+p) made out to Paul Dickson, to Paul Dickson Books, 8 Bridge Court, Fishergate, Norwich NR3 1UE

Fairhaven Woodland and Water Garden, Norfolk Broads - bird song with candelabra primulas

Next Year by Megson - a song for spring 2020

Anglian Annals – a whistle stop tour of East Anglian history

Last autumn I published Anglian Annals, the third in Norwich based writer, Peter Sargent's series of books covering the rich history of East Anglia, following A Moment in Time (2017) and A Place in History (2018).

Each book looks at 50 different stories covering the region's past from early days to the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Anglian Annals is slightly different to the first two books, as it covers folklore and legend, as well as history.

The Norwich area is well represented in all three books, as befits such a historic city, which is brim full of fascinating stories from the past. Anglian Annals includes the legend of St William, Stigand, the last Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury, who was a Norwich native, the building of the city's medieval walls and Kett's Rebellion. That's just for starters. Here are details of more Norwich stories, which Peter selects to both inform and entertain the reader.

In the Folklore and Legend section, Peter discusses the origins of Snap the Dragon, a colourful character who, accompanied by the Whifflers, is seen out and about every July in the Lord Mayor's Procession.

Snap began life in the early 15^th century, when the Norwich Guild of Saint George acted a play on the Saint's Feast Day. A member of the guild, acting the role of Saint George, rescued Saint Margaret from a dragon.

Peter explains: “Old Snap entered Norwich folklore, his first recorded archive entry being 1408. With his snapping jaws he would caper among the crowds, a complex figure of both fun and fear.”

“Writing as late as the 18^th century, local historian Benjamin Mackerell said: The Dragon, carried by a Man in the body of it, gave great diversion to the common People. They always seemed to fear it when it was near them, but always looked upon it with pleasure when it was a distance from them.”

“An inscription in Norwich Castle's grounds records some possible dialogue spoken by Saint George as he tackled Snap: Should twenty thousand dragons rise, I'd fight them all before your eyes! And now I'll slay the dragon, my wonders to begin. A fell and fiery dragon he, but I will clip his wing.”

'Medieval Marvels' features a story with the title 'As old as the Adam'. The Adam in question is Norwich's oldest pub, the Adam and Eve, which began life as an extension to the brewing activities at The Great Hospital. The first recorded customers were Cathedral workers who were paid with bread and ale in 1249.

Peter delves into tales of ghosts, smuggling and murder plots at the pub and produces the roll call of modern celebrity visitors including the late actor Sir John Hurt, political activist Peter Tatchell, dancer Wayne Sleep, Undertones former front man, Feargal Sharkey and comedian Vic Reeves.

The Adam and Eve is the perfect place to relax, enjoy a drink and immerse yourself in history and have a good browse through one of Peter's books.

Anglian Annals launch, 21 September 2019 at Jarrold Norwich, left Peter Sargent and right Paul Dickson 

Then in the Tudor era, what about the 1507 Great Fire of Norwich. Peter quotes poet John Skelton who wrote about the fire, “All life is brief, and frail all man's estate. City, farewell, I mourn thy cruel fate.”

There were in fact two disastrous Norwich fires in 1507. The first fire began in Tombland towards the end of April and burned a trail of destruction as far as Pottergate, destroying all the houses on Elm Hill except for the building we know as the Briton's Arms. It even made it's way across the river into the Colegate area. Then in June a second fire began in Colegate. Some 40% of the city was destroyed with more than 700 houses being burned to the ground.

Peter explores the reasons for the destruction: “A modern health and safety expert would have closed down 16^th century Norwich , and most other towns, as an accident waiting to happen. Buildings were largely timber-built, they had wooden chimeys and roofs made of thatch. It was a recipe for disaster...Once a fire took hold it was hard to stop. It was all hands to the job, but a few leather buckets, ladders and hooks for pulling down burning thatch were about as far as the technology went.”

Norwich rose from the ashes as the corporation brought in a fire prevention regulation, which required people to use tiles on roofs, rather than thatch, when building new houses. If you survived the fire you were allowed to keep your thatch – the roofing material still proudly displayed by the Briton's Arms.

Finally, an example of one of Peter 19^th century stories: the 1848 murder of Isaac Jermy, the Recorder of Norwich and his son Isaac Jermy Jermy by their tenant farmer, James Blomfield Rush, and his subsequent execution.

The mortgage on Rush's farm was about to be foreclosed and Rush decided that the only way to stay at the farm was to murder his landlord. On the night of the murders he also shot and wounded the Jermy's maid, Elizabeth Chestney, who recognised him as his disguise slipped. She was to testify against Rush at his trial.

The trial was a media sensation with the popular newspapers filling many column inches about Rush. He was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. Executions were still public and some 20,000 people witnessed Rush's death outside the Castle, brought to Norwich by the new rail network.

Peter records the crowd's response, “A reporter wrote: The greatest silence prevailed, the solemn stillness being only broken by the solitary shriek of a woman who had fainted in the crowd.”

Anglian Annals is on sale at Allthingsnorfolk.com and Amazon. For more information about Peter Sargent's books see www.pauldicksonbooks.co.uk .

Jamie Lonsdale - Footprints

Forty-two years ago I joined the Royal Navy with Jamie Lonsdale. I reconnected with him and several other former colleagues two years ago. It has been wonderful finding out how our careers and lives have developed over the years post Navy,

Jamie is now a trained singer and has just released his first album, Footprints, The album features 13 songs all written by Jamie in collaboration with friends and musicians. It's the perfect collection of songs for 2020 and the troubles unleashed on us by Covid-19. The songs, which are all richly orchestrated, take you into a fabulous musical world.

For more information see www.jamie-lonsdale.com and have a listen to the youtube trailer here:

Paul Dickson Tours - Coronavirus Precautions

Shardlake's Norwich Tour on Kett's Heights

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, I have had to cancel public bookable tours for the forseeable future.

This means that my regular Shardlake's Norwich tours, celebrating CJ Sansom's best-selling novel Tombland and looking at Norwich at the time of Kett's Rebellion (1549), are not going ahead.

I have also had to postpone the launch of a new tour, Norwich: the City of Stories. This tour celebrates the writers who have lived in Norwich and those who written about the city. Listen to readings and hear stories about writers from Julian of Norwich to Parson Woodforde, Amelia Opie, Harriet Martineau, Anna Sewell, JB Priestley, Ian McEwan and more; also learn about the city's proud history of libraries.

I will be back as soon as we can gather on the streets in groups again.

Stay safe.

More information at www.pauldicksontours.co.uk.

Win Books Published by Paul Dickson at Allthingsnorfolk.com

Head to Allthingsnorfolk.com and enter the competition to win the eight books that I have published to date. Click on the competition link here

Here are the books:

A Moment in Time, A Place in History and Anglian Annals: all East Anglian history books by Peter Sargent.

Miracle in Kigali: Illuminee Nganemariya and her son Roger's story of survival in the Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda (1994) and subsequent life in Norwich.

Ink in my blood - my half century in newspapers: Neil Haverson's memoirs of his career, primarily with Eastern Counties Newspapers (latterly Archant), plus his favourite columns including the famous 'Fortress H' dispatches,

Curly Sheep's bad hair day and Molly Moo, the independent cow: children's books written and illustrated by Sandra Derry.

On the Edge: the debut thriller by retired Norfolk GP, Tony Ashman     

Ink in my blood - Neil Haverson - audiobook

Last year I published an audiobook version of Neil Haverson's Ink in my blood memoirs. The book is also available in print and as an ebook.

The audiobook 'voice' was provided by Neil's son Nick (Brat Minor for those of you who have followed Fortress H). Nick is a professional voice-over artist and audio-producer. You can read about his work here 

It was good to read Charlotte Runcie's piece in the Daily Telegraph (March 19) discussing the joys of the audio book: 'When you're stuck indoors, as we all are these days there is nothing nicer than reading a good book, except for, sometimes, listening to one. Hearing another person's voice telling you a story is a simple way of feeling more connected and less alone.'

So, if you'd like to sample Ink in my blood, do listen to this excerpt, click here 

The full audiobook is available as an Audible download here 

You can also buy a CD version at allthingsnorfolk.com 

For more background see pauldicksonbooks.co.uk

Happy listening!