"I drew a breath, set my teeth, gripped the starting lever with both hands, and went off with a thud. The laboratory got hazy and went dark. Mrs. Watchett came in and walked, apparently without seeing me, towards the garden door. I suppose it took her a minute or so to traverse the place, but to me she seemed to shoot across...
This wintry scene shows Little John’s Grave in St Michaels and All Angels Parish Church, School Lane, Hathersage in Derbyshire.Apart from Little John’s exceptionally large grave-between two yew trees-the fourteenth century church also houses 15 brasses to the local Eyre family. Charlotte Bronte stayed at the vicarage nearby,...
This is an excerpt from the festal Christmas ballad 'Robin Hood's Birth Breeding and Valour':The mother of Robin said to her husband,"My honey, my love, and my dear,Let Robin and I ride this morning to Gamwel,To taste of my brothers good cheer." And he said, "I grant thee thy boon, gentle Joan,Take one of my horses, I pray;The...
In the year that William Langland made the first mention of ‘rymes of Robyn hode’ in English literature, (1377) the ten year old Richard II ascended the English throne. The grandest and most famous of young Richard’s commissions was the rebuilding of Westminster Hall. The 11th century original, built for William Rufus-son of...
This image is taken from the work of the great British graphic artist, Frank Bellamy (1917-1976). Apart from producing strips for famous comics such as The Eagle, Look And Learn and TV 21, Bellamy also produced beautifully illustrated ‘Robin Hood’ episodes, for the Swift comic (20th March 1954-2nd March 1963).His ‘Robin Hood...
This unique old silver penny dating from the eleventh century (both sides are shown above) now belongs to Nottingham City Council. It was either struck at Shelford, near Radcliffe-On-Trent in Nottinghamshire, or on Bridlesmith Gate in Nottingham. Although the small 1.55mm diameter coin is very thin and fragile and not complete,...
Unfortunately the bid for the Peoples Lottery Grant, to re-plant and improve facilities at Sherwood Forest- known as Sherwood: The Living Legend- was un-successful today. It was won by Conect2. Which has a UK wide project to improve local travel in 79 different communities, by creating walking and cycling routes. Let's hope...
Sherwood: The Living Legend will protect the fragile ecology of one of the world’s most famous forests so it can be enjoyed by future generations."Sherwood Forest is no longer the majestic expanse of woods and heathland that it once was. Industrialisation and the march of time have taken their toll on the ancient greenwood...
Daily Telegraph Obituary 29th September 2001"ELTON HAYES, who has died aged 86, was well-known to radio and television audiences of the 1950s as "the man with the small guitar".Hayes specialised in old English folk songs and ballads such as From Priggs that Snaffle the Prancers Strong and The Ratcatcher's Daughter. He sang...
"Hold! I am Eleanor, by the wrath of God, Queen of England. Down on your knees, you traitorous dogs!”With these haughty lines, Martitia Hunt as Eleanor of Aquitaine, attempts to stop an attack, by the Sheriff’s soldiers, on the royal entourage in Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood. A regal role she played with her usual scene...
'Come sing low, come sing high;Come change thy name to mineAnd you shall eat my Capon pieAnd drink my Malmsey wine.’I have used this film and its contents as a springboard to finding out many things associated with the Robin Hood legend. So I have often wondered what was the “Malmsey Wine” that Friar Tuck merrily sings about?The...
Some critics of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood were surprised by the casting of Richard Todd as the outlaw. They said it flaunted a Hollywood tradition by making Robin Hood a sturdy medium-sized man. In place they said, of the long-legged athlete, head and shoulders above all his rivals mentally and physically.It had been...
When asked recently how often Walt Disney visited the 'Robin Hood' set at Denham Studios, Ken Annakin replied that the great man didn’t stay very long. It was no more than half a dozen times, sometimes in fact, less than two or three hours, while they were shooting a scene.It was Perce Pearce, Walt Disney’s chosen producer,...
This is the tale of Robin HoodAnd of his merry men........And with Alan a Dale’s opening song from Walt Disney’s ‘Story of Robin Hood’ I began my first posting a year ago. I would like to thank all those that have left their kind words of encouragement in my message book or on the site over this period. There are two people...
Above is one of the earliest images of Robin Hood. It comes from the first page of the Gest of Robyn Hode (c.1508) by Scotland’s pioneer printers Walter Chepman and Androw Myller. This Chepman & Myllar print of the Gest is in the National Library, Edinburgh. But this woodcut image of Robin Hood had also been used before,...
We have recently looked at the extremely complex Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode which was appearing in print by about 1510. But the earliest surviving Robin Hood ballad is the ‘talking of the munke and Robyn Hode’, or as it is more commonly known, Robin Hood and the Monk, which is dated at some time after 1450.Dobson and Taylor...
The association between Robin Hood and Maid Marian, is believed by most scholars, to have arisen through the many rustic spring and summer festivals. One remarkably early link between these two names is in the French pastourelle play, Le Jeu de Robin et Marion, created at the Court of Naples for Charles of Anjou about 1283...
The Shrouded Green MaskIn a dark dense forest, centuries past, a green mask was hammered into a tree, held fast by an ornamental nail. Shrouded in the swirling mists of countless seasons, and framed by its bare, slate grey branches, the face on the mask contorted to the dreams of each icy evolution of man.Meanwhile, cocooned...
Above is a map of the Royal Forest of Sherwood in the 13th Century. Many fiction writers and enthusiasts of Robin Hood, often give wildly exaggerated descriptions of its extent. But by the time of the death of King John in 1216, the great forests of the North and Midlands, including Sherwood had been considerably reduced.In...
James Hayter was personally chosen for the part of Friar Tuck by the director of Disney’s Story of Robin Hood, Ken Annakin. Hayter had just played the role of a verger in Annakin’s last production, Trio (1950) based on three stories by Somerset Maugham. During the early days of filming in March 1951, Annakin began screen testing...
