1. Sir Walter Raleigh: the 400th
anniversary
(A letter from Fairlynch Museum Chairman Trevor Waddington OBE, published in the Exmouth Journal on 20 July 2017)
(A letter from Fairlynch Museum Chairman Trevor Waddington OBE, published in the Exmouth Journal on 20 July 2017)
2. Fifty Years Ago: ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’ –
Part 1
Fairlynch Museum has launched an appeal to bring Tate Britain’s ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’ back home to Budleigh to mark the 400th anniversary of Sir Walter’s death. It’s been interesting to look back 50 years. This was the time when the celebrated painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir John Millais made its first appearance at the Museum thanks to the efforts of committed volunteers.
Fairlynch Museum has launched an appeal to bring Tate Britain’s ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’ back home to Budleigh to mark the 400th anniversary of Sir Walter’s death. It’s been interesting to look back 50 years. This was the time when the celebrated painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir John Millais made its first appearance at the Museum thanks to the efforts of committed volunteers.
3. Fifty Years Ago: ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’ –
Part 2
http://raleigh400.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/fifty-years-ago-boyhood-at-budleigh_61.html
Budleigh artist and local doctor's wife Joyce Dennys was also a playwright. It’s no coincidence that the play she was working on in 1969 was entitled ‘Sir Walter Raleigh.’ A fascinating view of how Sir Walter Raleigh was seen 50 years ago emerges from the pages of the play, which was performed – at the Public Hall it seems – in Budleigh Salterton. It’s a blend of the burlesque, the heroic and the tragic with patriotic elements. How would it go down today?
Budleigh artist and local doctor's wife Joyce Dennys was also a playwright. It’s no coincidence that the play she was working on in 1969 was entitled ‘Sir Walter Raleigh.’ A fascinating view of how Sir Walter Raleigh was seen 50 years ago emerges from the pages of the play, which was performed – at the Public Hall it seems – in Budleigh Salterton. It’s a blend of the burlesque, the heroic and the tragic with patriotic elements. How would it go down today?
4. Fifty Years Ago: ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’ –
Part 3
https://raleigh400.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/fifty-years-ago-boyhood-at-budleigh_50.html
A detective story by the Budleigh-born author Victor Clinton-Baddeley which makes indirect reference to Millais' masterpiece was published in 1970, a century after ‘The Boyhood’ was exhibited in London. It coincided with the exhibition of the painting at Fairlynch Museum. Clinton-Baddeley, brought up in Budleigh, was a childhood friend of Joyce Dennys, the Budleigh artist and author. He spent much of his working life in London but had a had a deep attachment to this part of Devon, even though, like fellow-author R.F. Delderfield he rather enjoyed poking fun at its stuffier elements. Read more about his novel No Case for the Police, set in the village of Tidwell St Peter's.
A detective story by the Budleigh-born author Victor Clinton-Baddeley which makes indirect reference to Millais' masterpiece was published in 1970, a century after ‘The Boyhood’ was exhibited in London. It coincided with the exhibition of the painting at Fairlynch Museum. Clinton-Baddeley, brought up in Budleigh, was a childhood friend of Joyce Dennys, the Budleigh artist and author. He spent much of his working life in London but had a had a deep attachment to this part of Devon, even though, like fellow-author R.F. Delderfield he rather enjoyed poking fun at its stuffier elements. Read more about his novel No Case for the Police, set in the village of Tidwell St Peter's.
5. Fifty Years Ago: ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’ –
Part 4
http://raleigh400.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/fifty-years-ago-boyhood-at-budleigh_15.html
Included in a bundle of papers in Fairlynch Museum archives relating to Joyce Dennys’ 1969 play ‘Sir Walter Raleigh’ is a handwritten document entitled ‘BBC Interview’ in which a Mike Claridge meets Sir Walter. It’s all very much part of the comic treatment of the Raleigh story, as used by American comedian Bob Newhart in his classic 1960s telephone conversation with Sir Walter about tobacco. Read Budleigh’s Salterton’s comic take on Sir Walter. Questions: who is or was Mike Claridge? And who wrote the script?
Included in a bundle of papers in Fairlynch Museum archives relating to Joyce Dennys’ 1969 play ‘Sir Walter Raleigh’ is a handwritten document entitled ‘BBC Interview’ in which a Mike Claridge meets Sir Walter. It’s all very much part of the comic treatment of the Raleigh story, as used by American comedian Bob Newhart in his classic 1960s telephone conversation with Sir Walter about tobacco. Read Budleigh’s Salterton’s comic take on Sir Walter. Questions: who is or was Mike Claridge? And who wrote the script?
6. Raleigh and Music
http://raleigh400.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/raleigh-and-music.html
Music and poetry were valuable commodities in Renaissance high society. Raleigh, as Professor Martin Dodsworth writes, was a climber: ‘poetry was one of the means by which he climbed’. And in what his biographer Raleigh Trevelyan calls the ‘shark pool’ of Elizabethan court politics – where a line of poetry could land you in royal disfavour or reward you with a thousand acres of a country estate – music was, to quote Dr Katherine Butler, ‘simultaneously a tool of authority for the monarch and an instrument of persuasion for the nobility.’ Read more about Raleigh as a poet and the way in which some of his poems were set to music by the most celebrated musicians of his time.
Music and poetry were valuable commodities in Renaissance high society. Raleigh, as Professor Martin Dodsworth writes, was a climber: ‘poetry was one of the means by which he climbed’. And in what his biographer Raleigh Trevelyan calls the ‘shark pool’ of Elizabethan court politics – where a line of poetry could land you in royal disfavour or reward you with a thousand acres of a country estate – music was, to quote Dr Katherine Butler, ‘simultaneously a tool of authority for the monarch and an instrument of persuasion for the nobility.’ Read more about Raleigh as a poet and the way in which some of his poems were set to music by the most celebrated musicians of his time.
7. Cheers, Sir Walter! (1)
http://raleigh400.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/cheers-sir-walter-1.html
I’m writing on a more refreshing note in contrast to some of the scholarly stuff on this blog. This time my search for Sir Walter and his legacy has taken me on a pub crawl. And what better place to start than the pub named after him in his home village of East Budleigh. Thanks to the Otter Valley Association’s research I learnt that the building started life as an early 16th century cob and thatch farmhouse. But the pub crawl takes me further afield...,
8. Cheers, Sir Walter! (2)
http://raleigh400.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/carrying-on-from-cheers-sir-walter-part.html
... across the Irish Sea, to land at Youghal. It's a seaside resort at the mouth of the River Blackwater in Ireland’s County Cork. It’s where Raleigh made his home for short periods during the 17 years in which he held land in Ireland. Amazingly, they seem to have fond memories of him: Youghal even has a Raleigh Quarter!
9. Syons of the Times
... across the Irish Sea, to land at Youghal. It's a seaside resort at the mouth of the River Blackwater in Ireland’s County Cork. It’s where Raleigh made his home for short periods during the 17 years in which he held land in Ireland. Amazingly, they seem to have fond memories of him: Youghal even has a Raleigh Quarter!
9. Syons of the Times
http://raleigh400.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/syons-of-times.html
Some sober scholarship here, as opposed to pub crawling for Raleigh 400. Two rather different houses with the same name, both in the Georgian style but separated from each other by more than 160 miles, play a part in the Raleigh 400 story. East Budleigh’s Syon House, described as ‘the perfect boutique country house B&B’, would at first glance seem to have no connection to Sir Walter. It’s a fine 18th century building overlooking the village of Otterton, and in fact is separated from the older part of East Budleigh and Raleigh’s birthplace by the main road. Read more about its links with Raleigh's friend the 'Wizard Earl'.
Some sober scholarship here, as opposed to pub crawling for Raleigh 400. Two rather different houses with the same name, both in the Georgian style but separated from each other by more than 160 miles, play a part in the Raleigh 400 story. East Budleigh’s Syon House, described as ‘the perfect boutique country house B&B’, would at first glance seem to have no connection to Sir Walter. It’s a fine 18th century building overlooking the village of Otterton, and in fact is separated from the older part of East Budleigh and Raleigh’s birthplace by the main road. Read more about its links with Raleigh's friend the 'Wizard Earl'.
10. Raleigh’s New World: Hunting Sir Walter
among the alligators
http://raleigh400.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/raleighs-new-world-hunting-sir-walter.html
Florida in August… Disneyland and beaches, hurricanes and alligators. I hadn’t expected to find much of relevance to Raleigh. After all, it’s hundreds of miles away in North Carolina that you find the most obvious connections with the Great Devonian, notably the city of Raleigh itself. But a visit to Florida’s Museum of Natural History in Gainesville was a revelation.
Florida in August… Disneyland and beaches, hurricanes and alligators. I hadn’t expected to find much of relevance to Raleigh. After all, it’s hundreds of miles away in North Carolina that you find the most obvious connections with the Great Devonian, notably the city of Raleigh itself. But a visit to Florida’s Museum of Natural History in Gainesville was a revelation.
11. Sir Walter the Dandy – a look inside Sir
Walter’s wardrobe with Iris Ansell, former Head of Costumes at Fairlynch Museum
https://raleigh400.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/sir-walter-dandy.html
It's always a pleasure to publish articles from Iris' pen - and they are indeed always in longhand. Some people will have read the enjoyable memories of her time as a hotel owner in Budleigh. This time she looks at Raleigh as a fashion icon of his time. I am happy to post similar contributions from people who would like to write about their own view of Sir Walter and his times. Just drop me a line at mr.downes@gmail.com
It's always a pleasure to publish articles from Iris' pen - and they are indeed always in longhand. Some people will have read the enjoyable memories of her time as a hotel owner in Budleigh. This time she looks at Raleigh as a fashion icon of his time. I am happy to post similar contributions from people who would like to write about their own view of Sir Walter and his times. Just drop me a line at mr.downes@gmail.com
12. Sir Walter Raleigh: a simple timeline
https://raleigh400.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/sir-walter-raleigh-simple-timeline.html
If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by now with all this Raleigh stuff, here's what I hope is a clear guide to the major events of Sir Walter's life. I might tackle a more ambitious year-by-year approach in due course unless I get overwhelmed myself.
If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by now with all this Raleigh stuff, here's what I hope is a clear guide to the major events of Sir Walter's life. I might tackle a more ambitious year-by-year approach in due course unless I get overwhelmed myself.
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