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9 March 2010 Tomorrow is the very last day of filming for 'If Walls Could Talk, An Intimate History of the Home'. 'Phew', but also 'Alas'. More than I can say, I shall miss Emma Hindley (series producer and ray of sunshine), Huge McGregor (director, artist and perfectionist), Eleanor Scoones (assistant producer and corset tightener), James Greig (assistant producer and toilet builder), Simon Mitchell (location assistant and DJ), Caterina Turroni (production manager and militant vegan), Brendan Easton (director of photography and fashion icon), Adam Toye (sound recordist and Good Egg) and Adam Jackson (driver and Snack Man). All the others behind-the-scenes at Silver River too. So, in fact, that's more 'Alas' than 'Phew'.
23 February I took a dip in the sea at Bognor Regis (air temperature 4 degrees!) wearing my Georgian swimming costume (if Andrew Marr can do it, so can I). Teeth chattered a bit during a piece to camera on the way out again! Was rewarded with fish and chips for lunch. 19 February That top picture shows an attempt to recreate Sir John Harrington's flushing toilet of 1596. Great work was done with the saw and drill by producer James and plumber Andy, and there was triumph all round when IT REALLY WORKED! We successfully flushed down some cherry tomatoes to stand in for excrement. 11 February Two days of filming at Dennis Severs' house in Folgate Street, Spitalfields. Having been round many times as a rapt visitor, I was intrigued to learn how the house actually works behind the scenes. The secrets I discovered which I cannot reveal! This particular sequence was about Georgian lighting: by candlelight you can see how the gilding on Georgian furniture, the silver in Georgian dresses, even the gold rim around dining plates, are all intended to sparkle and make the available light go further. You can see here how my dress makes me into a human silver candlestick. Also enjoyed a Georgian tea party with Amanda Vickery and Jane Pettigrew. 25 January At the Sandersons factory in Loughborough, I had the PRIVILEGE of making William Morris wallpaper using an original Morris block. Unfortunately my efforts looked rather like those potato print pictures kids make at playgroup. Not as easy as it looks! 24 January 2010 SUCH a fun day, spent in the home of Miss Lola Lamour, also known as Joanne (myspace.com/misslolalamour), 1950s enthusiast. We tried to make cupcakes using her original Kenwood mixer, but I think we used the wrong attachment. The ingredients all lept out like a small volcano.
20 January 2010 Yes, I know it isn't very cool to brag about compliments one has received, but bear with me, this one is really great. A lovely lady in Finland writes: 'I've watched TV programs of Yours. I'm very happy to tell you that those programs they are refreshing unlike some 'traditional' history documents. There are enough those 'old cave mans' who are bumbling their sayings with a huge pokerface'. Long live Finland, home of the Moomins, and of this discerning lady! 14 January 2010 Pomander day. I had to take a pomander to work today because it was the end of my week following a Tudor personal hygiene regime: no bath or shower. Or shampoo, toothpaste or deodorant. The pomander was made according to George Cavendish's description of Cardinal Wolsey's: an orange with the meat removed, replaced with a sponge soaked in vinegar: the whole studded with cloves and tied with a red ribbon. It SMELT gorgeous, and I have to say it also LOOKED better than the one carried by Sam Neill as Cardinal Wolsey in The Tudors. 11 January 2010 A busy day back at the office at Hampton Court. I felt like Mrs Delaney, c. 1750: 'she works for all hours and occasions, and finds full employment for her hands even between the coolings of her cup of tea'. Most enjoyable among these employments was going with the other curators up the scary wobbly scaffolding to see William Kent's paintings on the ceiling of the Queen's Stairs at close hand. Left are Meg and Alexandra taking a look. 31 December 2009 A wonderful Xmas at Swarkestone Pavilion, left, built in the 1630s for William Cavendish's step-daughter Cate, and probably designed by John Smithson. I first visited years ago,while researching my PhD on dear old Smithson. This visit I spent my time devouring biographies of Alan Clark, James Lees-Milne, and France Partridge. The state of my belly suggests that I might have devoured some Xmas cake as well. Happy New Year to all my intelligent, elegant and swelligent readers! There've now been more than 1,500 of you since I started my site in August, and I've loved hearing from everyone who's written in. (Yes, even the nutters.) 21 December 2009 My article about Queen Caroline is just out in The Georgian, and you can book to hear me going on even more about my favourite queen at the Georgian Group in June: http://www.georgiangroup.org.uk/docs/edu/events.php?id=6:6%7C2010:0:0 20 December 2009 I've been cold, tired and hungry for most of December, but I've also been having a glorious time. For the 'If Walls Could Talk' series, I've been down a Victorian sewer, spent the night in a Tudor bed, worn eighteenth-century underwear in public, cooked eight Tudor chickens on a spit and done a load of Tudor laundry using urine kindly provided by a man called Brian. 15 December 2009 Today we filmed a scene about the public dressing of Queen Caroline by her Mistress of the Robes, Lady of the Bedchamber, Woman of the Bedchamber, Dresser and Page. I was poor old Caroline, shivering in my linen shift in the Queen's Bedchamber at Hampton Court, and the Mistress, Women, Lady, etc., were played by my colleagues from Conservation and Collections Care. The roles of 'other members of the court come to watch the fun' was nobly undertaken by an Australian family, fresh off the plane from Melbourne, and visiting the palace. 1 December 2009 Saw today a picture of the dress Vivienne Westwood is lending to our exhibition 'The Enchanted Palace' at Kensington Palace next year. It's big, red and fabulous, and will be displaying on a mannequin running down the King's Grand Staircase, like Cinderella. Gonna be great. 24 November 2009 Just back from Versailles on a trip for Channel 4, for a programme about the stealing of the French Crown Jewels in 1792. The most exciting part was seeing the HOLE in the SHUTTER (below left) that STILL remains at the Royal Warehouse (now the HQ of the French Marines), from when the jewels were pinched. The robbers simply shimmied up the outside of the building, cut through the glass, and then the wooden shutter. 19 November 2009 Our friends from the Association of the Royal Residences of Europe are in town. We had our huge annual AGM at Hampton Court this year, with members attending from the Swedish Royal Collection, Godollo Palace (Hungary), the Prussian palace organisation (Berlin-Brandenberg), Chambord, Mafra (Portugal), Patrimonio Nacionale (Madrid), Wilanow Palace (Warsaw), Versailles, the Danish Royal Palaces and Collection, Peterhof (Russia) and the Palais Charles Quint (Brussels). Much Euro-fun was had by all. 12 November 2009 To my old school, St Bartholomew's, in Newbury, to present 93 prizes at awards night (left, third down). The present pupils are so darn clever and hard-working that it took what seemed like hours. It was shocking to find that Mr Sharpe and Mr King have first names. Simply could not bring myself to use them. 11 November 2009 To the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham today to give a talk to roughly 300 fellow Cavendish enthusiasts. Overheard during sale of books afterwards: 'Does this book contain the pornographic poetry she quoted in her talk? It does? In that case I'll definitely buy it'. 9 November 2009 Enjoyed a morning with the writers of the CBBC show 'Horrible Histories'. They were like eight human joke-machines, firing off gags every ten seconds. They described their writing process as follows: 'we read history books until we find something that makes us laugh. Then we write a sketch about it'. Brilliant. 4 November 2009 This evening I learnt, at a talk by Tracy Chevalier, that Regency fossil collector Mary Anning, when walking below the cliffs along the beach at Lyme Regis, would wear a MAN'S TOP HAT to protect her from falling debris. 29 October 2009 My new TV series was announced today in Broadcast magazine: Of even greater interest is the fact that the Lord Chamberlain told me this evening that he's having his white stick or 'wand' of office re-designed, by (who else?) wand expert J.K. Rowling. Isn't that fabulous? 23 October 2009 Interviewed today for The One Show on BBC1 about the Reformation (by the super-smooth Giles Brandreth). We were in the Council Chamber at Hampton Court. This was the very room where Henry VIII and his advisers came up with the idea of breaking with Rome so that Henry could grant himself his own divorce (in the light of the Pope's refusal to do so). It's topical because the Pope has relaxed entry requirements for the Catholic church, and is either (a.) healing the breach or (b.) poaching Anglicans, depending on which way you look at it. |