Gustav Holst, and songs of Praise

A fortnight ago, I appeared briefly on Songs of Praise, on the television, to explain some of my theories and thoughts about Gustav Holst and Thaxted. This is all in the article I wrote for the Foxearth and District Local History society a while back, delving into the history of the residency of one of Britain's best composers in Thaxted from 1913 onwards.

It is actually the third occasion in which I've been interviewed on television about something I'd written on this website. Firstly it was on Sky, talking about Harry Price, then it was on ITV, on Daytime Television, talking with Dr Chris about Candied Eringo.

It was rather nice being interviewed for the telly. One can so easily forget that the interviewer's intelligent questions and appreciative grunts are all pretended, and get carried away waffling on about one's pet subject. Then the filming stops, and they relax, no longer the slightest bit interested, leaving one blathering on to an unreceptive audience.

The team from Songs of Praise were extraordinarily nice people, and managed to engender remarkable atmosphere of cooperation and tranquility around them.

Curiously, it is the second Songs of Praise filmed, in part, here at Pentlow Mill. The first was Cavendish's 'Village Praise' a few years ago, which, for some reason was partially filmed on the Essex side of the river.

The most appreciative viewer, on the two most recent occasions that I appeared on the Box, was the lady in Scotland who had knitted my splendid Shetland Jersey, which I proudly wore whilst being filmed.

The Great Death of Birds

Whilst thumbing through the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles the other day (Translated by Anne Savage) I came across the entry

671AD There was the Great Death of Birds

in the year 664 there had been a plague, but it would seem that, on this occasion, the Bird Plague did not cross the species barrier. Nothing is new, it seems, not even plagues.