Category Archives: 2018 England

Hamilton, a Load of Rap

2018 England, Theatre, , , ,

It seems that the lead times from ticket purchase to actually going to the event are getting longer and longer. We waited the best part of six months from booking to seeing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Yesterday, some 13 months after we booked the tickets, we got to see the musical that everyone is talking about! Yes, we finally got to see Hamilton.

Now those of you that know me will probably assume that this is a musical about the life of Stevenage’s best known export, F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton. However, you’d be wrong, this was about the rather lesser known (to me and, one suspects most others) Alexander Hamilton one of the American founding fathers. The musical has had rave reviews on Broadway and I was interested to see just how well it played in front of a UK audience.

The show is written by Lin-Manuel Miranda someone I knew only from his small role in the TV show House. In that he does some rapping and the style and feel was very similar to that used in Hamilton. I’m no great rap fan and I must admit that there were times when I wished that there were subtitles. That said there are other musical styles too such as the appearances by King George III which were probably my favourite bits.

Like every West End musical there was a terrific cast (who knew George Washington was black?), a superb set and I came away having learnt a lot more about the America founding fathers and Hamilton in particular. He didn’t strike me as a particularly likable person and get his comeuppance in the end.

What I found most particular was the audience though who I came to suspect must have been predominantly American. They let out a huge cheer when Washington was introduced and laughed heartily at the jokes about New Jersey which went over my head. But most weird was the cheering after every song as if it was the end of the show, along with the obligatory whooping and a hollerin. I started to wonder just how would they top this at the end? With an instant standing ovation of course! I’m not suggesting that the show wasn’t worth a standing ovation but it all felt a bit contrived to me.

So, to sum up, Hamilton is a superb musical with a great back story and the right balance between humour and history but it needs a better audience!

Harry Potter: A History of Magic

2018 England, ,

I was lucky that my boys were exactly the right age for the phenomenon that was the Harry Potter books. Each time a new one came out they would eagerly await their arrival from Amazon on the day of their release. We would order two copies to ensure that they could be read in parallel.

For me the books were an entertaining work of fiction from an inventive mind that inspired my children to read for which I was grateful. I didn’t think much about the detail that was written in them, dismissing it as nothing more than a work of fiction, until today that is.

Today we visited the Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibition that is on in the British Library. Like everything else that is Harry Potter related it was sold out a while ago and having been I can say that’s with good reason.

The exhibition merges the fiction of JK Rowling with the “factual” magical history from centuries of books and other artifacts. There were historical records including a six foot long scroll with the recipe to make your own philosopher’s stone and the first known reference to a hippogriff in print alongside original drawings and pages from notebooks from JK Rowling.

What came as a surprise to me (apart from that Rowling is a pretty good artist) was just how much of what you might describe as the background detail in the books is based on “fact”. I had assumed that the books were just a product of her imagination but, no, there is much there which is based on hundreds of years of mythology. Obviously not Quidditch or Hogwarts but much else and there must have been so much research that went into it to give the books an air of authenticity.

The event was very well laid out with rooms dedicated to lessons, so divination, potions etc. with each having a number of related and relevant artifacts in cabinets around the walls with one centerpiece. This layout, however, presented the biggest problem for me because while it wasn’t overly crowded everyone was crushed against the wall cabinets. Patience was required as you queued to get access to the next cabinet.

The whole thing was fascinating and I would have loved to have gone round alone to get better views of some things. Best bit? The empty cabinet with just a simple hook at the top and the card saying “Invisibility Cloak”!

And yes, when you have finished, it does exit via the gift shop where you can buy a copy of the official book at twice the price that you’ll find it on Amazon!

Four Days, Four Counties, Four National Trust Properties

2017 England, 2018 England, , , , , , ,

In what is becoming an annual tradition we have once again, having seen off family and friends, got out and about to make the most of our National Trust membership. Last year we did five National Trust properties over an eight day period and the year before five visits over five counties in seven days. For reasons that I can’t quite work out we didn’t have quite so much time this year.

Once again I have included the price for the two of us had we not had annual membership.

The Vyne, Hampshire
There’s not much to see of the house at the Vyne at present as the roof is undergoing extensive renovation work. It isn’t long since we last visited and were able to go up and inspect the work and I had hoped to go up once again and see the progress but, alas, the last trip goes up at 14:30 and we arrived at 14:31. Grr! We had to make do with a muddy walk around the woods instead.
Friday 29th December
£23.50

Cliveden, Buckinghamshire
A new entry, at least for our post-Christmas challenge. Cliveden is probably best know as the home of the Astors and the location for the Profumo affair which gave rise to the very famous picture of Christine Keeler, naked, looking over the back of a chair.

Now the ugly house has been turned into a posh hotel and the beautiful grounds turned over to the National Trust for the hoi polloi to roam.
Saturday 30th December
£23.40

Osterley Park, Middlesex
Osterley Park must win the prize for the noisiest National Trust property that we have been to. It is bordered by the M4 on one side and the A4 (Great West Road) on the other. Add to this that it is right under the Heathrow flight path and you get an idea of just how much noise pollution there is. Nevertheless it is a pleasant walk.
Sunday 31st December
£21.80

Grey’s Court, Oxfordshire
A very muddy end to our visits today but at least it was close to home.

We had intended to also go on to Nuffield Place but, unfortunately, it was closed today so that put an end to that.
Monday 1st January
£22.30

Checking the National Trust website I can see that an annual joint membership is £108 a year. The total saved this year when visiting the four properties was £91 so one more trip around one of them and we will have made our membership back.