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Because it’s Leap Day, February 29!
In one of the funniest songs in The Pirates of Penzance, the Pirate King explains that young Frederick, having been born on Leap Day, may have been alive for 21 years — yet, if one goes by birthdays, he’s only 5! After they sing, they have the following discussion: Frederic. Upon my word, this is most curious – most absurdly whimsical. Five-and-a-quarter! No one would think it to look at me! Ruth. You are glad now, I’ll be bound, that you spared us. You would never have forgiven yourself when you discovered that you had killed two of your comrades. Frederic. My comrades? King. (rises) I’m afraid you…
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Black History Month: Black Victorians
In honor of Black History month, I’d like to share with you a few notes about Black Victorians – people of color who lived and prospered in England (and in America too) during the 19th century. Despite the prejudice and discrimination that people of color endured in Victorian England, there were a number of notable and distinguished black men and women in Britain. Mary Seacole (1805-1881) was born in Kingston, Jamaica, the daughter of a Scottish soldier and a Jamaican mother who taught her nursing. In 1854 she traveled to England and asked the War Office to send her to Crimea to nurse the wounded soldiers during the war. When…
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Five Victorian-Set Movies to Enjoy
This time, the movies (except one) travel a little farther afield than dear old England ~ Sicily, Florence, Paris, and New York. The Leopard (1963) Director: Luchino Visconti. The Prince of Salina, a noble aristocrat of impeccable integrity, tries to preserve his family and class amid the tumultuous social upheavals of 1860’s Sicily. Starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale The Earrings of Madame de… (1953) Director: Max Ophüls. In the Paris of the late 19th century, Louise, wife of a general, sells the earrings her husband gave her as a wedding gift: she needs money to cover her debts. The general secretly buys the earrings…
- Victorian art, Victorian love and marriage, Victorian technology, Victoriana, Victorians at home, Victorians then and now
Victorian Valentines
Across the centuries, humans have loved to celebrate love. From the ancient Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia, to the Renaissance vision of courtly love, to Ophelia’s sad mention of Valentine’s Day in Hamlet, February 14 and Valentines have been symbols of romantic love. In Britain around the 1820s, specially-made papers for sending Valentine’s Day greetings began to be marketed. They became so popular that they were soon being made in factories. Often flat paper sheets printed with colored illustrations and embossed borders, they were designed to be folded up and sealed with wax for mailing. A very fancy Valentine could be made with real lace and ribbons, with paper lace…
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Victorian Crochet for Christmas
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Sullivan’s Musical Humor
[amazon text=Amazon&cat=local&last=5&wishlist_type=Similar]Fans of Gilbert and Sullivan immediately get Gilbert’s sense of humor and wordplay. He was famous for his wit. But when it came to the music, Sullivan was every bit as elegant a humorist. Throughout his collaboration with Gilbert, Sullivan added touches of musical humor to their operas – references which Victorian audiences might have picked up on quicker than we do today. It’s not that recognizing musical references is some kind of lost art; it just depends on how familiar we are with the music that’s being quoted. Today, we understand allusions to recent songs and musical styles. For instance, many of us would catch the reference to…
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Young Arthur Sullivan at the Crystal Palace
In the fall of 1866, young Arthur Sullivan (he was just 24) got one of his first big breaks: The chance to show off his orchestra-conducting skills as the guest conductor in place of Herr August Manns at the Crystal Palace in Sydenham on September 17, 1866. Sullivan excitedly wrote, “I am to conduct the Ballad Concert on behalf of Manns—it may lead to greater things.” The Crystal Palace began its existence as The Great Exhibition of 1851, featuring a wide variety of exhibits of art, crafts, manufacturing, and novelty items from around the globe. Presided over by Prince Albert, the Great Exhibition was originally built in Hyde Park where it…
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Skittles the Victorian Courtesan
In the first of my upcoming mystery stories featuring Lucy Turner and William Gilbert, Lucy gets to know the Duchess of Sanditon, a young woman with a checkered past – before marrying her older, war-hero Duke, she had worked as a “pretty horsebreaker” just like the famous real-life courtesan, Skittles. Who was Skittles, you ask? Skittles was the nickname of Catherine Walters, Small and slender with blue gray eyes and chestnut hair, she was exceptionally beautiful and dressed with excellent taste. Her personality has been described as bubbly, outspoken, direct and bawdy, as well as affectionate and sympathetic even toward lovers who had left her. She never wrote…
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10 things you didn’t know about William S. Gilbert
Okay, so in case you didn’t know, I really like William S. Gilbert. Yes, yes, I know the famed dramatist has been dead for a while (almost 105 years), but I don’t care. He was a cool guy. Therefore, let me share with you the following 10 things I bet you didn’t know about William Schwenk Gilbert: As a baby, he was kidnapped by bandits. Gilbert told this story to his first biographer, Edith Brown: When he was two years old, his family went on an extended visit to Italy. While in Naples, some men convinced his nurse that they’d come to take the little boy to his parents. They…
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Victorian Time Travel: H G Wells vs. Jack the Ripper
So on New Year’s Day, I traveled back in time. To be accurate, I watched the 1979 movie “Time after Time,” starring Malcolm MacDowell, David Warner and Mary Steenburgen. It was mind-blowing, being flung 37 years into the past, all the way back to the late 70s. Well, back to the late 1800s as well. In the movie, the late Victorian era is portrayed as gritty and dangerous, the gaslit alleyways hiding the specter of hideous death in the form of disease, deprivation, and Jack the Ripper. H.G. Wells is portrayed not as a fantastic storyteller bur as an actual Victorian inventor who built a working time machine. When his…
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10 Fun Facts about Gilbert and Sullivan
NOTE: I corrected some erroneous information in this post, which was pointed out to me by an alert reader! Thanks for the heads-up. Sir William Schwenk Gilbert, born 18 November 1836, originally trained to become a barrister. He was elected to the Northern Circuit and prosecuted his first case in Liverpool in March 1866, against an Irish woman accused of stealing a coat. His account of the proceedings, from Gilbert and Sullivan A Dual Biography, by Michael Ainger, went as follows: “No sooner had I got up than the old dame, who seemed to realise that I was against her, began shouting, ‘Ah, ye divil, sit down. Don’t listen to…
- Gilbert and Sullivan, Lucy Agnes Blois Turner, Victoriana, Victorians at home, Victorians at table, W S Gilbert
Christmas, Victorian-style
During the Victorian era, Christmas became centered around the family. Celebrating the holiday became a matter of bringing together the whole family to share in the feasting, gift giving, entertainments and parlor games. This is thanks in large part to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The Illustrated London News in 1848 showed a picture of the royal couple and their young family (the couple had had six children by then: Victoria, Albert Edward, Alice, Alfred, Helena and Louise) celebrating around a decorated Christmas tree, and soon Britons adopted the Germanic tradition of having a tree lit by candles and adorned with home-made decorations including tiny baskets of goodies, fruits, and…
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An Interview with Lucy Turner
Allow me to introduce you to Miss Lucy Agnes Blois Turner of Victoria Road, Kensington. All Lucy really wants is to be the mistress of her own destiny. Sadly, in the Year of our Lord 1866, young ladies – especially those who are members of the large Turner clan, with sisters, aunts and cousins that are reckoned up by dozens – are distinctly NOT encouraged to become mistresses of anything! The Victorian ideal of womanhood is the Angel in the House, sweet and modest, caring and self-effacing – although it is likely that, in the Turner family, this ideal is honored more in the breach than in the observance. Today, The Author…
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19th C. Britain’s Changes Under Unchanging Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria was born 24 May 1819, the only daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent. A year later her uncle, the Prince Regent, became George IV. He reigned for 17 years. When George IV died 20 June 1837, Victoria became queen. She was crowned on 28 June 1838, a mere 18 years old. Thus began the second-longest reign of an English monarch – Queen Victoria ruled for 63 years and seven months, a length of time which has only been surpassed by the present Queen, Elizabeth II. During those six decades and more, England underwent great social, political, economic and technological changes. The English Regency, which lasted from 1811 to 1820, marked the…
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A Visit to mid-Victorian London – Kensington New Town
It’s an often-quoted maxim that the past is a foreign country – therefore, I’d like to take you with me on a journey to mid-Victorian London. Specifically, to Kensington New Town around 1866. You see, that’s where Lucy Agnes Blois Turner, 19 years old at the beginning of my forthcoming mystery novel, lives with her widowed mother, Herbertina Compton Turner. Lucy is my intrepid sleuth, and I’ll tell you more about her later. So what was Kensington like during the mid-Victorian era? According to the Survey of London from British History Online, the residents of Kensington New Town included a mix of people, including architects, artists, and families. Toward the…
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Victorian Crochet for Christmas
Christmas is not too far away! Are you crafty and wondering what to make for that beloved Auntie or other relation? Fear not! There’s still time to crochet a Victorian-style gift for a family member who appreciates handmade things. During the Victorian era, a dutiful upper-middle-class woman’s leisure time would have been occupied in making decorative items to wear and to decorate their homes. Working for financial gain was out of the question for a well-off married Victorian woman – it would have reflected poorly on her husband. Furthermore, the woman of the house would have servants to clean and cook for the family, so she would have turned her…
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Fall Back in Time with a Great Historical Romance Novel!
Early in the morning today, November 1, 2015, is when we in the USA turned our clocks back, marking the end of Daylight Savings Time. An extra hour of sleep is always welcome! Today is also the Historical Romance Network‘s #fallbackintime event! We have all been posting selfies of ourselves reading historical romance novels. Here is Yours Truly, reading my first Regency romance novel: There are other great historical romance novels out there that you might like. What’s your favorite? Maybe you’d like to try one or more of the following books. Check them out at the Great Escapes Books website.
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21 Good Books on Art, Crime, Women, and Life in Victorian London
Here are a few favorites from my personal list of reference books. Have I missed any books that you particularly enjoy? Let me know! 1. The Aesthetic Movement, by Lionel Lambourne (2011) In the second half of the Victorian era, artists of all varieties became inspired by the writings of Baudelaire and Walter Pater to focus more on ornamentation and aesthetic concerns. The pre-Raphaelite artists, Queen Anne architectural styles, blue-and-white china and Japanese influences all were part of the Aesthetic Movement in both fine and decorative arts. The text of this book provides fascinating insights into the historical personages – such as Oscar Wilde, James McNeill Whistler, Dante Gabriel Rosetti…
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15 Victorian-set Movies and TV shows to Watch
If you’re looking for visual and aural inspiration about the clothing, manners and day-to-day activities of Victorian people, the following movies and TV miniseries will help you! Here are fifteen of my favorite choices. The painting at left is so typical of the Aesthetic period, with the blue and white china, the color scheme, and the young woman’s distinctively pre-Raphaelite eyebrows, that I thought I’d just add it here. 1. North & South (2004 TV mini-series) BBC production starring Richard Armitage and Daniela Denby-Ashe. Based on the novel by Elizabet Gaskell, this is the story of Margaret Hale, a gently-bred parson’s daughter from the pastoral South of England who is…
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At Home for a Victorian Breakfast
During the Victorian era, many English people shared the belief that one ought to “breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dine like a pauper.” In those days, most of London had breakfasted by 9:00 am, with the poorest tucking into their bread-and-butter and tea at daybreak, while the middle and working classes enjoyed more substantial fare (whether at home or in a chop-house) in time to be at their jobs by 10:00 am. However, the “upper ten thousand,” also known as the leisure class – made up of members of the aristocracy, the gentry, officers in the British Army and Navy, members of Parliament, Colonial administrators, and…
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Five Great Victorian Studies Reference Sites, plus blogs
If you’re like me, you want to know all the fascinating tidbits and details about life in the Victorian Era. Well, fear not – there are plenty of great reference sites out there on the Internet. I’ve collected five useful general sites here. 1. Victorian Voices – http://www.victorianvoices.net/index.shtml The list of lists. Find articles, websites and blogs on every aspect of Victorian life from America, Gardening, and Country/Village life to Royalty, Women’s Issues, Work, and World Cultures. 2. Victorian Research – http://victorianresearch.org/ Find the libraries and other places where primary sources and archival records are housed. Also, under the heading “Discussion” there are many groups and blogs on Victorian matters.…
