Professor Paul Readman wrties to tell us…

For a number of years I’ve been directing a large public project exploring historical pageants in Britain:www.historicalpageants.ac.uk. Historical pageants were a widespread form of popular entertainment in twentieth-century Britain. Presenting large-scale theatrical re-creations of scenes from local history, they brought the past to life as never before. Tens of thousands of people performed in these vivid extravaganzas of drama, music and dance; millions more watched them. They’re a great subject for local historians. We have published a free searchable database of pageants here.

We are holding an “Historical Pageants Day and Evening” at Cecil Sharp House, London, on Saturday 21 March 2020. The event will involve performances of pageant scene, talks, music, film screenings and dance, and is free to attend. It begins at 11am but you can stay for as long or as short a time you want. For further details, and to register, please click here.

Please do feel free to spread the word to anyone you feel might be interested.