planned executions

The story of The Chertsey Curfew….

Jul 13, 2023

buildings, culture, law, religion, The play’s the thing

Albert Smith, Blanche Heriot, Chertsey, churches, Edward IV, mythology, Nicholas Audley, planned executions, plays, statues, Surrey, The Chertsey Curfew, The Surrey Theatre

We all love a heroine…even if her exerts are in favour of her Lancastrian lover! 😲 The story of Blanche Heriot of Chertsey in Surrey is set in 1471, just after Edward IV has won back his throne. The lover in question, one Nicholas Audley, fought on the wrong side, was captured and sentenced…
A film scene rewritten

May 8, 2021

anniversaries, films, humour

Carry On Don’t Lose Your Head, Charles Hawtrey, French Revolution, Kenneth Williams, planned executions, rewritten scenes, Shakespeare, Sid James

Rather than Shakespeare, this one is from a 1960s film: (Carry On) Don’t Lose Your Head. Most people are probably familiar with the early scene in which Sir Rodney ffing, who is the Black Fingernail, interrupts le Duc de Pommes Frites’ execution, overseen by Camembert, to try to sell him life insurance. Pommes Frites escapes…
Plus ca change …

Feb 23, 2020

anniversaries, battles, buildings, law, religion

Battle of Preston, Brazil, Clauvino da Silva, Countess of Nithsdale, cross-dressing, drug barons, Dumfries, Earl of Nithsdale, escapes, Hexham, Jacobites, James “VIII/III”, James VII/II, Jedburgh, planned executions, rebellions, Scotland, St. Germain, Tower of London

Here is an Evening Standard article about Clauvino da Silva (left), a Brazillian gang leader who tried to escape from prison disguised as his own daughter, but his “feminine walk” was unconvincing and he didn’t leave the prison. He seems to have hanged himself the following day. Things turned out differently for William Maxwell, the…

planned executions

The story of The Chertsey Curfew….

A film scene rewritten

Plus ca change …