Category: Performance

• This Is Halloween

  

  Ooooh GAWD it’s my Christmas! This week sees all manner of deathly symbols and imagery invade supermarkets, schools and offices. Whilst like any other festival, its commercialisation does seem to have detracted from its origin as Samhain, a time indicating the start of the darker part of the year and the time where the veil…

  Sheldon K Goodman

  October 28, 2019

  Advertisement, Cemeteries, Family, Food, History, London, Performance, Respect, Tour Guiding, Tours, Visits

  Celebration, Day of the Dead, Egypt, Escape Rooms, Events, Exhibitions, Halloween, London, Mummy, Seminars, Things To Do, tomb, Tpurs

• This Actor Did What?!

  

  There I was boozing in a pub with father dearest when I spied some Victorian books on display, above where we were eating our lamb rogan josh and wiltshire ham, eggs and chips. One particular tome caught my eye as it’s a name I’ve encountered before: I rather suspect this guy was the Victorian Robin…

  Sheldon K Goodman

  October 14, 2019

  Biography, History, Performance

  Abraham Lincoln, Actor, Biography, CComedian, Edward Askew Sothern, letters, Our American Cousin, Paly, postcards, Practical joke, Pranked, Theatre

• Queerly Departed

  

  Beneath those endless rows of stones and tombs of Brompton are stories. Fabulous stories. The first cemetery event of the year is here! I am super-pleased to announce that finally Queerly Departed is now live. The lovely Dan Gilbert from Brompton Cemetery got in touch with me a few months ago in regards to doing something…

  Sheldon K Goodman

  February 2, 2019

  Event, History, LGBTQ, London, Performance, Tours

  Bi, Brompton Cemetery, Cemetery, Fre, Gay, Lesbian, LGBT History Month, Queer, Storytelling, tomb, tour, Virgin Xtravaganzah, What To Do

• A Tombstone for a Long Neglected Grave

  

  History is a peculiar thing. On Sunday 12th August 2018 over five hundred people gathered to see the unveiling of the exact location of the grave of William Blake. They were taking part in a ceremony which seems to happen every century – although not for the reason you’d expect. I’ve been doing cemetery blogs…

  Sheldon K Goodman

  August 14, 2018

  art, Event, Heritage, History, literature, Performance, Visits

  Artist, bunhill fields, Etcher, Event, Gathering, history, London, Poet, poetry, William Blake

• Mr Marie Lloyd

  

  In last week’s post you lucky readers were treated to a cockney singalong about an exhibition of strength that cemented the reputation of the first proper celebrity bodybuilder. This week we take a look at a man who sung the song and, for decades, has been nothing more than an aside compared to his far…

  Sheldon K Goodman

  December 4, 2017

  Biography, History, London, Music, Performance

  BFI IMAX, Costermonger, East End, Husband, Marie Lloyd, Music Hall, Poverty, Song, Theatre, Wife

• The Strongest Man on Earth

  

  An old song drifts through Tower Hamlets Cemetery in October 2017. History is full of old tunes and for our Halloween tour, myself and Pauly Kendrick sang Alec Hurley’s hit ‘The Strongest Man on Earth’ at his graveside. You know the song, don’t you? It was the song everyone was humming in November 1889. But why…

  Sheldon K Goodman

  November 27, 2017

  History, London, Performance, Sport, Tours

  Aquarium, Entertainment, Event, Marie Lloyd, Music Hall, Song, Spectacle, Strongman, victorian, Westminster, WWE