Renowned professor and historian, David Olusoga will be heading to Frome’s Cheese & Grain on 12 January 2024 to speak on ‘the state of the British Union and why black history matters’….
History is now front-page news, and is contested as never before. Statues have fallen and the reputations of great men have been called into question. In the upcoming talk David Olusoga will examine why history matters, delve into the causes of the ‘history wars’ and question where they might lead us.
David Olusoga is an historian, writer and broadcaster. He is the author of ‘Black and British: A Forgotten History’, which was long-listed for the Orwell Prize, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Prize and won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize. As Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester, he is an expert at examining what history reveals about contemporary society and has regularly contributed to the Observer, The Voice, and BBC History Magazine. A BAFTA-winning filmmaker, he is also a contributor to the Oxford Companion to Black British History. In 2019 was awarded an OBE for services to history and community integration.
He is known for presenting the BBC show ‘A House Through Time’ and has recently launched a new BBC series ‘Union’ which explores national identity, social class and inequality. Shining a light on our fractured modern society through the lens of the past, the series exposes the fault lines that still divide the UK.
Fans can catch David speaking at Frome’s Cheese and Grain this January, and he will also be signing books at the event. Full details below and tickets available now HERE.
A quick one from me today, offering our congratulations to our new writer, Helen Edwards from Devizes, who read out her poem “Motherhood,” on BBC Wiltshire this week on James Thomas’s Upload show. “It was fun,” she told us, “except my phone started ringing!”
Listen here from the BBC website, or Soundcloud link, here. I love writing, but poems, hum, something about bacon, not to mention I’m an absolute bag of nerves on radio! The article on the Bournemouth Writing Festival Helen mentioned is here too, and this one worked both ways, also inspiring Helen to write. Well done you, and we look forward to hearing some more soon!
Whoa! What happened last night at the trusty Three Crowns?! What happened last night at the Three Crowns has clearly happened before, and happens most weekends; Devizes folk old and particularly the young come to party…. I’m aware of that much. But if the quality of the party rests in the hands of whoever is…
I’ve got this Jetpack app on my phone which allows me to make adjustments to the site. There’s a new feature on it notifying me of articles published on this day in previous years. It revealed that on this day last year I fondly reviewed Talk in Code’s single launch gig at The Vic in…
Swindonite and founder member of XTC Colin Moulding released a new single last week, Want It Bad (The Pep Talks and Playing Fields of Old England). It’s previewing a three-track CD single being released via Burning Shed. This is Moulding’s second single in five years, following 2021’s The Hardest Battle, but is it simply a…
Featured Image: Antony Barkworth-Knight Despite intentionally making his tricks go wrong, Tommy Cooper was actually a skilled magician and member of The Magic Circle. SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg was a marine biologist, and Benny Hill really was a milkman. In order to deride an art effectively you must first master it. It therefore stands…
Wiltshire singer-songwriter Ruby Darbyshire, you’re most likely familiar with, unless you joined Devizine family reader’s circle today, has a new song on YouTube, one she’s been playing at recent gigs. Here the track has a subtle piano added, and those wonderful brush drum strokes texturing it with that smooth jazzy ambience, yet with poignant narrative…
Pleasantly surprised in July when an awesome new single from Devizes’ rootsy Americana with a gothic twist collective, Burn the Midnight Oil revealed a more carefree and commercially viable style to their previously darker themed and rawer material. It was enough for James Threlfall to pick it up for BBC Introducing. With a new single…
Yes, we’ve got to praise Trowbridge’s Old Town Hall like we should, because Fatboy Slim is going to be right there, but not right now; the 5th November… bugger, it’s a Thursday! Ian Sawyer wins the Facebook comment section on this post with “That’s my knees buggered for November then!” Which couldn’t reflect on my…
Surprised your mobile didn’t sound the apocalyptic alarm to notify you about Wessex Water’s hosepipe ban?! Then, you’re a gullible idiot! But being 22,239 voters in one seaside town opted, again, for a fascist criminal ringmaster to lead them, and, similarly as stupid, a man named Bruce shoved nine Creme Eggs up his rectum, perhaps…
Turned around in just a day, a team of guitar “heir hunters” from Macclesfield called The Stray Chord have reunited Salisbury’s musician Jolyon Dixon with his childhood guitar, with a truly fascinating story….. Jordan, Sarah, and Damian are a family team behind Stray Chord, who’ve spent years rescuing lost guitars from auctions, marketplace listings, trades…
Congratulations are due to Wiltshire’s indie-pop sensation Talk in Code, for sealing a second sync representation agreement, this time with Play Equals Sync, a music licensing company that helps place independent songs and instrumental tracks into television shows, advertisements, films, and video games. Could you be hearing Talk in Code songs on the telebox? We…
Writer, poet, TV & Film producer, founder of the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the Literature festival) and co-founder of the Nottingham Poetry Festival, Henry Normal brings his new tour, Collected Poems and Other Landfill, to The Assembly Rooms in Devizes on Friday 3rd November.….
In June 2017 he was honoured with a special BAFTA for services to Television, credits roll like the ultimate résumé. He co-wrote and script edited the multi-award-winning Mrs Merton show and the spin off series Mrs Merton and Malcolm. He also co-created and co-wrote the first series of The Royle Family. With Steve Coogan he co-wrote the BAFTA winning Paul and Pauline Calf Video Diaries, Coogan’s Run, Tony Ferrino, Doctor Terrible and all three of Steve’s live tours and the film The Parole Officer.
Setting up Baby Cow Productions Ltd in 1990, Henry executive produced all and script edited many of the shows of its 17-and-a-half-year output during his tenure as MD. Highlights of the Baby Cow output during his time include the Oscar nominated film Philomena, I believe in Miracles, Gavin and Stacey, Moone Boy, Uncle, Marion and Geof, Nighty Night, The Mighty Boosh, Red Dwarf, Hunderby, Camping and Alan Partridge.
Since retiring in April 2016, Henry has written and performed eight BBC Radio 4 shows combining comedy, poetry, and stories about family. His tenth show A Normal Home will be recorded on the 18th November 2022 for transmission on the 20th December.
In April 2018, Two Roads publishers released his book of memoirs ‘A Normal Family’ which was written with his wife Angela Pell, drawing on his family experience. It immediately became a best seller on Amazon and has already been reprinted.
Henry performs poetry at Literature Festivals around the UK and has eleven poetry books available from Flapjack Press including the latest entitled Collected Poems Vol.2.
He was recently given an honorary doctorate of letters by Nottingham Trent University, another by Nottingham University and has a beer and a bus named after him in Nottingham!
Support for Henry Normal’s show comes from very special guest British actor, comedian, musician, novelist, and playwright Nigel Planer, perhaps best known for his role as Neil in the BBC comedy The Young Ones and Ralph Filthy in Filthy Rich & Catflap. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including original casts of Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Wicked, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Doors at 7.30pm, on Friday 3rd November. Tickets (£17.50 + booking fee) are available now HERE.
Andy Burnham has urged shops to stop selling disposable barbecues amid the increase of wildfire risk. Meanwhile, Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs uncover horrific scenes of burnt…
Calling all dog-lovers, come and join the Paws Charity Dog Show! A fantastic day out for families and four-legged friends…. Paws Charity Dog Show is in…
Isoceles Theatre Company Brings a Spine-Chilling Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde to The Wharf Theatre, Devizes, on Saturday 29th August….. Devizes, Wiltshire | Saturday 29 August 2026…
Guest written by Half-a job-Bob Hey-ho, Half-a-job-Bob here! Yeah, I’m a real Highways operative, and not just a puerile attempt at humour by a Conservative…
by Claire Dunford, Co-Founder and Games Master at Chronicles and Companions Images by Simon Folkard Photography What do you think of when you hear Dungeons…
I would like to apologise to Devizes Town Councillor Iain Wallis for incorrect quotes in a spoof article concerning a BBC Wiltshire video we criticised…
You know, there’s umpteen articles, studies, and even a six and half minute YouTube video explaining that Steven Spielberg’s 1993 family sci-fi movie Jurassic Park…
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