Sam and Dave: Georgian Poster Boys

Last week we were a bit startled to see the front of St John's House in Lichfield adorned with pop art takes on Samuel Johnson (above right) and David Garrick (above left), with a dictionary definition in the middle. It's a bold look for a grade II* listed Georgian building.

The three works are part of Lichfield's 52 Weeks of Art project and will be displayed on the front of the new boutique bed and breakfast for the next month. They're part of a series of 26 artworks - designed by professional and developing artists, students and schools - which will be popping up around Lichfield over the next six months. To quote St John's website:

The series will depict different art styles of the 20th century but with a twist as they all have a link to Lichfield. The first three duly show reworkings of Andy Warhol, with a pop art version of Samuel Johnson; Rat le Bek with a street art interpretation of David Garrick and Joseph Kosuth with a dictionary definition of the historic uses of the poster.

What next? A Banksy-style portrait of Erasmus Darwin?

Photograph © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.

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In Search of Mrs Woffington (Part 1)

As this Sunday marks Peg Woffington's birthday, it's about time that I blogged about the several research trips we've done in search of the elusive actress.

I've blogged before about the trip we did to the Garrick Temple at Hampton, but I haven't yet uploaded my photographs of nearby Teddington, which was also on our historical hit-list that day, being the location of Mrs Woffington's villa, and the place where she settled in the last years of her life.

According to Janet Camden Lucy's Lovely Peggy (which, despite the whimsical title, is the only really scholarly biography of Peg Woffington), the burial register confirms that Mrs Woffington died in London, but her request to be buried in Teddington suggests a strong affection for the place.


In the 18th century, Teddington - a riverside village between Strawberry Hill (where Horace Walpole had his gothic castle) and Hampton Wick - was a fashionable summer retreat for wealthy Londoners. Peg's villa was said to have been built by Sir Charles Duncombe at the start of the century and it was known as Teddington Place House until 1851, when the name seems to have been changed to Udney Hall.

Demolished in 1946, it must have been an impressive residence, with ceilings painted by Verrio and panelling by Grinling Gibbons. It stood in what is today Udney Park Gardens (above), adjacent to St Albans Church, and I had expected the site to be right on the banks of the Thames (much like Pope's villa in nearby Twickenham), but it could be that the course of the Thames has changed slightly over the years.


We also spent some time picking our way through autumnal leaves and cobwebs in the graveyard of Teddington's parish church, St Mary with St Alban, before realising that Woffington's memorial tablet (above) is actually inside the church, just within the north chancel arch. It describes her as a 'spinster, Born Oct. 18th 1720' and informs us that an infant nephew, 'Master Horace Cholmondeley, aged 6 months' lies in the same tomb.

Local legend says that Woffington also endowed some almshouses, long known as Woffington Cottages on the High Street, two of which were tea rooms for a while, though now closed. The church is also connected with another 18th-century luminary, Dr Stephen Hales - inventor of the surgical forceps - who was Perpetual Curate from 1709 to 1761.

Part 2: Mrs Woffington's childhood in Dublin.

Top: Margaret Woffington by JB Vanloo, c. 1742
Other photographs © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.

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Lichfield to London in 11 Days

Congratulations to Professor Peter Martin and Dr Nicholas Cambridge who completed their Tercentenary walk (all 165 miles of it!) right on time last Thursday; you can read the BBC's coverage of the event here.

Photograph © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.

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Art from Nature’s Workshop

Just stumbled across an extraordinary blog, Undying Faces, which is dedicated 'to the history and preservation of life and death masks'. Death masks do have a certain uncanny appeal - check out the one of David Garrick: it looks so much like many of his portraits (complete with the big Huguenot nose!) and the one of Swift gives me the shivers. For a complete run-down of masks from the 1700s, click here.

Above: bust of David Garrick from Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare.

Photograph © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.

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The Word from the Walkers

According to their blog, the Tercentenary walkers are on schedule to reach the Guildhall on Thursday. Yesterday they reached Berkhamsted, and 'were delighted to spend a whole day without being rained on once. They had a nice cup of Earl Grey tea at Woody's Cafe'. There's some great pictures of them in costume at Stony Stratford, where they were accompanied by Monty the Shetland pony and Murphy the Irish draught horse (who likes to drink stout).


PS Check out Granny Buttons for a post on the shopping trolley incident.

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Tercentenary Twitter Updates

I've been tipped off this morning by weakspeaker about Mark Lawson's interview with Johnson biographer Peter Martin on Monday's Front Row, which is available for seven days thanks to the magic of listen again. Twitter fans can also track the walkers here - surely this is proof that social networking doesn't damage the brain?

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Johnson's 300th Begins In Style

Yesterday morning we diverged from our usual route to work in order to catch Dr Nicholas Cambridge (as Garrick, above left) and Professor Peter Martin (as Johnson, right) setting off for London, an event that marked the official opening of Johnson's 300th birthday celebrations. They posed for me outside the newly-painted grey door of the Birthplace while waiting for the BBC, who had somehow got lost en route from Birmingham.

We really wished we could have stayed longer; we saw the Mayor and his macebearers, all decked out in their civic regalia. We chatted to one of the macebearers who was carrying the gilt mace (see below). Thrillingly, he let me put on his white glove and hold it, with the weight supported on my shoulder. He told us it dated from the reign of William & Mary (1689-1694) - I was actually holding an object that Johnson and Garrick probably saw on civic occasions in Lichfield in the 18th century!



Photographs © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.

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Intimate Theatre II

We had a fantastic time at Intimate Theatre's The Golden Moment: A Family Farewell to Johnson, which was staged at the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum in Lichfield yesterday. Below are some photos of the pre-preformance reception - you can see what a squeeze it was, getting everybody into the bookshop and small reception room. I had to get up onto the staircase to take the first picture (below), and you can see how low the beam is.


It was a great opportunity to spot some distinguished Johnsonians. I think I saw the Mayor of Lichfield (that looks like a Mayoral chain of office, above) and Richard Harris, the former Bishop of Oxford, who had come from preaching on Charles Darwin at Lichfield Cathedral. While I'm shamelessly name-dropping, I might as well mention that we also saw John Sergeant on the way - flush from his sell-out Johnson-themed show at the Lichfield Garrick the night before. (He recently enriched the public stock of harmless pleasure on Strictly Come Dancing).

Happily, we were sitting behind Dr Nicholas Cambridge and Professor Peter Martin, so were able to wish them luck on their historic walk, celebrating Johnson's Tercentenary and raising money for the National Literacy Trust.




The play, which was written and directed by David Titley, centred on the general strife in Johnson's household on the morning of his departure for London. I snapped some scenes (below), which took place in the Birth Room; there's a great portrait of Johnson's friend and mentor, Gilbert Walmsley, on the wall in the second picture.




Stuart Goodwin, as Sam Johnson (below) kindly posed for me in the Market Square afterwards; shame the Johnson statue behind him didn't come out on the photograph!



Photographs © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.

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Intimate Theatre

I’m pleased because I’ve bagged the last couple of tickets for Sunday’s performance at The Birthplace of The Golden Moment – local company Intimate Theatre’s latest production. It’s set on the morning of March 2nd 1737, the day that Johnson and Garrick departed Lichfield in search of fame and fortune in London. I’ll post more on this next week…

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Tired legs but brisk spirits

The UK celebrations for Samuel Johnson’s Tercentenary officially kick off on Monday, which is the 272nd anniversary of Johnson and Garrick's journey from Lichfield to London.

Professor Peter Martin (author of Samuel Johnson: A Biography) and Dr Nicholas Cambridge (Chairman of the Johnson Society of London, pictured above), will be marking the event in athletic style by recreating the 165-mile walk over a period of 11 days, culminating in a reception at London’s Guildhall on March 12th.

The walkers set off from the Birthplace Museum in Lichfield at 9am on Monday, following the route of the Hatherton Canal Trust restoration project towards Huddlesford Junction. I caught up with Dr Cambridge (stepping in for David Garrick) for a chat about the event.

How did you first get interested in the Georgian period, and in particular, what attracted you to Johnson's works?

I became interested in the Georgian period in 1976 when I was a medical student undertaking some research for an essay prize into medical electricity. People from the 18th century, such as John Hunter, Benjamin Franklin and John Wesley came up. However, it was not until 1984, the bicentenary of Samuel Johnson's death, that I became interested in Johnson. My interest was catalysed when I attended a symposium at the Wellcome Institute (as it was then called) on ‘Vigorous Remedies’ and I heard the late Roy Porter give a brilliant talk. I also started to collect books about the 18th century and in particular Johnson. The rest is history.

Is there much known about the route that Johnson and Garrick took, and are you trying to replicate it or has that not been possible?

We know that Johnson and Garrick walked down the main coaching route from Lichfield to London using ‘horse and tie’. They passed through Coleshill, Coventry, Dunchurch, Daventry, Towcester, Stony Stratford, Dunstable, St Albans, High Barnet and on into London. However, we are using the canal paths as it is too dangerous using the roads. Apart from the safety aspects the canal route (mostly down the Grand Union Canal) will be much more pleasant. The canal route will take us through Birmingham, Solihull, Warwick, Daventry, Blisworth, Milton Keynes, Leighton Buzzard, Berkhamsted, Norwood Green, Barnes and then along the Thames towpath to the Guildhall. You can follow our daily blog from the website.

There are so many myths around Johnson (not least his claims of having just 'two-pence halfpenny' in his pocket when setting out for London). Why do you think these myths are so important to us today?

It gives us an example of how much things cost during Johnson’s lifetime and also shows us how poor Johnson was for much of his life. For example Johnson once remarked that he could dine very well for eight pence (a cut of meat for six pence, bread for a penny and he gave the waiter a penny).

What do you make of Johnson's relationship with Garrick?

Garrick was nine years younger than Johnson and was a pupil in Johnson’s school at Edial and therefore their relationship was not close. After they arrived in London in 1737 their paths diverged as they pursued differing careers. Whilst Garrick started to make a name of himself on the stage Johnson by contrast struggled to make a living by writing until the success of his Dictionary in 1755. In public Johnson would have been complimentary about Garrick’s success whereas in private he would have jealous. Johnson also did not like Garrick’s social climbing, name dropping and vanity. Sadly Garrick predeceased Johnson by five years and died in 1779. Johnson openly wept at Garrick’s funeral at Westminster Abbey where they are both buried side by side in Poets' Corner.

Do you have a favourite Johnson quote, or one that sums up your feelings about the journey that you're about to undertake?

The following quote is relevant to our walk: ‘Incidents upon a journey are recollected with peculiar pleasure; they are preserved in brisk spirits.’

To sponsor Nicholas Cambridge, please click here. The first 100 supporters to join the walk will receive a Waitrose goodie bag.

Photograph used by kind permission of Dr Nicholas Cambridge.

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Garrick Temple

Well, in my post about fire destroying Garrick's villa I promised you a blog on the Temple to Shakespeare at Hampton, and here it is. Garrick built the Temple in 1756 and it now houses a small exhibition about the great actor-manager; it's usually open to the public on Sundays between April and September but we made a special trip during Open House London. On this weekend you can get into a range of historic buildings for free - we had a fantastic day in Hampton and Teddington, though I regret not taking the opportunity to visit Horace Walpole's Gothic castle Strawberry Hill while we were in the area (especially as it's now closed for restoration until 2010).

Below is the front of the little Palladian Temple, which you'll recognise immediately from the Zoffany painting above, picturing Garrick with his wife Eva Maria and (I think) a little nephew, playing on the steps.


The Temple itself was possibly modelled on Lord Burlington's Temple at Chiswick House and was a nice spot to invite friends for tea and indulge in a spot of fishing. The riverbank alongside the Temple, which you can see in the picture above, was remodelled with advice by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, who lived nearby and was a good friend of the Garricks. Their villa and the Temple were linked by a grotto-like tunnel under the Kingston to Staines Road which divides the two properties (sadly, it's not open to the public). Below are some pictures of the permanent exhibition, including reproductions of the Zoffany conversation piece and Hogarth's portrait of Garrick as Richard III.




We loved talking to the volunteers at the Temple, who fondly refer to the actor as 'our Garrick', and you have a real sense of his spirit being kept alive. Below is a sculpture of Garrick, sporting a daisy chain.


Garrick also commissioned the fashionable sculptor Roubiliac to create a life-sized marble statue of Shakespeare (below). Visitors were invited to 'sacrifice to Shakespeare' by leaving verses in his honour at the foot of the statue (these often ended up in the newspapers, thanks to Garrick's knack for self-publicity). The actor-manager also displayed his collection of supposedly Shakespearian artefacts here, including a glove, a salt cellar and a signet ring bearing the initials WS.



All Temple photographs © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.

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Fire wrecks David Garrick's villa

I'm in shock. I was going to do you a jolly little blog about my visit to David Garrick's villa at Hampton and his Temple to Shakespeare (which I visited on the Open House London weekend). Anyway, as I was nipping through Technorati for some blogs on the legendary 18th-century actor, I came across the news that the Grade I listed villa (below, as I photographed it in 2006) caught fire in October and was badly damaged. English Heritage described the loss of parts of the building as a tragedy, adding that it was of national importance. There's some BBC video of the incident here.

The Temple is actually across the road on the riverbank - Garrick used to access it via a specially built tunnel - so thankfully, it escaped the flames (I'll do a separate blog posting on the Temple at some point). I feel rather shocked and upset about the damage to what Garrick called his 'pretty place by ye Thames side', mainly because his childhood home here in Lichfield has long since been demolished.


Garrick was actually born at the Angel Inn at Hereford, where his father was on an army recruiting expedition, but the family had a house in Lichfield (his mother, Arabella Clough, was the daughter of one of the cathedral clergy). I actually live just up the street from where Garrick grew up, though the site is now occupied by the registry office, which bears a simple plaque (below).


But what a shame about the Hampton villa! When Johnson attended a fête champêtre on Garrick's lawns, he was supposed to have told his host: 'Ah David, it is the leaving of such places that makes a deathbed so terrible.'

Photographs © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.

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