Novello New Year!

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Well, what a brilliant Christmas and New Year it has been for Ivor Novello! They say everything comes in threes, and it seem that is exactly what happened.

The BBC Radio 3 Composer of the Week programmes dedicated to Ivor were brilliant with lots of new recording by the BBC Concert Orchestra, solos by @SimonLepper and @KittyWhateley and recordings by the lovely Marylin Hill Smith to name a few. There were also brilliant sections with Billy Differ (Operations Manager for Sir Cameron Mackintosh) in Novello’s old flat, and also with Rosy Runciman who is the archivist for Sir Cameron Mackintosh.

One listener said: “Sensitively researched life story combined with location insights AND the music – worth the @BBC licence fee on its own.” Another said: “@BBCRadio3 @DSCAuthor “Ivor Novello” Awarded the best @BBCRadio3 programme of the year!”

In addition to this I was delighted to release a 10th Anniversary edition of my Novello biography to tie in with the BBC Radio 3 Composer of the Week series. As I was guest of the week for the programmes, it seemed fitting and timely.  ‘Ivor Novello – In Search of Ruritania‘  now available in both paperback and Kindle editions. Excellent and encouraging 5 star reviews!

January sees the publication of The Oxford Handbook of The British Musical – So thrilled that my Ivor Novello biography – In Search of Ruritania – informed this study and is listed in the reference and bibliography section. Thanks to Stewart Nicholls who wrote the section on operetta that includes Novello.

 

I came across this portrait of Novello by Emile Veresmith. It was painted in 1924 and captures him in quite a dark way – I wonder if the artist caught the melancholy and depression that so haunted Novello at times. Food for thought!

 

Well that’s all for now. Not sure if/when the recordings made by the BBC Concert orchestra will be available – but for those who have asked I will let you know if I hear anything from the BBC regarding this. Thank you to Donald Macleod and producer Luke Whitlock at BBC Radio 3.

Happy New Year to all –

Ivor Novello BBC Radio 3 Composer of the Week

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Delighted with this great article of my interview with the Operetta Research Center about Ivor and the BBC Radio 3 Composer of the Week broadcasts dedicated to him starting Boxing Day at 12 noon.

http://operetta-research-center.org/ivor-novello-bbc3-composer-week/

Royal Palace Gardens

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Delighted that the book has received a couple of 5 star reviews in its first week or so of release. Thank you to everyone who has been so encouraging and supportive.

I will be talking on BBC Radio Lancashire about the book with John Gillmore on 16th November from the Winter Gardens Blackpool at 3pm.

“Great history of the Royal Palace Gardens. Anybody with an interest in Blackpool’s history will love this book. It’s a history of both the Gardens and the entertainment that people of that era went to see, from music hall to famous battle re enactments. A great insight into that era. It tells of the Gardens from their beginning to their sad end. It is a book I have waited a long time for…” Amazon 5 star – 28 Oct 2016

“What an amazing book. I have learnt so much more about the Raikes Hall and its history. I started reading it and couldn’t put it down. Thank you David for writing this book.” Amazon 5 star – 4 Nov 2016

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The book is available to order at Waterstones and other book stores and also online at Amazon and Book depository. Their is free shipping for the book on Amazon.co.uk

Royal Palace Gardens

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Delighted with the new cover design – brilliant work by Ed at Deeper Blue Designs.

http://www.wearedeeperblue.co.uk/

Also the marvelous colourisation of a B&W image of the gardens undertaken by Tom Marshall at Fotografix

Tom Marshall (PhotograFix), Bluebell Cottage, 9 Queen Street, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, TF13 6BX
FIND US ON FACEBOOK HERE

A friend of mine, Peter, sent me some brilliant images of the Raikes Hall prior to its transformation into the Royal Palace Gardens in circa. 1860 and also one at a later date along with a very fragile guide from the 1890s. They will be unique additions to the book.

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Ken Dodd

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Delighted to see Ken Dodd again and still performing to a packed Grand Theatre at 88 years of age! I first saw him in a summer show at Blackpool Opera House when I was about 7 or 8 – that’s nearly 50 years ago. He was one of those artistes who drew me into the theatre and made it a passion for life.  He truly is the last of that great generation of 20th Century comedians who worked through the Music Hall and Variety traditions – we shall not see his like again and I urge you to see him while you still can. Travesty that he has not yet been given a Knighthood. He deserves it in spades for all the laughter and happiness he has given for decades and to millions!

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A.L. Rowse

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Have made some good research progress on my book based on Puccini titled Verisimo! Some interesting letters have come to my attention that Puccini wrote in the last months of his life to a German soprano many years his junior. Elvira was as ever on high alert! Elvira is such a misunderstood woman and I have to say she had much to put up with being Puccini’s wife. Certainly not the demon that opera historians have painted her.  Still a long way to go, but I have completed the opening section and am very pleased thus far.

Aside from that I am also reading a biography on A.L. Rowse by Richard Ollard. Rowse, a Fellow at All Souls, Oxford, and Elizabethan Historian, was a friend of my fathers so I am fascinated to know more about his life. My sister remembers toasting crumpets on his coal fire in his sitting room at All Souls when she visited his with our father. What a lovely image. Also visiting his home in Cornwall for a family holiday.

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