"POTTED HISTORY"

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 23, 27 July 1934, Page 16

"POTTED HISTORY"

PAGEANT OF MAGNA CARTA

A WEEK OF SPECTACLES

(Written for "The Post" by Nelle M. . Scanlan.) . LONDON, June 11. It is just 719 years .since. King John1 signed Magna Carta' at Eunnymede, the great Charter of English liberty. Every day this week the great historical pageant of English history, covering a period from the Koman invasion to tho return of Wellington after Waterloo, is being staged on the grassy field of Kuiuiyinede beside the Thames, and the central event is the signing of Magna Carta. Five thousand performers are taking part, and moro than 90' per cent, of the beautiful costumes have been supplied by the wearers themselves, as the proceeds go towards local hospitals and charities.. The organiser of the page ant is Lady do Chair, wife of one of Australians, most popular GovernorGenerals,, and',the whole is produced by Miss Given Lalley. For six months they have been rehearsing, a.nd on Saturday, the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Charles Collet, in his Mayoral robes, opened the pageaut under brilliant English sunshine on a summer day. As he declared to tho assembled thousands present: "You have not .a kingdom for the stage, but'an Empire." The pSgeant is in eight episodes, and many of tho historic characters arc being acted by-their descendants.. King John, who was forced by the Barons to. sign the charter, is played by Lord St. John of Bletso. Among the Barons who forced him to sign are Baron .•Malet, played.by young Philip Malet dv Cros,. and the Hon. Geoffrey Fiennes plays the part of his ancestor, Baron Geoffrey do Saye. Mr.. John Drinkwatci* has written the prologue and epilogue, and, among the professional actresses taking part are Damp. Sybil Thbrndyke, Lady Forbes Robertson, Miss Ireno Vanbrugh, and Miss Violet Vanbrugh. ..'•'.■' COLOURFUL PICTURES. It is as difficult in words to convey the colour and beauty of this magnificent historical scene as to reproduce in photography the charm of a brilliant oil painting. The first episode showed the British in A.D. 44, living a tranquil existence until the Roman invasion under Vespasian. In the second episode we saw tho Anglo-Saxons in possession of England, when they were suddenly overrun by the Danish hordes, with the burning of Chortsey Abbey, ; and the slaying of the Monks. ... This led up to the third episode, the signing of Magiia' Carta, with the Barons, Bishops, and all their' attendants. Eunnymede is the very spot on which the original event took place, but it is only in recent years that the green meadow beside the Thames has wakened such active interest and become a place of pilgrimage. Tho fourth episode showed a tournament, at Windsor .before Edward 111 and his Queen; ...Philippa, with their son, the Black Prince, and tho captured Kings of France:, and Scotland. The ■joust was almost exciting event. Tho iifth brought us to the Tudorsi with' Henry VIII, when there wore dancing, archery, and a masque for his •entertainment. NELL GWYNNE A FAVOURITE. The Merry Monarch, Charles 11, ushered in the sixth episode, when amusement was found in buck-hounds. But it was Nell Gwynne, who bowed to right and loft as she drove by, who woke the. loudest applause. She is one of the figures in history about whom a perpetual glamour clings. And later, when she gave Charles a resounding slap on tho Royal cheek, she was greeted with even 'greater applause. No picture of this period, it would seem, is complete without Sweet Nell of Old Drury. Queen Anne is the central figure of the seventh episode, which showed tho first Ascot. The Queen arrived in a State-coach, -with an escort on horseback/ and the horse-racing of that period was the precursor of the famous social event of today, for this is Ascot week. The last scene brought a vision of England.rejoicing after "Waterloo, with the Duke of Wellington and his officers riding between cheering crowds of rustics. When the performance was over, the whole crowd of 5000 in their gorgeous costumes assembled and brought the pageant to a close with the singing of "O God, Our Help in Ages Past." MANY EMINENT PERFORMERS. Never, perhaps, have so many eminent personages taken part in a pageant; and the f/ct that so many of the parts a^e played by English men and women today who can trace their line back to those far-off centuries gives a character and importance that adds much to its interest in an historical sense. ■ , During the summer in England, you will find many local pageants, where scenes of significance are enacted under tho castle walls or beside the Abbey, which hundreds of years ago played a prominent pq*t in the country's development or "progress. But the Pageant of Eunnymede covers a broader canvas, and wherever the British have struck root, the value of Magna Carta, as the basis ,of their liberty, is a vital influence in tho maintenance of their heritage.