Enthusiasms

The smell of the greasepaint, the roar of the crowd, the flare of the floodlights – what enchantments they conjure! If you’d visited a regional playhouse over two centuries ago, though, a very differe

Today, almost all performances can be digitally preserved. Go to a concert – Taylor Swift, Tom Jones or Bon Jovi – and most of the audience will be recording the experience on their phones. Plays, ope

Bob Cooper of Macclesfield, Cheshire remembers: From an early age, I have always loved reading and writing. My best subject at school was English to the detriment of maths, and I managed to become top

There are currently five main theatres in the centre of Birmingham but, in the past, there were many more. Most of those were lost as cinema, radio and television took hold, as audiences, especially f

When a musical automaton of a conjurer was consigned to Roseberys’ Fine & Decorative sale, specialist Jack Wallis knew it would strike a chord. The piece was amongst 10 automata up for sale that day,

The English House: A History in Eight Buildings ...