Fotheringhay.

I never left the house yesterday, there was no need, and the weather was bad anyway. I don’t think I’ll be going out today either. I watched a film from 2018 on the telly last night called Mary Queen Of Scots. I didn’t think it was that great, but I watched it to the end. The performances of Saoirse Ronan as Mary and Margot Robbie as Elizabeth 1 of England were very good, and David Tennant was quite fearsome as John Knox, but overall, I thought it was a bit tedious. It was full of historical inaccuracies as well. There is one scene where Mary meets Elizabeth. There is no historical evidence that they ever met. Also, Mary had spent most of her life since early childhood in France. She had been married to Francis the Dauphin Of France until his death in 1560, so she would have had a French accent, but in the film she had a Scottish accent. Another thing I thought was a bit silly is that the director Josie Rourke insisted on some of the roles being played by black actors. I totally agree with diversity and equality, and acting roles should reflect society, but to have black actors playing white people just to be politically correct is patronising in my opinion. It is as silly as white actors playing roles that should be given to black people.

Od Scarlett

I watched it to the end is because I have always felt a kind of link to Mary Queen Of Scots. The reason for that is because she met her tragic end in 1587 when she was executed at Fotheringhay which is a little village near my hometown of Peterborough. She was buried in Peterborough Cathedral until her son James 1 had her reburied in Westminster Abbey in 1612 after he ascended to the throne. The sexton who buried her in Peterborough was known as Old Scarlett and he also buried another Queen Of England in Peterborough Cathedral, who was Catherine Of Aragon the first wife of Henry V111. There is a portrait of Old Scarlett by the West door of the cathedral. legend has it that he was the inspiration for the gravedigger in Hamlet by William Shakespeare. There is no proof of that, but Shakespeare did collaborate with another playwright John Fletcher whose father had been Dean of Peterborough Cathedral. Fletcher would have known Old Scarlett because he attended the Kings School Peterborough which in those days was located at the cathedral. I also went to Kings School, but that was from 1963 to 1970. Incidentally, a good friend of mine gave me an antique print of the picture of Old Scarlett which I framed and is now on my wall at home.

Another little link I have with Mary is that one of my favourite bands Fairport Convention recorded a fabulous song about her called Fotheringay on their second album What We Did On Our Holidays. (They slightly misspelled the name) I have shared it below if you want to hear it, I think you should.  It was written by the great Sandy Denny, and when Sandy left the band she formed another group which she also called Fotheringay. So, that is partly why I watched the film last night. I can’t think of anything else to say about it now. See you tomorrow.

Peterborough Cathedral.