Pageants 263

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  1. A Pageant of the Brandanes, 1401–1951
    'Brandanes' is the archaic name given to the people of Bute and this pageant took its title from this. Rothesay is the Isle of Bute's only town and has been a popular tourist destination in Scotlan...

  2. St Albans Millenary Pageant
    The Millenary Pageant of 1948 was the second time a historical pageant had been staged in St Albans. The first was in 1907, during the wave of ‘pageant fever’ that swept Britain before the First Wo...

  3. Reading Historical Pageant
    Jonathan Rose argues that the Edwardian period did not suffer instantaneous death on Flanders Field but rather lingered on into the post-war period, finally succumbing only in the mid-1920s.3 The R...

  4. The Unsheathed Sword: Centenary Pageant at Reigate Priory
    Reigate was no stranger to historical pageantry. A ‘Pilgrim’s Pageant’ was held there in May 1913 in celebration of a successful campaign to raise funds for the preservation of Colley Hill, a local...

  5. The Pageant of Paisley
    The Paisley pageant of 1929 took place in the town hall in March. It contained 12 episodes and was performed almost entirely without dialogue. Episodes ranged from the coming of St Mirin in 560 AD ...

  6. Silver Jubilee Pageant
    There was a revival of historical pageantry in 1977 on the occasion of the queen’s silver jubilee, and David Clarke’s pageant in Guildford was one of the most notable examples. Clarke had worked wi...

  7. Smoke!: An Historical Pageant
    Andy Croft, the novelist, poet and Communist Party historian, wrote in the preface to Smoke!: ‘All histories have a pattern. The present is continuously born out of the past. Each new future often ...

  8. Stafford Millenary Pageant
    The Stafford Pageant reflected the civic pride of a prosperous and ancient town which was able to celebrate a millennium of rich and varied history. As with Liverpool’s Seven Hundredth Anniversary ...

  9. The Worsley Pageant
    This pageant was announced as the first event of its kind to be held in east Lancashire.24 It was a fundraiser and the idea of a local clergyman who wanted to raise some money for a church extensio...

  10. Defendamus: A Pageant of Taunton
    The Taunton Pageant was a medium-sized event, much in the mould of the Parkerian style of pageant, performed times in one week in the summer of 1928. Its other title was ‘Defendamus’—the town’s (at...

  11. The Pageant of Wakefield and the West Riding
    While pageants had been relatively late to take over the West Riding of Yorkshire, they became major events. The Pageant of Wakefield and the West Riding was the third major civic pageant in the co...

  12. Arundel Historical Pageant
    ‘Astride mettlesome palfreys, four knights in armour will gallop to fight with lances set and pennons flying just as in the brave days of old—and all for the smiles of a fair lady!’5 The Arundel P...

  13. Barrow Centenary Pageant
    By the late 1960s the glory days of historical pageantry were over, but the adaptability of the genre meant that pageants still regularly took place. In some parts of the UK, celebrating the past t...

  14. Ramsgate Historical Pageant and Charter Jubilee Celebrations
    A number of coastal resorts such as Torquay (1924) held pageants to commemorate their histories, as well as to draw tourists during the season. The Ramsgate Historical Pageant was certainly one of ...

  15. Rochester Dickens Festival Pageant
    The 1951 Festival of Britain saw something of a revival of historical pageantry. Although based on the Southbank of London, home of the famous ‘Skylon’, the Festival also supported many local exhib...

  16. The Warwick Pageant
    The success of the Sherborne Pageant attracted a good deal of notice, particularly in places with claims to long or illustrious histories. One of these places was the town of Warwick, site of an im...

  17. Pageant of the History of Hayling
    Pageants on islands, such as the Isle of Wight (1907), generally present their relationship to the rest of the country in a different way from a mainland town or city, even if that island is in nam...

  18. Ely Cathedral Millennium Pageant
    The Ely Cathedral Pageant was one of a number of pageants held to coincide with the millennium. Others were held in Cranford and Axbridge. John Inge, the then vice-dean of Ely Cathedral wrote in th...

  19. The York Pageant
    Louis Napoleon Parker, the acknowledged inventor of modern historical pageantry, chose to end his career as a pageant master in 1909. His final performance as a director of a large-scale pageant wa...

  20. Kettering Pageant
    The Kettering Pageant was one of hundreds held to commemorate the Festival of Britain. Other Pageants in Northamptonshire included Rushden and Wollaston. The Pageant, which was deemed by the Northa...