First Night Design Posts

On This Day in 1898 • 5 January • Federico García Lorca

5th January ON THIS DAY Federico García Lorca with his sister Isabel in Granada in 1914 On this day in 1898 the Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca whose works included The House of Bernarda Alba, Blood Wedding and Yerma was born just outside Granada. In 1936 he was arrested and killed. Confirmation that the assasination was ordered by the military forces came in 2015 with an article in The…

A Christmas story…

More enchantment from Gigi at Rethinking Life.

Rosalind Knight: Friday Night Dinner and Carry On actress dies aged 87

Actress Rosalind Knight – whose credits include early Carry on films and Channel 4’s Friday Night Dinner – has died aged 87, her family has said. The TV, film and theatre actress appeared in Carry On Teacher and Carry On Nurse in the 1950s. More recently, she played the character known as “Horrible Grandma” in Channel 4 comedy show Friday Night Dinner. In a statement, her family said… Source:…

German Shipwreck said to contain Peter The Great’s Amber Room Reveals New Treasures

German shipwreck the Karlsruhe is finally being explored at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. But does it hold the remains of the legendary Amber Room, not to mention other precious items raided by Hitler’s men? Divers are certainly banking on it, though this painstaking journey is far from complete. On Monday Baltictech detected objects on their sonar. Most intriguingly there are 10 chests – these…

Vogue: The Elitist Dream for The Masses | A R T L▼R K

On the 17th of December 1892, the first issue of Vogue was published in America. The popular fashion magazine, which has reached by now an average monthly print circulation of 11.3 million, was founded by Arthur Turnure as a weekly society publication. Vogue magazine became instantly the biggest competitor to another… Source: Vogue: The Elitist Dream for The Masses | A R T L▼R K

The chicklets made a tree in the dining room, but quickly found out it was temporary. Still, everyone who saw it, thought it was quite impressive. | Rethinking Life

I’m in love with the chickets’ Christmas Tree! The chorus committee decided to surprise everyone at lunch. They made a tree and sang a few Chickmas songs but quickly realized that they couldn’t maintain their shape, nor could they eat lunch. So the tree … Source: The chicklets made a tree in the dining room, but quickly found out it was temporary. Still, everyone who saw it, thought it was quite…

The chicklets made a tree in the dining room, but quickly found out it was temporary. Still, everyone who saw it, thought it was quite impressive.

I’m in love with the chicklets’ Christmas tree!

First Night Design | A Bit of Braque, a Pinch of Picasso and the World of Gerda Wegener #New

The Gerda Gals Framed Art Print at Redbubble © Sarah Vernon I used a selection of public domain images of the paintings of Gerda Wegener that are available on Wikimedia, starting with En sommerdag (1927) for my base layer. My intention was a collage in the style of my Medicinal Collage design but the creative journey led me in another direction influenced unconsciously by some of Gerda’s…

Surprising Pre-Regency Era Inventions, a Guest Post from Sharon Lathan | Every Woman Dreams…

John Spilsbury’s “Europe divided into its kingdoms, etc.” (1766)

Henshall corkscrew

CORKSCREW:  It is unclear who actually invented the first corkscrew to open bottles and jugs of corked beer, wine, etc. In the 1676 publication Treatise on Cider by John Worlidge, there is a reference to a device with a “steel worm used for the drawing of Corks out of Bottles” but there are no drawings or…

Barbara Windsor, star of Carry On films and EastEnders, dies at 83 | Barbara Windsor | The Guardian

Dame Barbara Windsor, best known for her roles in EastEnders and the Carry On films, has died aged 83, her husband Scott Mitchell has said.Mitchell said in a statement: “It is with deep sadness that I can confirm that my darling wife Barbara passed away at 8.35pm on Thursday 10 December at a London care home…

Source: Barbara Windsor, star of Carry On films and EastEnders, dies at 83 | Barbara…

First Night Design | Indian Blue Peafowl Pattern #Art #New!

Indian Blue Peafowl Pattern at Fine Art America © Sarah Vernon ‘If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.’ William Morris 1834 – 1896 A nod to William Morris using a vintage peacock image from the Graphics Fairy and part of Morris’ Peacock and Dragon woven wool furnishing fabric from…

December 2, 1943 The Surprising Origins of Chemotherapy – Today in History

In the 12th century, Bernard of Chartres described a process of finding truth, in building on previous discoveries. The concept is best remembered in the words of Sir Isaac Newton, in 1675: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants”…

Source: December 2, 1943 The Surprising Origins of Chemotherapy – Today in History

For One Knight Only: what we learned about Judi, Maggie, Ian and Derek in their Zoom knees-up | Theatre | The Guardian

…Derek Jacobi got a copy of Hamlet from Peter O’Toole …In 1963, Jacobi was Laertes to O’Toole’s prince. One day, O’Toole presented him with a book of Hamlet that once belonged to celebrated Victorian actor Johnston Forbes-Robertson [See below]. Jacobi later passed it on to Branagh who, in 2017, gave it to Tom Hiddleston when he directed him as Hamlet at Rada…

Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson First…

PURE LOVE | My Life as an Artist (2)

This latest post by Janet Weight Reed includes the painting I commissioned from her of ‘him indoors’ and our dog Pisch as above.

Pure love is so often expressed between animal and human.If you need to relax and dream beautiful thoughts – find an animal that needs lots of love and they will …

Source: PURE LOVE | My Life as an Artist (2)

Archive Interview • JAMIE LLOYD • Piaf @ Vaudeville Theatre

Édith Piaf in 1962 [Wikipedia]

“I have always been passionate about Elena Roger,” enthuses Jamie Lloyd, director of Pam Gems’s classic bio-musical Piaf which has transferred so successfully to the Vaudeville Theatre stage. “I was assistant director on the production of Evita at the Adelphi,” the play which starred Roger in the title role and which first introduced this diminutive fireball of a…