Agincourt at the Guildhall

Time: 1415
Location: Agincourt, France and Guildhall, Leicester

One thing I have been lucky enough to do this trip is to go see a show at the Leicester Guildhall, a beautiful timber framed hall dating from about 1390. It was the meeting place of the Guild of Corpus Christi, a small group of powerful businessmen in Leicester. The hall was restored and opened to the public as a museum in 1926, and it is one of the city's gems.

National comedian Anthony King has performed many shows at the Guildhall, including one on Richard III, which I will see later. His shows feature history told through comedic songs, sung by Anthony who accompanies himself simply on the guitar. Audience participation is often encouraged.

Today's show was about the Battle of Agincourt, upon the occasion of its 600 anniversary. During the Hundred Years' War, England under Henry V went to war with France. The battle was won for England, with only 400 English dead and 6,000 French. As a result, Henry V was recognised as heir to the French throne and the regent of France. Unfortunately his victory didn't last long, as he died a few short years later from camp fever.

What is especially fun about these musical programmes is that they are performed in the Guildhall's library, a room with bookshelves and timbers and lots of atmosphere at the top of the hall. The hall was built before the events taking place in the song, so it is easy to imagine coming to the Guildhall back in 1416 and being told the news of the battle.

We will go back this week to hear the Richard III concert. There is promise of a new song about the Leicester City Football Club, the new Premier League champions!

Kirby Muxloe Castle

Time: 1480
Location: Kirby Muxloe Castle

I have just arrived to England and what else would I do but visit a castle!

Kirby Muxloe Castle is in a small village near Leicester. It is an English Heritage property and open on certain days, including Saturday. We decided this would be a great start to my visit.

This castle was begun as a home by William, Lord Hastings in 1480. It was planned to be a family home and very elegant. It is one of the first brick buildings in the county, brick being a foreign building material and brickmaking skills had to be taught to local artisans. Most castles before this were made from local stone.

Kirby Muxloe Castle was never finished.

Lord Hastings was executed for treason by Richard III, and his widow, Katherine, was unable to complete the work or decided not to live there after all.

Now all that remains is one corner tower and a central block with a courtyard, surrounded by a moat.

Remaining Tower

Opening for the Gate

Time Travel Music

I'm getting ready for my trip and one of the most important tasks, after packing my suitcase, is packing my ipod with music to listen to on the airplane.

This got me to thinking about music suitable for time travelling.

My tag line for my blog comes from Manchester songwriter Daley's Time Travel, an R&B song released in 2014. This song reminisces about a past time when the singer was happy with someone he loved and how he wants to go back.

All I really need

Is time travel and you

Don't know what this is

We're travelling through

All the memories

Unravel with you

So all I really need

Is time travel

And you...

 Another classic that comes to mind is Pink Floyd's Time. This sad song about time wasting away in useless endeavors shows the more negative side to time's passing with little to show for it. This is time travelling without noticing or wanting to do it.

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the timePlans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled linesHanging on in quiet desperation is the English wayThe time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say.

Here is a new one by Ingrid Michaelson, an American singer and songwriter from Staten Island, New York who plays mainly indie pop or indie folk music. Time Machine is another heartbreak song about someone who would like to skip a bad relationship before it happened.

If I had a time machine
And if life was a movie scene
I'd rewind and I'd tell me
Run

And there is this song, one of my favourite's from Jim Croce. It isn't about time travelling but more about stopping time to preserve beautiful moments with a loved one.

But there never seems to be enough time

To do the things you want to do, once you find them

I've looked around enough to know

That you're the one I want to go through time with

Here is a song about the past looked at in the future, Buzzcock's Nostalgia. Although the singer reminisces about the past, he looks at it backwards, looking forward to how he would see the past. An interesting 

About the future I only can reminisce
For what I've had is what I'll never get
And although this may sound strange
My future and my past are presently disarranged
And I'm surfing on a wave of nostalgia
For an age yet to come

And here we have Coldplay's Scientist. It's about going back in time to say the things we wish we had said. 

Nobody said it was easy

Oh, it's such a shame for us to part

Nobody said it was easy

No one ever said it would be so hard

I'm going back to the start