A little piece of Brettian memorabilia or two

Looking at my blog I'm amazed that I haven't really every posted about the Granada series, Jeremy Brett, etc. I'm hugely enjoy the Jeremy Brett podcast series, and have a small collection of Granada-related 'things', some more... recherche than others.

So I thought I'd highlight two here - one I picked up today, one I acquired recently that's a bit special.

The first item I came across accidentally. I've written elsewhere how much I enjoy the writings of members of the Northern Musgraves ; based in the north of England and founded by David Stuart Davies and Kathryn White. They published delightful monographs, as well as two different regular journals of articles, with outstanding content. 

In looking for Musgraves papers I came across this 32-page booklet titled 'A Musgrave Tribute to Edward Hardwicke 7 August 1932-16 May 2011'.

The tribute is apt given that Hardwicke was an honorary member of the Northern Musgraves. The booklet includes a short biography, followed by articles including reflections or memories by the following:

- Owen Dudley Edwards ('Edward Cedric Hardwicke')

- David Stuart Davies ('Goodbye, Watson')

- Roger Llewellyn (' An Actor Remembers Edward Hardwicke')

- Bert Coules ('Consumate professional and staunch friend')

- Lynda Henderson ('Edward Hardwicke remembered by...')

- Keith Frankel ('Tribute to Hardwicke's Watson')

- Allison E Smith ('Edward Hardwicke: Television Actor')

- John Addy ('Thoughts on Edward Hardwicke')

 

This is a delightful little book. Tucked inside is a membership form, including an introduction. In reading it learnt something of the recent history of the Northern Musgraves:

We were originally formed as The Northern Musgraves in 1988, but from 2004 we have been known simply as The Musgraves.

I wonder why the name changed. I do know that around the early 2000s the journals - called 'The Musgrave Papers' and 'The Ritual' ceased publication. It's great to know the society lived on for so much longer (at least 2011) and possibly beyond.

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The second item is fun.

The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast recently covered the stage play written by Jeremy Paul, and starring Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke. 

At around the same I managed to purchased a copy of the Jeremy Paul published script. This one is great - it is signed on the title page by Jeremy, Edward, and the author Jeremy Paul. It was owned by a member of the Northern Musgraves who had a chance to have the book signed at the play in Manchester.

As another quaint aside, the signed copy has the orange cover. That was published in 1989, but there's also a green cover version, that is the 1991 reprint. Why the change of color on the cover? 

 There is also a third edition, published by Players Press in 1996 which I do not have..... YET: