Robin Hood kills Red Gill

This great still from Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952) shows Richard Todd as Robin Hood looking at the dead body of Red Gill (Archie Duncan). In this dramatic scene Robin had just killed Red Gill, after witnessing the murder of his father, who was shot in the back by the Sheriff’s henchman, hiding in a tree. In the background the Sheriff’s foresters can be seen ready to pursue Robin through the forest.

The picture clearly shows the remarkable ancient pollarded tree that is typical of those found in Burnham Beeches in Buckinghamshire. This was the location chosen to be ‘Sherwood Forest,’ not only because of its close proximity to Denham Studios but also because of its amazing ancient woodland that was ideal as a backdrop to this classic tale.

Japanese Poster

This absolutely stunning Japanese poster was sent in by Mike recently. It seems to date from the time of the Story of Robin Hood’s original release in Japan in January 1955.  The lettering and imagery are balanced so well and create a beautiful work of art. Once again we have been treated to yet another view of rare Disney memorabilia from the film.

Picture Strip 20 : Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood

Part 20 of Laurence's fabulous picture strip of Walt Disney's original movie the Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). To see previous pages of the picture strip, please click on the label below.

If you want to learn more about the making of this wonderful film or the legend that inspired it, please click on the relevant subjects in the sidebar.

Save Our Forests!

Currently our forests are protected by law. But the government wants to change the law to allow them to start a massive sell-off. National treasures like the Forest of Dean, Sherwood Forest, Grizedale, Alice Holt, Bedgebury and Thetford are under threat.

David Cameron can only change the law – and sell all our forests – if MPs vote the changes through Parliament. That makes MPs a key target for our campaign. Can you send your MP a quick e-mail today?

If enough of us e-mail our MPs, we will be able to persuade them to vote against the sell-off plans.

Please click here to email your MP and ask them to vote to Save Our Forests: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/tell-your-mp-to-save-our-forests

Thank you

Re-Release of 'The Crowded Day' (1954)

Maria Steyn has recently very kindly informed me of the re- release of ‘The Crowded Day’ (1954) starring Joan Rice, John Gregson, Dora Bryan, Thora Hird, Prunella Scales and Sid James. It is included on Part 3 of the ‘Adelphi Collection,’ along with ‘Song of Paris,’ showcasing the early films of John Guillermin.

The set can be purchased here:

The Crowded Day

Review:

“The third release of the BFI's pioneering Adelphi Collection is a double bill showcasing two early films by John Guillermin (The Towering Inferno, Death on the Nile). The Crowded Day (1954) is an engaging, bittersweet comedy-drama focusing on the intertwined lives of a group of shop girls working in a London department store in the 1950s, with a wonderful cast including John Gregson, Joan Rice, Dora Bryan, Thora Hird, Prunella Scales, Sid James and Dandy Nicholls; Song of Paris (1952) is a charming romantic comedy which sees an archetypal Englishman - suavely played by Dennis Price - return from a jaunt abroad to face a dastardly foreign Count in a duel for the hand of a beautiful mademoiselle.”

I would like to send a special thank you to Maria for making me aware of this.

Robin Hood's Dungeon

The dungeon believed to have housed Robin Hood when he was caught by the Sheriff of Nottingham is to be surveyed using a laser. It is part of a major project to explore every cave in Nottingham. Robin Hood is believed to have been held captive in an oubliette (underground dungeon) located at what is now the Galleries of Justice.

The Nottingham Caves Survey is being conducted by archaeologists based at the University of Nottingham.

The two year project, costing £250,000, has been funded by the Greater Nottingham Partnership, East Midlands Development Agency, English Heritage, the University of Nottingham and Nottingham City Council.

Experts from Trent and Peak Archaeology will use a 3D laser scanner to produce a three dimensional record of more than 450 sandstone caves around Nottingham from which a virtual representation can be made.

David Knight, Head of Research at the Trent and Peak unit, said there will be no actual excavations just the use of the laser.

"The aim is to increase the tourist potential of these sites. The scanning will also make them visible 'virtually' which is good in terms of public access because a lot of them are health hazards.


"That's one of the problems with these caves - they're very impressive but access is fairly difficult. You can imagine the health and safety issues are quite significant."

The last major survey of Nottingham's caves was in the 1980s. The British Geological Survey (BGS) documented all known caves under the city.The Nottingham Caves Survey will update the information that made up the BGS's Register of Caves.

David Knight said: "Once we've done the whole lot we'll be in a position to rank them in order of significance and make a decision on which caves may or may not be opened."

The area which now makes up Nottingham city centre was once known as Tiggua Cobaucc, which means 'place of caves'.

The caves date back to the medieval period and possibly earlier. Over the years they have been used as dungeons, beer cellars, cess-pits, tanneries and air-raid shelters.

Today the most famous include the City of Caves in the Broadmarsh Centre, Mortimer's Hole beneath the Castle, the oubliette at the Galleries of Justice, and the cave-restaurant at the Hand and Heart pub on Derby Road and the cellar-caves at the Trip to Jerusalem pub.

Picture Strip 19 : Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood

Part 19 of Laurence's fabulous picture strip of Walt Disney's original movie the Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). To see previous pages of the picture strip, please click on the label below.

If you want to learn more about the making of this wonderful film or the legend that inspired it, please click on the relevant subjects in the sidebar.

Was William Wallace the real Robin Hood ?

This recent article was in many papers around the world.

Here we go again:


"A Canadian novelist is causing a stir in Britain after claiming that the mythic figure of Robin Hood - outlaw champion of medieval England's poor - was actually inspired by the 13th-century Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace, hero of the 1995 Mel Gibson film 'Braveheart'.

B.C.-based, Scots-Canadian writer Jack Whyte, a leading author in the genre of historical fiction, is touting the Robin Hood-Wallace link as part of the rollout of his latest novel, The Forest Laird, based on the life of the Scottish knight who led successful battles against English overlords before his execution in 1305.

Wallace was already a powerful symbol of Scottish nationalism when Braveheart's idealized portrayal of the man heightened popular and scholarly interest in his life, Whyte told Postmedia News on Monday from his home in Kelowna, B.C.

Recent academic research into the real Wallace, he said, was key to his background work for The Forest Laird and led him to a belief that the Scottish hero may well have given life to the Robin Hood myth.

While the novel doesn't explicitly make the connection, Whyte said, "to me it's obvious that there is evidence to indicate (Wallace) was the prototype of what would develop over the next 100 to 200 years" into the Robin Hood legend.

Wallace, Whyte notes, is known to have worked as a forest gamekeeper as a young man, then to have been outlawed for alleged poaching and forced to hide in the woods for a period of time.

He is also known have suffered the death or abduction of his wife Mirren (the Scottish name for Marian) at the hands of a district sheriff.

Whyte also points to the only historical document definitively linked to Wallace as an important clue - a letter sent to the German city of Lubeck in 1297 urging its businesses to continue trading with Scottish merchants despite the battles then raging with English forces.

The letter's wax seal includes the image of a longbow, suggesting Wallace was - like the Robin Hood of legend - a skilled archer.

"The emblem on the seal is a drawn longbow. That's what started me thinking," said Whyte.

Even the scant findings of historians probing Wallace's life "heaved up a huge mountain of possibilities and probabilities" for a rich retelling of the story, he added.

Whyte first drew comparisons between Wallace and Robin Hood in an interview with the Calgary Herald in November.

"You don't have to be a genius to add up two and two and get Robin Hood," Whyte said at the time. "I firmly believe that this man, as a young man, was the archetype from which the legend of Robin Hood grew."

The idea has now reached Scotland itself, where scholars are reacting to the Canadian writer's suggestion that two epic figures from British history - each the subject of ancient tales and Hollywood films alike - are deeply intertwined.

"Robin Hood is a towering figure in English folklore," Scotland on Sunday reported this week in a story about Whyte's new book. "But it seems the origins of the mythical hero may lie in the form of Scottish arch-anglophobe William Wallace, who carved his place in history by fighting English oppression."

University of Nottingham researcher David Crook was quoted questioning the theory, and added his view that the Robin Hood character probably evolved from a medieval-era thief whose story was embellished in subsequent generations.

But Stirling University lecturer Fiona Watson, a Wallace expert, acknowledged the possibility of a link. "There are a lot of parallels between Wallace and the Merry Men."

As for direct historical connections between the life of Wallace and the legend of Robin Hood, she added: "Nobody can definitely say 'it isn't', just as they can't say definitely 'it is', because you're dealing with an old culture you can't trace."

Noted Robin Hood scholar Stephen Knight, a professor of English at Cardiff University in Wales, told Postmedia News on Monday that while "there is no sign that Wallace was the original of Robin Hood," there is evidence that Wallace's life story had "some influence on the development of the Robin Hood myth.."

Whyte said that while he is "not stipulating that William Wallace was Robin Hood," the "basics of his story are such that they could be easily adapted to English folklore."

Whyte, 70, came to Canada from Scotland in 1967, and still speaks with a strong accent from his native country."

Well it sells books and gets publicity.............what do you think??

Picture Strip 18 : Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood

Part 18 of Laurence's fabulous picture strip of Walt Disney's original movie the Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). To see previous pages of the picture strip, please click on the label below.

If you want to learn more about the making of this wonderful film or the legend that inspired it, please click on the relevant subjects in the sidebar.