Yorkshire clergyman Sabine Baring-Gould was a Victorian superstar who wrote Onward Christian Soldiers for a Whitsun Sunday School parade in his parish in 1865.
But his incredible life was filled with other amazing achievements which have been largely forgotten, until now.
A new touring show - about to get its official world premier in his former Wakefield parish of Horbury - will tell how he he was a top five best-selling novelist; the writer of what is still the go-to book on werewolves and inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula. He was aaa storyteller of the Norse Myths of Iceland and even featured in a Sherlock Holmes novel as the detective’s godfather.
In real life he married Horbury mill worker Grace Taylor, after educating her in society etiquette, inspiring George Bernard Shaw's bestseller Pygmalion, which later became the Hollywood musical My Fair Lady.
But the curate said the most important thing he ever did was to save a huge collection of folk songs from, Devon and Cornwall, where he was originally from.
Some of those songs, interweaved with anecdotes from his own astonishing life and stories from his books will mark the centenary of his death in a new touring show called Ghosts, Werewolves and Countryfolk.
It stars six-time BBC Folk Awards nominee Jim Causley and Miranda Sykes, of award-winning Show of Hands and Yorkshire-based Daphne’s Flight, and is narrated by John Palmer, director of the critically-acclaimed Vaughan Williams anniversary From Pub to Pulpit Cathedral tour.
The premier will be at Horbury Working Members Club on Friday, May 17, 7pm to 9pm, before it goes on a 25-date national tour. For Horbury tickets visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ghosts-werewolves-country-folk-songs-stories-of-sabine-baring-gould-tickets-863167335737?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
For more about the 2024 Whit weekend events in Horbury visit https://horburychurch.com/activities/whitwalk/
But his incredible life was filled with other amazing achievements which have been largely forgotten, until now.
A new touring show - about to get its official world premier in his former Wakefield parish of Horbury - will tell how he he was a top five best-selling novelist; the writer of what is still the go-to book on werewolves and inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula. He was aaa storyteller of the Norse Myths of Iceland and even featured in a Sherlock Holmes novel as the detective’s godfather.
In real life he married Horbury mill worker Grace Taylor, after educating her in society etiquette, inspiring George Bernard Shaw's bestseller Pygmalion, which later became the Hollywood musical My Fair Lady.
But the curate said the most important thing he ever did was to save a huge collection of folk songs from, Devon and Cornwall, where he was originally from.
Some of those songs, interweaved with anecdotes from his own astonishing life and stories from his books will mark the centenary of his death in a new touring show called Ghosts, Werewolves and Countryfolk.
It stars six-time BBC Folk Awards nominee Jim Causley and Miranda Sykes, of award-winning Show of Hands and Yorkshire-based Daphne’s Flight, and is narrated by John Palmer, director of the critically-acclaimed Vaughan Williams anniversary From Pub to Pulpit Cathedral tour.
The premier will be at Horbury Working Members Club on Friday, May 17, 7pm to 9pm, before it goes on a 25-date national tour. For Horbury tickets visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ghosts-werewolves-country-folk-songs-stories-of-sabine-baring-gould-tickets-863167335737?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
For more about the 2024 Whit weekend events in Horbury visit https://horburychurch.com/activities/whitwalk/
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FunTranscript
00:00Yorkshire's Victorian superstar clergyman Sabine Baring-Gould wrote Onward Christian
00:05Soldiers, books about werewolves and vampires, inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula, appeared
00:12in the Sherlock Holmes novel as the detective's godfather, and in real life he married millworker
00:18Grace Taylor after educating her in high society etiquette, inspiring George Bernard Shaw's
00:24bestseller Pygmalion, which became the Hollywood musical My Fair Lady. But the curate said
00:30the most important thing he did was to save a huge collection of folk songs from Devon
00:35and Cornwall. Now those songs, readings from his books and life story tales have been turned
00:42into a show commemorating the centenary of his death. Ghosts, Werewolves and Country
00:47Folk gets its world premiere where Sabine Baring-Gould made his name in Harbury, Wakefield,
00:53this coming Wit Weekend on Friday May 17th, featuring BBC Folk Awards nominee Jim Corsley
01:01and Miranda Sykes, narrated by John Palmer. Other events include a church parade on the
01:07Sunday to sing Onward Christian Soldiers, re-enacting the first time it was sung on
01:12Wit Sunday 1865. Sabine Baring-Gould used to preach in this church and he was a Victorian
01:19superstar and we're trying to restore him to his former glory in his centenary year,
01:25which is this year, by bringing a world premiere show to Harbury as part of an amazing Wit
01:31Weekend celebration. What we're doing with the show is looking at the life of Baring-Gould
01:37because there are so many amazing stories about his own life, the things that he did.
01:42He said the most important thing he did was to collect and save the folk songs of Devon
01:46and Cornwall and we hope we'll just open the door to what an amazing man Sabine Baring-Gould
01:53was. This is our opportunity in Harbury to celebrate all things Sabine Baring-Gould and
01:58so we're going to perform his Wit Walk on the Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock. We'll also
02:04have that weekend some exhibitions here at St Peter's and more importantly at Harbury
02:08Bridge and to find out more information just have a look at harburychurch.com and click
02:14on the link that says Wit Walk.