Catch up on all the latest history news from across Kent with Finn Macdiarmid, where he's joined by Pat Marsh, author of a new historical novel "Three Faces" on Cantebury's playwright and spy Aphra Behn, and Noel Van Riswick, Curator of a new exhibition at Sissinghurst Castle, about the life and literature of Vita Sackwell-West.
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00:00Hello and welcome to the first official episode of Kent Chronicles, where we turn back time
00:25on all of Kent's history, from the Mesolithic era to the Industrial Revolution and everything
00:30in between. I'm Finn McDermott and today we'll be checking out quite a few stories.
00:35First of all, why Canterbury's second most photographed building is so crooked. We'll
00:39also get to know an LGBTQ and literary icon, Invita Sackville-West, who lived in Sissinghurst.
00:44And we'll chat to the author of Three Faces, a new novel exploring the life of Canterbury's
00:49own playwright, novelist and spy, Aphra Behn.
00:52But first, a historic pub sign has upset regulars after replacing its iconic sign
00:57with a new, but apparently inaccurate one.
01:00Admiral Tavins changed the eight bells in Canterbury's sign to a new interpretation,
01:05but historians say the image, which shows the Bellharry Tower of the city's cathedral
01:09with eight bells, when in fact it only has one.
01:12Lady Kim Truelove has said the old sign, which shows, I believe, a maiden with eight bells,
01:18which is believed to be from 1908. She said it was a shame that the sign was removed instead
01:24of restored, and that the customers loved it for its history.
01:29Next, a head teacher of a primary school is using a treasure trove of history she found
01:34in the school to make her lessons that much more exciting.
01:39Amy Rowley-Jones found an old logbook and a suitcase of photos dating back 120 years
01:44that she's using in history lessons like her Year 6 class, learning about the Second
01:48World War, where they read extracts from the logbook to see how life was for children
01:54back then.
01:55She said it's the perfect learning tool to link our current practice with the history
01:58of the school itself, allowing our pupils to see how it's developed over time.
02:04And in some more news, we're now learning the backstory of one of Canterbury's most
02:08well-known buildings, the Crooked House.
02:12The house was built in 1617, but apparently didn't become quite so crooked until around
02:171850, when the chimney wasn't aligned properly, and they removed it, causing the house to
02:23lean.
02:24There's even been some historical figures linked to the building, like Charles Dickens,
02:27Pocahontas, and some believe it's referenced in David Copperfield, where he mentions a
02:32house that's bulging over the road in Canterbury.
02:35Now as you can see, it's a second-hand bookshop for the homeless charity Catching Lives, and
02:40is the second most pictured structure in the city.
02:43It's only beaten by Canterbury Cathedral.
02:46And we can hear now from Canterbury historian Trevor Gardner.
02:49Well, it's a very good story.
02:52The central chimney breast was demolished for whatever reason.
02:59There was some structural damage to it, and unfortunately in 1850 it started to fall down.
03:05The building itself started to lean, and they removed the chimney breast, and they built
03:11a steel collar around that, and there's a steel collar around the house itself as well.
03:15So it's a very stable house now, but it was a structural problem, and it's been rectified.
03:21But that was about 1850 this took place, and ever since it's sort of held its shape, despite
03:28the fact that the door looks wonky, but that's just been made to look that way.
03:33Now in more recent news, hundreds of people flocked to Canterbury's High Street yesterday,
03:37all to see Queen Camilla, as she arrived to unveil a statue of the city's unknown literary
03:42hero, Aphra Behn, who was an author, playwright, and even a spy.
03:46The bronze statue was created by sculptor Christine Charlesworth, and revealed outside
03:50the Beany House of Art and Knowledge in front of a massive crowd.
03:54Oliver, Leader de Saxe, has more.
03:56It may have been grey skies above Canterbury, but even they couldn't put a dampener on a
04:02royal welcome home for a literary pioneer.
04:06Aphra Behn was the first professional female writer in the English language, and for years
04:13campaigners have fought to have the trailblazing poet recognised, with a statue commemorating
04:20her life in the city she grew up in.
04:23And it was earlier today that statue was unveiled by Her Majesty the Queen.
04:30It's really, really precious.
04:32I mean, we've worked on this for four years-ish, and seeing someone like her taking true interest
04:39in it, and taking her time out of her days to come and look at it is really, really precious
04:45to me.
04:46A lover of literature, Queen Camilla went on to tour the Beany House of Art and Knowledge,
04:53where she met the next generation, learning about the pioneering playwright.
04:58Though it's safe to say they were more starstruck by royalty than by the restoration royalist.
05:05It was really fun. She was a really nice lady. I really enjoyed talking to her.
05:12It was so good. It was really good. It'll be a moment that we'll always remember.
05:18It was surprising and so fun, because I've never met any of the royal family before.
05:25Meanwhile, patient crowds waited outside to catch a glimpse of Camilla.
05:31After all, it's not every day a royal comes to town.
05:35Oh, we're so excited.
05:37Yeah.
05:38Yeah, it's rare occasion, so we're so happy.
05:41Yeah, it's such a beautiful place.
05:43Yeah, it's our anniversary here, so it was a bit of a surprise today.
05:46I was like, oh, great day to be inside.
05:48The thing is, she's a real person just like we are.
05:52But of course, she's royal and I'm ordinary.
05:57Whatever their motivation for being there, a question remains.
06:02How did a woman as fierce as Aphra Behn become forgotten in the city of Chaucer and Marlowe?
06:10I wonder what Chaucer and Marlowe have in common that Aphra doesn't.
06:15And in all truth, it's the fact that she was a woman.
06:18She was once the best and most prolific restoration writer in all of England.
06:23And then she became too saucy for the Victorians to handle, and now she's back.
06:28Hopefully that idea that you can say what you want, what you think,
06:32you can celebrate female sexuality and female fun, we know that's true.
06:37And that's why we've put Aphra back exactly where she belongs.
06:42While the girls may have gone here on Canterbury High Street, the Queen departed.
06:47But this statue of Aphra Behn, the grandmother of English literature,
06:52a pioneer for her plays that challenge gender and sexual stereotypes, still remains.
06:59And only a few hours after being unveiled,
07:03it's capturing the hearts and minds of the people of Canterbury.
07:08Oliver Leedser-Sacks for KMTV.
07:32I'm sorry, I can't hear anything.
07:35Are you able to hear me now, Pat?
07:38Ah, yes, now I can hear you.
07:41Sorry about that.
07:42Well, I was just saying thank you so much for joining me.
07:45And where did the novel start?
07:48Where did the inspiration start?
07:51Well, like so many other people, I had never heard of Aphra Behn.
07:56And it took me living in Canterbury for about 25 years before I did hear about her.
08:04And then what I heard fascinated me.
08:07It started a fascination which led to me writing a novel about her.
08:12Because she was actually the daughter of a barber.
08:16And I could not imagine how the daughter of a barber at that time,
08:21who obviously would not have been educated, most girls weren't educated,
08:26could possibly have become this literary celebrity who's buried in Westminster Abbey.
08:31She was such a respected writer.
08:34So that was the beginning.
08:37And also the fact that she was a spy, of course, was fascinating.
08:42How would a woman become a spy in that very male world of 17th century politics?
08:49So that's really what started the fascination and began to make me do lots of research
08:57and then finally write about her.
09:00Amazing. And it's like you say, I feel a lot of people haven't really heard of Aphra Behn,
09:04especially because I think she gets a bit overshadowed by Chaucer and Marlowe,
09:08these other big historical figures in Canterbury.
09:11Do you think that your novel and this statue that's been made
09:14might help her become a bit more recognised in the city of her birth?
09:18I do hope so.
09:20I'm so gratified that this statue has finally gone up
09:24and she has been honoured in the city where she grew up.
09:28It's taken a long time, but it's good that it's finally happened.
09:34And yes, I think in this time as well that we have now,
09:41sexual freedom, feminism, it is a time, I think, when she could become popular again.
09:48I know they're going to be putting...
09:51Oh, sorry.
09:53So yes, I really hope that she will become better known.
09:57She deserves to be.
09:59Absolutely. And what was it like to write the novel?
10:02Did you have to conduct lots of research? Did you talk to experts?
10:04What was that experience like?
10:07Yes, I did a lot of research.
10:10And of course, I was helped in imagining her life
10:13by the fact that she lived through, I think,
10:16what must be the most turbulent period in our history.
10:19You know, the civil wars, the execution of the king,
10:22the republic, restoration of the monarchy,
10:25all these plots and counterplots and persecution of Catholics,
10:29plague, of course, Great Fire of London,
10:32the Anglo-Dutch Wars,
10:35then there was the deposition of the monarch,
10:38the new monarch, James II, and a new dynasty was formed.
10:43So that was all in her lifetime of 48 years.
10:48Quite a background to her life,
10:51which of course helped me to imagine scenes
10:54that she would have been involved in and how her life
10:57would have been affected by all those events.
11:00Absolutely. And we've got time for just another question.
11:03If you had to tell someone just an interesting fact
11:06about Afroben or something unbelievable that happened
11:09in her life, what would you say?
11:13Well, I think what really...
11:17She very probably went as a spy
11:20to Suriname in South America.
11:23And she, in the last year of her life,
11:27she actually wrote what is one of the first novellas
11:31in English about a black slave in Suriname.
11:37And she's very much on the side of the slave
11:41and condemning her own countrymen
11:44for their treatment of slaves.
11:46I'm afraid that's all we have time for, Pat.
11:48But thank you so much for joining me.
11:50And we'll see you after the break.
15:07Hello and welcome back to Kent Chronicles Live on KMTV.
15:11Now, since 1925, Kent has been home to one of the country's largest collection of trees.
15:18Bedgeberry pintum, or I think pinetum, is actually how you're supposed to say it, have
15:21more than 10,000 of them, including rare, endangered and historically important conifers
15:27that they also use for conservation, research and education.
15:31Earlier on the Kent Morning Show, Cath Weeks from Forestry England, who manages the site,
15:35joined us.
15:37Well, so we've got two big public events.
15:40So there's one in May half term called a Buyer Blitz, which is where families come together
15:45with experts and volunteers in a kind of race against time to try and record as much wildlife
15:51as possible in 24 hours.
15:54And then there's a big kind of public birthday in the summer holidays on the 31st of July.
15:59So that's where we basically kind of put our shop window on display and say, come and find
16:06out how fantastic the pinetum is, how great it is for families.
16:10We've got a trail going in, which will talk all about the history of the site.
16:17We've doing guided walks.
16:18And the thing we're really excited about is that we are going to be part of a Kew exhibition.
16:24So that link with Kew is still there.
16:26We have a team of botanic artists who have painted 20 beautiful paintings of some of
16:32the trees in the pinetum.
16:33It's being exhibited at Kew from mid-April to mid-September as part of a bigger exhibition
16:40called The Power of Trees.
16:41And we're thrilled to bits about that.
16:43And then that's moving to our sister site, Westonburg Arboretum, in the autumn.
16:49And so that's really just a sort of a hint.
16:51And then the best way to find out about it is if you go type in a hundred years of Bedgebury
16:57into whatever browser you use, and that will take you to our website and that will tell
17:02you everything.
17:03And there's a lovely video on there as well.
17:05And you mentioned the title.
17:06So it's packed you.
17:07Yes.
17:08Yeah, exactly.
17:09And you mentioned the title, The Power of Trees.
17:11What are The Power of Trees?
17:13Oh, goodness me.
17:15We can't live without trees, really.
17:19They provide the oxygen that we breathe.
17:22They provide so much of the materials that we use.
17:27They are kind of holding up a lot of the ecosystems of the planet.
17:33And they've inspired us.
17:35And people love trees and have loved them for sort of centuries as well.
17:39So they're an absolutely key part of human life and biodiversity on the planet as well.
17:46And is there a particular type of tree that really sings to you?
17:50Yes, there is.
17:53I love a Scots pine.
17:54I just think that the colour of them, when they're really tall, there's some really beautiful
17:59ones at the pinetum.
18:00I love a Scots pine.
18:02We have a photo of that to show.
18:06Can you just describe what it looks like?
18:08Oh, well, there's a really good way to tell a Scots pine.
18:12And that's if you look right up to the top of the tree, it's a lovely kind of salmon-y
18:18pinky colour, the bark.
18:20So you always know what one is.
18:23And they're one of the three kind of conifers that naturally grow in the UK.
18:27So look for really tall trees with bark that turns sort of pinky, salmon-y pink at the
18:32top.
18:33And you know you're looking at a Scots pine.
18:35Well, brilliant.
18:36Thanks so much for joining us there.
18:37Now, February marks LGBTQ Plus History Month.
18:41And in Sissinghurst Castle in Cranbrook, they've opened an exhibition about the works of Kentish
18:45writer Vita Sackville-West.
18:47Now, she's most well known for being the lover of literary legend Virginia Woolf.
18:52The two wrote poetic letters to each other that went down in the annals of history.
18:56But now the exhibition aims to show that Sackville-West was a best-selling author in her own right,
19:01one deserving as much recognition as the acclaimed modnist.
19:04So why has she become so forgotten?
19:06Well, I went down to Sissinghurst Castle to solve that mystery.
19:10With Valentine's Day fast approaching, many people might be trying to emulate some iconic
19:14power couples, David and Victoria Beckham, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski.
19:19But for Kent's historians, the answer is obvious.
19:22Writers and lovers Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West.
19:26So during LGBTQ History Month, a new exhibition at Sissinghurst Castle in Cranbrook to honour
19:31the love, life and literature of Vita has opened to the public.
19:35Throughout the annals of history, Vita Sackville-West was mostly known for her relationship with
19:40the writer Virginia Woolf.
19:41But this exhibition aims to show that she was a writer, a best-selling one in her own
19:45right, a gardener and an icon of LGBTQ history.
19:49The exhibition, called Between the Covers, has been in the works for many years and includes
19:53a visual collaboration with artist Sarah Tannatt-Jones to bring their story to life.
19:59When visitors visit Sissinghurst today, they can expect a very well-known garden, which
20:06was created by Vita and her husband Harold.
20:08However, Vita's story extends much more beyond that.
20:13Vita Woolf was a very prolific writer herself and we wanted to create an exhibition that
20:21would celebrate her writing, which is how this exhibition came about.
20:26The display shows the versatility of Vita's writing.
20:29It wasn't just novels like Portraits of a Marriage or Family History that she wrote.
20:33She also created poetry, semi-autobiographical works, plays and even a crime novel, Devil
20:38at Westy's, which she never published.
20:40And this is the first time it's ever been on display.
20:43But it wasn't just her literary work.
20:45Objects that were important to her were also on display.
20:48Now this here is Minerva.
20:49It was the printing press used in the Hogarth Press to print works by Virginia Woolf, Sigmund
20:54Freud, T.S.
20:55Eliot.
20:56And it was originally owned by Virginia Woolf but was later bought by Vita, which is why
20:59they have it here at the exhibition.
21:01The exhibition was created with LGBT history in mind and they wanted to make sure that
21:06it promoted that with accuracy and care.
21:08Some parts of the story that we're telling would have been illegal during the time of
21:12their life.
21:13And we want to make sure that we're creating an accurate account that resembles both the
21:18intricacies of the story but also making sure it's relatable to a contemporary audience.
21:24And in that sense there is quite a lot of difficult navigation in making sure that it
21:30tells the story truthfully while taking into consideration the balances that you get between
21:38narrating a story that's almost 100 years old and telling that to an audience today.
21:44Vita's sexuality was a core part of who she was and she once wrote that in the future
21:50it will be recognised that many more people of my type do exist than under the present
21:54day system.
21:55If she was alive today she would probably be happy to see the LGBTQ pride flag flying
22:00at her castle home.
22:02Finn McDermid for KMTV in Cranbrook.
22:07Well joining me now is Noel van Ryswyk, the curator of Between the Covers.
22:12So Noel, tell us, where did the exhibition really begin?
22:15Hi, good morning.
22:17So yes, the exhibition stemmed from looking into the collection at Sissingerst and finding
22:23so many exciting letters, novels that Vita wrote and really just seeing such a significant
22:30story that we really hadn't uncovered in depth yet at Sissingerst.
22:34So we were very keen to dive in and share it with our visitors.
22:39And talk us through the process, what was the process of finding all the items to put
22:44on display and getting that very talented artist involved as well?
22:48Yes, so we worked with artist Sarah Tennant-Jones and we were very excited that we were able
22:53to do so.
22:54So in terms of the brief for her, we tried to sort of have a look around and see what
23:00sort of books we exactly wanted to focus in on to create a balanced overview of Vita's
23:06oeuvre.
23:07And so we focused in on a few books which are still highlighted in the exhibition.
23:12And then we shared that list with the artists.
23:14And yeah, we had a really collaborative partnership in trying to sort of create images that relate
23:19to those books, but you will also see images of Virginia Woolf, which you have on your
23:24screen right now, and Vita.
23:27So yeah, we've tried to sort of create a creative balance between illustrating the books and
23:32parts of her life.
23:34Absolutely.
23:35And because there's a person behind her, her novels as well.
23:37Now talk to me a bit more about her novels, because I'm aware that she's mostly known
23:41for sort of writing a certain type of book, but she's stretched her creative limits a
23:45bit.
23:46And it's quite interesting because I might be right in saying that it was never properly
23:51published.
23:52Well, it was never published in the UK, it was published in the US, but yes, no.
23:56So she was a bit embarrassed by that book, it was called A Potboiler by her son.
24:03So yeah, but we wanted to include it to sort of show the variety of her works.
24:08Her works range from garden writing, to children's books, to poetry, to sort of crime novels.
24:16As well, as you can tell, that were Westies.
24:18So no, we wanted to share the complete breadth of her work with everyone.
24:23Amazing.
24:24And talk to us a bit, you mentioned that she wrote some gardening books.
24:26You have, I remember, you have a rake that has her initials engraved on it.
24:31These artifacts, how did you manage to kind of find them?
24:33Were they in the collection already?
24:35Or what was that process like?
24:36Yeah, that's right.
24:37So yeah, no, we have obviously, as Seasingers was the home of Vita and Harold for most of
24:44their lives, we have a significant number of personal artifacts here.
24:49And the other National Trust place where we have quite a few objects that are significant
24:56to Vita and Harold are at, sorry, at Knoll.
25:00So yeah, we worked a bit with Knoll as well to learn some items from there.
25:03Amazing.
25:04And there was also, I believe, a LGBTQ flag flying on the day that I came down and filmed.
25:11And February is LGBTQ History Month.
25:15Was that something you kind of went into this project knowing, or was that sort of just
25:20a happy coincidence?
25:22Because obviously Vita, with her love letters to Virginia Woolf, is an LGBTQ historical
25:27icon.
25:28Yeah, I mean, we wanted to celebrate her legacy.
25:33And as you said in your piece, Vita wanted the role to sort of celebrate, and I suppose
25:44empower LGBT lives more.
25:47And we wanted to sort of do a visible, we wanted to celebrate that history and authentically
25:57make sure that, you know, we, yeah, we celebrate it.
26:02So we combined her flag, the Sac for West flag, with a penance for LGBT history.
26:12Well, brilliant.
26:14I think that might be just all we have time for.
26:16Thank you so much for joining me, Noel.
26:18You're welcome.
26:19Brilliant.
26:20Cool.
26:21Well, it looks like that was one for the history books.
26:24You've been watching Kent Chronicles Live on KMTV.
26:27Don't forget, there's always history happening around us.
26:30And if you have a story that you think we should be covering, then please don't hesitate
26:34to get in touch.
26:35And if you happen to be more interested in the present than the past, sorry, we have
26:39a load of other special programmes.
26:41But for me, that's all.
26:43Have a good rest of your day.