Ian’s Blog 30th March 2025

My recording of a song about Morris dancing which was composed by myself and Martyn Hillstead, was featured on this radio show very recently. You can hear the song at about 33 minutes into the show:- https://www.mixcloud.com/StrummersandDreamers/show-593-winter-wilson-cd-showcase-27325/

Ian’s Blog 23rd March 2025 Last Sunday Ashley Dyer came to visit and we spent most of the morning recording him playing trumpet on six of my songs. Most of these tunes have a science fiction theme to them. I am hoping that Lord Zarquon will help me with finishing these recordings for a science fiction/astronomy concept album. My next album to be released will be an album of Ricardian songs inspired by Philippa Langley’s Missing Princes investigation and book.

Ian’s Blog 16th March 2025

Yesterday we went to the premiere showing at the Royal Lyceum in Abbey Road, Torquay of some films about Torquay in the 1920’s. The films were made by John Tomkins and this is his website:- https://www.emberlense.com/

Ian’s blog 9th March 2025

Here is a second version of my Ricardian song called The Minstrels Did Play which has been released on Aldora Britain Records. I am singing with Pippa West on this recording. Here is the link to the song:- https://thealdorabritainrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-minstrels-did-play

Ian’s blog 2nd March 2025

Here is a bit of a coincidence: John Wesley died on 2nd March 1791 and Horace Walpole died on 2nd March 1797. Both of them wrote about Richard III. John Wesley was a widely respected cleric, theologian and evangelist of the 18th century. He wrote a concise history of England in four volumes. In Volume 2, pages 27 to 65 cover the reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV and Edward V. Pages 66 to 152 are devoted to Richard III. However he used the text from Horace Walpole’s book about Richard III. On Wikipedia it mentions this:- In spite of the proliferation of his literary output, Wesley was challenged for plagiarism, for borrowing heavily from an essay by Samuel Johnson, published in March 1775. Initially denying the charge, Wesley later apologised officially. In this section of his book Horace Walpole defended the much maligned King in great detail and states that Richard was innocent of the many crimes that he had been accused of. In short, that Henry’s character, as we have received it from his own apologists, is so much worse and hateful than Richard’s, that we may well believe Henry invented and propagated by far the greater slander against Richard : that Henry, not Richard, put to death the true duke of York, as he did the earl of Warwick : and that we are not certain whether Edward the Fifth was murdered; nor, if he was, by whose order he was murdered.