Episode 78. Pageant Fever

SYNOPSIS

In 1904 Rev. Arthur Field, a curate at Sherborne wrote to Louis Napoleon Parker, then a well-known London playwright, and formerly the Musical Director of Sherborne School to suggest that they should stage a Pageant the following year to celebrate the twelve-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Bishopric of Sherborne, and Sherborne School, by St. Ealdhelm. The plans grew quickly in scope to enfold 800 participants and the indefatigable Parker brought 30,000 Londoners by train to the sleepy Dorset town to witness the performances. From such inauspicious beginnings a pageant craze ensued which over 50 years evolved to take in industrial cities and foreign capitals as well as country towns, and various political and social manifestations.

Professor Mark Freeman, who was co-investigator on a large Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded grant, 'The Redress of the Past: Historical Pageants in Britain 1905-2016'. takes up the story of how his academic team went about recovering the story of this largely forgotten art-form, which in its heyday involved tens of thousands of participants in pursuit of popular history.

The extensive research project has culminated in an edited book, Restaging the Past: Historical Pageants, Culture and Society in Modern Britain (UCL Press, 2020), and a new film, entitled Restaging the Past: The Story of Historical Pageants, which can be streamed freely from the project website at historicalpageants.ac.uk

GUESTS

Mark Freeman is Professor of Social History and Education at the Institute of Education, University College, London. He is a historian of modern Britain, focusing on the history of education, youth movements and informal education. He has published widely on modern British social, educational and business history..

Sherborne Pageant Poster courtesy of Old Shiburnian Society

Simon’s interview with Mark Freeman was recorded at University College London on 30 October 2025.