Horse racing in the UK has always been very popular.  There are the main events - the Royal Ascot and the Cheltenham Festival as well as the Derby at Epsom Downs.  Newmarket Race Course is also a very important race course in the world and world famous races also include the Grand National.

All through the UK you can attend any number of racecourses.  Now in February, there are races at Sundown, Lingfield, Kempton Park, Newcastle, Towcester, Wolverhampton, Chelmsford City, Leicester Kelson and Fakenham in the next few days.  Other important race courses include Newbury.

The Cheltenham Festival begins on March 14th, 2017 and runs to March 17th.  The famous Cheltenham Gold Cup race takes place on the last day.  The Grand National is the next big weekend and it takes place in Liverpool at Aintree.  It starts on April 6th, Ladies’ Day is April 7th and the Grand National horse race takes place on April 8th.  Next up in terms of famous race days is Epsom Derby Day on June 3rd, 2017.  Last but not least is Ascot which goes from June 20th until June 24th this year.  June 22nd is Ladies’ Day which in itself is an interesting day out.

Jane Austen, who is best known for novels Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility, died at the age of 41 years on July 18th, 1817.  She was born in Hampshire and lived in Southampton, Bath and Oxford.  She died in Winchester and is buried in the cathedral there.

Hampshire specifically will be putting on many events throughout 2017 to celebrate her literary genius and some events actually started already in 2016.  There is a permanent exhibition beside her grave in Winchester Cathedral (in the north nave aisle).  This exhibition started on Oct 11/16 and runs until the end of 2017. From Feb 4/17-Nov 4/17 there is a Jane Austen Tour and Tea in the Cathedral to enable you to learn more about Jane.  Also in Winchester, 12 of Jane's quotes appear when it rains!  This event is called "Rain Jane." A copy of the trail where these quotes can be found is at the Winchester Tourist office.  "Rain Jane" started Nov 4/16 and ends May 31/17.

Fron March 8-11, 2017 at the Haymarket on Wote Street in Basingstoke, there will be an adaption of Jane Austen's play "Northanger Abbey."  

Also in March, on March 9th and 10th, 2017, will run the play "Lipservice present Mr. Darcy loses The Plot."  This will be at the Theatre Royal, Winchester.

 Chawton House Library in Chawton Hampshire, sees 3 events in March.  The first one is on March 11th, 2017 at 2pm, where people will have a chance to discuss Jane Austen's unfinished novel "Sandition."  Three speakers will read sections over tea and cake.

The second event at Chawton House Library is on March 16th, 2017 at 6:30pm. Professor Gillian Russell will discuss private theatricals in Jane Austen's world.  On March 23rd, 2017 at 6:30pm, 2 sopranos and a foretepianist perform a miniature opera setting of Jane Austen's "A History of England" and other vocal works about women in the Georgian era.

Pantaloons Theatre company presents "Pride and Prejudice" on Marh 24th, 2017 in New Milton, Hampshire at Forest Arts Centre.  The production starts at 7:30pm.

Running from April 24, 2017-August 21, 2017 at Winchester College Treasurey at Winchester College in Winchester, is an exhibition titled "Educating Boys and Girls in Jane Austen's England 1775-1817." This explores how the classical education offered to boys was different from that offered to girls at that period and how, during Jane's lifetime, there was a growing debate over changing this.

From May 13, 2017-July 24th, 2017 there will be an exhibition of one piece of clothing that can be traced back to Jane, first editions of her work, portraits and personal letters.  There will be things on loan from private lenders and the National Portrait Gallery.  The location on the website only states Winchester at this point.

Jane's home, the village of Chawton, will open its gardens on June 10th and 11th, 2017. The gardens of the library and the Jane Austen House Museum will be open as well as other ones in the village.  People will be able to walk from Chawton to Farringdon, a walk that Jane probably did quite frequently.

Chawton House Library is hosting "Regency Week" from June 18-23rd, 2017 during which time it will have the following events:

June 18th at 11am:  meet the Shire horse and from 2:30-5pm:  a walk around the gardens.
June 19th, 21st and 23rd:  an exclusive tour of the exhibition:  Fickle Fortunes - Jane Austen and Germaine de Stael.
June 20th and 22nd:  embroidery workshops (10:30-noon)
June 21st: evening lecture from 6:30-8pm (with drinks and canapes) "Comic Muse:  How Jane Austen loved the theatre and why she works in Hollywood."

Alton Library, in Alton, Hamphire, is the home to the Jane Austen collection that features editions dating back to the 1900's.  On June 19th, 2017 from 2-4pm, there will be a drop in with a local historian to discuss this unique collection.

On July 7th, 2017, Chawton House Library will host another event at 6:30pm.  This is called "Entertaining Miss Austen."  The pieces of this concert have been drawn from 17 music albums that belonged to her and her female relations.  The performance will be will soloist Amanda Pitt and pianist David Owen Norris.

July 8th and 9th, 2017 will feature the Hampshire based theatre company 2TimeTheatre present the world premiere of Meeting Miss Austen.  This will be at the Winchester Discovery centre as part of the Winchester Festival.

On July 12-July 15th, 2017, see an outdoor perfrmance of "Young Jane" inn the grounds of Longstock Nursery, Waitrose Farm, Leckford Estate, Stockbridge, Hampshire.  This is inspired by Jane Austen's teenage writings.  The performance includes readings from some of her letters as well as songs and dances of the period.

July 15th - July 22nd,2017 wil see the drama "Persuasion" which will be an adaptation of Jane's last novel.  This will be performed at the Chesil Theatare, Chesil Street, Winchester, Hampshire at 7:45pm.

On the anniversary of Jane's death, July 18th, 2017, Winchester Cathedral will hold a special Evensong service at 5:30pm.  Winchester Cathedral will be ticketing the seats in anticipation of a large interest in this event.  Free tickets will be available from March 1, 2017.

From July 29-Oct 7, 2017 at Willlis Museum, Sainsbury Gallery, Market Square Basingstoke, will be featured an exhibition about Jane's life, work and her relationship to Hampshire and specifically, the social life at that time.

You can go to the janeausten200.co.uk website for more information.

Guy Fawkes and his followers tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and James 1 and ever since the cellars of the Parliament Buildings are checked before the state opening of Parliament.  
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But for the average person today, November 5th is Bonfire Night.  This is Britain’s big night of fireworks and bonfires of course!  Often there are effigies of Guy Fawkes burned on top of the bonfires.  What with Diwali and Hallowe’en being just a week or so beforehand, both of which also feature fireworks, you can hear fireworks for a few weeks at this time of year.

London has celebrations at Alexandra Palace, and in Finchley, Harrow, Hackney and Bounds Green to name a few.  Surrey is advertising fireworks at schools and in towns such as Godalming, West Byfleet, Hascombe and Farnham.  There are also events throughout Leicestershire.  Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh are other main cities with fireworks planned.  When summer has faded into autumn and winter is just ahead, it is a good time to have some fun.  You can go to www.skittle.com/bonfire to find out if there is an event in your town.

This Saturday, September 10th, 2016 will be the Last Night of the Proms for this year.  The season has just gone by too quickly!  There have been over 90 concerts in 8 weeks.  There has been something for everyone.  There was the Strictly Prom and the Gospel Prom and the David Bowie Prom.  Music set to works inspired by Shakespeare had a platform as we continue to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death.  There was the annual evening concert featuring Daniel Barenboim’s West-East Divan orchestra which some people attend every year to support his great effort at bringing people together.  Orchestras from around the UK, Europe, North America and South America took part with works by many well known composers from Mahler to Mozart. There were world premieres of works by new composers, introductions of up and coming conductors and new and well known guest artists.  And there has been the added commentaries to these concerts by classical music experts who have an amazing knowledge of their subject.
This Saturday, those who are very lucky will have a seat in the Royal Albert Hall.  One has to have attended at least 5 Proms concerts during the season to be eligible for a ticket. There will be concerts  around the UK at the same time and they will be all joined up at different points throughout the evening.  There will be Proms in the Park in Hyde Park, London, at Colwyn Bay Wales, in Northern Ireland at Titanic Belfast and in Scotland at Glasgow Green.  If you are outside the UK, many theatres around the world show it live.  Time for the commencement of the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall is 7:30pm local time.

The first tennis championships took place here in 1877 at the All England Club.  This is one of the four major tennis tournaments in the world every year and the only one played on grass.  This year, it started on June 27th.  As of today, all the quarter finals have been played for the men and the women.  Swiss Roger Federer will play Canadian Milos Raonic and Scotsman Andy Murray will play Czech Tomas Berdych in the semi final men’s event.  American Serena Williams will play Russian Elena Vesnina and Venus Williams will play German Angelique Kerber in the women’s semi finals in the next few days.

The Gentlemen’s singles was the only event at the beginning of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Ladies singles and Gentlemen’s doubles were added in 1884.  Ladies doubles and mixed doubles were added in 1913.

Over the years, tennis clothing has changed greatly.  In 1884, women played in long dresses and stiff petticoats.  A few years later, a 15 yr old girl was allowed to wear a dress that only went to half calf as she was a school girl.  In 1905 a woman caused a stir because she rolled up the cuffs of the sleeves of her dress. In 1926 French player Suzanne Lenglen wore a flimsy dress and shocked everyone by not wearing a corset.  By 1933, a pleated skirt and white blouse was worn by an American player and by 1937 another American woman player wore pleated shorts and a golf type t-shirt.  In the 1980’s and 1990’s, breathable fabrics became the norm. More recently, outfits have focussed on looks and style. All white was traditional but the Williams sisters have introduced colour to the courts in recent years.  Men started out playing in white flannel trousers but an English player got tired of playing in those in 1932 and switched then to shorts and a t-shirt.  Not much has changed since other than the fabrics used.

There are still a few more days to watch this tournament this year.  It will be all over on Sunday, July 10th which will be the men’s final.  The women’s final will take place on Saturday July 9th, 2016.

This photo is taken in St Paul’s Cathedral looking down on the congregation.  The 2 red chairs at central left are empty as they await for the Queen and Prince Philip.

This past weekend saw 3 days of festivities in London. On Friday June 10th, 2016 was the Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday and of her service to the UK and the Commonwealth. As well, it also happened to be Prince Philip’s 95th birthday that day. All the Royal family was in attendance as well as politicians past and present.  Other UK citizens who shared a 90th birthday were celebrated too such as the author who created Paddington Bear.  On Saturday, the Queen and other royal family members attended the annual Trooping of the Colour which is always on the second Saturday in June (the Queen’s honorary birthday).  This year, her nephew Peter Phillips, organized a street party on The Mall for 10,000 persons who are associated with the over 600 charities that have the Queen as a patron.  Unfortunately, it was a bit soggy for the first bit but the Brits took it in stride and wore rain ponchos.  Picnic hampers were provided by the British store Marks and Spencer. The Brits held their own street parties across the nation. Prince Charles and Camilla went to Gloucestershire to attend a street party there.

This photo shows the Queen and Prince Philip in the first car and Will, Kate and Harry in the second car, going by the 10,000 persons invited to the street party on The Mall.  They and other royal family members, later mingled with the crowds and even took part in photos and selfies.

The yearly Royal Horticulture Society Chelsea Garden Show had the Queen’s 90th birthday as a theme this year.  Floral Designer Ming Veevers-Carter created the Queen’s Head from a wall of floral buckets from the New Covent Garden market which were then filled with a massive amount flowers to create the depiction above.

Other special contributions included flowers above the entrance of the Garden show complete with a Crown and 300,000 knitted poppies in front of the Chelsea barracks completed by persons the world over.

The Pavillion which is always erected just before the show, had many nurseries from all over the UK represented.  All have planted specially for this show for months and bring their best specimens.  These displays are judged and everyone hopes to be awarded the coveted gold medal.

Six show gardens received a Gold medal this year.  The one woman, Jo Thompson, had created her 8th Chelsea garden.  Another fellow, Cleve West, had won Best Show Garden 6 times before. However, this year the overall winner was The Telegraph Garden created by Andy Sturgeon.  The BBC People’s Choice Award was Matthew Wilson’s ‘God’s Own County - a Garden for Yorkshire.’  He had a small chapel complete with a stained glass window to make reference to York Cathedral in the middle of a garden to commemorate the Yorkshire moors.

The second edition of Britain Unravelled will be available in the next week.  When you go to the Friesen Bookstore or to Amazon, you will only find the latest version of the book.  It has been added to and updated.  I can’t wait to get back to the UK myself this year!