Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
It was not for nothing that a few years ago Sir Winston Churchill was named the greatest Briton of all time in a nationwide poll attracting more than a million votes. His unflinching determination in wartime Britain brought Europe hope, encouragement and finally victory to the population he led. He described those times as his 'walk with destiny'.
Storyline will be inviting you to 'walk' with perhaps the 20th century's finest political leader in a visit to Chartwell House in South East England, Churchill's home for over 40 years. The rooms of the house are very much as they were in the 1920's and 30's when Churchill worked endlessly on streams of political speeches, newspaper articles and journals. It was through his writing too that he kept his family and home together in the years after his departure from politics, publishing histories on his ancestors, the Marlboroughs, and the First and Second World Wars. As well as their personalised visit, Storyline guests will also be treated to a sumptuous meal representing some of the dishes that would have tickled the great man's palate!
George Bernard Shaw (1825-1950)
In 1906, when the middle aged Irish dramatist George Bernard Shaw moved with his wife, Charlotte into the fine Victorian rectory in the Hertfordshire hamlet of Ayot St. Lawrence he had found the haven of peace and quiet he needed in order to write. It was in easy access but away from the bustle of London. It was here that he spent the rest of his days writing prolifically until his death at the age of ninety-four. Today, Shaw's Corner has become the literary shrine Shaw hoped it would be attracting his many admirers from all over the world.
Shaw is the literary critic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. Of all his works, Pygmalion was his most popular and first produced on the London stage in 1914, recreated into an Oscar winning film in 1938 and went on to become the basis for the 1956 hit musical and film My Fair Lady.
Storyline guests will discover an interior which is much as Shaw left it reflecting the individuality, genius and energy of the great dramatist. They also reflect the simple but high quality of life that Shaw led. The lived-in feel of the house is a surprise. Many of his literary and personal effects are still there together with quotes and verses that display his humour. It is as if Shaw has just popped out for the afternoon. In his bedroom for instance, the wardrobe is eerily half open to reveal his clothes still hanging there, the bed is turned back and his toothbrush is still in its container in the bathroom. Shaw's writing hut is hidden at the bottom of the garden, which has views over the Hertfordshire countryside and where his ashes were scattered on his death in 1950.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
Rudyard Kipling was the first Englishman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. As a lauded short-story writer, novelist and poet, he is remembered for his celebration of the days of British imperialism in India and Burma. His most popular works include The Jungle Book and the Just So stories, both originally children's stories but have in time attracted adult audiences too. Although born in India, he eventually spent a large part of his life living and working in England and America. He finally settled in England with his family, purchasing a beautiful 17th c. house known as Bateman's in an idyllic country spot in the county of Sussex.
Surrounded by a wooded landscape, furnished with many period details, Storyline will take their guests into his splendid domain. The heart of Kipling's house is his study, where favoured friends were invited to sit whilst he worked. With money received from winning the Nobel Prize, he developed the gardens on his ever-growing estate and our guests will be able to enjoy the terraced lawns, the walled garden and the working watermill to complement experiencing the many personal possessions remaining in the house more or less as he left them on this death in 1936. During our visit Storyline's guests will be treated to a superb private performance by a talented local actor who re-creates Kipling's life and works.
Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)
A novelist and poet, Thomas Hardy is generally regarded as one of the greatest figures in English literature. His characters struggled against their passions and circumstances, mostly existing in his imaginary county of Wessex - modelled on his beloved home region of Dorset in the southern part of England. Originally entering into architectural practice, Hardy became respected for his buildings long before he gained a reputation as a writer. He started out wishing to create poetry but finding it difficult to find an appreciative audience he turned to fiction. His decision has given English literature some of its finest classics including Far From the Madding Crowd, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure.
Success enabled him to build his own home which he designed himself and in 1885 he and his family moved into 'Max Gate' - a pun on 'Mack's Gate' as it was built on the site of the cottage and tollgate of Mack, a local turnpike keeper - where he lived until his death in 1928. Hardy entertained the great and famous of the worlds of literature, art and music in his drawing room. Designed to be light, bright and airy, Storyline guests will be transported back to the days when guests such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, Siegfried Sassoon, H G Wells, George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf came to call.
Florence Nightingale
Join Storyline for an intriguing 19th Century visit to Florence Nightingale's ‘hospital’ museum, dedicated to her name, close to Westminster Bridge. Her greatest achievement and gift to the world of medical care, was to raise nursing to a level of a respectable profession for women, which is the mainstay of health services today. Florence was born into a wealthy English family in Italy in 1820, and was named after the city where she was born. In her younger years, she developed an interest in the social questions of the day, made visits to the homes of the sick in the local villages and began to investigate hospitals and nursing. Her parents refused to allow her to become a nurse, as in mid-nineteenth century it was not considered a suitable profession for a well-educated woman. But she eventually succeeded in getting such training and took her first position in London’s Harley Street in 1853.
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