A “Legendary Ten Seconds” review

It is unlikely you will ever read another book quite like this one. Ian Churchward describes it as ‘The story of how I wrote and recorded lots of Ricardian songs’ – the term ‘Ricardian’ denoting support for King Richard III. Ian sets the scene with amusing anecdotes about his early (pre-Ricardian) music adventures with different bands, one of them having a record played on the John Peel Show in 1987.

People come to King Richard III by many different roads. For Ian, it was when his wife called him away from his music to come and watch a TV documentary. He was happily strumming guitar in the basement and was not sure he wanted to – but as he is interested in history, he decided to watch for a few minutes. He ended up watching the whole programme which was, in his words, ‘the most amazing documentary I have ever seen’. It was about the finding of King Richard’s skeleton in a Leicester carpark and it gave Ian the idea of writing a song about Richard – it was called ‘The House of York’, lamenting the treachery and Tudor lies that caused the demise of the Plantagenet dynasty. Ian and band member, Lord Zarquon, collaborated on the arrangement: acoustic guitar, mellotron flute intro, church organ sounds and drums. The words of this song (and many others that followed) are reproduced in the book.

Ian explains how King Richard has been maligned and puts the record straight about his right to take the throne, when his nephews were declared illegitimate and thus unable to accede. The book takes us through the various Ricardian-themed albums that followed the first song, the lyrics interspersed with short explanatory historical narratives.

We learn how The Legendary Ten Seconds got their name – which is so unusual that people have no trouble finding their music on the internet! The songs are best described as mediaeval English folk rock: the mood varies from catchy and singalong (The Year of Three Kings), haunting (The Boar Lay Slain) to stirring and exhilarating (White Surrey).

I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in music and in King Richard III. Buy it and sing along at a Legendary Ten Seconds gig.

Sunnes And Roses – A New Release by The Legendary Ten Seconds

Review by Elke Paxson

Sunnes And Roses – it’s finally here, the new album by The Legendary Ten Seconds. This new one focuses on the history and some of the events and people during the War of The Roses. Like the music of the 3 CDs about Richard  III, this is a unique and quite excellent mix of English Folk with a touch of Medieval music and a hint of Rock.

The new album starts off with a song commemorating the battle of Towton, the biggest battle ever fought on English soil and the battle that brought Edward IV to the throne. Quite fitting – the song has a powerful intro with the sound of cannons. It moves on with a forceful rhythm and it has a really rich sound to it.

List of the Dead – this one has a foot tapping rhythm and it’s needed as the lyrics tell of the many battles, the long list of the dead through the many years of the “Cousins’ War”. Quite superbly done.

The Jewel – is a really pretty song. It tells the story of the stunning “Jewel of Middleham” found in 1985 by Ted Seaton. There is a beautiful trumpet intro before a number of other instruments are added – acoustic guitar, percussion, strings and tambourine.

Good King Richard – this is a very nice and rousing duet with Camilla Joyce and Gentian Dyer. It’s going back and forth between accusations and King Richard’s side – very well done with great musical sound and sound effects! Love the song.

Sunnes And Roses – an excellent instrumental. The guitar picking is just outstanding!! It has a very memorable sound!

Battle In The Mist – is a haunting an engaging song about the Battle of Barnet. It’s a good story and its instrumentation and the rhythm come together quite nicely.

Richard of York – this song is about the pretender Perkin Warbeck or was he…. Love the beautiful guitar intro of this song. The harmonies, strings and the guitar sound make it so very beautiful.

King’s Daughter – the second instrumental on this album. This is a really pretty combination of a love song with a fine medieval touch to it.

Middleham Castle on Christmas Eve – one of my all-time favourite songs. It brings everything together – beautiful lyrics that combine the past with the present, the instruments, the sound of the percussions, the harmonies. Fantastic.

A Warwick – the title tells the colourful story of the Kingmaker, the powerful Earl of Warwick. The song moves along nicely and has a swift beat to it.

Souvente Me Souvene – Remember me often, is another instrumental and also the motto of Harry Stafford, 3^rd Duke of Buckingham.

Autumn Rain – and speaking of Buckingham….this one is also about him or rather about the “washed out” October rebellion of 1483 that he was subsequently beheaded for. The song is pretty neat and the sound effects are quite fitting.

A Herald’s Lament – a sad song for sure, but it’s not a slow song as you might expect. It tells the story of a herald’s return to an unknown place – perhaps the city elders of York or King Richard’s mother Cecily.

Tewkesbury Medieval Fair – Time to go back in time yet again. This is a really nice song about the annual medieval fair in Tewkesbury. The way it presented it’s easy to imagine yourself being there.

Ian Churchward and The Legendary Ten Seconds have produced another tremendous album full of expertly written songs, fabulous music with a rich sound that brings history to life in a very profound way. ENJOY!

For anyone who might be interested in this fabulous new album, it is available on Amazon.com, at CDbaby.com for download and it should be available in CD format from the Richard III Society by the 31^st of January 2017.

 

Combining Fiction and Song

We all love The Legendary Ten Seconds’ Ricardian songs, which are quite unique and very catchy. And many of you have read my own fictional adventures of Richard through time in the Richard Liveth Yet books. Well, Ian of The Legendary Ten Seconds has kindly made a video for the third part of my trilogy: Richard Liveth Yet (Book III): Hearts Never Change, which combine pictures of some of the locations used in the book and one of his new songs, Good King Richard, from his new album, ‘Sunnes and Roses’

Click here to see the video!

 

 

Views of Framlingham

This has to be one of every Ricardian’s favourite sites and now this article explains how a documentary about a certain song came to be made there, greatly featuring the town and some local students.

Here is the official video.

For Candlemas …

… or the probable anniversary of the battle of Mortimer’s Cross:

Sunnes and Roses, a new album

by The Legendary Ten Seconds

 

Released on R ichard The Third Records on 31^st December 2016.

 

Songs featuring Warwick the Kingmaker. Richard III, Henry VII, Lord Hastings, Edward Earl of March, Lord Fitzwalter, Sir Andrew Trollope, Lord Bonville and Perkin Warbeck

 

Instruments played by Lord Zarquon, Rob Bright, Ian Churchward, Ashley Dyer trumpet on ‘The Jewel’ and Ivy Curle flute on ‘Richard of York’

with the singing of Ian Churchward. Camilla Joyce, Elaine Churchward and  Gentian Dyer

 

A Richard III Records Publication, Catalogue number R35

 

Recorded in Torbay at Rock Lee and Rainbow Starshine Studios.

 

CDs available from the Richard III Society (see below) and the songs in digital format on itunes, CD Baby and Amazon.

 

www.thelegendary10seconds.co.uk

 

AT MORTIMERS CROSS THREE SUNS WERE SEEN

FOR THE UNEDUCATED WHAT DID THIS MEAN

THE EARL OF MARCH DECLARED “ A GOOD SIGN”

FOR THE THREE SONS OF YORK AT THAT TIME

 

All songs written by Ian Churchward except for Herald’s Lament written by Sandra Heath Wilson and Ian Churchward, and Middleham Castle on Christmas Eve written by

Frances Quinn and Ian Churchward

 

Sunnes and Roses, an instrumental.

List of the Dead, a song about several of the battles of the Wars of the Roses.

Towton, the bloodiest battle on English soil told in a song.

A Warwick, a song about Warwick the Kingmaker.

Battle in the mist, about the Battle of Barnet in music and verse.

Souvente me Souvene, an instrumental, the motto of the Duke of Buckingham.

Autumn Rain, a tale of Buckingham’s rebellion in the autumn of 1483

Good King Richard, a song about the reign of Richard III.

The King’s Daughter, an instrumental for Judy Thomson who lives in Chicago.

Heralds’ Lament, a song about the betrayal of Richard III at Bosworth

Richard of York, a song about Perkin Warbeck.

Middleham Castle on Christmas Eve, past and present merge into one another in this song.

The Jewel, the story of the Middleham Jewel performed in this tune.

Tewkesbury Medieval Fair, go back in time, yes you could be there in this song.

 

Here is some new information regarding the album:- The album in CD format can be purchased via the Richard III Society’s Sales Provider and prospective buyers should contact E-Mediacy, with the appropriate payment – including post and packing, as follows and quoting item reference M228: Richard III Sales c/o E-Mediacy 5 The Quadrangle Centre The Drift Nacton Road Ipswich, Suffolk IP3 9QR email for enquiries only not for orders richardiii@e-mediacy,com Members’ price: £6.00 (non-members’ £8.00) plus P&P £1.10/ UK £2.00 EU/£2.60 Rest of the World. Details of the how to make payment can be found on the Society Shop page of the Richard III Society website. Members will need to give E-Mediacy their membership number to obtain the discounted rate. For the time being the CDs of this album can only be purchased via the Richard III Society. A percentage of funds from the digital sales of this album will be donated to S.A.U.K.

 

 

 

THE LEGENDARY TEN SECONDS–RICARDIAN CHRISTMAS SONG OUT SOON

 

A new single by the LEGENDARY TEN SECONDS  is being released on iTunes and Amazon on December 1.

MIDDLEHAM CASTLE ON CHRISTMAS EVE was written by Ian Churchward and Frances Quinn, who also painted the cover art, showing a ghostly party riding through the snow towards the ruined castle.

Frances, who lives in Dublin, Ireland, had this to say on her participation in The Legendary Ten Seconds’ latest project:

“I did the painting first and then got the idea for the poem-I found a photo of the castle in the snow on the net & because I painted it on blue paper it looked like nightime,so I added the ghosts & then wrote the poem. Alcohol may have played a part in it too! (laughter)

 These ideas just pop into my head. Mead of inspiration,y’know…and all that!”

Frances had been doing Ricardian themed art for several years; she also does pagan, fantasy and animal subjects–especially dogs and horses. Her artwork has appeared in John Ashdown-Hill’s THE MYTHOLOGY OF RICHARD III,  and on the covers of I RICHARD PLANTAGENET I and II by  J.P. Reedman, and N. Rose’s BEARNSHAW series.

A day out in Exeter

THE LEGENDARY TEN SECONDS ~ performance at Exeter’s Picturehouse – 6^th November 2016

 

As always, it was a pleasure to sing with Ian Churchward, founding member of The Legendary Ten Seconds at the Picturehouse in Exeter – a wonderful, arty location that always provides a warm welcome.

 

We were joined by lovely staff from the Somerset & South West Scoliosis Association UK who brought balloons, cakes, sweets and donation pots. It was great to help raise awareness of the charity and perform Ian’s well written songs about Richard III. An author called Philip Photiou also brought along copies of his Wars of the Roses novel to sell at the event.

 

Rob Stroud on electric guitar and Lord Zarquon on keyboards created a powerful landscape to accompany the historical narratives. Their solos were magnificent.

 

We had a nice sized audience including the artist Georgie Harman who is contributing to the new artwork for the forthcoming Sunnes and Roses album by The Legendary Ten Seconds.

 

Ian introduced his songs with a background of the history and how he came to write it, giving a nice context to each piece.

 

A particular highlight was singing The Year of Three Kings with its catchy sing-along chorus. We sang it for a second time as part of an encore with a much more positive and audible response from the audience second time around, proving how catchy the songs are.

 

Ian chose songs from the first, second and third albums to sing at Sunday’s event, calling me up onstage accordingly. My vocals are on the 2^nd and 3^rd albums and I have sung most of the songs from the 1^st album live, but did not know Ian at the time to record on the 1^st album.

 

After a break from the band to focus on my acting ventures I was delighted to re-join this group of talented musicians for a gig at the Picturehouse, where it all began. Ian and I used to sing around 5 songs as part of a music evening consisting of different musicians. It was fantastic to perform a longer set this time with the whole band.

 

Camilla Joyce

 

WRITTEN AT RISING

 

LORD ANTHONY WOODVILLE

 

HOUSE OF YORK

 

THE LADY ANNE NEVILLE

 

FELLOWSHIP OF THE WHITE BOAR

 

KING IN THE CAR PARK

 

HOW DO YOU REBURY A KING

 

RAGGED STAFF instrumental

 

THE GOLD IT FEELS SO COLD

 

THE COURT OF KING RICHARD III

 

THE YEAR OF THREE KINGS

 

SHAKESPEARE’S RICHARD

 

ACT III SCENE IV

 

WHITE SURREY

 

AMBION HILL 

 

SHERIFF HUTTON

 

A Richard III concert in Denver Colorado – at the GM meeting of the American Branch – the evening of the 24th of Sep. 2016

By Elke Paxson

Having been interested in Richard III for a number of years it took me a long time to decide to become a member of the R III Society and it was my very first attendance of a “General Membership Meeting”. Living in the States is wonderful and exciting, but it also means everything is a bit farther away and there is nothing historically connected to Richard the 3^rd, the Wars of the Roses or places with a medieval feel. However, if you put together an enthusiastic group of true Ricardians you will end up learning and experiencing about a long ago time that can be as fascinating and different from ours as you can imagine. There were talks about armour as demonstrated and explained by Dominic Smee, who is affected by scoliosis as Richard was, but proved through his training that it doesn’t diminish much what could be accomplished on the battlefield of medieval England. He brought along some of his armour pieces and padded garment. We were also treated to an interesting account of what a re-enactment group like the “Les Routier De Rouen” is all about and how much interest, pride and fun they have during those re-enactment weekends. The insight was given by Christina Smee – Dominic’s mother, who has been a member for many years.

We were also treated to a copy of the “Jewel of Middleham” by its owner Susan Troxell – a most beautiful and artful piece of jewellery.  Sally Keil gave an interesting look into “Heraldry, Blazonry and (not Coat of) Arms”. It is a pretty complex, yet intriguing subject.

 

Saturday evening was very special all around as many of the attending members dressed up for Cocktail hour in a variety of beautiful medieval garb some of which were pretty elaborate. After dinner we were treated to the evening’s highlight – the performance of the Legendary Ten Seconds. The group is headed by Ian Churchward who also composed most of the songs. He was accompanied by his lovely wife Elaine who sang harmony and some solos. His excellent lead guitar player Robert Bright supported Ian’s rhythm guitar with a flawless performance and a special “sound effect”. Jackie Hudson also sang harmony and accompanied some songs with a harp.

When they took the stage they started off with a short intro and then a song called “Written at Rising”, a song based on an actual letter written by Richard III. This song was followed by a most beautiful and melodious “Ambion Hill” – about an unexpected appearance of a knight. One of the intriguing things about the music of “The Legendary Ten Seconds” is that it is so diverse – in speed, rhythm, in what the songs portray and reflect as well as the sound and instrumentation. Not having the full back up and support available so far from their home base it was truly excellent what they were able to convey. The next songs were “Fellowship of the White Boar” – a song about the R III Society’s history and goals, “The King In The Car Park” –  I always thought the title a bit strange, but it’s a fantastic song that moves rapidly and tells the story put into excellent lyrics by Elaine Churchward: King Richard of England, he of the White Boar.  This one was followed by “How Do you Rebury A King” – not only a good question, but an outstanding song that talks about the thousands attending and watching and it also highlights the significance of the soil from 3 places connected to Richard that was put into his tomb. Ian filled the time between songs with introducing his fellow performers as well as telling us a bit about the songs he has created. The tale of a “Yorkist Archer” was followed by an instrumental about the “Ragged Staff” of Lord Warwick. Then we were treated to a song about Edward’s French campaign in 1475 and the disappointment Richard must have gone through. After that came the lively “The Year Of Three Kings” – a perfect song to sway to and sing along – something we all seemed to enjoy doing.  The next song was about the beauty of King Richard’s court and it’s indeed a beautiful song. Sooner or later one is confronted with Shakespeare’s treatment of Richard III. Ian does so in 2 songs – one about the way he turns Tudor’s rewritten history into a play that so many people over the centuries unfortunately have taken as history and not as entertainment. ”Act III, Scene IV” is actually a song straight from the bard’s mouth put into a very smart song of that play. The harmonies are really beautiful and so is the instrumentation. There was a rather sad song about Richard’s role as Lord Protector and all the intrigues that arose. The evening ended with one of Ian’s best songs called “White Surrey”. While he acknowledges that this is legend and we really have no way of knowing what kind of horse took him into his last battle, it is a fabulous song about Richard’s last charge. It is exciting as the listener is taken along the unfolding courageous charge.

It was a wonderful and enjoyable evening. The audience showed their appreciation for a great performance with a well-deserved standing ovation. Personally, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this evening, it was such a treat to hear them. Thank you to all who made this possible and Thank you for coming to Denver, Colorado.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you….Rapping Richard….!

Rapping Richard? I kid you not, as someone once said. Another production of Shakespeare’s Richard III, but in German with English subtitles….and not only a lot of rapping, but some full frontal nudity as well. Can’t say I’ll be queueing at the door, but some will probably like it. Maybe.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/edinburgh-2016-this-rapping-richard-iii-is-not-for-the-faint-hea/

MEDIEVAL MUSIC IN THE DALES

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/medievalmusicinthedales/

For lovers of medieval music, ‘Medieval Music in the Dales’ is to be held at Bolton Castle in Wensleydale on September 2-4, 2016.

If it’s too short notice for interested parties to attend this year, the organisers are holding it again next year, also in September.

There will be concerts, workshop, displays, dance, sessions, traders…and grand feasting!

Bolton Castle belonged to the Scrope family, and is the perfect setting for such an event. A quadrangular castle, with massive walls,  Bolton was originally built by Richard le Scrope in the reign of Richard II.

The Scrope family seemed to have rather bad luck…and an unfortunate tendency to lose their heads. William Scrope, Richard II’s treasurer, was beheaded without trial, when Richard was deposed by Bolingbroke.  the Archbishop of York, Richard Scrope, preached against the new king and led forces against him at Shipton Moor; and though in the end he called for a truce, he was taken prisoner and beheaded. Later, in the reign of Henry V, Lord Scrope of Masham was implicated in the rather flimsy Southampton plot, along with Richard of Conisbrough (Richard III’s grandfather), and executed.

The fifth Baron, Sir John, was a little luckier, serving both Edward IV and Richard III. He fought for Richard at Bosworth and survived, being pardoned by Henry VII after the battle (Sir John’s wife was related to Henry’s mother, Margaret Beaufort). He didn’t stay loyal to Tudor for long, though, and soon joined the Lambert Simnel rebellion. Henry pardoned him again, but told him he had to live no more than 22 miles from London, so he never returned to his northern home.