Sun Jester 

Looking ahead to 2022!

We are getting quite a few talk bookings for the coming year, with a mix of online and face-to-face events. Obviously things are subject to change in these unpredictable times, but at the moment we do not have any public online talks scheduled. When we have any dates they will be published here.

For those of you who are signed up for the Mirthy programme of online events, we do have two upcoming dates in the Mirthy programme:

On the 14th January Bronwen is hosting another Singing Workshop and on 22nd February Graham is delivering his talk on Chloroform. You can sign up to Mithy events here https://www.mirthy.co.uk/event-calendar/

We are now offering the opportunity to book a private online viewing of some of our most popular talks and entertainments. For a quiet night in, or a gathering/zoom catch-up with family and friends, we are offering access to a pre-recorded talk for 48 hours for a fee of £10.

Just book your selected talk by emailing us at contact@sunjester.co.uk and pay by Paypal or bank transfer and we will send you a link to our private Youtube channel. You will then have access to your selected talk for 48 hours.

The following topics are currently available:

TALKS

Arsenic – The Victorian Housewife’s Friend

From a ballroom gown that floored the dancers, to wallpaper that rendered Queen Victoria's guest at Buckingham Palace unconscious; no wonder Arsenic has such a bad press. This talk reveals how, in the 19th century, this substance (which could be sold freely to children), was the culprit in countless careless deaths and also many sinister and sometimes systematic murders. Interesting and amusing.

Wedlocked – Women, know your place!

Most women in the past had few choices about life and marriage partners. Usually they found themselves ‘owned’ by, or dependent on, a man; father, husband, brother, guardian. This is the story of the slow journey to equality and the drastic and novel solutions along the way. It also applauds the remarkable strength and resilience of women in a society whose attitudes and laws were weighed against them.

Poisons for Medicine – Victorian Pharmacists and Quack Doctors

A darkly humorous look at medicine in the 19th Century. The reign of Victoria saw the development of chemical medicine from medieval-style alchemy to modern pharmacy. Chemists lent their ingenuity to attempt to provide any cure their customers wanted. Some made fortunes, some made disastrous mistakes. As the speaker points out, our recent forebears must have had incredibly strong constitutions to have survived the lethal doses of over-the-counter poisons blatantly advertised as cure-alls. The talk leaves you amused and stunned in equal measure.

Tales from the Elizabethan Underworld – A Warning To Country Folk 

A light-hearted examination of some of the cons, swindles and outright thievery practised on unwary visitors in 16th Century London. From a cross-dressing female highwayman to a psychic horse thief, this talk is both shocking and amusing - and you thought the city was dangerous now!

Katherine of Aragon - Spanish Princess, Princess of Wales, Queen of England, Discarded Wife

Katherine was a much loved, and very popular queen of England for 24 years who deserves to be better known than simply part of a rhyme to remember a king who used and abused six wives.

This is a chance for a complicated, passionate and determined woman to be seen in her own spotlight rather than in Henry VIII's shadow.

Victorian Street Life – A Poor Existence

In the mid-19th century, many of London’s poorest inhabitants earned their living on the streets of the capital, by legal and sometimes not-so-legal means. From Crossing Sweepers to Costermongers, we introduce some of the more colourful characters of Victorian London, real people, many of whom may have inspired the stories of Dickens.

MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENTS 

A Christmas Entertainment

A feast of anecdotes and music on a seasonal theme. Christmas songs from the Golden Age of Hollywood musicals combine with humorous tales about the artistes. We also look at the origins of some of our Christmas traditions and how one of them was (and still could be) illegal.

Songs of War

Let Graham and Bronwen of Sun Jester entertain you with a classy touch of nostalgia. With Bronwen’s fabulous voice singing, Graham’s anecdotes and the aid of a working 1934 wind up gramophone, they revisit the popular music of the Second World War and tell often amusing stories about the artistes who entertained the troops and those left at home. Guaranteed entertainment for those who remember and for those who do not.

The Fabulous Fifties

Let Graham and Bronwen of Sun Jester entertain you with a classy touch of nostalgia. With Bronwen’s fabulous voice singing, Graham’s anecdotes and the aid of a working 1934 wind up gramophone, they revisit the decade that gave birth to Rock & Roll. Looking at the, often surprising, events, from car crash to kidnap, in the lives of artistes such as Frank Sinatra, Doris Day and Dean Martin.