Pete Hartley: sometime dramaturg, perennial scribbler
Preston, and scores of other Lancashire towns, prospered exponentially from the first wave of the Industrial Revolution. Their streets were paved with gold (for a few) because their sheets were plied with cotton. The cotton was cheap because the labourers who produced it were not paid. They were purchased. How should we declare our debt and pay our dues?
A ghost story for Christmas The bike growled as if in warning as he released his grip on the throttle. He braked gently expecting ice on the high moorland road. Freezing fog that night, the weatherman had said, and fog there was, and Mike was too wise to doubt the other part of the prophesy. … Continue reading Pillion
From glitterballs to mothballs – an offstage rummage through four and a half decades of Preston Guild Hall.
A review (Blackpool Grand Theatre, Friday 9th August 2019) For seven consecutive years in the 1960s my childhood holidays were spent in Lytham St. Annes just sixteen miles from home. It may seem a raw deal when schoolmates would traverse the country, or set out on the first of the popular package holidays to that … Continue reading Around the World in 80s Days
(Extracted from Will at the Tower) Will rubbed the ache from his eyes. He could remember nothing of the night. The mattress beneath him was coarse and sank sharp shards into his naked back. The sunlight seared across the ceiling rebounding off the lime wash. There were no familiar scents in the air, but the … Continue reading Sigh no more
One of the most perplexing aspects of Hoghton Tower in Lancashire is the question of where is the building from which it takes its name? The original tower has been missing for 376 years. There were theories as to where it was, but no one was sure until now.
A seasonal ghost story I am well aware of the dangers of walking alone late at night. I do so by choice, frequently, most nights. This is because I cannot sleep. And I’m looking for someone. If you are tempted to walk home after the bars close my advice is always call a cab, but … Continue reading To whom it may concern
A seasonal excerpt from Will at the Tower, a novel exposing William Shakespeare's secret seventeenth year.
Did the teenage William Shakespeare spend time with England's most wanted religious fundamentalist at Hoghton Tower in Lancashire?
. . .and one way to prevent it Parlick Pike dominates the landscape north of Chipping in Lancashire. It does so for two reasons. Firstly, because it protrudes south from the bulk of the Bleasdale fells, and secondly, as a consequence of its distinctive profile. It is that peculiar form that, according to tradition, gave … Continue reading Going Pear-Shaped
