This show creates a musical journey through the last ten centuries featuring tales of what really happend to characters of the Bayeux Tapestry at night; 11 century Britain with the 'Domesday Crew'; Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral; King John and the Magna Carta; The Black Death rocking Europe; the elusive Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest; Geoffrey Chaucer researching his next book; Joan of Arc on trial for witchcraft; the six queens of Henry VIII; Guy Fawkes the not-so-successful espionage agent; Captain Cook's around the world voyages; the Industrial Revolution and Victorian Age; the evacuees of World War II; and the technological developments of the 20thCentury.Suitable for Key Stages 2 and 3.Suitable for non-specialist teachers.Includes a compendium of ideas for staging (including costumes props and casting) fundraising advertising and general behind-the-scenes duties.

Michael Hurd. The ill-fated friendship between Henry Plantagenet and Thomas Beckett forms the basis of this ballad cantata on one of the momentous clashes between church and state in English history. With his customary melodic skill and literary clarity Hurd provides a very direct and immediately appealing account of the events which is designed to provide a starting point for further creativity in primary and middle schools.Performable as a concert or stage piece the cantata can provide the basis for original work in art design dance drama history environmental and English literary studies.Duration: 21 minutes. Scored for narrator unison voices and piano for performance as either concert or stage piece. Woodwind and String parts on hire.