As a massive fan of Lucy Worsley’s work on TV, I was really excited to be going to see her in person at the Octagon where she was closing the Off the Shelf Festival of Words. Worsley has written more than a dozen books and has presented numerous documentaries on topics ranging from Mozart’s time in London to the power struggle between Sherlock Holmes and his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle. However, tonight, Lucy Worsley was talking to her Sheffield audience about a castle not too far away from here: Bolsover Castle.
Worsley’s interest in Bolsover Castle started just after she had finished her final exams for her history degree. She told us about how she randomly picked up a book in the library about the Elizabethan Country House and read it in a single afternoon. The photos it included of Bolsover Castle particularly grabbed her attention and, only a few years later, she went on to write her PhD thesis on William Cavendish, the man who finished the castle’s construction and decoration. Slightly unexpectedly, this talk also focused more on William Cavendish’s life than it did on the history of Bolsover Castle itself.
Worsley successfully hooked the audience at the start of the talk by introducing Cavendish as a lover of houses, horses and women, and she went on to speak about each of these subjects in turn. Personally, I thought that the most interesting of these was his love of horses. Worsley introduced us to horsemanship, a popular pastime for aristocratic men before the Civil War, which involved training your horse to do elaborate tricks, and almost dance, around the ring. I was fascinated by this, and Worsley’s use of images was particularly effective at giving me a complete picture of this aristocratic pastime.
Although Worsley’s delivery style was engaging, I felt that she was let down by the fact that she was stood behind the lectern, that was placed quite far back on the stage, for the entirety of the talk. This created a distinct sense of separation between her and the audience that other speakers often avoid by being more active on the stage. Nevertheless, I was still captivated by Worsley’s talk, and I really enjoyed watching the Q+A section at the end, where she moved to sit in a chair placed in the centre of the stage. I thought that the placement of this chair was effective because it encouraged more interaction between her and the audience.
Overall, I really enjoyed this talk, and it was amazing getting to see Lucy Worsley in person as she is a woman I really look up to and admire. I was particularly excited to be able to take a photo with her when I was getting a book signed at the end of the event! I would definitely recommend going to see any future talks by Lucy Worsley as she really brings history back to life and changes how you view what has already happened.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
