The Scottish Play and the Welsh Wizard: Witches in Punch Cartoons
From its beginnings in the 1840s until the late twentieth century it was Shakespeare’s Three Witches who inspired the majority of cartoons featuring witches in Punch.
Smuggler Legends: Owlers, Woolers & Restless Ghosts
Smuggling. The word has been entwined with romantic delusions and depictions for many years. However, in reality this could not be further from the truth. From concepts of men in fancy clothes to moonlit coves and caverns; the idea of the smuggler has been mixed with an almost heroic taste. Yet, the graphic novella ‘The […]
Riddles, Heroes, and Folktales Come True: Folklore in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
Folklore is central in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: not only “external” folklore, the folklore of the “real” world, but also “internal” folklore.
Matlock the Hare: The ‘Real’ Workings of a Majickal Hare
Hares and folklore… hmmm… how many words, I wonder (or ‘griffles’, even?), have been written about this one bounding, leaping, boxing wonder? A million?
Bringing Venetian Folklore to the Big Screen: The Plague Doctor
Though we’ve not lost any of our academic appreciation for the hearthside story or campsite tall tale, it cannot be denied that we as a species have moved into the art of mass producing our spoken heritage. The film maker may not ever replace the greatest of our local tavern heralds, but like any story […]