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Men in Scarlet
DJD - Narrator - First 60 Seconds Members of the cast and
crew of 'Men in Scarlet' at the preview held on 11 September:
Thanks to Mary Lynn T. for the Programme
Nell Gwynn, the Chelsea Hospital's legendary 'founder' Sound of 300 years of heroism September 9, 2000 by Robin Stringer The heat of battle was recreated so convincingly - whether the whiz of musketball, the pounding of heavy artillery or the whine of dive-bombers - that those of a nervous disposition were jumping in their seats. It gave some indication of the fears, often spelt out in firsthand accounts, of ordinary soldiers caught up in the horror of war from Blenheim and Waterloo to the First World War trenches and the Dunkirk beaches. As hospital governor Sir Jeremy Mackenzie hoped, it did indeed provide in little more than an hour "a glimpse of something of the enormous military heritage enshrined here". It certainly satisfied 81-year-old Ted Edwards, who fought his way with the Eighth Army from El Alamein through Sicily and into Italy. "Fantastic," he said as the final firework faded in the night sky. Yet, some of the most affecting moments occurred off the battlefield. A light moving from window to window of the Great Hall poignantly suggested Florence Nightingale's healing passage though the hospital at Scutari in the Crimea. As shocking an event as any occurred at the hospital, itself, in 1945 when a V2 rocket hit the same corner that a German bomb had struck in 1918 in one of the last air raids of the war. On each occasion, five were killed. The extraordinary story of Men In Scarlet, as the entertainment is called, was played out before a preview audience of some 1,800, including Lady Thatcher, against the backdrop of Sir Christopher Wren's handsome facade. The former premier was there with Sir Denis, one of several vice-patrons in attendance of whom perhaps the most important was the narrator, Dame Judi Dench. She had her own slant on proceedings. "What intrigued me was that the Royal Hospital was Nell Gwynn's idea," Dame Judi confided, remembering that Nell is usually only noted for selling oranges in theatres. According to legend, Nell recounted her dream of a palace for old soldiers rising on Chelsea Fields to Charles II. Ten years later in 1692, the first soldiers were admitted. Men In Scarlet is being shown at the Royal Hospital for the next five nights starting tonight.
Chelsea
Pensioners have earned an honourable retirement at the Royal Hospital Hats off to the men in scarlet August 29, 2000 by Robin Stringer One of those stories not nearly as well known as it should be - that of the Chelsea Pensioners - is at last getting the kind of treatment it deserves. The contribution of around 25,000 men across three centuries is being remembered next month in a spectacular Son et Lumière at their home, Sir Christopher Wren's magnificent Royal Hospital in Chelsea. "Called Men in Scarlet, the show is a potted history of the British Army," says its writer-producer John Miller, who was spoilt for choice in choosing material to use in his hour-long saga. But he aims to do more than recount history. He wants to re-create for his audience the terror of being in the Battle of the Somme or in the miraculous escape from Dunkirk. Hence he is deploying 32 surround-sound speakers, flares, fireworks, lasers and searchlights to animate the evocative images that will be projected on to a big screen on the Wren portico. "At Dunkirk, spectators will hear the whine of the Stukas diving from above and at the Somme they will be plunged into darkness until the flares go up," he says. "If the audience doesn't jump out of their seats at least three times, I shall be disappointed." The show doesn't deal with just the First and Second World Wars. It tells soldiers' tales of death and glory dating from the foundation of the hospital in 1685 and battles ranging from Blenheim in 1704 to Waterloo in 1815. Narrated by Dame Judi Dench, it has a star-studded cast including Sir Derek Jacobi, Penelope Wilton and Ian Richardson who play not only the pensioners but also such famous figures as the Duke of Marlborough and Florence Nightingale. When Miller began work on the project in 1998, he was worried lest there was insufficient suitable material. In the end, there was such an avalanche that there was no room to do justice to major events like the Indian Mutiny. In the programme he begs forgiveness if he has omitted feats of arms that might be favourites with certain members of the audience. "They were chosen," he explains, "because they are eye-witness accounts which help us both to experience the terrors and excitements of war, and to understand why the nation has always felt it owes such a great debt to the Men in Scarlet." Thus, we hear a graphic description from a Private Thornton of the famous charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo, and his own dramatic escape on his horse Jack pursued by the French. "The ground was fetlock-deep with mud and our horses had suffered much from fatigue and exposure," he wrote. "But the French were in this respect no better off than we, and we knocked them down like ninepins." Suddenly, he found himself alone and surrounded by the French. Fighting them off, he galloped away only to be confronted by a wide ditch. "I patted Jack on the neck and said, 'You must take it, boy'. "There was no need of spur, but clear and clean he went over as if I had just taken him fresh out of the stable at Knightsbridge. None of the enemy ventured to follow so I slackened my pace and rode back at leisure to the line." Private Sheridan survived the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854. "We were shot at from all directions and it was each man for himself," he recalled. "If those Lancers had hemmed us in, it would have been all up with us." Sergeant Quinnell was in the big attack on Thiepval in 1916. "I was in the second wave, the first wave was just obliterated," he wrote. "When I looked round I was the only one standing up. I thought, 'I'm not Sir Gala-had, I'm not fighting the Germans on me own!' So I went to earth behind the lip of a shell-hole... When we got back, my platoon consisted of one private, one lance-corporal and myself - out of 43 men." Sergeant-Major Dennett was one of the first ashore at Sword Beach on D-day. "It was just a question of running as fast as you damn well could. There was no cover for about 400 yards until you got to the dunes where you could see the German guns mounted on top of the incline." Throughout the centuries, the Chelsea Pensioners have proved themselves in their country's service and have so earned an honourable retirement at the Royal Hospital. Just how resilient the Chelsea Pensioners can be was proven by the 101-year-old Donald Macleod who, it was reported at the Royal Hospital in 1789, had walked from Inverness to London. "His second wife, who has a son aged six, is to be delivered of another child," continued the report, "and the soldier Macleod seeks therefore to have an increase of his pension." Men in Scarlet runs from 12 to 16 September.
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