EARL GREY AND THE SEA

Last week we played In Praise of Elephants in Howick Village Hall in Northumberland.  A small village full of character just outside of Alnwick.

Howick

And as we were setting up I spied a photograph on the wall of a man titled Earl Grey.  I immediately thought this was cool as a couple of nights previous we had watched one of my favourite films Mary and Max.  Where Mary’s father works for a teabag factory and she fantisises about one day marrying a man called Earl Grey.

Mary and her Earl Grey

And here in Howick Village Hall…

he was...

I asked the hall representative Jeanette and this was in fact a relative of THE Earl Grey, who the tea was named after.  And not only did he used to live down the road but was buried in Howick church.

This was an adventure calling our name, that was too good and close to ignore.

The following day we set off to find Earl Grey.

He used to live on Howick estate, a beautiful stately home and gardens.  Earl Grey was even prime minister from 1830- 1834(!) and actually seemed like a cool guy. He had the tea specially blended for him to suit the water up at Howick, using bergamot in particular to offset the taste of lime in it.

Lady grey used it when entertaining in London, when it then became quite popular and is how Twinings came to market it.  They Greys never registered the trade mark and so never received a penny in royalties. Although it doesn’t appear they needed it!

He had 15 children who all survived into adulthood.  Including a daughter from an affair with Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, whom he brought up as his own.  Apparently, to make sure none of his children were scared of the dark, at the first full moon after their tenth birthday he would make them walk down the Long Walk to the sea at midnight and bring back to him a flower of Grass of Parnassus, which only grew in one spot on the cliffs.

Naturally we had a pot of Earl Grey in his tea rooms.

Earl Grey's estate

We also uncovered another interesting story at Howick. Recently the community held a commemorative celebration remembering sailors drowned in a shipwreck off the nearby coast in 1913, who were laid to rest in the Howick church along with Earl Grey.

They living relatives of the wrecks survivors came across from France, one hundred years on to celebrate the rescue and survival of their parentage thanks to this little village, and to commemorate the loss of those whose lives along with their future generations ended there.

That afternoon as we drove on from Northumberland along the winding roads to Scotland I watched the water crashing about like a brewing storm in a bottle on the dashboard.

And I thought, how theatrical! I wonder if there could be a show in that!