1 John 1:35 literally says:" You know that He appeared in order to … It won't change overnight, but now 140,000 miners know that there are other causes and other problems. Though Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has been beloved for more than 200 years (it was originally published in 1813), part of its current legacy—and one … ", Jonathan was one of the first to be diagnosed with HIV in this country yet recently celebrated his 65th birthday. Dai believes the film will go down well in the valleys and that people will view it with nostalgia "because those events did happen and they were part of them". Read about our approach to external linking. Kendra is a librarian at a university, specializing in history and fashion. What strikes me about Dai is his courtesy, desire to be fair and melodious Welsh accent, like a boat on an up-and-down sea. What happens to him is like what happens to the straight audience – he mirrors the slight feeling of trepidation. "What you have to say is as valid as what other people have to say. I've seen it twice, laughed repeatedly, wept at the end. But at the end there was stunned silence, applause, tears. It must have taken courage? It opens with a rallying Arthur Scargill on TV, saying the miners will, one day, be able to tell themselves: "I was proud and privileged to be part of the greatest struggle on Earth." Jackson recalls that he and other LGSM members were in South Wales when the National Union of Mineworkers announced the strike was over and the miners would return to work. ", But because this was an amateur documentary, no names accompanied the faces. Jackson says LGSM "changed my life, it is the proudest thing I've done. Between 1797, when a young Jane Austen began work on what would become Pride and Prejudice, and 1813, when the novel was published, the French Revolution was fought, Marie Antoinette was guillotined and Napoleon rose to power and conquered most of Western Europe. '", And then? She is mindful of how much employment has changed since the pit closures. Photograph: Suki Dhanda for the Observer, soon to be artistic director of the Old Vic. Photograph: People’s History Museum, Manchester/LGSM Archive, Dominic West as Jonathan Blake in the film Pride. When asked about the history of pride, often the first thing that comes to people's minds are the Stonewall Riots. Couldn't anyone else see that? But with the film Pride, screenwriter Stephen Beresford has created a hit focusing on unexpected links between South Wales miners and a Lesbian and Gay group from London. We went to Pennsylvania for our Family Vacation 2014 and saw a ton of stuff! The funeral congregation was socially distanced, with the Queen seated alone, because of Covid rules. Since 1995, volunteers have organised a Pride March and a community-based festival in June, alternating between the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. I told them this won't be a documentary." Discover (and save!) "It was terrible," he says, and adds that, on his first essay, an "eminent Oxford historian had written, 'This is a dog's dinner.' "I was working as head gardener at Bedford College in Regents Park. The credits, luckily, included an uncommon name: Reggie Blennerhassett. At 20, I had two children and was happy as a housewife and young mother. The history of the gay rights movement in this country is usually dated to 1969, when the patrons of a New York City bar fought back against a discriminatory police raid. He said, 'None of us believed this story would see the light of day. He hunches intently over the mike, honestly addressing his audience. ", In an era of raging homophobia and strident union-bashing, two minority groups made common cause in a Welsh mining community. He says: "It manages to reflect much of the politics of that time. Look to English productions or collaborations as they do this stuff so well. ", She is the daughter of a trade union family; her mother was a shop steward, her father an active member of the NUM. Dancing in Dulais, created by LGSM for the miners – became a vital resource and makes a fascinating introduction to the cast. One day, during the writing of the film, Stephen Beresford turned up at Mike's flat: "He was extraordinarily cagey. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. History vs. Hollywood: Miracle by Michelle Carvalho . Today I am going to discuss some of the things that I found to be terribly wrong with the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightly. The events that unfolded said a lot about what it means to be empathetic, to overcome dissent and face common enemies: Thatcher, the tabloids, the police. Siân James (flowery dress) and Jonathan Blake (checked trousers) were key figures and are played in the film by Jessica Gunning and Dominic West. In the film, Paddy Considine, who plays him, dresses conventionally in what looks like an M&S checked shirt. At the time, I didn't care whether I lived or died. Besides, giving up is not Dai's style. This was a wildly successful gig dedicated to raising money – £5,650 – for the miners, and starring Bronski Beat). "I can't claim my dancing was quite the big production number it became on screen," she recalls. Cliff, an older miner (in the film, a killingly funny and affecting Bill Nighy) appears in the documentary saying: "The lesbians and gays have been super duper. Dec 31, 2014 - This Pin was discovered by Michelle Blue. By Elest Ali. You might assume a romcom about striking miners and 80s gays was unlikely to be big box-office, but the same was probably said of Billy Elliot. Dai has met Considine only briefly and marvels at how he has "managed to convey the sentiments and instinctive personality I believe I have, the caring exterior. I have to admit that before meeting any of the real people involved, I had assumed they would be more ordinary than their on-screen incarnations. It was a stirring day to relive and many younger people were fascinated. And of course without that strange meeting of opposites there'd be no film today.". Audiences like the struggle and the sense of community at the heart of the story. : ) Note: This blog post is just my honest opinion. Until I was 13, homosexuality was a crime – like making being black a crime. . He acknowledges now that this is a line you can only use once in a pitch and explains that he went on to tell the story of miners in the Dulais valley in South Wales during the 1984-5 strike – the longest in British history – and a gay and lesbian group from London that donated more money (£11,000 by December 1984) to their cause than any other fundraiser in the UK, along with a minibus emblazoned with the logo LGSM: Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. Yet he talks so well. He believes he survived because he refused to be part of a trial in which some patients were given AZT, others a placebo. Photograph: Nicola Dove, Mike Jackson, co-founder of LGSM. We knew gay people existed – my dad worked with a miner who was gay – but nobody openly talked about it; it was considered very personal. He talks about how Welsh community is still strong, but he is under no illusions that pit closures did lasting damage. In fact, what throughout history has been recognized as the deadliest of vices is now almost celebrated as a virtue in our culture. After Toronto, Blake went to talk about Pride in New York, Los Angeles and in San Francisco. I was just someone trying desperately to save their community. "It is a story I'd known about for 20 years," Beresford explains. ", I speak to Blennerhassett – Beresford's key to the story – and his partner, Ray Aller, on the phone and they agree that being involved in LGSM was "the best time of our lives". Learn More . It is directed with finesse and has a fabulous cast (including Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and Dominic West). Our first sighting of him is with fox fur and whistle outside Gay's the Word book shop. "Someone in LGSM came from South Wales so that's why we wrote to a miners' support group in the Dulais Valley - which in the movie Stephen changes to a telephone call. When miners and gay activists united: the real story of the film Pride. He comes from a working-class industrial family, is its greenest shoot – not many gardeners on his family tree. He was a whirlwind of a person, bright, mercurial, great fun. "We needed a character who, like the audience, arrives bewildered at a Gay Pride march. 3 Introduction The story of working class gays and lesbians in the trade union movement is as old as the early days of union organizing, when workers began to collectively demand improvements in their working conditions and fight for better pay, hours and benefits. He reminisces about LGSM's first visit to Wales, telling how the minibuses got lost in the valleys and did not turn up until one in the morning. The most recent chunk of Rome 2 DLC is … "Well, there is one," he replied, hesitating at the door, "but no one is ever going to make it." ", Then we talk about Mark Ashton. You feel his indignation as he remembers how Thatcher's government "sequestered the funds of the NUM so miners couldn't get at their strike pay. It was unspeakable." "Yes," he says with a quick smile. I understand the attraction of the movie, and I am sort of (kind of) close to liking it, if only it were completely different. Fury is an American film which was released in 2014. In the homemade LGSM documentary, we also glimpse a tall, handsome fellow wearing groovy leather trousers, shaking a donations bucket outside Gay's the Word bookshop in London's Marchmont Street – this is Jonathan Blake. "Have you any real perception of how people see you? When you see Ben playing Mark, it is like he has come back to life – it is unbelievable.". Photograph: Nicola Dove, Jonathan Blake, key member of LGSM. Photograph: Suki Dhanda for the Observer, Jessica Gunning, left, as Siân James, with Imelda Staunton in the film Pride. "My trousers were pink and grey check," he says, looking at the photo. back into it…" Jessica Gunning's performance, she enthuses, is phenomenal. You might wonder how, after the defeat of the miners, an upbeat ending could be legitimate, but this is one of the film's many achievements. The last thing I expect is that on the evidence of the film and amateur documentary – 30 years old – I will recognise Mike immediately as he walks into our King's Cross rendezvous but, even minus the beanie, I do. Here are some key facts about pride! I pointed out that there was a lot of rubbish in the media about striking miners - so maybe everything you'd get in those days in newspapers about gays and lesbians was nonsense too. What happens to your body in extreme heat? But the consensus was: we have been demonised by the press, maybe we should meet the gay people because they've also been demonised. She explains how the gay community educated the mining community: "Their struggle is similar to our own." Spit it out.' Would they expect us to talk about things, ask them questions? Pride is a 2014 British LGBT-related historical comedy-drama film written by Stephen Beresford and directed by Matthew Warchus. And what is most remarkable is that it does not trivialise the politics of the time. It helps to have someone who does not know where he is going because an audience can think: neither do I. And I said, 'Good God, what's the matter, Stephen? Just a few weeks after the Stonewall Riots, LGBTQ+ gathered for a “gay power” rally in Washington Square Park. By Vincent DowdArts correspondent, BBC World Service. ", Siân is honest about the community's initial uncertainty about LGSM. Now, because I'm about to meet some of the original people involved, I have to ask: how has the film gone down? But it was not until Thatcher's description of mining families as the "enemy within" that something changed inside her. The archive is in the People's History Museum, Manchester – but nobody would have known it was there". Read about our approach to external linking. But I feel the same now, if anything more angry. "Oh God, I love my screen character. Thatcher appears, looking like a possessed marionette, her bossy elocution a declaration of intent, as if she means her voice to carry, to be heard generations on. "I adored her," Siân says. (Now 42, Beresford started out as an actor but is also author of The Last of the Haussmans, an exuberantly accomplished debut at the National in 2012). Pride and arrogance are conspicuous among the rich, the powerful, the successful, the famous, and celebrities of all sorts, and even some religious leaders. Pride & Prejudice Cultural Influences 1 Pride & Prejudice Cultural Influences Sue Forgue and Linda Reinert This essay discusses the three major cultural/historical influences in Pride and Prejudice — marriage, money and the education of women. And she exclaims: "We wanted this so much – we have waited 30 years for this story to be told. The novel was widely influential because it was able to portray everyday events in a realistic way that, rather than coming off as mundane, became interesting and colorful stories that … In September 2010, the writer Stephen Beresford was about to leave a meeting with film producer David Livingstone when he was asked: "Is there any story you are burning to write?" Its most arresting character is a charming, fresh-faced Irish boy, Mark Ashton, who died of Aids in 1987. The second time, he could "settle in and enjoy it". And they were bloody vegetarians! But one crucial find – a half-hour documentary, All Out! They all contribute to a movie that is a lot of fun to watch and, for me, was profoundly moving at numerous intervals. They tell me they were paid extras in the film's final march: "We were costumed for the 80s. I tried to do a blog post via the Blogger app, but wifi up in the Poconos was iffy. So we never encountered any hostility." Played by actress Jessica Gunning, James is seen in one of the film's highlights - a very 1980s dance which Blake launches into in the miners welfare hall. "So who could possibly have thought another decade on I'd find myself briefing the Hollywood Foreign Press Association about the strike? But more on that trip later. 1. He says: "Going to a gay club in London was definitely something I'd never envisaged doing." Jonathan Blake, now 65, is a former actor played in the film by The Hour star Dominic West. A new organisation, AL D ltd was founded in 2003 to … "We got so lost that we arrived about one o'clock in the morning and it all felt a bit flat. 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