One such theatre was the Globe Theatre, built in 1599 the theatre company known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. What is perhaps most notable about this particular group is that their playwright in residence was one William Shakespeare.

The original Globe Theatre was built in 1599 but destroyed by fire in 1613 when a prop cannon misfired during a performance of Henry VIII.  The theatre was rebuilt by June 1614 and finally closed down by the puritans in 1642.

The theatre itself was thought to have been an open air amphiteatre, some three stories high, with an ‘apron’ stage thrusting out into a courtyard area. Spectators could watch the performances from the galleries around the courtyard or from the yard itself. Spectators within the yard were known as ‘groundlings’ who would each pay a penny to watch the plays – equivalent to around £8.50 at today’s prices.

In recent years the Globe was recreated on a site a few hundred yards from the original, funded after a long campaign led by the American actor Sam Wanamaker.  The new Globe theatre opened in 1997, after Wanamaker’s death, and is home to performances of the works of Shakespeare and others each summer.

Groundling tickets these days now cost around five pounds – even cheaper in real terms than the 1620 price.

TOTP was first broadcast on New Years Day 1964, introduced by Jimmy Savile one of the country’s first disc jockeys. The show’s format was pretty much defined from day one, featuring music from the pop charts (or hit parade as it was then known) culminating with that week’s number one (best-selling record).

TOTP was broadcast each Thursday evening from 1964 through to 1996, when the BBC started shifting it around the schedules, it finally ended (to a chorus of disapproval from recording artists) in 2006 – Jimmy Saville (then Sir Jimmy Saville) presented the final edition, as he had the first. There are occasional rumours of resurrection, and repeats are often shown on the BBC’s digital channels, but the golden age of TOTP was probably the sixties and seventies.

In the early days, before studio technology was sufficiently advanced to make live performance really convincing, many acts would mime to their singles (or in the seventies to versions recorded specially for the show). This lead to many examples on bands emphasising their miming – the DJ John Peel ‘played’ mandolin on Rod Stewart’s performance of ‘Maggie May’, DJ Dave Lee Travis ‘played’ drums on Mud’s ‘Tiger Feet’ and on one occasion Status Quo used a life sized marionette of their absent bassist Alan Lancaster.

Status Quo performed on TOTP more than eighty times, more than any other band.

Often, when bands were unavailable to perform (in the days before promotional films or videos became commonplace) TOTP would resort to an in-house dance troupe performing to a single. The first dance troupe in the sixties were the ‘Go-Jos’ but the dance troupe from 1968-1976 “Pan’s People” became a household name in their own right.

In late 1975, the band Queen famously realised that they would be unable to perform ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ on TOTP because they would be touring. Instead they recorded a promotional video, and can justifiably claim to be the fathers of the MTV generation.

Another British obsession which can be traced to the door of TOTP is the weekly ‘Number One’ race, and particularly the race for the Christmas Number One. In recent years that race became somewhat devalued as TV scheduling meant that the winner of ITV’s ‘X Factor’ was virtually assured until 2009 when a Facebook campaign started by Jon & Tracy Morter usurped the X Factor winner, getting a track by Rage Against the Machine to the Christmas Number One.

Update – Sir Jimmy Saville died on October 29th 2011, two days short of his 85th birthday.

The origins of pancake day are the same as Mardi Gras (or ‘Fat Tuesday’) in using up extravagant ingredients such as eggs prior to the Lenten period of denial. The British cook pancakes, which is basically a batter mix cooked in a frying pan and tossed (flipped in the air to cook the previously uncooked side). Pancakes are usually about twelve inches in diameter and wafer thin, served with sugar and lemon juice.

Of course, there are some British eccentricities – pancake races.

The most famous of these takes place in the village of Olney, about fifty miles northwest of London.

The Olney Pancake Race, was first ran in 1445, supposedly to commemorate that the year before a housewife, while cooking pancakes, had heard the church bells calling the residents to the ‘Shriving Service’ and hurried to the church still holding her pan.

Today the race is more formal, and takes place just before mid-day, ladies of the town (wearing a skirt, apron and headscarf) are required to run a 415 yard course carrying a frying pan and pancake. After crossing the finishing line the winner is required to toss the before being greeted by the verger of the church with a kiss of peace.

Other towns and villages hold pancake races, including one held at the old Trueman Brewery in Spitalfields, London. Teams race to win an engraved frying pan.

His best known works include the lyrics to ‘Auld Lang Syne’, ‘ A Red, Red Rose’, ‘A Man’s A Man for A’ That’, ‘To a Louse’, ‘To a Mouse’, ‘The Battle of Sherramuir’ and ‘Tam o’ Shanter’.

In 1801 a group of Burns’ friends got together on or about his birthday (bizarrely to commemorate the 5th anniversary of his death) with a special supper.

The tradition of ‘Burns Night’ on or around January 25th continues to this day amongst Scots – particularly expat Scots.

The main features of a ‘Burns Night’ supper are Scotch Whisky and Haggis, served with Turnips and Potatoes – or as they’re known colloquially ‘Neeps and Tatties’.

Traditionally a ‘Burns Night’ supper will start with the ‘Selkirk Grace’ – a traditional Scottish grace that Burns is said to have modified :

Some hae meat and canna eat;
And some wad eat that want it:
But we hae meat and we can eat
And sae the Lord be thankit.

The main course of the meal will comprise the aforementioned Haggis, usually ‘piped in’ – that is, brought in to the room ceremonially, led by a piper playing the bagpipes. Once the haggis has circled the room, it is ‘addressed’ with some ceremony and the words to Burns’ poem ‘Address to a Haggis’:

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin’ race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang’s my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight, (it is at this point that the Haggis is sliced open)
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm – reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a’ their weel-swall’d kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
‘Bethankit’ hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect sconner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither’d rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit:
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade.
He’ll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow`rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, If ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!

A toast to the Haggis is then drunk, with Scotch Whisky.

There are plenty of translations of the address around the Internet, but the original lowland Scottish, delivered with gusto is quite an impressive spectacle.

The Haggis is then served with the aforementioned Turnips and Potatoes, and plenty of Scotch Whisky.

Robert Burns was a well known freemason, and many Masonic lodges incorporate a Burns Night supper into their calendars.

He first came to public attention in 1959 with a number of appearances on the BBC Children’s programme ‘Blue Peter’ – for which he also designed the programme’s distinctive ‘ship’ emblem. After his appearances on Blue Peter Hart went on to present the BBC TV programme ‘Vision On’ which ran from 1964 until 1976with Pat Keysell. ‘Vision On’ was primarily aimed at deaf children, and featured madcap film sequences (including some by Sylvester McCoy – who was the seventh actor to play Doctor Who). But it was Tony Hart’s relaxed and inspired approach towards art that inspired a generation of schoolchildren – he would demonstrate how to make ink stamps using halved potatoes, construct mosaics using dried pasta or sketch a massive cartoon on a car-park using a line roller.

A key feature of Vision On (and subsequent Tony Hart TV programmes) was ‘The Gallery’ which featured artwork sent in by young viewers – always followed by an invitation to send more artwork in, with an apology that the artwork could not be returned. Maybe there’s a BBC warehouse somewhere stacked with artwork by juvenile Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin… the place would be worth a fortune! But knowing the BBC they simply junked them.

After ‘Vision On’ Tony Hart was offered his own series ‘Take Hart’ which ran from 1977 to 1983 and then ‘Hartbeat’ which ran from 1984 to 1993. These series introduced the animated character ‘Morph’  – made from ‘Plasticine’ using a technique now known as ‘claymation’. The producers of the ‘Morph’ segments were Aardman Animations who went on to produce the award winning ‘Wallace and Grommit’ series of films.

Tony Hart retired from television in 2001 and died peacefully at his home in Surrey, having earlier suffered debilitating strokes that left him unable to paint or draw “the greatest cross I have to bear”, but to millions of children in the sixties and seventies, he was the inspiration for them to rick up a paintbrush, or crayon, or dried pasta for the first time.