Nicola Cornick's Blog, page 21

Prizewinners!

Thank you to everyone who entered Bob's birthday contest here on the blog and congratulations to Gillian, Carla and Maggie Ann on winning copies of their backlist books of choice! Look out for a new contest in a couple of weeks to celebrate the UK release of Notorious!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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Birthday Giveaway!

Happy St Patrick's Day! Today is Bob the Cat's fifteenth birthday and to celebrate she has decided to give away some of my books. Bob was born the youngest of triplets. Now she is the only one left. Her sister Petra and brother Paddy – who was a huge, fluffy gorgeous, silver coloured fellow (and he knew how gorgeous he was!) - are sadly no longer with us. Bob is very pretty, very bad-tempered but very affectionate when she chooses. She is offering a backlist book of your choice to three commenters chosen by her between now and the end of Monday. Her question: Are you a dog or a cat person? (guinea pig and rabbit people are also welcome to comment!)

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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Regency Bookcases

What could be finer than keeping your books in this beautiful gilt-bronze mounted laburnum double sided open bookcase? It's inlaid with "hardstone," a term used in the decorative arts to describe semi-precious stones that are cut and polished into a background of marble or other building stone. On this bookcase the hardstone panels depict highly-coloured images of birds and flowers. This particular bookcase comes from a "Pietre Dure" workshop in Florence and was bought by a gentleman on the Grand Tour at the beginning of the 19th century. The top of the table is made of marble.

And to match, we have this big George IV bookcase from Gillows, made of mahogany, circa 1820. Robert Gillow founded the luxury furniture and furnishings company in the mid 18th century. In 1764 the company established a shop in Oxford Street in London. Gillows furniture rapidly became sought after and fashionable with aristocratic families and remained popular until the end of the 19th century.

Would you like these bookcases in your library?

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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Interview with Julie Cohen!

Today on the Word Wench blog I am chatting to novelist Julie Cohen about her fantastic new book The Summer of Living Dangerously. Julie's interview is here: http://bit.ly/xXqAHS 

Summer is a contemporary novel with a strong Regency theme and it's one of my favourite recent reads. I hope you will join us at the Word Wenches – and there is also the chance to win a copy of the book!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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The London Season – Cricket at Lords

To many people cricket is a mysterious and not particularly interesting sport with bizarre field settings – long on, silly dog, short fine leg, to name but a few. I adore watching cricket, though. Taking a delicious picnic to a cricket match on a sunny summer day is a great pleasure.

The history of cricket is a long and distinguished one and spectators have been enjoying it for centuries. Its actual origins are obscure but I read recently that King Edward IV banned it in the 15th century. (No reason was given so I don't know why he disliked it.) Cricket or "creckett" was also mentioned in records in the 16th century. In 1611 two men in Sussex were prosecuted for playing cricket on Sunday instead of going to church. Village cricket had evolved by the time of the English Civil War in the mid-17th century but it was only in the 18th that it became a sport that was played between English County teams.

Cricket also became a game patronised by the aristocratic as well as the common man during the 18th century. The Earl of Winchelsea was an early "gentleman" player. In London cricketers played on the Artillery Ground, which still exists. Others teams followed, particularly at Slindon in Sussex which was backed by the Duke of Richmond. The first Eton versus Harrow match was played in 1805. Lord Byron was on the losing Harrow side. The first Gentlemen versus Players match (amateur versus professional) was played in 1806. In 1814 the Earl of Winchelsea's agent, Thomas Lord, bought a piece of land in St John's Wood as a cricket ground. Lord's Cricket Ground still stands there.

One of the oldest surviving cricket posters dates from 1816 and reads: "A grand match to be played in Lord's New Cricket Ground on Thursday June 6th 1816, and the following day, between two select elevens, of all England. For five hundred guineas a side. The Wicket to be pitched at eleven o'clock. Admittance six pence. Good stabling at the ground." Lord Frederick Beauclerk captained one team and Lord Clifton the other.  A pot boy walked around with a supply of beer and porter as refreshment for the public.

Lord Frederick Beauclerk the 4th son of the Duke of St Albans, was one of the most controversial characters of Regency cricketing. Although he was a clergymen he was not always thought to abide by the rules and some considered him to be an unmitigated scoundrel. He also made a fortune from betting on the game!

On June 17th 1815, on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo British soldiers played a cricket match in the Bois de la Cambre park in Brussels. This was presumably before they scrubbed up to attend the Duchess of Richmond's ball! The part of the park where the match was held is still called The Englishmen's Lawn, La Pelouse des Anglais.

Interestingly, cricket was a game also played by women from the mid 18th century. A game between ladies teams from the villages of Bramley and Hambledon was reported in the Mercury newspaper in 1745. Ladies matches were not always genteel, though, and one in London in 1747 was delayed through crowd trouble. The game of cricket was certainly known to Jane Austen and the scene in the film Becoming Jane where she roundly trounces Henry Lefroy's bowling was probably pretty accurate! I featured a game of cricket in one of my early books and I do like the idea of a ladies team. I suspect that will be an idea that pops up in a future book!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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Boxiana!

Today I am blogging at the UK Regency Authors' Blog about Regency boxing and its fans – The Fancy. This was something I researched for Whisper of Scandal and I found it fascinating! Hope you will drop by! http://bit.ly/wS3D8v

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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Eton Mess – Invented by a Labrador?

A little while ago when I was blogging about the origins of some of the events in the London Season (part 2 of this series will follow soon) a commenter asked if the famous recipe Eton Mess was associated with the Eton School 4th June celebrations. The history of Eton Mess is very interesting and has lots of legends associated with it. One story suggests that it is the dessert traditionally served at the Eton versus Winchester cricket match, the first of which took place in 1796.  Another story – my favourite – is that the dish was created one Eton Open Day when an over-eager Labrador dog sat on someone's picnic and squashed the strawberry pavlova! I love this idea but apparently it isn't true. There are, however, records of the dessert being served in the 19th century and by the 1930s it was on sale in the Eton Tuck Shop (or Sock Shop as they call it there) as a sweet made of strawberries or bananas with ice cream or cream.

Whatever the origin of the dessert, it is truly delicious. Here is the recipe:

First, make your meringues, or if you want to save time and effort, buy the meringues ready made. If you are making them, measure out 6 oz caster sugar. Separate out the whites from three large eggs and place them in a clean bowl. Whisk until they form soft peaks. Next, add the caster sugar a tablespoon at a time and continue to whisk until each tablespoon of sugar has been completely mixed in.

Heat the oven to gas mark 1, 275°F, 140°C.  Take dessertspoonfuls of the mixture and place them in rows on a lined baking tray. Place the baking tray on the centre shelf of the oven and leave the meringues there for one hour. After one hour, turn the oven off but leave the meringues there to cool and dry overnight, or until the oven is completely cold.

To make the pudding, chop half  a pound of strawberries and place them in a blender together with a tablespoon of icing sugar. Whizz the whole lot up to a puree and then pass it through a sieve to remove the seeds.

Chop another half pound of strawberries and whip up a pint of double cream.  When you are ready to serve, break up the meringues into  1 inch (2.5 cm) pieces (or get a labrador to sit on them), place them in a large mixing bowl, add the chopped strawberries then fold the cream in and gently mix it all up together. Finally, fold in all but about 2 tablespoons of the purée to give a marbled effect. Place the dessert in a serving dish, spoon the rest of the purée over the surface and serve as soon as possible.

You can use whatever fruit you like for an Eton Mess – blueberries, raspberries – and add a dash of port or ginger cordial or some other liquid. The choice is yours to capture the essence of summer!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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Contest Winners!

Many congratulations to Colleen, who has won my February website contest, and a copy of Lord Greville's Captive and the book of Edwardian paper dolls. Another big congratulations to Sue, whose name was drawn from the hat this morning to win the blog contest! Thank you to everyone who entered both contests. I had such a lovely time reading about your all time favourite romances and I also got some great recommendations for my TBR pile! Please join me here on the blog again next week – and don't forget that there is a new website contest to win a set of my Brides of Fortune trilogy. Just click here to enter! I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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Celebration Contest!

Today is Leap Day and I'd like to wish a very Happy Birthday to all those born on 29th February! I hope you have a very special day. I'd also like to congratulate everyone who is taking this opportunity to propose. Good luck and best wishes for the future!

Tomorrow, 1st March, is World Book Day. So I am rolling these two events into one big celebration, combining books and romance, and offering a BIG BLOG PRIZE of my entire HQN backlist. That is ten books: Deceived, Lord of Scandal, Unmasked, Confessions of a Duchess, Scandals of an Innocent, Undoing of a Lady, Whisper of Scandal, One Wicked Sin, Mistress By Midnight and Notorious.

To enter the contest all I'm asking you to do is name your favourite romantic novel (or novels) of all time and tell me why you like it so much. So if you would like to win the books – or give them as a gift to someone else – tell me your romance favourites. 

The winner will be selected at random on Saturday from names drawn out of a hat. Please make sure that I have a way of contacting you in case you win. Good luck, thank you for entering and have a great week!

PS: For another chance to win, don't miss my website contest as well!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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Blog Update

A week ago I was lucky enough to stay in this beautiful farmhouse for a reunion of my college friends and today at the Word Wenches blog I am chatting about old friends and reunions. Meanwhile over on the Ashdown House Blog there is an update on the conservation project and the treasure we  found in the attic! Please drop by for a chat – it's always lovely to see you! Have a great week!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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