The John Masefield scholar and bibliographer, Dr Philip W. Errington, will deliver this year’s annual lecture of The John Masefield Society on Saturday 10 September 2011 at 7 for 7.30 pm in the Burgage Hall, Ledbury. Dr Errington has extensively published on Masefield and his work has been published by Penguin Classics, The British Library, Carcanet and Egmont. He is a visiting research fellow of the Department of English at University College London and a director within the book department at Sotheby’s.

The lecture is entitled John Masefield on Record and will consider the sound recordings of the former Poet Laureate, born in Ledbury in 1878.

When Masefield made his first commercial record in 1959 it was hailed as ‘a revolutionary gesture’ by The Times and reviewed as ‘the most important record ever issued in the history of the gramophone’ by The Gramophone. That work, The Story of Ossian, was the first of several recordings made by Masefield, both commercial and private.

Dr Errington has trawled numerous private and public archives both in England and the United States to uncover the true story of Masefield’s recordings. The lecture will be illustrated with several hitherto unknown examples, together with some familiar favourites.

The lecture will last for approximately 80 minutes and there will be one interval when refreshments will be available. Members of The John Masefield Society are admitted free of charge, non-members are very welcome to buy tickets on the door at £3.

The Story of Ossian, privately issued on CD for the first time, is now available for sale from Ledbury Books and Maps.

The John Masefield Society