
OK, it is a temporary exchange of treasures - the French are getting the Lewis Chessmen and some of the Sutton Hoo hoard. In the 1000th anniversary of the birth of William the Conqueror, this 70 metre length of embroidery [it is not tapestry work, by the way!] is coming back to the land of its creation.
We asked to borrow it in 1953 [Coronation of Elizabeth II] and 1966 [900 years after the battle] and quondam Culture Secretary Matt Hancock* assured us in 2018 that it would be coming in 2022. [huh!]
But now there is a definite date, and it will be on display in the British Museum. Oh how I long to go and see it...
I have dreamed of seeing this for more than 55 years, ever since I laboriously copied a portion onto a bit of sheeting for a school project on mediaeval needlework. [I finally saw my other favourite French stitching, the Lady and The Unicorn, last year in Paris]
I am clearly not alone in this longing, poet Bryan Bilston has written a little ode, which I plan to print out and stick on the fridge...
Tapestry of Dreams
for sew long how I did yearn
to visit you in Bayeux
but with the conquest of the years
my hair is getting greyeux
for Time will wait for Norman
-that's one in the eye for me
yet hope hangs by a silver thread,
I now hear you'll cross the sea
oh, I'm on pins and needles
I've been waiting since my youth
no stitch-up or false-spun yarn
it's the unembroidered truth
Brian Bilston
Will you be going to see it do you think?
* I have always wanted to use the word quondam in a post. I am not at all fond of MH, so am pleased to have found an appropriate adjective for him at last.