362 years ago this week, Parliament abolished Christmas and Canterbury was in uproar. Weeks of chaos ensued, and the city wall ended up with a great big hole in it…

Now The Bakery presents this little stocking filler for you all – a full cast, festive production for BBC Radio Kent! You can hear our 5-minute production “The Year Christmas Was Banned” Compleat and Unexpurgated on Dominic King’s show around 5.45pm today.

LISTEN LIVE – BBC RADIO KENT

Or, if you missed it . . .

LISTEN AGAIN ON THE BAKERY AUDIO PLAYER

It was scripted by Bakers Dadd & Fryer, and features familiar voices Tony Cooper and John Hippisley, bringing to life the real historical figures of the Town Crier & Mayor William Bridge respectively. We would like to extend a special thanks to Prof. Jackie Eales for allowing us the interview which forms the backbone of this feature, and for all the historical information with which she consequently armed us.

News came of a great Insurrection at Canterbury, about keeping of Christmas-Day; The Mayor of the Town endeavouring to allay the Tumult, and exercising his Authority according to the Ordinance of Parliament against such vain and superstitious Observations, was very much abused by the rude Multitude, had his Head broke, and was dragged up and down; the Tumult was so great. The Cry was, “For God, King Charles and Kent!”Proceedings in Parliament, December 1647

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On Tuesday the 8th of December 2009, Chef Fryer and myself attended the award night for the CG Whiz competition being run by Escape Studios in conjunction with none other than The Mill.

After submitting my showreel to the competition I was emailed explaining that I had been shortlisted as one of the winners. The top prize: A course at Escape Studios and a placement at The Mill.

As third place was announced it became clear that I was in the top two! (Chef Fryer had made off with the events stash of Champagne at this point and was luring the ladies of London into his custom-temporary love nest (the broom cupboard).

Second place was announced…

It WASN’T ME!

I had WON!

That’s right folks. The Bakery has YET ANOTHER award to add on top of it’s baking oven.

There could only be one winner and that was Adam!

A brief selection of media from the night can be found below. Most of the photos have been removed of the ladies leaving from Fryers temporary “Love Nest” for legal reasons.

Enjoy the totally “unrehearsed”, “first take”, “non-scripted” interview:

That said I am genuinely very happy to have won and look very much forward to doing the course. Exciting times are ahead. Thanks to those involved with the competition (if you were to ever stumble upon The Bakery).

Chef Adam

CG Whiz

Dear Twitterati,

Just Julian here wishing you all the best this merry yuletide. I thought, like, how retro would it be to write a round robin so that you, my adoring public can read all about little me over mince pies and sherry next to a roaring log, or whatever it is you do at Christmas. We cant all spend Christmas with Tracy Emin after all.

I am writing this, because even I don’t expect you to read every one of my many tweets, I do write rather a lot, and they are rather varied ( some people have even commented that they seem like several people have written them, how crazy!). I thought, therefore, that I would condense both my tweets and the progress that my charity side project the Bakery (bless) have made this year. So merry crimbo y’all, peace out.
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I certainly get a kick out of watching these two films. Mainly because what he’s doing looks like an awful lot of fun, involves a whole load of taking the piss, and I feel there’s a lot of sense behind it too.

My favourite quote being at 6:46:

We would like to thank you all for having no imagination and picking a corporate chain bar.

HA!

Back in the summer Dan and Richard ventured into the wilds of Wales in search of Will & Ed – two old friends of The Bakery who carve out a unique lifestyle walking the country, sleeping outdoors and singing for their supper. The results were broadcast on BBC Radio Kent and formed the final instalment of our Canterbury series for Dominic King.

But there is always more to be said. 

Indeed, those 5-minutes barely scratched the surface of Will & Ed. Their story is a multi-faceted one, full of people and ideas and anecdotes and strange dreams. It is hard to do them justice in such a short space as we had. 

So, come in from the cold, grab yourself a hot drink (mulled wine? hot chocolate?) and cast your mind to summery evenings by crackling campfires. We are proud to present a brand new half-hour programme of entirely new material, which allows us to paint a fuller, more authentic picture of our time spent with Will & Ed.

We hope to give you an impression of how earnestly Will & Ed have set about their journey, and how friendly and thought-provoking is their company. We will also find time to sprinkle in a few songs, and quiz them about the seeming contradiction between the modern media and the Mediaeval minstrel. It’s a less frantic pace than the usual Bakery fair, politely requesting an attentive listener, but we hope you will do us the kindness of finding half-an-hour to earwig on our fireside musings . . .

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO “WILL & ED CAMPFIRE PODCAST” ON THE SEXY NEW BAKERY AUDIO PLAYER

It’s here at last . . . the Bakery Audio Player!

Our BAP is fresh out of the oven.

Yes that’s right, all of The Bakery’s audio hotcakes are now available in one place. And what a sexy looking little place it is, courtesy of much interior decorating by Messrs Alaric King and Max Heide. So, whether you want to indulge in the studenty sitcom antics of Konkerbury, or revisit our Gulbenkian Podcasts packed to the brim with top comedians, it’s all here. In fact there is OVER SIX HOURS of free audio produce here for your delectation. And the list will keep getting bigger. So, without further ado, lend us your ears . . .

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO STUFF

Back in a previous post we saw just how fantastic Microsoft’s marketing department really are – by suggesting we throw a party in their honour. Well, as we sat on the other side of the Atlantic, sipping tea, waxing our moustaches and laughing at the utter absurdity of the whole affair, people over here in the US were actually taking part in the celebrations. The Bakery’s US counterpart, Miss Miranda Gerzon, took it upon herself to do some first hand experiential research by attending one of these parties.

I have never had so much fun, in my entire life! The new Help features of Windows 7 really excited me and you should have been in the room when Josh sent an email – the atmosphere was ELECTRIC!
Miranda Gerzon, 2009

Ok so the above, may be a complete mis-quote made up by me but she was rather happy with her free Windows 7 bag. Which she now uses mainly to carry around her Macbook in. Oh, the irony.

I’ve decided, aside from Alaric’s Aryan jawline and the fact that I look Chinese from the back, The Bakery’s just not ethnically diverse enough. I think I’ve found the solution . . .

While not strictly a pretty film, interesting use of typography or piece of scathing satire, I thought everyone might enjoy Richard Dadd’s favourite BBC South East journalist reporting from Canterbury’s own Marlowe Theatre…

Roman ruins unearthed by builders

Take note of the cool timelapse!

Fooking incredible…