Personal storytelling in a city jam-packed with history!
One of the most important aspects of presenting historical timelines, subjects, buildings, events and people’s lives to the public is about making the effort to do it in a fun, engaging and memorable way.
In the heritage arena – which the entire city of Bath is immersed in – this historical presentation is called “interpretation”. How you interpret a place using diagrams, illustrations, words, art, performance, film, signage and artefacts. But what it really is, of course, is about telling a damn good story!
A good example of this is, if you’re new to the city, you might hop on board one of the red tourist buses in the city centre, like many of the 350,000 tourists who visit Bath do (in a normal year). When you do, you’re not just climbing on a bus. You’re actively engaging yourself in the city and its living history. Via the medium of a charming and funny tour guide, you’re about to go on a journey of storytelling about Bath, its prominent people, the Roman and Georgian eras, and its beautiful architecture.
The tour guide on this bus exploration will have practiced their storytelling skills for years, probably through other jobs like being a teacher, historian, journalist, or host. They will be good at talking enthusiastically in public, and their entire goal will be to pull you into their story about the city. If they succeed, they will have brought Bath to life by the time you jump off the bus.
I’ve been on those bus tours, but – as a storyteller myself – I used to work somewhere different. I was a Georgian-dressed guide at the Jane Austen Centre on Gay Street, interpreting and telling Jane Austen’s story, as it related to her time in Bath. It was a while ago now, but I worked there for a year, and it is still one of the most memorable storytelling jobs I’ve ever done (plus, I got to dress up in a Georgian outfit all day!). In those 12 months, I told stories about Jane and her family to over 40,000 visitors.
So, the power of a good story told well can do infinitely positive things to people who participate in it. Their emotions are sparked and they can feel enlightened, educated, entertained. They want to share parts of the story with their friends. They feel they have had a magical experience that used their own imagination to bring an ancient reality around them to life.
This is why I love storytelling in so many forms, and have often picked jobs or freelance work that involves presenting stories to the public.
I have been a journalist, teacher, festival host, scriptwriter, heritage project manager for museums such as The American Museum, the Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre and for a large art-history-education project in North Devon called Way of the Wharves which you can read about here. And now, I’m a children’s author delving into my inner child to tell fun, engaging stories to children and their parents.
And, whether you realise it or not, you will engage with all kinds of stories throughout your daily life – from meeting someone in the street, to watching a film, reading a sign, doing some painting, or from reading a book. Humans are inherently nosey creatures, so we love a good story to pique our curiosity genes!
You can watch me reading two children’s picture books in the stunning American Museum gardens last year – for the Toddler’s Teddybear’s Picnic Week – in these videos:
My picture book, The Wish Fish, is in Bath libraries to borrow now.
This article was first published in 2021.