I "chatted" to Tim Noad by e-mail. He was saying that these days even parts parts of the Peerage patents are printed on parchment, and they don't have anything like the quality of the handwritten illuminated texts.he said: "As you know, 'parchment' is more often used for sheepskin which is indeed greasy and hard to write on and not used much these days. I am certain that the speech is printed, I can't imagine them paying someone to write it at short notice and it would be harder to read (I have … [Read more...]
The Queen’s Speech
Yesterday was the Queen's Speech in the House of Lords.I loved watching the pageantry on television and I thought the Queen looked beautiful in her regalia.I had a phone call at about 5pm to ask if I would chat on Radio Oxford for a 5 minute slot about the goatskin vellum that she read her speech from. I suggested they ask Tim Noad but he wasn't available so I took it on. (Gulp!) So I await your comments about the accuracy of what I said.I said that vellum really means the skin of a calf whereas … [Read more...]