Sounds from the Park explored the history and traditions of Britain’s last great open air oratory site; Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, London. Legend has it the origins of Speakers’ Corner lie in the tradition of "last words" uttered by those condemned to die at Tyburn gallows, where public hangings took place until 1783. The right to speak in Hyde Park was enshrined in law in 1872, after Reform League demonstrations in the 1860s defied a government ban to meet in the park and tore down its railings.
By the 1930s “soapbox” orators were to be found in marketplaces, street corners and parks across the country. Of the estimated one hundred speaking places established in London between 1855 and 1939, Speakers’ Corner is the last to survive. Against all the odds, speakers, hecklers and crowds gather every Sunday for the free entertainment and debate that the park offers.
“I have often listened to the speakers, and have sometimes wondered where they came from, how they lived, and where they would go when they had said or screamed their say and the gates of the Park are closing (1939).” Sean O’Casey
On the Record revived the curiosity of the playwright Sean O’Casey, extending it beyond orators to the hecklers, trouble-makers and spectators. We interviewed 29 people about what Speakers’ Corner had meant to them - from Edna Mathieson who debated with the socialist orator Tony Turner in the 1940s through Black Power activist Roy Sawh to contemporary regulars. We gathered historic field recordings (reel-to-reel) and images from photographers such as Rodger and Moyra Peralta, Philip Wolmuth and Sophie Polyviou, which bring the oral histories to life.
The speaking platforms at Speakers’ Corner provide an intriguing angle on political developments through the 19th and 20th Centuries. Women's Suffrage. Hunger marches. Anti-colonial movements. Ban the bomb. Struggles for Black equality. Far right reactionaries. Islamism. It is also a place with its own cultural and emotional weather; variously described as “an open-air lunatic asylum”, a “fellowship of controversy,” “an apprenticeship,” “a bare knuckle cage fight,” “a political education,” "a life-saver". Our project tried to make space for many meanings of place.
"Speakers’ Corner is not a homogenous institution organised by a committee or by directors. It’s a multilayered event. Some people go there to enjoy the open-air entertainment as it were. Some people just go there to finish their walk through Hyde Park with a little bit of listening to ‘crazy’ people. So if one asks, ‘Who goes there as a speaker or as an audience?’ one would have to say a whole variety of people. And that’s part of the attraction of Speakers’ Corner." Reinhard Wentz
The resulting archive, housed at Bishopsgate Institute, created the first ever Speakers' Corner archive in the UK. It captures the unique atmosphere of Hyde Park itself, including the cut and thrust of face to face debate, the eccentric performances and the chaotic soundscapes. The project culminated in two exhibitions — one at Bishopsgate Institute and one in Speakers' Corner itself — a radio programme, a booklet and web resource.
"It doesn't matter what the subject is, if you have a style of speaking or a patter that's engaging, and to some degree connects with the times. You can't just come with a script and assume it's gonna work, 'cause it won't. That script has to be played against the audience at Speakers' Corner." Heiko Khoo
Sounds from the Park trained and supported 35 volunteers to conduct interviews, write about Hyde Park characters and catalogue the archive. Meanwhile, George Mitchell School Students learned about the history and received training in public speaking from Heiko Khoo, who spoke on a Marxist platform, and Tony Allen, who described himself as an "advocate heckler, anarchist parasite, and mixed ability shaman."
An original artwork by Annette Fry, The Film Strip, accompanied the exhibition at Bishopsgate Institute (above).
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Bishopsgate Institute, the Adventurers History Club, Wish (a voice for women’s mental health) and our volunteers for their enthusiasm, time and contributions to the archive.
Kindly supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and by Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Trust.
