Christmas and Valentine's Day

A Simply English Christmas

Our selection of English medieval, folk and popular carols and snippets of verse. Some of these are well-known to the English-speaking (singing!) audience, others come from local traditions, mostly those of the south-west of England where Andy grew up.

Valentine's Day with Simply English

When Valentine's Day was imported to Hungary, only the commercial side of this very old custom came with it, and none of the flesh and bones. Valentine's Day has at least as much to do with sex as it does with love, and in this STRICTLY FOR ADULTS Simply English evening you will get everything from the first-ever Valentine's letter, written by a Norfolk lady in the 15th century and desperate to be married, (50 years before Columbus sailed west for India, proving that this is NOT an American festival!), to love songs by Henry VIII and by long-forgotten singer-songwriters of centuries ago, to the wicked texts of Thomas D'Urfey, who in the late 17th century believed that a dirty song would make a sick man well quicker than going to the doctor.