2008 in the coastal Suffolk town of Aldeburgh

Aldeburgh in 2009 ~ Aldeburgh in 2007

we 14 my 08

1817 Mary Shelley finished writing Frankenstein

Top Crafts in Aldeburgh the weekend before last turned up a Lewis machine gun and raised well over £8,000 for the MS Society.

sa 03 my 08

1953 Dylan Thomas gave the first public reading of Under Milk Wood

The Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh was crammed today with all sorts of crafty things for Top Crafts 2008 and television personality John Bly was taking an active interest in a lady working with glass. The show continues all weekend including Monday and it's free to get in ...

... meanwhile up the road in the Aldeburgh Cinema Gallery John Bawtree told us that the first visitor at his Zanzibar exhibition was the widow of Zanzibar's last British resident. From 1913 to 1963 Zanzibar was a British protectorate and had a resident rather than a governor. Cinema manager Sue Harrison arrived and there had been returns for Daughter of the Regiment; the cinema expects to repeat the live New York Metropolitan Opera House link ups this autumn. The Zanzibar exhibition continues until Thursday 8th May and it's free too.

sa 26 ap 08

1564 William Shakespeare was baptised

Even at £20 a pop opera tonight in Aldeburgh is sold out but you can still queue in hope of returns, the box office opens at 6:30pm.

th 24 ap 08

1961 Bob Dylan's recording debut playing harmonica on Harry Belafonte's Midnight Special

Because we're a bit pretentious a little telly treat last Christmas was The Daughter of the Regiment with the divine Natalie Dessay (watch for her back facing curtsey at the end:). And our point is? It's La Fille du Regiment as the last of this season's live link ups with the New York Met this Saturday at the Aldeburgh Cinema.

tu 25 mr 08

1975 King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was assassinated by his nephew

A John Western watercolour living in Knodishall and depicting sail boats at Slaughden Quay, Aldeburgh is for sale on ebaY with a starting price of £800.

pics as prints, mugs and t-shirts at photoboxgallery.com/NearTheCoast

tu 18 mr 08

1965 Aleksei Leonov took the first walk in space

You know how racks of those terribly fashionable Crocs always stop at size 8? Well not in Alde River they don't, they go up to size 13; find the shop, not surprisingly, in Aldeburgh High Street 01728 452476.

The odd little off license in Aldeburgh with the equally odd but charming Adnams metalwork has been shut certainly since last spring? It's now a Darcy B dress shop (there are other Darcy Bs in Framlingham and Woodbridge) and the metalwork has gone, they could have painted it to match the wall and retained the little oddity.

tu 11 mr 08

1810 Napoleon and Marie-Louise of Austria were married by proxy in Vienna

Despite the recent weather Aldeburgh still appears to be there but don't know what happened to the bathing huts ...

fr 29 fe 08

1956 Muffin the Mule made his tv debut

... and from the people who brought you the Saxmundham-Aldeburgh branch line another 24 carat piece, the 1958 Aldeburgh Carnival with a brief glimpse of Wickham Market Junction (yeah, yeah we know it's at Campsea).

we 27 fe 08

1939 Borley Rectory, reputedly the most haunted house in England, burned down

The Sudbourne Park Printmakers are having their Easter show at the Peter Peers gallery in Aldeburgh.

mo 11 fe 08

1891 The first Cruft's Dog Show opened at the Agricultural Hall, Islington

The Magic Flute To use the old joke some films seem to escape rather than be released. On occasion undoubtedly it's because the film's rubbish, sometimes you suspect the producers didn't get their sums right and there's nothing left for promotion, in the case of Kenneth Branagh's The Magic Flute it is in English (a new libretto by Stephen Fry) but it's also a French production. On at Aldeburgh Cinema until Thursday.

sa 9 fe 08

1824 At the age of twelve Charles Dickens started work in a blacking factory

Well that didn't take long, Paul Verhoeven's Black Book is on Film Four this month sometime (according to the tv trailers) though Film Four's glossy website makes it impossible to find out when.

fr 1 fe 08

1971 Wireless licenses abolished in the UK

Small child and large white thing Perhaps because we rather liked The Chronicles of Narnia film (always loved the novels) the desire has been rising to see The Golden Compass but Lady KRJ says it's rubbish ... and she liked Lord of the Rings! Either way Golden C's on at Aldeburgh cinema for a week starting tonight.

tu 22 ja 08

1972 The UK became part of the European Economic Community

Here's a bit of solid gold, a 1950s train journey on the Saxmundham-Aldeburgh branch calling at Thorpe Halt ... accompanied by Flanders and Swan ... and we've just worked out that the boy standing seemingly dangerously on the track is holding up the single track token for the driver.

January's pics as prints, mugs and t-shirts at photoboxgallery.com/NearTheCoast

fr 18 ja 08

1701 Frederick I become King of Prussia

One of the nice things about coastal Suffolk is when the new year begins with the weather is at it's most miserable and you're still paying for

Christmas so do the Friday lunchtime concerts at the Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh. As we arrived somewhat early today the single remaining seat was being sold so in the second week of the 2008 season the Heath Quartet played to an absolutely full house. Violinist Oliver Heath ironically introduced Frank Bridge's Three Idylls for String Quartet as "an English piece for English weather" and we were off with the quartet revealing a lyrical, engaging and confident style that can be heard at the Halesworth Cut at the end of October. Even though it's out of season you still can't park in Aldeburgh because one side of the High Street has been dug up.

Aldeburgh in 2007 ~ Knodishall ~ Sizewell ~ Snape

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Aldeburgh in 2008