The Gentleman Jack Affect
Anne Lister would be laughing all the way across the moors and back if she could see the frenzy she has created since her diaries were brought to life so incredibly well by Suranne Jones on the BBC TV Series Gentleman Jack.
It is a fascinating true-life love story that even nowadays would make you gasp with either excitement, intrigue, joy or even a sprinkling of jealously.
So what has been the “Gentleman Jack Effect” since the series began to air on our screens, on Sunday 19th May at 9 pm to be precise?
Well, people are flocking to Halifax from all over the world, especially from the US after HBO aired the series recently. Halifax Tourist office has seen a huge increase in visitor numbers and Shibden Hall, where Anne lived from the age of 24 has seen a massive 700% "and counting" increase in visitor numbers since the show aired in the UK and the US. It has already extended its opening hours due to the huge number of visitors arriving. And it’s even looking at opening during the winter months, unheard of in all its years!
Calderdale Council has said that Tourism in the area in now worth £344 million annually, almost £100 million more than in 2010. Read more of the effect Anne Lister is having in and around Halifax here
Plus, Bankfield Museum, where you can see some of the costumes from the TV series, is also considering extending their opening times. Do you see what the Gentleman Jack effect is having? And what about O’Hooley & Tidow could they ever have imagined when they wrote their catchy number, Gentleman Jack (released in 2012), that it would propel them into (almost) superstardom status overnight? By the way, Gentleman Jack writer, Sally Wainwright, was going to name the series Shibden Hall until she heard O’Hooley & Tidow’s song and decided to call it Gentleman Jack. Thank goodness for that (oh do you feel another song coming on??)
Now, the other question is did O’Hooley & Tidow make up the name Gentleman Jack because it was a great catchy line for their song? No, unfortunately, they can’t take that accolade; instead, it was Anne’s peers that started to refer to her as Gentleman Jack. Essentially, because she was living exactly as a man did in those days. Dating women, owning land (turning that into a profitable asset), which provided her with a healthy income and living. As we know from the series, the now-famous line "I was born like this, why should I compromise myself?" says it all about our Gentleman Jack. She was not embarrassed and did not make excuses for her sexuality. While we’re on the subject of nicknames; did you know her lover, Marianna Lawton called her Fred?
Women from all over the world are now truly celebrating the life and loves of Anne Lister. Not only because it’s such a beautiful story of love and devotion, but also it’s an incredible journey of a women’s sexuality in a time when it was deemed immoral, her daring sexual liaisons, the prejudice she endured throughout her life and her possible struggle with her own gender identity. There is speculation that she was transgender but because at that time there was no language/vocabulary to talk about gender in that way, it is just speculation. Also, we must not forget too that Anne was not only a clever and successful business person but she was quite an athlete and was the first woman to ascend Mount Perdu in the Pyrenees (1830) and Mount Vignemale in France (1838), travelling to many places which was frowned up for women to go to in those times.
We owe a huge thank you to Helena Whitbread for her incredible work in painstakingly decoding each and every word of Anne’s crypt hand. All in all there were 26 volumes of her diaries, full of scandalous revelations, written in a very sophisticated code of Anne’s own devising. If it weren’t for Helena they may have stayed hidden away in her Yorkshire home for another 100 years. Watch this fascinating interview to find out more about how she started de-coding the diaries. Absolutely riveting!
Another interesting talk was given by Helena Whitbread at the unveiling of the new plaque honouring Anne Lister at the Holy Trinity Church in York where Anne & Ann took their vows
PS Just in case you’ve missed the news, we can reveal that the BBC has commissioned a second season of Gentleman Jack.
Do you want to see all of this for yourself?
Then join Diva Destinations on their “In the footsteps of Anne Lister” hosted Gentleman Jack Tour
References:
Diva Destinations Hosted Group Gentleman Jack Tour
https://www.divadestinations.co.uk/gentleman-jack-weekend-tour.html
Suranne Jones as Gentleman Jack. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1013087/
BBC Series - Gentleman Jack https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00059m9
Shibden Hall http://museums.calderdale.gov.uk/visit/shibden-hall
Bankfield Museum http://museums.calderdale.gov.uk/visit/bankfield-museum
O'Hooley & Tidow http://ohooleyandtidow.com/
Sally Wainwright
https://rts.org.uk/article/how-sally-wainwright-brought-her-heroine-life-gentleman-jack
Gentleman Jack Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YInK5yhBQE0
Helena Whitbread https://www.annelister.co.uk/about-helena-whitbread/
Helena Whitbread - de-coding the diaries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrFQcrYn6o4&feature=youtu.be
Helena Whitbread, giving this fascinating talk on 28 Feb, 2019, at the unveiling of the new plaque honouring Anne Lister at Holy Trinity Church in York
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfs297sN7bc&feature=youtu.be
