The Ministry Decrees: Get thee to the Fringe!

As you know, the essential aim of the Ministry is to bring you all the best news, events, and goings-on of the museum world in London. But in this very special circumstance (brace yourselves) we are about to promote an event not in our fair city. But hear us out, when we tell you what it is, you'll understand why.

We met an amazing pair of guys at the last Museum's Showoff called 'We Are Goose' (@wearewearegoose). They were there to perform literally one of the best things we had ever heard of- a musical about none other than the great Scottish anatomist/surgeon John Hunter (to whom we devoted a Valentine earlier this year). So just to start off with we have a convergence of two amazing London-based things: our beloved Museums Showoff and the incredible Hunterian Museum. They performed just two of the songs from their one hour show, and we were hooked. Jokes about John Hunter's terrifying and ridiculous pets at his Earls Court estate? A doo-wap love song from John to his long-suffering wife Anne? We were sold. And so was the audience. Because unlike their average crowd, a room full of museum lovers actually know who John Hunter is. And the hilarity just doubles. To be fair, the show is written to introduce the uninitiated into the world and wonderful world of 18th century surgery.

The only terrible terrible thing is...the full show isn't going to be performed in London! (Booo) but they will be performing it the entire month of August at the Edinburgh Fringe! So followers, get thee to the Fringe and get your asses in the seat for some history/medicine/museum hilarity!

Plus if you act fast you can see the show in Manchester on July 14th! (And we know Manchester is full of museum geeks. Fact).

So we are proud to support 'We Are Goose' in their upcoming run of 'Will You Hold My Hand?' despite the lack of London-centricity. Any friend of John Hunter's is a friend of the Ministry.

WE ARE GOOSE presents

WILL YOU HOLD MY HAND?

EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 2013

VENUE 61  – BELLY LAUGH, COWGATE, UNDERBELLY – 9pm – DAILY

Will You Hold My Hand? is the new show from musical comedy rising stars
WE ARE GOOSE – wordsmith Timothy Goose and guitarist Richard Hughes, who sing funny songs about a range of subjects. The show will be at the 1-25th of August, 9pm daily (not 12^th), at the Underbelly on Cowgate in Edinburgh this summer.

Will You Hold My Hand? is about WE ARE GOOSE’s comedy hero, Scottish surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728-1793), the revolutionary scientist who brought major advances in the studies of human teeth, digestion, gunshot wounds and venereal diseases, which have had a lasting impact on modern medicine.

Less well known however, is Hunter’s darker side: despite being the leading doctor of his day as Royal Surgeon to George III, his ethically dubious approach raised eyebrows then as now – think graverobbings and murders. Add to that his bouts of wild experimentation, botched attempts at cryogenics and transplantation, an obsessive love of animals, a self-innoculation that went horribly wrong and an overfamiliarity with the star of a travelling freak show… and you have one comedy legend.

Give WE ARE GOOSE an hour to tell you the 100% true story of John Hunter through a range of witty songs which pastiche a multitude of styles, from blues, doo-wap and klezmer, to ‘a rapid animal rap that really has to be seen’ (***** Five Stars, Broadway Baby). Think Flight of the Conchords crossed with a Royal Institution Christmas Lecture – it’s a Horrible Histories for adults!

‘Hunter is never less than a fascinating subject, surely well overdue a round of his own on QI.’ Chortle

"Will You Hold My Hand? is exuberant, loud, stupidly brilliant, and surprisingly tuneful." SnipeLondon.com

www.wearegoose.co.uk / Tweet @WeAreWeAreGoose

LISTING – WILL YOU HOLD MY HAND?

PRE-EDINBURGH SHOWS

Date: 10-12 July0-12 July 2013

Venue: South Hill Park Arts Centre, Ringmead, Bracknell, RG12 7PA

Start time: 20:0020:00

Date: 14^th July

Venue: The Frog and Bucket, Manchester

Start time: from 19:309:30

EDINBURGH SHOWS

Dates: 1-25 August25 August 2013

Venue 61: Belly Laugh, 56 Cowgate, Edinburgh EH1 1EG

Start and end times: 21.00 – 22.00 (60mins)

Price: Full Price: £9.50 - £10.50/ Previews: £6

Category: Comedy/Musical

BOX OFFICE: 0844 545 8252 / www.underbelly.co.uk/node/3076432

My History Valentine: John Hunter (1728-1793), surgeon, anatomist,badass

Dearest John,

It is difficult for me to write down these words, even though I know the fact you have been dead since 1793 will impede your ability to read them. At this time of the year when we celebrate love, I find myself sadly underwhelmed by the modern men around me. I know romance probably wasn’t your forte in life, but maybe in death you will be more sympathetic to my love.

Just look at him thinking about how many bodies he could
have cut up in the time it took to sit for his portrait.

I only wish I could have met you. I know you probably never thought yourself much of a romantic with your difficulty speaking to others, your crazy eyebrows, your short neck, or the fact that you probably have syphilis, but I still feel drawn to you. In fact if we ever had met, maybe in the dissecting room... well you probably would have just shouted at me to get out because I am a woman and also because you are famously very rude. But it is that fervor and your unwavering honesty that make you so special to me.

In a world where most men I know spend hours playing video games, you were up by five am in the dissecting room, working through the day teaching or with patients. You questioned where others accepted. Your innovations in dentistry, transplantation and the treatment of gunshot wounds are legendary. In fact, I think we can safely argue you, my love, one handedly revolutionised surgery and undoubtably have saved millions of lives, even if you didn’t quite get that whole antiseptic thing. The fact that even modern surgeons don’t know who you are makes me weep. Ignorant sots.

When I think back on your life, there are so many things I love about you. Say it’s right or wrong, but I found your whole grave robbing phase so sexy. Your habit of riding asian buffalos into town is nothing short of pimpin’. And I’ll never forget your testimony at the murder trial of John Donellan. When lesser men were quick to accuse him of poison just because they needed someone to blame, you never backed down from your faultless examination of the forensic evidence. Sure they may have condemned him for the murder of his brother in law, but your badass-ness cannot be denied.

My darling you remain one of histories great enigmas: brilliant surgeon, body snatcher, naturalist, military man, Scot, industrious anatomist, really crappy teacher, and fairly unethical experimenter on non-consenting patients. I forgive you your faults because your brilliant mind makes me hot. Although we can never meet, at least I can still be amongst your collection at the Hunterian Museum in London (not that one in Glasgow, you are way cooler than your brother).

Let’s maybe let this love between us stay an intellectual one, that whole you giving yourself syphilis thing is still a bit of a deal breaker.

With all my love for Valentine’s day,

Kristin

If you also want to fall in love with John Hunter, I’d recommend reading Wendy Moore’s 'The Knife Man: Blood, Body-Snatching and the Birth of Modern Surgery'

Or to learn more about poisoning and early forensic science, you could try Elizabeth Cooke’s ‘The Damnation of John Donellan: A mysterious case of death and scandal in Georgian England’