19 Apr. 2020: Margaret Bird on local radio
This short clip is an audio-only interview with Margaret Bird on Sunday morning 19 April 2020. It lasts almost 6½ minutes.
Here Margaret tells BBC local radio listeners about the diarist Mary Hardy, the long project to bring the diary to the public, and what attracted her to the subject.
The interviewer is Kirsteen Thorne. You can listen here:
Audio clip: What’s special about Mary Hardy ?
The world of work
As well as the domestic side of the Hardys’ lives Margaret emphasises her coverage of the workforce and the mileages of the draymen. The diarist worked extremely hard herself and could be on her feet for eighteen hours at a stretch.
Near the start of the interview Margaret refers to Mary Hardy cooking suppers for up to seventy people at one of their tied houses. This was at Horstead, near Coltishall:
The Recruiting Sergeant, Horstead. Margaret describes Mary Hardy cooking suppers for 70 here, during a gap between innkeepers in 1776
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Margaret Bird
The editor and author of the Mary Hardy volumes
You can read about the historian Margaret Bird on the link above
