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Woman: “Mr Poirot, are you listening to me?”
Hercule Poirot: “Oh, mademoiselle, of course I listen to what you say, but I hear what you mean.”
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Atmosphere. Memory. Staging.
What remains with us is not only what happened, but what reached us.
Picturesque Pasts is for those who work with history – not to explain it, but to give it a form that can be felt, heard, and remembered.
As a Cultural Atmosphere Consultant & Narrative Interpreter, my work is a dialogue between the past and the present. I’m driven by the belief that history is more than a sequence of events – it’s a living feeling that can be staged and experienced. Like the Romantics and Impressionists, I believe facts are the foundation, but some truths can only be felt, not simply known.
This passion for both meticulous research and creative expression is what allows me to thrive at the intersection of the cultural and creative sectors.
My goal is to make history tangible. I create narratives that don’t just recount facts, but leave a feeling that lingers in the memory.
I have gained this expertise in both these fields:
I’ve worked as a speaker and singer on stage, organizing a scenic choir concert, and by slipping into roles to make lectures come alive—inhabiting characters like the calm, factual, a touch of charming chaos Detective Inspector Carla Conker or the curious, quick-witted and fiercely independent Travel Woman Martha Robinson of 1845.
And I have served as a city archivist and manager of a heritage site, launching countless projects that prove archives don’t have to be dusty and boring. And my background includes experience as a woman in the male-dominated field of football rules, giving many interviews in front of the microphone and camera.
My focus is on where history, aesthetics, and emotion meet, with a special emphasis on Englishness since 1780, when landscape, rural idyll and the countryside became English identity. My work combines atmosphere and emotional scenography to make the past tangible. These are settings in which memory is already present and can be brought to the surface.
I help you develop narrative depth, visual and tonal coherence, and an awareness of what occurs between stage and audience, between place and visitor: tone, meaning, enduring impression.
Whether in theatre, museums or heritage sites – my aim is that what is shown does not simply pass, but leaves a mark.
With attention to subtext.
With care for atmosphere.
With a sense for the past.
Let’s make your story unforgettable.