Civic group proposes new 'blue plaque' scheme for Bradford's significant buildings.

SIGNIFICANT buildings across Bradford could soon sport blue heritage plaques thanks to a new scheme proposed by a local group. The Bradford Civic Society hopes to create a number of plaques, and in the New Year will be asking for local residents and businesses for ideas for which buildings could be marked.

The scheme would operate in a similar way to the English Heritage plaques, with are attached to buildings that have links to a famous event or person.
Many are found on the birthplaces or family homes of significant historical figures, although they are not installed outside of London, leaving it up to local groups or councils to run their own plaque schemes.

The idea has been inspired by Marc De Luca, who owns the Bronte Birthplace in Thornton, and has been pushing for a blue plaque to be installed on the building for several years.
The Market Street building, now a cafe, is where the Bronte siblings, Charlotte, Anne, Emily and Branwell were born, making it one of the most literary significant buildings in the world. Plans are underway by the De Luca family to install the plaque in time for the the 200th anniversary of Emily’s birth.

Si Cunningham, Chair of the Bradford Civic Society, said the group also hope St George’s Hall could have a plaque installed after the current refurbishment of the hall, the country’s first purpose-built concert hall, is complete. The group will start looking for funding in early 2018, as well as holding public meetings to discuss what buildings could be marked.  thetelegraphandargus

It's Book Week in Scotland and they have an online poll to find out people's favourite songs with a literary connection as The Guardian reports:

Will it be The Invisible Man or Bell Jar, The Dark Is Rising or For Whom the Bell Tolls? Scottish Book Trust is celebrating Book Week Scotland with an online poll, of course. But this year’s vote isn’t looking for readers’ favourite books, instead it is trying to find our favourite songs with a literary connection.
Some of the songs on their 40-strong list of possible choices wear their bookish credentials on their sleeves. There are songs where no attempt has been made at obliqueness or subtlety, with titles lifted directly from the works that inspired them. Step forward Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë) and the Velvet Underground’s Venus in Furs (Leopold von Sacher-Masoch). For others, the connection is almost as direct. Bright Eyes by Art Garfunkel was the lead song from the movie adaptation of Richard Adams’s Watership Down, while Leonard Nimoy’s The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins does exactly what it says on the pipeweed tin. And Radiohead’s Paranoid Android takes its title from Douglas Adams’s depressive robot in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. (David Barnett) bronteblog