A Canterbury Tale

It’s creaky old story, at times thick with the syrupy language of its day… at others sentimental for a Kentish rural idyll that the Second World War was blowing away.

The story harks back to Chaucer’s famous tales. Here the wartime pilgrims are an American GI a British soldier and an English land girl who come together to solve the riddle of the sinister Glue Man who’s terrorised women by dobbing glue in their hair when they’re out at night.

Martin Scorsese.

I’ve discovered the world is dotted with people inspired by A Canterbury Tale and its co directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, including film director, Martin Scorsese.

Michael Powell grew up in Canterbury and wanted to make the film in part a tribute to a disappearing way of life. He chose to use boys from local villages for some of the film’s most memorable scene.

Since 1944 the film has taken on a life of its own. Embedded in the lives of those who took part and enshrined as a classic by passionate fans. Some of them will be there to see our special film night screened in the Cathedral - its central icon. It will be a first in many ways but that’s another tale.