Early 20th century Britain succumbed to what people called “pageant fever.” Inspired by Louis Napoleon Parker’s influential pageant at Sherbone, Dorset, in 1905, committees up and down the country staged outdoor historical reenactments before audiences that could number in thousands. Large casts performed chronological selections of scenes, real and mythical, authentic and fabricated, from the ancient, medieval and early modern pasts of towns, cities and villages. This lecture describes the origins and development of historical pageantry, emphasizing the grand scale…