Uncategorized – Irene Mawer: Mime and Movement

black text on white page listing some of the contents of the autobiography

A Lie-in.

This morning I stayed in bed until about 8 am – which is a huge lie-in for me. Apart from the fact I like to get up early, for the past few years I haven’t wanted to lie in bed, because my book was calling to me. Today is a

a pub on the bank of a river, water in the foreground.

April 7, 2026 Biography / Blog / ginner-mawer / Mime

Part 4 – Where is Miss Mawer’s Heraldic Lion?

When Miss Mawer visited the lion, where was it? Why did she go there? And what did the lion look like? Well, let’s take that last question first. The best photo (and the photos are pretty scarce) was taken by well-known and respected photographer, Eric de Mare, and can be

photo of the stone coronet from the head of the Heraldic Lion statue

March 24, 2026 Biography / Blog / ginner-mawer / Mime

Part 2 – A Heraldic Mullet

In my previous blog post, I wrote about Miss Mawer sitting on a life-sized, stone lion and that Toby had done detective work to find out where the statue was located. Toby’s methodology was absolutely fascinating – he saw loads of clues in the photo, things that I hadn’t even

photo of a statue of a lion, carved in stone, wearing a coronet.

March 17, 2026 Biography / Blog / ginner-mawer / Mime

The Godstow Heraldic Lion

Deep in the Irene Mawer Archives (otherwise known as ‘the old biscuit tin in the attic’) there lies a lovely photo, probably taken in the 1930s. It shows Miss Mawer sitting side-saddle on a stone lion. I didn’t know where it was taken and no-one else had a clue either.

March 10, 2026 Biography / Blog / ginner-mawer / Mime

A Lost Strand

What does the word ‘mime’ mean to you? For many people, it suggests silence: a performer with a white face, isolated in a pool of light, communicating through gesture alone. But Irene Mawer (1893-1962) developed a very different strand of the silent art – one that was rigorous, literary, and