Stiletto crazy after all these years...

Some of the donated stilettos           PIC: QUEENS THEATRE

Stilettos will be theatrically burned to mark a new series of plays touting a positive image of Essex at the Queen's Theatre in Hornchurch.The theatre is asking for donated stilettos to burn during Sadie Hasler's play Stiletto Beach, billed as "a love letter to Southend". 

The season also features So Here We Are by Luke Norris, which is also set in Southend and part of the theatre's Essex On Stage programme. So far the theatre has received more than one hundred pairs of stilettos — which should help the play right some burning injustices perpetuated by Essex Girl stereotypes. Click on the link for box office details...

Pity about the Prittlewell prince

Was in Southend last Monday on a very rainy day and after a bracing walk from Leigh-on-Sea thought I'd take a look at Southend Museum's artefacts from the 'Prittlewell Prince', billed in the press as 'Essex's answer to Tutankhamun'. The burial chamber, found in Prittlewell, contains lots of lavish grave goods such as a beautiful blue glass beaker. It was thought to belong to Seaxa, not a heavy metal guitarist but the brother of King Saebert of Essex, who in the seventh century was the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to Christianity.

The only problem was that after finding the museum, it was padlocked as it closes every Monday. So we had to make do with the pictured poster. Just a thought, but if the museum really does contain the UK's equivalent of Tutankhamun's tomb and Southend is now set to rival Cairo, shouldn't it be open all week?

What have the Romans ever done for Essex?

Just enjoyed a day trip to Colchester. Arriving at Colchester Town rather than Colchester station meant a fine view of the ruins of St Botolph's Priory from the train. Exploring the ruins in closer detail they're a fascinating mass of huge cylindrical columns and arches made of recycled Roman brick and stone trashed by Henry VIII. Yet in historic Colchester they are almost an affterthought.

Colchester Castle was as magnificent as ever and it's still an immense thrill to take a tour of the foundations, which are those of the Roman temple sacked by Boudica's Iceni tribes. The museum has some great finds including the beautiful gold bangles and earrings found under Fenwick's department store in the charred layer of town left by Boudica's rampage. Plus there's the Roman doctor buried with a complete surgical kit, the tombstone featuring a Roman Centurion trampling over a defeated Brit, and the magnificent Colchester vase with it's gladiators and whips.

Then it was on to the Balkerne gate with its two intact arches and an astonishing mass of preserved Roman city wall. My sister and I still had time to make it the Firstsite art gallery before catching the six o'clock train back to London. Colchester has just as much history as town s like Bath — it really should be a top tourist attraction.