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WOSAS : F710	WOSAS/CD224/track9 R751.wav
Samson and Delilah
a Bible story
Sound recording, story; Samson and Delilah a biblical tale and a riddling tale, told by Sally Pomme Clayton, a member of The Storytelling Unit at the High Summer Storytelling Clubnight, in the Garden of No. 4 Shaa Road, Acton, London, 21st July 1984
A story told by Sally Pomme Clayton, about war between the Hebrews and the Philistines. The story tells of the birth of Samson (a Hebrew), his marriage to a women, who is a philistine, and the riddle Samson sets his wife's companions about the lion he kills and the bees which make a nest and honey within its body. Samon's wife tells her companions the answer to the riddle, which results in revenge attacks. Samson is captured, but escapes by killing hundreds with the jaw bone of an ass. Samson becomes King of Israel, and he takes Delilah as his lover. Delilah discovers that the secret of Samson's strength is in his hair and betrays him.
audience:-	adult; contributing storytellers
recording quality
condition:-	fair
completeness:-	complete
duration:-	0 hours, 13 minutes, 39 seconds
The West London Storytelling Unit Clubnights or The Storytelling Unit Clubnights were begun by Ben Haggarty, TUUP and Daisy Keable in 1982 shortly after beginning to work together as the West London Storytelling Unit (W.L.S.T.U). They took place on roughly a fortnightly basis during the atumn and winter months, in community centres in Acton, Shepherds Bush and Hammersmith. The clubnights were an opportunity for anyone to come and tell a story, or perform music on the condition that it had a toe-hold in tradition. The performance of original poetry and the reading of original writing was actively discouraged as there were plenty of other fora for 'new writing' elsewhere in London. In 2007 Ben Haggarty explained that the clubnight format was in part inspired by the College of Storytellers, but with the aim of doing something less bourgeois, for a younger audience and which was not dominated by Idries Shah's mission to promote his vision of Sufi storytelling. The clubnights also took inspiration from the anarchy of the London Musicians Collective clubnight events in Camden. The clubnights led Ben Haggarty to inaugurate the First UK International Storytelling Festival at Battersea Arts Centre in London in January 1985. After the 1985 festival a few further clubnights were run, before ending in 1986. The clubnights were superseded by the formation of the Company of Storytellers who pioneered the touring of adult evening shows throughout the UK, and by the formation of the Crick Crack Club in 1987, which focused on the programming and development of professional storytellers, their performance skills and their repertoire for adult audiences.
The Storytelling Unit was born out of the West London Storytelling Unit (W.L.S.T.U) in 1983, with members Marva Cumberbatch, Pomme Clayton, Daisy Keable. In or around 1985 Daisy Keable and Marva Cumberbatch left the Storytelling Unit, at which point Ben Haggarty, (who had been a member of the W.L.S.T.U) joined and worked with Sally Pomme Clayton for a brief period before the group was disbanded. The increased interest and demand for storytelling performance for adults led to the formation of The Company of Storytellers in 1985.
storytelling:-	storyteller: Sally Pomme Clayton female / British / member of the Storytelling Unit
origin:-	Israel Christian
	Flyer for the High Summer Storytelling Clubnight
	Flyer for the High Summer Storytelling Clubnight
	Click to enlarge images
administration:-	storyteller; promoter: Ben Haggarty storyteller: Daisy Keable; Georgiana Jerstad; Georgiana Keable storyteller; musician: TUUP; Godfrey Duncan
storytelling:-	Shaa Road, 4, Acton, London, England 21 Jul 1984 storytelling club: Storytelling Unit Clubnight storytelling club: High Summer Storytelling Clubnight
gift from:-	storyteller: Ben Haggarty

©  The London Centre for International Storytelling: 2007
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