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John Bunyan (1628 - 1688)
John Bunyan wrote 65 books but is most famous for his Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come” and more usually known as “The Pilgrim’s Progress”.
Bunyan portrays himself in ''Grace Abounding'' as having had a
youthful life filled with impious thoughts and profanity. He may well
have been no worse than others from a similar background but he
was especially troubled by his profanity, dancing and bell-ringing.
For the most part, he was concerned by a supposition that he had already committed an unpardonable sin and was continually tortured mentally by fearful visions. After many spiritual struggles he became
a passionate and self-assured believer and was baptised in the River Great Ouse in Bedford in 1653.
John Bunyan lived in Elstow, just down the road from Bedford, until
the death of his first wife in 1655 when he moved to live in Bedford where he remarried in 1659.
Becoming a deacon in 1655 he started to preach with outstanding success. However, during 1658 he
was indicted for preaching without a licence but was not imprisoned till November 1660 when he was incarcerated in the Silver Street county jail in Bedford.
However, the king, Charles II repealed the Declaration of Religious Indulgence and Bunyan was again imprisoned for preaching but this time for only six months. After his release he continued to preach unhindered until his death in 1688.
Bunyan commenced The Pilgrim’s Progress in his first period of imprisonment and may have completed the work during his second term in jail. Although the first part was published in 1678 the two parts, combined into a single volume, were not published together until 1728.
Many of John Bunyan's personal possessions still remain in Bedford and can be viewed at the Bunyan Meeting House and Museum.
Stained glass windows illustrating scenes from The Pilgrim's Progress make a visit to the Meeting House an inspirational experience.
This illustration is one of four panels on the bronze statue
of John Bunyan which stands in St Peter's Street, Bedford.
Glenn Miller (1904 - 1944)
In July 1944 The Glenn MIller Orchestra came to Bedford which, by this time, was positively heaving with the influx of thousands of troops stationed in the surrounding bases.
The arrival of Glenn Miller followed the relocation of the BBC to Bedford in 1942 and the town quickly become the centre of the UK entertainment universe with many stars of stage, screen and radio seen around Bedford.
The first concert by the Glenn Miller Orchestra was in the Lombardo Hall – now the main auditorium - of the Bedford Corn Exchange.
Despite a draining programme of concerts and recording engagements, the Glenn Miller Orchestra paid special tribute to their Bedford hosts with numerous additional performances in and around the town.
After D-Day the orchestra was scheduled to perform in Europe starting with a concert on Christmas Eve in the recently liberated French capital of Paris. Glenn Miller intended to travel ahead of the orchestra and make certain that all necessary arrangements were up to his exacting standards.
Despite bad weather that delayed his original flight Major Glenn Miller eventually took off at 1.55pm from Twinwood RAF Base, Clapham, near Bedford. The fateful day was Friday December 15th 1944 and Glenn Miller was never seen again.
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