Video - Stand and Deliver
Published: 2009-11-01
Adam and the Ants - Hatfield House
Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, Hatfield Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I and has been the home of the Cecil family ever since. The house is open to the public.
Thanks to it's British atmosphere and architecture, including the size of the manor and it's park it has been used as a filming location in a number of different films. Elizabeth the Golden Age, Cromwell, The Avengers, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Orland, Batman, Batman Returns, The New World, Shakespeare in Love, the Lara Croft movies, have all had scenes filmed at Hatfield House.
It was perhaps because of this atmosphere Adam & The Ants chose to film the video for Stand and Deliver at Hatfield house. Stand and Deliver was Adam & the Ants' most successful single. It entered the UK Top 40 at Number One and stayed there for five weeks. The song's video features Adam Ant dressed as a "dandy highwayman" who when captured, manages to escape the gallows with the help of his friends (the other band members). The video's opening sequence of Adam Ant putting on his make-up before going out on a robbery became a defining visual image for Adam Ant in the years that followed. The video also featured an early appearance by Amanda Donohoe who was Adam's girlfriend at the time.
The phrase "stand and deliver - your money or your life" was commonly used by highwaymen in eighteenth century England during robberies.
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