Category Archives: Legacy

Heritage Open Weekend 2015

It’s Heritage Open Weekend again and that means free or special access to some of our precious cultural history. In some places the weekend started as early as Thursday 10 September, but most events will be taking place over Saturday … Continue reading

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Queen Elizabeth’s record-breaking reign

On 9 September 2015 Queen Elizabeth II becomes officially the longest-reigning British monarch in history, having survived for over 63 years, just longer than Queen Victoria. The Queen has refused to mark the day in any way, but the press … Continue reading

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Shakespeare, Sir Thomas More, and the refugee migrants

The story of the week: in fact the story of the summer, has been the displacement of people from war-torn and impoverished parts of the Middle East and Africa to Europe. It’s been described as the biggest refugee crisis since … Continue reading

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The divine Sarah Bernhardt’s Hamlet

On Radio 4 Francine Stock is currently investigating the concept of charisma. This week in Pinning down the Butterfly: the It Factor, she looked at an actress whose fame spread across Europe and North America, the divine Sarah Bernhardt. Bernhardt … Continue reading

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Australia’s Shakespeare

It’s easy, living in Stratford-upon-Avon, to get stuck in English and particularly RSC Shakespeare, so I’m indebted to Sally McLean and Elizabeth Schafer for bringing to my attention the vibrancy of Shakespeare on the other side of the planet, in … Continue reading

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Last call for Magna Carta at the British Library

2015 has been the eight-hundredth anniversary of the great document Magna Carta, one of the world’s most famous documents, which is still controversial. Is it, as the British Library’s website asks, the “foundation of democracy or rallying cry for modern … Continue reading

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Shakespeare and the Book of Common Prayer

On Radio 4 on 26 August 2015 Quentin Letts asked “What’s the point of the Book of Common Prayer?” This little book, written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, was originally published in 1549 during the brief but emphatically protestant reign of King Edward … Continue reading

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“To be or not to be”: Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet

So Benedict Cumberbatch, playing Hamlet in Lyndsey Turner’s production of the play at the Barbican Theatre in London, has bowed to pressure by moving “To be or not to be” from the beginning of the play to its usual place. … Continue reading

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Shakespeare and the British Renaissance

James Fox’s three-part documentary series A Very British Renaissance has just finished on BBC 4. It was first shown in 2014, and having missed it first time I’m very pleased to have caught up with it. The presenter, an art historian, … Continue reading

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Fred J Kormis’s Everyman in Stratford-upon-Avon

Passing the jewellery shop at the top of Sheep Street in Stratford-upon-Avon, I’ve often wondered about the statue of a young man who looks across the road towards the Town Hall. I had always assumed it must have a Shakespeare … Continue reading

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