Category Archives: Legacy

Shakespeare and Samuel Johnson

Today, Monday 10 August 2015 , an exhibition opens at Dr Johnson’s House in London to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Samuel Johnson’s edition of William Shakespeare’s works published in 1765. In the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Johnson is … Continue reading

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The legend of Shakespeare’s crabtree

I recently wrote about the doggerel rhyme, alleged to have been written by Shakespeare, naming several of the villages near Stratford. The rhyme relates to Shakespeare’s Crab, an old crab-apple tree under which Shakespeare is supposed to have slept, which … Continue reading

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Bidford-on-Avon and the Shakespeare legend

Back in June 2015 a farm vehicle struck the fifteenth-century stone bridge at Bidford-on-Avon, a few miles downstream from Stratford. Bidford was once, as Stratford still is, a market town and its bridge marks a crossing that goes back to … Continue reading

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Alas, poor Yorick: the spell of Hamlet

On 26 July 1602 Shakespeare’s play Hamlet was registered with the Stationers’ Company in London. It’s an important date, but has done little to settle the burning question of when Shakespeare’s most famous play was first written and first performed. … Continue reading

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Shakespeare: fighting history

This summer Tate Britain is mounting an exhibition entitled Fighting History, on the subject of history painting, a rather unfashionable and neglected genre.   From Ancient Rome to recent political upheavals, Fighting History looks at how artists have transformed significant events into … Continue reading

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Shakespeare and graffiti

Stories that portray Shakespeare as a real person, particularly one who didn’t always behave impeccably, are always appealing, whether or not they are true. One of the earliest and most persistent of legends relating to Shakespeare’s life is the deer-poaching … Continue reading

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Archaeology: uncovering Shakespeare’s England

I always used to think of archaeologists as people who dug up the remains of Roman settlements and prehistoric burial chambers, but in the last few years they seem to have been examining a much wider range of sites, working … Continue reading

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Hugh Quarshie looking for the Moor

I wrote last October about the news that the distinguished actor Hugh Quarshie was to take on the role of Othello, with another black actor, Lucian Msamati, playing Iago. The story is that in an essay Quarshie wrote some years … Continue reading

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The Wars of the Roses at the Rose, Kingston

In an interview published in February 2014 Trevor Nunn explained that it was his aim to direct all of Shakespeare’s plays “before I hang up my boots”, with only seven left to go. “I’m very keen to do a particular … Continue reading

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When Parliament almost came to Stratford-upon-Avon

On 18 June 2015 a report was published concerning the need for major restoration on the Houses of Parliament in London. It outlines a number of possible options for the work and for what might happen to Parliament in the mean … Continue reading

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