Category Archives: Legacy

Shakespeare’s infinite variety

I’m always impressed by the number of ways in which people adapt Shakespeare. He and his works seem to have something to say to everyone. Since I began writing this blog I’ve been contacted by many people telling me what they’ve … Continue reading

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Digging for The Curtain Theatre: archaeological discoveries

On Wednesday morning the news broke that archaeologists have found the remains of the Curtain Theatre in the Shoreditch area of north London, where it’s thought Shakespeare’s  plays Henry V and Romeo and Juliet were performed, perhaps for the first time. … Continue reading

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The Queen ‘s Diamond Jubilee and the elements

I know I’m a bit obsessed with things of Shakespeare’s period, but has it occurred to anybody else that each of the four days of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations has represented a different one of the four elements of earth, air, … Continue reading

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The Thames Jubilee Pageant: the royal throne of kings

The Jubilee weekend’s most spectacular event, the Thames pageant, was a bit of a victim of the English weather. The brand new Shard, the tallest building in Europe, disappeared into the mist as the weather worsened. Apparently nowhere in the UK … Continue reading

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Jubilee Queens

This weekend we celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of our Queen, and the media have made many references to the other massively influential English monarch who ruled for sixty years, Queen Victoria. Queen Elizabeth II doesn’t pretend to take a great … Continue reading

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Telling a book by its cover

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll have noticed that among my interests are early books and internet resources as well as Shakespeare. I’ve just become aware  of a group of linked resources which bring together people who spend their lives … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s daughter

David Tennant as Jack Lane, Teresa Banham as Susanna, in The Herbal Bed, RSC 1996 May 26 is the anniversary of the baptism of Shakespeare’s first daughter, Susanna. The only fact that most people know about her is that she … Continue reading

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Flowers and history in Stratford’s Guild Chapel

Chelsea’s not the only festival of flowers that’s going on this week. Over the weekend Stratford-upon-Avon has its own flower festival. Every year the little jewel of a building, the Guild Chapel, is decorated by the Avon Evening Flower Club. … Continue reading

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Memory, forgetting, and performance

Rebekah Brooks and others testifying to the Leveson Inquiry claim to have staggeringly poor memories of events. Zoe Williams, in her Guardian article of 11 May commented “You couldn’t live a life with this bad a memory. Never mind that you’d … Continue reading

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Nine Men’s Morris and the English weather

Last week I was contacted by a reader of this blog with a query about the Nine Men’s Morris in the Theatre Gardens in Stratford-upon-Avon. How old, he wondered, was it? I should explain. Nine Men’s Morris is an ancient … Continue reading

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