Tag Archives: John Dee

His most potent art: the library of John Dee

A new exhibition has just opened in London that explains more about one of the most intriguing people in Elizabethan London, John Dee. The Royal College of Physicians in Regents Park is hosting Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare's World | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on His most potent art: the library of John Dee

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

Share
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare's World | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Shakespeare and the British Renaissance

Science versus alchemy

The BBC’s series The Genius of Invention carried on, this week with a major documentary on the greatest of scientists, Isaac Newton . But the documentary revealed a more complicated side to Newton: not just the logical man who made … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare's World | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Science versus alchemy

Getting inventive in Shakespeare’s England

BBC 2 is currently screening a season, Genius of Invention, accompanied by a listing of 50 Great British Inventions. But although these include the obvious (steam and jet engine) and the quirky (soda water, baby buggy), not one of these … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Shakespeare's World | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Simon Forman, Shakespeare and the stage

12 September 2011 is the 400th anniversary of the death of the colourful astrologer-cum-physician Simon Forman – or perhaps it was 11 September, or even 5 September, accounts vary.  Whichever is correct, Forman was a well-known, even notorious figure in Shakespeare’s … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare's World | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Simon Forman, Shakespeare and the stage