Hilary Mantel 2022 On Thursday 22 September 2022 the great British writer Hilary Mantel died unexpectedly. The many tributes have spoken about her gifts as a writer, about her intelligence, her humour, and about the new books that she still planned to write. There is an obituary here, and some remembrances here. Publishing success and the renown that followed came late to her, with her trilogy on the unlikely subject of the life of Thomas Cromwell set in the reign of Henry VIII. She enjoyed her fame:  I heard her speak at the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival (of which she remai ..read more

Buckingham Palace on the evening Queen Elizabeth 11 died. With the death of Queen Elizabeth II today, 8 September 2022, we’re now going to live through something that few British people alive can remember as a new monarch succeeds to the throne. Tributes are flooding in, crowds carrying flowers gather at Buckingham Palace, at her favourite and most historic home Windsor Castle and at Balmoral Castle where she died.  And the second Elizabethan era has come to an end. Like her namesake and another long-lived monarch, Elizabeth 1, the Queen died peacefully. Lawyer John Manningham wrote “Th ..read more

  The First Folio being sold in 2022 On 7 July 2022 a copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio will be sold in New York. It’s estimated that it will sell for “only” $2.5 million. The record-holder is the copy sold, again in New York, in October 2020 which went for $8.4 million (£6.4 million). This was complete, and in exceptional condition. It was bought by a private collector. The one being sold now is not complete, lacking the portrait of Shakespeare, and shows signs of being read over a long period. The book has spent most of its life in Scotland. The Gordon family acquired the copy soon af ..read more

Peter Brook The death at the age of 97 of the great theatre director Peter Brook has been announced today, 3 July 2022. He burst on the theatre scene at the age of 20 in 1946, coming from the Birmingham Repertory Theatre to direct Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon. His production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1970 changed Shakespeare onstage for ever. There’ll be no shortage of tributes to him  but here are a few links from The Shakespeare blog looking at different aspects of his work. Lots of links are included to talks, videos and websites and I ha ..read more

Aphra Behn. Engraving based on Peter Lely’s portrait The city of Canterbury has many literary connections. It’s the end-point for Chaucer’s pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales, the setting for the murder of Thomas a Becket as dramatized by TS Eliot in Murder in the Cathedral, and the birthplace of Shakespeare’s contemporary writer, Christopher Marlowe.  Aphra Behn’s connection is much less well-known, but see this post for information about her. Born in Canterbury, she was the first professional writer in the English language, and it’s great news that she is to be commemorated with a ..read more

John Everett Millais, The Princes in the Tower Shakespeare’s play Richard III has always been one of his most popular dramas. And no wonder: it features a compelling protagonists in a great story. Many people accept Shakespeare’s version of the history of the end of the Plantagenet and the beginning of the Tudor period without question, and historians who have spent years trying to unpick the truth regarding this period are not surprisingly annoyed by Shakespeare’s casual approach. I wrote a few years ago about the discovery of Richard III’s skeleton and its burial in Leicester Cathedral. Th ..read more

Buttercups in a Warwickshire field. By Phil Mills We’re just reaching the end of the merry month of May, and about to embark on a weekend of celebrations for the Platinum Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne. Events, many of them outdoors, will be taking advantage of the long days and good weather is forecast for much of the time. The UK’s outdoor spaces, whether gardens, public parks or countryside, are looking fresh and beautiful. And after two difficult years, people are ready to enjoy them. Although much has been made of the eating and drinking part of the festivit ..read more

Gregory Doran at the Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations 23 April 2022 The day before Shakespeare’s Birthday, 22 April 2022, Gregory Doran announced that he was standing down from his post as Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He’s held it for 10 years, a period of political unrest with issues like Black Lives Matter, of national change with Brexit, of worldwide chaos due to the Covid Pandemic which has hit theatres particularly hard, and of personal tragedy with the illness and death of his husband Sir Antony Sher in 2021. The search for a replacement has already begun, but D ..read more

21st century William Shakespeare A little late, I’m posting some photographs from the Parade on 23 April 2022, at Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations in Stratford-upon-Avon. There was a particularly celebratory feel to this event as people came together for the first time since 2019. It’s easy for residents of Stratford to forget to what extent their town is known around the world, but many nations are always represented in honouring the world’s most famous playwright. The conflict in Ukraine was not forgotten, with their flag flying at the top of Bridge Street, and many of the flowers laid at ..read more

Hilary Mantel 2022 On Thursday 22 September 2022 the great British writer Hilary Mantel died unexpectedly. The many tributes have spoken about her gifts as a writer, about her intelligence, her humour, and about the new books that she still planned to write. There is an obituary here, and some remembrances here. Publishing success and the renown that followed came late to her, with her trilogy on the unlikely subject of the life of Thomas Cromwell set in the reign of Henry VIII. She enjoyed her fame:  I heard her speak at the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival (of which she remai ..read more