Review : The Stories Behind London's Streets.

One of the goals I had set myself this year was to read more. I initially didn’t want to put down a target but eventually decided to try for at least one book per month. Two weeks after starting my first book, I have completed The Stories Behind London’s Streets by Peter Thurgood.  

I purchased this book a few years ago and have referenced it in previous blog posts about Secret London but had not previously read it from cover to cover.

As the title suggests, the book tells the stories behind some of London’s most famous streets, the buildings on the streets and the people who lived and worked there, including Charles Dickens and Samuel Johnson.

Having grown up in London and visited many of the streets mentioned, I found this book fascinating. Many of the names and the stories featured were familiar, but the details added, enriched what I already knew and made me want to visit these places again to see them with new eyes and understanding.

The first newspaper to set up business in Fleet Street was The Daily Courant which started in March 1702. It consisted of news articles copied and pasted from European publications with a few items of local news. In 1785 it decided to spice things up a bit by reporting the murder of a young man who had become involved in another argument with a man on Fleet Street. The young man died after the other man slit his throat from ear to ear, almost taking off his head in the process.

Murder was not uncommon at that time, but serial killings were unheard of. However, what was to start became the stuff that books, films and musicals were based on. Not long after that murder, a young apprentice of 14yrs old was found dead at the back of St. Dunstan’s Church, his throat had also been slashed. Three days later, a second victim was found, murdered in the same way and in the following two weeks, three more bodies were found, all had been murdered and their throats slashed.

Around the same time that these murders were occurring, a young man opened a shop at 186 Fleet Street next door to St. Dunstan’s Church. No sooner had the man moved into the street, than the murders stopped – or at least no further bodies were found.

On the other side of St. Dunstan’s church there was another shop, the owner was a woman in her thirties who was forever looking out of the windows in the hope of catching some passing trade. Business was not doing well and she feared she would have to close if things didn’t improve.

The young man was having similar problems as he wasn’t getting the customers he had expected. Six weeks later however, both businesses were thriving. It seems the two had met by chance and entered into a partnership of crime together.

Their crimes were discovered when people at St. Dunstan’s church started complaining about awful smells which seemed to be coming from under the floors. The churchwarden contacted a friend who was a Bow Street Runner and together they entered the catacombs to investigate the smell. They eventually discovered a passageway with a number of rooms coming from it. 

The rooms were piled high with bodies - some of which were just skeletons, others were in various states of decomposition, but many with slices of flesh removed. Leaving the rooms they went back up the passageway and discovered that another passageway lead to both the young man’s shop and the woman’s shop.

The gruesome pair was none other than Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Margery Lovett whose shop was doing a roaring trade in meat pies made from the flesh of Todd’s victims, both were arrested and Sweeney Todd was taken from Newgate Prison and hung from a portable scaffold in front of thousands of people. Mrs Lovett escaped the gallows by killed herself by poisoning.

This was perhaps one of the more chilling stories in the book but it was also filled with a lot of historical information around various buildings that were destroyed during the Great Fire of London or the Blitz. It mentions what remains of various buildings and streets and so, when you are next in London, be sure to look out for them.

Next book: Alchemy, The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense by Rory Sutherland.

Secret London - Part Two

Almost a year ago, I wrote a blog about some of the tourist sites in London that are often overlooked in favour of the more prominent and better known sites. Recently, whilst in London, I embarked on another tour of London to find some more of these hidden treasures.


I was inspired to do this after seeing a programme on Sky Arts 2 about Dickens’ England and from reading The Stories Behind London’s Streets by Peter Thurgood and London by Edward Rutherfurd. I have always had a fascination for the city I was born in and have enjoyed visiting many places in and around this great city but cannot claim to truly know the place.

Dr Samuel Johnson said (quoted in The Stories Behind London’s Streets) “Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crowded together that the wonderful immensity of London consists.”

Behind every street name lies a story about the people who have lived, worked and even died there. Here are just a few of the places I visited and the stories I uncovered.


Bleeding Heart Yard

Bleeding Heart Yard is a cobbled courtyard in the Farringdon area of London. It is mentioned in Charles Dickens’ novel Little Dorrit as being the home of the Plornish Family. “... A place much changed in feature and in fortune, yet with some relish of ancient greatness about it. Two or three mighty stacks of chimneys, and a few large dark rooms which had escaped being walled and subdivided out of the recognition of their old proportions, gave the Yard a character. It was inhabited by poor people, who set up their rest among its faded glories, as Arabs of the desert pitch their tents among the fallen stones of the Pyramids; but there was a family sentimental feeling prevalent in the Yard, that it had a character.
As if the aspiring city had become puffed up in the very ground on which it stood, the ground had so risen about Bleeding Heart Yard that you got into it down a flight of steps which formed no part of the original approach, and got out of it by a low gateway into a maze of shabby streets, which went about and about, tortuously ascending to the level again. At this end of the Yard and over the gateway, was the factory of Daniel Doyce, often heavily beating like a bleeding heart of iron, with the clink of metal upon metal. The opinion of the Yard was divided respecting the derivation of its name. The more practical of its inmates abided by the tradition of a murder; the gentler and more imaginative inhabitants, including the whole of the tender sex, were loyal to the legend of a young lady of former times closely imprisoned in her chamber by a cruel father for remaining true to her own true love, and refusing to marry the suitor he chose for her. The legend related how that the young lady used to be seen up at her window behind the bars, murmuring a love-lorn song of which the burden was, 'Bleeding Heart, Bleeding Heart, bleeding away,' until she died.”

The murder mentioned by Dickens is that of Lady Elizabeth Hatton, the widowed daughter in law of Sir Christopher Hatton, one time consort of Queen Elizabeth I. Legend has it that during her annual winter ball in January 1662, a strange man entered the house and danced with Lady Elizabeth before leading her out into the gardens. The lady was not seen again that night but the following morning her body was found in a corner of the courtyard outside the house. She had been mutilated and the frozen snow was stained with her blood. When she was found, her heart was still pumping blood onto the cobblestones. Who the mysterious man was, no one knows although it is rumoured that he was a prominent European Ambassador. Other stories say that Lady Elizabeth was an unvirtuous woman who had made a pact with the devil but then turned away from him in favour of others. To exact his revenge on her, he had appeared in human form and murdered her.

It is said to this day that Lady Elizabeth’s ghost still returns to the cobbled street to remove all traces of blood from the street – now called Bleeding Heart Yard.

Saffron Hill

Bleeding Heart Yard lies between Ely Place and Saffron Hill in London – an area which has changed considerably over the years. During the 18th and 19th Centuries Saffron Hill became renowned for its brothels and vagabonds. The Fleet River once ran where Farringdon road is now and provided a great means of escape for villains pursued by the law. Charles Dickens lived nearby and used Saffron Hill (and Street) as Fagin’s lair in his novel Oliver Twist; it is also mentioned in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story The Adventure of the Six Napoleons as the home of the Venucci family.

The One Tun Pub located on Saffron Hill (so called because of the saffron that used to grow on the estate there) was often frequented by Charles Dickens and is mentioned in Oliver Twist by the name of The Three Cripples. The One Tun pub started trading in 1759 and is one of two taverns still trading under that name. The name refers to the size of the largest of the casks used to store the beer and wine, its capacity being four hogsheads or 252 gallons.

Ely Court

If you manage to find this little alleyway, it will take you to the Ye Old Mitre Tavern – a pub which dates back to 1546! It was originally built for the servants of the palace of the Bishops of Ely. The palace was their London base and played host to Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. After the reformation, Elizabeth I forced the bishops to rent some of their land to her courtier Sir Christopher Hatton (whose daughter in law was supposedly murdered in Bleeding Heart yard) and the area became known as Hatton Garden. It is now the centre of London’s diamond and jewellery trade.

The pub and the palace were demolished in 1772 although the pub was later re built. The preserved trunk of a cherry tree in the corner of the front bar marked the boundary of the diocese and the land leased to Sir Christopher Hatton, and legend has it that Elizabeth I danced the maypole around it.

Technically the land around Ely Court and Ely place come under the control of the diocese of Ely in Cambridgeshire and until the last century even the city police had no jurisdiction here.

There is an account that on Saturday 3rd December 1910 two men entered the One Tun Pub in Saffron Hill. They were described as shabbily dressed and soaking wet. The landlord remembered them well for the fact that they barely spoke any English. They stayed for about an hour. That same evening two men were seen trying to break into a nearby jeweller’s shop in Hatton Garden. The police were called and pursued the men to Ely Court and into Ye Olde Mitre Tavern. As the Tavern came under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Ely, the police returned to their station and called for the Cambridgeshire police. Needless to say, by the time they arrived, the villains were nowhere to be seen.

Ely Place

If you continue down Ely Court, you eventually come to Ely Place where you will find the oldest Catholic Church in Britain. St. Ethelreda’s church dates back to the 13th century and is all that remains of Ely Palace. The church was built by Bishop William de Luda as the chapel of St. Ethelreda in the palace around 1260.

Throughout the years, Ely Place has featured heavily in both historical and fictional accounts. It was in Ely Palace in William Shakespeare’s Richard II that John O Gaunt makes one of his most famous speeches
“This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This Earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-Paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This blessed plot, this Earth, this realm, this England.”

In Dickens’ book David Copperfield, David visits Ely Place to see his sweetheart Agnes at the home of Mr Waterbrook.

Ely Palace is also mentioned throughout history, particularly during Tudor times. For more information on the history of Ely Place and St. Ethelreda’s church http://www.stetheldreda.com/history.html.

Interestingly, in 1666 as The Great Fire of London swept through the City, the church of St. Ethelreda’s despite being in the path of the fire was saved when the wind changed direction. By the time the fire burnt out, over two-thirds of London had been destroyed – but the church was untouched.

Mediaeval accounts also tell of the strawberry fields and saffron hills which made up the gardens of St. Ethelreda’s and are again mentioned in Shakespeare’s Richard II. To this day, the strawberry fields are still commemorated every year in June with the annual Strawberry Fayre held in Ely Place to raise money for charity.


To be continued...........

Secret London

Being London born and bred I guess I have an inbuilt love and appreciation of the city. It is one place I could never tire of visiting and love exploring and finding out about places and the stories behind them. The main tourist sites of London always draw the crowds and I love them, but I like to go one further and find out about the parts of London that are off the tourist track or that offer a little bit extra to those who seek them out.

Last year I fulfilled one of my lifetime ambitions - to be a witness to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. It was an incredible event, which takes place every night long after the tourists have gone home and is only available to ticket holders. It is an incredible ceremony to watch and timed with such precision that the conclusion of it with the bugler playing The Last Post starts precisely at the first stroke of 10.00pm. Whilst waiting for the ceremony to start one of the Yeoman Warders will tell you some fascinating stories of previous guests at the Tower and you also get the chance to take photos (not during the actual ceremony).At one point of course you are locked in the Tower, but sadly they do re-open a section of the gate for you to leave afterwards.

If you ever get the opportunity to attend I would thoroughly recommend it – you can get tickets through the official website for The Tower of London. http://www.hrp.org.uk/toweroflondon/whatson/ceremonyofthekeys.aspx

A view from inside the Tower at night

I have also previously enjoyed Walking Tours of London and have loved to see places frequented by Jane Austen or see the street which inspired Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter series of books. These and other tours are available every day and for £8 you can enjoy learning about some of the great places and people in London. For more information see http://www.walks.com/

The street that inspired Diagon Alley

During my most recent visit to London, a friend and I embarked on a tour of Secret London. We visited many of the well known sites in central London but were on the lookout for certain things that are often passed over as we look at the more prominent landmarks around us. I had obtained the details from the website http://www.secret-london.co.uk/ and we set about trying to find as many of the places or items mentioned as possible. It was an educational and entertaining afternoon and certainly gave me a greater appreciation and love of my favourite city.

Here are just a few places we visited......

National Gallery

The National Gallery - from Trafalgar Square, but what Secret lies beneath it?

Sitting on the steps below the National Gallery to eat their sandwiches, many tourists unknowingly rest their feet on the standard Imperial measures of length, set into the granite paving in brass. Here’s where you can check the length of a perch, a pole, a chain or a yard. The UK completed its legal transition to metric units in 1995.

Nelson's Column at the heart of Trafalgar Square, hardly a secret itself, but have you ever noticed the detail at the bottom of the column?

On the south of Nelson’s Column is a relief showing his death at Trafalgar in 1805. On the left of the dying Nelson is a black crewman holding a musket and searching the enemy rigging for the French sniper who shot him. There were 18 nationalities on board HMS Victory, including nine West Indians and one African.

The fountains in the square were installed to stop unruly political demonstrations. Before then, this police box near Nelson’s Column, connected by phone to Charing Cross police station, kept an eye on any crowds. Now a cleaner’s store, the light on top is not from Nelson’s HMS Victory, as some guides might tell you.

Charles I Statue

On a busy traffic island below Trafalgar Square is a statue of King Charles I (oddly, looking towards the place he was beheaded in Whitehall). It’s on a site once occupied by Queen Eleanor's Cross (a replica of which is in front of Charing Cross station). A brass plaque tells you this the place from which all distances to London are measured.

Horse Guards

The official entrance to Buckingham Palace has had a mounted guard for the past 200 years. Anyone can walk and you can  also drive through - provided you have a special ivory token from the Queen.

Horse Guards - The clock has a black numeral 2 - this is the hour at which King Charles was beheaded in the Banqueting House opposite.

Admiralty Arch

Admiralty Arch London. Built by King Edward VII in memory of his mother Queen Victoria, this 1912 arch is actually an office building - for the Cabinet office, among others - and a ceremonial entrance to The Mall - nothing secret about that, but one of the pillars hides a secret....

Spare Nose?

What is that bronze looking thing on the side of the column?This pink nose stuck in the grey granite of Admiralty Arch - look inside the arch taking traffic out of The Mall - is said to be a spare for Nelson in Trafalgar Square, or a tribute to the Duke of Wellington, famous for his large nose.Around Soho there are seven noses and it is said that if you spot all of them you will attain infinite wealth. Sculptor Rick Buckley was responsible for many, leaving casts of his nose in 1966.

Royal Artillery Memorial

The horse of war is controlled by the winged figure of peace in this work by William Robert Colton (1867-1921). The pillars list the 1,078 men who died in South Africa and plaques show the artillery in action. Unveiled in 1920 by the Duke of Connaught, using a electronic remote control from a memorial service in St Paul’s Cathedral.

Guards Memorial

This work by Gilbert Ledward commemorates the five Foot Guards regiments of the 1914-1919 war. Cast from captured guns, the figures were modelled on actual Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh guardsmen. Damaged by World War II bombs, Ledward suggested some of the scars should remain unrepaired.

Next time you are in London, why not look out for some of these secret landmarks yourself.

(All descriptions of photographs are taken from the website http://www.secret-london.co.uk/)

Review - Classic Brit Awards 2011

The annual Classic Brit Awards are a reflection and celebration of the critical and commercial successes within the classical music industry. For me, it is also an opportunity to see some of the greatest names in the industry perform on stage – for a fraction of what it would cost in an Opera House.

Now in its twelfth year, the awards ceremony itself has evolved not only with its change of name (formerly known as the Classical Brit Awards) but also in the areas of music it covers. Previously this ceremony had been exclusively for classical music and opera – and in fact any album up for consideration for an award had to be at last 60% classical in content – now the category has been expanded to include musical theatre and orchestral music written for soundtracks. The aim being to appeal to a wider section of music fans and hopefully make classical music more accessible.

All Angels

This would probably explain therefore, the high number of what are termed Classical Crossover artists that appeared and performed on the night. They are artists who combine both classical and popular music in their performances and who appeal to a broad cross section of the audience.

Il Divo

Whilst I enjoyed many of the performances on the evening; particularly Alfie Boe & the cast of Les Miserables, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Eric Whitacre and the Eric Whitacre singers, I would have liked to have seen more classical and operatic performers take to the stage. Last year’s awards were heavily dominated by the world of opera with performances from Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Rolando Villazon, Angela Gheorgiu and Bryn Terfel which for me was a dream come true. This year, the programme appeared to be more Crossover and I feel that a more balanced programme between the two genres would have been better received.

Part of the problem within the classical music industry, at least in my opinion, is that the industry itself want to appeal to as broad an audience as possible and thereby sell more albums, but the purists within the industry want to maintain the exclusivity of the classical and operatic genres and see the introduction of crossover artists as effectively dumbing it down. It was interesting to note though, that in the past three years when I have attended, the hall has been completely sold out. This year there were still many seats available in the higher levels. Now whether this is due to the economical climate, or the fact that the awards have changed to appeal to a wider audience is difficult to say, but for me, this year it lacked the splendour and excitement of former years.

That’s not to say that the evening wasn’t enjoyable as I did enjoy it immensely. I arrived in time to see many of the artists arrive on the red carpet and enjoyed watching the reaction of both the crowds and artists as they took to the red carpet. One criticism of this would be that some of the artists didn’t spend time with the fans and yet again, the placement of the Classic Brits backdrop meant that many fans had an obscured view of the artists arriving. What I found interesting is that whilst all eyes were on the red carpet, just behind the crowds were other musicians just walking up and down almost unrecognised. I took the opportunity to talk to my friend, tenor Thomas Spencer Wortley who was attending the awards for the first time. Thomas is relatively new to the music scene but is incredibly talented and with any luck will be nominated in the Best Newcomer category next year. As we chatted we started our own alternative commentary to the arrivals on the red carpet which proved quite entertaining and if the organisers are short of people to interview next year, we’d be more than happy to oblige! I also had the opportunity to meet Gareth Malone, the genius behind projects such as The Choir. Gareth has also attended for the last four years and yet despite his huge success on TV, mingled happily with the crowds and was a delight to talk to being as he is genuinely charming and funny. He and Thomas were sitting on the same table during the awards and I would dearly loved to have joined them for I’m sure the conversation would have been highly amusing all evening.

Alfie Boe arriving at the awards.Photo courtesy of Hilary Sargeant

Gareth Malone & I watching the arrivals on the Red Carpet

My own seat though afforded an excellent view of the stage and the orchestra. There is nothing quite like the sound of a live orchestra and The London Chamber Orchestra under the superb direction of Christopher Warren-Green performed spectacularly. Indeed at times it felt like I was part of the orchestra I was sat so close, and the sound that we experience d was truly spectacular. It was also a thrill to be so close to the stage and to see the emotion and effort that each singer or performer put into their performance. You could see the nerves of some and yet also the excitement and anticipation of others. Thanks to a technical fault following the performance of Alfie Boe and the Les Mis cast we also got to hear their reaction as their mics stayed on and we heard the backstage shouts and squeals of “that was so much fun”, “amazing”, “let’s do it again”. This provided a huge response from the audience who had also clearly enjoyed their medley of songs from the show.

As mentioned before, the highlight for me was Anne-Sophie Mutter’s performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Winter).She seemed to play so effortlessly and we watched in wonder as her bow seemed to fly over the strings, barely touching them and yet producing such an amazing sound. Eric Whitacre and his singers provided a more calming and almost ethereal performance with their rendition of “Sleep”. They captivated the audience’s attention so that at the end of the performance you could almost hear a pin drop. Alfie Boe and the Les Mis cast were another triumph and received possibly one of the biggest cheers of the evening with their medley of hits from the popular musical. Alfie’s rendition of”Bring Him Home” always manages to bring a tear to my eye and that night was no exception. Their finale in which they sang “One Day More” also gave me goose bumps as their performance really brought out the beauty of the music and the poignancy of the lyrics.

The cast of Les Mis

The final award of the evening was the Outstanding Contribution to Music awarded posthumously to the late John Barry OBE. John was well known for the number of film scores he composed and as a tribute, artists and orchestra performed some of his better known tracks. Katherine Jenkins and Alfie Boe sang the beautiful “Here’s to the Heroes” from Dances with Wolves which was quite fitting and a perfect tribute to the man and his genius.

Katherine Jenkins & Alfie Boe perform Here's to the Heroes

The show ended with the incomparable Dame Shirley Bassey who sang the theme tune to the James Bond film Goldfinger. Judging by the audience reaction as she took to the stage, this was the one they had been waiting for. It seems incredible that this lady doesn’t seem to age and can still belt out the tune with as much power and glamour as she did the first time she sang it. She seemed to enjoy every minute just as much as the audience and it certainly ended the evening on a high note.

Dame Shirley Bassey performing Goldfinger

It seemed to be over all too soon and whilst many of the artists made their way to the after show parties, there was just time for me to catch up with the Spencer-Wortley brothers and get Thomas’s take on how the evening had gone before heading back to the hotel.

It was a wonderful evening and I look forward to next year when hopefully there will be a more balanced mixture between all of the music they are trying to promote and celebrate.

(Thanks to Hilary Sargeant for the photographs)

The Wedding, The Birthday and an extra Bank Holiday

Everyone loves a good party and this past weekend in the UK, we have had more than one excuse to celebrate; A Royal Wedding, A Playwrite's Birthday and an extra Bank Holiday - and boy did we ever party!

As billions of people around the world tuned in to watch Prince William marry Kate Middleton, millions also took to the streets in London to see the Royal Procession and to take part in all the celebrations. In some places, special licences were obtained to close streets in order for the residents to hold a street party – something which I remember from the Silver Jubilee and Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. The scenes shown on TV as thousands of people lined Pall Mall was quite amazing. People from all over the world had come to London to take part in the celebrations and the sea of union jacks all waving madly was really something to behold.

I must confess I did not get caught up in all the excitement as much I thought I would. I did watch the proceedings on TV and thoroughly enjoyed the incredible sights of Westminster Abbey, the beautiful and at times, quite ethereal music from many great British composers and I enjoyed watching the wedding ceremony itself – but at the end of the day, it’s all about an ordinary couple in love starting a life together. Ok, so this ordinary couple are one day set to rule the country and unlike most other newlyweds starting out, their lives will be closely monitored from now on, never being far away from a camera lens but, for them (and us) it was a day of celebration.

 Saturday marked a day that I was more excited to take part in – William Shakespeare’s 447th birthday celebrations in Stratford –Upon – Avon. William Shakespeare was born (and died) 23rd April but this year as his birthday fell upon the Easter Bank Holiday, his birthday celebrations were put on hold for a week.
It seemed that despite his age, or should that be that he died so many years ago, many people were eager to take part in the celebrations of arguably our Nation’s greatest play writers proving that whilst the man may be dead, his work lives on and is still celebrated today.

There was the procession through the town to the church where Shakespeare is buried, featuring many people dressed in traditional Tudor costume but also depicting characters from his plays. There were musicians and singers scattered throughout the town performing music from both Elizabethan and modern times and there were magicians, theatrical performances and Morris dancers – take away the modern shop frontages and at times it felt like you had been transported back in time. There was also a distinct British feel about the celebrations and at times reminded me of the May Fairs we used to go to when I was a child.


The main street and area near the Swan Theatre were decorated with bright yellow shields and banners each representing one of Shakespeare’s plays or characters; it was quite an incredible sight, especially as the union jack bunting was still flying from the previous days celebrations.

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) had laid on many free events for families which included craft activities to make your own Elizabethan ruff or theatrical mask, or having a theatrical makeover by a member of their makeup team. There was also a chance to take part in transforming the Swan Room into a giant birthday cake to commemorate the event. Under the direction of the artist Shane Waltener, children were invited to design and make a decoration for the cake. It was an ingenious idea and looked very effective as the decorations were added to the walls of the room.

I particularly enjoyed a short trip on the Sonnet Ferry, a traditional chain boat that crosses the Avon – and supposedly the oldest surviving one in the country. As we crossed the river, a member of the RSC read sonnets to us – ours being “Shall I Compare Thee to a summer’s day, thou art more lovely and more temperate...”

I also enjoyed watching an outdoor production of Shylock V Antonio – The appeal. Set in modern times, Shylock, still in his traditional costume appears with his modern day attorney to have his appeal read against the original judgement made in the play The Merchant of Venice. Part of his argument was based on the fact that the trial had not been fair in that the person claiming to be an attorney (Portia) was not legally qualified at the time of the trial and had undisclosed connections to a friend of Antonio’s and was therefore biased in favour of him. The whole thing was very cleverly written with references to many modern day things such as people having gastric bands or colonic irrigation to help shift that “pound of flesh”. It was highly entertaining and seemed well received by the informal audience that sat around on the grass watching.

It was great to see how people, young and old and from many different countries joined together to celebrate the works of this man. Many people wore sprigs of Rosemary in their buttonholes (“Rosemary for remembrance” as Ophelia says in Hamlet) and I noticed that some of the park area in front of the Swan Theatre had Rosemary growing in it.

It was a wonderful day out and lovely to take part in such a fun day. It is interesting to note in hindsight, that I’ve become more interested in the works of Shakespeare as I’ve grown older. Whilst, unlike many of my classmates I did enjoy studying him at school, I think it’s only since I’ve grown older that I’ve learned to appreciate him more and gain a deeper insight into his work. In contrast, in my childhood I relished the street parties, the flag waving and all the celebrations of Kings and Queens and fairytale romances and whilst I still enjoy the pageantry, it doesn’t have that same magical feel to it.

So, on our last Bank Holiday (well at least for a few weeks) I intend to make the most of the gloriously sunny day and enjoy it whilst it lasts.