WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
William Shakespeare, England’s greatest dramatist, is the genus loci of London. As a writer he embodied the 'spirit of the place.' A country boy from the forest of Arden who made the world’s greatest city his own, and gave London a starring role in his history plays, with characters ranging from kings to beggars, from Prince Hal to Falstaff, from the hapless Richard II to the wily scheming Richard III. But Shakespeare was no mere historical chronicler; a talented actor as well as a writer, Shakespeare helped to build the Globe theatre and managed the spectacular feat of staying on the right side of Elizabeth I and King James at a time of political unrest.
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Catharine Arnold read English at Cambridge and holds a further degree in psychology. She is the author of Globe – Life in Shakespeare’s London and the acclaimed London quartet, Necropolis, London and its Dead, Bedlam London and its Mad, City of Sin and Underworld, City of Crime, all published by Simon & Schuster. |
