William Shakespeare

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Standard Name: Shakespeare, William
The "Chandos" portrait of William Shakespeare, perhaps by John Taylor, c. 1610. Its claims to authenticity are doubtful, but better than most. It was the first portrait acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, 1856. An oval frame is painted round Shakespeare, who looks inscrutably at the viewer, with a bald forehead, moustache and small beard, wearing a black coat with white collar and a hoop earring in his left ear.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Education Jean Rhys
At a very young age, JR imagined that God was a book. She was so slow to read that her parents were concerned, but then suddenly found herself able to read even the longer words...
Education Elizabeth Jenkins
Then, during the years 1924-7, EJ studied at Newnham College, Cambridge . She realised the value of this education at the time, but not so profoundly as she did later.
qtd. in
Jenkins, Elizabeth. The View from Downshire Hill. Michael Johnson, 2004.
18
She received her BA...
Education Catherine Cookson
The house had no books and when a lodger brought in Shakespeare, Milton , and Donne , they were pronounced unsuitable for a child. CC did read a Shakespeare sonnet at about this age and...
Education Pamela Hansford Johnson
PHJ learned a lot in the library of her maternal grandfather, whose books, she says, were mostly [Henry] Irving 's rejects.
Johnson, Pamela Hansford. Important to Me. Macmillan; Scribner, 1974.
66
She had read the entire works of Shakespeare by the age of eight...
Education Jan Struther
JS was educated privately in London, going to classes held in a private home. She hated history and geography but loved literature. Her teacher, Miss Moseley, took the children through Shakespeare before she began...
Education Margaret Holford
The younger Margaret was taught at home, and became a precocious and devoted reader of Shakespeare and others. Her appetite for all kinds of literature was said to be insatiable.
qtd. in
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Travelling in France years...
Education Mrs F. C. Patrick
She must have been well educated. She has a good grasp of history and politics, and of canonical English fiction from Richardson to her own most respected immediate female predecessors. She took a wry interest...
Education Jean Rhys
JR attended the local Catholic convent school where whites were in the minority. Most of the girls were coloured (of mixed blood). Mother Mount Calvary, the Superior of the convent, gave her extra instruction in...
Education Andrea Levy
AL attended Highbury Hill Grammar School , where she studied the Victorians on her history syllabus and Shakespeare and the Metaphysical poets for A-level English (an exam which, she says, she nearly failed). She got...
Education Catherine Cookson
Once married, CC set out to educate herself with books from the public library. She read the central canon in English from Shakespeare to the Romantics. She also read philosophy and found Socrates a help...
Education Ellen Wood
She was educated at home under the influence of a father interested in music and classical scholarship.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
As a child she was noted for her prodigious memory and active imagination, and knew much of Shakespeare
Education Ngaio Marsh
She enjoyed her years here much more than at her first school. It was here that she became quite fervently religious for a while, though neither of her parents shared her intense belief. The school...
Education Augusta Gregory
AG and her sisters received little formal education; their lessons took second place to their brothers'.
McDiarmid, Lucy et al. “Introduction, Notes, and Bibliography”. Selected Writings, Penguin, 1995, pp. xi - xliv, 525.
xiii
Under her evangelical mother's strict supervision, they were taught by a succession of governesses and tutors, who...
Education Margaret Haig Viscountess Rhondda
Taught by governesses until she was thirteen, Margaret Haig Thomas learned to read at about five. She was taught German and French, and she also learned Welsh as a child but did not retain it...
Education Elizabeth Barrett Browning
EBB 's early immersion in fairy stories and popular tales was followed by a more ambitious course of reading that began around the age of seven with history, classical poetry, and some of Shakespeare 's...

Timeline

June 1911: Ellen Terry lectured on the topic of Shakespeare's...

Building item

June 1911

Ellen Terry lectured on the topic of Shakespeare 's Triumphant Women, under the auspices of the Pioneer Players .
Cockin, Katharine. “Cicely Hamilton’s Warriors: dramatic reinventions of militancy in the British women’s suffrage movement”. Women’s History Review, Vol.
14
, No. 3/4, pp. 527-42.
534

1913: Caroline Spurgeon became the first woman...

Building item

1913

Caroline Spurgeon became the first woman professor in Britain when she was named Professor of English Literature at Bedford College .
Harte, Negley. The University of London 1836-1986. Athlone, 1986.
254
Duncan-Jones, Katherine. “Why Have So Few Women Written on Shakespeare?”. Early Modern Lives: Biography and Autobiography, Renaissance and Seventeenth Century Conference, London, 28 June 2002.

15 February 1913: The Birmingham Repertory Theatre opened with...

Building item

15 February 1913

The Birmingham Repertory Theatre opened with a performance of Twelfth NightWilliam Shakespeare .
Hartnoll, Phyllis, editor. The Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 4th ed., Oxford University Press, 1983.
86

December 1927: Nancy Hewins opened the first production...

Building item

December 1927

Nancy Hewins opened the first production by her touring Osiris Players , Britain's first professional all-female theatre company (successor to the amateur Isis Players , which she had run as an Oxford undergraduate).
Barker, Paul. “Shakespeare’s Sisters”. The Guardian, 26 June 2004, p. G2: 17.
G2: 17

23 April 1932: On the traditional date of Shakespeare's...

Building item

23 April 1932

On the traditional date of Shakespeare 's birthday, the new Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford upon Avon opened with a performance of Henry IV, parts I and II.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
376
Stevenson, John, 1946 -. British Society, 1914-45. Penguin, 1984.
417

1944: Laurence Olivier directed and starred in...

Building item

1944

Laurence Olivier directed and starred in the film Henry V, making the most of the English patriotic feeling in Shakespeare 's original play.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
393

1944: The Old Vic Company began its season at New...

Building item

1944

The Old Vic Company began its season at New Theatre in London with Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson in Ibsen 's Peer Gynt, Shaw 's Arms and the Man, and Shakespeare 's Richard III.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
393

1946: At the age of fifteen or sixteen, Irish-born...

Writing climate item

1946

At the age of fifteen or sixteen, Irish-born Catherine Gaskin (now resident in Australia) published her first novel, This Other Eden (titled from a famous speech about England spoken by Shakespeare 's John of Gaunt).
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

April 1946: The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford...

Building item

April 1946

The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre , Stratford upon Avon, was reopened by Sir Barry Jackson with a performance of Love's Labour's LostWilliam Shakespeare produced by Peter Brook .
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
396

1949: Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, released the previous...

Building item

1949

Laurence Olivier 's Hamlet,William Shakespeare released the previous year, became the first British film to win the Oscar for best film.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
401

1951: Theatre historian Allardyce Nicoll established...

Writing climate item

1951

Theatre historian Allardyce Nicoll established the Shakespeare Institute ; it is part of Birmingham University and is housed in Mason Croft at Stratford, formerly the home of novelist Marie Corelli .
“The Shakespeare Institute”. The University of Birmingham.

10 May 1951: Actress Vivien Leigh and actor Laurence Olivier...

Building item

10 May 1951

Actress Vivien Leigh and actor Laurence Olivier began the season at St James's Theatre , London, alternately playing Shaw 's Caesar and Cleopatra and Shakespeare 's Antony and Cleopatra.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
404

December 1965: Actress Peggy Ashcroft toured Norway with...

Women writers item

December 1965

Actress Peggy Ashcroft toured Norway with a show of her own devising, Words on Women and Some Women's Words, originally written for performance at London University .
Billington, Michael. Peggy Ashcroft, 1907-1991. Mandarin, 1991.
212-13

: Peter Brook directed at Stratford upon Avon...

Building item

Spring 1970

Peter Brook directed at Stratford upon Avon a production of Shakespeare 's Midsummer Night's Dream which redefined the possibilities of theatre.
Callow, Simon. “A Prospero for our time”. Guardian Unlimited, 2 Apr. 2005.

23 April 1975: A major demonstration was held in Belgrave...

Writing climate item

23 April 1975

A major demonstration was held in Belgrave Square, London, in support of Public Lending Right.
Fraser, Antonia. Must You Go?. Random House of Canada, 2010.
16

Texts

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