Four hundred years ago this weekend a man died. Other celebrity deaths were an issue then, too - Cervantes died the same year. But the man who died and whose anniversary we celebrate this weekend gave us something little short of a miracle. He embellished the language, he ennobled the stage, and he gave the world the best plays and poetry ever written. He has been my joy and my obsession for over fifty years. Thank you, Will.

Lots of links, as you might expect this weekend.

Why is he so popular?
His life and legacy. Why celebrate? Google had a doodle.

The Shakespeare Institute organised a school trip - a coach and everything - to Compton Verney, to see their exhibition, Shakespeare in Art. It was a fascinating collection, with a recreation of the first-ever Shakespeare gallery.



You will spot me if you look for the white-haired old bat.

There's this rather cool cartoon too.

I didn't go in to Stratford today, because I would have needed to leave at stupid o'clock to avoid the traffic, but I did watch the BBC Shakespeare Live! this evening, with a cast of thousands of huge, huge names in British theatre. Dame Judi as Titania, Sir Ian as one of nine Hamlets arguing about the stresses in the Big Speech (including the Prince of Wales, who joined in.) Dame Helen, Tony Sher, Rory Kinnear, Davis Tennant, Catherine Tate, Tim Minchin, Simon Russell-Beale, Joe Fiennes, Royal Ballet peeps, the English National Opera - and I know I've left out several important people. It was fun.

The joy and glory of Shakespeare rises above everything else for me. How lucky we are, the human race, to have bred such a genius.

And how lucky we are as British people to have the BBC to show this sort of thing in Saturday prime time.

Tags: bbc, shakespeare, shakespeare institute, thinky thoughts, tv

Another much-loved National Treasure has left us. Victoria Wood was only 62, and may not have been as well known outside the country as her close friend Julie Walters, but she was an amazing comedian, writer and performer. Bloody cancer.

I'm going to share a couple of pieces of her brilliance. First, Acorn Antiques, a wonderful send-up of all that is bad in low-budget soaps (especially one called Crossroads). She isn't in this episode, but she wrote it.



A wonderful TV special from 1992 - she is the breakfast TV presenter, and several other characters. Julie Walters and Celia Imrie are in this again.



And, with the equally lamented Alan Rickman and a galaxy of other Brit stars, a superb Regency pastiche.



So sad.

Tags: news, sodding 2016 again, tv

I love this show so much. ( Cut for minor spoilersCollapse )

Tags: tv

And it's still awesome. George is so cute, Mitchell so hot, Annie so sweet. The writing rocks and the plot is developing nicely.

And there was a reference! I love that so much.

Tags: tv

They are repeating on BBC4 - it was made in 1996. Peter Capaldi looks so sweet and so young!

It's really good. Somehow I missed it first time around. Thank the Powers for BBC4!

Tags: tv