Tower and Town, May 2016

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William Shakespeare

My Loving Good Friend & Countryman

‘Between Heaven and Woolworth’s’

The Liverpool poet, Brian Patten, describes his birth as taking place ‘somewhere between Heaven and Woolworth’s’. If I were to make the same claim, the store in question would be as unique as Heaven, because the branch in Stratford-upon-Avon was the only one whose façade was painted in gold. Perhaps it was considered to stand on sacred ground, reflecting the feelings about the place expressed by James Boswell during David Garrick’s famous Stratford Jubilee of 1769. Delighted with the occasion, he dashed off celebratory verses and rushed them round to one Fulke Weale, who advertised printing at one hour’s notice. ‘I suppose taking it for granted that Stratford would produce a general poetic inspiration that would exert itself every hour.’

Boswell’s view of the literary prowess of the Stratfordians was not shared by all. ‘In most places the Almighty spreads His Genius through the population’, remarked the music publisher, Vincent Novello, ‘but in His inscrutable Wisdom, in Stratford-upon-Avon he poured it all into one man, which has left all the other inhabitants bereft of wit for generations to come.’

As an old Stratfordian, I’m proud to have given my share of genius to William Shakespeare – and there were compensations. One of my companions on the school bus was a rose-cheeked lass called Sue Hathaway. When I came to man’s estate, the barmaid in my local was called Judith Quiney – the married name of Shakespeare’s younger daughter. Most impressive of all was Sid Shakespeare, the first local to appear in the gear of the 50s youth cult, the Teddy boys. His bootlace tie, crepe soles, winkle pickers and fluorescent socks earned him the title “King of the Teds”.

I must mention also that my sister-in-law is a descendant of Shakespeare’s Aunt Agnes and therefore my genes mingle with his through my brother’s children. A final bonding comes from the fact that we share the same birthday. Tradition says that he was born on April 23rd by the reckoning of the Julian Calendar, which miscalculated the length of the year. When Shakespeare was seventeen, the Pope introduced the Gregorian Calendar, which corrected this accumulated error. It was then 10 days, so April 23rd is in fact May 3rd. My birthday!

When I was a kid, older folk in Stratford used to compare actors like Peggy Ashcroft, Paul Scofield and Lawrence Olivier with those of a lost golden age: Ellen Terry, Basil Rathbone and Robert Donat. The most dominant name was that of Sir Frank Benson, who was usually referred to as ‘Pa’. He effectively began the artistic life of the theatre after its foundation by a local brewer, Charles Flower. Thus what is now the Royal Shakespeare Theatre was founded by local effort – as was its counterpart in Stratford, Ontario. This the two Stratfords have in common.

Benson’s company was as much remembered for its prowess on the sporting field as on the stage. ‘Send me a fast bowler to play Laertes’, Pa is reputed to have once telegraphed his agent. He was an exponent of what we would now call community theatre. The old touring companies would recruit locals to play the extras. In Stratford these were known as ‘supers’. Benson liked to think he’d picked them from Shakespeare’s relations. ‘Of course, they’ll be bastards. Bound to be.’

Another fortune of my childhood was that a theatrical legend was in digs just a few doors away: one with bushy eyebrows and a subterranean voice. Sir Donald Wolfit began every rehearsal with the words ‘There are very few of us left’. I suppose that there are now none of them left, but the phrase may be taken as a theatrical motto in any age. It could have been said by William Shakespeare during the period between when the infant theatre was shut by plague and the actors’ companies were literally decimated. In 1592, the poet is first mentioned as being in London, not as an obscure actor, but as a hugely successful playwright. He had come a long way since the previous mention of his name seven years before in the baptismal record of his twin children.

As is my custom, on April 23rd, I will attend the Shakespeare Birthday lunch and will join in the toast to the ‘Immortal Memory of William Shakespeare’. We can truly be proud that he is our ‘Loving good friend and countryman.’

Nicholas Fogg