“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” It has been over 400 years since England’s most celebrated writer shuffled off this mortal coil. In that time, his influence on the written word is pretty much unrivalled. And yet we know so little of his own story. But as research continues to unearth further clues to the details of his life, we ask how this upstart crow came to be so celebrated (p42).
Was it in this classroom that Shakespeare first put quill to paper?
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Given the Bard’s love of writing about history one can only imagine what he would have made of the drama of World War II. Tis issue, we explore one of the most terrifying fields of combat in that conflict – namely the Battle of the Atlantic, as civilians and seamen alike took their chances against the U-boat wolfpacks that terrorised Britain’s vital lifeline (p58).