555 What Was Shakespeare Really Like? (with S...

At the time of Washington Irving's death, he was the most famous and widely praised American writer of his or any other era. But his reputation soon dwindled, and today he's known primarily as the author of just two stories ("The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle"), wh ...  Show more

In 1895, Henry James suffered through a terrible failure, as his play Guy Domville was greeted by hoots, jeers, and tomatoes being thrown at the play's author. James responded by starting work on his masterpiece The Turn of the Screw, which tells the story of a governess and the ...  Show more

William Shakespeare is one of history’s most famous names – but how much do we really know about the man himself? And how did his family, education and marriage shape his works and influence his worldview? Speaking to Emily Briffett, Dr Paul Edmondson charts Shakespeare’s story, ...  Show more

No single writer has shaped the way we speak and think more than William Shakespeare. Whether we’re being cruel to be kind, wearing our hearts on our sleeves, or spotting the green eye’d monster — it’s almost impossible to use the English language without quoting him. But who was ...  Show more

In this episode, recorded live at the Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot, Greg Jenner is joined by Professor Farah Karim-Cooper and comedian Richard Herring to learn all about the life, legend and legacy of William Shakespeare himself. 2023 marks the 400th anniversary of the ...  Show more

Join Greg Jenner in 16th century England to meet the bard himself, one of England's greatest writers, William Shakespeare. How did he go from the son of a glove maker in Stratford Upon Avon to a famed theatre owner, actor and writer in London? What was life really like in a Shake ...  Show more