A review of Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors….

I have now watched all of the Channel 5 series Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors, which is so packed with information that I hardly know where to begin with this review. Aha, did I hear you say the beginning might be a good idea? You’re right, so here goes with a selection of descriptions from…

Would YOU include some of these in a list of all-time best historical films…?

  Here’s an interesting list of the “best historical royalty” films. Interesting….and peculiar. As well as some excellent period-based movies we have the likes of The King and I, the animated Anastasia musical and the Taylor-Burton Cleopatra. Maybe the latter will be acceptable to many, but to me it was a circus because of what…

SHAKESPEARE’S RICHARD III: HERO OR VILLAIN?

” Never let it be said that fate itself could awe the soul of Richard.            Hence babbling dreams, you threaten here in vain;            Conscience avaunt, Richard’s himself again” (The tragical history of King Richard the Third)[1]   Richard’s himself again: or is he? There is a moment in Olivier’s film of Shakespeare’s play…

Shakespeare’s Richard III as depicted in Sir Ian McKellen’s film….

In the following article, Sir Ian McKellen talks specifically about his 1930s version of Shakespeare’s “Richard III”. No mention is made of the real Richard, oh, and the horse for his kingdom has become a jeep! There are  various reasons why I will not be watching this, but tell me, how can it really be Shakespeare’s…

Some of Sir Ian’s thoughts on Shakespeare’s Richard III….

The following article also deals with Sir Ian’s thoughts on other Shakespeare plays, not just Richard III, but I have only selected the Richard comments. I should add that he doesn’t express an opinion on the real Richard.:- What happened when Sir Ian McKellen met Shakespeare? The Big Issue was there to record the words…

Richard and the McKellen treatment…

OK, I know it’s great theatre (apparently) but I do NOT like Richard III to be updated to ‘modern’ times. So the thought of Sir Ian McKellen and his bus doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest. I still think that Shakespeare should be played as he was meant to be, i.e. in 16th-century costume. Many…