logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2011
28m 8s

William Shakespeare

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

No less a figure than the national bard, William Shakespeare, is nominated for great life status by poetry curator and TV producer, Daisy Goodwin. Dominic Dromgoole, Artistic Director of the Globe Theatre joins Matthew Parris to put flesh on the life that is remarkably light on known and verifiable facts. How and why did this son of an illiterate glovemaker from Stratford on Avon come to bestride the international stage, adopted not only as England's national poet, but even displacing Goethe and Schiller in Germany? Dromgoole argues that more than a sense of the man is conveyed in his 37 plays.

Producer: Mark Smalley.

Up next
Nov 3
Oliver Postgate
"Postgate's work is deep inside me and I think that's true for so many of my generation...His work represents nothing less than a touchstone for our national imagination and in that sense it's profoundly important"Andrew Davenport, writer, composer, and creator of Teletubbies and ... Show More
27m 39s
Oct 27
Sylvia Plath
Lucy Jones, author of Matrescence, chooses the writer Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Plath was a precocious, prize-winning child,. Her mother had high expectations for her. Her father had died when she was 8 (but could have been saved if only he'd gone to see a doctor). When she was well, ... Show More
27m 6s
Oct 20
Elizabeth Day on Hatshepsut
"One of the things that she claimed was that her mother had been impregnated by the sun god Amon-Ra." Elizabeth Day's interest in the female pharaoh Hatshepsut was sparked by a trip to Egypt less than a year ago. What intrigued her was how this woman survived and thrived as ruler ... Show More
27m 40s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2019
Will the real Shakespeare please stand up?
<p>Playwright William Shakespeare is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential writers in the English language, and his plays have been read or performed millions of times around the world. He was also quite prolific: Between about 1590 and 1613, Shakespeare wrote at lea ... Show More
1 h
Feb 2021
William Shakespeare
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
13m 32s
Nov 2023
Shakespeare
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
1h 9m
Oct 2019
Shakespeare - Known and Unknown
William Shakespeare is the most famous writer in the English language. He lived more than 400 years ago, but people still read his poetry and plays today. Christy VanArragon and Colin Lowther look at Shakespeare’s life. 
15m 1s
May 2020
#127 Who was William Shakespeare? esl
<p class="p1"><span class="s1" style= "font-size: 14pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true">>> Get my new course: The</span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces= "true"> </span><a class="editor-rtfLink" href= "https://pronunciationcourse.com" target="_blank" rel= "noopener"><span ... Show More
14m 37s
Nov 2023
Shakespeare (Radio Edit)
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
28m 2s
Sep 2020
OFH Throwback - Episode #5- Did Shakespeare Write the Plays?
William Shakespeare is easily the best known playwright in the English language. His works are praised as some of the greatest feats of writing and are still required reading throughout the English speaking world. But what if the man from Stratford-upon- Avon was not the true aut ... Show More
50m 3s
Dec 2021
The Sunday Debate: Shakespeare vs Milton
Nearly four centuries after his death, no writer has matched William Shakespeare’s influence across drama, theatre and poetry but a few have come close. John Milton, say his fans, works on an altogether different, higher plane. In Paradise Lost – one of the most significant poems ... Show More
1h 57m
Sep 2020
OFH Throwback - Episode #5- Did Shakespeare Write the Plays?
William Shakespeare is easily the best known playwright in the English language. His works are praised as some of the greatest feats of writing and are still required reading throughout the English speaking world. But what if the man from Stratford-upon- Avon was not the true aut ... Show More
50m 3s
Jul 2022
Dylan Thomas
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the celebrated Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas (1914 - 1953). He wrote some of his best poems before he was twenty in the first half of his short, remarkable life, and was prolific in the second half too with poems such as those set in London under the Bl ... Show More
50m 6s