From The Guardian
The Sun has published one of its best educational spreads today to mark the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare's birthday: "Happy Bard Day".
It was written by the paper's managing editor (and former Press Complaints Commission director), Stig Abell, who recently spent his tube journeys to work each day reading every one of Shakespeare's plays.
His knowledge has paid off. The pages contain summaries of all 37 plays plus some amusing spoof front pages created by John Perry, the man responsible for the paper's take on history, Hold Ye Front Page (see here and here).
Arguably the best of them is the one about Hamlet: "Massacre at the palace: Claudius killed, Queen poisoned. Hamlet and Laertes dead too." The pay-off is a gem: "Alas poor Yorick - skull found."
Missing from the spread, however, is that famous opening line to a verse in Cymbeline: "Fear no more the heat o' the Sun".
It would have been an apt comment on the paper's less hard-edged approach to the world of late.
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The Royal Shakespeare Company celebrated with fireworks
