TODAY (or thereabouts) marks the 450th birthday of Stratford’s most famous son.
The eyes of the world are on Stratford this week ahead of the Birthday Celebrations this weekend, but one can only wonder what the town would be like this very day had William Shakespeare never found his way into the world.
A pretty market town in the heart of leafy Warwickshire, certainly. A tourist mecca for millions from around the world, it would not.
It is hard to imagine a town more famous anywhere in the world for the influence of a single citizen. Mention the name of Shakespeare, and most will tell you where he was born – even if they have never read a single line which ever flowed from his quill.
Of course they will know many of the words and phrases, and use them regularly, even if they do not know they were conjured up in the extraordinary mind of The Bard – as Bernard Levin so cleverly highlighted in the extract below, which also features in The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s excellent new exhibition Beyond Words.
So here’s wishing Mr William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon many happy returns.
If you cannot understand my argument, and declare “It’s Greek to me”, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger; if your wish is farther to the thought; if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool’s paradise -why, be that as it may, the more fool you , for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then – to give the devil his due – if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then – by Jove! O Lord! Tut tut! For goodness’ sake! What the dickens! But me no buts! – it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.
Bernard Levin
