Fifty Things You Need To Know About British History. Hugh Williams

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      ‘All that glisters is not gold’ – Prince of Morocco, The Merchant of Venice

      ‘All’s well that ends well’ – Helena, All’s Well That Ends Well

      ‘At one fell swoop’ – Macduff, Macbeth

      ‘Bated breath’ – Shylock, The Merchant of Venice

      ‘The ‘be-all and end-all’ – Macbeth, Macbeth

      ‘Be cruel … to be kind’ – Hamlet, Hamlet

      ‘Brave new world’ – Miranda, The Tempest

      ‘A charmed life’ – Macbeth, Macbeth

      ‘Come full circle’ – Edmund, King Lear

      ‘Dog will have its day’ – Hamlet, Hamlet

      ‘Eaten me out of house and home’ – Hostess Quickly, Henry IV, Part 2

      ‘Elbow room’ – John, King John

      ‘Fair play’ – Hector, Troilus and Cressida

      ‘For ever and a day’ – Biondello, The Taming of the Shrew

      ‘Foregone conclusion’ – Othello, Othello

      ‘Foul play’ – Gloucester, King Lear

      ‘The game is up’ – Belarius, Cymbeline

      ‘Good men and true’ – Dogberry, Much Ado About Nothing

      ‘Good riddance’ – Patroclus, Troilus and Cressida

      ‘Greek to me’ – Casca, Julius Caesar

      ‘Green-eyed monster’ – Iago, Othello

      ‘Heart’s content’ – Henry, Henry VI, Part 2

      ‘I have not slept one wink’ – Pisanio, Cymbeline

      ‘In my heart of heart’ – Hamlet, Hamlet

      ‘I will wear my heart upon my sleeve’ – Iago, Othello

      ‘Into thin air’ – Prospero, The Tempest

      ‘The lady doth protest too much’ – Gertrude, Hamlet

      ‘Lay it on ‘with a trowel’ – Celia, As You Like It

      ‘Love is blind’ – Jessica, The Merchant of Venice

      ‘Milk of human kindness’ – Lady Macbeth, Macbeth

      ‘More fool you’ – Bianca, The Taming of the Shrew

      ‘Murder most foul’ – Ghost, Hamlet

      ‘My own flesh and blood’ – Shylock, The Merchant of Venice

      ‘My salad days’ – Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra

      ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ – Othello, Othello

      ‘Pound of flesh’ – Shylock, The Merchant of Venice

      ‘Seal up your lips and give no words but mum’ (giving us the saying ‘Mum’s the word’) – Hume, Henry VI, Part 2

      ‘Send him packing’ – Falstaff, Henry IV, Part 1

      ‘The short and the long of it’ – Mistress Quickly, The Merry Wives of Windsor

      ‘Short shrift’ – Ratcliff, Richard III

      ‘Sorry sight’ – Macbeth, Macbeth

      ‘Of sterner stuff’ – Mark Antony, Julius Caesar

      ‘Strange bed-fellows’ – Trinculo, The Tempest

      ‘Such stuff as dreams are made on’ – Prospero, The Tempest

      ‘To the manner born’ – Hamlet, Hamlet

      ‘Though this be madness, yet there is a method in’t’ (giving us the saying ‘There’s method in his madness’) – Polonius, Hamlet

      ‘Truth will out’ – Launcelot, The Merchant of Venice

      ‘Wild goose chase’ – Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet

      ‘The world’s mine oyster’ – Pistol, The Merry Wives of Windsor

      Shakespeare survived these upheavals to emerge by the middle of the eighteenth century as Britain’s supreme dramatist and poet. The theatre had changed enormously since his time. The open air spaces of the Elizabethan stage had been enclosed and Londoners crowded into places like the carefully lit auditorium of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. The building itself had been designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1674 but under the management of its latest impresario, David Garrick, had introduced many new features. There was a clear division between actors and audience. The auditorium was darker and the stage brighter, with footlights and other effects to enhance the action. Before these innovations members of the audience had been allowed to sit on the stage where they could prove troublesome, particularly if the production was not to their liking. In this environment David Garrick set about building his reputation as the finest actor-manager of his time. Many of his productions were boisterous pieces of popular fun, but he never lost sight of Shakespeare and wanted to be identified as a great interpreter of his roles. He played all the great parts – Hamlet, King Lear and Macbeth among them – but his most popular performances were as Richard III and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. In 1769 he organised a jubilee at Stratford-upon-Avon to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. It was three years late, but nobody minded. Garrick gave the public a splendid festival of entertainment, including snippets from his Shakespearean performances and his very own ‘Ode to Shakespeare’:

      Untouch’d and sacred be thy shrine,

      Avonian Willy, Bard divine.

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