The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.1521  Thursday, 15 September 2005

From: 		Stephen Dobbin <
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Date: 		Thursday, 15 Sep 2005 09:13:38 +0100 (BST)
Subject: 	Wells Reviews Ackroyd's 'Shakespeare'

Listmembers who would like to read Stanley Wells review of Peter 
Ackroyd's biography of Shakespeare in last Sunday's Observer can find it at

http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/biography/0,,1567062,00.html

At one point Professor Wells says:

"Some of these (sub-sections) are essentially discrete essays, 
informative and well-judged, on topics such as.... Shakespeare's 
appearance. 'He may in later life even have been fat.' YES, INDEED, 
WRITERS SOMETIMES PUT ON WEIGHT AS THE YEARS PASS BY." (emphasis added)

Those of us in the UK who have enjoyed BBC TV's recent "Peter Ackroyd's 
London" may suspect a personal allusion here. Any U.S. cousins who 
remain puzzled by the good professor's remark may like to view a 
photograph of Professor Wells, such as those at

http://www.sirbacon.org/wells.htm

and compare it to photos of Peter Ackroyd such as those at

http://www.hesperuspress.com/catalogue/person.asp?id=12&tipo=foreword%20writer

or

http://cn.dk.com/static/cs/cn/11/nf/features/voyages/author.html

(full length photos of Mr Ackroyd are, understandably, harder to find.)

Stephen

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