Happy Birthday Will

Today is the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare's birth... so Happy Birthday, three cheers and hurrah! Here are some images I found of the man himself, just to remind you of his devilishly handsome good looks (um)!!!

The 1st and 2nd pictures are representations we are fairly familiar with, however, the other images are a little disturbing. The 3rd is a modern portrait of the man… a hideous painting where the artist has left his moustache and beard unattached on one side! Just odd. And I can't stop laughing at the 4th image. It's an artists impression of how Shakespeare would look now, if he lived in trendy East London. I love it!!!

But on to more serious matters… Shakespeare was amazing and very deserving of celebration today. We cannot ignore his brilliance with words and how his writing has influenced so much of our modern language but what I didn't realise, before doing a tad of research, was quite how many of our every day expressions were coined by the man himself, hundreds of years ago. Here are just a few…

A laughing stock (The Merry Wives of Windsor)

A sorry sight (Macbeth)

As dead as a doornail (Henry VI)

Eaten out of house and home (Henry V, Part 2)

Fair play (The Tempest)

I will wear my heart upon my sleeve (Othello)

In a pickle (The Tempest)

In stitches (Twelfth Night)

In the twinkling of an eye (The Merchant Of Venice)

Mum's the word (Henry VI, Part 2)

Neither here nor there (Othello)

Send him packing (Henry IV)

Good riddance (Troilus and Cressida)

I have not slept one wink (Cymbeline)

Heart of gold (Henry V)

Own flesh and blood (Hamlet)

Play fast and loose (King John)

There are dozens more but this one has to be my particular favourite and something I must say to myself on a weekly basis…

To thine own self be true (Hamlet)

Thanks Mr. S x