In this term’s second Lower Sixth English Society, our guest speaker was Dr Ray Hoole – better known to many as a Chemistry master and Senior Academic Administrator – but also a holder of a PhD on Shakespeare. Dr Hoole spoke about the fascinating way that scholars and experts have kept alive the words of Shakespeare through ‘foul papers’, quartos and folios and how authorship in the 16th and 17th centuries operated. He then followed this up with examples from ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ and included video clips from the wonderful Branagh film adaptation to enrich his argument. The students certainly enjoyed the session and it invigorated their current study of ‘Othello’.
