Not many people know of John Bradburne - not as many as should, since he is probably the most prolific English poet. But you will be excused for thinking that title is Shakespeare's. Professor David Crystal, the expert on both poets, estimates that Bradburne produced 170,000 lines of...

Nothing equals the joy of sniffing, caressing and reading a book. The feeling is more fulfilling when the book is a Folio edition or gilded or really old or illustrated or comes with someone's random token forgotten inside the pages... Mmmm, nothing better than the intoxicating smell of oldness which...

We all love a well-written book with some magic in it that would collect our minds into its pages and let us soar beyond imagination...

The intellectual calibre of the Crystals seems to know no bounds. Hilary Crystal's techno-fantasy novel The Memors targeting tweenagers...

In a recent book by Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford professors Laurie Maguire and Emma Smith attempt to bust 30 myths about Shakespeare that have taken shape and credo over time. As stated in the Introduction, they do not aim to give a "yes" or "no" answer...

At no other time does it strike us as much literal how universal Shakespeare is as on 23 April when his birthday is celebrated universe-wide. With the pompous solemn march through Henley Street to the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthday is as much a revelation outside his motherland....

Now that the BBC is about to air the TV series adaptation of Philippa Gregory's The White Queen, it is well worth revisiting the merits of the book itself.

Set amidst the mayhem of the Wars of the Roses, it is a novel about a woman raised...

"I'll plant Plantagenet, root him up who dares", declares the Earl of Warwick in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3. And he does indeed. The Kingmaker, as he is famously dubbed, gets the knack of this making, unmaking of Plantagenet kings... But this restless element of fighting for the throne goes...

Illuminations have shown their penchant for Shakespeare more than once... The DVDs of Sher's Macbeth, Tennant's Hamlet, RSC's African Caesar - to name but a few - have been a real treat for the less fortunate of us who could not audit...

Few subjects excite the humanity as much as language. Proof? Look through Amazon bestsellers; several months ago a spelling book by David Crystal was topping Fifty Shades of Grey. Language is sexy, no doubt - no grey matter in here! So it hardly comes as a...

The immortal value of a physical book is no news. Yet you will agree that the growing proliferation of audiobooks is remarkable for multiple reasons. An audiobook saves time, it is even more portable and flexible than a physical book and it is simply a leisurely pleasure to be read...

If you still believe grammar is dull, infinitives unsplittable and usage can be commanded by individual language bailiffs - you have never read or heard Crystal.

Only a few decades ago academics would frown at attempts to introduce language issues comprehensible to the general reader. It took a...

Every Shakespeare freak has probably sulked at least for once on Robert Burn's Night. No Shakespeare Night? No Shakespeare Day? But tarry, you might say, April 23 hardly fails to be a day on a national scale when the grave of the "Star of poets" in Stratford-upon-Avon is bathed in...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Professor David Crystal is the bearded God of language, particularly the English language. With over 100 books to his name, he has been prolific both in writing and editing. Crystal has produced series of encyclopedias with Cambridge University Press and Penguin...

No lover of Shakespeare - on page or on stage - will fail to recognise the wordplay or pun on the proper names of Shakespeare's characters. Simple, Feeble, Quickly, Pistol spring to mind - just to recall Falstaff's company. Some names in Shakespeare accurately characterise the name-bearer, some are ironically...

A black Caesar - a bit of a challenge to conceive... How about a production of Julius Caesar set in post-independence Africa? Well, when in charge is an ace director soaked in Shakespeare, the result can well be a brilliant production with an outstanding cast.

Gregory Doran's production of Julius...

There are books I find it irresistible not to thumb through, re-read from or just caress every time I walk past my bookshelf. This time it happened to be Ben Crystal's Shakespeare on Toast: Getting a Taste for the Bard. And since the book has just been published...

When Professor David Crystal's new book "Spell It Out: the Singular Story of English Spelling" came out on 6 September 2012, a few weeks later it was a bestseller on Amazon, ahead of the erotic trilogy "The Fifty Shades of Grey". Cooking. Spelling....

RSC is always a treat when I am in fair Stratford-upon-Avon. I have seen performances I adored and performances I disliked. I could not predict what I would make of King John. I am mostly a purist when it comes to adapting Shakespeare and I heard King John was very...