It is quite a special day today for the English,as it is Saint George's Day and both the Birthday and Anniversary of the Death of William Shakespeare."Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'"
Hip hip Hoorah!!
Let's celebrate by telling us your favourite icon of the English and your favourite of Will's works.
Mine are:
a) A real old English Country Pub
b) Henry Vth Speech upon St Crispin's Day. The Speech

Isn't this the quadricentennial of his death?

Yes, Very special.
So come on Dave. Put in your answers.

I daresay my choices would be different if I were asked the same question next week or next year.

But today I'll choose Tower Bridge for my national icon.

Since I'm feeling in a sentimental mood after my own birthday, I'll go for Romeo and Juliet as my Shakespeare play and recall Romeo's first sight of Juliet.

For you, Ren, I've spent a (boozeless) happy hour scouting round YouTube for some images of England and in the end I came back to where my family (allegedly) came from. If only we could find a piece of paper proving it, I might be rich! Or, as they were probably peasants, still poor. Here are the iconic Cotswolds.

And here, hot off the BBC, some of its news correspondents from around the world reading "All the world's a stage".

As for an English icon, I guess (as I am American) I'll go with Big Ben.

I've only read a few of Shakespeare's works, but I do like the first lines of Sonnet XVIII.

Caroline,that is just perfect, and thank you. I lived a long time and went to school in Gloucester, so am very Cotswold biased. When I go back I stay with my cousin in Maisemore, a lovely area too. Thanks again for such a lovely trip.
Yes Dave and the whole of the Sonnet 18 is pretty wonderful too.

Oh, I like this--my icon is Warwick Castle and it's hard to pick my favorite play and/or scene, but I love "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and the scene when Falstaff hides in the laundry basket.

The Sherwood Forest of Robin Hood and "Titus Andronicus"

Stonehenge and As You Like It.

On 23rd April, the BBC broadcast a two-hour programme live from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. Here's a small clip from the programme, with a lesson on how to say, or not to say, the soliloquy from Hamlet. No, not that soliloquy, this one: https://youtu.be/kEs8rK5Cqt8

I cannot watch it. Is it the "To be or not to be" soliloquy?

Yes, that's the one. Oh dear, I thought because the BBC had uploaded it to YouTube that they had released it for viewing worldwide... perhaps you could try searching YouTube for 'to be or not to be BBC Shakespeare Live' and see if another link comes up?

I found one...for those who do not live in the UK or other places that cannot watch flopsy's link, here is another that I can see...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gZtW-U6qG4

That's a small clip of the end... the lead up to it is very funny but I can't find a longer clip apart from the BBC one. Still, worth keeping an eye on it in case the BBC changes the restrictions or someone else posts a full clip. Or until the whole programme gets shown on BBC World!

If you can ignore the voice of the woman who actually recorded this by pointing her phone at her television set... here's the whole scene.

https://youtu.be/GrnM4HJHW-M

Thanks. I did try to ignore her.....aaaarrggghh!!