Today I learned something. Always a good day when that happens.

Today I learned that the Shakespeare Birthplace — as in, the home where our beloved playwright was born — was almost shipped to the United States, brick by brick, in the 1800s. The mastermind behind this plan was none other that P.T. Barnum, who is perhaps best known as one half of the famed Barnum and Bailey Circus. It’s also a famous quote of his that I borrowed for the subject line : there’s a sucker born every minute.

I wonder if Barnum was a little like the Donald Trump of his day? Sees something he likes, and more importantly something he can own for himself and make money from, and says, “How much? Name your price.” We can assume that he would have stamped his name on it as soon as the last brick was placed in New York.  P.T. Barnum presents William Shakespeare’s Birthplace.

Alas, Barnum was foiled in his attempt by, in his own words from his 1855 memoir, “some English gentleman who got wind of the deal” and got some friends together to buy the house for 3000 pounds, keeping it in England.

That English gentleman’s name?

Charles Dickens.

And now you know…..the rest of the story.

Despite the recent drama, reddit (“the front page of the internet”) has become famous for what it calls the AMA (“ask me anything”) segment where they frequently score impressive celebrities, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Barack Obama. I sometimes check the upcoming schedule to see if there’s anybody worth camping out and waiting for, but rarely do I remember to do anything about it. They typically last an hour, and you usually have to post your question well ahead of time to get it seen above the noise, so if you’re not on top of your game you’ll miss it.

“I met Patrick in Stratford-upon-Avon when we were both working in the theatre there doing Shakespeare. In about 1976.”   

Is there a character that you’d like to play before you retire from acting?

Have you ever had bad luck when saying the title of the Scottish Play?

Longtime reader and contributor catkins sent me something wonderful that I’m only just now able to fully sit and appreciate.

The task of retelling Shakespeare’s stories for children has been undertaken many times, perhaps most famously Tales From Shakespeare
by Charles and Mary Lamb. Personally I never loved that one because I went straight for The Tempest and did not enjoy how they edited it.

Well, catkins clearly knows this about me because he sent me Alice Hoffman’s 1904 version!

But happy birthday to me, because there’s images I’ve never seen! A number of the characters get this sort of head shot, as I’ve included here for Prospero, which I think is a neat touch for a children’s book as you introduce the characters.

I actually own a version of The Tempest illustrated by children, where the images change on every page. That is, Caliban does not look the same on page 3 as he does on page 5, and so on. This made it impossible to read this book aloud to school children, I found out the hard way, as they kept saying, “Who is that? Wait, I thought caliban was green and slimy? That guy is red and fiery.”

I have not read this one all the way through yet, but I’m looking forward to it. As long time readers know, I’ve always thought of The Tempest as my own personal benchmark for Shakespeare, because it is the play I first introduced to my children. Looking forward to adding this one to the collection.