It’s that day of the year when we remember William Shakespeare.

Here’s a link to the most famous scene from my wife’s favourite play —– Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth in the sleepwalking scene. But give me the romantic comedies any day. Boy meets, boy gets girl, and they live happily ever after.

Just watch Helen Mirren  playing Rosalind, my favourite Shakespearean heroine, in As You Like It. Fun-loving, high-spirited, she’s just like my wife (Rosalind, not Mirren — no, my wife isn’t Rosalind; Rosalind’s like my wife — ach, grammar!) 

Here’s the text of the scene — Act III, Scene II —- from The Oxford Shakespeare.

And here’s Emma Thompson in the last scene of Much Ado About Nothing. Now, that’s entertainment.

Here’s the text of the scene — Act V, Scene IV — from The Oxford Shakespeare.

I have nothing against Shakespeare’s tragedies. Here’s a link to Richard Burton as Hamlet musing “To be or not to be”. But I’d rather shake a leg to the Beatles’ Hard Day’s Night. Hamlet’s great, but the Beatles are baaad!

Shakespeare never did four-part harmonies. But he came close, very close. Click on this link to see John Gielgud as Prospero delivering the epilogue to The Tempest. Magnificent.

Finally, here is Elizabeth Taylor as Katharina with Richard Burton as Petruchio in The Taming Of The Shrew, directed by Franco Zeffirelli.