a short story from scratch. I outline a story of modern courtly love, about a man who determines to pursue a courtly affair. I get as far as giving him the idea and sending him to the London Library to research the subject, but then I run out of time.At last, I am slid out. I am dizzy and light-headed, also slightly tingly, which I later learn is a possible side effect. I have lost track of time and I am stunned to discover that I have been in the scanner for 2¼ hours--it is their longest-ever scan.
I watch as Iain studies the images on a screen. Yes, I have a brain, but, disappointingly, it is just like everybody else's. Strip us of our skin, our features, and at once we become a crowd, weaving its way to oblivion.
from Bryan Appleyard: from The Sunday Times: My Brain Scan
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Anonymous, the German-born director Roland Emmerich's new film, suggests that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was both the son and the lover of Elizabeth I, and that they had a child together, who became the Earl of Southampton. Thinking I must have missed something at A-level, I email the eminent historian David Starkey. He declines to garland the idea with his customary loquacity: "Tosh!"
The other big idea in the film, as you will probably know by now, is that William Shakespeare was a villainous, tenth-rate buffoon who could read but not write, and who, nevertheless, succeeded in convincing London audiences, indeed the whole of society, that he was the greatest poet and playwright alive.
from Bryan Appleyard: from The Sunday Times: Nothing Anonymous About Shakespeare
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