Tales of Olivier

English people love their kings and queens, and, of course, their horses, though not always in that order. But that has not prevented them from chopping off their heads from time to time, though, of late, they have been more careful. If you happen to be in London on a wet day, you can stop near Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall, just across the road from Scotland Yard, and you will be shown faint grey patches, which, you will be told, are blood stains from the neck of poor Charles II, whose head was chopped off there. But that's another story. Most kings we saw on the stage in London after World War II, were creations of William Shakespeare and Laurence Olivier, roughly in that order. Olivier was quite a rage that summer, and you could see him in person on stage in Shaftesbury Avenue

This article was originally published on October 17, 2021.