As a fellow student of Latin and Shakespeare you will of course know that March 15th is the anniversary of the slaying of Julius Caesar by the scheming, conniving, cowardly Cassius and the ambitious, perfidious Mark Anthony and their cronies; memorably re-enacted by that colossal thespian of the stage and screen, Frankie Howard, in his epoch making extravangza, Up Pompei.
Those unfortunate Chelwoodians attending on the 15th will be expected to recount an anecdote or joke of the black comedy type or give a short rendition of their favourite macabre scene from Shakespeare – some examples immediately spring to mind: the hags in Macbeth “Hubble, Bubble et cetera” or Macbeth himself “Is this a dagger I see before me?...........”, Hamlet’s “To be a not to be” or some such, Othello feeling sorry for himself after he kills Desdemona or Lear gauging his own eyes out; Richard the Third: “ A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” And don’t get me started on Dickens’ characters.
Oh what jolly fun it was studying Literature and Latin!
Also acceptable will be quotes from Byron’s “Prisoner of Chillon”, Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, whole sections from the “Revenge of Hamish” or Coleridge’s “Ancient Mariner”. I’d particularly welcome an impersonation of Mrs Danvers as she burns down ‘Mandalay’ in du Maurier’s “Rebecca” or Spike Milligan’s “walking backwards for Christmas” or some such. Quotes from “Hancock’s Half Hour” invariably hit the black spot.
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