This event took place at the British Library on Tuesday 18 July 2023.

2023 marked the 400th anniversary of the publication of William Shakespeare’s First Folio. It is the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, collated in 1623, seven years after his death. The British Library houses one of only four surviving copies of this world treasure.

In their book, Everyday Shakespeare: Lines for Life, the Crystals – son and father – gather the finest lines from lesserknown corners of Shakespeare’s plays and poems. Together they create an entertaining trove of trivia, miscellaneous facts, historical context and opportunities for reflection:

'Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.'
'Make not your thoughts your prisons.'
'Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.'
'And I have heard it said, unbidden guests are often welcomest when they're gone.'

Join the Bard and two of his biggest advocates to revel in the joy of language and the wondrous complexities of life.

Ben Crystal is an actor, author, creative producer, patron of Shakespeare Week, Associate Artist to the new Shakespeare North Playhouse, and curator of theShakespeareEnsemble.com. Ben and his father David Crystal have collaborated on several books: Shakespeare's Words, The Shakespeare Miscellany, and The Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare. Ben's solo writing includes Lockdown Shakespeare, Shakespeare on Toast and the four titles of the Arden Springboard Shakespeare series: Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and King Lear.

David Crystal is known throughout the world as a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster on language. His work on Shakespeare includes Pronouncing Shakespeare, Think on My Words: Exploring Shakespeare's Languages, and, with Ben Crystal, Shakespeare's Words, The Shakespeare Miscellany, and The Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary. He has written or edited over 100 books and published numerous articles for scholarly, professional, and general readerships on the history and development of English, including The Stories of English, How Language Works, Evolving English, Spell It Out: The Singular Story of English Spelling and Wordsmiths and Warriors: The EnglishLanguage Tourist's Guide to Britain, with Hilary Crystal.

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