24 BRITAIN http://www.britain-magazine.com
On 6 September 1769 crowds
descended on Stratford-upon-
Avon for a groundbreaking event:
a three-day Jubilee in honour of
William Shakespeare. Not only was it the rst
major celebration of the Bard’s life and works
but it also completely transformed the fortunes
of the small Warwickshire town where he
was born. A global tourist destination it might
be today, but Stratford owes all its glory to
the vision of one man – David Garrick.
A veritable superstar of Georgian theatre,
Garrick’s celebrity was already closely
intertwined with Shakespeare before the
advent of the Jubilee. He had burst onto
the London theatre scene in 1741 in the role
of Richard III, and by the time he became
actor-manager of the city’s Drury Lane