The Agents of The Shakespeare Code are OVERWHELMED to announce that……..
……..in an ACT OF SUBLIME SYNCHRONY…….
……..The Code received its……..
…….EIGHTY THOUSANDTH VIEW…….
……ON THE EVE OF THE NEW YEAR…..
…..2013….
In addition to THIS SERENDIPITY……
EIGHT New Countries have elected to join The Code!!!
BOTSWANA
YEMEN
ARUBA
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
GUAM
ALBANIA
FAROE ISLANDS
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
…….which brings the number of participating nations to a plump and satisfying……
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY!!!
The Brothers and Sisters of The Shakespeare Code have well and truly enacted the prediction of the Canadian philospher, seer and Roman Catholic convert……..
……..MARSHALL McLUHAN……
……who, in the 1960’s, prophesied the coming of the Internet ………
……and declared it would transform the world into a…….
GLOBAL VILLAGE!!!
McLuhan, derided at the time by many academics, claimed to have been profoundly influenced by the English teaching at Cambridge University……..
………and by the spiritual guidance of The Virgin Mary……..
Be that as it may, The Shakespeare Code has decided to celebrate by creating a new Fellow……
……..the outstanding, visionary architect, JOHN LYALL, RIBA, FRSA……
…….who from this moment onwards has the INALIENABLE RIGHT to style himself……..
JOHN LYALL , F.S.C.
(Fellow of The Shakespeare Code)
The Code sent Trixie the Cat along to Farringdon in trendy East London – where John’s new practice…….
……… Lyall, Bills and Young…….http://www.lbyarchitects.com/news/
…….. is located……..
………to offer John his much deserved Fellowship…..
John was rumoured to have turned down some of the highest Honours in the land……
So Trixie would need to call upon all her feline charms…..
THE TRIXIE INTERVIEW
Your Cat was nervous as a kitten meeting the LEGENDARY John Lyall……
……..who, as everyone knows, is equally at home designing for the Dance……..
……. and the Opera…….
…….as he is in designing buildings that will last for all time……
…….like the fêted Jerwood Dance House in Ipswich…….
…….his conversion of the Leeds Corn Exchange……
……into a Shopping Mall of taste and splendour……
……. and the fabulous North Greenwich Tube Station……….
…….which he designed in collaboration with Will Alsop…..
…….and which won the coveted Stirling Prize.
But for many, the true jewel in the crown is his Harry Ramsden Fish and Chip Restaurant in Cardiff Bay…….
John hales from Southend-on-Sea.
You can take the boy out of Southend….
But you cannot take Southend out of the boy….
John had asked to meet, not at his office, but outside Farringdon Tube Station…..
……..I instantly recognised him…….
……..(as he strode towards me, hair flying in the wind………
……..donnishly clutching a pile of books under his arm)…….
………from the photograph in Kenneth Powell’s celebrated book……..
…….John Lyall, Contexts and Catalysts……
He instantly recognized me from The Shakespeare Code……
He beamed from ear to ear……
Stewart’s told me ALL about you, Trixie…….
Your Cat blushed bright red……
Did he know about my feelings for young ‘Tom’ – our mysterious new agent – back at the Code office?…….
(See: Amazing New Light on Sonnet 86: Chapman talks to Marlowe’s Ghost.)
Stewart Trotter, the Code’s Chief Agent, had filled me in about his relationship with John……
Both had attended the stringently academic – if deviant – Southend High School for Boys…..
…….and both had worked hard for the Arts Council to create Opera ‘80…..
……. (now re-named English Touring Opera)
It was a company which toured fully-staged, fully orchestrated, opera to places in England which had never experienced opera before…..
……sometimes to places that didn’t even posses a theatre……
…..like REDRUTH in CORNWALL….
……where the operas were presented in a SPORTS CENTRE……
The New Statesman critic reported that the applause which erupted there at the end of The Marriage of Figaro……
………was……
……..reminiscent of a Kleiber/Domingo performance at Covent Garden……
John and Stewart had also worked on a Biblical rock-opera in a London Church……
……. which shall remain nameless….
It had been sponsored by an anonymous donor……
……..who turned out to be the Curate……
He was prepared to shell out thousands and thousands of pounds of his own money…..
………for two simple reasons……
(1) He hated the Vicar……..
……..and……
(2) The Vicar hated rock music.
Come on , Trix……
…….said John, sweeping me up with his free arm……
Let me buy you lunch……
As we hurtled through the Lanes of Farringdon, Your Cat craned sideways to read the titles of the books John was holding……
John, ever observant, said……
They’re books about the London Olympics. They’ve just arrived as a ‘thank you’ from Sebastian Lord Coe……
It was John’s turn to redden…..
He is the most modest of men….
Boasting is as remote from him as the moon…..
You see , I designed the pumping stations for the Olympic Park….
……but I’ll explain over lunch……
We had swerved into Britton Street and stood before a magnificent new building……
……The Goldsmiths’ Centre….
Why had we stopped?
John took me up to the plaque on the wall…..
Feel it, Trixie…..
…….he said…..
It’s real gold. I wanted to cover the whole building in the stuff!
There was a pause……
Only joking……
Then there was another pause…..
And the penny dropped……
Trixie, you didn’t know I’d designed this, did you? Don’t worry! It’s only just opened. There’s a caff attached where I thought we could eat. It’s a Victorian school I’ve converted…..
We entered a splendid , light, airy cafeteria…..
We both ordered DELICIOUS onion soup and home-made hamburger…..
Don’t want to spoil your lunch, Trixie, but I’ll explain about the pumping stations.
They convert human waste into what is called ‘grey water’…..
This can’t be drunk, but it’s good enough to irrigate the land…….
……..and it watered the whole of the Olympic Park…..
My partners and I are working on a new project which will convert human waste into dry pellets. These we give free to farmers to fertilise the land…..
We heat the waste and ventilate it – in fact, to make the process work properly……
……THE SHIT HAS TO HIT THE FAN!!!
We moved onto the hamburgers……
And , after a while, there was another pause…….
So, Trixie, what’s Stewart after this time……?
Your Cat replied……
It’s what we are ALL after. The Shakespeare Code would like to offer you a Fellowship…..
John stared down at his half-demolished burger in silence….
……..a silence that to Your Cat seemed utterly cold…….
Yes, he had turned down other Establishment Honours……
But would he turn down a FELLOWSHIP FROM THE CODE?
Trixie……
…….he said in a tone of command…..
…….command that has raised great towers of steel into the sky…..
……. please leave me to think about this. Return to Code Head Office and dispatch a rider to the Caff to pick up my written reply…….…..
Then he suddenly looked up and smiled…..
Why not send ‘Tom’?’
HE KNEW…….
●
My Tube journey back was longest in Your Cat’s life…..
To return to Head Office, with mission UNaccomplished, was more than she could bear…..
‘Tom’ gave me a weak, supportive smile and set off to Farringdon on his motorbike….
Even the roar of his Harley Davidson seemed muted….
As as word got round, the Agents, one by one, filed into my office…….
……grim-faced, silent…..
Even the ebullient Stewart seemed subdued….
●
After an age, ‘Tom’ could be heard, climbing The Code staircase…..
……..his footsteps tentative and slow….
He bore a sealed envelope……
It’s addressed to ‘The Shakespeare Code’…..
……..he announced.
Read it aloud, ‘Tom’
………whispered Stewart.
In a husky voice, ‘Tom’ began……
Please forgive my delay in responding to your invitation. I was in a public place which I had designed and where I was known.
I did not want my clients to see me break down.
The fact is, I couldn’t believe what Trixie said was true.
I did, literally, have to pinch myself.
I’ve had a few adventures in the world of theatre over the years, but I am principally known as an architect.
So to be welcomed into such an august body as The Shakespeare Code is totally unexpected.
It’s beyond my wildest dreams…..
Signed,
John Lyall, F. S. C.
For a moment there was complete silence…..
Then a roar of joy such as the old building had never heard before……
Three cheers for Trixie the Cat…..
…….cried Stewart…..
But it wasn’t the cheers that sent the tears gushing down the cheeks of Your Cat…..
It was the shy, boyish smile from ‘Tom’……
‘Bye, now……
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