Ok, David Tennant, what did you do with Shakespeare’s head?
Designed to mark the 400th anniversary since the death of William Shakespeare, a recent Channel 4 documentary focused its cameras on the first ever archaeological investigation of Shakespeare’s grave in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-Upon-Avon, and appears to have concluded that, wait for it…wait for it…his head quite probably is missing.
Shakespeare’s Tomb, which will transmit in the States on PBS on Tuesday, April 19 at 9pET/8pCT, will also reveal the results of additional investigations which, through the use of state-of-the-art equipment, will point to another location some 15 miles from Stratford that may hold the key to unlocking a lifetime of contradictory myths and legends about the tomb of the Bard.
The program will feature Kevin Colls, the specialist who led the investigation, who has conducted the first ever scan of the tomb with leading geophysicist Erica Utsi, and has now concluded that he believes these findings give new credence to a story published in “The Argosy” magazine in 1879, which claimed that Shakespeare’s skull was stolen from his shallow grave by trophy hunters in 1794.
“We have Shakespeare’s burial with an odd disturbance at the head end and we have a story that suggests that at some point in history someone’s come in and taken the skull of Shakespeare,” Colls said. “It’s very very convincing to me that his skull isn’t at Holy Trinity at all.” I wonder who has it…
It what seems to be taken from a page out of any or all of the movies in the Indiana Jones franchise, Shakespeare’s final resting place, which has been the subject of a great deal of speculation, carries no name, only a curse:
“Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.”
Shakespeare’s Tomb will premiere on PBS on Tuesday, April 19 at 9pET/8pCT.
In: Locations
