I See Dead People

There's been a lot of fuss recently about the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen. First of all we saw his mummified face for the first time in decades. Now we have a huge exhibition of his treasures taking place at the O2 Arena which people have been queuing in droves to get tickets for. The same happened with the Terracotta Army earlier this year. I just have one question: why?

A couple of Saturdays ago I was in Stratford-Upon-Avon with a few friends doing a research project for a presentation we must do next week. This is where, in case you didn't know, William Shakespeare was born and was buried. Although I couldn't go into the birthplace, namely because of it being rather expensive, one of my friends and I went and did the next best thing, which was to go to the local church and see his grave.

It cost us 50p each at student process. We walked slowly up to the long velvet rope which lay as a barrier in front of the altar. There, second from the left, we saw the cold stone slap which underneath lay the remains of arguably the greatest writer ever.

And...that's it.

We weren't exactly expecting any kind of epiphany, but the fact is we didn't even get a hint of one! Oh look, a grave stone in a church. How exciting. What a flipping waste of money more like. I could have stayed outside the church and looked at all the other gravestones in the churchyard and not paid a thing! But because Shakespeare is considered so fantastic, so amazing, that you just have to go inside the church (which, coincidentally, is named on the sign as Shakespeare's Church) to see what all the fuss is about.

It is, point blank, a huge tourist trap. The only decent thing in Stratford is the RSC theatre, which is offering tickets at £5 for 16-25 year olds. Who wants to queue up for ages and spend vast quantities of money to see dead people' stuff (or dead people) when you can pay a fifth of the price and see something that actually meant something to them: a play, for example.

What? Me, a Struggling Writer, actually recommending a play? Never!

Laters.