Now, I know I am an inch from being forever branded a pretentious tosspot for this, but I would like to go on record as saying that I truly do love Shakespeare. I think he is utterly brilliant. Yes, I know that any number of you are looking the other way and quietly whispering, ‘wanker’. And fair enough. But I really do think he is beyond extraordinary (I’d even go so far to say that he was the Springsteen of his day).

I’m sure I was like every schoolkid when first introduced – if memory serves, we did ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Julius Caesar’ – in equal parts, suitably bored and mortified we had this ancient rubbish fostered on us.