Radio 4’s Today programme (08:57) discussed the recent conference celebrating the 1709 biography of Shakespeare by Nicholas Rowe. How many studies of Shakespeare are there? From the RHS Bibliography there are 780 references, everything from Rowe’s biography to the gender roles of actors in his plays. A recent edition of the journal Shakespeare has been added (though not online yet) entitled “Shakespeare and Protestantism” that counters the recent scholarship on his alleged Roman Catholicism. So the studies continue to grow. However Shakespeare still has some way to go before reaching Winston Churchill’s 981 entries.