SHAKESPEARE’S BIRTHDAY

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27643, 27 April 1955, Page 10

SHAKESPEARE’S BIRTHDAY

Stratford-On-Avon Celebrations (HZ. Press Association— Copyright) STRATFORD-ON-AVON (Warwickshire), April 23. . Representatives of 76 nations today J visited Stratford-on-Avon to mark the 391st anniversary of the birth of the ‘ town’s most famous citizen, William Shakespeare. . Flags of 86 nations—a record —were unfurled in the main street. Three new ones this year belonged to Persia, Communist China and Laos. . Diplomats from Communist countries were headed by the Soviet Am- , bassador in London. Mr Jacob Malik. ; This afternoon ambassadors of many i countries walked in procession to the , poet’s birthplace and then to Holy ' Trinity Church, where they placed flowers and wreaths on his grave. Earlier, at a special lunch, Sir Ken- , neth Clark, head of Britain’s projected commercial television service, said television, could bring Shakespeare’s plays to thousands who seldom read a book and never entered a theatre. He said: “It is one of the happy discoveries of the last five years, both here and in America, that people enjoy hearing poetry. “In American television, of which such hard things have been said by peers and bishops—not all of whom, ' however, have been to America —one of the most popular programmes has consisted simply of actors and actresses in their ordinary clothes reading the poetry of the Bible.”