Shakespeare College

Having been in the leadership of Brunel College for almost a decade now, it is with great pride that I sat and listened to the latest generation of Brunel students present their ideas for a new college figurehead to represent them moving forward.

The final decision for Brunel College was that we would have William Shakespeare as our new figurehead to represent our community. As the English learning area sits within this college, having a writer of the quality of Shakespeare seemed to be the perfect fit.

Shakespeare was born in 1564 and is regarded by many as the greatest writer in the history of English Literature. He published around 37 plays and over 150 poems in his life. He also created over 1700 new words which are still used today in the English language. His influence stretched around the world and his works have been translated, studied and performed in every major language. He was an extremely knowledgable man and fellow writers looked up to him as a role model. He was a risk-taker in his writing, creating comedies, tragedies and historical plays. He was a gifted communicator and his plays are regularly studied by students as part of the GCSE course. His influence across all forms of media are easy to see from stage productions in London theatres and performances in the Globe Theatre on South Bank to Hollywood film versions of some of his greatest work including Romeo and Juliet. He was also a shrewd businessman, creating a large, successful open air theatre. His writing is the second most quoted work in history after the bible.

We are proud to be represented by such an inspirational writer whose influence and creativity have had such an impact on society hundreds of years after his death.

Mr Shepherd - Head of Shakespeare College