The Great Super League ConspiracyI enjoy conspiracy theories. That is not to say I often believe them but there is a pleasure to be taken in their complexities and contortions. What they tell us about their proponents and how we all look for patterns in the chaos can be interesting too. For example, I tend to believe that the works generally credited to William Shakespeare were written by him (with caveats around widely accepted collaborations).However, that many people prefer, and sometimes make quite compelling cases for, other authorship candidates reflects the evolution of the concept of authorship, differing attitudes to class and formal education, the phenomenon of bardolatry, and the unevenness of our historical record.READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

The Great Super League ConspiracyI enjoy conspiracy theories. That is not to say I often believe them but there is a pleasure to be taken in their complexities and contortions. What they tell us about their proponents and how we all look for patterns in the chaos can be interesting too. For example, I tend to believe that the works generally credited to William Shakespeare were written by him (with caveats around widely accepted collaborations).However, that many people prefer, and sometimes make quite compelling cases for, other authorship candidates reflects the evolution of the concept of authorship, differing attitudes to class and formal education, the phenomenon of bardolatry, and the unevenness of our historical record.READ MORE ON THIS STORY...