Words from Ian McKellen
Roger Rees’ compilation for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s small-scale tour which I produced in 1978 dealt with English themes and obsessions. Rupert Brooke (who died while serving as a soldier in the First World War) wrote about his time at Cambridge living in the old vicarage at Grantchester upstream on the River Cam — “Stands the Church clock at ten to three? And is there honey still for tea?” — afternoon tea being an English institution.