Twitter Ye Not - The Golden Hind
A regular piece for the Daily Mail Weekend magazine about how figures in history might have twittered or tweeted or whatever, had they the chance, inclination and technology.
On the 26th September 1580, Francis Drake sailed into Plymouth Harbour on the treasure-laden Golden Hind, having circumnavigated the globe. Here, we imagine the Twitter feed for that momentous occasion.
Here I have shown Sir Francis (he was actually knighted three years later in 1583) on the left-hand side, standing proudly with his foot upon a chest of stolen Spanish gold he had looted on his voyage. Between his legs is also one of the bowls he was famously reputed to have been playing upon Plymouth Hoe when he received news of the coming of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Behind him I have shown a beacon, lit from hill-top to hill-top to spread the word to the Queen's Palace at Greenwich of his arrival back in England.
On the far side I have shown William Shakespeare (one of my heroes, and also mentioned in the Twitter feed), in a pose reminiscent of Scheemaker's statue of the Bard at Poet's corner in Westminster Abbey.
Between the two men we can spy Drake's ship the Golden Hind moored at Plymouth Harbour. The ship was named in honour of the crest of Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancellor and court favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.
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