My Obsession with Tudor England

Shakespearean Insult of the Day: Thou paunchy bat-fowling clotpole!

I had a lot of fun with this one. Lately I have been cleaning out nine years of accumulated boxes in the cavernous storage room in my basement. I mean, we're talking HUGE. Like, you know how in that Indiana Jones movie, where, at the end, they tuck the Ark of the Covenant away in that storehouse that has about ten million other boxes in it?

That's the scope and size of my basement storage room, it seems.

During my un-boxing and de-junking, I came across this photo. It's me, in college (I think I was 20 at the time) and I was in a play at the college, Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." I was the Countess Olivia.
I grew up in Theatre and had tons of plays and musicals under my belt, but I have to say, THIS particular play was the hardest I've ever done. Shakespeare doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, unless you're British. And there is very little intrinsic in the script, so you have to "make up" all the actions. It was the most challenging, but the most fun, once it came together. In fact, I adopted a British accent for the production. Everyone else did. It was way cool.

So, after my cruise down memory lane, I had to stop and think: I have always loved Tudor England, and everything about it. Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth, Henry the Eighth (I didn't love him but he's definitely an interesting character) Henry's wives, Francis Drake, all the things I love about England encompass Tudor times.

So, I'm wondering, how in the heck did I get into all that? Where did it start? When? It's strange, but I honestly can't remember. So, for now, I'll settle for being a hopeless Anglophile. AND plan my trip to London, etc..because I am SO going there one day...