Any excuse to use these covers

Elsewhere in The Guardian, there is a fascinating article about some new research about possible source material for Shakespeare's Macbeth. According to Dr John-Mark Philo, a lecturer at East Anglia University, there are close similarities between Lady Macbeth and two Roman queens: "Tanaquil, who put two kings on the Roman throne, and Tullia, who brought a tyrant to power." Philo argues that Shakespeare may have encountered these women's stories through a forgotten work by the English writer William Painter, who was in turn borrowing most of his material from the Roman writer Livy.