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References to sheep, lambs, fleeces, wool and shepherds are to be found in many of Shakespeare\u2019s plays. From Corin in \u2018As You Like It\u2019 who describes himself as a \u2018natural philosopher\u2019 to Perdita\u2019s saviour in \u2018The Winter\u2019s Tale\u2019, they are key characters in the plots and reflect the importance of the wool trade in Elizabethan England. James Rebanks, talks about his life as a shepherd in Cumbria and how much \u2013 if at all \u2013 the shepherd\u2019s life has changed over the past 400 years. He will be joined on stage by Shakespeare expert Dr Emma Smith from the University of Oxford who presented Radio 3\u2019s Sunday documentary looking at the buyers of Shakespeare\u2019s First Folio. The discussion is hosted by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough from Durham University who was selected as a New Generation Thinker in 2013 in the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academic broadcasters of the future.

Producer: Zahid Warley