Richard III and the Hillsborough tragedy - two stories which have dominated today's news. I've been pondering on a connection....
Think of facts disguised
or hidden; think of clever fabrication; think of anecdotal evidence that somehow becomes truth because nobody can prove otherwise. Until a report is published, in the case of Hillsborough, or a body unearthed in Leicestershire which could just be
Richard III.
Shakespeare painted the picture of Richard which we recognise today - the Hunchback King, killer of the Princes in the Tower (among others.) It might well be a true and faithful record.
But our Will was writing to please a Tudor Queen, the first Elizabeth. He was hardly likely to suggest that her grandfather had dethroned in battle a great monarch - far more likely to use his timeless words to draw the very worst picture possible
of the fallen King. Forgivable?
The fabrication by the police at the time of the Hillsborough tragedy is only now coming to light. The future for 41 victims and
their families could have been so very different - it's almost unbearable to think of. But to fabricate, to lie, to cover up? To turn the blame on the football fans who died? No question - unforgivable.
Two very different real-life stories, from the recent and the distant past, with a message for the writers and social historians among us. If it is your job to record events - you owe it to today's and future generations
to tell the truth.