Dr Simon Forman

Dr Simon Forman

by JudithCook (Author)

Synopsis

Simon Forman was one of the most extraordinary personalities of Elizabethan and Jacobean London. Charismatic, volatile and ambitious, he was doctor to the giants of the theatre and his 'playbook' contains the first eye-witness accounts of Shakespeare's plays. Like most doctors he was also an astrologer, reading the stars for all and sundry. Constantly on the fringes of great events and court intrigues, his name has been linked with Sir Walter Raleigh's mysterious group, 'the School of Night' and with the notorious Overbury poisoning case, in which the beautiful Countess of Essex was accused of murder. Also uncovered is Forman's private world, that of a compulsive womaniser who kept a coded diary, never fully deciphered before, a record of promiscuity as colourful as the journals of Pepys and Boswell.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Edition: First Thus
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 07 Mar 2002

ISBN 10: 0099289628
ISBN 13: 9780099289623
Book Overview: The first full biography of Simon Forman - one of the most extraordinary and colourful personalities of the Elizabethan age.

Media Reviews
Brilliant, written with wit and relish, packed with detail * The Times *
Judith Cook writes lucidly about Forman and his idiosyncrasies... Her knowledge of the period is extensive and places this strange and fascinating man convincingly in his dramatic times * Daily Mail *
An intriguing and lively study * Independent on Sunday *
Her research is thorough and intriguing... Her book enters teh Elizabethan world in media res so that th reader is immediately surrounded by it * The Times *
Author Bio
Judith Cook spent the first part of her career as an investigative journalist. She wrote several non-fiction books on social issues, including an investigation into the death of the anti-nuclear compaigner Hilda Murrell. She was herself a political and anti-nuclear campaigner. She also wrote biographies of Daphne du Maurier and J. B. Priestley, a popular historical fiction series and theatre scripts. She later taught Elizabethan and Jacobean studies at Exeter University. She died in May 2004.