Shakespeare – Bilal Hafeez

Shakespeare Gives Great Advice

Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, Magneto from X-Men and a zillion characters from Shakespeare’s plays – that has been the remarkable range of Sir Ian McKellen. To celebrate his 80^th birthday he’s been touring the UK with his one man show ‘Ian McKellen On Stage’. I recently got to see him and I must say he was amazing. But it reminded me how good Shakespeare is – and McKellen lives and breathes his works. Here’s a selection of the more practical quotes from Shakespeare’s plays:

I Had A Vision Of An Awesome Comic Book

Having just watched “The Black Panther”, I’m in the mood for comic heroes. It’s an awesome movie. I would’ve written a blog on it were it not for so many well-written pieces out already (here and here). Instead, I’m going talk about comic books…

I love graphic novels, but have never really got into superhero comics. That’s changed after reading this stunning 12-part comic series. It’s called Vision and is written by Tom King and inked by Michael Walsh and Gabriel Hernandez Walta. Continue reading “I Had A Vision Of An Awesome Comic Book”

From Greek Drama To Shakespearean Tragedy (5 min read)

Shakespeare. You cannot get more British than that. His works are taught in schools across the country, revered by the guardians of British culture and promoted as the quintessential British cultural icon abroad. With the UK’s referendum to leave the European Union, it may be time to fall back on such an icon to help forge a new path for Britishness. Continue reading “From Greek Drama To Shakespearean Tragedy (5 min read)”

The 3 Stages Of Life According to Shakespeare

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The beauty of Shakespeare’s works is that they can interpreted in many different ways. One of my favourite is to think of his biggest plays as representing the three stages of life- youth, adulthood and old-age: Continue reading “The 3 Stages Of Life According to Shakespeare”

A Man In A Woman’s World

I gave the speech below at a conference for Women Global Leaders in Germany back in 2013. It’s a five minute read.

“I must say I feel daunted speaking to an audience consisting solely of women. A question that springs to mind is whether as a man I can see the world from the eyes of women. I would think I may have advantage as I am from a minority group. Growing up in the UK with dark skin did make me stand out. Often it would elicit racial abuse. So I have often felt negatively affected by being different. In some ways, that has spurred me on. It has given me the mentality of “I’ll show you society” and” I’ll be as good as anyone else”. However, in the process of trying to measure up to the standard set by society, it has at some level forced me to repress something of myself and feel the opinions of the “other” is more important than myself. Continue reading “A Man In A Woman’s World”