On March 13, 1601, John Manningham recorded an event in his diary concerning Shakespeare and his friend, the great actor Richard Burbage. Here’s a slightly embellished version that I turned in, as a joke, in a college journalism class I took many years ago.
LONDON (UP) — John Manningham, local gossip, reports that when Burbage played Richard III Saturday, there was a Citizen gone soe farr in liking him, that before shee went from the play shee appointed him to come that night unto hir by the name of Richard III.
Shakespeare overhearing their conclusion, went before, was intertained and at his game ere Burbage came.
Them (Shakespeare and the Citizen) message being brought that Richard III was at the dore, Shakespeare raised himself from the bed and shouted:
“William the Conqueror came before Richard the Third!”
Manningham said the Citizen conceived Shakespeare’s quip merrily, but added that Burbage was not immediately pricked by the Bard’s humour.
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For the historically inquisitive, the double-entendre (or is it triple?) follows from these dates:
William the Conqueror (1028-1087)
Richard III (1452-1485)
HyC