It may be 400 years since William Shakespeare died but it appears that he, or rather his ghost is still having an impact on daily life on his home town of Stratford upon Avon.
On September 7th 2016 armed robbers were chased off by Shakespeare’s Ghost after the masked raiders broke into Christopher Poel jewellers at 11:16 BST; staff watched in shock as the three men armed with sledgehammers and a crowbar smashed their way into the shop and stole a number of high value watches.
After recovering from the shock of the raid the staff began throwing chairs at the raiders who fled the scene of the crime with Shakespeare’s ghost in hot pursuit! Fortunately for the thieves the ghost was in fact a Shakespearean street performer by the name of John Jarvis who had witnessed the raid and decided to take it upon himself to confound the rapscallions. Clad in his white Shakespeare costume Jarvis chased the ne’er do wells down the street catching hold of one of them and bringing him crashing to the ground although the three did eventually manage to escape.
‘Shakespeare’s Ghost’ John Jarvis talks to police after the raid.
Mr Jarvis, said he saw three lads “whack” the shop’s window “grab a few bits” then run off so of course he did the natural thing and gave chase.
“One of them was swinging a crowbar – I took a whack at him, because I don’t like having a crowbar swung at me,” he said in an interview with the BBC.
“He went down there. They carried on running.” a “young lad” then also gave chase and Mr Jarvis followed in case the thugs decided to have a go.
“But I ran out of steam and so did the boy and we came back.” he said in a typically understated British fashion.
Can you imagine being chased by the ghost of The Bard? Well done to Mr Jarvis for being an upstanding citizen and doing his best to foil the burglars.
Warwickshire Police have stated that two men have been arrested in connection to the robbery.
Stratford upon Avon has a large number of event and attractions going on throughout this year to celebrate the 400 year anniversary of Shakespeare’s death including a beautiful new sculpture on display at the home of The Royal Shakespeare Company, dozens of plays, street performers, and tours of Shakespeare’s home town including his birthplace and the home of his wife Anne Hathaway.
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