Prestigious award for Sir Stanley Wells

PROFESSOR Sir Stanley Wells, Honorary President of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust was awarded the British Academy's President's Medal at a prestigious awards ceremony on Tuesday.

Professor Sir Stanley Wells said: “I am delighted to receive this award from Britain's most august academic institution with which I have been associated for many years. I feel myself most fortunate in having been able to spend so much of my life in the company of Shakespeare and of those who admire and enjoy his works. Throughout my career as teacher and scholar I have enjoyed and benefited enormously from collaborating with fellow scholars from all over the world, and I hope they will share my pleasure in receiving this award."

The prestigious President’s Medal for services to the humanities and social sciences is awarded to individuals who play important roles in Britain’s cultural life.

The 2016 winners are: the bestselling author and acclaimed historian Dame Hilary Mantel; Professor Sir Stanley Wells, Honorary President of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Birmingham, and Honorary Emeritus Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company; Dr Roger Bland, Visiting Professor at the University of Leicester, formerly Keeper of the Department of Prehistory and Europe at the British Museum and founder of the Portable Antiquities Scheme to record archaeological objects found by the public; and Dr Leofranc Holford-Strevens, who held the positions of proof-reader, copy editor and finally Consultant Scholar Editor at Oxford University Press from 1971 until his retirement in 2011.