“... iconography or numerology? The thought is put aside. What of the historical revisionism of Frances Yates and others, that the ‘Elizabethan world view’ should be thought of as an ideological construct, state propaganda? Followed through, this could have encouraged a much more animate and sceptical weighing of the relationship between background ...”

“... to the foundational text of the Kabbalah, the Sefer ha-Zohar. More than six decades ago, Frances Yates wrote that Pico’s Conclusions are ‘absolutely fundamental … for the whole Renaissance’, and yet it is only now, with the appearance of Copenhaver’s edition and translation, that we have a modern, usable English version of the ...”

“... as Dee put it. We are entering here that arena of controversy which the studies of the late Frances Yates illuminated so brilliantly. This arena was as much political as philosophical, and the threat (as it was perceived) of occultist-oriented cliques like Ralegh’s ‘Durham House set’ was taken very seriously. We know that Marlowe was ...”

“... as profound a Dickensian as Wilson himself, the possibly more level-headed equal of his friend Frances Yates as a student of Renaissance occultism. He was a tennis player good enough to turn out at Wimbledon, a fine pianist and an exceptional linguist. He was happy to help the less well endowed, me for example, with magisterial solutions to technical ...”

“... to give its lucky swallower the linguistic science of Kurt Baldinger and the historical empathy of Frances Yates. Danto’s pill would take a lot of swallowing. It would still be no good if the swallower was not already endowed with a lively perception of the ludicrous. Knowledge without humour gets you nowhere with Rabelais. Rabelais’s one and only ...”

“... short and was wearing a green Halston trouser suit.’) Next on the list are Bob Geldof and Paula Yates: According to Alan [Parker], Bob had a cock so big that he needed a wheelbarrow to carry it around in . . . But one didn’t need to have coffee with Alan Parker to know that Bob had a big dick. Everything about him announced the fact: the incredibly ...”