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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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David Garrick
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(1717–79)
The leading British actor and theatre manager of the 18C. He grew up in Lichfield and became one of the few students at Samuel *Johnson's academy, before the two men went to London together in 1737. He set up in the wine trade and dabbled in amateur acting until, on a legendary night in British theatre history, his performance as Richard III in a small London theatre took the town by storm (1741). The reason was a new naturalness which he brought to acting, in place of the prevailing pomposity. He quickly established himself and remained for the rest of his career at the head of his profession, both in tragedy and comedy. His long period as manager of the *Drury Lane theatre (1747–76) brought many reforms, including the removal of privileged spectators from the stage and major improvements to the stage lighting.
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Shakespeare was Garrick's passion, though he was not above drastic amendments to the text. He organized the first Shakespeare festival at *Stratford-upon-Avon in 1769; he put up a temple to the bard on his Thames-side lawn at Hampton (still there, and open to the public); and he commissioned the statue of Shakespeare by Roubiliac which is now in the British Museum. He also wrote plays and songs; *Heart of Oak is still sung. With a grand town house (he was one of the first residents of the *Adelphi) and a country mansion at Hampton, with a wide circle of friends in fashionable and literary circles, and with artists of the calibre of Reynolds, Gainsborough and Zoffany to paint him and his wife, Garrick was the first to prove the point, often repeated since, that an actor can live the life of a gentleman. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, in *Poets' Corner.
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