This morning I hosted our annual press preview event at St Pancras, where we offer the media a taste of the cultural highlights we have coming up over the next year. It’s always exciting for me to finally be able to tell the world what we have been busily planning for months – and in some cases, years!

To give journalists a behind-the-scenes flavour, we always have a range of collection items available to view at the preview. Today these included a diary entry revealing a fascinating glimpse into the private life of Shakespeare (as part of our exhibition commemorating 400 years since his death, Shakespeare in Ten Acts), Ministry of Defence maps that haven’t been seen in public before (part of our major Autumn exhibition, 20^th Century through Maps) and extracts from the recently acquired personal diaries and letters of Kenneth Williams. I still think it’s an amazing privilege to be able to see the physical items in advance and it’s always a popular element of the preview.

Ira Aldridge depicted as Othello, the Moor of Venice by James Northcote, 1826 (Manchester Art Gallery, Bridgeman Images)

Shakespeare in Ten Acts (15 April – 6 September) is our contribution to a year of celebrations commemorating the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 1616. The exhibition will focus on ten significant performances of his plays, from the 1600s to the 21^st century, and will explore the story of how Shakespeare became ‘the Bard’ we know today.

In a packed year of Shakespeare-related events, we believe our exhibition will really stand out as we cast an appraising, occasionally critical, look at the man himself and how he has become an almost mythical figure over the centuries. One section will look at the career of the famed actor Ira Aldridge – the first black actor to perform Shakespeare – and his battle to overcome racial prejudice to become one of the most celebrated Shakespearean actors of the early 19^th century.

20^th Century through Maps (4 November – 1 March 2017) will take us through the tumultuous events of the previous century, viewed through the development and commodification of maps. I was especially intrigued this morning by some ‘fictional’ maps designed by the Ministry of Defence, on show to the public for the first time in this exhibition, which were created for training examinations in the 1950s and 60s – one shows the potential fall-out from a nuclear incident in Scotland. It’s fascinating to see just how much maps reflect the politics and preoccupations of their eras.

In 2016 we’re building on the success of our free online learning resource Discovering Literature by adding material relating to Shakespeare and 20^th century writers including Angela Carter, Virginia Woolf and TS Eliot. Since the launch in May last year the site has received over 1.2 million unique visits, which demonstrates how much of a valued resource it has become. Making such a varied selection of material freely available online is hugely important to us, as part of our commitment to inspire and support learners of all ages.

Kathryn Johnson, Curator of Theatrical Archives and Manuscripts, exploring the Kenneth Williams archive.

You can find full details on our cultural programme for 2016 in the press release we published today. Other highlights include our acquisition of the personal letters and diaries of Carry On films star Kenneth Williams, giving us a new insight into the era of light entertainment and revue, an exhibition in the Entrance Hall Gallery celebrating of punk, and new displays in the Sir John Ritblat Treasures Gallery showcasing the work of great Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu and a closer look at Cervantes’ Don Quixote – who both, like Shakespeare, died in 1616.

One of our core Living Knowledge purposes is to engage everyone with memorable cultural experiences and what we have planned for 2016 really shows us at our best – I can’t wait for audiences to see for themselves what we have in store.

Roly Keating

Chief Executive