Boris Johnson's bid for help with Shakespeare book raises eyebrows

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson may perhaps have a new reason for the tardiness of his book on William Shakespeare.

The Guardian reports that a Shakespeare scholar, who asked to remain anonymous, declined to help Johnson complete Shakespeare: The Riddle of Genius back in late 2015.

But the nature of that help raised some eyebrows: the plan was for Johnson to ask questions of the scholar, record the answer, and then rephrase the responses.

The scholar told the Guardian that Johnson’s agent explained that the same method had been used for the then-London mayor’s previous book, The Churchill Factor.

Shakespeare: The Riddle of Genius had been put on hold back in July 2019 “for the foreseeable future,” per its UK publisher; the US publisher lists it as coming out in March 2022.

However, as Johnson has recently denied skipping important political meetings in order to work on the biography, that date may be tentative.

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