This episode was recorded for my UK Column show.

Robert Frederick argues that William Shakespeare was essentially a hoax - that the famous plays weren't actually written by the man from Stratford-upon-Avon, but instead by Sir Francis Bacon, a highly educated Tudor insider.

According to Robert, Bacon used Shakespeare as a front whilst secretly writing all the plays himself, and this deception was part of a much larger conspiracy involving Freemasonry and empire-building. He believes the whole Shakespeare myth was deliberately created to build up English national pride and power, with institutions like the First Folio being designed to promote what he calls "Bardolatry" - the worshi ...