After you with the salt, Dr Johnson!

A glimpse into the gastronomic delights of Garrick’s closest acquaintances. James Quin and how he could effortlessly drink his host under the table. Dr. Johnson, and his insatiable thirst for rotten meat and strawberries and cream and where for a time ladies would be required to sit quietly, almost silently, at one end of the dining table while gentlemen sat uproariously at the other. The spotlight though, will concentrate largely on Dr. Johnson, who suffered from binge-eating and engaged in inappropriate compensatory behaviour to help control his weight. But then according to the wise doctor: ‘For my part, I mind my belly very studiously, and very carefully; for I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly, will hardly mind anything else.’

Clive Francis is a successful caricaturist, playwright, and actor, having performed with both the RSC and the National Theatre and with over twenty performances in the West End. His most recent film appearances being The Crown, Official Secrets and the Lost City of Z. He became involved in Garrick’s Temple to Shakespeare, whom he is now founder member of it’s restoration, back in 1998, when he helped raise the initial funding for its restoration and obtaining, thanks to the British Library, a replica of the statue to Shakespeare by Louis François Roubiliac. Garrick was extremely proud of his elegant house which he described, with typical understatement, as his ‘pretty place by ye Thames side.’