'The Curious Mystery of the ‘Olimpick Games’: did Shakespeare know Dover…and does it matter?’

The First half of the article looks ar the period 1612 to 1642 when Robert Dover reinvented the existing Cotswold Games as annual 'Olimpick' celebrations of sport and, to an extent, popular culture. The second section reviews subsequent published editions of the Annalia Dubrensia, a collection of poems written in celebration of the Games abd first published by Dover in 1636. Examining the changing meaning of the Annalia as a text is intended to critique simplistic notions that place oursporting and literary heritage as part of the 'Merrie England' industry, particularly in the context of the so-called Cultural Olympiad in the approach to 2012.