Stop the presses! The SOF Centennial Symposium at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., scheduled for March 4, got a shout-out on February 18 from the infamous “Page Six” of the New York Post. It has been said that for decades, Page Six has ruled the world of gossip about the famous and powerful. Here’s the pithy Post Page Six précis of our pending symposium, which sports an impressive byline crediting the “Page Six Team”!

Celebration set for new
book ‘Shakespeare Identified’

By Page Six Team                                                                      February 18, 2020  |  9:04am

The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship is holding a “momentous” event at the Press Club in DC, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the “modern discovery that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, is likely the true genius behind the pseudonym ‘William Shakespeare’.”

The stone-cold rager will mark the publication of J. Thomas Looney’s book “Shakespeare Identified,” which, says the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship, “persuaded some of the greatest minds of our time.” Raising the question: If the book’s so convincing, why isn’t it called the De Vere Oxford Fellowship?

Ouch!

But we’d be foolish to take Page Six’s sarcasm too humorlessly. It’s nice to know the most famous page in the fourth-largest-circulation newspaper in the United States — number one in New York! — thought we were worth a snarky remark.

Looks like we’ve entered the world of the famous and powerful — or at least the famous.

Just as shown above, right on top of the Page Six text below the headline, the news blurb features the cover of James A. Warren’s centenary scholarly edition of “Shakespeare” Identified!  And the title of the book in the blurb text, just like above, links to the Amazon page for the Warren edition!

Wow! That should boost sales! Maybe, after almost a century now, Looney’s book will finally make the bestseller list? Thanks, Page Six Team! We’ll save you a seat at the symposium.

P.S. For a non-snarky summary of the March 4 celebration, click here.

Update: For a report on the Centennial Symposium after it took place, click here.

[published Feb. 20, 2020, updated 2021]