07 Aug 2014
To celebrate the Bard's 450th anniversary British Airways are putting on eleven of William Shakespeare's best loved plays.
Many of Britain's favourite actors will star in fully dramatised audio versions of Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Henry V, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Richard III and Julius Caesar.
Featuring Sir Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kenneth Branagh, Ewan McGregor, Timothy West, Michael Sheen, Harriet Walter, Kate Beckinsale and many more, these plays will be made available on BA's inflight entertainment system.
Five centuries since he wrote them, the Best of the Bard are still going strong on Britain's premier airline. Naxos AudioBooks reckon it's the first time the playwright has taken to the air in such abundance.
To celebrate the anniversary the Royal Shakespeare Company are putting on every one of his plays between now and 2019, but if you can't get to Stratford you can always catch up in the sky.
A new survey by the Audio Publishers Association found that audiobooks are now among the most popular form of entertainment with long distance travellers. 37% of people in the UK and US have listened to an audiobook and 25% do so regularly.
“Knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven” William Shakespeare, Henry VI
About British Airways
British Airways' route network currently serves more than 170 cities in 75 countries. British Airways has been flying to Australia for over 75 years and currently operates a daily service between Sydney and London Heathrow via Singapore. British Airways is now the only European airline to continue servicing the Australian market.
The airline operates from the state-of-the-art Terminal 5 at London Heathrow, which is exclusive to British Airways' and Iberia Airlines' customers and is capable of handling 30 million customers a year. In March 2014, Terminal 5 was named by Skytrax as the Best Airport Terminal for the third year running, based on surveys of 12 million frequent travellers. T5 also won the Best Airport Shopping award.
In September 2013, British Airways was awarded the Best Airline, Best Short-Haul Airline, Best Business Class and Best Frequent Flyer Programme by Business Traveller following a survey of the magazine's readers in the UK. Recently, British Airways was named the UK's Consumer Superbrand of 2014, securing the top position against 1,500 other brands and becoming the first airline or travel brand to win the prestigious title. For further information on British Airways, please visitba.com.
For more information please contact:
Jenna Orme
Vice President
FleishmanHillard, Sydney
T: 02 9025 9277
