Peel back history

Some aspects of history were rewritten by William Shakespeare. Even though he died just over 300 years ago the practice of playwrights rewriting history is not dead. Shakespeare penned his plays with a view to pleasing his Tudor and Stuart rulers. Modern writers are now more than happy to change history for the sake of dramatic effect.

The most recent victim is Edward Drummond, personal secretary to Robert Peel, who was mistaken by an assassin for Peel and was fatally shot in the back in 1843. On Sunday evening on STV in the drama Victoria we saw Drummond and Peel leave the Houses of Parliament after the Repeal of the Corn Laws by 98 votes. In a remarkable show of self-sacrifice Drummond threw himself in front of Peel and took the bullet meant for the PM. What is astonishing is that the Corn Laws were repealed in 1846, three years after the real Drummond had been assassinated in mistake for Peel.

SANDY GEMMILL Warriston Gardens, Edinburgh