Fire the glitter cannons! Unleash the water pistols! The panto season is here. But how did the cross-dressing dame become so central to the tradition? And in an age of gender fluidity, should we still be laughing?
Duse Mohamed Ali: Fleet Street's first Black Muslim editor, with an international vision middleeasteye.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from middleeasteye.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The first black actor to play many of William Shakespeare s leading roles, Ira Aldridge took 19th-century London by storm when in 1825 he performed Othello in the city s docklands. Here, Professor Tony Howard from Warwick University investigates…