The old South Bank show – bear-baiting
As a mouse in the city, I have a mixture of pity and admiration for animals used for entertainment and spectacle. In Shakespeare’s day, it was considered a great day out for all the family to watch bears, bulls and dogs goring each other to death in an arena. Bear-baiting took place at one of a number of so-called gardens around today’s South Bank, just outside the walls of the city, and therefore outside its jurisdiction. According to historian Matthew Green, this was the most popular spectator sport in London. In the case of bull-baiting, the crowds would see a bull tethered to a stake driven into the ground in the centre of the arena. The crowd, says Green, would start screaming ‘Go, bull. Go, dog!’ A volley of mastiffs would be released and crawl towards the bull, with the idea of grabbing its nose. The bull would get its...
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