DiscoveringShakespeare.com Meet Mycroft Edward Holmes has used a Baker Street device to introduce - as his central character - the eccentric Mycroft, a quirky recluse who has devoted himself to the study of the Bard. His scholarly disquisitions are conducted with a pork-pie and a pint, or an afternoon Earl Grey and almond slice. His highly individual, relaxed manner of dealing with his subject matter should not mislead the reader; he has done his homework and you may count on his reliability. Mycroft is a long-established heretic. He says, "I gave up believing in Shakespeare soon after I gave up trying to pick a googly and about the time that I lost faith in Liberalism. Living now in the real world, I feel free to look beyond Stratford for the author; I am no longer bound by the dogma of the Establishment. It seems to me that the longer the academics go on recycling their Stratford myths, the more certain we can be that they are never going to establish any certain connection between William and the text. The years and millions spent on looking in the wrong place for the wrong man make their plight more ludicrous. They are in a hole of their own digging." Mycroft anticipated my question. "Now, why should scholars, who love Shakespeare and devote their lives to the study of his work, deliberately exclude a vital area of relevant research? Academics follow rigorous rules of evidence, argument and demonstration. They are scrupulous guardians of "the Truth about Shakespeare." Or so it would seem. And so it should be. Yet there are troubling omissions from their discussions. I cannot imagine why it should be so; I can only offer, I hope generous explanations. Professional Academe is essentially a twentieth century phenomenon. Literary research used to be the province of the leisured amateur. Even in the first part of this century, the amateur played a prominent role in Shakespeare studies. Edmund Chambers left us his monumental history of the Elizabethan theatre as the result of his evenings spent in the British Museum Reading Room, having left his office at five. Freelance research meant that unconditional freedom of study and speculation was possible. A great deal of nonsense resulted and the professionals have had little difficulty in disposing of most challengers. But some valid work was overlooked and tipped out with heretical bathwater. As a result a firm frontier emerged, dividing academic Stratford conformity from "non-academic" heresy. You will not find Oxfordians teaching in a British University. And publishers are very unlikely to consider an Oxfordian script." Yet the critical position of the Stratfordians has remained ossified for decades. They still are unable to offer evidence of any direct connection between William and the text of the Opus. "Discovering Shakespeare" will provide clear clues pointing to Edward de Vere as central to a number of the plays.