University of Leicester - The old jokes are the best

A one-day conference aiming to explore English Renaissance humour in its various forms was due to take place at the University of Leicester as Times Higher Education went to press. Some of the country's experts in the literature of the period from 1500 to 1700 will come together for the first time to discuss the comic tendencies of Renaissance writers. Sarah Knight, the co-organiser of the conference, said: "The era witnessed a lively, diverse flourishing of comedy and satire that was without precedent in English literary history."