William Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway may have been happier than previously thought, according to new research.

It has been long believed that the playwright left his wife behind when he moved to London, but new findings from the University of Bristol suggest that the couple were living together in London for some period of time between 1600 and 1610.

Shakespeare married Hathaway in 1582 and the couple shared three children. Experts have long thought that Shakespeare then moved to London from his home in Stratford-upon-Avon, leaving his family behind.

Now, a long forgotten letter may turn that theory on its head, according to Matthew Steggle, a professor of English at Bristol University.

The fragments of the letter, addressed to “good Mrs Shakspaire,” (the name’s spelling at the time) were found sewn into the binding of a 1,000-page theological book in the city of Hereford, about 50 miles from Stratford-upon-Avon.

Although the letter’s writer hasn’t been identified, they refer to a fatherless apprentice called John Butts.

Steggle found just one person by Butts’ name who fit the criteria and lived in London at that time.

The letter writer accuses the husband of “Mrs Shakspaire” of withholding money from Butts and asks her for the funds. In what may be a reply from Hathaway herself, the recipient stands by her husband and refuses to settle the claim.

The letter also refers to a “Shakspaire” couple who lived in a place called Trinity Lane. Out of the four couples living in London with the surname, Steggle believes only the playwright and his wife could have afforded to live in the relatively prosperous area.

Steggle said the discovery opens the path to more revelations about the playwright’s life.

“We know so little about exactly where Shakespeare lives in London, so it’s another sort of data point for that,” he said. “It’s another kind of anchor on where he might have been living, how he might have been, and how he might have been living in his London career.”

As for challenging views about Shakespeare’s relationship with his wife, Steggle credits a shift in attitudes towards women and greater academic work in this area.

“There’s this narrative, like the film ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ where he’s got this wife who’s this kind of distant encumbrance in Stratford, and (Shakespeare is) having all these romantic love affairs in London separately,” he said, referring to the Oscar-winning 1998 movie.

The letter is a “game-changer” that suggests Hathaway was not absent from her husband’s London life, but present and engaged in his financial and social networks, argues Steggle.

“The reason it’s gone unnoticed for so long is that it’s not in London… where there’s been a lot of quite intensive searching for Shakespeare,” Steggle said of the letter’s discovery.

Looking outside the city – and in the binding of books printed by the Bard’s old friend – could point the way “towards the possibility of more discoveries.”

Pangolins have two claims to fame: first, that they are the world’s only scaly mammal, and second, they are one of the most trafficked animals globally.

Beyond that, most people know very little about them. But the new Netflix documentary “Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey,” hopes to change that.

The 90-minute film follows the story of a three-month-old ground pangolin, Kulu, who is rescued from the illegal wildlife trade, and the slow, intensive process to return him to the wild in South Africa.

“Kulu’s got an incredible personality, he’s very much his own pangolin,” says director Pippa Elrich, best known for the Oscar-winning documentary “My Octopus Teacher.”

“He’s incredibly stubborn, determined to go where he wants to go, not that keen to have this strange two-legged creature following him around everywhere he goes,” she adds.

The two-legged creature in question is Gareth Thomas, a conservation volunteer who took part in the sting operation that rescued Kulu.

Rehabilitating rescued pangolins is an “incredibly intensive process,” says Elrich: they rarely eat in captivity so they require daily walks, sometimes up to six hours a day, to feed on ants and termites. These daily walks aren’t just for feeding: they are also getting the pangolin ready for the sights, sounds, and smells of its new habitat, and helping it overcome the trauma of captivity.

“The rehabilitation team asked (Gareth) if he would take Kulu into the wild and set him free. And I don’t know if he realized that that was going to be the next 18 months of his life,” says Elrich.

The film follows the duo into the wild savanna of Lapalala Wilderness Reserve, a four-hour drive from Johannesburg, immersing the viewer in the world of pangolins.

“They’ve got a magical quality; they are a mammal but they’re covered in scales,” says Elrich. “You just don’t want pangolins to be seen only as the world’s most trafficked mammal. You want them to be seen as these joyful, unique, special little creatures.”

A ‘deep bond’

The ground pangolin, also known as Temminck’s pangolin or the Cape pangolin, is one of eight species found globally, and the most widely distributed of the four species in Africa, with a territory ranging from South Africa to Sudan.

When Kulu arrived at the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital, staff called him Gijima, which means “to run” in Zulu, as the severely underweight yet feisty pangolin was constantly trying to run away during his feeding walks. It was during the six-month stint in the savanna that Thomas nicknamed the pangolin Kulu, a variant of the word for “easy” in Zulu, to try to soothe him.

Thomas grew up spending summers in the wilderness in South Africa and Zimbabwe, where he was born; but after school, he became “detached” from nature, instead spending most of his time in the city. “I had a bit of a yearning to be out there again,” he recalls. So in 2019, after picking up wildlife photography, he started volunteering with the African Pangolin Working Group and the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital.

Thomas’ self-shot footage of the pangolins was pivotal to the film, says Elrich: Pangolins are incredibly sensitive creatures, so Elrich says the production team had limited shooting days and relied heavily on Thomas for videos of the rehabilitation process and close-ups of Kulu.

“I realized, he has a very deep bond with these animals, and he understands them,” says Elrich. “He understands how to get this very intimate footage, which almost makes you feel like you’re seeing the world through the eyes of a pangolin.”

While viewers will likely observe thematic similarities between “My Octopus Teacher” and “Kulu’s Journey” — both explore human-wildlife relationships and our emotional connection with nature— Elrich says the drastically different ecosystems changed her approach to the film.

“One of the things that was so compelling about (My Octopus Teacher) is that you’re going underwater, and that immediately takes you into this other universe,” she explains. “Being in the terrestrial world, even if you don’t know the bush, it is way more relatable.”

Trafficking terror

The biggest threat to the pangolins is poaching for the $20-billion illegal wildlife trade, where their scales, meat and body parts are sold for traditional medicine, and their skins used for leather products.

According to NGO Traffic, pangolins are largely trafficked to China and the US. With three of the four Asian species critically endangered, and difficulty breeding pangolins in captivity, poaching has increased in Africa: between 2017 and 2019, more than half of illegal pangolin seizures in Asia were from African pangolin species, accounting for 244,600 kilograms of scales and 10,971 individual animals.

Ray Jansen, the co-founder of the African Pangolin Working Group, who features in the documentary, has witnessed the scale of this threat firsthand: the zoologist-turned-sting operative helped rescue 301 live pangolins, including Kulu, between 2016 and 2024, leading to the arrest of nearly 700 wildlife traffickers.

Prior to 2017, Jansen says arrests in South Africa were met with meager fines, rather than jail time. But in recent years, conservationists like Jansen began providing expert witness testimony in court, resulting in sentences of up to 10 years.

“It sent out a huge warning message to these traffickers about pangolins,” Jansen says, adding that while he’s observed a decrease in “opportunistic” poaching in the country, “sophisticated” organized crime networks continue to traffic for the international trade.

Pangolins rescued from the wildlife trade are incredibly difficult to treat and rehabilitate, says Dr. Karin Lourens, the co-founder and head veterinarian of the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital, the first hospital in South Africa to treat pangolins (all pangolins are kept off-site in an undisclosed location).

“Because they haven’t eaten, they don’t have enough protein,” says Lourens, adding that this then causes a build-up of fluid in their lungs. “Then, their pancreas stops working, so they can’t digest food either.”

“It was a steep learning curve in the beginning,” says Lourens, adding she had no medical guidelines for the first ground pangolins in the hospital, but over the years, the survival rate has soared from 40% to 80%.

The film crew also worked with Lapalala Wilderness, the 48,000-hectare reserve where Kulu was ultimately released, to secure filming permits and coordinate with the on-site anti-poaching unit to ensure safety for the pangolins and those transporting them.

While poachers are an unavoidable topic when talking about pangolins, Elrich made the deliberate choice to highlight the emotional side of the little-known creatures. “You’ve got to be careful about anthropomorphism, and I’m sure that’s the criticism that we’re going to get,” Elrich says.

Lourens said she would have preferred for the documentary to focus on Africa’s pangolin trade, something she says is “sorely needed.” She also expressed concern about Kulu’s overexposure to people during filming. Elrich says Thomas was “incredibly strict” about when the additional videographers could film; “I think I only did two shoots with Kulu, most of the time it was just Gareth and him,” she adds.

Initially, Jansen too wanted the film to focus on the wildlife trade, a subject close to his heart — but after viewing the documentary, he changed his mind. “It’s a much, much better angle to focus on,” he says. “I’m hoping that it spreads a huge awareness, and the world can fall in love with these incredible creatures.”

A new threat — and a new hope

While poaching remains a major threat for pangolins globally, Jansen says electric fences in game reserves are now “responsible for the large majority of Temminck’s pangolin deaths” in South Africa, illustrated in one terrifying scene when Kulu nearly runs straight into one, saved at the last minute by Thomas.

Together with Thomas and Lapalala Wilderness Reserve, Jansen is working on a large-scale electric fence study and exploring new designs that could save wildlife.

And a new “pangolarium,” operated by the African Pangolin Working Group at Lapalala Wilderness, opened earlier this year — a kind of halfway house for pangolins between hospital and release, and a networking hub for conservationists. While it can house multiple pangolins, each one will still need its own dedicated walker for its daily mealtime.

Despite global conservation efforts, pangolin numbers are in decline, with all eight species considered vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered by the IUCN.

“Pangolins really are a symbol of the fragility that we see in one another and in nature all around us,” says Elrich.

She hopes audiences will connect with Kulu’s story, and be moved to protect them and their environment: “There is just nothing else like a pangolin.”

A US cardinal accused of mismanaging clerical sexual abuse has been listed as playing an official role in the ceremonies to close Pope Francis’ coffin and for his burial.

Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired Archbishop of Los Angeles, is among a group of nine cardinals and a small number of priests and bishops set to take part in the rites which will include the pope’s burial at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Mahony, 89, retired as archbishop in 2011. He was relieved of all his official duties in the archdiocese in 2013 – although these duties were not specified.

However, the American cardinal is listed as participating in the forthcoming ceremonies as a “cardinal priest,” a position within the College of Cardinals. The college includes “cardinal deacons,” “cardinal priests” and “cardinal bishops.”

Mahony holds a senior position among the cardinal priests as he is one of the longest-serving — those who have served longer than him are in their nineties. Other cardinals taking part in the ceremonies include Giovanni Battista Re, who is the dean of the College of Cardinals; Pietro Parolin, who is the most senior cardinal bishop under the age of 80 and is the Holy See Secretary of State; and Dominique Mamberti, the “protodeacon” who will tell the world when a new pope has been chosen.

A spokesman for the Holy See said Mahony was involved because he was the most senior cardinal priest available to take part in the ceremonies, with others unable to participate.

This is not the first time Mahony’s involvement at a time of papal transition has caused controversy. In the run up to the 2013 conclave which elected Francis, a petition in Los Angeles was signed urging him not to take part. This time, due to his age, the cardinal does not have the right to vote – only those under the age of 80 are eligible to do so.

Mahony, who led the Los Angeles archdiocese from 1985 to 2011, has repeatedly apologized for his handling of clerical sexual abuse. In 2013 internal church records revealed that in the 1980s, he and his vicar for clergy failed to remove priests accused of abuse and cooperate with law enforcement.

The cardinal’s successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, said in 2013 that Mahony “will no longer have any administrative or public duties” in Los Angeles although the archdiocese later clarified that he remained a “priest in good standing.”

Mahony hit back at Gomez’s ban saying to him that “not once over these past years did you ever raise any questions about our policies, practices, or procedures in dealing with the problem of clergy sexual misconduct involving minors.” He said he had repeatedly acknowledged that he made “mistakes, especially in the mid-1980s” over abuse but that he had handed over an Archdiocese that was “second to none in protecting children and youth.”

The clerical sexual abuse scandal has led to historically high payouts by the Los Angeles archdiocese. In 2007, it paid $660 million in a financial settlement to 508 victims and last year a further $880 million to 1,353 survivors in cases going back decades. Mahony was also accused of mishandling the case of an abuser priest when he was Bishop of Stockton.

For many years, Mahony was a prominent figure in the US church hierarchy and considered a strong voice for immigrants, workers’ rights and the importance of Hispanic Catholics for the US church.

During his pontificate, Francis ordered a number of important reforms to deal with the scourge of clerical sexual abuse, but experts say it will be up to his successor to implement them.

“Cardinal Mahony is our Archbishop Emeritus. He retired in 2011 as Archbishop of Angeles and has continued his ministry in our Archdiocese as a retired archbishop,” the archdiocese said. “He has always been in good standing.”

It continued, “We are blessed to have Cardinal Mahony represent our Archdiocese in Rome for the funeral of our Holy Father and the election of our new Pope.”