Of man's first disobedience....

I know, yet another boost for the four-hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Milton.

Since the first of January it's been 'Milton this', 'Milton that' and 'Milton whatever'.

Yak, yak, yak. Radio, telly, cinema - not to mention the Paradise Lost tie-ins at Starbucks.... And those groovy specail issue stamps.

What? You missed the clamour? The frenzy has passed you by? Er, yes. Me too.

Not a whisper about the poet who, until relatively recently, was bracketed with Shakespeare as a national poet.

Sad?

I'm doing my bit, re-reading Paradise Lost over Easter, relishing the rolling beauthy of those amazing verse paragraphs.

And the birthday isn't until December. There's time....Good to see that some special events are taking place.

But where's that daring, risk-taking adaptation of Paradise Lost / Comus, Samson at the National Theatre?