Although he continued to work on stage ( notably in the National Theatre's The Mysteries in 1986 ), film ( The Fruit Machine in 1988, aka Wonderland in the USA and Henry V ), and television ( notably in the role of Abner Brown in the 1984 BBC TV dramatisation of the children's classic The Box of Delights and as the Master of an Oxford college in an episode of Inspector Morse ), it was not until the 1990s that he re-established himself at the forefront of his profession, when the Royal Shakespeare Company invited him to play Falstaff in Henry IV for director Adrian Noble ( opening April 1991 ), the title roles in Julius Caesar ( director Stephen Pimlott ) later in the year and then King Lear, again for Noble, in May 1993.

* Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight ( 1966 ) compiles the two Henry IV plays into a single, condensed storyline, while adding a handful of scenes from Richard II and Henry V. The movie, also known as Falstaff, features Welles himself in the title role.

His late opera based on William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, Falstaff ossia Le tre burle ( Falstaff, or the Three Tricks ), ( 1799 ) has found a wider audience in modern times than its original reception promised.

* Falstaff ( 1799 ), Antonio Salieri's opera, with a libretto by Carlo Prospero Defranceschi, which is also based upon The Merry Wives of Windsor.

In Stratford-upon-Avon, the owners of Shrieves House, the former Three Tunns Tavern and now a museum, claim William Shakespeare based the character Falstaff on William Rogers, one of the Sargeants of the mace and close friend of the Shakespeares.

According to director Gus Van Sant, the character of Bob in My Own Private Idaho was based upon Falstaff, and the character of Scott was based on Prince Hal.

Verdi's last opera, Falstaff, whose libretto was also by Boito, was based on Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor and Victor Hugo's subsequent translation.

The Shrieves House is one of the oldest still lived in houses in the town and Shakespeare is said to have based his character of Sir John Falstaff on one of the residents, his godson's uncle.

With that, their mutual friendship and respect blossomed and, though Verdi's projection for an opera based on King Lear never came to anything, Boito provided subtle and resonant libretti for Verdi's last masterpieces, Otello ( 1887 ) and Falstaff ( 1893 ).

* Giuseppe Verdi's last opera, Falstaff, with a libretto by Arrigo Boito, is based on the play, although, as with most operas adapted from the theatre, there are significant differences as to characters and plot.

* Sir John Falstaff – a cowardly fat knight who befriends Prince Hal ; a fictional character, he was originally called " Oldcastle " and distantly based on Sir John Oldcastle.

Henry IV, Part 1 caused controversy on its first performances in 1597, because the comic character now known as " Falstaff " was originally named " Oldcastle " and was based on John Oldcastle, a famous Protestant martyr with powerful living descendants in England.

The name was changed to " Falstaff ", based on Sir John Fastolf, an historical person with a reputation for cowardice at the Battle of Patay, and whom Shakespeare had previously represented in Henry VI, Part 1.

His operas Falstaff ( 1995 production ) and Tarare ( 1987 production ) have been released on DVD.

" In Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Falstaff and three roguish friends of Prince Hal also waylay unwary travellers on the highway from Gravesend to Rochester, a scene also present in The Famous Victories of Henry the Fift.

The first performance of Falstaff took place on 9 February 1893 at La Scala, Milan to great success.

Hamburg first saw Falstaff on 2 January 1894, conducted by Gustav Mahler.

In the UK, the opera was first presented at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 19 May 1894 with Arturo Pessina in the title role, while the US premiere was at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, on 4 February 1895 with Victor Maurel as Falstaff.

He made his premiere at Glyndebourne in 1990 and went on to build an international career as Falstaff and, more generally, in the operas of Mozart and Wagner.

In 1987, before Clarence aired and after rejecting Hall's offer of the part of Falstaff in a Royal National Theatre production of Henry IV, Part 1 & 2, Barker retired from show business, aged 58, " at the height of his fame ", citing a decline in his own writing quality, lack of ambition and ideas, and a desire to go out on top so as not to damage his legacy, as well as concerns about the state of his heart.

Sir John Fastolf, the inspiration for Shakespeare's Falstaff, was buried here in December 1459, next to his wife Millicent in a new aisle built by Fastolf on the South side of the abbey church.

* A concert performance in 2008 by Opera Ireland of Balfe's Falstaff was originally broadcast by RTÉ Lyric FM and later released on CD as RTÉ LyricFM LYRICCD119, available from Naxos.

* Verdi, Falstaff ( 1937, Salzburg Festival with restored sound on the Andante label ; 1950 NBC broadcast )

This is not incompatible with the popular notion that Elizabeth herself had wished to see " Falstaff in love "; Hunsdon was well placed to pass on the queen's wishes to his players.

Falstaff arrives in Windsor very short on money.

Eventually the wives tell their husbands about the series of jokes they have played on Falstaff, and together they devise one last trick which ends up with the Knight being humiliated in front of the whole town.

Among Haydon's other pictures were: Eucles and Punch ( 1829 ); Napoleon at St Helena, for Sir Robert Peel ; Xenophon, on his Retreat with the ' Ten Thousand ,' first seeing the Sea ; and Waiting for the Times, purchased by the Marquis of Stafford ( all 1831 ); and Falstaff and Achilles playing the Lyre ( 1832 ).

* Maurice Morgann-An Essay on the Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff

In Henry IV, part 1, act II, scene iv, he has Falstaff call Prince Henry, " you starveling, you elfskin!

In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is ultimately repudiated after Hal becomes king.

However, many stage and film adaptations have seen it necessary to include Falstaff for the insight he provides into King Henry V's character.

In the published version of Henry IV, Part 1, Falstaff's name is always unmetrical, suggesting a name change after the original composition ; Prince Hal refers to Falstaff as " my old lad of the castle " in the first act of the play ; the epilogue to Henry IV, Part II, moreover, explicitly disavows any connection between Falstaff and Oldcastle, a dancer declaring: "... where, for anything I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already ' a be killed with your hard opinions ; for Oldcastle died a martyr and this is not the man ".

At any rate, The name is Falstaff in the Henry IV, part 1 quarto, of 1598, and the epilogue to the second part, published in 1600, contains this clarification:

Sir John Oldcastle, a close friend of King Henry V ( and the basis for Falstaff in the Shakespearean history Henry IV ) was brought to trial in 1413 after evidence of his Lollard beliefs was uncovered.

Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV.

The original audiences would thus have already been familiar with the title character, who was depicted in the Henry IV plays as a wild, undisciplined lad known as " Prince Harry " and by Falstaff as " Hal ".

The play also deals briefly with the death of Falstaff, Henry's estranged friend from the Henry IV plays, whom Henry remembers fondly.

Also popular in the UK is Tewkesbury mustard, a blend of mustard and grated horseradish originally created in medieval times and mentioned by Shakespeare ( Falstaff says: " his wit's as thick as Tewkesbury Mustard " in Henry IV Part II ).

" In the 1951 season at Stratford, he gave a critically acclaimed performance and achieved stardom as Prince Hal in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 opposite Anthony Quayle's Falstaff.

One prototype for this version of the town drunk is supplied by Shakespeare's Falstaff, who appears in both parts of Henry IV and in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

In 2005 he finally achieved a lifelong ambition to play Falstaff, in Nicholas Hytner's National production of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, co-starring with Matthew Macfadyen as Prince Hal.

* Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 ( Sir John Falstaff ), National ( Olivier ), 2005

And in August 2007, as an RSC Honorary Artist, he returned to Stratford for the first time in over 40 years to play Sir John Falstaff in the Courtyard Theatre revival of Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 which were part of the RSC Histories Cycle – making him the only British actor to have played Hamlet, Lear and Falstaff in major theatrical productions.