The Merchant of Venice (opera) In his will he left his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in productions of "Hamlet". Tchaikowsky met the theatre director John O'Brien in 1968 and they agreed to attempt an opera on "The Merchant". O'Brien has noted "At first it seemed odd that [Tchaikowsky], as a Jew, would want to take Shylock on, particularly at a time when there was a feeling that Shakespeare was anti-Semitic, which is a nonsensical thing anyway." Most of the opera was written by 1978, and following discussions with the music critic Hans Keller, Tchaikowsky decided to submit it for consideration to
Supermarine S.6 S.6B. The two existing S.6s were re-designated as S.6As with new floats, added cooling areas and statically-balanced control surfaces. All four S.6s were brought up to a similar standard with nine Rolls-Royce R engines shared between them. Although the British team faced no competitors, the RAF High Speed Flight brought six Supermarine Schneider racers to Calshot Spit on Southampton Water for training and practice. The aircraft were: S.5 "N219", second at Venice in 1927, S.5 "N220", winner at Venice in 1927, S.6A "N247", that won at Calshot in 1929, S.6A "N248", disqualified at Calshot in 1929, alongside the new and