Arden, Warwickshire prominent in the area for centuries. Mary Arden, mother of William Shakespeare, was a member. Shakespeare's play "As You Like It" is set in the Forest of Arden, however it is an imaginary version incorporating elements from the Ardennes forest in Thomas Lodge's prose romance "Rosalynde" and the real forest (both as it was then, subjected to deforestation and enclosure, and the romanticized version of his youth). Towns in the area include Hampton-in-Arden, Henley-in-Arden, and Tanworth-in-Arden. The Countryside Commission considered creating a new national forest in the area in 1989, but the proposal was not taken up. A national forest
Alice Arden (athlete) three children, one of whom was Russ Hodge, a decathlete at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. As of 2008, Arden and Hodge's participation make them the only mother-son Olympians in American history. Arden was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but grew up in Long Island, New York. Her father, Ray Arden, was an inventor who held over 400 patents. During her athletic career at Baldwin High School in New York, she won ten athletic letters in basketball, field hockey and athletics, and broke Babe Didrikson's high jump record. Arden had made what would become the best jump of her career