King Lear may have been a terrible father but he was a tolerant employer. Faced with an in-house whistleblower who kept telling him that he was ruling his kingdom badly – and wrongly giving it away – he kept him on the payroll.

The protagonist of Shakespeare’s play did not listen to his Fool’s advice, but he should have. He might not have alienated his most loving daughter, lost his wits and got drenched in a thunderstorm.