Tom Stoppard – a wordsmith par excellence

Tom Stoppard, one of Britain’s cleverest playwrights has died at the age of 88. His writing was witty and playful, he took ideas seriously and delighted in philosophical and political argument. He was a writer who managed to combine an intellectual’s delight in complexity with an entertainer’s talent for having fun. “Stoppardian” became shorthand for rapid-fire wit, shimmering wordplay and bathetic juxtaposition.’An early success on stage with Rosencrantz and