Shakespeare muse was prostitute

The Dark Lady who inspired some of Shakespeare’s romantic sonnets may have had a rather unladylike profession.

An expert on the Bard suggests she may have been a notorious prostitute called ‘Lucy Negro’ or ‘Black Luce’ who ran a brothel in Clerkenwell, London.

Shakespeare scholar Dr Duncan Salkeld said he had unearthed documents that indicate she is ‘the foremost candidate for the dubious role of the Dark Lady’.

Many of the sonnets 127 to 152 are addressed to an unidentified woman with whom Shakespare imagines having an affair....