‘Is Hamlet about a small village?’ asked Grandad. At least this generation can Google it | Adrian Chiles

Bored in lockdown, I seek out answers to questions I've long pondered, such as the difference between onions and shallots

One day when I was little, some time in the late 1970s, I suppose, I was sitting with my nan and grandad in their front room. My auntie was there, too. My brother and I were watching the television; Grandad was reading the paper. At one point he abruptly dropped his newspaper and asked: Is Hamlet about a small English village?" My auntie told him no, it was about a Danish prince. Oh," he said, before raising his newspaper again. Bar the chuntering of the television, silence fell. And that was that.

For some reason this exchange has stayed with me for more than 40 years. I think it was his tone of voice, which suggested the question had been vaguely niggling away at him for most of the 20th century. I feel a bit sorry for him; if only he'd had the internet at his disposal and the confidence to use it, he would have had his answer. There is no need to idly wonder about things like that any more, and there's certainly no need to ask it out loud and risk looking a bit of a chump. Not that he ever looked a chump in my eyes; he was my hero.