If I asked you how many Robin Hoods you could name, what would the list be like?

I’m sure you’d reel off a whole host of famous actors, like Errol Flynn, Douglas Fairbanks, Kevin Costner, Michael Praed, Sean Connery, and John Cleese, to name but six. All of these men have played the role of Robin Hood in various television and movie adaptations of the famous story.

But that’s not what I meant.

I’m talking about Robin Hood himself; the ever popular and ever noble outlaw hero who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, with his trusty bow and arrow as his weapon of choice. The leader of a band of like-minded outlaws, christened the Merry Men (‘merry’ – in this instance – derives from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning ‘illustrious, famous, great, mighty’, etc. In the same sense, Hood means ‘hoodlum, thief, thug, criminal’). Robin Hood was a champion for justice, fighting against the oppression of the evil Sheriff of Nottingham and his right-hand man Guy of Gisbourne, all under the watchful eye of the wicked Prince John (who had been placed on the throne as a substitute monarch whilst his brother, King Richard The Lionheart, fought in the Crusades).

Of course, that was only one Robin Hood. Very much like the various incarnations that have appeared in classic novels, Hollywood movies, television series, radio serials and theatrical plays, Robin Hood was more than one man.