FIRST OFF . . .

Campaigners suffered a legal setback Monday in their fight to save the foundations of the 16th-Century Rose Theatre in London where William Shakespeare is believed to have acted. A High Court judge rejected an appeal by the Rose Theatre Trust of the government’s refusal to make the ruins a national monument and prevent new building on the site. The government last month backed developers’ plans to construct an office block on giant stilts above the theater, whose remains were discovered earlier this year. It argued the remains would not be damaged and there was no need to give them the extra protection of national-monument status. Monday’s ruling upheld the decision, to the disappointment of the members of the Rose Theatre Trust campaign, whose supporters included the late Laurence Olivier, who died last week at the age of 82. “It was Lord Olivier’s last wish, his last public pronouncement, that the Rose be preserved and displayed in the best possible way--obviously not with an office block over it,” said actor James Fox.