I have "lived with" Falstaff since approx 1960 when we studied a Shakespear play at school for the first time.
Yesterday evening I attended our local Odeon Cinema to watch a LIVE STREAMING performance of Henry IV (i) from the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon with Sir Antony Sher playing Falstaff so well that really for the first time I understand how the character has come to be so loved.