Profession: Playwright
Biography: William Shakespeare is often named the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. His extant works consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets and additional poems.
His plays have been translated into every major living language and have been performed more often than any other playwright.
Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in England in 1564, the third of eight children to a prominent businessman and official. At 18 he married Anne Hathaway, probably in some hurry, their first child a daughter Susanna was born 6 months later.
It wasn't until 1592 that Shakespeare is recorded established in London as a founder member of the theatre company The Lord Chamberlain's Men. From the 1603 the company came under the patronage of King James I as The King's Men with the Globe as their theatre, which they had constructed in 1599.
It is during this time that Shakespeare wrote his most famous plays, tragedies such as "Macbeth" and "King Lear" and comedies and romances including "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Romeo and Juliet".
After Shakespeare's death in 1616 two of his fellow players published a collection of 36 of his plays in 1623 in the "First Folio" preserving Shakespeare's works and ensuring his legacy.
Born: April 23, 1564
Birthplace: Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
Star Sign: Taurus
Articles and Photos
Defiance in the Hundred Years' War
Up Yours! Threatened archers develop a new sign of defiance as the blistering Hundred Years' War continues to rage between England and France.
August 13, 1415
Who Wrote Shakespeare?
Could the son of a provincial glove-maker, born on this day in history, be the author of the world's greatest plays? The argument rages on.
April 23, 1564
Globe Theatre Burns Down
Special effects got out of hand on this day when the theatre where William Shakespeare acted was burnt to the ground after cannons were fired on stage.
June 29, 1613
Globe Theatre Fire
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on fire
June 29, 1613
The Man Who Re-wrote 'Offensive' Shakespeare
Thomas Bowdler, the man who re-wrote Shakespeare to remove the "offensive" bits, died on this day and added a new word – bowdlerise – to the language.
February 24, 1825
Have You Heard The One About Johann Goethe?
With his collected works amounting to 143 volumes, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who died on this day, is considered to be one of the world’s great writers
March 22, 1832
Fort Knox-style Security for Folger Library
In 2020 a First Folio of William Shakespeare’s works was sold at auction in New York for nearly ten million dollars. And the Folger Library has 82 of them.
June 18, 1857
Wrong Address for Shakespeare Tourist Attraction
Millions of tourists around the world still have souvenirs of the house where William Shakespeare’s mother was born and grew up. Sadly, it’s the wrong house.
November 29, 2000
Married Life
- 1582-11-28 Playwright and poet William Shakespeare (18) marries Anne Hathaway (26) (date of the marriage license)
Historical Events
- 1564-04-26 William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
- 1595-01-29 William Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet" is thought to have been first performed. Officially published early 1597.
- 1597-04-23 William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I of England in attendance
- 1604-11-01 William Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello" first presented
- 1606-08-07 Possible first performance of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, performed in the Great Hall at Hampton Court Palace for King James I
- 1606-12-26 First known performance of William Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear" before the court of King James I at Whitehall, London
- 1609-05-20 Shakespeare's Sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by publisher Thomas Thorpe
- 1611-04-20 First known performance of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth at the Globe Theatre, London, recorded by Simon Forman
- 1611-11-01 Shakespeare's romantic comedy play "Tempest" is first presented
- 1613-06-29 Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, burns down during a performance of "Henry VIII"
- 1623-12-05 First copies purchased of William Shakespeare's First Folio, collecting his plays posthumously into one volume, bought by Edward Dering
- 1642-09-06 English Long Parliament issues Ordinance ordering closure of London theatres including the Globe theatre, once part-owned by William Shakespeare
- 1750-03-05 1st American Shakespearean production-"altered" Richard III, NYC
- 1847-09-16 Shakespeare Birthplace Trust buys bard's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon
- 1932-04-23 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opens at Stratford-on-Avon, England
- 1968-01-18 Hal Hester and Danny Appolinar's rock musical "Your Own Thing", loosely based on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", premieres at the Orpheum Theater, NYC; runs for 933 performances
- 1978-02-11 China lifts a ban on works of Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens
- 1993-11-04 Revival of William Shakespeare's stage drama "Timon of Athens". with incidental music by Duke Ellington, opens at Lyceum Theater, NYC; runs for 37 performances
- 1995-11-01 Revival of William Shakespeare's "The Tempest", starring Patrick Stewart, opens at Broadhurst Theater, NYC; runs for 71 performances
- 1997-06-12 Shakespeare's Globe theatre opens in London, England, replica of original Globe theatre (1599-1642) with performance O. Henry V, after campaign by Sam Wanamaker
- 1999-03-31 "10 Things I Hate About You", a modernization of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger, is released
- 2012-06-07 16th century archaeology remains of the Curtain Theatre, where some of Shakespeare's plays first performed found under a pub in London
- 2016-03-23 GPR investigation of Shakespeare's tomb at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford concludes the Bard's skull probably has been stolen
- 2019-09-09 Poet John Milton's own copy of Shakespeare's First Folio of 1623 has survived with his annotations according to scholar Jason Scott-Warren in Philadelphia library, could be world's most important modern literary discovery
- 2020-10-14 A copy of William Shakespeare's First Folio sells for a record $9.98 million at auction in New York
Quotes by William Shakespeare
- "This above all: to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man."
Archibald MacLeish
Bertolt Brecht
Langston Hughes
Lillian Hellman
Tennessee Williams
Thornton Wilder