William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon and died on April 23, 1616, which was his birthday. He grew up in Stratford but left for London in the 1580s where he began his career in the theater. Shakespeare went on to write 38 plays and 154 sonnets, establishing himself as one of the greatest playwrights of all time. His plays are still widely performed across the globe over 400 years after his death.

1. On the 23d of April 2016 there was 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death.

2. But the day of the 23d of April is also his birthday.
He is considered to be born and to die on the same date.

3. He was born in a small English town Stratford-upon-Avon in the family of a glove-maker.
His father’s business was flourishing, so he could afford giving his son school education.
Though William had seven more brothers and sisters, he was the only one who learnt to
read and to write.

4. Besides, William had an excellent
memory. Apart from the history of
England, he also had a good
knowledge of antique philosophy,
law, navigation, diplomacy,
medicine, music, biology, knew
some foreign languages: Latin,
Greek, French, Italian and Spanish.

5. William spent his childhood and adolescence in his native town, got married to Anne
Hathaway at young age and there was nothing special about him.
He would never have become famous if he hadn’t fallen in love with theatre.

6. The reigning queen was Elizabeth I,
who loved theatre dearly herself.
That’s why there were lots of
theatres appearing at that time. One
of them was visited by Shakespeare
and changed his entire life.

7. William was so fascinated that he left his wife and three little children and followed
actors to London.

8. From that day forth all his life was devoted
to theatre. His first job was to look after the
horses of rich theatre-goers.
Then, he stated getting small roles in the
plays.
And finally, he began writing plays himself.

9. We know 38 Shakespearian plays, two long poems, lots of shorter poems, 154 of them
are sonnets.
Most of his works have been translated into all major world languages.
It’s interesting that Shakespeare has never published his plays
– he wanted them to be staged, not to be read at home.

10. The theatre of Shakespearian
time differed a lot from
modern theatre.
For example, there were no
curtains and scenery was too
simple.
There were no chairs for the
audience. Spectators were just
standing around the stage.

11. They often brought rotten fruit to throw them at bad actors.
Perhaps, it has also made a contribution into theatrical art development :)

12. In 1599 Shakespeare with some actors founded their own theatre.
It was called ‘The Globe’ because of its round shape.
There William acted and staged his plays for the next 14 years.
Suddenly a disaster struck.
A prop cannon exploded during the performance, the theatre caught fire…

13. … and it was burned to the ground.

14. After that Shakespeare comes back to his native town.
We should say he had never forgotten his family, helped them and even built the best
house in the town for them. It was there that he lived his last years.
Now the house is the Museum of Shakespeare.

15. William Shakespeare was buried in the local
church. The words on the grave stone curse
anyone who dares to trouble his body.
There’ s a
monument to
Shakespeare not
far from his
grave.
Every year on his
birthday a
feather in his
hand is changed
for a new one.
It’s interesting that his testament is the only
known document, handwritten by Shakespeare
himself for sure.

16. He is considered to be the founder of
new English language.
There are more than two thousand
words in his works which were never
published before.
What is so special about Shakespeare?

17. He also invented some beautiful
female names: Olivia, Cordelia,
Jessica, Miranda.
Some of them are very popular now.

18. The Globe theatre
was reconstructed
and Shakespeare’s
plays are still staged
there.

19. There’s no other author in the
world whose plays are staged
so often.
For example, ‘Macbeth’ is
performed every 4 hours
somewhere in the world.
Other worldwide famous
plays are ‘Hamlet’, ‘King
Lear’, ‘Othello’, ‘Romeo
and Juliette’, ‘Taming of
the Shrew’, ‘Much Ado
about Nothing’, etc.

20. A crater on
Mercury was
named after
William
Shakespeare.