William Shakespeare was born in the town of Stratford-on-Avon. He died on the 23rd of april 1616 age 52.

William Shakespeare is thought to be born on the 23rd of April 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon Warwickshire UK but cannot be proven as records back then leave a lot of blanks. His parents were John and Mary Shakespeare. John Shakespeare was a successful Glover who later went on to become the high bailiff (mayor). John later fell into debt and withdrew from the life of a public servant.

William had eight siblings. Joan was the first but died in the same year as birth. Margaret was second but died the following year. William was the third and oldest surviving child of John and Mary Shakespeare. The rest of Williams’s siblings all survived and they were Gilbert, Joan, Anne, Richard and Edmund.

William was educated at King Edward IV Grammar School up until the age of 13 when he was withdrew as his father could no longer afford to send him there. From this William would have learnt Latin and/or Greek. Greek was taught at some schools but whether or not it was taught at King Edward IV Grammar School is uncertain. He would have also studied the works of great classical authors and dramatist such as Ovid, Plautus, Horace, Virgil, Cicero and Seneca. Being educated at this point in time would have consisted of 2,000 hours of school per year.

William married Anne Hathaway on November 27, 1582. William was 18 at the time and Anne was 26. With William at this age he was too young to be able to get married. Anne had become pregnant prior to the marriage and in those times was frowned upon. Because of this a quick marriage would have been arranged. Anne has 3 children with William. Susanna in 1583 and twins, Hamnet and Judith in 1585. Anne died in 1623 at the age of 67.

It is not known exactly when William started writing plays but several of them were on London stage by 1592. He stopped writing by 1613 when he retired. Williams writing career can be broken down into four periods. Until the mid 1590’s it is believed that he wrote mainly comedies. After this he wrote many great works starting with Romeo & Juliet and ending with Julius Caesar in 1599. From 1600-1608 he wrote mainly tragedies which include Hamlet, King Lear and Macbeth. And from 1608-1613 he wrote a lot of romance based scripts.

William performed these plays with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men that will later be known as the king’s men. He was also part owner. Williams’s first plays were performed in The Theatre and the Curtain in Shoreditch. When they found themselves in a dispute with their landlord they demolished The Theatre and used the wood to construct the Globe Theatre. Julius Caesar was one of the first plays ever performed at this theatre. Many of Shakespeare’s greatest plays were written to be performed at the Globe Theatre including Hamlet, Othello and King Lear.

William was buried on April 25th 1616 in holy trinity church Stratford-on-Avon. Four weeks prior to his death William made his last will and testament which raises the question. Did William know he was going to die?