INTRIGUING FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SHAKESPEARE

ACCORDING TO MOST ACCURATE HISTORICAL

SOURCES, SHAKESPEARE WAS BAPTIZED ON

APRIL 26, 1564. ACCORDING TO THE TRADITION

OF THE AGE, BABIES WERE BAPTIZED WHEN

THEY WERE THREE DAYS OLD, MEANING

SHAKESPEARE WAS PROBABLY BORN ON

APRIL 23. HOWEVER, AS SHAKESPEARE WAS

BORN UNDER THE OLD JULIAN CALENDAR, WHAT

WAS APRIL 23 DURING HIS LIFETIME WOULD

ACTUALLY BE MAY 3 ACCORDING TO THE

GREGORIAN CALENDAR USED TODAY. IN

OTHER WORDS, SHAKESPEARE WAS A TAURUS.

HE CAME FROM A BIG FAMILY AND HAD SEVEN

SIBLINGS. HOWEVER, THE MOST NOTABLE OF

HIS RELATIVES WAS A SECOND COUSIN OF

HIS MOTHER NAMED WILLIAM ARDEN. HIS

CLAIM TO FAME WAS THAT HE WAS ARRESTED

FOR PLOTTING AGAINST QUEEN ELIZABETH I,

IMPRISONED IN THE TOWER OF LONDON

AND EVENTUALLY EXECUTED

NOT MANY PEOPLE ARE AWARE THAT APART

FROM WRITING SOME OF THE MOST LEGENDARY

PLAYS AND SONNETS IN HISTORY, SHAKESPEARE

WAS ALSO AN ACTOR WHO PERFORMED IN MANY

OF HIS OWN DRAMAS AS WELL AS THOSE OF

OTHER PLAYWRIGHTS

SHAKESPEARE’S WIFE, ANNE HATHAWAY, WAS

EIGHT YEARS OLDER THAN HE, WHICH WAS A

BIT OUT OF THE ORDINARY FOR THEIR TIME.

HE WAS EIGHTEEN AND SHE WAS TWENTY-SIX

AND THREE MONTHS PREGNANT WITH THEIR

FIRST CHILD WHEN THEY MARRIED

IN CASE YOU NEVER HEARD THIS BEFORE,

“WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE” IS AN ANAGRAM

OF “I AM A WEAKISH SPELLER.”

IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE

COMPANY SELLS MORE THAN FOUR HUNDRED

THOUSAND TICKETS EVERY YEAR FOR

SHAKESPEARE PRODUCTIONS AT THEIR

THEATRES IN SHAKESPEARE’S BIRTHPLACE,

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, LONDON AND

NEWCASTLE, THEREBY INTRODUCING MORE OR

LESS ABOUT FIFTY THOUSAND PEOPLE TO A

LIVE SHAKESPEARE PERFORMANCE ON

A YEARLY BASIS