William Shakespeare

Here stood the man who gave the world Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet, a playwright whose words have outlasted empires. William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford upon Avon. At 18, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years his senior who was already three months pregnant. Together they had three children: Susanna, born in 1583, and twins Hamnet and Judith, born in 1585. The loss of his only son Hamnet at age 11 in 1596 deeply marked Shakespeare's life and likely influenced his later tragedies.

Along the south bank of the Thames in Southwark, Shakespeare found his theatrical home with the Lord Chamberlain's Men. While his family remained in Stratford, he worked as both actor and playwright, eventually becoming a shareholder in the Globe Theatre in 1599 for just £10. This open air playhouse became the stage for his greatest works.

Shakespeare wrote with astonishing range: comedies like A Midsummer Night's Dream, histories like Richard III, and tragedies like Othello and King Lear. His 37 plays and 154 sonnets transformed the English language, adding over 1,700 words and countless phrases still used today. He died on 23 April 1616 at age 52 in Stratford, leaving most of his estate to his daughter Susanna.