Profile on William Shakespeare

Full Name: William Shakespeare,  Born 23rd April 1564 - died 23rd April 1616 aged 52.

Homes: The Birthplace Henley Street, New Place (bought in 1597) in Stratford upon Avon, and rented house in London.

Family: Father - John Shakespeare (married 1557), glove maker, merchant, Alderman.
Mother - Mary Arden, youngest of 7 sisters.
Wife - Anne Hathaway, married in 1582.
Children - Susanah (b.1583) marries Dr. John Hall in 1607,
Judith & Hamnet (twins b. 1585, Hamnet d. 1596).

Property: Owned various properties and land around Stratford upon Avon.
Part owner of the Globe Theatre (built 1597),
and rented Blackfriars playhouse (1609).

Occupation: Actor & Playwright, became a member of the King’s men (1603).
Retired to Stratford in 1610.

Written Works: Henry VI parts I, II, III (1689-91), Richard III, Venus & Adonis (poem), The Comedy of Errors, The Rape of Lucrece (poem), Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew, Sonnets (poems), Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love’s Labour’s Lost, King John, Richard II, Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1596), The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV part I, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry IV part II, Much Ado About Nothing (1598), Henry V, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, The Phoenix & the Turtle (poem), Twelfth Night, Toilus & Cressida, All’s Well That Ends Well (1602), Measure for Measure, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Anthony & Cleopatra (1606), Corilanus, Timon of Athens, Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, The Tempest (1611), Henry VIII, Cardenio (lost play), The Two Noble Kinsmen.

Some Key Historical Events:

1558 Queen Elizabeth’s coronation.
1564 Birth of Galileo
1576 First Public playhouse built in London.
1588 Spanish Armada is defeated.
1603 James I ‘s coronation.
1605 Gunpowder Plot.
1613 Globe Theatre burns down.