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Photo courtesy of tonynetone

By Katie Habash

So, yes, we have all, at some point or another, read a play or a sonnet by the great Bard. But how much do you really know about the man behind the really-complicated-but-lovely-sounding words?

Here are a few fun facts about our one and only, William Shakespeare:

  • He is said to have been born on the 23rd of April in 1564, and to have died exactly 52 years later on April 23, 1616.
  • Shakespeare’s schooling only consisted of studying at the King’s New School from the time he was 7 years old to age 14. That’s a surprisingly low amount of education for the most prominent author in English language.
  • His works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems.
  • Shakespeare sure loved his cougars. He married Anne Hathaway – Yes, Anne Hathaway, this name was famous before you stepped into the Hollywood scene – when he was 18 and she 26.
  • The authorship of his works has been questioned for hundreds of years. Potential candidates include Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, and Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. I mean, really… Could you ever imagine starting your English paper with, “Francis Bacon’s Romeo and Juliet…”? I sure can’t.

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