William Shakespeare was born on St. George’s day in 1564 and died in 1616 on that very day. 
The town he was born in is called Stratford-upon-Avon. He was the third child of a wealthy tanner, John, and his wife Mary. 
It’s a miracle he survived, for in the year of his birth, a terrible plague broke out in England killing thousands.

As a child he lived a very disciplined life: getting up at 3:00 or 4:00 am in the summers and at 5:00 in the winters. 
On Thursdays he helped his father in the market, but otherwise he would go to school. 
Elizabethans believed that education was very important and school was quite difficult. 
Children had to learn how to speak Latin by the age of eight!

At the age of eleven, young William attended a festival in honour of Queen Elizabeth and was extremely impressed and 
influenced by the magnificent performances he saw there. 
When he was about 15 he withdrew from school and became an apprentice to his father. 
A few years later, at the age of 18, he met and married Anne Hathaway, a girl eight years older than William. 
They had two girls and a boy, but their marriage was probably not a very happy one, for a few years later, 
William left his family to try his luck as an actor and playwright in London. 
This is where his remarkable career began.

He wrote sonnets, poems, historical plays, comedies and tragedies. His work was wellwritten and very popular. 
In 20 years he wrote many plays, 37 of which exist today. 
The topics of almost all his plays were borrowed from stories he had read elsewhere. 
Some of them take place in Italy; one – “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” – even takes place in Athens!

He worked hard, rehearsing in the mornings, acting in the afternoons, writing in the evenings. 
He didn’t see his family much. Then, in August 1596, disaster struck. 
The cruellest, most terrible event of his life. Eleven-year-old Hamnet, his son, died during another plague. 
William was grief-stricken. He would never be the same again. 
Nevertheless, some of his best plays were written following the child’s death.

People flocked to the theatres to see his plays and even the Queen was an avid theatre-goer. 
In those days, all parts were performed by men in broad daylight, without much scenery. 
The audience had to imagine the situation… 

Shakespeare wrote scenes which reflect the timelessness of human nature. 
Four centuries later, his plays still have the power to transform people’s lives. 
He wrote about love, death, joy grief, jealousy and hatred, speaking to us all. 
He was a great poet and even a greater storyteller.

Perhaps his contemporary Ben Jonson says it best with his famous phrase: “He was not of an age, but for all time”.