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shakespeare trivia

The only evidence we have on Shakespeare's birthdate is the record of his baptism on April 26th, 1564. As babies were generally baptized 3 days after their birth, April 23, has come to be accepted as Shakespeare's birthdate.

There are only 2 authentic portraits of Shakespeare-the engraving by Martin Droeshout first published on the title page of the First Folio of 1623, and the monument of him in Stratford's Holy Trinity Church.

Shakespeare married an older woman. Anne Hathaway was 26 when Shakespeare was 18. Six month later they had their first child. Shotgun weddings of this kind were common during this time.

Shakespeare and Anne had 3 children; Susanna and twins Hamnet and Judith. Judith lived the longest, to age 77. Her twin Hamnet died when he was 11.

Shakespeare died in 1616, age 52, on the same day he was born. Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, died the same day.

Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, 37 plays and several long poems. He was also an actor that performed not only in his own plays, but those of other playwrights as well.

Shakespeare owned quite a bit of property in Stratford which he left to his daughter Susanna when he died. He's known to have left his "second best bed" to his wife, but this was not a bad thing. The best bed would have been for guests. The second best was the marriage bed they both shared.

The average american's vocabulary is around 10,000 word-15,000 if you're really smart. Shakespeare's was over 29,000 words--and he never attended university.

Most of Uranus' 21 satellites are named for Shakespeare characters: Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Titania, Oberon, Caliban, Stephano, Trinculo, Sycorax, Prospero, and Setebos.

Shakespeare invented over 17,000 words commonly used in the english language e.g. puke, eyeball, bedroom, alligator, assassination, and elbow. The longest word he created is 'honorificabilitudinatatibus' in Loves' Labour's Lost.

William Shakespeare had red hair!

Shakespeare lost a play. Cardenio, which has been attributed to Shakespeare and performed during his time period, has been lost to time.

Until 1660 all parts in English Theatre were played by men. The first major performance by a woman on the London Stage was Margaret Hughes on Dec. 8, 1660 in the role of Desdemona from Othello.

Groundlings, audience members who watched the plays from the ground, were named after a type of fish. The players would see audience members gaping up at them with open eyes and mouths and named them groundlings because they resembled fish.

William Shakespeare's father, John was a glover who was a city alderman in Stratford for many years, but who eventually fell in disgrace. He applied for a family coat of arms, but was unable to do so. His son William rectified the situation.

There are several references to Shakespeare's father's trade in his works. In Merry Wives of Windsor, Mistress Quickly refers to a character having a beard "like a glover's paring knife" and in Romeo & Juliet, Mercutio speaks of a "wit of chevril", chevril being a soft skin that fine gloves were made of.