Tales of The Bard

Shakespeare: 10 facts you didn't know about the world's most famous poet

How much do we really know about Shakespeare? Thirty-nine plays, over a hundred sonnets, and more words invented than any writer in history; we even believe that his life was so tidy that he was born and died on the exact same date. But most of these facts are mere myths: historians now assure us that we do not know his date of birth, we cannot confirm he came up with those 1,700 words, and we don’t really know how to properly spell his surname. Read on to learn 10 decoded facts about The Bard.

Only six authenticated signatures of William Shakespeare survive. And they weren’t the closing etches in manuscripts or letters: they were scrawled onto legal documents.

All six date from the final four years of his life. But the strangest detail is that no two of them spell his name the same way: variations include "Willm Shakp," "William Shakspē," and "Shakspere." Not one matches the spelling we use today.

It might perplex modern readers, but this was common practice among Elizabethan clerks and writers, who treated spelling as a loose suggestion rather than a fixed rule.

Etymology fans have probably read endless lists of words allegedly invented by Shakespeare. "Upstairs," "bedroom," and "assassination" are among those. As many as 1,700 are attributed to him, but this seems to be, mostly, a myth.

The number comes from the Oxford English Dictionary, which credited him with the earliest known written use of many words, not their invention. Many of these terms were likely becoming orally popular, and what Shakespeare did was use them in his works, effectively documenting those new terms for future generations. None of this makes him less remarkable, though: he used roughly 20,000 different words across his plays and poems.

William Shakespeare's grave carries a warning: "Blessed be the man who spares these stones, and cursed be he who moves my bones." His wishes were respected for hundreds of years. While other tombstones in Holy Trinity Church were shuffled and covered to make room for new burials, his stayed untouched.

Then in 2016, researchers scanned the grave with ground-penetrating radar for a documentary marking 400 years since his death. The results were very strange: his skull appeared to be missing. Even more mysteriously, it lined up with an old, long-dismissed magazine story from 1879 about a trophy hunter stealing it.

The Globe Theatre was built in 1599 by Shakespeare’s playing company. It soon became London’s premier and most famous playhouse, drawing up to 3,000 spectators per show. One day in the summer of 1613, the venue was packed for a performance of Shakespeare's historical play Henry VIII. During a dramatic entrance, a stage cannon fired as planned, but a spark from its wadding landed in the thatched roof.

Within an hour, the entire theater, timber, thatch, and all, had burned to the ground, but despite being studded with attendees, there were no casualties. Legend has it that only one injury was recorded: a man whose breeches caught fire, which he doused with a bottle of ale. Two separate ballads about the fire were printed by the very next day. The Globe was rebuilt within a year, this time with a safer tiled roof.

In August 1596, William Shakespeare buried his only son. Hamnet was eleven, and the burial register at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford records his death with no details. We do know that four years later, Shakespeare wrote the story of a grieving prince obsessed with death and his father's ghost: Hamlet.

Historians never confirmed the connection, and found no proof of Shakespeare explaining it, but many 21st-century cultural works have speculated about this interpretation, such as novels or films that explore the writer’s grief.

Every April 23, tributes note that Shakespeare died precisely on his birthday. There's just one problem: nobody actually knows when he was born.

No birth certificate survives from 1564. Historians have only found a baptism record dated April 26, which could possibly suggest that he was born on the days prior, because, at the time, babies were typically baptized a few days after birth. We do know, however, the date of his death: April 23, 1616. He was 52 years old.

Another myth has been circulating for centuries about his death: that Shakespeare and the Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes died on the exact same day, April 23, 1616. Even UNESCO used this seemingly chilling fact to create World Book Day on that date.

But there’s a disappointing catch: in 1616, England was still using the old Julian calendar, while Spain had switched to the newer Gregorian one. The two "April 23rds" were actually ten days apart. To complicate things further, some historians now believe Cervantes died April 22, not April 23, and that the 23rd was actually his burial. Again, the two dates are close enough, but may have been slightly edited for drama.

Scholars have always been puzzled by a strange 7-year-gap of information about his life. Between 1585 and 1592, William Shakespeare simply vanishes from the historical record. The last mention of him before this gap is the baptism of his twins, Hamnet and Judith, in Stratford.

Then, in 1592, he is referenced in a text by a rival London playwright calling him an "upstart crow," which proves that by 1592 he had already made it as an actor and writer in the city. What happened in between is anyone's guess: being a schoolteacher, writing plays, spending time with his family, even working as a secret tutor for families in Lancashire have all been proposed. But there still is no evidence to support any of it.

In 1582, eighteen-year-old William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was twenty-six and already pregnant with their firstborn daughter, Susanna. Three years later, she also gave birth to twins Judith and Hamnet.

When William died in 1616, his will left his wife one specific item that has always confounded scholars: his "second-best bed." For centuries this was read as a final insult. But historians now argue the best bed was reserved for guests, while the second-best was the actual marriage bed the couple shared for decades.

If two of Shakespeare's actor friends hadn't decided, seven years after his death, to compile his work into one enormous book, half of his plays might not exist today.

Published in 1623, the First Folio contained 36 plays, and eighteen of them, including Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest, had never been printed anywhere before. John Heminges and Henry Condell, who had worked alongside Shakespeare for decades, gathered scripts, prompt books, and old drafts to put it together. Shakespeare himself never published a collected edition of his own plays; he likely saw them as scripts for performance, not literature meant to last.

The 10 books that changed us (and still do)

Accepting death as part of life, that growing up is painful, and that love is often what saves us are just a few of the lessons these stories bring, through tears and laughter. For those of you who have been lucky enough to read these gems, this is a chance to rediscover them. For those of you who have yet to encounter some of these books, here are the powerful lessons they offer.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" is a classic 1960 novel by American writer Harper Lee. It is a coming-of-age story set in Alabama during the Great Depression. The plot follows a young girl named Scout, as her lawyer father, Atticus, defends a Black man who is falsely accused of a crime.

The book has many powerful lessons, and moral courage is key. The story shows how racism and unfair judgment can hurt innocent people. The mockingbird is the symbol of innocence, since Atticus teaches his children that they must never kill one because these birds don’t harm anyone; they only make beautiful music.

"The Catcher in the Rye" is a 1951 novel by American writer J.D. Salinger. It follows Holden Caulfield, a troubled 16-year-old who is expelled from boarding school just before the Christmas holidays. During this time, he wanders the streets of New York alone, searching for a real connection as he deals with growing up.

The core message centers on how teenagers really think, through everyday slang, while reflecting on the adult world, which Holden considers full of "phonies" who fake it to fit in. The angst of feeling lonely and like an outsider is central. Holden also wants to protect the innocence of children and imagines being the "catcher in the rye" who saves children from falling off a cliff while they play in a rye field.

"The Outsiders" is a 1967 novel by American author S.E. Hinton that defined the young adult (YA) literary genre. It is a story about a group of teens divided by class. It follows two different groups: the "Greasers" (poor kids) and the "Socs" (rich kids) living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the 1960s.

The plot centers around Ponyboy Curtis, who is 14 years old and discovers that people are much more than their social labels. The story is an iconic representation of the raw emotional challenges, social divides, and search for identity that occurs during adolescence.

"1984" is a 1949 dystopian novel by English writer George Orwell. It is set in a totalitarian regime where the Party is led by the omnipresent figure known as Big Brother, who exercises extreme control over everyday life, including "thoughtcrime" (questioning those in power is already a crime) and "newspeak" (the destruction of old words so rebellious ideas are impossible).

It remains one of the most important novels of human history. It is a horrifying warning about what happens when a government has too much power, including control of truth, language, and even privacy. Its message is considered by many a crucial reminder to stay vigilant and protect our personal freedoms.

"Animal Farm" is another novel written by British author George Orwell in 1945. It is an allegorical novella that puts farm animals center stage, as they seek to overthrow their tyrannical human farmer. The aim was to create an equal society, but the revolution ended up being betrayed by the pigs that led a dictatorship as ruthless as the humans'.

It is a satire of the 1917 Russian Revolution, alongside the rise of Stalinism in the Soviet Union. Each animal represents different leaders and groups, such as the Pigs who signify Stalin and Trotsky, the loyal, hard-working Horse who symbolizes the working class, and Mr. Jones, who represents the dethroned monarch, Tsar Nicholas Romanov II.

"The Great Gatsby" is a 1925 novel by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is set in the 1920s in New York, and it's told by Nick Carraway, who moves next door to an intriguing, newly rich man named Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is completely obsessed with reclaiming his long-lost love, Daisy Buchanan, who is trapped in a marriage to Tom, by throwing lavish parties to win her back; this pursuit ends in betrayal and death.

Throughout the story, themes such as love and greed are explored, exposing the dark side of the Roaring Twenties and the pursuit of wealth. To this day, it remains a warning that the limitless desire for money can corrupt even our deepest dreams.

"Pride and Prejudice" is a novel first published in 1813 by British author Jane Austen. This romantic story follows sharp Elizabeth Bennet and wealthy, quiet Mr. Darcy. Each of them must overcome their personal flaws of pride and prejudice to stand a chance at falling in love and getting married.

It has become a cultural touchstone by showcasing something that affects us all: how people misjudge others based on first impressions, wealth, and social status. As each character faces family drama, social rules, and personal mistakes, they learn to look past their flaws to find true love.

"Little Women" is a novel by American writer Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. Set in the 1860s in Massachusetts during the Civil War, it follows the lives of four sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March, as they learn about love, loss, poverty, and the importance of family.

It’s considered a timeless coming-of-age classic because, for many readers, it is a realistic portrayal of what growing up is about. The March sisters are far from perfect, and each one makes mistakes that they then learn from. It is also a foundational text on female ambition, giving a voice to young women and showing that their daily lives, feelings, and dreams matter too.

"Jane Eyre" is a classic 1847 novel by British author Charlotte Brontë, written under the pen name Currer Bell. This story centers on an orphan named Jane and her experiences. The school she goes to is harsh, and she faces a cruel childhood. Later on, she begins to work as a governess (teacher) at a mysterious estate known as "Thornfield Hall", where she falls in love with her moody boss, Mr. Rochester.

This story revolutionized literature as it is the first novel to focus on the moral and spiritual growth of a young woman who wasn’t rich, passive, or traditionally beautiful. The main character, Jane, finds purpose in becoming a governess after all the hardships she endured and fights for her dignity and independence, refusing to settle for anyone who doesn’t see her as an equal, prioritizing herself over love.

"Charlotte’s Web" is a 1952 children’s novel by American author E.B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams. It tells the story of a sweet pig named Wilbur who is saved from slaughter and befriends clever Charlotte, a spider who writes words in her web to save his life. In doing so, this book explores universal themes such as friendship, loyalty, and the inevitable cycle of life.

It is a timeless masterpiece that stands out for its simple prose, offering deep lessons about life and loss, including how simple acts can save the world, and Charlotte's words show how the way we speak about others matters. Wilbur once asked Charlotte why she did all of this for him, and she replied: "By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a bit of that."