He may have died almost four centuries ago, yet the name of William Shakespeare remains one of the most iconic in world literature. The English playwright wrote about 38 plays, 154 sonnets and two long-narrative poems during his lifetime, many of which are considered to be among the greatest works in history. Having lived between 1564 and 1616, Shakespeare posthumously gained the nickname the "Bard of Avon" in recognition of the fact he is widely considered to be the greatest writer in the history of the English language. Aside from the various authors of the Bible, he is the most-quoted writer in history as Shakespeare wrote almost a tenth of the most-quoted lines in written or spoken English - and he is credited with introducing up to 3,000 words into the English language for the first time. And, what with it being William Shakespeare Day - as well as Saint George's Day - on April 23rd, it is once again time to celebrate the life of the great dramatist. On this occasion, certain fallacies and misconceptions about the Bard will be corrected - such as the belief he was an "Elizabethan playwright", that he wrote all of his plays himself, and that "Shakespeare" is actually the correct spelling of his surname... Well, here are 12 things everyone gets wrong about the "Bard of Avon" himself, the great playwright Mr William Shakespeare.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
