The second appearance of Shakespeare on our list, the Shakespeare Code featured the Doctor inviting Martha Jones to visit Elizabethan England to meet the legendary playwright. Of course, when they arrived they discovered that London was under attack from a group of witch-like aliens. These Carrionites were manipulating the Bard so that they could open a portal and free their trapped sisters. While visiting the Globe theatre the Doctor observes that it is actually a fourteen-sided tetra-decagon. Martha points out that this is the same number of lines as a sonnet, and this fact proves to be an important plot point later on. It turns out that the number plays a significant role in the science/magic being used by the Carrionites. The only problem with all this is that, based on all available archaeological evidence, the real Globe had twenty sides. The modern reconstruction, where the theatre interiors were filmed, also has 20 sides. Eagle-eyed viewers have noted this discrepancy as the Doctor apparently proves that he can't count to twenty despite being intelligent enough to master time travel. It's worth noting that a small minority of historians disagree with the number twenty. However, they tend to put the number of sides at either sixteen or eighteen. The number fourteen was chosen to fit in with the plot.
With a (nearly) useless degree in English literature and a personal trainer qualification he's never used, Freddie spends his times writing things that he hopes will somehow pay the rent. He's also a former professional singer, and plays the saxophone and ukulele. He's not really used to talking about himself in the third person, and would like to stop now, thanks.
