William Shakespeare

- Greatest English dramatist and poet.

- Considered to be England's national poet.

1564 - Born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April , the son of John Shakespeare, a successful glover and alderman from Snitterfield, and of Mary Arden, a daughter of the gentry.

1582 - At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, who was 26, on November 28. One document identified her as being "of Temple Grafton," near Stratford, and the marriage may have taken place there. Two neighbours of Hathaway posted bond that there were no impediments to the marriage. There appears to have been some haste in arranging the ceremony, presumably because Anne was 3 months pregnant.

        - Wrote 154 sonnets, plays "Richard III" 1592-1593, "Romeo and Juliet" 1594-1596, "Hamlet" 1600-1601, "Othello" (1602), "King Lear" (1605), "Macbeth" 1605-1606.

1613 - He wrote his last two plays and retired to Stratford.

1616 - He died at the age of 52, living his wife, Hathaway and his two daughters, Susanna and Judith. He had a honor burial at the Chancel of Holy Trinity Church at Stratford-upon-Avon.

• "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep."
• "If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars."
• "Dream in light years, challenge miles, walk step by step."
• "But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,All losses are restored and sorrows end."
• "Truth is truth To the end of reckoning."