William Shakespeare

Born in Stratford-upon-Avon around 1564, married Anne Hathaway at 18, had three children, then slipped away to London sometime before 1592. There he became actor, writer, and part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later the King's Men. Between 1589 and 1613 he turned out comedies, then histories, then the tragedies—Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth—that became the measure of what English could do, closing with the late romances like The Tempest. Retired to Stratford around 1613 and died in 1616 at 52. In 1623 two actor friends published the First Folio, securing 36 plays that might otherw…