Together Autumn 2016 | Page 22

William Shakespeare, Man of Mystery Mike Jackson - A retired Primary Headteacher Despite being one of the best known names around the world, we know very little about the man himself. Here is just some of what we don’t know: We don’t know when he was born. We know We have just 14 words in Shakespeare’s own only the date when he was baptised – April handwriting. 12 of these are 6 signatures 26 1564. As April 23 is St George’s day, it’s and as 3 of these were written on his will, become convenient to celebrate his birthday it’s possible others may have written his on this date as befits the great Englishman. name for him, if he was too weak to sign for To learn more and see the baptismal record, himself. Interestingly, in each signature he go to www.shakespearedocumented.org. spells his name differently! To see these go to www.en.mwikipedia.org and put Spelling We don’t know why he was called William. of Shakespeare’s name into the search bar. He had three brothers and four sisters, all of whom were given family names. Yet there For many years of Shakespeare’s life, we is no record of another William in his family. have no clear idea where he was. He may For more on his family and family tree, go to have travelled abroad or he may just have www.shakespeare-w.com and follow the link. spent his time in Stratford-upon-Avon and London. For more of what little we know, and Despite the supposed portraits of lots we don’t know about the man and his Shakespeare, the truth is we don’t know whereabouts, go to www.bardweb.net and for certain what he looked like. Certainly search for Shakespeare’s Biography. Shakespeare himself never commissioned a 22 portrait. There is no written account of his As well as a writer, Shakespeare was also appearance and there are just three portraits an actor – possibly in his own plays as well which might be genuine. However, two of as plays by other writers. Sadly, we have no these - an engraving on an edition of his record of any part he performed. We don’t plays and a sculpted image on his memorial know exactly how many plays he wrote; we stone in Stratford - were done after he died. think he wrote between 35 and 40 altogether, To see the third ‘portrait’ and nearly 100 but we don’t know, and we don’t know the other contenders, go to the National Portrait order in which he wrote them. For more, visit Gallery’s website at www.npg.org.uk and type www.nosweatshakespeare/ William Shakespeare into the search bar. shakespeares-plays We don’t have even a single line from any of We know Shakespeare died in 1616, but not Shakespeare’s plays in his own handwriting. the exact date. We do know when he was The scripts we have amount to around buried – 25th April – and so, as his birthday 1,000,000 words in total, but no original has been accepted as April 23rd, it’s also manuscript has survived. However, there is been agreed to have the birth and death just one script which may contain dates as the same. And one final mystery: Shakespeare’s handwriting, when it is he is buried in Holy Trinity Church, thought he was asked to revise an existing Stratford-upon–Avon along with four other play. Shakespeare’s possible contribution family members. Strangely, William’s is the amounts to just 3 pages of manuscript. only headstone with no name. To see what To get a glimpse and read more, go to is written on it, go to the church’s ‘Visit Us’ www.bl.uk/shakespeare. section of www.stratford-upon-avon.org