William Shakespeare

Born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 to a glove-maker father, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway at eighteen and by his late twenties had arrived in London as an actor and playwright. Between roughly 1589 and 1613 he wrote at least 37 plays and 154 sonnets, moving from early comedies and histories through the great tragedies of his middle years to the late romances. Hamlet (1601), King Lear (1606), Othello (1604), and Macbeth (1606) represent the summit of English dramatic art. He was part-owner of the Globe Theatre and achieved considerable wealth before retiring to Stratford, where he died in 1616 at age 52. His plays have been translated into every major language and are performed more often than those of any other dramatist in history.

On 29 June 1613, during a performance of Henry VIII at the Globe, a stage cannon's spark caught the thatched roof. The playhouse Shakespeare partly owned burned to the ground within an hour. No one was seriously hurt, save one man whose smoldering breeches were doused with a bottle of ale.