- Born
- 1564 · exact date unrecorded
- Died
- 23 April 1616
- Lived in
- Stratford-upon-Avon & London, England
William Shakespeare grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and built his career as an actor, playwright, and poet in London. He kept close ties to his hometown, where he bought a family home and later died; his plays explore ambition, love, jealousy, and almost every human contradiction in between.
A LESSER-KNOWN DETAILHis will famously left his wife Anne his “second-best bed”. That may sound unromantic, but the best bed was often reserved for guests; the bequest may have referred to their marriage bed.
