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William Shakespeare is believed to have been born in April 1564 and died in April 1623. He married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18, and had three children, including a son who died at the age of 11.He was an actor, playwright and poet. He wrote, or helped to write 38 plays although several scholars dispute the number of plays he wrote. Shakespeare is the only author to have had over 300 filmsbased on his plays. In British schools Shakespeare is the only compulsory author and every British student is familiar with at least one of his plays.
In the 1950s George Elliot Sweet’s Shakespeare TheMystery claims that Queen Elizabeth was the author. Other scholars claimed that Shakespeare’s works were written by Sir Francis Bacon. In the early nineteenth century the writer, Henry James wrote: ‘Iam sort of haunted by the conviction that the divine William is the biggest most successful fraud ever practised on a patient world’.

In 1987, The Moot Court Debate in Washington DC in Americaheld a mock trial with three judges of the Supreme Court. Two of the judges, while voting for Shakespeareon legal grounds, expressed their interest in Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford as being theauthor. However, there are contemporary papers which mention Shakespeare and his plays being performed at the famous Globe Theatre and also at Court. Despite the controversy over what he wrote, there isno doubt that Shakespeare’s works have had a great influence on the English language. Many famous phrases have been linked to Shakespeare. For example, the phrase ‘I have not slept a wink’ (meaning "Ihave not slept at all") is attributed to Shakespeare. The phrase ‘cold comfort’ (meaning "of little or no comfort") is also said to belong to the Bard.

His influence on other cultures is alsoleading to moves to turn him into a cultural iconfor Europe. The European Commission has now backed a proposal from Germany’s Goethe Institute for a giant Shakespeare festival in Belgium, with his plays...