William Shakespeare

At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway.

Six months after the marriage Anne gave birth to a daughter, Susanna, baptised 26 May 1583. Twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585.

After his marriage, information about his life is sketchy, but it seems he spent most of his time in London – writing and acting in his plays.

Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men.

This company was the most successful in London in his day. Never before had a playwright enjoyed sufficient acclaim to see his works published and sold as popular literature in the midst of his career. In addition, in 1599 Shakespeare built with them the Globe that made him as much an entrepeneur as artist.

Around 1613, at the age of 49, he retired to Stratford , where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive. He died on 23 April 1616, at the age of 52. He died within a month of signing his will, a document which he begins by describing himself as being in "perfect health".