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No single writer has shaped the way we speak and think more than William Shakespeare. Whether we’re being cruel to be kind, wearing our hearts on our sleeves, or spotting the green eye’d monster — it’s almost impossible to use the English language without quoting him. But who was Shakespeare? What vaulting ambition drove a young writer from a sleepy town to stardom in London? Was he born great or did he have greatness thrust upon him?

This is a Short History of William Shakespeare.

Written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to Dr Anjna Chouhan, Senior Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

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