William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare, Britain's greatest playwright, was born in Stratford-on-Avon in England. Stratford is now the second most-visited town in Britain. People come to see his plays, performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the theatre which is named after him, and to see his tomb.

In the early 1590s, Shakespeare went to London. He set up his own theatre, the Globe, where his company performed his plays. An exact reconstruction of the Globe has been built and visitors can now experience what it was like to go to the theatre 400 years ago. Plays can be seen there from May to September, though the theatre is open to the public all year round.

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain. 21^st Century Edition, Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 50