William Shakespeare, one of literature's greatest figures, never attended any university.

With 1,787 lines and 14,369 words, The Comedy of Errors is Shakespeare's shortest play. The shortest of his tragedies (with 1993 lines) is Macbeth.

In 1582, at the age of eighteen, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway who was seven or eight years older than the young playwright. Very little is known about her beyond a few references in legal documents, but her personality and relationship to Shakespeare have been the subject of much speculation by historians and creative writers.

Richard Burbage, the son of theatrical entrepreneur James Burbage, was one of the most famous actors of his day. He was the first actor to play many of Shakespeare's most famous parts, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Richard III. He remained a member of the Chamberlain's Men (later the King's Men) until his death in 1619.

About a hundred years after Shakespeare's death, Nicholas Rowe reported that he had heard an anecdote that Shakespeare himself had played the Ghost in the original production of Hamlet. Although there is little evidence to support it, the theory continues to this day.

In the final scenes of Romeo and Juliet, although Juliet appears to be dead when Romeo finds her, she is actually in a deep drug-induced sleep. Grief-stricken, Romeo takes his life first. When Juliet awakens, she finds her lover's body and, realizing that their plan has somehow failed, decides to join Romeo in death.

Shakespeare coined the phrase "the beast with two backs" (meaning sexual intercourse) in Othello (Act 1, Scene 1).

The Bard's will gave most of his property to Susanna, his first child, and not to his wife Anne Hathaway. Instead his loyal wife infamously received his "second-best bed".

Julius Caesar says: "Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once."

Oberon and his wife Titania are feuding over a changeling child whom Oberon wants to raise as his henchman. Titania wants to keep the child because he is the child of Titania's mortal follower who died, and she wants to raise the child for her follower.