Hi, everybody! I am Georgiana, your English teacher and founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast.com. My mission is to help you speak English fluently.

Today I'm gonna keep talking about William Shakespeare. Last week you learned some interesting facts about his life, so I will continue sharing some exciting facts about him.

What else do we know about Shakespeare?

Well, one thing is for sure. Shakespeare's life was anything but boring.

Did you know that we’re probably spelling Shakespeare's name wrong?

We don't really know exactly how William Shakespeare wrote his name.

There are almost 80 different versions of Shakespeare's name that appear in the records and other historical documents.

You have to keep in mind that a lot of people were illiterate at that time.

Let's learn some more about his life:

His parents:

His father's name was John Shakespeare, and he was a glove maker and leatherworker. His mother, Mary Arden, was an heiress from a rich family.

His parents were probably illiterate, like many other people at the time. And, it's very likely they never learned to read or write, as was often the case with people in their position.

Shakespeare had seven siblings: Joan who only lived two months; Margaret; Gilbert, another Joan, Anne; Richard and also Edmund.

Did you know that William Shakespeare’s Father Was Paid to Drink Beer?

You might find this interesting, but John Shakespeare was appointed to one of the city's most important public offices: official beer taster. Another word for beer in English is ale.

It may seem like a strange job today, but at the time, the ale tasting was an important and highly respected occupation.

William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway

Yes. I told you last week about this. What I didn't tell you is that Shakespeare was only 18 years old when he married an older woman who was three months pregnant at the time.

They had three children: a daughter called Susanna, and twins, Judith and Hamnet.

That’s right. Shakespeare’s only son was named Hamnet.

And it is speculated that Shakespeare was inspired by his relationship with Hamnet to write Hamlet.

Though sadly, Hamnet died when he was only eleven years old.

As I said before, Shakespeare's life wasn't at all boring.

Well, it turns out that William Shakespeare was quite mysterious because, in 1585, he disappeared from the records for about seven years. Historians refer to this part of the writer's life as "the lost years"...

Did you know that Shakespeare never went to university?

He began his proper education at the King Edward VI Grammar School at the age of seven.

At the age of fourteen, young Shakespeare was forced to leave school because his father was in financial trouble.

Let's learn more about Shakespeare's work.

As I mentioned in the last episode, at that time, there were no female actors, so, women's roles were played by men. That was partly because the audience could be very noisy at times, and even a bit dangerous. They would yell, boo, and even throw food at the actors they didn't like.

Shakespeare loved birds.

Why am I saying this?

Because it turns out that Shakespeare references birds more than 600 times in his plays. And that’s a lot.

Another interesting thing you should know about Shakespeare is that he Played the Ghost in ‘Hamlet.'

Shakespeare was an actor and writer and sometimes acted in his own plays.

One of the roles he was known to play was the Ghost of Hamlet's father.

Today, students around the world study Shakespeare's work, and his stories are shown on TV and in movies.

I hope these episodes about Shakespeare will motivate you to learn more about his works.

And now, let's continue with a point of view lesson.

Now, let’s practice.

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Thanks for listening, and I’ll see you in the next episode.

Want more speaking practice? Continue with a complete audio course.

See the Courses →One payment · Downloadable lessons