WILLIAM Shakespeare is widely regarded as one of the greatest playwrights in history. Some of his most famous works are Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Tempest, Hamlet, Othello and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

He died on April 23, 1616, at the age of 52 and at the point of his passing had been married to Anne Hathaway – who coincidentally shares a name with an actress from several centuries later – for about 34 years.