William Shakespeare was born April 23rd, 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon. His father was a successful Glover and he was also the Mayor of Stratford. His mother had come form a farming family who was very prosperous. Through that, she inherited some of the land. When Shakespeare was eleven or twelve, his family had become bankrupt. Normal people would attend grammar school till they were the age of 16, but William was forced to leave thanks to his father's financial difficulties. On November 27th, 1582, Shakespeare had got married to Anne Hathaway. She was eight years older then he was. The reason they got married is just a calculated guess, but at the time, she was pregnant with Shakespeare's child. If they did not marry, it would be a sin. They had a total of three children together, Judith, Hamnet, and Susanna. From 1584-1592 are reported to be the "lost years." After the lost years, documents had shown that the plague had taken over from 1592-1593. Because of this, all the theaters had closed. During this time it is believed that Shakespeare had written many poems and sonnets. In 1595 he wrote Romeo and Juliet, Julius Ceaser, and Hamlet, just to name a few. When he turned 33 his son Hamnet had died at the age of eleven, most likely to the plague. In the exact same year, he had invested an amount of 60 pounds into the second biggest home in Stratford, the New Place. From 1601-1607, he wrote such plays as King Lear and Macbeth. On March 24, 1603, a tragedy had befallen all of England, Stratford included, Queen Elizabeth had died! She had absolutely adored Shakespeare's plays. His company performed a total of 32 plays there. All other companies COMBINED had only done 37. The plays he wrote from 1608-1611 include The Tempest, and the Winters Tail. In 1610 or 1611 he retired from the world of acting and writing and had retired to Stratford. He did this mainly because of 1 of 2 things, either he had failing health, or he simply wanted to live his life as a country Gentleman.