459 years ago today, William Shakspere was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He died there 407 years ago today, in 1616, at the age of 52. There are no documentary records that link William Shakspere to William Shakespeare, the dramatist and poet, and greatest writer in the English language. In 1920 J. Thomas Looney in “Shakespeare Identified,” raised the authorship question which had emerged long before. He identified Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, as the writer who used the pseudonym “William Shakespeare.”
Among the famous doubters that William Shakspere was the dramatist William Shakespeare are: Harry Blackmun (1908-1999) US Supreme Court Associate Justice; Charlie Chaplin (1899-1977) actor/comedian; Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) poet; Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) psychotherapist, John Galsworthy (1863-1933) Nobel prizewinning novelist; Sir John Gielgud (1904-2000) Shakespearian actor and director; Henry James (1843-1916) novelist; Lord Palmerston (1784-1865) British Statesman; Lewis Powell (1907-1998) US Supreme Court Associate Justice; Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer; Walt Whitman (1819-1892) American poet; Charles Dickens (1812-1870) British novelist; Sir Mark Ryland (1960- ) Shakespearian actor.
