, at Henley Street, a son was born to John and Mary Shakespeare in April 1564. His mother was the daughter of Robert Arden, an important farmer in Warwickshire. His father was a rich citizen whose business was making and selling leather gloves.parents did not guess that their son, William, was going to be such an important figure in English poetry and drama, and that his plays would still be acted four hundred years later-not only in England, but all over the world! still a teenager of nineteen, William married Anne Hathaway, a farmer s daughter some years older than himself. We don t know how he earned his living during these early years. He may have helped his father in the family business or he may have been a country schoolmaster for a time. During these years his three children were born: Susannah, the eldest, then twins-a son, Hamnet (not Hamlet!), And another girl, Judith. In 1587 Shakespeare went to work in London, leaving Anne and the children at home. One story says this is because he killed some deer which belonged to a rich landowner nearby, and that he had to run away from the law.soon began to act and to write plays. By 1592 he was an important member of a well-known acting company, and in 1599 the famous Globe Theatre was built on the south bank of the river Thames. It was in this theatre that most of his plays were performed and, like all Elizabethan theatres, it was a round building with a stage in the centre open to the sky. If it rained, the actors got wet! If the weather was too bad, there was no performance.1603, the year when Queen Elizabeth I died, Shakespeare was already the leading poet and dramatist of his time. He continued to write for the next ten years, but in 1613 he finally stopped writing and went to live in Stradford where he died in 1616. He is buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stradford-upon-Avon.Jonson, who lived from 1572 to 1637, and who was also a famous writer of plays, called Shakespeare Sweet swan of Avon . Shakespeare has been known as the Swan of Avon ever since.has been a town where Oxford now stands for many centuries-even before 912, the first written record of its existence.University began to establish itself in the middle of the 12th century, and by 1300 there were already 1,500 students. At this time Oxford was a wealthy town, but by the middle of the 14th century it was poorer, because of a decline in trade and because of the terrible plague, which killed many people in England. Relations between the students and the townspeople were very unfriendly, and there was often fighting in the streets. On 10th February 1355, the festival of St. Scholastica, a battle began which lasted two days. The townspeople were punished for this in two ways: they had to walk through the town to attend a special service on every St. Scholastica s day until 1825. Worse than this, the University was given control of the town for nearly 600 years., There are about 12,000 students in Oxford, and the University and the town live happily side by side!, Oxford is not only famous for its University and its magnificent architecture. (The best-known description of Oxford is by Matthrew Arnold, the 19th century poet, who wrote about that sweet city with her dreaming spires .) In the 20th century, it has developed quickly as an industrial and commercial centre. The British Leyland factory at Cowley, for example, is an important part of Britain s motor industry. It is also an important centre in the world of medicine, it is the home of Oxfam, the charity which raises millions of pounds to help poor people all over the world; and its airport contains Europe s leading airtraining school.
*** Wednesday 24th October 1962, Love Me Do, entered the British Top Thirty. It was the first single by an unknown group from Liverpool called The Beatles. It was the first of a number of big hits that would make John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr the most successful group the world has ever known., The road to success was not always easy. John and Paul had spent many afternoons listening to American stars like Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley before they were able to write the famous Lennon and McCartney songs.the long evenings spent playing in hot nightclubs in Liverpool and Hamburg in Germany had not earned them much money , they found the experience very useful when playing to huge audiences later on.only was their style of singing new and exciting but their unusual haircuts - Beatle mops ! - And crazy sense of humour immediat...
