26 Shakespeare Gardens Bloom Worldwide Today
There are 37 Shakespeare gardens around the world (as of May 2025) that exclusively grow plants mentioned in his plays and sonnets. These gardens celebrate the botanical richness of Shakespeare’s work and his frequent use of floral symbolism.
27. In 1846, Shakespeare’s birthplace was nearly sold to an American businessman who planned to dismantle and relocate it to the United States. It was saved by a group that included Charles Dickens, preserving it as a British cultural landmark.
28. The Appalachian dialect-sometimes called the “hillbilly accent”-is actually closer to Shakespearean English than modern British accents. American English has changed less over the centuries, making it a useful reference for actors aiming for original pronunciation.
29. Shakespeare once outwitted fellow actor Richard Burbage, who had arranged a romantic rendezvous with a fan at her house after playing Richard III. Shakespeare arrived first and greeted Burbage at the door, saying, “William the Conqueror came before Richard the Third.”
30. John Dryden, a jealous rival attempting to discredit playwrights like Shakespeare, invented the rule against ending sentences with prepositions. The critic’s rigid grammar rules didn’t catch on at the time-and neither did the popularity of his plays.
31 Shakespeare’s Lost Play: Cardenio Mystery
There is a “lost” Shakespeare play titled The History of Cardenio. Though the original text has never been found, we know of its existence from records of plays performed by Shakespeare’s company.
32. Tommy Boy (1995) is a modern rendition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Tommy is the Prince, his father dies, his mother (Bo Derek) plays Gertrude, who is secretly married to his “stepbrother” (Rob Lowe) as Claudius. David Spade’s character parallels Horatio.
33. In his will, Shakespeare left the majority of his large estate to his eldest daughter. Though the will barely mentions his wife, he did leave her his “second-best bed.”
34. William Shakespeare is credited with the origin of the knock-knock joke. The earliest written example appears in his play Macbeth.
35. Shakespeare is the only author to have his own Dewey Decimal number: 822.33. The Dewey Decimal number is a library classification system to organize books.
36 Shakespeare Opposed Child Actor Drafts
Queen Elizabeth I granted English theater companies the right to forcibly recruit children as performers. Shakespeare opposed the practice and refused to use abducted children in his plays.
37. Leo Tolstoy believed Shakespeare was an overrated and inartistic writer. He called “Shakespeare veneration” a harmful cultural vaccination imposed without consent and argued that people would be better off once freed from glorifying him.
38. Before Richard III’s remains were discovered, historians debated whether Shakespeare’s depiction of him with a hunched spine had any truth. In reality, the king suffered from scoliosis, a severe curvature of the spine-not a hunchback.
39. Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed with minimal rehearsal and heavy improvisation. Actors typically had a single full read-through and just 2-3 days of rehearsal. Scripts only contained the actor’s own lines and their cues.
40. Although little is known about Shakespeare’s personal life, scholars confirm he had a son named Hamnet, who died at age 11.
41 Shakespeare Used Red Hair Symbolism
In pre-20th-century European culture, red hair was often viewed as a negative Jewish trait. During the Spanish Inquisition, red-haired individuals were presumed to be Jewish. Authors like Shakespeare and Dickens used red hair to signal Jewish characters.
42. The term “road” for a fixed land route began only in the late 16th century, with Shakespeare being the first known user. As a result, there are no “roads” in the City of London-all its paths were named before the word existed.
43. Shakespeare didn’t create Romeo and Juliet; he adapted it from a 1562 poem titled The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke.
44. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, a reconstruction of the original, is the first and only building in London allowed to have a thatched roof since the Great Fire of 1666.
45. Every Valentine’s Day, thousands of letters addressed to “Juliet” arrive in Verona, Italy-the setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. A team of volunteers from the “Juliet Club” answers these letters.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
46 Did Shakespeare Smoke Weed?
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust allowed scientists to analyze 24 pipe fragments found at his home. Eight contained cannabis residue, two had traces of cocaine, and others included hallucinogenic nutmeg. Shakespeare may have referred to cannabis use as a “journey in my head.”
47. The witches’ ingredients in Macbeth-like “eye of newt” and “toe of frog”-are actually coded names for herbs. “Eye of newt” is mustard seed, and “toe of frog” refers to buttercup flowers.
48. In the 1790s, Samuel Ireland claimed to discover rare Shakespearean manuscripts. Experts initially believed them genuine, but scholar Edmond Malone proved them forgeries. Samuel’s son, William Henry Ireland, later confessed to the hoax.
49. Years before the 1611 King James Bible, King James I published a book on demonology. It cataloged ghosts, spirits, witches, vampires, fairies, and werewolves-and served as inspiration for Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
50. Some DVD editions of Monty Python and the Holy Grail include a subtitle track called “Subtitles for People Who Don’t Like the Film,” which consists of lines from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 2 that vaguely resemble the actual dialogue.
RE: Fact #14 (Shakespeare Wrote a Yo Momma) – I bet they dug up some old Middle Eastern writing that was all yo mama jokes—so he didn’t come up with it.
Pretty old, but also pretty new—they’ve been unearthed in Pompeii. And get this, tons of dick jokes, like “Marcuso has a big one, hahaha!”
Way back in Babylon, about 3500 years ago.
The Sumerians also came up with the Ur Mamma joke, which is basically the original version.
RE: Fact #9 (Shakespeare’s Phrases Live On Today) – Historians aren’t sure if he actually came up with those phrases, but he definitely made them famous.
RE: Fact #49 (King James Loved Witches) – Every time I hear Macbeth, it reminds me of the most infuriating teacher ever. Big spoiler alert!
So, in the Macbeth test in 12th grade she asked, “Why did Lady Macbeth poison the guards before killing the king?” The answers were: A. To make them forget the murder; B. To make them sleep through it; C and D were totally off. Obviously, B is right! But this evil teacher said it was A! I argued, saying B was clearly the answer, but she just blew me off and told me to move on. My “friends” even told me to drop it. I even went to the AP teacher for help, but she wouldn’t get involved. I never got credit for that answer.
I’ll never forget how mad that made me. That teacher was the worst.
RE: Fact #19 (Shakespeare’s Plays Were Bootlegged Often) – That’s hilarious! I can totally picture people in huge robes, secretly scribbling down the lines, only to get kicked out by an usher.
Bootlegging’s been around forever, huh?
RE: Fact #47 (Macbeth’s Herbs in Disguise) – As a theatre maker, my life has been a lie.
And witches have been besmirched down the ages. Not evil spell-casters, just herbalists and cooks.
Herbalists must have had it real rough in those days. I was gathering yarrow and bitter dock the other day, and several people asked me what I was doing. It was curiosity on their part but if this was 400 years ago they’d probably be much more suspicious
RE: Fact #16 (Tolkien Avenged Shakespeare’s Metaphor) – Alright, I’ll build my own trees with blackjack and hookers.
Actually, forget the trees!
Man, I really miss Futurama.
RE: Fact #30 (Grammar Rules Born From Jealousy) – I’ve always heard that rule about prepositions came from fancy-pants scholars trying to make English sound like Latin way back in the 17th century. They wanted to make it fancier, basically.
I’ve talked to a bunch of grammar nazis, and I’m always surprised they don’t get this.
Lots of people think we need to protect “proper” English and yell at anyone who doesn’t follow some old, complicated rules they learned in school or memorized while obsessively studying Strunk & White. But when you ask them *why* these rules matter, they can’t explain it. There’s no real way to defend these random rules made up by writers centuries ago just because they liked the sound. We treat these personal preferences like “proper grammar” without ever thinking about why.
It’s fine to encourage rules that avoid confusion, but most grammar rules people argue about don’t really do that—they’re just showing off.
Language changes naturally—it’s not controlled by anyone. A lot of what we think is “proper” now will be totally different or gone in 200 years. And because of the internet, future people will find old grammar sticklers’ comments and laugh at how silly they were. Grammar sticklers: is that your legacy? To be laughed at for arguing over stuff like “who” versus “whom,” or getting worked up about “literally”?
RE: Fact #28 (Hillbilly Accents Preserve Shakespearean English) – This YouTube video is pretty cool. It doesn’t sound super Appalachian, but I can hear some things that are similar.
RE: Fact #5 (Tourists Got Shakespeare’s House Demolished) – It’s a shame for people who own houses that become famous because a show used them, like the Breaking Bad house. But anyone buying a famous house should totally know what they’re getting into beforehand.
I think it’s hilarious that someone who owned the Amityville house thought taking out the windows would fix things.
Yeah, I live in Seattle, and our house is the one where Kurt Cobain died. The new owners tore down the garage, but people still come by all the time. There’s a little park nearby with a memorial—always flowers and stuff for him.
That Breaking Bad house lady? She loves the drama. Seriously, I once drove by and she was out with her camera before I even hit the brakes.
That old woman needs something to do; she’ll still yell at you even if you’re way across the street.
The Breaking Bad house got so tired of people tossing pizzas on the roof, they finally put up a fence.
A fake pizza would’ve been easier.
RE: Fact #44 (Thatched Roof Approved for Globe) – I loved those shows! Groundling tickets are cheap, and you totally forget you’re standing. Most were hilarious or at least really entertaining, except Macbeth—that one was seriously creepy.
The only annoying thing? They really drag out the curtain calls. They bow, leave, come back, and then do it AGAIN and AGAIN! Even when the applause is fading. Most theatre people I know think that’s a bit much. By the end, everyone was groaning, barely anyone was clapping.
Heads up: the seats are uncomfortable (for historical reasons!), so standing’s the way to go. Get there early to snag a good spot. Seriously, it’s worth it.
RE: Fact #42 (Shakespeare Coined the Word Road) – Shakespeare was way ahead of his time.
RE: Fact #31 (Shakespeare’s Lost Play: Cardenio Mystery) – I bet there’s a ton of old writing we only know about because of lists like this, but we have no idea what the actual texts said.
Sappho, this amazing poet from ancient Greece, probably wrote over 10,000 lines of poetry, but sadly, we only have around 50 left.
Whoa, I just found out there might be even more undiscovered Shakespeare out there!
It’s a long story, but here’s the short version: Old records aren’t always trustworthy, so don’t take my word for it, but there are some clues. “Love’s Labour’s Lost” is weird—it’s unlike his other comedies. They all end happily with weddings, but this one just…stops. No happy ending, just a bummer of an ending.
Here’s the interesting part: There are mentions of a play called “Love’s Labour Won” in some old lists of Shakespeare’s works. Some experts think it’s just another name for “Much Ado About Nothing,” but considering how “Love’s Labour’s Lost” ends and Shakespeare’s love of puns, I think it’s more likely a sequel. Sadly, the sequel, if there ever was one, is gone for good.
RE: Fact #39 (Shakespeare’s Actors Improvised with Cues) – I’m not sure “improvised” is the right word; the article doesn’t say that. It sounds like the lines and actions were made up on the spot, but Shakespeare’s poetry is too precise for that. His actors were really skilled professionals, with amazing memories and a good grasp of their roles. They probably used their own skills and imagination to flesh things out—the stage directions weren’t super detailed. Shakespeare also wrote parts for specific actors, so he knew how they’d play them. I’ve read that keeping the script secret was a big reason for the separate parts—the Chamberlain’s Men were the only ones who could put on these popular plays, so that was their secret weapon. It must have been totally different seeing these plays back then, performed by the actors the roles were written for—it’s hard to even imagine what that was like for the Elizabethan audience.
RE: Fact #19 (Shakespeare’s Plays Were Bootlegged Often) – You wouldn’t bother transcribing a medieval play, would you?
You wouldn’t write down everything a horse-drawn carriage says.
RE: Fact #10 (Shakespeare Warned of Fat Populations) – fat guys are surprisingly good at arguing online however.
A fresh face on the modern battlefield.
RE: Fact #15 (Founding Fathers Vandalized Shakespeare’s Chair) – Typical American shenanigans started early.
RE: Fact #33 (Second-Best Bed for Shakespeare’s Wife) – The best bed was for showing off to visitors; they slept in the second best.
RE: Fact #3 (80 Ways to Spell Shakespeare) – Before Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, spelling was pretty loose. People just wrote words however they thought they sounded.
Even after Samuel Johnson, people didn’t really use his dictionary to spell things correctly. Lots of different spellings were around, even up to Webster and Oxford’s dictionaries. Webster pretty much set the standard in the US, but Oxford did it differently in the UK.
RE: Fact #17 (Shakespeare Coined Jessica and Eyeball) – Shakespeare gets a lot of the credit for inventing tons of English words, mainly because his plays and poems are the oldest examples we have. Doesn’t mean he actually made them up, though. They could have been around for ages, maybe even written down before. But we don’t have many other written records from that time, so his works are usually the first place we find those words. Still, it’s given him a bit of a false reputation as a word-making genius.
That article says the OED just stopped looking for earlier uses of words. That might explain why we think Shakespeare made up so many words and names. Even the OED helped make Shakespeare seem like the king of words; one editor told everyone to stop searching for older examples once they found a word in Shakespeare’s works.
RE: Fact #12 (Nothing in Title Was Naughty) – How many times guys have been asked “Whatcha thinking about?” while thinking something dirty and just said, “Nothing”?
And if they’d been studying Shakespeare…
RE: Fact #45 (Juliet Gets Love Letters Still) – Hey, if you’re into romance movies, check out Letters to Juliet.
RE: Fact #21 (Juliet’s Balcony Added for Tourists) – Nope, the house’s website calls it a myth and a “so-called” Juliet’s house, loads of times. And anyway, Shakespeare didn’t write the story; it’s way older—at least 70 years older. The original story is set there, that’s why it’s called Juliet’s House.
Shakespeare’s plays were set in lots of places – Athens, Ephesus, Illyria, Navarre, and others. It’s not a big deal, really!
So, she’s actually at a window, not a balcony. That balcony thing? It’s a common mistake, probably from later stage productions.
RE: Fact #14 (Shakespeare Wrote a Yo Momma) – Honestly, “I slept with your mom” isn’t a real “Yo momma” joke. A “Yo momma” joke is more like, “Yo momma’s so fat, she’s got her own zip code.”
RE: Fact #37 (Tolstoy Hated Shakespeare’s Popularity) – Ever wonder if Tolstoy ever actually read one of his own books?
RE: Fact #32 (Tommy Boy: Hamlet in Disguise) – She’s The Man is basically Twelfth Night, same names and everything! It blew my mind when I rewatched it – I wasn’t much of a Shakespeare fan back then.
RE: Fact #29 (Shakespeare Conquered Burbage’s Date) – They must’ve been working on that joke forever, and it totally bombed.
RE: Fact #43 (Romeo and Juliet Wasn’t Original) – He didn’t create most of his characters, but he definitely put his own spin on them. It’s kinda like what Disney does with their movies, or even like how musicians sample.
Lots of art and media borrow from each other, or use the same old ideas. Take the hero’s journey, for example—it’s in everything from *The Odyssey* and *Beowulf* to the latest superhero flick. People always borrow stuff; it’s just what we do. The whole idea of copyright is pretty new.
RE: Fact #50 (Monty Python Meets Shakespeare) – The French DVD’s subtitles for *Le Cid* were…off. They didn’t match what was actually said.
And, on that same DVD, if you watch it twice in a row, it starts a different movie until the projectionist notices his mistake and plays the right one.
They did the same thing with their records. Each side had two tracks, so it was a toss-up which one you’d get. The plan was: you’d listen, then play it again for your friends – and they’d hear a totally different album.
That three-sided album is awesome! So funny and clever.
RE: Fact #16 (Tolkien Avenged Shakespeare’s Metaphor) – Macbeth can’t be killed by anyone naturally born, right? But Macduff was a C-section baby, so that rule doesn’t apply. It’s just like that prophecy about the Witch King.
So, I picked up on the “I am no man” bit first, then realized it fit the Ents too.
Makes you wonder, huh? Could an elf or dwarf have taken down the Witch King? Had to be a woman, right? Or was he just ridiculously strong, making everyone think he was unkillable? Maybe it was all a big bluff, like some kind of “man behind the curtain” thing. He thought he was immortal, but he totally freaked when he saw Éowyn. And a hobbit even managed to hurt him! So, was his immortality a real thing, or just a lucky break for him?
RE: Fact #26 (Shakespeare Gardens Bloom Worldwide Today) – That’s what started the whole European Starling mess in North America.
RE: Fact #1 (Shakespeare Profited from Famine Grain) – He probably would’ve hoarded toilet paper during the Pandemic.
That Canadian couple got busted for using Clorox wipes.
RE: Fact #46 (Did Shakespeare Smoke Weed?) – Dr. Thackeray said they weren’t claiming any of the pipes were Shakespeare’s. Pretty interesting stuff, though.
So, they dug up some old pipes in Shakespeare’s garden – could’ve belonged to anyone, really. Calling them “Shakespeare’s pipes” is just a bit of a sensational headline.
RE: Fact #35 (Shakespeare’s Own Dewey Decimal Code) – The Dewey Decimal system is kinda clunky. Trying to cram all knowledge into ten categories means some stuff gets ignored, while other stuff gets way too much attention. Plus, it’s mostly focused on what was big 135 years ago, leaving little room for new stuff. Look at how much space Christianity gets (200s!), compared to Judaism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism (a few spots in the 290s), and then everything else lumped into “All other religions” (299).
RE: Fact #23 (Shakespeare Has Moons Named After) – I didn’t realize Uranus had 27 moons!
RE: Fact #20 (Shakespeare Made Weird Witches Famous) – Dune’s Weirding Modules and the Weirding Way? Herbert really knew his stuff.
Being Arabic myself, I can tell you most people are clueless about some of the crazy stuff he pulled. He was lifting phrases and ideas – pretty impressive stuff, actually.
RE: Fact #10 (Shakespeare Warned of Fat Populations) – But hey… McDonald’s now has all-day breakfast! Awesome.
I’d like a double McBeth, please.
Gimme a Hamlet, egg, and cheese on an Olde English muffin.
RE: Fact #5 (Tourists Got Shakespeare’s House Demolished) – My grandpa’s old family farmhouse, the one his great-great-grandpa built, became a historical site—much to his annoyance. It’d been empty for a while, and the historical society kept bugging him about upkeep. So, he torched the place. Said it was an accident.
RE: Fact #2 (Shakespeare’s Grammatical Brain Trick) – Basically, Lit scholars can find a reason for absolutely anything Shakespeare wrote.
RE: Fact #10 (Shakespeare Warned of Fat Populations) – I want my guys to be well-fed and relaxed, the kind who get a good night’s sleep. That Cassius—he’s all sharp angles and too serious. He thinks too much; those types are trouble.
RE: Fact #15 (Founding Fathers Vandalized Shakespeare’s Chair) – Shakespeare? That’s so last century!
Yeah, it’d be like chipping off a piece of Elvis’s throne.
RE: Fact #3 (80 Ways to Spell Shakespeare) – Let’s spell it “Shaxberd”!
RE: Fact #17 (Shakespeare Coined Jessica and Eyeball) – That’s wrong. Olivia’s a Latin name, going way back to the Roman Empire.
RE: Fact #36 (Shakespeare Opposed Child Actor Drafts) – First they get kidnapped, then the top playwright in the country rejects them, and they’re stuck with those crummy theatre festivals. Talk about a terrible week for those kids!
RE: Fact #28 (Hillbilly Accents Preserve Shakespearean English) – Back in the late 1800s, a big idea was that Appalachian speech was leftover Elizabethan English – Berea College’s president, William Goddell Frost, pushed that theory. But honestly, Shakespearean words pop up only sometimes in Appalachian English, not that often. So, yeah, it’s just one guy’s theory.
Most linguists think Appalachian English grew up on its own, with most of its quirks developing naturally. Sure, some things came from Scottish, Irish, German, and other immigrants, but not many.
RE: Fact #25 (Shakespeare’s Imogen Likely a Misprint) – I’ve yet to meet an Imogen without a huge chip on her shoulder. That probably explains things.
How many Imogens have you run into?
Lots of them…
RE: Fact #24 (Doornail Dead Since Shakespeare’s Time) – So, Dickens uses “dead as a doornail,” but then he wonders what’s so dead about a doornail—a coffin nail seems deader! But hey, that’s just the saying, so that’s what he went with.
I was just gonna say that! Dickens totally mocks the saying, and it’s hilarious how well he makes his point.
Now, I’m not saying I *actually* know what’s so dead about a doornail. I might’ve thought a coffin nail was deader, personally. But our ancestors were smart with that comparison, so I’m not messing with it. Marley was dead as a doornail, plain and simple.
RE: Fact #21 (Juliet’s Balcony Added for Tourists) – I’ve been there. It’s kinda like going to Detroit to see RoboCop’s house, but Verona itself is really nice.
I think there’s a Juliet statue, and people touching her chest so much has made it super shiny.
RE: Fact #6 (Othello So Intense It Killed) – Wow. Suddenly I find people yelling at movie characters less annoying.
RE: Fact #6 (Othello So Intense It Killed) – So, dramatic irony is when we know something the characters don’t. Like in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo kills himself thinking Juliet’s dead, but we know she’s just faking it.
RE: Fact #30 (Grammar Rules Born From Jealousy) – I was always told not to end sentences with prepositions if it sounds clunky. For example, “Where is it at?” is unnecessary because “where” already means location.
My journalism teachers agreed with you—it’s fine to write “they brought the cake inside.” The real rule is just to avoid extra prepositions, wherever they show up.
RE: Fact #44 (Thatched Roof Approved for Globe) – Thatch used to be dirt cheap, but now it’s crazy expensive. It’s all because of better wheat. Old wheat had long stalks with tiny heads, but they’ve bred it to have huge heads with shorter stalks. That means less leftover stalk for thatch. So, thatch went from being a free byproduct to something you have to import from farmers who grow the old kind specifically for roofing. You might as well just use slate.
RE: Fact #13 (Lost Rhymes Found in Shakespeare’s Tongue) – For those short on time, check out 2:50, 5:05, and 8:10. The original pronunciation is amazing; it really makes the rhyme and rhythm stand out way more than modern English does. Thanks!
RE: Fact #12 (Nothing in Title Was Naughty) – So, this bit in Hamlet, right? Hamlet and Ophelia are flirting, and it’s all pretty suggestive.
Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap?
Ophelia: No, my lord.
Hamlet: I mean, my head upon your lap?
Ophelia: Ay, my lord.
Hamlet: Do you think I meant country matters?
Ophelia: I think nothing, my lord.
Hamlet: That’s a fair thought to lie between maids’ legs.
Ophelia: What is, my lord?
Hamlet: Nothing.
Also a fan of this romantic bit from Much Ado:
Benedick: I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, and be
buried in thy eyes; and moreover I will go with
thee to thy uncle’s.
Since “Die” was an extremely common euphemism for ‘orgasm’.
David Tennant totally nailed that Hamlet scene on PBS. The pause he put in “country matters”—right between “count” and “try”—was perfect.
That was probably the BBC version, not the PBS one, though I bet PBS showed it too. It was based on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2008 Hamlet, you know, the “sci-fi Hamlet” with David Tennant, Patrick Stewart, and Oliver Ford Davies.
David reading recipes is totally mesmerizing. He’s one of the best actors out there.
RE: Fact #29 (Shakespeare Conquered Burbage’s Date) – John Manningham, a friend of Shakespeare’s, wrote about this in his diary. It might be a made-up story, but since we don’t have many stories about Shakespeare, it’s a fun little legend, even if it’s not true.
Shakespeare’s diary would probably be a big hit on factrepublic.
RE: Fact #41 (Shakespeare Used Red Hair Symbolism) – I just learned that Ireland is considered the Jewish homeland.
RE: Fact #11 (Shakespeare’s Parents Likely Illiterate) – This is demonstrably false. John S was the damn mayor of his town, and there are existing documents in his very hand, including a lawsuit. Signing with an X was fashionable at the time, much in the way that modern CEOs often write brisk or “text speak” emails. A time saver.
RE: Fact #22 (Shakespeare Doubts Began with Madness) – It’s easy to forget how much fake news has always been around. People used to believe anything in a book! I wrote a paper about Rasputin ages ago, using what I thought were good sources. Turns out, a huge chunk of it was wrong.
RE: Fact #33 (Second-Best Bed for Shakespeare’s Wife) – The second-best bed? That’s the one they used for, uh, *intimate* moments. It’s supposed to be romantic, I guess.
Yep, the best bed was for guests.
RE: Fact #8 (Onions Made Shakespeare’s Eyes Water) – More proof Shakespeare was a total meme lord.
RE: Fact #5 (Tourists Got Shakespeare’s House Demolished) – So there’s a garden now where the house used to be. They dug around there lately and figured out the house’s layout.
RE: Fact #13 (Lost Rhymes Found in Shakespeare’s Tongue) – Wow, I can’t believe everyone was from the west country back then!
That’s exactly what I was thinking! Crazy they missed that. Lots of people in southwest England still talk like that.
RE: Fact #24 (Doornail Dead Since Shakespeare’s Time) – I don’t buy that explanation, because “dead” used to mean “straight,” like in “dead ahead” or “dead reckoning.” So “dead as a doornail” is just a pun—the nail’s super straight, and the person’s, well, super dead.
Totally unusable is more accurate, I think. “Dead as a nail” fits better, but a broken nail makes more sense in this case.