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.
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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.
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.
RE: Fact #16 (Tolkien Avenged Shakespeare’s Metaphor) – Alright, I’ll build my own trees with blackjack and hookers.
Actually, forget the trees!
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.