The grave of playwright William Shakespeare inside the Holy Trinity Churchyard, Stratford-upon-Avon, England. The slabstone over Shakespeare’s tomb reads:
Good Friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here:
Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.
Nobody knows Shakespeare’s true birthday. The date of his baptism was April the 26th, 1564, so by tradition and guesswork, William is assumed to have been born three days earlier on April the 23rd. William married Anne Hathaway when she was 26 years old and he was 18. William Shakespeare passed away on his own 52nd birthday, and the cause of his death remains a mystery. He died on April 23 according to the Julian calendar (which is May 4) in the year 1616. (Photograph by G.C. Thomas)