This compilation, in the tradition of the Victorian miscellany, gathers together essential facts and fascinating insights into the plays and poems, the man behind them (insofar as this is known), and the context in which he worked. Put together by an actor and a linguist — the pair who brought you ‘Shakespeare’s Words’ (25000 copies sold to date) — it will be quirky, illuminating and endlessly interesting. Topics covered include lost plays, what he would have studied at school, Shakespeare’s pronunciation, why the Globe burned down and the difference between a Folio and a Quarto.