On This Day (23 Apr) in 1616, actor, poet and playwright William Shakespeare died at his home, New Place, in Stratford-upon-Avon, the town where he had been born 52 years previously.

Shakespeare had been born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, where he received his education. He was married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children - Susanna, Hamnet and Judith.

By 1592, Shakespeare had pursued his literary career in London, and become a member of the performing troupe The Chamberlain's Men, who were later known as The King's Men, for whom he wrote most of his plays during his career. He was also known to have written plays that were also performed by the another acting company, Pembroke's Men, including a first variation of 'The Taming of the Shrew'.

Shakespeare retired to Stratford in 1613, after spending most of his career living between the Midlands and London. Whilst he wrote his will the month prior to his death, describing himself as being in "perfect health", he died on 23 Apr 1616, around his 52th birthday. He was then buried in the town's Holy Trinity Church two days after his death, on 25 Apr.

7 years after his death, the 'The First Folio' 36 of his plays, including half which had been previously unpublished, were edited and published as 'The First Folio', by former colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell, with support from patrons William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, the Lord Chamberlain (being responsible for organisation of court entertainment and patron of Pembroke's Men) and his younger brother Philip Herbert, 1st Earl of Montgomery, to whom the folio is dedicated.

As part of the 400th anniversary of the first Folio, the RSC had a copy which they were encouraging people to scribble notes in.

My incredibly academic contribution to this was to go through Hamlet and write "boyfriends" next to all the parts where Hamlet and Horatio are clearly boyfriends.

With three weeks until Christmas, here’s my list for Santa: 1. Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men (and women, and the non-binary, too). 2. A 10 percent raise in worldwide IQ. 3. A 20 percent raise in Pittsburgh-wide IQ. 4. A benefit concert performed by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Julian Lennon, and Dhani Harrison. And, Dave Grohl, too. Because, why not?! 5. Alex Trebek’s (now Ken Jennings’) job on Jeopardy! (And a tennis ball gun to fire at contestants who give bonehead responses!) 6. A copy of William Shakespeare’s First Folio. 7. Someone (I'm looking at you, Kenneth Branagh!) to make a good film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

8. A franchise quarterback for the New York Jets.

At the heart of the initiative is the three-part documentary series for BBC Two and iPlayer titled Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius, featuring contributions from Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Adrian Lester, Lolita Chakrabarti, Martin Freeman and Jessie Buckley, alongside academics and writers including James Shapiro, Jeanette Winterson, Lucy Jago, Jeremy O’Harris and Ewan Fernie.

The documentary series will be made available from 8 November at 9pm.

A whole host of archived productions and Shakespeare-based films will be released across October and November to celebrate the contributions made by the First Folio.