Episode 36 - Who Was Shakespeare? And Why Do British People Care So Much?🤓

Today I'll be introducing Shakespeare. I'll talk about the history we know and tell you about some of the influences Shakespeare has had on British culture and the English language.  This is introducing this week's topic, tomorrow we will talk about some words Shakespeare invented and then on Thursday some of the idioms first heard in Shakespeare plays.  Thanks for tuning in, see you tomorrow! Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in the midlands of the UK. There are a lot of buildings still standing in Stratford from when Shakespeare lived there. You can find a list of them here. Even the house where Shakespeare was born still exists and is now a museum on Stratford's main street. Visit the house You can read Bill Bryson's Shakespeare: The World as a Stage for more insight into Shakespeare's huge influence on the English language. Additional Vocabulary Literary: the writing, study or content of literature (which is considered to be high quality or historically important writing) Grammar School - a kind of British school. Although schools existed in Shakespeare's time not everyone went to school (girls rarely went) and many stopped going when they got to 10 or 12. Grammar schools were for more gifted children or children from richer families and gave children the opportunity to have further study in things like writing and maths, and so potentially a better life. These schools still exist today but are quite controversial as they raise the question of fairness, about whether some children have more right to a 'higher quality' education than others. Prolific - very active in their kind of work. In this case, writing so many plays and poems it seems impossible! Infiltrated - to get access to somewhere gradually, often secretly Literally - something that is actually true. These days this has become a slang word used to emphasise a point. Adaption - when something (often a play or novel) is changed so that it can become a film. It can mean anything from just cutting out a few words of the original (such as Baz Luhrmann's film), to having to change many points (such as the Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets movie compared to the book). Iconic - something that is really famous and culturally recognisable