1-WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE BIOGRAPHY

William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon,

England. From roughly 1594 onward he was an important member of the Lord
Chamberlains Men Company of theatrical players. Written records give little
indication of the way in which Shakespeares professional life molded his artistry.
All that can be deduced is that over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote
plays that capture the complete range of human emotion and conflict.
Mysterious Origins
Known throughout the world, the works of William Shakespeare have been
performed in countless hamlets, villages, cities and metropolises for more than 400
years. And yet, the personal history of William Shakespeare is somewhat a
mystery. There are two primary sources that provide historians with a basic outline
of his life. One source is his workthe plays, poems and sonnetsand the other is
official documentation such as church and court records. However, these only
provide brief sketches of specific events in his life and provide little on the person
who experienced those events. Though no birth records exist, church records
indicate that a William Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church in
Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26, 1564. From this, it is believed he was born on or
near April 23, 1564, and this is the date scholars acknowledge as William
Shakespeare's birthday.
Located 103 miles west of London, during Shakespeare's time Stratford-upon-Avon
was a market town bisected with a country road and the River Avon. William was
the third child of John Shakespeare, a leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a local
landed heiress. William had two older sisters, Joan and Judith, and three younger
brothers, Gilbert, Richard and Edmund. Before William's birth, his father became a
successful merchant and held official positions as alderman and bailiff, an office
resembling a mayor. However, records indicate John's fortunes declined sometime
in the late 1570s.

2- Miguel de Cervantes Biography
Synopsis

The son of a deaf surgeon, Miguel de Cervantes was born near Madrid in 1547. He
became a soldier in 1570 and was badly wounded in the Battle of Lepanto.
Captured by the Turks in 1575, de Cervantes spent five years in prison. He was
freed in 1580 and returned home. De Cervantes finally achieved literary success in
his later years, publishing the first part of Don Quixote in 1605. He died in 1616.

Early Years

For nearly his entire life, Miguel de Cervantes struggled financially. His father,
Rodrigo, deaf from birth, worked as a surgeona lowly trade at the time. De
Cervantes and his family moved around several times in his youth, as his father
searched for better work prospects.

De Cervantes was an avid reader as a childa skill he was reportedly taught by a
relative. Whether he had much formal education has been a subject of debate
among scholars. Some believe that de Cervantes may have been taught by the
Jesuits based on some of his writings, but others dispute this claim.



3-Mark Twain
Synopsis
Born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri, Samuel L. Clemens wrote under
the pen name Mark Twain and went on to pen several novels, including two major
classics of American literature, The Adventures of Tom Sawyerand Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn. He was also a riverboat pilot, journalist, lecturer, entrepreneur
and inventor. Twain died on April 21, 1910, in Redding, Connecticut.
Early Life
Writing grand tales about Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and the mighty
Mississippi River, Mark Twain explored the American soul with wit, buoyancy, and
a sharp eye for truth. He became nothing less than a national treasure.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain, was born
on November 30, 1835, in the tiny village of Florida, Missouri, the sixth child of
John and Jane Clemens. When he was 4 years old, the Clemens clan moved to
nearby Hannibal, a bustling town of 1,000 people. John Clemens worked as a
storekeeper, lawyer, judge and land speculator, dreaming of wealth but never
achieving it, sometimes finding it hard to feed his family. He was an unsmiling
fellow; according to one legend, young Sam never saw him laugh. His mother by
contrast, was a fun-loving, tenderhearted homemaker who whiled away many a
winter's night for her family by telling stories. She became head of the household
in 1847 when John died unexpectedly. The Clemens family "now became almost
destitute," writes biographer Everett Emerson, and was forced into years of
economic strugglea fact that would shape the career of Mark Twain.
Sam Clemens lived in Hannibal from age 4 to age 17. The town, situated on the
Mississippi River, was in many ways a splendid place to grow up. Steamboats
arrived there three times a day, tooting their whistles; circuses, minstrel shows,
and revivalists paid visits; a decent library was available; and tradesmen such as
blacksmiths and tanners practiced their entertaining crafts for all to see. However,
violence was commonplace, young Sam witnessed much death. When he was 9
years old he saw a local man murder a cattle rancher, and at 10 he watched a
slave die after a white overseer struck him with a piece of iron.