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Throughout history both writers and actors have been highly influenced various Tudor propagandists and playwrights, such as William Shakespeare, to portray the final Plantagenet king- Richard III as an evil villain and cruel and uncaring uncle. As a result the generations after Richard's defeat, at the Battle of Bosworth, have grown up with the belief that Richard was a nasty, manipulative man who wrangled his way to the throne of England. But was he really as bad as he is describe?  To start off with, Tudor playwright William Shakespeare (1564- 1616) and Medieval historian John Rous (1411- 1491) both describe Richard as an ugly being. Here is some of what they have to say about the Medieval monarch: William Shakespeare: "A poisonous bunch- backed toad, a limping hunch- back with a withered arm." John Rous: "Richard was retained within his mother's womb for two years and emerging with teeth and hair to his shoulders. He was of small stature, with a sho...

Anne Shakespeare (née Hathaway) was the wife of the famous playwright- William Shakespeare, who wrote plays and poems such as Sonnet 18  and Romeo and Juliet. She was seven years senior to her husband but outlived him also by seven years. Anne also provided Shakespeare with three children. The actual date of Anne's birth is unknown, yet if you look on her gravestone it gives her name and her age at death, which was sixty- seven. Therefore, we can estimate her year of birth as 1556 as she passed away in 1623. Her father was a farmer called Richard Hathaway and she was the eldest of three children produced by his first wife. Master Hathaway went on to marry a woman named Joan, after the death of Anne's mother, with whom he had five more children. When Master Hathaway died in 1581, the family stayed living in the house, which is now known as Anne Hathaway's cottage, in Shottery one mile away from the town of Stratford- Upon- Avon in which she lived later on in her life w...

Watch this Horrible Histories video about how to prevent diseases. Please be warned that this will not work. Therefore do NOT try this at home. All rights reserved to the BBC.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often in his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair declined, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; But thy internal summer shall not fade, Or loose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes to see, So long lives this and gives life to thee.

The Globe Theater has been around for 418 years therefore it first built in 1599. The theater is a ring-shaped building with no roof above the center, this makes it very different from modern theaters today. Due to the open roof and wooden structure it can get quite cold, and because it was made to be as authentic as possible, it has no heating. Sadly  The  Globe Theater burnt down on the 29th June 1613. That day’s performance of 'Henry VIII' included the firing of a cannon...  The actors intended on tilting the cannon upwards before shooting so that it landed in the river. Instead, someone forgot to tilt it up and the cannon landed on the thatched roof, therefore setting fire to the building. The Globe Theatre has a round shape.  It was built in this shape so that when the actors spoke it bounced against the rounded walls and into the audience's ears! Its design is based on the Roman amphitheatre. It has an open roof to let the natural light in. One of t...