Bright School No1

COURSE OF THE FOREIGN LITERATURE
SCHOOL CONFERENCE
Jack London
/In the original/
https://bright-school-no1.webnode.ru/news/course-of-the-foreign-literature-jack-london-school-conference/

ENGLISH CLUB. February 19. PHOTO REPORT
Célia Dyduck /France/
Subject for conversation:
"Lac Vert, France - Lake Baikal, Russia. And let's imagine..."
https://bright-school-no1.webnode.ru/news/photo-report-english-club-february-19/

Spring in February? Why not? From time to time nature changes its habits. No, not for entertainment, for its diversity.

ENGLISH CLUB
Date: February 19 /Saturday/
Time: 2 p.m.

Célia Dyduck /Sens, France/
"Lac Vert, France - Lake Baikal, Russia. And let's imagine..."
https://bright-school-no1.webnode.ru/news/english-club-february2/

Happy Valentine's Day!
Life is Love!

British time. Literature
Famous British Writers & Poets
Agatha Christie
February 12, National Plum Pudding Day

Agatha Christie is known all over the world as the Queen of Crime. She wrote 78 detective novels, 19 plays, and 6 romantic novels. Her books have been translated into 103 foreign languages. They are the third best-selling books in the world (after Shakespeare's works). Many of her novels and short stories have been filmed. The Mousetrap, her most famous play, is now the longest-running play in history of world theatre.

Agatha Christie was born at Torquay, Devonshire. She was educated at home and took singing lessons in Paris. She began writing at the end of the First World War. Her first novel, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" was published in 1920. That was the first appearance of Hercule Poirot, who became one of the most famous private detectives since Sherlock Holmes.

Agatha Christie became generally recognized in 1926, after the publishing of her novel "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd". It is still considered her masterpiece.
When Agatha Christie got tired of Hercule Poirot she invented Miss Marple, a deceptively mild old lady with her own method of investigation.

Agatha Christie's success with millions of readers lies in her ability to combine clever plots with excellent character drawing and a keen sense of humour with a great observation. Her plots always mislead the reader and keep him in suspense. He cannot guess who the criminal is. Fortunately, evil is always conquered in her novels.

Though she also wrote romance novels like Unfinished Portrait (1934) and A Daughter's a Daughter (1952) under the name Mary Westmacott, Christie's success as an author of sleuth stories has earned her titles like the "Queen of Crime" and the "Queen of Mystery." Agatha Christie can also be considered a queen of all publishing genres as she is one of the top-selling authors in history, with her combined works selling more than 2 billion copies worldwide.

A. Christie was a renowned playwright as well, with works like The Hollow (1951) and Verdict (1958). Her play The Mousetrap opened in 1952 at the Ambassador Theatre and—at more than 8,800 showings during 21 years—holds the record for the longest unbroken run in a London theater. Additionally, several of Christie's works have become popular movies, including Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Death on the Nile (1978).

In 1974, Agatha Christie made her last public appearance for the opening night of the play version of Murder on the Orient Express. Agatha Christie died on January 12, 1976.

__________

Plum Pudding. Which is also known as Christmas pudding. Or just "pud".

Fruit Mixture (To be made 4 days ahead)
1 pound seedless raisins
1 pound sultana raisins
1/2 pound currants
1 cup thinly sliced citron
1 cup chopped candied peel
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound finely chopped suet - powdery fine
1 1/4 cups cognac

Pudding
1 1/4 pounds (approximately) fresh bread crumbs
1 cup scalded milk
1 cup sherry or port
12 eggs, well beaten
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Cognac

Step 1
Blend the fruits, citron, peel, spices and suet and place in a bowl or jar. Add 1/4 cup cognac, cover tightly and refrigerate for 4 days, adding 1/4 cup cognac each day.
Step 2
Soak the bread crumbs in milk and sherry or port. Combine the well-beaten eggs and sugar. Blend with the fruit mixture. Add salt and mix thoroughly. Put the pudding in buttered bowls or tins, filling them about 2/3 full. Cover with foil and tie it firmly. Steam for 6-7 hours. Uncover and place in a 250°F. oven for 30 minutes. Add a dash of cognac to each pudding, cover with foil and keep in a cool place.
Step 3
To use, steam again for 2-3 hours and unmold. Sprinkle with sugar; add heated cognac. Ignite and bring to the table. Serve with hard sauce or cognac sauce.

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Russian time. Literature
Famous Russian Writers & Poets
Ivan Krylov

Ivan Andreyevich Krylov was born on February 2 in 1769, in Moscow. But virtually the whole period of his creative work coincided with his life in St. Petersburg, the place where he died on November 21 in 1844.

Krylov is an author of over 200 fables. Many people do not know, but a great many of quotations from Krylov’s fables became so famous, that they made up an every- day communicational culture. Krylov’s works of literature were translated into many world’s languages and have been republished up to date.

Ivan Krylov was born in a family of a poor military officer. His family was moving about so much, that the researchers were never able to identify his exact birthplace. In 1775 Krylov’s father left military service and having taken up residence in Tver got a job of a clerk there. It was the time when the future fabulist’s father had a chance to give good education to his son. Ivan studied in the family of Tver governor together with his children.

Krylov did not managed to continue his study, but the level of education received in Tver surprised Pushkin himself very much. His father died when Krylov was only ten years old. He had to start working to support the family. When Krylov was fourteen, he moved to Petersburg and got a job in the Treasury Chamber and at that period he began making a shot at literature, writing comedies.

From 1805 Krylov enjoyed the most fruitful period of his creative work, he began writing fables, which brought all-Russian fame to him.
N.V.Gogol himself called the Krylov’s collection of fables “the book of people’s wisdom”. A.S.Pushkin said, - "Krylov possessed a picturesque way of expression."

When Ivan Andreyevich Krylov, one of the greatest Russian fabulist, translator and writer was still quite young, he could not imagine that he would stand in the very center of St. Petersburg, as a bronze monument, enriching the landscape of the famous Summer Garden.

Russian time. Literature
Famous Russian Writers & Poets
Pavel Bazhov

Pavel Petrovich Bazhov, a writer, a folklorist, a publicist and a journalist, who gained fame as the author of the Ural tales, was born on January 27 in 1879 near Yekaterinburg in the Urals. He was born in the family of a mining factory master and was the only child in the family. His childhood passed among the Ural masters.

The young man received his primary education at the Yekaterinburg Theological School and in 1899 he graduated with honors from the Perm Theological Seminary. When a student he took part in protest actions against reactionary teachers and as a result got a note of “political disloyalty” in his certificate. That record prevented him from entering Tomsk University, which he had dreamt of. Bazhov worked as a primary school teacher, then as a teacher of the Russian language and literature in Yekaterinburg, and then in Kamyshlov.

Love found Pavel Petrovich late, after 30. Among the students of the diocesan school, where he taught in those years, he liked a girl. For a long time, the teacher looked at her, and at the graduation he proposed. Despite the difference in age, Valentina Ivanitskaya reciprocated the man. In 1911, the lovers got married, the bride was 19 years old, the groom - 32. They had seven children but only four of them entered adulthood. All their sons tragically left.

Bazhov's great writing activity began rather late, with the creation of a special genre - the Uralic tale. This genre made the author famous. The first tale, An Expensive Name, appeared in 1936. The year 1939 saw the publication of Bazhov’s most famous work – the collection of fairy tales in The Malachite Casket which contains lots of mythological characters such as The Mistress of the Copper Mountain, The Great Poloz, Danila the Master, The Fire Rider and many others. The book inspired Sergei Prokofiev for his famous ballet The Flower of Stone.

After the Great Patriotic War (1941-45) Bazhov's eyesight started weakening dramatically, but he went on his editing work, as well as collecting and creative adaptation of folklore. The writer died in 1950 in Moscow and was laid to rest in Yekaterinburg. Next 20 years his wife dedicated to the memory of her beloved husband putting in order the remaining working notes, diaries and unfinished manuscripts.

British time. Literature
Famous British Writers & Poets
Alan Alexander Milne

"Some people care too much. I think it's called love."
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Alan Milne was born in London on the 18th of January in 1882. His father was the headmaster of a small preparatory school. One of the teachers at the school was the famous writer H. G. Wells.

Milne went to Westminster School at the age of 11 and then went on to Cambridge to become a mathematician. Then he went to London hoping to earn his living as a writer. At the age of 24 he was given a post of assistant editor of the famous magazine "Punch".

In 1913 he married Dorothy De Selincourt and the following year when the war broke out he joined the Army. The Milnes' only child was born on August 21st 1920. They called their son Christopher Robin. The Milnes bought him a teddy bear for his first birthday. The teddy bear was soon name Winnie, after a real-life bear that lived in London Zoo. A. A. Milne wrote a lot of poems for Christopher Robin and about him. In eleven days he wrote so many children's poems that they filled a book. It was published in 1924 under name "When We Were Very Young" and sold half a million copies.

In 1925 the Milnes bought a farm in Sussex, which they used for weekends away from London. From his old house it was a short walk over a bridge into the Ashdown Forest where Christopher Robin and his teddy, now known by the name of Winnie-the-Pooh or Pooh Bear, used to play. Each daily adventure in the Forest gave A. A. Milne more material for his now famous book Winnie-the-Pooh, published in 1926. After the book Winnie-the-Pooh A. A. Milne wrote another book of children's verses – Now We Are Six and The House at Pooh Corner.

But what happened to Winnie-the-Pooh?
Well, the bear was put into the glass case in the museum with all the other toy animals.
After Milne's death in 1956, his widow sold her rights to the Pooh characters to the Walt Disney Company, which has made many Pooh cartoon movies.

British time. Literature
Famous British Writers & Poets
Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling is one of the outstanding British writers. He was born in 1865 in the family of an Englishman in India. He got his education in England but returned to India in 1882. There he spent 6 years working in colonial English press. There he published his first literary works. In 1890 he published his first novel The Light that Failed, which brought him fame. During his life he visited South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

His novel Kim was written under the impressions of the War. In October 1902 his Just so Stories for Little Children were published. His fairy-tales from the book were rather unusual for the British literature of that period. One can find the influence of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland in Kipling's work. But this influence didn't prevent Kipling from creating absolutely new, unusual fairy-tales.

In London, Rudyard Kipling met the young publisher Wolcott Balestier who died of typhus in 1892. Soon after his death, the writer married Wolcott’s sister Caroline. When the couple enjoyed their honeymoon, the bank where Kipling’s savings were stored went bankrupt. The young people hardly found the money to get to Vermont where Carolina’s relatives lived. He had three children. Rudyard was a loving and caring father. He created his tales full of warmth for the children.

The unusual effect of his tales is reached by the rhythm and the music of words. Those who were lucky to listen to Kipling reading his fairy-tales noted that they always sounded truthful. Besides, not only children but even adults were very fond of Just so Stories. Together with The Jungle Book it still enjoys great popularity. Every year the children in "Kipling Society" write continuation to his fairy-tales. In 1907 Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize.

Rudyard kept writing, but he was getting less and less successful. From 1915, the writer suffered from gastritis. Later on, the diagnose turned out to be wrong: Kipling actually had a stomach ulcer. The writer passed away in London on January 18, 1936, less than a week after the surgery. Today, his ashes are placed in Poets' Corner (Westminster Abbey) next to Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy.

February 2. Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day on February 2 is when we ask if we are in for six more weeks of Winter. Only a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil knows for sure. Each year on Groundhog Day, people flock to Gobbler’s K**b in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to await the forecast of the local rodent celebrity.

Originating with German settlers, who came to Pennsylvania in the 1700s and brought their seasonal superstitions with them, legend has it that if Phil sees his shadow on February 2, the winter chill will continue. Oddly, if the weather is cloudy and he doesn’t see his shadow, we can expect warmer temperatures and early spring.

Groundhog Day is a tradition to be cherished. And yes, it is also a film starring Bill Murray.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

February 2. Ukulele Day

The ukulele is a four-stringed instrument that has its origins in Portugal, but was adapted by Hawaiians in the 19th Century. Its size can vary, with the larger instruments producing deeper tones.

The ukulele became particularly popular in Hawaii during the reign of King Kalākaua, who incorporated the instrument into performances at official state gatherings. It was later used in recordings by artists such as Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley.

The Ukulele Day takes place on February 2, when ukulele players from around the countries will strum their favorite tunes to celebrate.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly The Ukes perform Ennio Morricone's classic, from the DVD 'Anarchy in the Ukulele'. Another upload of exactly this clip received over 2 million views, but was...

Russian time. Events. January 29
The Day of Mobilization Against Nuclear War

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Russian time. Literature
Famous Russian Writers & Poets
A.N.Ostrovsky

Aleksander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky was born in 1823 in Moscow. The son of a government clerk, Ostrovsky attended the University of Moscow law school. From 1843 to 1848 he was employed as a clerk at the Moscow juvenile court. He wrote his first play, Scenes of Family Happiness, in 1847.

His next play, The Bankrupt, later renamed - It’s a Family Affair, We’ll Settle It Among Ourselves, - written in 1850, provoked an outcry because it exposed bogus bankruptcy cases among Moscow merchants and brought about Ostrovsky’s dismissal from the civil service.The play was banned for 13 years.

Ostrovsky wrote several historical plays in the 1860s. His main dramatic work, however, was concerned with the Russian merchant class and included two tragedies and numerous comedies, including the masterpiece Poverty Is No Disgrace, 1853. His Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden, 1873) was adapted as an opera by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov in 1880–1881.

Ostrovsky was closely associated with the Maly Theatre, Moscow’s only dramatic state theatre where all his plays were first performed under his supervision. He served as the first president of the Society of Russia Playwrights, which was founded on his initiative in 1874, and in 1885 he became an artistic director of the Moscow imperial theatres.

The author of 47 original plays, Ostrovsky almost single-handedly created a Russian national repertoire. His dramas are among the most widely read and frequently performed stage pieces in Russia and other countries.

Aleksander Ostrovsky died from a heart disease in 1886 but remains the most famous Russian dramatist who is generally considered the greatest representative of the Russian realistic period in a theatrical art.

Russian time. Literature
Famous Russian Writers & Poets
A.S.Pushkin

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was born on June 10, 1799, in Moscow. His father Sergei Lvovich Pushkin was a retired major and a hereditary nobleman. His mother Nadezhda Osipovna was a great-granddaughter of Abram Gannibal, the famous "black servant of Peter the Great." In addition to Alexander, there were two other children in the family.

His home education was excellent. His grandmother was responsible for the fact that Pushkin loved everything about Russia. Maria Alekseyevna spoke and wrote only in Russian, not French. She hired the nanny Arina Rodionovna. Thanks to her tales, stories, her melodious speech and sincere love, the little boy was accustomed to the sound of folk speech, its natural beauty, and poetry.

For the first time, twelve-year-old Pushkin came to Petersburg with his uncle in order to enter the newly opened Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. The Lyceum was under the patronage of the imperial family and was located in the building near the Catherine Palace. In the Lyceum, Pushkin quickly became friends with the other students. His classmates were Delvig, Küchelbecker, and Pushchin.
At that time the talent of the young Pushkin was highly appreciated by his friends, and soon he was noticed by such outstanding figures as Batyushkov, Zhukovsky, Derzhavin, and Karamzin.

From 1826 till 1828 Pushkin asked the emperor for permission to go abroad or to the Caucasus, but his requests remained unanswered. As a result, the poet voluntarily went on a trip, for which he received a severe reprimand upon his return. The results of the trip were such poems as The Caucasus, On the hills of Georgia... and Journey to Arzrum. At the same time, Alexander Sergeyevich met Natalia Goncharova and fell in love with her.
On September 3, 1930, Pushkin arrived in Boldino (before that he lived in St. Petersburg, then in Moscow).

Pushkin wrote a lot of wonderful poems and novels during this period. Among them were The Squire's Daughter, The Shot, The Bizzard, The Miserly Knight, A Feast in Time of Plague, The Story of the Village of Goryukhino, and other masterpieces.
The poet returned to Moscow only on December 5, and on February 18, 1831, he finally married Natalia Goncharova. When the couple wanted to exchange their rings, the ring of the poet slipped from his hand, and the candle went out.

Natalya Nikolayevna responded to her husband’s passion with calm and quiet love. She was intelligent and aristocratic. She became a housewife and brought up their children. Since 1832 till 1836 Natalia gave birth to their two daughters and two sons.

The father of such a large family had to work a lot in order to feed his wife, children, two sisters of his wife, to organize parties and to attend salons and balls. After moving to St. Petersburg, in the summer of 1831 Pushkin again joined the service. At the same time, he continued to work hard, because the publication of poems and novels also brought little money. During this period the poem Eugene Onegin was completed, Boris Godunov was written, Dubrovsky and A History of Pugachev were conceived.

1836 was unhappy for the poet. He worked hard, trying to pay his debts. In spring his mother died, and the poet was devastated. Then there were gossips associated with the name of Natalia Nikolayevna and the French Baron d'Anthes, who showed his feelings to Pushkin’s wife.

The first duel, due to the efforts of the poet's friends, did not take place. But Pushkin was ready to defend the honor of his Natalie with arms in his hands. He believed his wife.
Fateful meeting of opponents took place on January 27, 1837, at the Black River. A.S. Pushkin was wounded in a hip and the bullet penetrated into the abdomen. This was the cause of the poet's death because at that time such injury was incurable. Two days later Alexander died in terrible agony.

Russian time. Literature
Famous Russian Writers & Poets
L.N. Tolstoy

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was born on August 28, 1828 at Yasnaya Polyana, a family estate located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southwest of Tula, Russia.
He was the fourth among five children of Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy and Countess Mariya Tolstaya, both of whom died leaving their children to be raised by relatives.

Wanting to enter the faculty of Oriental languages at Kazan University, Tolstoy prepared for the entry examination by studying Arabic, Turkish, Latin, German, English, and French, also geography, history, and religion. In 1844, Tolstoy was accepted into Kazan University.

In 1862, Lev Tolstoy married Sophia Andreevna Behrs, mostly called Sonya, who was 16 years younger than him. The couple had thirteen children, of which, five died at an early age. Sonya acted as Tolstoy’s secretary, proof-reader and financial manager while he composed two of his greatest works. Their early married life was filled with contentment. However, Tolstoy’s relationship with his wife deteriorated as his beliefs became increasingly radical to the extent of disowning his inherited and earned wealth.

Tolstoy began writing his masterpiece, War and Peace in 1862. The six volumes of the work were published between 1863 and 1869. With 580 characters fetched from history and others created by Tolstoy, this great novel takes on exploring the theory of history noted figures such as Alexander and Napoleon.

Anna Karenina, Tolstoy’s next epic was started in 1873 and published completely in 1878. Among his earliest publications are autobiographical works such as Childhood, Boyhood and Youth (1852-1856). Tolstoy was a master of writing about the Russian society, evidence of which is displayed in The Cossacks (1863). His later works such as The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886) and What Is to Be Done? (1901) focus on Christian themes.

Voskreseniye, first published in 1899, was the last novel written by Lev Tolstoy. The book is the last of his major long fiction works published in his lifetime.

In his late years, Tolstoy became increasingly inclined towards ascetic morality and believed sternly in the Sermon on the Mount and non violent resistance. On November 20, 1910, Lev Tolstoy died at the age of 82 due to pneumonia.

Today Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy is one of the most famous writers in the world. In his works, he is both a philosopher and a vessel of life’s wisdom, as well as a religious thinker.

Russian time. Literature
Famous Russian Writers & Poets
F.M. Dostoevsky

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born in 1821 in Moscow. His father, Mikhail Dostoevsky, was a doctor at the Marinsky Hospital in Moscow. When Fyodor's mother died, his father, left with seven children on his hands, decided to send his oldest sons to the vocational Military Engineering Academy in St. Petersburg.

In a year in Academy of Military Engineers he left the department and devoted himself to writing. Starting in May 1837, Dostoevsky's fate was forever connected with St. Petersburg. It was the city of his young adulthood, of his birth as a writer, of dizzying successes and experiences. All in all, he lived in St. Petersburg for twenty eight years.

In 1849 Dostoevsky joined a secret political group. Only in 1859 he was allowed to return to St.Petersburg. In the next years he wrote his most impressive and famous novels: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed and The Brothers Karamazov.

Dostoevsky had a lot of financial problems. In 1860s he moved to Europe. He hired an assistant, Anna Snitkina, to help him as she knew shorthand. Six months later, he married Anna. They had four children. Anna took care of his business and worked with his publishers.

Dostoevsky died at the age of 59. Thousands of people watched his coffin pass through the streets of St.Petersburg. After his death, Anna Snitkina devoted the rest of her life to cherishing her husband's books.

Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky is considered to be one of the greatest novelists of the world.

A new exhibit of our School Museum
https://bright-school-no1.webnode.ru/products/the-story-began-from-a-white-glove/

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British time. Literature
Famous British Writers & Poets
Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The boy was often ill and during the cold winters stayed in the house. He had no brothers or sisters. Books were his only friends. Robert read and read. He read about other countries and drew maps of different places which he wanted to see. The boy wrote stories of adventures on the sea and told those stories to his parents.

In summer when Robert was not ill, he travelled with his father over Scotland. He saw storms and described them in his stories. At school he began to write stories and poems and wanted to be a writer, but his father was an engineer and wanted his son to be an engineer. He said that writing poems and stories could be only a hobby, not a profession.

Stevenson went to the Edinburgh university for some time, then he travelled in different countries and wrote his masterpieces. In 1883 Stevenson published his book Treasure Island. Readers liked the book very much. In 1886 Stevenson published his book Kidnapped. Then other books of adventures came out.

People in many countries read and still read Stevenson's stories. The hobby of a small boy became his profession. But the writer was sick and he died at the age of 44, in 1894.

British time. Literature
Famous British Writers & Poets
Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll was the pen-name of Charles L. Dodgson, the man who wrote a famous book for children "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". Charles L. Dodgson was born in England in 1832. He got his early education at a public school. Then he became a student at Oxford. Charles studied mathematics and later taught this subject in the same college.

Charles Dodgson had no family, but he loved children very much. He often visited his friend, who had a large family. There were three little girls in the family. One of them Alice, was four years old. Dodgson liked Alice and he often told her amasing stories which he made up himself. Charles told Alice Liddell about the adventure of a little girl, and she loved the stories.

When Alice Liddell was about ten years old, she asked Charles to write down the stories for her, and he did so. He called the heroine of his book also Alice. This hand-written book had many pictures made by Charles himself. They were not very talented but the children liked them.

One day a friend of the Liddells, a writer, came to see the family. He saw the hand-written book made by Charles Dodgson and began to read it with a great interest. He read the book to the end and said that it was great and that all the children in England must read it.

Charles decided to publish the book but he did not want to do it under his own name. So he took the pen-name of Lewis Carroll. The book came out in 1865 and all the people who read it liked it a lot.
Later the book was published in the United States, in France and in Germany. The first Russian translation of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" came out in 1923.

British time. Literature
Famous British Writers & Poets
William Shakespeare

"To be, or not to be, that is the question"
from Hamlet, spoken by Hamlet

William Shakespeare was one of the greatest and famous writers in human history. He was born in Stratford-on-Avon, a small town in the middle of England, in 1564. His father wanted his son to be a well-educated person and William was sent to the local grammar school.

Studying at school the boy actually did not have any free time. But he spent his rare spare hours walking in the forest or watching the river Avon.
Those days there were not a lot of theatres in towns and actors and actresses had to travel moving from one place to another with their shows. Sometimes they visited Stratford-on-Avon. William liked to watch them playing. He got fond of their profession and he decided to become an actor.

He went to London and there he became an actor. At that time he began to write plays too. Shakespeare was at the same time an actor and a playwright. In his works he reflected events of his contemporaries' life. His plays were staged in many theatres, translated into many foreign languages. That made Shakespeare a very popular man.

Most famous of his plays are Othello, King Lear, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet. They are still popular and you can watch them in almost any country of the world. He produced thirty seven plays at all. He had connections with the best English theatres for about 25 years.

William Shakespeare wrote also a lot of poetry including his unbeaten sonnets. There are numerous songs written with his poems. He is still most often published author of the world. We do not know much about his life. We can only guess what kind of man he was analyzing the legends and a few documents of the time.

Shakespeare died in 1616, but millions people today still admire his plays.