In 1864, Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, in England. People consider him to be one of the greatest writers in the English language, as he is famous for writing poems and plays as well as acting. Some of his most famous plays are Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Tempest, Othello and Hamlet - which our guided reading groups are named after! Shakespeare invented over 1700 words in the English language, including the words bump, gloomy, lonely and apostrophe!