Shakespeare lived in Stratford-upon-Avon and is sometimes called "the bard of Avon." Because of sharing the name "Stratford," the towns of Stratford, Ontario, in Canada and Stratford, Connecticut, have become the homes of Shakespeare festivals where his plays are performed on a regular basis.
Because Shakespeare was not a member of the upper class and did not become famous until late in his life, historians and biographers don't know very much about his life. There are only a few pictures of him, and nobody is sure how accurate they are. Frequently, literary critics have questioned the authorship of many of the plays attributed to him, and there are even some scholars who have believed that he never existed at all{{fact}}, but was instead the pen-name of Francis Bacon or Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. This is the minority view, but there is widespread agreement that at least some of the plays popularly ascribed to Shakespeare were actually largely written by other playwrights. These plays include ''Pericles'', ''The Two Noble Kinsman'', and ''Timon of Athens'', among others.
The idea of an ill-educated (to his contemporaries) person coming among them and making a success was upsetting to the University-educated playwrights of the time. It is believed that the poet, Philip Green, was referring to Shakespeare when he wrote