[lfod1776]

No one knows for certain who wrote the Shake-Speare plays, so celebrating the "author"'s birthday is unusually silly. I, like many, think the most likely bard was Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, but it's very improbable that we'll ever know for sure. William Shagsper of Stratford on Avon, a man whose daughter was illiterate, and whose last will and testament makes no mention of any manuscripts or other literary property, is in my opinion unlikely to have been the author.

[nickcarraway]

It's impossible that Edward de Vere wrote Shakespeare's plays. Unfortunately, the Earl left many samples of writing that were actually his. There is no way the person who wrote those ordinary verses etc. is the writer of Hamlet and King Lear. Writing style is almost as unique as DNA. In some plays we can identify verse to verse, which were written by Shakespeare, and which weren't. You would could never mistake something by Marlowe as Shakespeare, or vice versa. It's also clear to see Shakespeare's writing develop over time. If another person were to have written Shakespeare's work, it would be quite evident in that person's writing.

[nickcarraway]

whose last will and testament makes no mention of any manuscripts or other literary property

You mean that he didn't leave the movie rights to his heirs? In our day, it seems odd that he may not have put that in his estate, but in 1616, it would have been unusual.

[nopardons]

Oh good greif...not this ^$#$^&*((&^%%$$ again. :-P