The Shakespeare authorship question is the argument that someone other
than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works
traditionally attributed to him. Proponents (called
"anti-Stratfordians") say that Shakespeare was a front to shield the
identity of the real author or authors, who for some reason did not
want or could not accept public credit. Although the idea has attracted
much public interest, all but a few Shakespeare scholars and literary
historians consider it a fringe belief, and for the most part disregard
it except to rebut or disparage the claims. Despite the scholarly
consensus, the controversy has spawned a vast body of literature, and
more than 70 authorship candidates have been proposed, including
Francis Bacon, the 6th Earl of Derby, Christopher Marlowe, and the 17th
Earl of Oxford. In 2010 James S. Shapiro surveyed the topic in
Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?, in which he criticised academia
for ignoring the issue and effectively surrendering the field to
anti-Stratfordians, marking the first time a recognised Shakespeare
scholar has devoted a book to the topic. Filmmaker Roland Emmerich's
next movie, Anonymous, starring Rhys Ifans and Vanessa Redgrave,
portrays Oxford as the real author.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_authorship_question>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1348:
The first-ever appointments of the Order of the Garter, an order of
chivalry, founded by King Edward III of England, that is presently
bestowed on recipients in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth
realms, were announced.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Garter>
1661:
Charles II was crowned King of England, Ireland, and Scotland at
Westminster Abbey.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England>
1942:
World War II: In retaliation for the Royal Air Force bombing of Lübeck
several weeks prior, the Luftwaffe began a series of bombing raids in
England, starting with Exeter.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baedeker_Blitz>
1961:
In the midst of the Algerian War, President Charles de Gaulle delivered
a televised speech calling on the military personnel and civilians of
France to oppose the Algiers putsch, a coup d'état attempt against him.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers_putsch_of_1961>
2010:
Governor of Arizona Jan Brewer signed the controversial anti-illegal
immigration bill SB 1070 into law.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_SB_1070>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
fuliginous (adj):
Pertaining to soot; sooty
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fuliginous>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and
making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually
die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
--Max Planck
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Planck>
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