The Shakespeare authorship question is the argument about whether someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works attributed to him. Anti-Stratfordians—a collective term for adherents of the various alternative-authorship theories—say that Shakespeare of Stratford 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.

Shakespeare's authorship was first questioned in the middle of the 19th century, when adulation of Shakespeare as the greatest writer of all time had become widespread. Shakespeare's biography, particularly his humble origins and obscure life, seemed incompatible with his poetic eminence and his reputation for genius, arousing suspicion that Shakespeare might not have written the works attributed to him. The controversy has since 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.

Stanley William Wells, CBE, (born 21 May 1930) is a Shakespeare scholar and Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Wells took his first degree at University College, London, and was awarded an honorary DLitt by the University of Warwick in 2008. He was Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director of the Shakespeare Institute (University of Birmingham) from 1988–1997, and is now Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies.

Wells is co-editor (with Gary Taylor, John Jowett and William Montgomery) of the Oxford Complete Works and (with Michael Dobson) the Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, and has been general editor of the Oxford Shakespeare series since 1978. He is married to the writer Susan Hill.

In 2009, Wells revealed the existence of the Cobbe portrait. He stated his belief, based on three years of research, that the portrait is a true portrait of Shakespeare, painted from life.

On Tuesday 20 October 2009, he appeared on BBC 4's comedy panel show 'It's Only a Theory' - defending the prevailing opinion within contemporary Shakespeare Studies that 'The plays of William Shakespeare were written by William Shakespeare of Stratford-Upon-Avon' debunking the theory that Shakespeare's plays were written by some of his contemporaries.

Mark Rylance (born 18 January 1960) is an English actor, theatre director and playwright.

As an actor, Rylance found success on stage and screen. For his work in theatre he has won Olivier and Tony Awards among others, and a BAFTA TV Award. His film roles include Ferdinand in Prospero's Books (based on Shakespeare's The Tempest), Jay in Intimacy (after a novel by Hanif Kureishi) and Jakob von Gunten in Institute Benjamenta (after a novel by Robert Walser).

He was the first Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe in London, from 1995 to 2005.

Rylance was born David Mark Rylance Waters in Ashford, Kent, the son of David and Anne (née Skinner) Waters, both English teachers (as an adult, he took the stage name of Mark Rylance because the name Mark Waters was already taken by someone else registered with Equity). In 1962, when he was two, his parents moved to Connecticut in the United States and in 1969, to Wisconsin, where his father taught English at a prestigious preparatory school, the University School of Milwaukee. Rylance later attended the school, where he began acting. His first notable role was Hamlet in a 1976 production (with his own father as the First Gravedigger), and the next year he played Romeo in the school's production of Romeo and Juliet. In addition to acting, Rylance designed lighting and helped compose music for the school's productions. He often soloed in the school choir.

Joel Clark Davis (born January 30, 1965 in Jacksonville, Florida) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Chicago White Sox from 1985-1988. He is a left-handed batter and is a right-handed thrower. He was drafted in 1983 in the first round and was picked number 13th.

After a major surgery on his right shoulder, Joel had to quit baseball. He entered college and started teaching in 1996, after five years he joined the faculty of Stanton College Preparatory School in Jacksonville, Florida as a HOPE teacher. He also coaches the successful baseball team at Stanton. He now is the baseball coach at Atlantic Coast High School. Joel has four children; a son "Christopher" born 1984, a daughter "Amanda" born 1985, a daughter, 12 and a son, 8.

Sir Thomas North (1535 - 1604) was an English translator of Plutarch, second son of the 1st Baron North.

He is supposed to have been a student of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and was entered at Lincoln's Inn in 1557. In 1574 he accompanied his brother, Lord North, on a visit to the French court. He served as captain in the year of the Armada, and was knighted about three years later. His name is on the roll of justices of the peace for Cambridge in 1592 and again in 1597, and he received a small pension (£40 a year) from the queen in 1601.

He translated, in 1557, Guevara's Reloj de Principes (commonly known as Libro áureo), a compendium of moral counsels chiefly compiled from the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, under the title of Diall of Princes. The English of this work is one of the earliest specimens of the ornate, copious and pointed style for which educated young Englishmen had acquired a taste in their Continental travels and studies.

North translated from a French copy of Guevara, but seems to have been well acquainted with the Spanish version. The book had already been translated by Lord Berners, but without reproducing the rhetorical artifices of the original. North's version, with its mannerisms and its constant use of antithesis, set the fashion which was to culminate in John Lyly's Euphues.