HE IS our greatest playwright but did you know William Shakespeare was also dogged in chasing down those who owed him cash?

Did you know William Shakespeare gave his daughter away in marriage with her first child born eight months later.

And did you know he left his second best bed to his widow.

These nuggets of information and all sorts of other trivia linked to the bard is available in a new book published on Thursday to mark the anniversary since his death.

The most renowned dramatist of all time died 400 years ago today, which historians also believe was his birthday.

Actor and voice-over artist Bruce Montague has compiled The Book of Shakespearian Useless Information to give fresh insight into the quirky life of the playwright.

The 77-year-old, who lives in Hove with his wife the actress and novelist Barbara Latham, found that despite the fame of Shakespeare's works and their various adaptations, relatively little is known of the author, and the few facts that have emerged are largely speculative.

The stage actor, who has also portrayed a number of Shakespeare characters himself including Hamlet, chose to combine a comedy narrative loosely based around the idea of lost journals of the playwright never wrote and facts he discovered during his research. Some of the information is laugh-out-loud ridiculous and all of it is completely useless but totally factual.

Mr Montague, who is best known on television for his role as Leonard Dunn in the television sitcom Butterflies, said: “This was originally conceived as a spoof but during my research I discovered so many facts about his life that were more interesting than the proposed idea.

“I have probably read around 100 books in my research for this work.

"It hasn’t changed my perception towards Shakespeare. I think he was a lucky fellow who put together these plays.

"During that period not only one person was responsible for creating a play – there were what were called plotters and two or three writers which may write different parts of the script. It also wasn’t paid very well.

"It was when he became a shareholder in the theatres that were performing the plays that he started to make his money.

"Friends realised the contribution he made to the theatre and his name has lived on.”

10 OF BRUCE’S USELESS FACTS ABOUT THE BARD

1 William was baptised on April 26, 1564, but his actual date of birth is unknown. The 23rd is arbitrarily accepted because it conveniently coincides with St George’s Day. Supposing William Shakespeare did have a party to celebrate his 52nd birthday after which he became mortally ill, would he have perished on the same day? By April 25 he had been buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford.

2 The Shakespeares were Catholics and when William came to man’s estate (meaning when he reached manhood) he married into a Catholic family. Whether he ever embraced the new religion is a moot point. He avoided making an issue of it. For the first four decades of his life, he lived as a loyal subject of the Tudors.

3 It is believed Shakespeare may have spent time as a clerk in a lawyer’s office as his knowledge of legal terminology was so extensive.

4 Shakespeare used the name of a bear kept in the Tower of London called Sackerson and used it for a bear mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

5 Shakespeare gave away his eldest daughter, Susannah, 24, to John Hall, who was eight years older and they had a child eight months later, suggesting it was a shotgun wedding.

6 When Shakespeare’s pursuit of the merchant John Addenbrooke for the return of a £6 loan stretched to 10 months Addenbrooke had already been arrested and imprisoned but was released and escaped after taphouse owner Thomas Hornby provided a surety. Shakespeare took Hornby to court and enforced him to pay the playwright the outstanding cash, plus 24 shillings for damages.

7 By the time he was 49, Shakespeare was barely writing and spent much of his time in the garden. The mulberries he tended to became an attraction in themselves after his death until the tree was chopped down and sold after being made into a casket.

8 As a schoolboy, Shakespeare rose at dawn. Prayers were said before breakfast. Nuncheon (a light mid-morning snack) was taken at noon, followed by an hour’s siesta. Work finished at 7pm. Nuncheon typically consisted of bread, cheese and beer. (The word derived from noon and shench, meaning cupful.)

9 It is believed Shakespeare dedicated sonnet 145 to his wife Anne Hathaway.

10 Shakespeare lived in the second-largest house in Stratford with his wife and children.

  • The Book of Shakespearian Useless Information by Bruce Montague is on sale now from Metro Books and John Blake Publishing in hardback, and priced at £10.99.