William Shakespeare (be) _______________ probably the most famous writer in the world.

He (be)
_______________ born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. When he (be) _______________ only eighteen
years old, he (marry) _______________ Anne Hathaway and they (have) _______________ three children
We (not know) _______________ much about Shakespeare's early life, but by 1592 he (work)
_______________ in London as an actor.
Shakespeare (write) _______________ 37 plays, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream
and Henry V. He (make) _______________ a lot of money and in 1597 he (buy) _______________ one of the
best houses in Stratford. He (die) _______________ there in 1616.
People (translate) _______________ Shakespeare's plays into many languages, and there (be)
_______________ several films of his plays. There(be) _______________ also a film about Shakespeare's
life, called Shakespeare in Love.

Florence Nightingale (be) _______________ born in 1820. She always (want) _______________ to be a nurse
Her parents (not like) _______________ the idea at all, because in those days it (not be) _______________ a
job for a respectable woman. But Florence (become) _______________ a nurse and she (go)
_______________ to work in a small hospital in London. In 1851, the Crimean War (start) _______________.
Newspaper reporters (write) _______________ about the terrible hospitals for the soldiers They (be)
_______________ very dirty and many more people (die) _______________ from disease than from war
wounds The government (send) _______________ Florence and a group of nurses to help They (clean)
_______________ the hospitals and (look) _______________ after the soldiers Every night Florence (visit)
_______________ all the soldiers They (call) _______________ her 'the lady with the lamp'
When she (return) _______________ to Britain, she (start) _______________ a school for nurses at St
Thomas's Hospital in London. Florence never (marry) _______________ and she (die) _______________ in
1910.

Ellen MacArthur (be) _______________ born in 1976 She always (want) _______________ to be a sailor
and she (save) _______________ all her pocket money to (buy) _______________ a small boat. Her first
solo voyage (be) _______________ round the UK Then in 2000, she (become) _______________ the
fastest woman to cross the Atlantic solo She first (become) _______________ famous when she (take)
_______________ part in the Vendee Globe round the world race. She (not win) _______________ the
race. She (come) _______________ second, but she (break) _______________ the record for the fastest
non-stop voyage round the world by a woman. Since then she(be) _______________ BBC Sports
Personality of the Year; she(win) _______________ several races and she(set) _______________
several new records Her greatest achievement (be) _______________ in 2005 when she (become)
_______________ the fastest person (man or woman) to (sail) _______________ solo around the world
non-stop It (take) _______________ nearly 72 days, and she (sail) _______________ over 27,354
nautical miles

Bob Geldof (not be) _______________ actually British, but Irish. He (be) _______________ born near
Dublin in 1954. However, he (live) _______________ in London and (be) _______________
'knighted'by the Queen In 1977, he (start) _______________ a band called The Boomtown Rats Their
biggest hit (be) _______________ I Don't Like Mondays. In 1984, Bob (see) _______________ a news
programme on the TV about the terrible famine in Ethiopia. He (decide) _______________ to do
something. He (get) _______________ a lot of his friends from the music world together and they
(make) _______________ a record called Do They Know It's Christmas? It (sell) _______________ over
3 million copies and most of the money (go) _______________ to Ethiopia. In 1985, he (organize)
_______________ the Live Aid concerts in Britain and the USA and twenty years later he (organize)
_______________ the Live 8 concerts in countries around the world. Bob Geidof s work (raise)
_______________ millions of dollars to help poor people in Africa. He's (visit) _______________
Africa several times and (write /also) _______________ two books - Geidof in Africa and his own life
story, Is that It?