In 1612 Shakespeare gave evidence at the Court of Requests in Westminster - it is the only occasion his spoken words are recorded. The case seems routine - a dispute over an unpaid marriage-dowry - but it opens up an unexpected window into the dramatists famously obscure life-story. Charles Nicholl applies a powerful biographical magnifying glass to this fascinating episode in Shakespeares life. Marshalling evidence from a wide variety of sources including previously unknown documentary material on the Mountjoys he conjures up a detailed and compelling description of the circumstances in which Shakespeare lived and worked and in which he wrote such plays as Othello Measure for Measure and King Lear.