THE BARD lived in Blackburn! It may seem unlikely, but it's true, according to new evidence revealed by Lancaster University.

Professor RIchard Wilson, an English lecturer at the university, believes new evidence proves William Shakespeare spent some of his life living at Hoghton Tower, on the outskirts of Blackburn.

To avoid the public's attention, Shakespeare, who's association with Stratford Upon Avon has made the town Warwickshire's most visited tourist attraction, went under the name of Shakeshafte.

Professor Wilson, director of Lancaster University's Shakespeare programme, says he has found proof to suggest the literary master travelled up to Hoghton with a jesuit priest, Edward Campion, who travelled from Rome to Hoghton to train as a priest.

Five successive tutors at Stratford Grammar School were from Hoghton and were funded by the Hoghton family - one of Lancashire's wealthiest - at the time the Bard was at school.

Documents at the Tower show a William Shakeshafte, the same age as Shakespeare, stayed at the historic house between October 1580 and July 1581 as a tutor and "player."

The Hoghton family papers also show Shakeshafte joined the same theatre company as the playwright.

Professor Wilson said: "This is the academic equivalent of striking oil."

He now hopes to develop a Shakespeare centre at Hoghton, similar to the one in Stratford, which attracts tourists from across the world.

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