There is an ongoing battle which has a question of national pride and reputation at stake. The infamy of the plays, poems and sonnets of William Shakespeare means that questions exist as to whether the Bard was really the well-known poet from Stratford at all.

These conspiracy theories centre on the belief that one man, especially a non-aristocrat, could not have produced such volume of exceptional work. In all, 77 people have been suggested as the 'real' Bard. These theories stem from the late 1800s, a time when the gothic novel and detective fiction were on the rise.

The latest discussions about the Shakespeare authorship conspiracy arise from a new film, Anonymous, which suggests that the Earl of Oxford wrote the plays of Shakespeare, and William Shakespeare himself was an unintelligent farmer who simply took all of the credit, allowing the Earl to contribute to the theatre without tarnishing his reputation.

While conspiracy theories certainly make interesting plots for films, and books with scores of intrigue, deception and signs hidden in plain sight (see any of the Dan Brown novels), they can also be damaging. The suggestion that only an aristocrat could write plays with such wonderful language is elitist and incorrect. We know that Shakespeare went to his local school and was literate, and there is no reason to suppose that a middle-class man from Stratford could not have the talent to produce such mastery.

has compiled 60 questions about the authorship conspiracy, which have been answered in 60 seconds each by 60 different people. These include responses from Simon Callow, Dan Snow and Stephen Fry, the latter of whom seems to be thoroughly put-out by the entire matter, going on a four minute rant about the whole situation and the “silly, just silly” theories. You can find all of this at http://60-minutes.bloggingshakespeare.com – so if ever you find yourself in a situation where some idiot is suggesting that Shakespeare did not write Macbeth, you’ll have an army of proofs and responses to conclusively prove them wrong.