Shakespeare's birthday was celebrated throughout the world with functions from play performances to sonnet readings and even free books and other mementoes. Chicago Mayor, Richard Daley, organised his own special event to commemorate what would have been Shakespeare's 446th birthday.

The Mayor offers a few tips on his website to help those who want to join in sound like Shakespeare. Say 'thou', he says, instead of 'you' and start all your opinions with 'methinks'. There are lots more examples if anyone really wants to do the job right.

He declared Friday 23rd April to be 'Talk Like Shakespeare Day'. However, Chicago is not exactly known for its "Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo" or "What's in a name? That which we call a rose", type English. I certainly wish him good luck with his efforts to celebrate William Shakespeare's Birthday by getting Chicago to comply. The only accent I every heard from there was the Da Bears, da Chicago Bulls, and da birthday of Shakespeare.