Was Shakespeare happily married? Did he buy himself the right to be a 'gentleman'? Was he gay? Does any of this matter? Katherine Duncan-Jones' biography of Shakespeare caused a stir by presenting Shakespeare as less 'worthy' a man than many earlier biographers had allowed him to be. In this article she explains how she interpreted the facts 'scenes from his life' differ from the previous versions, she suggests that biographies are often the product of their age.