May 19 2015
Botanist and historian Mark Griffiths believes he has cracked an "ingenious cipher" to identify Shakespeare in an engraving in a 16th-Century botany book. Griffiths made his discovery when he was researching the biography of pioneering botanist John Gerard (1545-1612), author of The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. Griffiths decoded decorative devices around the figures - such as heraldic motifs and emblematic flowers - to reveal their "true identities". In addition, below the picture that he believes to be Shakespeare, is "an ingenious cipher of the kind loved by the Elizabethan aristocracy" which, when decoded, confirmed his identity as "William Shakespeare".
Edward Wilson, emeritus fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, explained that he and Griffiths had spent five years consulting Latin and Shakespeare scholars before going public.
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