London Burning

On this day in 1613, William Shakespeare suffered a huge professional setback when London’s Globe Theatre, which produced his plays, burned to the ground.

The fire broke out during a June 29 performance of Shakespeare’s All Is True, which was eventually renamed Henry VIII. Apparently, a cannon being used as a prop misfired during the show. Although few documented accounts of the incident have survived, one assumes that London lawmakers have since outlawed the use of real cannons in theaters made out of timber.

The Globe was built in 1599 by Lord Chamberlain’s Men, the theatrical troupe for whom Shakespeare wrote during most of his career. Less than a year after the blaze, a new theater, the Globe Two, was built on the site. That venue was eventually shuttered by the Puritans in the 1640s. Yep—leave it to the Puritans to ruin everyone’s fun.

Read more about the Globe Theatre here.