Only 1 in 5 Brits knows Shakespeare wrote Hamlet

London: Only one out of five Britons knows that William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet and the majority also struggles to name Charles Dickens as the author of Great Expectations’, a new survey has found. The study also found that one in nine Britons has not read a book in the past year. [caption id=“attachment_1133235” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Getty Images[/caption]When they do pick up a book, one in ten men and one out of 30 women read while in the loo. Nearly half of them read just before they go to sleep, ‘metro.co.uk’ reported. The reasons people skip reading classic literature beyond the school include lack of time and preferring to watch film versions of books. “Unfortunately, for many people, reading is now a luxury and something they cannot commit a great deal of time to,” said James Endersby, managing director of Opinium Research, which conducted the poll. “What would be great is if everyone decided to pick one classic book to read during the winter months,” he said. PTI