William Shakespeare, the first man in the world to have an approved Covid jab, has died in hospital aged 81 after a long battle with an unrelated illness.
Bill, as he was known, made global headlines on December 8 when he received the Pfizer/BioNTech jab at the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire.
The former Rolls Royce employee and parish councillor passed away after a period of illness on Thursday at the same hospital where he famously received his vaccine.
At the time, much was played on the fact that he was called William Shakespeare and was from Warwickshire, but the pensioner was a fiercely proud Coventrian according to his friends.
When he received the Pfizer jab last year he had been an in-patient at the hospital’s frailty ward. His picture appeared on front pages across the world – much to both his and his family’s delight.
He said after getting the historic drug that it was ‘wonderful’.