Anonymous is out in cinemas this week, revealing the truth about William Shakespeare’s identity. If by truth you mean “silly rumours that have no basis in reality unless you spend all day blowing things up in Photoshop".

But while its theories are so ridiculous that no-one could ever take its conspiracies seriously, some people are. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, bless them, are so riled by Roland Emmerich’s bit of nonsense that they’ve started a campaign to remove Shakespeare from all road signs in Warwick. And they all seemed like such rational people when I was studying English in Birmingham.

"This film flies in the face of a mass of historical fact, but there is a risk that people who have never questioned the authorship of Shakespeare's works could be hoodwinked," the Trust's head of research, Paul Edmondson, told the Guardian.

As a Shakespeare nut, I'm just pleased to see any film (no matter how daft) getting people talking about old Bill. But just for those who have never questioned the authorship of Shakespeare and will supposedly believe any old guff, allow us to lay some true historical non-facts on your face.  

Here are five people who could have been Shakespeare:

Anonymous: a film is so ridiculous that it would be hard to take anything around it seriously.

Despite this, the Stratford crowd have gone crazy in advance of Roland Emmerich's Shakespeare-couldn't-actually-write drama, covering up the statue of old Bill and crossing out the Bard's name on pubs.

But unbeknownst to them, at the 55th BFI London Film Festival, there were far more shocking secrets being unearthed in screen 8 of the Vue West End.

Here are six scandalous rumours revealed at the Anonymous press conference:

With Super 8 on the way and blockbuster season in the air, I found myself drifting towards that monstrous summer movie of 1998, Godzilla.

When I first saw this as a teenager, I loved it. It was loud, stupid and - factoid alert - the first time I came across the term CGI (probably in an issue of SFX magazine). Looking back now, it's still loud, and it's still stupid. And I still know 90% of the dialogue off by heart. Yes, it's fair to say that I still have a massive spot soft for Roland Emmerich's bastardisation of Ishirō Honda's classic monster.

Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: John Cusack, Danny Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton
Certificate: 12A
Trailer/Clips

The Mayans saw it coming - the most preposterous piece of exposition ever. It works for anything. The credit crunch? The Mayans saw it coming. The X Factor? The Mayans saw that coming. Matt Smith as Dr Who? Richard & Judy? The Mayans saw them coming too. So who can blame Roland Emmerich for using that flimsy line to justify his latest piece of destructo-porn? It’s 2012. Screw the Olympics. There’s a new show in town. It’s the end of the world.

And you thought it was all about the Olympics... No, 2012 spells nothing less than the end of the world. From Roland Emmerich, director of Independence Day and The Day after Tomorrow, this is the king of disaster doing what he does best. A cataclysmic apocalypse, tearing the globe in two, 2012 sees John Cusack struggling to survive the horrific event. And what better way to watch his survival than in the comfort of your own un-destroyed home?

It's not out until Friday 13th November, but here are two new clips for Roland Emmerich's destruction fest. One shows Woody Harrelson predicting the doom of humanity. The other? Well, as you'd expect from such an epic movie, there are bound to be a few hairy moments. And so, naturally, it makes sense that 2012 features possibly The Craziest Car Chase of All Time. Watch it: it's incredibly daft and insanely spectacular. The full trailer's over in our videos section, or read on for the clips...

Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, Woody Harrelson
Certificate: TBC
Release Date: Friday 13th November

Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists, and governments. From the director of Independence Day and The Day after Tomorrow, 2012 is an epic adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.