Wells was born in Hull, the son of Stanley Cecil Wells MBE and Doris Wells. His father was a bus companytraffic manager. Wells was educated at the Kingston High Schoolgrammar school in Hull. Wells took a degree in English at University College, London. He was invalided out of national service for the RAF in 1951. He became a Hampshireschool teacher before moving to Stratford to complete his PhD. He was awarded his PhD in English by Birmingham University in 1961. He was Professor of Shakespeare Studies and director of the Shakespeare Institute 1988–1997, and is now emeritus professor of Shakespeare Studies. Wells is co-editor of the Oxford Complete Works and the Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, and has been general editor of the Oxford Shakespeare series since 1978. He edited several volumes for the New Penguin Shakespeare series. In 2009, Wells revealed the existence of the Cobbe portrait. He stated his belief, based on three years of research, that the portrait is a true portrait of Shakespeare, painted from life. On 20 October 2009 he appeared on BBC 4's comedy panel showIt's Only a Theory – defending the prevailing opinion within contemporary Shakespeare studies that 'The plays of William Shakespeare were written by William Shakespeare of Stratford-Upon-Avon' and debunking the theory that Shakespeare's plays were written by some of his contemporaries. In June 2010, he was awarded the Sam Wanamaker Award by Shakespeare's Globe, an award given annually in the name of the Globe's founder Sam Wanamaker to celebrate work which has increased the understanding and enjoyment of Shakespeare. In 2013, together with Rev. Dr. Paul Edmondson, he called upon the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey to remove the question mark which appears in place of a date of death in the memorial window to Christopher Marlowe in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.
Personal life
Wells is married to novelist Susan Hill, and the couple was once considered part of the “Gloucestershire mafia” set of well-connected writers and socialites. The couple separated around 2011 after nearly 40 years of marriage when Hill moved in with scriptwriter Barbara Machin, who at the time was adapting Hill's crime fiction for television. He is the father of author Jessica Ruston and of Clemency Wells. Imogen, Hill and Wells' second-born child, died in infancy.
