Peter Zenner wrote:

> The knight who loved
> them both was the Dark Lady's husband, Edward Stanley.

Well, I was going along with you on the Marlowe theory until now.  Edward
Stanley, you see, is far too boring.  Ferdinando, I might have let pass, but
not Edward.

The truth must be told.  And I'm talking about the cult of the Marlowe
impersonators.  Even Sir Philip Sidney, having faked his own death, had
joined their ranks.  But they were only, what I would have to call
"pseudo-marlowe-impersonators".  For, in reality, there was only one.
Hitherto little known, except to myself.

I speak, of course, of Giuseppe Sapo - born in the small Scottish town of
Gourock (well, in those days it was a single wooden shack), author of the
entire canon of English literature, bicyclist extraordinaire, and inventor
(together with Ralegh) of the potato chip.

[Perhaps I may be permitted, as a resident of Gourock, to add that Gourock's
main claim to fame, these days, is the claimed invention of the "kipper" -
that is, the "red-herring", also known locally as the "Glasgow Magistrate",
and the "Silver Darling".]

The Sapo family, hailing originally from Milan, were in the service of King
James IV.  How they came to be in possession of a copy of a Leonardo sketch
of what is now known as a "bicycle" I do not know, but that they were the
realizers of the concept is beyond doubt.

Why King James IV should ever have set sail from Gourock is a mystery, but
history records that he did.  Why the Sapo family should have been left
waving from the shore is a greater mystery.

We shall never know whether, years later, young Giuseppe was heading North
or South on his ur-bicycle.  Suffice it to say that he arrived, eventually,
in a small village (now known to us as Glasgow) at high speed and without
the benefit of a brake - for which neither Leonardo, nor the Sapo family,
had forseen a need.

What we can say for sure is that, on this occasion (remembered to this day
in the Glaswegian retort "D'ye think I came up the Clyde on a bike?")
occured the first fatality of the mechanized age.  The recipent of that
honour was none other than a certain Christopher Marlowe - who was visiting
relatives in Glasgow while on his way to a well-deserved place as an
undergraduate at Cambridge University.

Well, the rest is clear.  By the time the Glaswegian fisherfolk had dragged
from the Clyde one living person, one dead body, and a bicycle, the young
Giuseppe Sapo (for it was he) had already taken the papers of introduction
from the pockets of the now dead Marlowe!

The rest, as they say, is history.

I won't bore you with young Giuseppe's ride to Gretna - for it is nothing
but boring, even with the local smithy rebuilding his now rusty bicycle.
And of his ride to Cambridge - details were filched and revised by Will
Kemp, and may be found therein.

But the proof is still with us....

Anyone who dines at Corpus Christi may look into the eyes of the portrait of
Giuseppe Sapo - known to us now as Marlowe - and we can see he is Italian.
And, yes, we will be offered chipped potatoes with our meal!

But, we only have to leave that hallowed hall, walk though the old court,
and there for all to see is the continued, silent, and respectful homage to
Giuseppe Sapo.  For all students, and many of the Dons - even though they
may not know why - feel a need to lay a bicycle as a tribute.

Andy




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