Christopher Marlowe

I am Christophero Sly; call not me 'honour' nor 'lordship.'
Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew

·Author of numerous plays and poems. Shakespeare's immediate forerunner as darling of the London stage.

· A spy for Queen Elizabeth's government, probably against the Catholics - or, by some accounts, a double agent.

· According to Marlovians (those who believe Marlowe wrote Shakespeare's works), the killing in Deptford was staged. The playwright was then spirited off to Spain or Italy, where he continued to work as a spy and pen plays, which he sent home under another name.