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or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at into History.com. It's May 30th, 1593, in a lodging house in London England.

29 year old playwright Christopher Marlow picks up a brimming tankard avail and lifts it unsteadily above his head

before emptying it in a few gulping mouthfuls.

His companions cheer and pound their fists on the table.

Christopher has spent all day drinking with Ingram Frieser and two other friends,

and the men are now all very, very drunk.

At first glance, the four seem unlikely drinking buddies.

Christopher is a playwright but the others aren't from the world of theater at all.

Word on the street is they work for Queen Elizabeth the first's chief spycatcher Sir Francis Walsingham.

Today though it's not drama or espionage that concerns them it's merely drinking and

the more ale the four friends consume the louder and more obnoxious they become.

The lodging house's landlady leans across the table to clear their empty drinks, and Ingram

orders another round.

But Christopher can't resist the opportunity to slap the woman across and Christopher gets up as if to follow, but his head is spinning and he doesn't get very far before he

lirches toward a nearby couch for support.

A moment later, the landlady returns, demanding that the four men pay what they owe before she brings another round.

Ingram points angrily at Christopher, blaming his behavior for the landlady's ultimatum.

But Christopher has been drinking all day and he's quick to anger.

After exchanging heated words with Ingram,

...