Smokey - saw an intriguing TV documentary about that theory - entertainment it was, like the movie 'Shakespeare in Love' , but as to 'truth' ...

Many do not know that Shakespeare changed his real name (thus the difficulty in trainge him in his early days!) to his popularised theatre stage name which comes from the days when his acting career was still in the 'walk on unpaid extra' category - and he would often be a nervous spear carrier, the one who died in the onstage battles.

Thus his coat of arms reveals a shaky spear - a heraldic pun.