There are those, like PG Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster, who use their inherited wealth to bibble inconsequentially about in a happy haze of tea rooms and dance halls.
And then there are the Bruce Waynes of this world.
Bruce Wayne – or Batman to the likes of you and me – has no superpowers: just crates and crates of cash.
Which allows him to invest in a very large Batcave beneath his mansion and a plethora of boy’s toys, the like of which Gotham City’s naughtiest have never before beheld.
The playboy lifestyle is forgiven him by millions because he’s a haunted soul with a batty side. And ever-faithful, ever beside him, is Alfred Pennyworth: the butler, Wayne’s ‘Q’.
Now there is one secretly very useful member of society; with his secret lab and his secret butler.
And here’s another. Although eventually, he came out.
This one is Italian. He was drawn, like a moth to a flame , to the work of Heinrich Hertz.
Hertz had just, in 1888, begun to to show that with the right conditions you could produce electromagnetic radiation: to you and I, radio waves.
Look: no wires. What if – just conceivably – one could send messages through the air ? If one could telegraph someone using nothing more substantial than invisible waves?
Our hero – let us call him Guglielmo – was a lucky young man. His father was an Italian landowner of substance, and his mother the Irish granddaughter of the founders of a notable Ireland whisky distillers. And just down the road from his parents’ Italian palatial mansion was another such palatial mansion, and in this lived one of the foremost proponents of Hertz’s work: Augusto Righi .
Guglielmo pulled a few strings, and found himself studying Hertz’s ideas under Righi at the University of Bologna. The moment he had a grasp of the physics, he came home and set up a secret laboratory to test his ideas.
Sound familiar?
It will ring even more so when you hear that his only helper in those upper rooms of the Villa Griffone in Pontecchio, Italy, was his faithful butler, Mignani.
Not even his parents knew what was going on up there at the top of their own house.
This was not new technology. Others had discovered it all before our hero, but he could see with x-ray eyes into the future, how lucrative messages could be, sent undetected by human eye.
He started small, with a storm alarm which rang when lightning set it off; and before long he could press a button on one side of a room and a bell would ring on the other.
No wires.
One night, he was ready. How does a millionaire playboy superhero announce his intentions to the world?
Well, if she’s still around, he tells his mother.
One night in December, 1894, Guglielmo woke his mum up in the middle of the night. He ushered her into the attic rooms, and he showed her how messages could fly through the air unaided.
The next day, he had gained enough family kudos to show his father.
And, moneyed families being what they were, his Dad emptied out his wallet to fund more materials for the experiments.
And there began a tale of superhuman persistence. One which wormed itself irresistibly into the history of England: for he travelled to London and captivated William Preece, Chief Electrical Engineer of the British Post office.
And many of his finest experiments happened here: signalling across Salisbury Plain, across the English Channel and, ultimately, carrying messages from Presidents to Kings across the Atlantic Ocean.
Bertie was a dead loss in the whole getting-things -done business, but Batman had much more promise.
Guglielmo Marconi has this on both of them: that he possessed real live, flesh and blood, gadget playboy genius.
Kate Shrewsday 
Marconi was just in the news earlier this month in a very interesting story about the Titanic that ran on The New York Times City Room blog. Check it out when you have a moment:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/100-years-after-the-titanic-still-wondering-who-got-the-story/?hp
What an amazing demonstration of Marconi’s special powers…thanks, Lameadventures – I had no idea about this story. Marconi was such a flamboyant figure. I got interested after I heard that he worked at the Kent lighthouse we visited on the White Cliffs: he chose Christmas Eve as the perfect time to put his assistant in a boat near treacherous sands to receive shore-to-ship test messages. I bet there are many extraordinary stories where these came from.
Oh, I bet you’re right. He was a fascinating guy.
It can be most useful to have someone bankroll experiments, can’t it?
By the way, Batman’s family. What were they doing in a dark alley to be killed, if that were THAT wealthy? I love the silly gaps the comics produced.
I think they were into something shady, Sidey, but don’t tell Batman. Don’t want to puncture his motivation. Gotham doesn’t keep itself crime-free on its own, you know.
lol, we could write the counter-Batman comics (Maybe Maddie will help)
I certainly hope this is the first page of the book proposal you are putting together for GUGLIERMO MARCONI: SUPERGENIUS. Put it together as a dark graphic novel and sell it to physics classrooms across the nation. I’d buy it!
Hi Antonia, thanks for your comment: his story certainly lends itself to a graphic novel, you are absolutely right….a new generation of Marvel comics. Great idea.
On the other hand, I think I would opt for a spiffing time at the Drones Club rather than lonely nights studying electromagnetics in the dusty attic of my palace. I bet Bertie was pleased with Guglielmo’s work as he could be warned, by telephone, of the unwelcome, and otherwise unheralded, approach of Aunt Agatha:)
Excellent piece of Devil’s Advocacy, Roger.
I knew little of Marconi’s background other than his achievement. It does make me sad somehow that to be successful you need money and influence. And a butler. Funny how Wodehouse cracked that. Beautifully and compellingly written. 🙂
Thanks, IE: compelling man. Privileged, yes, but he used it in a good way…
You have storytelling superpowers, Kate. I loved the telling detail of the grand announcement to his mum first 🙂
I loved that too – can you imagine if one of your kids woke you up to show you something like that? She must have thought she was dreaming!
She must, Patti. Messages floating through air.
Thank you, Fiona. I wonder how Felix will feel about his achievements when he’s grown up…
Well done, Kate. When I was very young and first saw the name Marconi, my gastronomical juices started flowing, so sure was I that he invented macaroni.
😀 It’s amazing what sticks with us, Penny, when we are that age…
Compelling story, Kate.
He’s quite a character, Andra…
I knew nothing of the background of the man. I marvel at today’s genius minds who conceive of the most amazing and impressive things, but to my mind, most of them are building on the shoulders of others. How did Marconi’s original hypotheses begin to take flight? That’s what amazes me. Marconi is ultimately responsible for the way I can sit in one room manipulating my iTunes playlist on the computer and send the message to a wireless router, and eventually realize the music streamed through wireless Airports throughout my house. Now that to me is useful! 🙂 Debra
It is, Debra. Almost miraculous.
Gug: Well, that was fun, but I think I should get back to the Club.
Mig: May I suggest, sir, that first you go and see someone in England about it? I believe a William Preece is highly spoken of.
Gug: D’you really think so Mignani? Oh, well, right-ho. I suppose the chaps will have to do without me for a bit longer.
I almost pasted this onto the end of the blog, Col: it’s just a shame so many regulars would miss it. Classic dialogue. I laughed out loud. Thank you.
LOL! There’s a reason “Ask Jeeves” uses the icon of a butler. Butlers always know best. 😀
They do 😀
As shown in the Jeeves or Admirable Crighton tradition!
Now there is someone who worked for his success and knew how to spin his silver spoon into wireless gold. 🙂
What an amazing sentence, Ralfast. Now why didn’t I think of that?
A gold spinning hobgoblin am I. 😉
By Guglielmo, you’re a regular Rumpelstiltskin! The both of you!
What a great use for a secret Bat Cave! Thanks, Kate.
Pleasure, Nancy 🙂
Marconi was fascinating – he turned up on one of our “Who Do You Think You Are?” programmes here a while back. He had a very strong connection with Ireland and the UK and was definitely a very persistant man from all the stories I have heard.
There must be a decent biography somewhere, Ellie. His life is full of interest.
He should never have woken his mother in the middle of the night – don’t care how good the idea is – can wait till the morning love 😉
These Italian mothers. Fiercely supportive…though I would have grumbled too, Gabrielle!
And today I can read your blog post on my wireless tablet!
Huzzah! Amazing how the pace of technology seems to have advanced…
An interesting read! Just goes to show, do enough research and you may have the basis of a great story – just like Batman!
Radio Amateurs celebrate International Marconi Day in April each year so you’re either early or late with this Kate 😉 He received his first signal from St.John’s in Newfoundland at Poldhu in Cornwall in December 1901. There is a special centre at Poldhu celebrating Marconi with the callsign GB2GM.
Ever come across and gadget playgirls, Kate? (that’s probably not quite the appropriate term but I’m sure you know what I mean :))
Actually, that’s not appropriate at all!!! What I mean is are there any female heirs that you know of who have put their money and idle hours to such good use?
One of my proudest possessions as a kid was the crystal radio set my Dad made for me. Thanks for the back story on how all this came to be. I am a real radio fan, loved it for the music, the news, the stories. Wonderful.