ep06 Parliament Buildings

British Parliament buildings are inspected regularly for hidden explosives. A resident of Germany paid customs duty on goods he never received. A game of golf was once prohibited in Scotland. Can you imagine that? This is Lindsey McCarry once more friends, and...

Well, yes, I will admit some of the statements we make on this series of broadcasts certainly sound ridiculous, but they're all true. And if you'll stand by your loudspeaker and pay close attention during the next 15 minutes, we'll prove the authenticity of every one of them.

We'll be back with you in just a minute and a half with the first one. This session of Can You Imagine That? Did you know that every year, just before the British Parliament convenes, an inspection is made of all the nooks and crannies of the House

of Commons and the House of Lords for hidden explosives? It's true, ladies and gentlemen, and the cause for this procedure goes back more than 330 years. In 1605 Robert Catesby, Guy Fox and a group of their accomplices planned to blow up the king, the commons, and the lords in one fell blow. This was a result of a long quarrel between Protestants and Roman

Catholics. But a mysterious anonymous letter received by Catholic Lord Montegel, warned Parliament, and the famous gunpowder pot was laid wide open when Guy Fox was discovered in a vault below the House of Lords, just ready to ignite thirty-six barrels of gunpowder and a large quantity of other explosives. Fox and his associates were all put to death, but the custom has remained

of an annual inspection of all possible places in the Parliament buildings where high explosives might be stored for the nefarious purpose of destroying Britain's peers and common. Can you imagine that. Well, here's a sad little story about a man who had to pay customs duty on a shipment of goods he never received. His name was Andrew Slater, formerly of Connecticut,