What happens
Lindsay McCarry presents several short stories from history. A sailor on a British man of war in 1740 complains that his rum has been watered down by Admiral Vernon, nicknamed Old Grog, and the watered rum comes to be called grog. In Eastland, Texas, in 1928, workmen opening a cornerstone find a horned toad that appears to have been sealed there for 31 years, and scientists dispute whether it could have survived. In Dauphin, Alabama, an eleven-year-old boy named Henry Matthews is lowered into a thirty-foot well to rescue a baby. In Louisville, Kentucky, in 1875, Thomas Westendorf writes the song I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen after his wife is advised to change her surroundings.
Stories set on a British man of war in 1740, Eastland, Texas in 1928, Dauphin, Alabama in 1912, and Louisville, Kentucky in 1875
Characters: Lindsay McCarry, Admiral Vernon, Judge Edward Pritchard, Henry Matthews, Benny Grant, Thomas Westendorf, Kathleen
Listen for: The origin of the word grog and the Texas horned toad debate
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.