What happens
The Ports of Call travelogue takes listeners to Stockholm, Sweden, describing the sea approach, the old city, and the modern streets crossed on the way to a hotel. Much of the program then recounts Swedish history through dramatized episodes. Queen Kristina, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, is a six-year-old child when a regent brings news of her father's death, and she later grows into a queen who abdicates in favor of her cousin Carl Gustavo. Later scenes show Empress Catherine the Great of Russia pressing a marriage between her granddaughter Alexander and King Gustavus, who refuses to change his religion. The narrative then moves through Sweden's naval confrontations and Napoleon's role in placing Bernadotte on the throne. The transcript ends before the story reaches the twentieth century.
Stockholm, Sweden, and historical scenes in Sweden, Russia and the Baltic Sea
Characters: Queen Kristina, Axel Oxenstierna, Cardinal Richelieu, Carl Gustavo, Catherine the Great, Alexander, Gustavus Adolphus, Lord Nelson
Listen for: The dramatized scenes of Queen Kristina's childhood and her decision to abdicate, and the exchange between Catherine the Great and the English ambassador
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.