This week the unexpected meets the obscure as we uncover several stories of wartime and daredevil history. First, we meet Sergeant Bill, the heroic Canadian goat of WW1 who saved the lives of three soldiers during battle. He suffered from trench foot, shrapnel, shell shock, and was gassed with the allied soldiers fighting at Ypres. He survived four and a half years at war, returning to Canada a hero. Next, we head to Niagara Falls and meet Lagara the cat, the first creature to survive a barrel ride over Horseshoe Falls. Along the way we visit several famous daredevils, including Annie Edson Taylor, the first person over the falls. We meet Charles Blondin the famous French funambulist who braved the high wire over the Niagara River 300 times. We visit Charles Stevens, the demon barber of Bedminster, and Bobby Leech, famous English daredevil whose death was as strange as his life. Come meet some of history’s boldest animals and a group of wonderful weirdos who dared so much that we can’t stop talking about them a century and a half later.
Sowing History: The Judean Date Palm’s 2,000 Year Old Comeback
From the Cache: Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer and the Coelacanth
From the Cache: History’s Happy Little Accidents
Unsinkable Sam
The Great Stink of 1858
The Second Life of Betty Robinson
The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Part 2: Their Legacy Remains
The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Part 1: No Way Home
Ken Allen: The Hairy Houdini
Édith Piaf: The Little Sparrow, Part 2
Édith Piaf: The Little Sparrow, Part 1
The Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race: The Finale
The Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race Part 3
The Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race Part 2
The Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race Part 1
When Harry Met Winnie: The True Story of Winnie the Pooh
Stingy Jack and the Origin of Jack-o’-Lanterns
From the Cache: A Strange Experiment on Mackinac Island
From the Cache: The Edmund Fitzgerald
Ornamental Garden Hermits: History’s Weirdest Job
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