Sunday, June 29, 2008
Today In History: Burnin' down the house.
On this day in 1613, a malfunction with a prop cannon during a performance of Henry the Eighth caused the original Globe Theater in London to burn to the ground, thus initiating a long and proud history of pyrotechnic stage malfunctions. It is not known if anyone famous had their hair catch fire, but one man's trousers were extinguished with a bottle of beer.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Yes, that wet stain in the man's crotch, observed by all his friends immediately after they escaped the fire, was definitely beer. After such a horrifying ordeal, what else could have caused a wet spot on the man's crotch?
Fred: "Oh thank God we escaped! Lookee here- Bert's pissed hisself! Har Har Har...."
Bert: "No I did not! Me pantaloons caught fire and I extinguished the blaze with me beer. That be my story an' Im sticking with it."
Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.
-- Jingo (Discworld)
Learned this in high school. The orchestra was performing the 1812 Overture, and we thought it would be neat to have the part of the cannon played by guys with blanks in shotguns.
The suggestion was shot down,. pardon the pun, and, in the end, the role of the cannon was played by one awesome thunder storm
Does the record happen to note if that beer was pre- or post-liver?
Might be of importance depending upon who's leg said trousers adorned.
And people say history is boring. *shakes head*
Post a Comment