Damn, I had forgotten about the Singapore caning incident. I wish I could remember how I felt about that at the time!
There was a small missed opportunity in this piece - I love the fact that one of the infamous London prisons of the medieval/early modern era was actually "the Clink," which kept prisoners from apparently the 12th to the 18th centuries, obviously far longer than than there have been Europeans in North America. This is where we get the phrase "tossed him into the clink," which I've used my whole life but only learned the origin of in the last two years while researching the podcast.
I believe the caning incident inspired the episode of "The Simpsons" set in Australia.
Damn, I had forgotten about the Singapore caning incident. I wish I could remember how I felt about that at the time!
There was a small missed opportunity in this piece - I love the fact that one of the infamous London prisons of the medieval/early modern era was actually "the Clink," which kept prisoners from apparently the 12th to the 18th centuries, obviously far longer than than there have been Europeans in North America. This is where we get the phrase "tossed him into the clink," which I've used my whole life but only learned the origin of in the last two years while researching the podcast.