Corporal Gabriel West & Sgt. Hugh Griffin – The First English Settlement in the New World

Please join me as we go back in history to the year 1584, to the East Coast of what is now the United States. In that year, Queen Elizabeth the First, then the Queen of England, sent Sir Walter Raleigh in command of three seafaring expeditions to what they called the New World. These expeditions landed on the central coast of what is now North Carolina and became the first English settlements in North America. They called the region Virginia, in honor of Elizabeth the First, the maiden Queen of England. The Cultural Resources Division of the North Carolina Division of History has recreated a model of the seafarers’ ship, called Elizabeth the Second, which carried these small groups of soldiers across the ocean in 1585. In-character actors, talking as real people living in 1585, are on site near Roanoke, North Carolina. I first spoke with a man who called himself Sgt. Hugh Griffin. He claimed to be in charge of the small outpost, one of several they established on their arrival a few days before.

Originally Broadcast: July 1, 1995

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Benjamin Franklin – Ralph Archbold – Visit with Benjamin Franklin

This conversation with Benjamin Franklin, as portrayed by Ralph Archibald who shares a birthday with Benjamin Franklin, was recorded in the summer of 1994 in two parts. The first was recorded on a walk to where Benjamin Franklin lived and worked, and the second was recorded at the City Tavern, both Philadelphia landmarks in Franklin’s life and now. Benjamin Franklin is, perhaps, the most noteworthy and animated of the Founding Fathers. His contributions to science, common sense, and, most importantly, this nation of ours set him apart from most other figures in American history.

Originally Broadcast: July 18, 1994 and July 25, 1994

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Jefferson, Thomas & Jenkinson, Clay – The Author of the Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States of America, stands as one of the lead political theorists of American history.  His ward republican theory required an agrarian population, a government originating in the individual household, and a consistently questioning and rebellious public.My guest in this edition of Radio Curious is Mr. Jefferson, personified by Clay Jenkinson.We discussed what has gone wrong in the US since Mr. Jefferson was President and addressed some of his concepts of what are necessary for a democracy.

The book Thomas Jefferson recommends is “The History of the Peloponnesian War,” by Thuclydides.

The book C. Jenkinson recommends is “In the Absence of the Sacred,” by Jerry Mander.

Originally Broadcast: May 21, 1994

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