IN WHICH —

0:07:30: SPRING-HEEL'D JACK, Ch. 14:

• We return to Spring-Heel’d Jack plunging into the dark filthy waters of the Thames, in a quest to save poor Ellen Folder from the consequences of her rash act in leaping to her death. He comes to the surface and finds the tidal current is fierce, and strikes out in search of the girl. He sees her about to get sucked under a barge that’s moored in the stream, but he reaches her a moment too late; to avoid being sucked under the barge, he grabs it and climbs aboard. Then, hearing Ellen calling, he hurries to the other side; but there’s a guard on the barge who thinks he is a thief! Will he reach the poor drowning girl in time to save her life?

0:28:00: THE BALLET-GIRL'S REVENGE, Ch. 14:

• In this chapter, Rose goes back to the theater to try again to talk her way into a show-biz job. Just as she is being repulsed, Jack Halliday appears and squires her to the manager’s door, past the screeners. She is conveyed into the manager’s presence; the manager is there with another man in the room. He tells her to get lost, but just then the other man turns around and hey, it’s Count Lerno! Count Lerno, of course, urges the manager to take Rose on. The manager does. As Rose is leaving, she tells Jack Halliday of her good fortune, and he is delighted, but warns her not to trust Count Lerno.

• Back home, Rose sees evil parson Abel Booth leaving her house door. Entering, she asks her father what Abel was doing, and Hugh realizes Abel was spying on him. Hugh clearly knows some kind of showdown is coming, and he blames Rose for it: “It is your namby-pamby modesty that has brought this evil down on me.” Apparently she was supposed to allow Abel Booth to ravish her the previous day, and he is now angry because she did not. Thanks a lot, Dad ....
• Now looking out the window, he sees Abel Booth and two other men on the sidewalk looking up at them. Hugh knows this means the hour has come, so he orders Rose up into her room and locks her in, and gets an old-fashioned pistol out of a hidden cubby in the floor. A showdown is about to happen. Will he survive it? If he does not, will she?

PLUS —

• Learn the meaning of "a gent from the Spice Islands," "studying botany," "flash covesses," "gravel-tax collectors," "barking-irons," "pins," "flickers," "the diamond squad," and a few other words of highway-robber slang!

Join host. Finn J.D. John. for a one-hour-long spree through the story papers of old London! Grab a flicker of blue ruin, unload your stumps, and let's go!

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IN WHICH —

0:06:30: SPONSORED BY HONEYBUNNY!

• It's a FREE browser app that searches for online coupons, but whether it finds any or not, it also opens a transdimensional rift through which springs a cute blonde with a short skirt and a snubnosed .38, who will help you negotiate a personal discount on the spot. Download it today and start saving for free!

0:10:00: BLACK BESS (feat. Highwayman Dick Turpin), Ch. 14:

• Dick brings Sir Theodore Houghton to the thieves’ rookery in an obscure house in Soho and they set up a sort of kangaroo court to “try” him. One of the other thieves gives evidence, he having once been Sir T’s law clerk until he was foolish enough to fall in love with the magistrate’s daughter. Naturally, Sir Theodore didn’t fancy the idea of his daughter marrying a lowly law clerk. What do you suppose he did about it? Well, we’ll find out today; but the fact that the clerk is now a wanted criminal and a member of the “family” might give you some idea that it was nothing good!

0:33:15: THE BLACK BAND, Ch. 14:

• We see Lord Lionel Brothersbane coming onto Lolota Vizzini, clearly he’s marked her out as his rebound girl. Then we cut to Lady Edith Merton in her boudoir at her rich husband’s Park Lane house. She’s sitting there feeling sorry for herself when Colonel Mephistopholes shows up. He says he’s there on Lord Lionel’s behalf; then, as if casually changing the subject to a wholly unrelated topic, he asks her if her new husband has gotten around to making a will leaving all his money to her. She says he has. He asks her if she would take one audacious step to free herself from this odious marriage and take her rightful place as marchioness of Willoughby … well … will she? We shall see. But I bet you can guess, if you’ve been following this story, what she will say.

PLUS —

• Learn the meaning of "greeks," "buzmen," "fly doxies," "rum corinthians," "donutmongers," "crank," and a few other words of highway-robber slang!

Join host. Finn J.D. John. for a one-hour-long spree through the story papers of old London! Grab a flicker of blue ruin, unload your stumps, and let's go!

IN WHICH —

0:07:00: THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON, Ch. 2:

• Having ducked into a strange house to escape the rain just before someone came home, the well-dressed youth scampers upstairs ahead of the newcomers and ducks into the farthest room. Luckily the newcomers enter the other room, and light a candle, and start taking some refreshments; but then the lad overhears them talking of burglaries, and murders, and a trap-door in the house that dead bodies once were flung down into the River Fleet, which runs subterraneously under the house … the youth is desperate to get out, but he can’t leave without them seeing him! Is he stuck? Will he be discovered and caught and killed?

0:25:30: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE, Ch. 14:

• Sir Francis Varney brings wine out for Henry and Mr. Marchdale, but does not drink any himself. Henry, increasingly convinced Varney is in fact a vampire – the vampire – struggles and dithers as Marchdale tries to help him hold himself together. He wonders if he has a duty to destroy the vampire. Then Marchdale helpfully reminds Henry that poor Flora, having been bitten by a vampire, may be turning into one too …

0:55:30: SWEENEY TODD, Ch. 52:

• Sir Richard Blunt descends into the vaults, followed reluctantly by the beadle and churchwarden. Soon figuring out they are going to be more hinderance than help, Sir Richard hurries ahead, leaving them in darkness… so, what will he find down there? We’ll be finding out soon …

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PLUS —

• Learn what "Mill clapper," "quail pipe," "red rag," "phizog," "hop merchants," "cakey flats," "red thunder," "grunters," "mags," and a few other words meant, in highway-robber slang!

Join Professor Flash, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John. for a 90-minute spree through the story papers of old London! Grab a flicker of blue ruin, unload your stumps, and let's go!