We went to see Gyles Brandreth doing his 1 hour show "Break a Leg". It was terrific! Early in the show he asks "Is anyone here a visitor?!" From the front a voice " Yes... from Bel Air, Maryland".
Brandreth who clearly enjoyed the chance to ad lib is a walking encyclopedia e.g. he tells us all about one famous person from there: John Wilkes Booth.
Now I know a thing or two about this chap (I share the same surname and, I have now discovered, date of birth!). He is the man who, on April 14, 1865, assassinated President Lincoln.
What I did not know was that he was born near Bel Air, Maryland; was the second youngest of 10 children. His father, Junius Brutus Booth, was a well-known actor...."
It occurred to me that Gyles might not know the story of the doctor who treated Booth for his broken leg. I asked him afterwards at the book signing ... No, he did not know it so I briefly mentioned that, being a man interested in words and language, he might search on line for the story....
... which is this: Dr Samuel Mudd was the doctor whose farm John Wilkes Booth went to after assassinating Abraham Lincoln. He set his broken leg, unknowingly becoming an accomplice. He was wrongfully accused and tried and convicted as a member of a conspiracy. Though he claimed to be innocent, he was still convicted and suffered immense hardship. His wife worked tirelessly to get him released. (He was eventually pardoned by Pres. A. Johnson.)
And what I thought Gyles would enjoy discovering is: from this we get the expression used in this sentence: "You had better not do that or name will be Mudd."
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