Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in
Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to another
Speaker 1: episode of Criminalia. This season, we're exploring the lives and
Speaker 1: motivations of some of the most notorious impostors throughout history.
Speaker 1: I'm Maria Tramarqui and I'm Holly Fry. And this episode
Speaker 1: is chuck full of good history stuff that we have
Speaker 1: a shipwreck, a contended inheritance, and a butcher. Uh. It
Speaker 1: doesn't come with butchery violence literally, just a vocation. Like
Speaker 1: You're gonna meet three men sort of Arthur Orton, Thomas Castro,
Speaker 1: and Sir Roger Tichbourne. And we're going to start with
Speaker 1: the man named Arthur Orton. So there's actually nothing particularly
Speaker 1: noteworthy or interesting about Arthur. He was born in March
Speaker 1: of eighteen thirty four in London, and he was the
Speaker 1: son of a London butcher, and he did as he
Speaker 1: grew up, learned his father's trade. Arthur, in his young adulthood,
Speaker 1: spent some time at sea and a year in South America,
Speaker 1: mostly in Chile. By the middle to late eighteen fifties,
Speaker 1: though Arthur was living in Australia. It was around the
Speaker 1: same time in eighteen fifty four that a twenty five
Speaker 1: year old man named Sir Roger Tichbourne was lost at sea.
Speaker 1: So a little bit of a spoiler alert here, but
Speaker 1: he is the man that the center of this whole affair. Indeed,
Speaker 1: so let's talk about the baronet Sir Roger for a minute.
Speaker 1: He was born into a wealthy London family. He was
Speaker 1: raised in Paris and he was given a first class education.
Speaker 1: Actually he was just given a first class everything. Uh.
Speaker 1: He was in love with his cousin Catherine, but the
Speaker 1: families wouldn't allow the marriage, and perhaps to take his
Speaker 1: mind off of not being able to be with the
Speaker 1: when he had fallen in love with a brave Sir
Speaker 1: Roger decided to join the sixth Dragoon Guards in Dublin
Speaker 1: when he was twenty, and that regiment had a fairly
Speaker 1: prestigious history, reaching back to six five when it was
Speaker 1: formed as the Queen Dowager's Horse, which is a great name.
Speaker 1: But Roger did not stick with this. He sold his commission,
Speaker 1: which was for a long time the way you would
Speaker 1: actually gain a promotion intolitary uh. And he sold his
Speaker 1: commission just a few years after he had entered in
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty two. In eighteen three he became the heir
Speaker 1: to the Titchborne title and fortunes. At this point we
Speaker 1: know Sir Roger was a wealthy, well educated young man
Speaker 1: from a good family. I mean he was practically at
Speaker 1: this time a model of an eligible bachelor. Right, everyone
Speaker 1: would have wanted to marry him, because not only was
Speaker 1: he worldly, insophisticated, but also title and money. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: was mented. But even before he had inherited that family
Speaker 1: fortune and taken on his title, and with no marriage
Speaker 1: plans in sight in eighteen fifty three, prior to that news,
Speaker 1: Roger had decided to live in the sunshine, swim the sea,
Speaker 1: and drink the wild air. Okay, So Ralph Waldo Emerson
Speaker 1: wrote that not Roger, but Sir Roger is the one
Speaker 1: who actually did those things. In April of eighteen fifty four,
Speaker 1: Sir Roger, upon completing a tour of South America, boarded
Speaker 1: a ship called the Bella, and the Bella was headed
Speaker 1: for Jamaica, although there are some accounts of the destination
Speaker 1: that are other locations. But just four days after departing,
Speaker 1: the Bella was reported missing, and subsequently its wreckage was
Speaker 1: found off the Brazilian coast. No survivors were found, and
Speaker 1: Roger was declared dead in eighteen fifty five. Distraught Lady Tisborne,
Speaker 1: who was Roger's mother, refused to believe that her son
Speaker 1: had drowned, and courage by a Claravoyne's assurance her son
Speaker 1: was alive, she began running notices seeking news about his whereabouts.
Speaker 1: In the Times, she shared that he had set sail
Speaker 1: on a ship called the Bella, but there had been
Speaker 1: a shipwreck, and her son, named Sir Roger Charles Doughty Tichbourne,
Speaker 1: was presumed lost at sea. She wrote that she would offer,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to quote this most liberal reward for
Speaker 1: any information that may definitely point out his fate. There
Speaker 1: had been rumors that some of the passengers and crew
Speaker 1: had survived that shipwreck and had been rescued by the
Speaker 1: crew on a ship called the Osprey, which was headed
Speaker 1: for Melbourne, Australia. Lady Titchbourne heard these rumors, and of
Speaker 1: course they naturally buoyed her hopes that her son might
Speaker 1: still be alive. So she contacted a man named Arthur
Speaker 1: Cubit of the Missing Friends Office in Sydney to place
Speaker 1: notices on her behalf in the press in Australia, and
Speaker 1: it was agreed upon, and the notices gave the tales
Speaker 1: of the Bella's final voyage. Sir Roger was described as
Speaker 1: quote of a delicate constitution, rather tall, with very light
Speaker 1: brown hair and blue eyes. Just less than three months later,
Speaker 1: Lady Titchborne's advertisements did begin to appear in Australia asking
Speaker 1: for any information about her son, Sir Roger Tichborne, whose
Speaker 1: ship disappeared at sea off South America in eighteen fifty four.
Speaker 1: She never actually had to reply though, until May sixty,
Speaker 1: shortly after the notices were published, a butcher named Thomas
Speaker 1: Castro revealed some compelling information during a bankruptcy examination. So
Speaker 1: that's a lot to process, yes, But as it is,
Speaker 1: he had opened his own butcher's shop, but that did
Speaker 1: not work out well. He apparently was not great at
Speaker 1: business and went broke. While he was going through this
Speaker 1: bankruptcy discussion, he talked about how he had once survived
Speaker 1: a shipwreck and that he actually the owned large properties
Speaker 1: in England. And if anyone were observing closely, they would
Speaker 1: notice that Castro smoked a pipe engraved with Sir Roger's initials.
Speaker 1: So this pipe had the letters RCT engraved on it.
Speaker 1: That's when in November and Australian solicitor named William Gibbs
Speaker 1: wrote to Lady Titchborne about a man who claimed to
Speaker 1: be the long lost Baronet. It was at this point
Speaker 1: when Castro and Lady Tichborne began a correspondence. But here
Speaker 1: there's another oddity. His correspondence was full of misspellings and
Speaker 1: grammatical errors. And what makes that odd is that Sir Roger,
Speaker 1: if you recall, had been a very well educated man.
Speaker 1: So we're going to take a break for a word
Speaker 1: from a sponsor. Was Arthur Orton, also known as Thomas Castro.
Speaker 1: We're going to find out when we come back. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to Criminalia. Let's talk about what's known as the
Speaker 1: titch Pin claimant. The story can get a little confusing.
Speaker 1: You might feel like you need a flow chart, so
Speaker 1: to revisit and review, we're going to jump back to Arthur,
Speaker 1: who we mentioned at the top of the show for
Speaker 1: a moment. And if you're thinking there might be a
Speaker 1: direct connection between Arthur and Thomas the Butcher, you're right.
Speaker 1: They spoiled it, I know, I mean two butchers both
Speaker 1: in Australia, got some confusion. Can't have that. It's not
Speaker 1: that there was only one butcher ever in the Greater
Speaker 1: Sydney area. Presumably there were more meat needs than that.
Speaker 1: But in this case the same person, So Arthur at
Speaker 1: this time was actually delving in Australia and had also
Speaker 1: around this time started using a new name, Thomas Castro,
Speaker 1: and Castro was employed as a butcher in Wagga Waga.
Speaker 1: So one thing that was a little strange in our
Speaker 1: research efforts here that we both hunted for and never
Speaker 1: found any real solid evidence around. We couldn't find any
Speaker 1: real reason that Arthur might have taken on this new identity.
Speaker 1: There's plenty of speculation. I saw one article speculate that
Speaker 1: he owed some debts and was just trying to dodge
Speaker 1: them too. And that's very possible, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: it makes logical sense. But we literally have nothing other
Speaker 1: than a guest to back that up. So we can
Speaker 1: only speculate why he started using a new name or
Speaker 1: why he chose this particular name. We just don't know
Speaker 1: this part of the story. Who knows. We could do
Speaker 1: an entire show on speculating we can make up so
Speaker 1: many I have so many theories. Um, When Castro saw
Speaker 1: Lady Titchburn's notice in a local paper, saw opportunity. Castro
Speaker 1: claimed to be Sir Roger Tichborne, who had been declared
Speaker 1: lost at sea. Wagga Wagga and Riverina residents, though knew
Speaker 1: who Thomas Castro was before his claim to the Titchbourne estate.
Speaker 1: For instance, the Honorable James Gormley first met Castro in
Speaker 1: Danilla Quim, where Castro was working as a butcher at
Speaker 1: the time. Other people met him after he relocated to Hey,
Speaker 1: which is also in New South Wales, and he worked
Speaker 1: in a slaughterhouse for a man who went by the
Speaker 1: name Parramatta Jack Ward. Claiming to be Sir Roger Tichbourne
Speaker 1: was a bold move for Castro. I'm going to speculate
Speaker 1: here that maybe it's possible that Arthur began using the
Speaker 1: Castro identity around the time that he decided to claim
Speaker 1: the Titchborne estate. But maybe not like Hollywood saying we
Speaker 1: actually have no idea, I just like making up theories.
Speaker 1: We do need to point out that there were a
Speaker 1: few very noticeable differences between these two men. So while
Speaker 1: Castro was described as stout and boorish. Sir Roger, who
Speaker 1: we described earlier, was quite slender, he only weighed about
Speaker 1: a hundred and twenty six pounds, who was very thin,
Speaker 1: and we found this great quote while researching that he
Speaker 1: was all narrowness, which is how I'm going to refer
Speaker 1: to anyone who is tall and lean going forward. I
Speaker 1: love that quote, all narrowness. He had a long, pale face,
Speaker 1: and he notably had a tattoo on his left arm.
Speaker 1: That might seem straighty to you, but tattooing in England
Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century actually became popular among the wealthy
Speaker 1: in general. By the late eighteen eighties, tattoos were often
Speaker 1: literally a mark of wealth in European aristocracy. Their physicality
Speaker 1: between these two men was not the only difference. Castro
Speaker 1: could not speak or understand a single word of French.
Speaker 1: But Roger, if you recall we mentioned at the very
Speaker 1: beginning of the episode, grew up in Paris. He was fluent,
Speaker 1: fluent fluent. He had lived in Paris for almost all
Speaker 1: of his childhood and his adolescence, and was so ingrained
Speaker 1: in Parisian language that he actually spoke English with a
Speaker 1: French accent. Lady Tichborne sent for Castro, who traveled under
Speaker 1: the Titchborne name, and at the urging of William Gibbs,
Speaker 1: Castro wrote a will before he left. Well, there's nothing
Speaker 1: odd about writing your will. Some of the contents of
Speaker 1: Castro's will did seem actually a bit wrong, just wrong.
Speaker 1: So let's do two examples of what was wrong. Um
Speaker 1: One he mentioned family properties that did not exist, and
Speaker 1: two he referred to his mother as Hannah Francis when
Speaker 1: actually Lady Tichborne's name was Henrietta. So here are things
Speaker 1: get curiouser and curious er. He did arrive in London,
Speaker 1: that was in December of eighteen sixty six. When he
Speaker 1: got to England, Lady Tichborne actually was not there. She
Speaker 1: was away in Paris at the time. So at that
Speaker 1: point Castro traveled to East London in search of the
Speaker 1: Orton family. But he found out when he got there
Speaker 1: that they had moved. And when a neighbor asked after
Speaker 1: his business, he claimed that he was an old friend
Speaker 1: of Arthur, who happened to now be one of the
Speaker 1: richest men in all of Australia. And we know that
Speaker 1: was a big fib not to brag or anything. He's
Speaker 1: the richest butcher in aust That's why I was having
Speaker 1: a bankruptcy meeting. Um So after this trip to see
Speaker 1: or not see the Orton family, Castro met, I mean
Speaker 1: he's air quotes around this one his mother and he
Speaker 1: appeared it said to have a round face, fair wavy hair,
Speaker 1: and that he weighed actually more than a hundred pounds
Speaker 1: than Sir Roger when he was last seen, and curiously,
Speaker 1: he did not have a tattoo on his left arm.
Speaker 1: Castro claimed that his traumatic experience of the shipwreck explained
Speaker 1: the way any of the discrepancies and facts he couldn't
Speaker 1: remember or didn't know right. We've all heard of instances
Speaker 1: where someone gets conked on the noggin and they lose
Speaker 1: some of their language capabilities or they forget certain details
Speaker 1: of their lives. It doesn't really explain where the tattoo went. However,
Speaker 1: it is not I was in a shipwreck at my
Speaker 1: tattoo fell out. It just fell off. It's not like
Speaker 1: you could easily have them removed. And you know, eighteen
Speaker 1: sixty lots of sand and rubbing. Uh so, yes, it's
Speaker 1: certainly possible that a sea voyage and then a shipwreck
Speaker 1: could change a person's appearance a bit right, maybe some
Speaker 1: weight gain or weight loss. Uh, maybe he'd contract scurvy.
Speaker 1: But Castro's appearance was really such a drastic transformation from
Speaker 1: that of Sir Roger. But ultimately none of this matter
Speaker 1: at all, though, despite the obvious discrepancies between the men,
Speaker 1: when Lady Tichbourne reunited with her son, she immediately said
Speaker 1: he looks like his father and his ears look like
Speaker 1: his uncle's before everybody piles on Lady Titchbourne. It is
Speaker 1: really easy, as an outsider with no stake in this situation,
Speaker 1: to think that she was being just ridiculously foolish in
Speaker 1: so readily accepting Thomas Castro's claim that he was in
Speaker 1: fact her son Sir Roger. But do keep in mind,
Speaker 1: this is a mother who had lost her son and
Speaker 1: had been left without any definitive proof of his passing.
Speaker 1: So when you think about it in those terms, especially
Speaker 1: that she had been wondering what had ultimately happened to
Speaker 1: him for decade at that point, who can blame her
Speaker 1: for clinging to hope or the idea that she could
Speaker 1: in fact be reunited with the person she told was
Speaker 1: a lost loved one, right right, Um, Just because Thomas
Speaker 1: Castro claimed to be the missing baronet and Lady Tichborne
Speaker 1: was elated to have him back, that actually didn't mean
Speaker 1: that everyone else blindly believed who this was. There's even
Speaker 1: an account that the blacksmith in town didn't believe Castro
Speaker 1: was Sir Roger and told him frankly and we quote,
Speaker 1: if you are Sir Roger, you've changed from a racehorse
Speaker 1: to a cart horse couch. Pretty Much the entire Titchborne family,
Speaker 1: except for Lady Titchborne, also believed Castro was a fraud.
Speaker 1: So when she died in eighteen sixty eight, Castro lost
Speaker 1: not just his only advocate, he also lost the Titchborne
Speaker 1: family support, which had included a helf D monthly allowance. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it kind of seems like the family just played along
Speaker 1: while Lady Titchborne was still alive, had brought her comfort,
Speaker 1: but when that was over, it was over. So with
Speaker 1: those in the Titchborne family who were not convinced Castro
Speaker 1: was Sir Roger learned through a hired contact that they
Speaker 1: had made in Australia that Thomas Castro was not even
Speaker 1: actually Thomas Castro. This is when they learned that he
Speaker 1: was Arthur Orton, a man who had been born in
Speaker 1: London and made his way to Australia by ship years earlier.
Speaker 1: Whether or not Arthur Orton's slash Miss Castro was or
Speaker 1: was not Sir Roger, this story and the trials that
Speaker 1: follow captivated Victorian society. The press was ravenous and published
Speaker 1: daily reports of the trials progress. And the way that
Speaker 1: Titchborne case played out turned an impostor into the celebrity.
Speaker 1: Arthur was honored at shooting parties and other gatherings and
Speaker 1: then and then he went to prison. That's sort of
Speaker 1: fascination and celebrity reminds me a little bit of Princess Caribou,
Speaker 1: who they're like, yeah, yeah, we know you're fake, but
Speaker 1: this is kind of fun. But you're fun. We are
Speaker 1: going to take another break for a word from a sponsor,
Speaker 1: and then we're going to talk about the trials. And
Speaker 1: yes I did say that as a plural on purpose.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's start talking about the civil
Speaker 1: and criminal trials, right, So there were actually two trials
Speaker 1: for Mr Orton slash Castro. The purpose of the first trial,
Speaker 1: which was a civil trial that began in May of
Speaker 1: one was for Thomas Castro to prove his claim that
Speaker 1: he was Sir Roger Tichbourne because he asked to be
Speaker 1: given something which he thought he should be entitled to legally.
Speaker 1: He was now referred to as the claimant, or in
Speaker 1: this case, as the Titchborn claimant, which is kind of
Speaker 1: a name that's stuck through the years, and that's because
Speaker 1: he was officially claiming the Titchborne estate. Castro dodged any
Speaker 1: and all questions about his relationship with Arthur Orton, and
Speaker 1: he denied he and Arthur were actually the same person.
Speaker 1: So in response to that, the prosecution threatened to call
Speaker 1: more than two hundred witnesses, which is crazy, uh to
Speaker 1: the stand to prove otherwise. There was one big thing, though,
Speaker 1: that Castro did not know about. When the investigators hired
Speaker 1: by the Titchborns were examining his life in Australia, they
Speaker 1: discovered plenty of people who knew Thomas Castro, but they
Speaker 1: knew him as a man named Arthur Orton, a butcher
Speaker 1: originally from London. It's gotta be a terrifying whamo when
Speaker 1: you're like no about that person that like really look,
Speaker 1: we have literally a building full of people willing to testify,
Speaker 1: otherwise two hundred people and probably a couple of folders
Speaker 1: of information. But the threat of the two hundred people
Speaker 1: was really not the big problem here. In the end,
Speaker 1: the problem of that magically disappearing tattoo was what was
Speaker 1: the sticking point for the jury. So the first trial
Speaker 1: ended here, and it ended with the jury rejecting his suit.
Speaker 1: A criminal trial was now needed to determine if the
Speaker 1: claimant was guilty of perjury. This was a bit more involved.
Speaker 1: That trial was held between eighteen seventy three and eighteen
Speaker 1: seventy four, and it became the longest trial ever in
Speaker 1: English court at the time. It lasted one eighty eight
Speaker 1: court days. As an assign because you're probably wondering too,
Speaker 1: that record was eventually overtaken by a much more recent case,
Speaker 1: which came to be known as the Mick libel case. Legally,
Speaker 1: that started out as the McDonald's operation versus Steele and Morris.
Speaker 1: Further down the rabbit hole. That case began with the
Speaker 1: defendants producing a leaflet title What's Wrong with McDonald's, which
Speaker 1: resulted in them being found guilty of libel and fine
Speaker 1: in the trial began. But then the long part is
Speaker 1: that they filed an appeal, which was Steele and Morris
Speaker 1: versus the United Kingdom, claiming that they had had an
Speaker 1: unfair trial that was not resolved until the year two thousand.
Speaker 1: So uh, that judgment was eventually found for Steele and
Speaker 1: Morris that they had had an unfair trial. But even so,
Speaker 1: it ousted the Titchborne case by more than a decade
Speaker 1: in terms of its length, a decade in court, like
Speaker 1: I got stuff to do, so okay, taking his back
Speaker 1: to the trial of Thomas Castro. During the trial, Castro
Speaker 1: had significant recall problems. Among other things, he couldn't remember
Speaker 1: anything about the boarding school that he went to, including
Speaker 1: its name, nor was he able to recognize his own
Speaker 1: father's handwriting. There was testimony from a handwriting expert we
Speaker 1: know now today like this is kind of a dodgy
Speaker 1: area and not all people would admit this in a court,
Speaker 1: but in this instance, his opinion was that the handwriting
Speaker 1: of Sir Roger Tichborne and Thomas Castro did not match. However,
Speaker 1: this handwriting expert determined that Castro's handwriting did match the
Speaker 1: handwriting of Arthur Orton another problematic bit of evidence. I
Speaker 1: could keep going on. There was in fact a real
Speaker 1: ship called the Osprey, and it did arrive in Australia. Finally,
Speaker 1: something about the claim of story that checks out right.
Speaker 1: The wanna be Titchborn couldn't name any of the crew
Speaker 1: members though he couldn't remember the captain, and there was
Speaker 1: no mention in the ship's logs about rescuing survivors of
Speaker 1: a shipwreck, which seems like a pretty significant event that
Speaker 1: you might put my log right. Yeah, he did just
Speaker 1: enough homeworked to get himself into trouble, but not enough
Speaker 1: to sail him through. There was more than enough evidence
Speaker 1: to the court that Arthur Orton slashed Thomas Castro had
Speaker 1: in fact perjured himself. But during the trial there's this
Speaker 1: weird little factory that I sort of love. Arthur Orton
Speaker 1: drew cartoons, not just doodles. He spent his time sitting
Speaker 1: there drawing just elaborate cartoons, right when he wasn't paying
Speaker 1: attention at the trial apparently, But to like Arthur Orton
Speaker 1: drawing cartoons this time. In this trial, the man named
Speaker 1: Arthur Orton was found guilty. It took the jury about
Speaker 1: thirty minutes to come to their verdict, and he was convicted.
Speaker 1: He ended up serving ten years of a fourteen year
Speaker 1: prison sentence, and in some sources I read it was
Speaker 1: hard labor, but I'm not certain about that. So his sentence.
Speaker 1: On April tenth, the London Times published the following quote.
Speaker 1: Shortly before two o'clock yesterday, the grand jury came into
Speaker 1: court and presented a true bill which they had found
Speaker 1: against Thomas Castro, otherwise known as Sir Roger Charles Doughty
Speaker 1: Titchborne Baronet, and otherwise Arthur Orton for perjury. So all
Speaker 1: three men, well one man into not yeah anyway, you know,
Speaker 1: to a K A S. I put down my flow chart.
Speaker 1: I can throughout this whole tale. Thomas Castro slash Roger
Speaker 1: Tichborne slash Arthur Orton didn't admit just one time that
Speaker 1: he was Arthur Orton. But that's because he got paid
Speaker 1: to say so, and once he had that money in hand,
Speaker 1: he retracted the whole statement. So from that point on
Speaker 1: he continued to maintain his lie, even though he no
Speaker 1: longer would legally have any claim to any Titchborne money
Speaker 1: or properties. So we're going to go straight now to
Speaker 1: the end of Arthur's life. So Arthur died in poverty
Speaker 1: on April Fool's Day, So April one in London. And
Speaker 1: I kind of love that an impostor died on April
Speaker 1: Fool's Day. It's pretty perfect. It's a little on the nose, right,
Speaker 1: it's it's just a little too much for me. I
Speaker 1: have to love it. Uh. The New York Times printed
Speaker 1: a short obituary for him, including this quote. Arthur Orton,
Speaker 1: who sought to acquire the two million dollars state belonging
Speaker 1: to Sir Roger Tichbourne, died of syncope on April one
Speaker 1: in London. So today syncope would kind of be considered
Speaker 1: a symptom rather than a cause of death. You've heard
Speaker 1: of it before, but probably under the word fainting. Right.
Speaker 1: It's known to happen if you stand up too quickly
Speaker 1: because your blood pressure drops suddenly, to quote John Hopkins
Speaker 1: Medicine quote. For most people, syncope occurs once in a
Speaker 1: great while, if ever, and is not a sign of
Speaker 1: serious illness. However, in other syncope can be the first
Speaker 1: and only warning sign prior to an episode of sudden
Speaker 1: cardiac death. So while it's generally an unlikely sign of
Speaker 1: impending death. It is a possible sign that Arthur Orton
Speaker 1: may have had some form of undiagnosed heart disease, although
Speaker 1: we don't at all know that for certain. We're just
Speaker 1: kind of doing some back of the envelope maths regarding
Speaker 1: his health and his cause of death. Right, And it's
Speaker 1: one of those conditions or symptoms where it could be nothing,
Speaker 1: but it could it could be everything. Right. It's also
Speaker 1: sometimes associated with strokes, but that was the only link
Speaker 1: that I found that was kind of a direct Like
Speaker 1: sudden onset death is usually a heart disease issue. I
Speaker 1: found the same thing. Yeah. Um, so there's also actually
Speaker 1: another odd twist to Arthur's already odd story. It checks out,
Speaker 1: But it's hard to believe that Titchborne family had a
Speaker 1: plaque engraved as Sir Roger Charles Doughty Tichborne placed in
Speaker 1: Orton's coffin after he died. Strange a little. They either
Speaker 1: had like a very good humor or they wanted to
Speaker 1: cover their odds in case they had all been wrong.
Speaker 1: It didn't sound like they had good humor. I mean,
Speaker 1: who would, I mean, they're up against this guy, so
Speaker 1: maybe you know, and I don't think I would be
Speaker 1: very good. Right. Over the many many years since Orton's trial,
Speaker 1: legal historians have at least pretty generally agreed that the
Speaker 1: claimant in this case was indeed Arthur Orton using the
Speaker 1: name Thomas Castro. However, some century historians and analysts have
Speaker 1: a tiny bit of uncertainty about that. They kind of
Speaker 1: feel like not all the facts are in will probably
Speaker 1: not get them all. But although some modern historians have
Speaker 1: some doubts, it is generally pretty agreed upon that Orton
Speaker 1: remains the impostor, the impostor of Thomas Castro and of
Speaker 1: Sir Roger Tichborne. So while we don't have a lot
Speaker 1: of facts to complete the entire story, the thing that
Speaker 1: I think is maybe the most important is that we
Speaker 1: actually don't like Hollywood saying no the identity of the
Speaker 1: claimant yet. Um perhaps if family members or descendants come
Speaker 1: forward for DNA testing, we might learn some more, but
Speaker 1: right now we're kind of just at that place. I
Speaker 1: definitely stumbled across some folks who believe to this day
Speaker 1: that he was the lost Titchborn. I saw that too,
Speaker 1: And have you even done like computer analysis of pictures
Speaker 1: of the I have this very thin man gained a
Speaker 1: hundred pounds over a decade. Here this is actually what
Speaker 1: he would look like. Um, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think it's best if we never know. I almost
Speaker 1: don't want there to be DNA testing. I like the
Speaker 1: fry mystery to remain in town. On most of them,
Speaker 1: I do most of them. I would like to know.
Speaker 1: On this one, I kind of hope that, like the
Speaker 1: DNA doesn't come through. I think when we had our
Speaker 1: Stokers season, I was much more into you know, was
Speaker 1: this the person who's actually doing it? The imposters a
Speaker 1: little different for me, speak of a little different. It
Speaker 1: was terrible. That was terrible. I can't believe I said that, Ryan,
Speaker 1: We're going to the mocktail, not the cocktail. Listen, not
Speaker 1: every transition is perfect. No, that was That's fine. You
Speaker 1: got us there. The road was bumpy, but you kept
Speaker 1: driving in here like a barely Um. So okay. In
Speaker 1: thinking about this one, there were a few different things
Speaker 1: that I thought about, but I kept thinking about what
Speaker 1: really happened on that boat to Jamaica, and so I
Speaker 1: came up with a mocktail that I am calling lost
Speaker 1: at Sea. I'm repeating coconut two episode. It's in a row,
Speaker 1: so bear with me, but it's a different format. It
Speaker 1: starts with a half an ounce of coconut syrup. I
Speaker 1: like the really creamy white coconuts into this. I will
Speaker 1: explain exactly why in a moment, and then don't jump
Speaker 1: on me because I this has a coda, because I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say the name of a liqueur. But there's it's
Speaker 1: still a mocktail. Um. The next is one ounce of
Speaker 1: blue curos Ow, but you can get non alcoholic blue
Speaker 1: curos ow. It's like a syrup essentially. I found mine
Speaker 1: in my local grocery store. My local liquor store also
Speaker 1: carries it, so it's not difficult to find. I found it,
Speaker 1: like literally right with where you would find the pre
Speaker 1: made simple syrup and your live syrup and all that.
Speaker 1: It's just in one of those little squeezy bottles. One
Speaker 1: ounce of a blue sports drink. I have a reason.
Speaker 1: I'll explain it. And you're gonna take those three things
Speaker 1: and put them in a shaker and shake them together
Speaker 1: and pour them into like a rock's glass, and then
Speaker 1: out on top of it five ish ounces. You know,
Speaker 1: to taste of lemon lime soda. Okay, here's what happens.
Speaker 1: One like the waters of the ocean um to like
Speaker 1: the coconutty thing kind of you know. Hearkens to the
Speaker 1: Jamaican destination that was never reached the island vibe. Right.
Speaker 1: So here's the cool thing though. For me sports drink,
Speaker 1: and I particularly like a low sugar sugar free sports
Speaker 1: drink it because of the electrolytes. It has this tiny little,
Speaker 1: you don't even really process it taste of salt, and
Speaker 1: so it gives this whole thing like a weird sense
Speaker 1: of salt water to me, but not like that gross
Speaker 1: taste of saltwater, but just like a like something in
Speaker 1: the back of your head goes am I tasting the ocean, Yes,
Speaker 1: a little bit. That is why this is called lost
Speaker 1: at Sea. It is so sweet and yummy. It's like
Speaker 1: a punch I would love to make all the time,
Speaker 1: except it does tend to like separate if you let
Speaker 1: it sit for too long. Because I made several different
Speaker 1: versions and had to drink them all and see what
Speaker 1: was had to It's for science. If you want to
Speaker 1: make the adult beverage version is to use actual blue
Speaker 1: curus ow in place of the syrup, which and it's
Speaker 1: still a pretty light cocktail because it's just a liqueur.
Speaker 1: It's not something with a high alcohol by volume situation.
Speaker 1: You can always add rum to it if you really
Speaker 1: want to, you know, get into your tropical vibe of cocktails.
Speaker 1: But it's very yummy. This is one that even the
Speaker 1: husband liked. I make a special check mark next to those.
Speaker 1: I'm like trying, right, that one's yummy. And the nice
Speaker 1: thing is because of the coconut syrup, and because you're
Speaker 1: doing the shaking, it also gets a little foamy on top,
Speaker 1: so you're getting like this c foamy situation going on,
Speaker 1: seeummy and your tummy, and I bet it is. I
Speaker 1: originally was thinking that the lemon lime soda would be
Speaker 1: the sort of frothy mix for the ocean, but I see,
Speaker 1: I see, now, yes it's frothy before that even happens.
Speaker 1: But when you pour that in, it does bubble a
Speaker 1: little extra and you kind of get a nice sea
Speaker 1: foam effect, which I'm all about. Effects of course, of course,
Speaker 1: make a little theatrical. Thank you so much for hanging
Speaker 1: out with us this week and going over the Titchborne controversy.
Speaker 1: There was actually a movie in the late nineteen nineties
Speaker 1: that I haven't watched. I think a British film. Um,
Speaker 1: so I'm curious. I want to look it up and
Speaker 1: and see if I can find it streaming somewhere so
Speaker 1: I can check it out. If you can, you should
Speaker 1: as well, but otherwise we will see you right back
Speaker 1: here next week with another impostor and another mocktail. Criminalia
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