1921This fine American chap, sporting his Movember tache, has a tale of woe from his childhood. He explains the following in his audio clip.

“So, I was not the world’s brightest kid. Occasionally I would ‘see what happens’. I got a used bottle of rubbing alcohol – surgical spirit, you guys call it. It’s empty, there’s a sort of sheen of alcohol inside it.

”I thought – ‘I know that stuff burns. I’ll just see what happens if I set a light to it’. Absolutely decimates my thumb. Just charred, ruined thumb knuckle. Now I’ve got a problem. I’m like 10 or something, I’m hurting really bad.

”Go to Dad. I explain. ‘Well, what did you think was going to happen?’ he says. I replied that I didn’t know. Then he told me this.” Taken in Foyles book shop in Charing Cross Road, London, UK.