Gaetano Casati was an Italian explorer. He was born in 1838 at Lesmo and died in 1902. At the request of the Commercial Geographical Society of Milan he undertook a journey to the Sudan, during which he explored the region of the river Welle-Makua and in 1881 met the German traveller Junker. In 1883 he arrived at Lado, where he joined Emin Pasha. In 1888 he had a narrow escape, being condemned to death by Kabba Rega, king of Unyoro, to whom he was sent on a mission by Emin Pasha. In 1889 he returned to Italy. Research Gaetano Casati
Israel Putnam was an American soldier. He was born in 1718 ay Danvers, Massachusetts and died in 1790. A Revolutionary general, he first settled as a farmer in north-eastern Connecticut, near Pomfret. Putnam's early life is associated with many romantic episodes, the wolfhunt, his service in the French and Indian War with Rogers' Rangers, his rescue of Fort Edward, and his narrow escape from death by burning while a prisoner of the Indians.
He was in command of a regiment with General Amherst in the Canadian campaign of 1760. In the stirring times following he was one of the chief 'Sons of liberty'. How at the news of Lexington he dropped his plough and rode in a day to Cambridge is a fireside story. Putnam was made commander of the Connecticut troops and a brigadier. He commanded at Bunker Hill conjointly with ColonelPrescott. Forthwith he was appointed one of the major-generals, and had charge of the centre in the siege of Boston.
In the defence of Long Island he was entrusted with the works on Brooklyn Heights, and in the retreat from New York his name is often mentioned. For a short time he was Governor of Philadelphia, and was then in 1777 placed in command of the defences in the Highlands of the Hudson. He was engaged in the repulse of Tryon's troops in the south-west of Connecticut, in connection with which is related the somewhat apocryphal story of Putnam's escape on horseback down a flight of stone steps. Research Israel Putnam
Narrow Escape (also known as A Thousand Men and a Baby) is a drama starring Richard Thomas, Gerald McRaney, Jonathan Banks, Doris Roberts, Keith MacKechnie and Michael Woolson in a story about the crew of an American Navy ship saving a baby boy at the end of the Korean War and taking it back to the USA to be adopted. Narrow Escape was directed by Marcus Cole in 1997. Research Narrow Escape
Victory ale is a full, fruity pale ale first brewed in 1987 to celebrate the Bateman brewery's narrow escape from closure after a family split. Research Victory Ale
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Abbreviations
Research Gaetano Casati
