And here he is, original.

I was born with a special gift.

The ability to mentally transform any situation into the worst case scenario.

In my own brain.

My therapist calls my gift catastrophizing.

And that's why I'm uniquely qualified to scrutinize and analyze history's greatest disasters.

And find out who's to blame.

They say history repeats itself.

Not on my watch.

My name is Rebecca Delgado-Smith, and I am the alarmist.

Hey everyone, thanks for tuning into the alarmist.

A comedy podcast where we talk about history's greatest tragedies and figure out who's to blame.

Today for your Valentine's Day special, we are discussing one of the most iconic tragedies of all, Romeo and Juliet.

Here's what you need to know.

The iconic play by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet is believed to have been written sometime between 1594 and 1596.

Shakespeare wrote the play towards the earlier half of his career around the same time as plays such as

Amid Summer Night's Dream and Richard the Second.

He based Romeo and Juliet's plot on the 1562 narrative poem by English poet Arthur Brooke called

The Tragical History of Romeo and Juliet.

Brooke had based his poem on a tale by the Italian short story writer, Mattel Bendello.

Bendello would prove to be a good source for Shakespeare as other plays such as 12th Night and much to do about nothing are also based on the stories.

But we digress on to the tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet.

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