Hi there, this is Greg Young.

And this is Tom Myers with an extra special, extra patriotic bonus show for you this week.

Not a Barry Boy's episode, but we are both in it.

Yes, periodically here we'll be dropping in some of the greatest hits from our former spin-off podcast called The First,

Stories of Inventions and their Consequences.

Now in this particular episode that you'll hear today, I look at the history of the pledge of

allegiance, those patriotic words that most American children grew up reciting in school.

That was a show that I hosted solo, but in this episode, this is why it's very special.

Tom makes a big appearance.

Yes, as a performer, as a voice actor in the show.

And because in those first episodes, you sometimes included special guests who enacted the words

of the central figures in the show.

There was a lot of vocal performance going on from the first.

So in this particular episode today, I appear from time to time as the voice of the Baptist

minister and author of the pledge of allegiance, Francis Bellamy.

So just when you hear my voice, imagine me in a kind of like, you know, stiff,

gray, ministerial suit.

An austere theatrical gentleman.

You'll also hear though, it's more than that.

You'll also hear the voices of other people reading various versions of the pledge throughout

history and all of those voices are related to Tom.

Yes, including my sister Elizabeth, her two children, my niece and nephew,

...