By Delilah Webb
Mark Twain once quipped that truth was stranger than fiction, and in the world of tour guides it can be important to remind ourselves that the truth can be just as interesting. Not only that, but many of us pride ourselves not only on the entertainment value of our tours, complete with humor and character development, but also on the integrity of the content which we share. Many of us have a few consciously selected exceptions to textbook history; I call this the “historical fiction” caveat. This approach can be the difference between a dry, lecture hall delivery, and an engaging and memorable
experience for our customers.
For instance, when passing the Christopher Columbus Park, after I say that the Rose Garden was dedicated to Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy on her 100th birthday (fact), I
say that on that occasion she was asked what the best part was of being 100, and she responded (with a Boston Kennedy accent for color) “There’s no peer pressure.”
I can’t confirm Mrs. Kennedy’s clever remark, although I suspect it to be based on truth. Regardless, I use it simply because it works. Deliberate anecdotal retellings are different from chronically repeating incorrect information unawares. It may not bother some
guides, but I, for one, was embarrassed when my longstanding stories were proven to be longstanding falsehoods. I had always said the Federal Reserve Bank was made of recycled aluminum, and that the Commonwealth Pier was “Boston’s Ellis Island.” At the end of the day, it’s our responsibility to know fact from fiction. I am spending the
current “off-season” (aka Winter), independently researching some of the stories we tell, and sharing the knowledge with my tour guide brethren.
-Delilah Webb is a Boston tour guide, a professional voiceover artist, and the bostontourguide.org webmaster.
great job on the web site and Mrs. Kennedy’s clever reply is indeed one worth noting!
Great Article! As a tour guide, I have heard many “attention grabbing” stories, that seemed interesting in the moment. However after I researched them, I found they were just myths. One that comes to mind is ” The inventor of the Segway died on a Segway ” This is NOT TRUE. His name is Dean Kamen, he is alive and well, and living forty minutes away from here in Bedford, NH. He is too smart of a man to ride a Segway off a cliff.
Was there then someone who actually did fall off a cliff on a Segway?
Unfortunately, on Sept. 26th 2010, a British entrepreneur and philanthropist, Jim Heselden, who had recently purchased the “Segway Co.” from Dean Kamen (inventor), did fall, with his Segway, off a cliff walk on his property in London, England. The autopsy report said that Mr. Heselden died of “Blunt Force Trama” due to height of the fall, (at least 30ft). He reportedly backed off the path to allow a person, walking their dog, free use of the path. Jim Heselden was said to be a “very charitable” man who began his entrepreneurship after he was laid off from mining in the mid 80’s. Sometimes, the TRUTH, is stranger than fiction. I personally ride a Segway more days than I ride anything else, I LOVE IT!, I find the Segway to be a SAFE, FUN, and EXCITING way to manuever around. However, I NEVER ride a Segway (or anything else) close to the edge of cliff, and neither should you!