May 31, 2026 · 59 min · 23 segments
**Welcome back to Season 7 of Trapped History! And have we got a season for you, full to bursting with stories of unexpected heroes and uncharted histories which will inspire you, make you laugh and…
Charlene WhiteGuest
Carla O'ShaughnessyHost
Oswin BakerHost[gentle music] Alford Gardner is born in Kingston, capital of Jamaica, in 1926.
He's the fourth child of 11.
He's got seven sisters and three brothers, and his dad, Egbert, was an army volunteer in the British West Indies Regiment.
But he doesn't really tell Alford much about his time in the army, and so by the time Alford is born, his father has been demobbed and is a respected policeman in Jamaica and also a strict disciplinarian to his children.
Alford's mother, Lavinia, is very community-minded.
She doesn't have any formal medical training, but she's an unofficial neighborhood nurse.
She's also a talented seamstress and makes sure all the children are well-dressed.
Alford is bright.
He's clever.
He does well at school.
I've never quite understood why there's only one R in all of that, to be honest.
[laughs]
Um, but, but tellingly, uh, he's not particularly interested in learning about English history, the only history on offer.
As he asks himself, and I quote, "Why should I learn about long-dead English kings and queens?" Amen to that.
It's at the age of 15 that Alford and his family and his sisters, they all move to St James to a home with the idyllic name of Sunnyside Cottage.
Alford describes it like this.
"It was the most beautiful place on Earth.
Every morning I woke up with a smile on my face, opened the curtain, and let the beautiful Jamaican sun shine through.
If perfection exists in the world, it's at that little spot in Jamaica where every fruit seems to grow on."
That sounds quite similar to what you've described-
[gentle music] Alford Gardner is born in Kingston, capital of Jamaica, in 1926.
He's the fourth child of 11.
He's got seven sisters and three brothers, and his dad, Egbert, was an army volunteer in the British West Indies Regiment.
But he doesn't really tell Alford much about his time in the army, and so by the time Alford is born, his father has been demobbed and is a respected policeman in Jamaica and also a strict disciplinarian to his children.
Alford's mother, Lavinia, is very community-minded.
She doesn't have any formal medical training, but she's an unofficial neighborhood nurse.
She's also a talented seamstress and makes sure all the children are well-dressed.
Alford is bright.
He's clever.
He does well at school.
I've never quite understood why there's only one R in all of that, to be honest.
[laughs]
Um, but, but tellingly, uh, he's not particularly interested in learning about English history, the only history on offer.
As he asks himself, and I quote, "Why should I learn about long-dead English kings and queens?" Amen to that.
It's at the age of 15 that Alford and his family and his sisters, they all move to St James to a home with the idyllic name of Sunnyside Cottage.
Alford describes it like this.
"It was the most beautiful place on Earth.
Every morning I woke up with a smile on my face, opened the curtain, and let the beautiful Jamaican sun shine through.
If perfection exists in the world, it's at that little spot in Jamaica where every fruit seems to grow on."
That sounds quite similar to what you've described-
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