We Love The Internet

This week, Harrison has returned to Chris’ topic from episode 23, famous idioms and where they come from. Ever wondered why we talk about Crocodile tears, running amok, winning hands down or turning a blind eye? Well listen to this episode and wonder no longer!

Chris meanwhile discovers the incredible story of Diamond Rock, a few kilometres off the coast of the Caribbean island of Martinique which is a part of France. During the Napoleonic Wars, the British Navy took it upon itself to take over the tiny rock, commission it as a stone frigate (a land-based naval facility) and station cannons all over it. Due the location of the rock, it meant the British sailors stationed on there spent 17 months harrying any enemy shipping attempting to head to Martinique. When the French and Spanish finally sent a combined fleet to deal with the pesky British sailors, they took heavy losses and sailed away when they heard Nelson was in the area hunting for them.

The best bit? When the British Navy commissioned the location, it turned into HMS Diamond Rock, which all Royal Navy ships are required to salute when the pass. We love the British and their arcane ways!

This week on the internet, Chris learns about the time when a Soviet air force pilot defected to Japan with an at the time state of the art MiG-25 that the Americans and their allies were desperate to get their hands on. From flying blind, to landing at a civilian airport with too short a runway to accommodate the warplane through the Japanese finally crating up and sending back the fighter jet and charging the Soviets for the pleasure. This story has it all!

Harrison meanwhile discovers three costly construction cock-ups! The first building created a death ray that caused havoc on the streets of London as cars were slightly melted and one man’s welcome mat was slightly scorched. Then there is the New York skyscraper that could have toppled over, had an engineering student not realised that the designers had messed up their maths. Finally the airport in Berlin that was delayed for nearly 10 years because of thousands of problems and finally opened right in the middle of the Coronavirus lockdown!

In this episode, Harrison learns about the historic character, Lord Timothy Dexter. Dexter was either a lucky eccentric or a man who knew just what he was doing and had a longing to be accepted by American high society. Despite investing hugely in goods that many people thought were completely pointless and would undoubtedly lose him money, Dexter always seemed to come out on top, earning huge amounts of money. He never found the social acceptance he craved so badly though.

Chris meanwhile discovered the lives of three women who really should be more famous than they are. From Agent 355 who was a spy during the American Revolutionary War between American and Britain, to Hedy Lamarr who was a Hollywood actress and the “Mother of WiFi” to Violet Jessop who managed to survive three significant ships sinking, including the RMS Titanic. These women aren’t known to the majority of people, but really should be!

On this week's episode, Chris has found out about some of the innovations that came from Tuberculosis. It may surprise, or disgust you, to learn how ice cream used to be served. Warning, don't listen whilst eating or before consuming ice cream. We can't be held responsible for the results!

Then Harrison has been learning about the worst of the worst of Roman Emperors. Lots of murdering, spending huge amounts of money on foolish things, ego the size of mountains and lots and lots of sexy time. What more could you ask?

This week Harrison found out all about Freeborn John Lilburne, a stubborn son of a gun that Chris has decided is his new hero. As well as taking a castle after his superior officer told him not to, he was thrown in jail many many times, often after the court had released him on the promise that he’d keep out of trouble. He didn’t. He fought for the rights of thee people, standing up for what he called their freeborn rights. The right to keep silent and not incriminate yourself being prime among them. If you’re recently heard the “Miranda Rights” on a tv show or movie, you have John to thank for them!

Chris meanwhile learnt about the fire that burnt down the British Parliament in 1834. Various architects had warned for years that if a fire started in Parliament, it would almost certainly rage out of control. Of course no one listened and that’s exactly what happened when the Clark of Works ordered that a large number of tally sticks be burned on 16 October 1834. The fire might have been stopped if only someone had paid attention to the heat and smoke rising into the House of Lords from the furnaces below the floor…

In this episode Chris learns about a cyber-attack that occurred in France in 1834. Whilst computers didn’t exist at the time, the French government did utilise a network of towers called the ‘Semaphore Network’ to relay messages across the country. At the time sending letters via horses and carriages was the norm so the semaphore network was an incredible invention that enabled messages to be sent at incredible speed. However, just like any technology, people have a way of corrupting it. In this case, a couple of brothers managed to make it work for them, making them lots of money in the process.

Harrison meanwhile discovers a number of bomb scares with happy endings. You might not consider bomb scares to be funny experiences, but sometimes it turns out that way. What if it wasn’t really a WWII bomb that the old man found in his garden or a grenade on a path in the woods. Tune in to find out now!

Harrison and Chris decided to try another mini-facts episode, after the success of the last one during episode 50.

This time, the boys range from Marie Curie’s radioactive belongings through the small farming town of Quincy, Florida that at one time was the richest place in the United States per capita to why Queen Elizabeth can’t sit on the Game of Thrones Iron Throne. It’s spectacular stuff so listen now to laugh your way through 20 completely random facts!

Chris finds out about 35 horrific axe murders that happened in the American south in the early 1910s. The febrile rumours that spread at the time say they involved a Voodoo priestess, a reverend and the Church of Sacrifice. But was the real killer ever found…?

Harrison meanwhile discovers an incredible airline hijack in 1970. A bunch of Japanese students that were members of the Red Army Faction of the Communist League tried to fly the plane to Cuba. The only problem was they hijacked a regional jet that could never make it across the Pacific Ocean. Not to be outdone, they demanded the plane was flown to North Korea and that’s when the real drama started.

This week Harrison learns about Devil’s Porridge, the name given to Cordite by Arthur Conan Doyle. Cordite was instrumental to success on the front lines during World War One, and with all of the men on the front line, the dirty and dangerous work fell on the women. Production had to be done by hand and often resulted in accidents and death.

Then Chris has learnt about the night of the horrified sheep, in fact, two nights! Mysteriously, in the middle of the night, thousands of sheep absolutely lost their shit, and no one is entirely sure why. Of course, that didn’t stop several people putting forward their own theories, including thick darkness!

Chris learns all about “Mad” Jack Churchill who was a British Army officer during World War II. Jack is famous for playing his bagpipes on the front-lines and taking out a German solider with his longbow. Jack passed away peacefully at home at the age of 89 years old in 1996, but what a life he led!

Harrison meanwhile discovered the impact that Margaret Hamilton had on NASA. Margaret was the first recognised software engineer in the 1960s and blazed a trail in the computing industry, especially at a time when hardware was considered far more important than software.