In short
QI’s Little Fish episode where hosts read listener-submitted “facts,” riff on them, and connect them to odd naming, timing, biology, history, and trivia. Key claims/examples: Argonne National Lab is surrounded by Waterfall Glen (named after Seymour Waterfall, whose “waterfalls” aren’t true waterfalls). A “double-headed” fact: in 2012 Niles Gammons was arrested for drunk driving by the same cop an hour apart at 1:08am (daylight-savings “longest hour” joke). Typing latency: character appears ~200 ms after keystroke; undersea cable ~50 ms. Tennis quirk: Alcaraz vs Sinner played 16 times since 2021; points tied at 1651 each. Fur seals show unihemispheric sleep in water; mobbing helps them survive great whites.
Notable examples
tomato/potato distrust as nightshade relatives; Abraham Lincoln hiding documents in his stovepipe hat; 1952 Great Smog where blind people guided sighted people.
Guests (hosts)
James Harkin, Daniel Schreiber, Andrew Hunter-Murray (no external guests; guests are listener fact-submitters).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOExploring the Argonne National Lab
2:08 to 2:36
Discussion about the Argonne National Lab and its surroundings, including the Waterfall Glen forest.
“This is actually a very nice, rare example of a double-headed fact.”
Daylight Savings Driving Mishaps
2:36 to 3:24
A humorous fact about a man arrested twice for drunk driving due to daylight savings time.
“It's named after a forest The Argonne Forest Not the chemical element Anyway Actually that is not the main fact Oh really?”
Lag in Character Display vs. Data Transmission
3:24 to 5:38
Delve into the surprising fact about the lag in character appearance on screens compared to data transmission times.
“It really is a whole new show that we're making now that you've forced into our existing show.”
The Naming of Barrie, Ontario
5:38 to 8:00
Discussion on the town of Barrie and the coincidence of its council ward being named after a former councillor, Barry Ward.
“When you type that, it basically comes onto your screen in about 200 milliseconds.”
Newspaper Distribution Practices in America
8:00 to 10:40
Exploration of the unique newspaper practices in America where different newspapers were bundled together.
“It's a website about Barrie Oh, okay It's not a newspaper or anything like that Well, I think it's a news website What's the difference these days?”
Tennis Statistics and Point Distribution
10:40 to 12:46
An analysis of tennis statistics focusing on the matches between Alcaraz and Sinner and the quirk of point distribution.
“Daniel Studenmund of Binghamton, New York, writes about the famous mathematician Harold Scott McDonald Coxeter, who we've mentioned on the show before, actually.”
Harold Scott McDonald Coxeter's Quirky Life
12:46 to 14:02
A look into the life and peculiar habits of mathematician Harold Scott McDonald Coxeter.
Paul McCartney's Upside Down Routine
14:02 to 15:12
Explore the quirky routines of Paul McCartney and Dan Brown.
“Cy milk I've got to say That feels like the one rogue element That would not keep you alive That's the toilet visit element isn't it?”
UK's Unique Species
15:12 to 16:15
Learn about the unique species of the UK's overseas territories.
“But also unencumbered by any knowledge about the Beatles.”
Fur Seals and Their Sleeping Habits
17:56 to 19:56
Discover the unique sleeping patterns of fur seals and how they avoid predators.
“Shop the Sherwin-Williams Memorial Day sale and get 30 % off paints and stains May 15th through the 28th.”
Show all 18 chapters
Historical Facts and Their Custodians
19:56 to 21:41
Uncover fascinating historical facts and the stories behind them.
“a load of seals will harass this great white shark as it's coming up and say no no no no no and kind of nibble around this face and it really works it's very brave yeah that's very brave yeah It's amazing.”
The Clitoris and the Tomato's Journey
21:41 to 23:33
Learn about the discovery of the clitoris and the ornamental history of tomatoes.
“I'm not blaming you on any of these people who died in certain houses anymore.”
Abraham Lincoln's Hat and Hidden Treasures
23:33 to 26:39
Hear the intriguing story of what Abraham Lincoln kept in his stovepipe hat.
“Okay, so if you go to the Imperial War Museum, I don't know if you've been, but they have a fantastic exhibition on all the ingenuity and all the amazing innovations for the wars.”
The Decline of Horse Jobs
26:39 to 28:00
Explore the sad decline of jobs that once involved horses in society.
“Alive, right now Actually it's probably Trump and the baseball caps He wears those a lot I've never seen Keir Starmer wearing a hat Macron, no Friedrich Mayer That's no.”
The Era of Horse Jobs
28:00 to 29:02
Learn about the various jobs horses used to have and their decline.
“and your fact now is that monorails were originally horse-drawn.”
Rag and Bone Men: An Urban Memory
29:02 to 29:50
Discover the role of rag and bone men in the community and their history.
“I remember in the 80s, we used to have horses that we'd bring around.”
Industrial Action and its Impact
29:50 to 31:25
Explore the impact of industrial action on children's media in the past.
“Right, okay And then of course there's Rag and Bone Man, the singer Oh yeah But he's not, that's just a name, isn't it?”
Memories of Power Cuts
31:25 to 32:22
Reflect on the memories of power cuts and their significance in society.
“as a decision as opposed to a genuine power cut.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Music, food, art. These things define and unite us. And they come in colors that breathe culture.
0:06Andy Dawson:Colors that connect us with their variety and richness. You'll find that same variety in Valspar Ultra paints. Great coverage and durability starting at$29.98 per gallon. Enjoy everyday protection against scuffs and wear with a smooth, washable finish. We're made of colors. And with Valspar Ultra, you can reflect that pride of culture you have inside on every wall of your home. Available at Lowe's. Chicago talks. A lot. Hold on, let me step over here. People are talking too much. We debate about food, deep dish, tavern style, who's got the best beef. We yell across rooms, across blocks, across generations.
0:44Yes, nice earrings, Grammy. And now we're doing it on our phones, too. Video calls from the L train, group chats that never shut up. Neighbors texting you the score before your TV catches up. Get a load of this guy. Ketchup. On a dog. Yeah, we've got thoughts. because nothing here gets built without conversation. Nothing moves without connection. So if you think you know AT &T, it might be time to rethink that because their network has improved, like a lot,
1:10Andy Dawson:which means Chicagoans can keep speaking their mind with the top-rated fiber internet in the city.
1:15James Harkin:Chicago won't stop talking. Our improved network backs it up. AT &T, connecting changes everything. AT &T Fiber limited availability in select areas. Top-rated and fastest internet. AT &T Fiber, based on analysis by Ooclip's P-Test Intelligence Data 2H 2025.
1:42Andy Dawson:Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Little Fish, the show where we put down our facts and we get the facts that have been sent to podcast and qi.com by you. Andy has gone through the mailbox. He's taken out the very, very best facts that you've sent, and we're going to go through them today. I'm James Harkin. I'm joined by Daniel Schreiber, Andrew Hunter-Murray, and a whole bunch of facts. Who's got one? I've got one. Go for it. This is actually a very nice, rare example of a double-headed fact. So it's one fact, but two people have sent it in. Oh, right. Okay. So there's a place near Chicago The Argonne National Lab Have you heard of it?
2:26It's a nuclear research US research laboratory
2:30Andy Dawson:I'm going to say it straight away It's named by Mr Argonne How did I not see that coming? It's named after a forest The Argonne Forest Not the chemical element Anyway Actually that is not the main fact Oh really? Because my heckles are up for those at the moment and I'm looking out for them wherever I'm going. So there's a forest surrounding the lab, which is called Waterfall Glen, right? No. Oh, geez. Named after Mr. Waterfall or named after someone called Glen? Seymour Waterfall. Okay. Was a local forest commissioner. And apparently the waterfalls are truly rubbish. Like there is water going downwards, but they're not good waterfalls.
3:13And that's because they're not meant to be waterfalls because it's named after Seymour Waterfall. So we're off the blocks.
3:17Andy Dawson:Yeah, very good. You're going to have to do better than that, Andy, I'm afraid. First facts of the show.
3:23James Harkin:I really thought I'd get it nice and fast. Nah. No. It really is a whole new show that we're making now that you've forced into our existing show. It's just... I'm actually a bit worried because we're going to record a drop as a line after this. Yeah. Genuinely, I'd say 30 % of the content people have sent in is just names of things that you think are named for an obvious reason. Yeah. I don't know what we're going to do because we've got too many to make it a good show. Well, if you want to spend your hard, hard-earned money hearing us discuss names, patreon.com slash clubfish, everyone. Can I do a fact?
3:54James Harkin:Yeah, please. A normal one, please. This has been sent in by Stephen Martinez, who says, In 2012, a man named Niles Gammons was arrested for drunk driving in Urbana, Ohio at 1.08am. He was arrested and released on bail. An hour later At 1.08am The same cop arrested the same man For drunk driving Daylight Savings Daylight Savings It's always the criminal Daylight Savings
4:25Andy Dawson:Daylight Savings cop Only comes out twice a year To deal with Little things like this That's really good It's the longest hour The second series is the shortest hour It doesn't exist. It just doesn't do anything. It's just him asleep.
4:43James Harkin:And you play the same episode twice, right after each other. That's brilliant. On the hour. Is it shot from different angles, like Rashomon? Oh, like Back to the Future 2. Like, does he see himself? Or Kurosawa's masterpiece, Rashomon? Yeah, yeah. I mean, we've all got a cultural Overton window, haven't we? Wow. Yep. Okay. Slam on Zemeckis, who delivered one of the greatest series ever. It's a brilliant film, Back to the Future 2. Thank you. And you're one as well, I'm sure.
5:10Andy Dawson:Okay, here's a fact from Eric. Eric says, despite the absurd difference in distances, it takes four times longer for a character to appear on your screen after you tap your keyboard than it takes to send that keystroke across the Atlantic. Oh, wow. So when you say a character, I was thinking like daylight saving cop. Yeah, a letter. Yeah, a letter, or a number, in fact, or a symbol. When I type that. When you type that, it basically comes onto your screen in about 200 milliseconds. And that's because there's a load of, according to Eric, invisible code that happens between your finger and the screen.
5:52Andy Dawson:So it has to basically, it's not just you press that and your screen automatically knows what you're pressing. It has to turn the press into some zeros and ones, which then goes into your computer, which then turns it into the actual character itself. Yes. And you're saying that goes across the Atlantic? That goes from your finger to your computer in about 200 milliseconds. But just for the information to go across the Atlantic in an undersea cable, it takes about 50 milliseconds. Wow. Stunning. Which is amazing. I've never noticed a lag after typing H. Well, the reason is your reaction time is longer than 200 milliseconds.
6:32Andy Dawson:people have done like tests online where you kind of check people's reaction times and it seems like the average is about 273 milliseconds so anything quicker than that is kind of pointless okay there's no point going faster than that because no one unless you're like a formula one driver or an elite gamer in which case your reaction time might be about 100 milliseconds admittedly elite gamers do use computers quite a lot yeah yeah are they better at responding to emails and Formula One drivers. They would be better. They would notice the email arrived quicker. Yes, it does find me well. Thank you.
7:06You know. Do you want another one? Yeah. This one comes from Natalie from Toronto, who says, I just paused in my workday because I came across this fantastic fact and had to send it your way. There's a town in Ontario called Barry, right?
7:22Andy Dawson:It's not named after someone called Barry, is it?
7:24James Harkin:No, no, no. You see what you've done to yourself. to see who you've become on the show. And it's got different council wards in it. You know, a ward is a little administrative area. And in Barrie, it looks like it's just Ward 1, 2, 3 and 4. So anyway, there's a ward called Ward 4 in the town of Barrie. And the former Ward 4 councillor for Barrie is a guy called Barry Ward. Yeah. And I looked up Mr. Ward and he's a regular contributor to Barrie Today. Barrie Today? Yeah. It's about the town of Barrie, not about people called Barrie
7:58Andy Dawson:What is Barrie today? Is it an online thing? It's a website about Barrie Oh, okay It's not a newspaper or anything like that Well, I think it's a news website What's the difference these days? You know what I read about today? This is the reason I ask you In America, they used to have a lot of newspapers where you could only buy them if you bought another newspaper which this newspaper was inside of So you know if you get like a Sunday broadsheet newspaper in the UK it will have supplements in yeah well in america for some of them the supplement would be an actual different newspaper and they wouldn't even be related to each other your normal newspaper that you buy might be a right-wing newspaper and the supplement one might be a left-wing one and it was because basically there was a problem with like newspapers were dying out in the 70s obviously they're still struggling but in america they came up with some new laws that meant that people would share printing presses and share printing costs and so one newspaper would print it but they would be forced to print another newspaper as well and put it inside their paper.
8:59That's really clever because if you live in a little town maybe all the copies of the Times that go here also have the Barry Gazette for example. Yes exactly.
9:08Andy Dawson:It's really clever and also for some people they liked it because it meant that you get different viewpoints so if you get the Daily Mail and the Guardian at the same time then you can see different parts of it but the last one of them which is in Las Vegas I think is about to shut down because there's some legal thing going on right now It's a shame Natalie from Toronto has a bit of praise for you James Thank you Was it about that fact that I just said? It wasn't but it was about your Toronto knowledge Toronto you mean? We do in fact pronounce the city Toronto I was very impressed that he knew that And my accent is so strong That I've had to change my pronunciation to Toronto When talking to British people In order for them to understand me How interesting I've never been to Toronto But I've just heard people You sound like you're born and bred there
9:55James Harkin:all right well let's move away from praise for james let's get to another fact here this is from jonathan hughes who writes this may be a good fact for james thank you jonathan i'm actually liking what this show's become now uh this is a sort of complicated tennis fact um which it is kind of interesting since 2021 carlos alcaraz and yannick sinner have played each other 16 times on tour alcaraz has won 10 of the matches and sinner six alcaraz has won 26 sets and sinner has won 23 sets and in that time they've played 3 302 points so who's won more points andy uh if alcaraz has won more games 10 6 i would presume alcaraz has won more points both tied on the exact same points 1 651 and it's exactly it's exactly and it's the quirk of tennis that that can happen like i you play tennis James and you play tennis Andy plays it more than I do yeah and the other one yeah um the other Andy Murray yeah I didn't mean Anna and the other one she's really good she's really good at tennis yeah but you can you could effectively have a very close game but lose it six love six love right it's just that you might have gone down
11:09Andy Dawson:to a yeah exactly the same happens in all sports I would say like in snooker for instance you can lose lots of really close frames but then win ones where you win by 100 points yeah uh or in football even your goal difference you could be right at the top of the table but have a negative goal difference because all the games you've won were 1-0 but all the ones that you've lost with 0-10 yeah yeah yeah sounds like that player sinner is the prisoner of alcaraz
11:38yeah yeah yes yes you i don't know anymore but because sometimes when i make a joke it goes
11:43Andy Dawson:really badly i actually think andy that you would be perfect in like um a tabloid sports department i would yeah because you're not going to get bogged down with knowledge you can just go for the puns without like worrying about whether they make sense or not absolutely in this case it made
12:01James Harkin:perfect sense it made perfect sense i would be flipping immediately to your article and barry today just to get that murray gold thank you well that's very nice oh thank you let's have let's Yeah, enough compliments about Andy.
12:15Andy Dawson:Daniel Studenmund of Binghamton, New York, writes about the famous mathematician Harold Scott McDonald Coxeter, who we've mentioned on the show before, actually. But he said he was named, so not to be mistaken for a ship. He was very nearly named Harold McDonald Scott Coxeter, or HMS Coxeter, but they decided to flip around his middle name, so he's not HMS, he's HSM. and daniel says he wanted to give coxie to some love after you rudely mispronounced his name in the episode of little fish and i think i might have done it again guys it must be coxeter cox i guess so that's so weird i had a fact about ship naming oh yeah that i didn't mention just now which is that barry the town yeah is named after an English general called Robert Berry who commanded a ship called HMS Cockburn I suspect Coburn and also HMS Brilliant which is a nice name for a naval ship I think HMS Brilliant Can I tell you more about Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter?
13:24Andy Dawson:Yes So I went on to his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and here is a paragraph from the end of his article a gaunt bird-like ascetic looking man he attributed his longevity to his vegetarianism standing on his head even at the age of 90 for 15 minutes each morning a daily exercise regime of 50 press-ups a nightly cocktail of Kahlua peach snaps and soya milk and an abiding fascination with his subject how interesting what a guy what a guy Kahlua peach snaps coffee liqueur isn't it Coffee, peach and what kind of milk? Cy milk I've got to say That feels like the one rogue element That would not keep you alive That's the toilet visit element isn't it?
14:12Andy Dawson:That could be why humans have never lived past like 120 Because this is the trick But no one can stomach the Kahlua peach That's the cy milk
14:20James Harkin:Paul McCartney stands on his head for five minutes every day as well Does he? Yeah Lightweight Lightweight Yeah I've never tried it Is it as good for you to stand on your head as it is to hang upside down? Which I know is good for you. Is it? I think so. I think Dan Brown does it, doesn't he? He used to do it to alleviate the writer's block that he had, right? Right. He would hang by upside down boots from a pole. I don't know if that was just author fluff to... Might have been author fluff. Yeah, it feels like it. To make his interviews better. But you think Paul McCartney does do it? Yeah, he does it for at least five minutes.
14:52James Harkin:That's all I get to see before I'm dragged out of his garden. But he's definitely clocked five. And what does he do?
14:58Andy Dawson:Does he have like boots holding him upside down or does he use his wings? See, I know the signs now. After 12 years, I've learned, give James enough rope. But also unencumbered by any knowledge about the Beatles.
15:15James Harkin:That's what's most surprising. You've made more Beatles gags on our show than anyone else and you've never heard them. James has memorized a list of all the Beatles songs.
15:25Andy Dawson:I've done that for so many different subjects Just in case it comes up Quite right Shall I give you another one? Yes This is from Dan Gudgeon Over 90 % of the UK's unique species Don't live in the UK What? Riddle me this What do you mean by unique? As in endemic to here
15:45James Harkin:90 % Okay so British territories? Yeah it's just overseas territories in the UK Where have we still got? Where's Britain still got? Oh, loads of places List them, give me one St Helena
15:59Andy Dawson:Isle of Man
16:01James Harkin:Falklands Chagos still Although we haven't signed the deal yet
16:05Andy Dawson:The Silly Isles Yeah I don't know if these are all territories As opposed to dependencies Or crown dependencies Like there are all sorts of categories But the UK's overseas territories Are around the world And some of them are You know, a tiny squib of land But then a huge bit of ocean around that Australia Australia Commonwealth Thank you for listening everyone
Read the full transcript
16:27Andy Dawson:We are hoping to tour there again We are Yeah but it's from the Government website the biodiversity there Yeah really good I found some species which exist Only in these overseas territories Kangaroo
16:44The Virgin Islands Mute Frog The Broad Nose Seven Gill Shark The Ascension. Named after Andrew Broadnose, of course. That's right. And Stephanie Sevengill. They were a married couple of... It's a double barrel name.
17:01Chicago talks. A lot. Hold on, let me step over here. People are talking too much. We debate about food, deep dish, tavern style, who's got the best beef. We yell across rooms, across blocks, across generations. Yes, nice earrings, Grammy. And now we're doing it on our phones too. Video calls from the L train, group chats that never shut up. Neighbors texting you the score before your TV catches up. Get a load of this guy. Catch up on a dog. Yeah, we've got thoughts. Because nothing here gets built without conversation. Nothing moves without connection. So if you think you know AT &T, it might be time to rethink that.
17:39Because their network has improved, like, a lot. Which means Chicagoans can keep speaking their mind with the top-rated fiber internet in the city.
17:46James Harkin:Chicago won't stop talking. Our improved network backs it up. AT &T, connecting changes everything. AT &T Fiber, limited availability in select areas. Top rated and fastest internet. AT &T Fiber, based on analysis by Uklah, Speed Test Intelligence, data 2H, 2025. Shop the Sherwin-Williams Memorial Day sale and get 30 % off paints and stains May 15th through the 28th. Whether you're refreshing your interior or exterior, we've got the colors to bring your vision to life. And with delivery, getting everything to your door is easier than ever. Shop online to have it delivered or visit your neighbourhood Sherwin-Williams store.
18:23Click the banner to learn more. Retail sales only. Some exclusions apply. See store for details. Delivery available on qualifying orders.
18:33Andy Dawson:OK, I've got one more here. This is from Mr. Geeky. And Mr. Geeky says, as you almost certainly know, many sea creatures have unihemispheric sleep. That is, one half of the brain sleeps while the other one remains awake. Yeah, we all knew that, right? Dolphins. Dolphins. Come on, guys. Most land mammals sleep with their whole brains at once. Humans, for instance. But Mr. Geeky says fur seals do unihemispheric sleep when in water and full brain sleep when on land. What? Wow. That's so cool. Isn't it? So they've got no predator. Oh, they have predators. In one place. In the water. Yeah. So that's why they're harsh Killer whales eat them don't they But then they're safe on land so they can have a full night's sleep Gosh And actually like tourists in South Africa Will go and see these fur sharks Being eaten by great White sharks Can you say fur seals?
19:32Andy Dawson:Fur seals what did I say? Fur sharks
19:37Andy Dawson:Kind of cute actually That's a trick isn't it You get close enough to stroke them and they'll have your hand off Fur seals yeah if you go into south africa you can see the great white sharks eating them and that's because it's the majesty of nature people like to see this obviously it's not great for the seals yeah but they have come up with a new way of dealing with it called mobbing and basically a load of seals will harass this great white shark as it's coming up and say no no no no no and kind of nibble around this face and it really works it's very brave yeah that's very brave yeah It's amazing.
20:15Seals are braver than I thought they were.
20:16Andy Dawson:I think the thing is with them is like it's either that or you get eaten. Yeah. Yeah. I'd be tempted to just sort of distance myself from the group. Or hang out with a slower seal. Exactly. Yeah.
20:27James Harkin:But where are you? If you're away from the group, you're susceptible to have no one help you. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to be in the middle of the group.
20:34Andy Dawson:Yeah. This is why I was fired from that union.
20:40Andy Dawson:and arthur scargill has got himself another enormous pay rise more biting satire okay that is enough of your facts as amazing as they are every i say this all the time but your facts are so good we can't help but be excited when they come into the inbox and so send us some more send them to podcast at qi.com and andy will winnow out the best for the next episode of little fish but we must do one more thing and that is hand out custodianship of some of our facts to people who are members of the friend of the podcast tier on patreon so dan can you give us a fact
21:21James Harkin:please okay here we go this fact is now under the custodianship of laurel evans and your fact is that in 1710 the boys of winchester college rioted over insufficient beer rations very nice very good and it'll be it's presented as a nice story now but they'll probably have killed and eaten three teachers eight groundskeepers yes i went to winchester i visited winchester college quite recently did you yeah yeah well i went past i didn't go in okay um but it's very it's obviously it's one of the oldest sort of posher schools there is yeah it's right next to the house where I think Jane Austen died.
21:57James Harkin:I'm not blaming you on any of these people who died in certain houses anymore. Not after Rod Hullgate. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, that's a good point. Did she definitely die there? I didn't even know that she definitely died. She might still be trading. Not sure. Let's have another one. Well anyway, so you drove past it. I walked past it. Great story. It's a good...
22:20Andy Dawson:You gotta up your game now Anna's back, Andy. She will not suffer these half-anecdotes. She won't accept these in the way that we do that's fair let's have another fact how about this one this one goes out to julie king humphries terrific name and your fact now julie forever is that the first man to discover the clitoris in 1559 was colombo yes was this your fight this was my fact yeah i
22:48James Harkin:think we did this a live show i feel like an up the creek memory coming into my head as it were Could have been. Could be so. How did you find it?
22:57Andy Dawson:Was it difficult to find?
23:02James Harkin:I sometimes forget that when you ask me a question, it's pointless what I'm saying in between. I don't even listen to the answers. It's just fluff to get you to where you need to be. James is playing tennis against the wall here. You can't win. Yeah. Yeah, good fact. He was an old scientist, wasn't he? Columbo. Okay.
23:22Andy Dawson:here is another fact this one now is under the custodianship of matt janoway matt your fact is that for 200 years after the tomato reached england they were grown entirely for ornamental reasons funny yeah because they're a member of the nightshade family yes so we had nightshades in europe which were very poisonous the tomato came over and when it's growing it looks like it might be one of these poisonous plants so we thought it might be poisonous as well yeah and no one really trusted it i mean reasonably right yeah completely was the same true of potatoes as well yeah the same family so it's potato and potato and tomato and tomato were all thought to be unsafe well just the two that are actual words oh yeah yeah yeah you know those aren't four things right i i keep being upsold at the supermarket i'm just trying to buy tomatoes but they sell me tomatoes they're twice the price but they are imported from america so
24:18James Harkin:All right, let's get to another one Congratulations, Sally Baker Because you are now the custodian of The fact that NASA is planning on giving the moon A moon This was another one of my facts And I guess this was so long ago I don't know if it's now got a new moon I think we would have heard NASA went a bit quiet for a while But they've come roaring back
24:40Andy Dawson:So I imagine they're still working on it When the astronauts went to the moon very recently Do we know which one they went to? This one goes out to Mark Waddy And it's that the man who played Sherlock Holmes Basil Rathbone Spent the First World War Dressed as a tree Basil Rathbone Very famous actor Most famous for being Sherlock Holmes And during the First World War He needed to be crawling towards enemy lions For reconnaissance purposes So I think he was a moving tree What is the point at that point?
25:14James Harkin:Okay, so if you go to the Imperial War Museum, I don't know if you've been, but they have a fantastic exhibition on all the ingenuity and all the amazing innovations for the wars. And you can see that tree there. The idea was that during night, they went and cut down an existing tree and they'd remodeled it so that in the daylight it was still there. But it was this new hollow tree and they would have soldiers in there. And yeah, so you can see a tree in that museum, which is very, very clever.
25:43Andy Dawson:Okay, here is another fact. This one is now under the custodianship of Oliver Porter. Oliver, your fact is that Abraham Lincoln hid important documents in his stovepipe hat.
25:55James Harkin:I love this fact. It's such good storage space that just no one would ever think of. How did we not just naturally know that he did that?
26:02Andy Dawson:I think what's great about it is because we all associate him so much with that hat. And just to learn that there was an extra thing that was happening under there is really exciting. But I think, did he not always wear his hat Or was it that he didn't always have a beard He only had the beard in the last few years of his life Some child wrote to him saying You'd look quite nice with a beard And he grew it I think that's it, but no I think the hat was For a while And he was like 6 foot 5 or something He was a tall guy And then he had the hat on top of it He must have been about 7 foot tall with the hat Yeah it must have been awful Do you think?
26:37Andy Dawson:Well just getting through doors Yeah You're the president aren't you So you can probably have the door rebuilt I think instead of building the lintel of the door higher I would make a little ditch at the bottom of the door So that you go lower That's a really good idea Much cleverer Who's the most hatted world leader you can think of these days? Alive, right now Actually it's probably Trump and the baseball caps He wears those a lot I've never seen Keir Starmer wearing a hat Macron, no Friedrich Mayer That's no. Narendra Modi don't think so. No. Putin doesn't. Zelensky doesn't. Yasser Arafat was the first person who came into my head, which shows where my cultural timings come from.
27:22Andy Dawson:James, I'm going to say it. We've just done a main show and we've done this show. The number of references you've made to John Major. I know. Really, really quite old school references. You know what? I've been out of the country for a few weeks and I think it's reset my timing. so I've forgotten about all of modern culture. It's like you've had a bonk on the head. There's only one answer for that. It's another bonk on the head. Come here. No, you see, the problem is, in my 1980s and 90s mindset, bonk means having sex with someone. Yeah, what do you think? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's what Andy suggested.
27:58James Harkin:Another fact? Yes. This one is going out to Dayton Keneally, and your fact now is that monorails were originally horse-drawn. Very nice. This was my horse jobs period of No Such Thing as a Fish. What was that? I was obsessed over the number of jobs that horses used to have that slowly went out. They used to do everything, didn't they? They used to carry vacuum cleaners everywhere. They used to be used in theater when they'd run on treadmills. You know, there was a lot of horse jobs back in the day. Yeah. It's sad now.
28:31Andy Dawson:Yeah, now you just see them. If you go to, like, one of those farms that children are allowed to feed the animals to see them there. And occasionally in horse racing, but we don't really agree with that. No.
28:42James Harkin:Any more horse jobs you want to talk about? I can't remember. I thought I had a lot of horse jobs, but I can't remember them now. It's very weird. You just mentioned the three that were in the archive. Oh, wow. Okay. You've got perfect recollection of headline facts and then supplementary facts coming off the back of it. I just remember my horse job period. No one else does. No one thinks, oh, that classic bit of fish where Dad just talked about horse jobs for 18 months. That didn't happen.
29:02Andy Dawson:I remember in the 80s, we used to have horses that we'd bring around. What do you call those people who would collect old bits of iron and stuff? Oh, rag and bone men. Rag and bone men. Around where I used to live, you used to have horses taking those guys. You did? Yes. In your memory? In the 80s, yeah, yeah. Your living memory? Yes. Rag and bone men. Absolutely. I'll tell you what, as well, we had rag and bone men when I was in my 20s in Bolton. What? Yeah, yeah. They were mostly like when the traveling community would come in And they would come round the ginnels And just ask if we had any bits But they would shout Rag and Bone That's stunning I didn't think Rag and Bone was still trading that late I also said it was in the 40s, 50s Yeah, I mean they were definitely They were on the way out They weren't recruiting heavily, were they?
29:50Andy Dawson:Right, okay And then of course there's Rag and Bone Man, the singer Oh yeah But he's not, that's just a name, isn't it? No, that was his original job. Get out. No, it's not.
30:08James Harkin:That's very good. Have you been on a horse, Andy? I know James has. I have been on a horse. Do you know what? I've been on a horse the same number of times James has, which is once. Same here. All right. Guys, just don't go on about it all the time.
30:21Andy Dawson:One last one, Andy. Yes. This one goes out to Marker Anderson, the great smog of 1952 was so bad that blind people led sighted people home from the train station.
30:34James Harkin:Really good. Isn't that amazing? Oh yeah. It's because the air used to be so filthy in London and there were these increasingly severe smogs over the 40s and 50s. Yeah. I think 1952 was when it got so bad that no one could see anything for about three days. Yeah. Pee supers. Pee supers, exactly. Yeah. And just like people were falling into the Thames and it was really bad. You know, people were having a horrible time of it. And I think that's when they thought maybe we shouldn't burn coal right in the middle of the city. Maybe we should move it out. I was reading Michael Palin's diaries recently, and while they were doing Python, there was huge electricity cuts due to union things.
31:08James Harkin:And so it's all these tales of while they're writing that everyone would be writing by candlelight in 1969 slash 70. Can I just say there was a lot of power cuts when I was a kid as well? Yeah, but I don't know. For some reason, that feels weird to me that London would be going through that in the 70s. as a decision as opposed to a genuine power cut. They were turning it off as a matter of action. I see. When they did the three-day week, maybe. James, what was the general strike like?
31:37Andy Dawson:There was definitely strikes going on when I was a kid. I remember all the kids' TV shows, they would stop being shown during the summer holidays because there was industrial action and they'd just show other crap instead. Why? As in children also have to suffer through this industry. There's no reason why you guys should get to watch Rainbow while we're having a hard time. I just have really solid memories of not being able to watch cartoons because there was industrial action happening in the country. Mr. Ben, he was in the union. Yeah, he was in all the unions.
32:09James Harkin:That's the best Mr. Ben joke you hear on a modern British podcast. I have no idea what that means, but it's about you're in the presence of greatness, I assure you. It sounded awesome.
32:20Andy Dawson:Okay, guys, that is enough. That is enough of our facts, and of course enough of your facts for the day. We have one more thing to say and that is thank you so much to Marka, Dayton, Oliver, Mark, Sally, Matt, Julie, Laurel and Katie. Thank you so much for becoming custodians and thank you for becoming friends of the podcast. We really do appreciate anyone who goes onto our Patreon and joins on any level and even the people who come and join up for free. It's a really good way to support the podcast but another way to support the podcast is listening and coming back on Friday for a new episode.
32:53Andy Dawson:So for now, it's goodbye from me. It's goodbye from Andy. Bye. And it's goodbye from Dan Schreiber. Oh, yes. Goodbye. We will see you again on Friday. Bye. A lovely tribute to the two Ronnies there who you will remember very well, James. I do remember them well.
From the publisher
Dan, James and Andy discuss YOUR facts, including reaction times and daylight saving times. We learn why Andy doesn't fancy the secret to everlasting life. And we name eight more Friend of the Podcast fact custodians.
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