Answer Me This! - AMT302: Supermarket Sweep, Pet Funerals and Paperboys

Episode Date: November 13, 2014

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Who knew the revolution began with my bookie Wook? That's who we this, that's who we this Our old Disney cruise is captain by Captain Hook That's who we this, that's who we this Helen and Ollie, that's who we this I love Rock Circus, keep emailing me your stories about going there I can't get enough of it If that was their official song,

I cannot believe that place is no longer with us. R.I.P. Rock Circus. Most of you said, yeah, I love that too, Ollie. I love that just like you did. And one person said, don't know the fuss. I went when I was a child and I thought it was shit. Yeah, that's why it closed down. I guess ultimately there may be a sort of silent majority

who felt that way. And it's just us vocal minority who were saying, wasn't it great? Yeah, it's like UKIP supporters. Well, this is an email from Wayne who worked at Rock Circus in the mid-90s. What as? Hashtag dream job. Did he sculpt the pop stars? One of his duties was trying to get pop stars to do the Wall of Fame with their hands.

You know, where you put your hands in the cement. And they had that on a wall rather than a pavement. Yeah, yeah, they did. He was trying to get Bowie for 10 years. Couldn't get him in. Even during the low Bowie years? Yeah. The Lowies?

Yeah, yeah. What did they do with all those hands, I wonder? They must have auctioned them off when they deconsecrated Rock Circus. Yeah, and could you fill them with silicon and then make a Bowie hand mould and sell it on eBay? Come on, touch yourself.

Yeah. You'd only have his palms, though. You wouldn't have the back of his hand. I think that's enough for some people, isn't it? I guess so. I know at least one person that'd pay quite a lot of money for that. Anyway, Wayne worked at Rock Circus in the mid-90s. He says, I have a signed CD of classical violinist Vanessa May

when she came in for the day. That must be worth a lot. Yeah, I reckon I could probably get a signed CD of Vanessa May off eBay for less than it cost me to travel to what was Rock Circus for the day that must be worth a lot yeah i reckon i could probably get a signed cd of vanessa may off ebay for less than it cost me to travel to what was rock circus for the day he says i was chaperoned to bob geldof when he came in to promote live aids 10th anniversary he asked for decaf coffee which we didn't have so i went looking for a shop around piccadilly circus that sold decaf coffee at 10 a.m on a sunday morning now i think in the mid 90s that was probably quite tricky really difficult i think what you could do is just serve the caff coffee because he's not going to find out till later is he in the mid 90s asking for a decaf coffee anywhere in britain meant decaf gold blend didn't it whereas as a rock star preference

you think you just want freshly ground coffee in the 90s because even that was a novelty they didn't have that in britain i know even though they had it on the kenko adverts that was just for show yeah it was imagine if you'd ask for soy milk in the mid 90s where would you have to have traveled to get it probably glastonbury japan or new york yeah uh well elsewhere at the opening of this episode helen we've got very exciting news because i've identified the last surviving person working in the newspaper industry. Is it Rupert Murdoch written in? Wow. It's Ollie from Rochdale who says, this morning on my paper round, which I've been doing since I was 13 and I'm 18 now. And they say there are no jobs for life anymore.

I spotted an elderly chap on his paper round this morning. I feel that being 18 would be a very old age to have a paper round and kind of embarrassing. I do understand that yes, it's a bit of extra money for older people, but I associate it as a kid's job. So Helen, answer me this. What is the appropriate age bracket to do a paper round? These days, unemployment is such a big problem amongst all age groups. And particularly, there's a drop off, isn't there? When you reach middle age, the opportunities really dry up. But our paper, when I was growing up, was often delivered by the guy who ran the shop because the paper boys flaked out and didn't turn up. So it could be that. And also, because Oli is an 18 year old, when he says this guy is elderly... Yeah, he probably means 39, doesn't he?

Exactly. So he could well be one of the paperboy's dads. If he is elderly, maybe he just likes to have the chore. He likes the fresh air. He likes the walk. The reasons that it appeals to school children historically, which is you can go to school after the job, that could still appeal to someone who has a full-time job, couldn't it? Get up, do the paper round, and you can still go to work.

Possibly on the way to work. And you've really accomplished a lot before you even get it in. Exactly. There's something quite satisfying about that kind of job, isn't it? Because you know at the end of the shift you've done it. Also, was he definitely delivering the same papers as you? You know, the free sheets could be delivered by a different person to the paper boy who is hired by the newsagents.

Yeah, he could have been delivering My Rochdale News or whatever. You know, one of those free things that looks a bit like a magazine but actually is just full of classifieds. He could have been delivering his own homemade zines about punk subculture of Rochdale. And we're seeing lots more questions, Ollie, arising from your seemingly simple question. Do you think also kids today,

kids today, parents wouldn't let them do a paper round anymore because of the paedophile threat and therefore they have to get adults to do it? If you're on a bike and you've got a newspaper, that's a perfect speed weapon combination to avoid predatory paedophiles. Well, that was essentially the theme of Paperboy the video game. Did you ever play that?

Yeah, I did. It was a great game, wasn't it? What platform were you on? I think I played it on the Spectrum. Uh-huh. I had the Amiga version. Helen, I imagine you were playing it on pen and paper. I had a good time.

All-time high score. Paperboy Factoid, first video game developed in North America. That's a good time. All-time high score. Paperboy Factoid, first video game developed in North America. Ooh, wow. Good noise, thanks for that. Yeah, but it was an arcade machine

made by Atari, but then when they ported it over to NES, they developed it in North America as the first one. Isn't that strange because it's so humdrum?

Yeah, but that's why it was fun. Fun drum. Hi, Helen and Ollie, this is Casey. By the way, people, when you're calling us, sometimes we can't hear your questions, and this is almost one of those times if you're thinking i called in a great question

they haven't used it maybe you were standing in a high wind maybe you were standing there with cotton wool in your mouth like this woman was maybe she called just after having dental surgery what is a buster in the scrubs tlc songs what is a buster as in the TLC song No Scrubs? A scrub is a guy who thinks he's fly also known as a buster. Yeah it's very clear they actually define it for you in the opening lines of the song. It's almost like a thesaurian introduction. Exactly in a way they couldn't be clearer I mean out of all the questions we've ever been asked what is a thing in a song I don't think we've ever before had a song that starts with lyrics telling you exactly what that thing is. Always talking about what he wants and he just sits on his broke ass.

Correct. As they again clarify later in the song, I don't want a guy with no money. See, what bothers me about this song is that there's a mixed message here. Yes. So there's a bit of it which says, I don't want a guy that, like, shakes at me

through the window of a passing car driven by his friend from the passenger side. He can't even drive, probably. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, it's a sexual harasser. No, it's a sexual harasser who can't afford his own car that's the other part it's very acquisitive it is he has to be a man of independent means i think this is the thing we need to uh recontextualize this back in the 90s because this song's 15 years old and although the two statements seem to be contradictory

as martin says you know don't objectify me by shouting at me out of a window but also i only want to go with a guy who's got lots of money yeah she's i do think you know in the sort of spice girls era you could qualify both of those statements as this is female empowerment i get to choose the guy that i want and i want someone who is both not going to objectify me and i'm going to objectify him same era as bills bills bills by destiny's child i want a guy who's got money i want a guy who's not going to slag me off. They seem contradictory now. Why would an independent woman need a man of independent means?

So that he wasn't a sponger. No, but what she's saying is, I want to choose someone because of their material worth, but I want him to choose me because of, as they rap in the song, my spectacular vernacular, not my booty. Even though there's a conflicted messaging on that as well. I don't think that's very feminine.

Because if you look at the video, they're wearing a very early version of wearable tech basically flashing tits and fannies and again mixed messages like I say a lot of bumping and grinding you know here they are

saying value me for my spectacular vernacular and I don't mean to victim blame here but what they're wearing and the wriggling they're doing you know you're sending a message

that actually what you have to show off is your booty yeah but maybe they're not showing it off. They're like, I like to dress this way. And it's none of your business. You know, this song maybe had a strong influence on Cheryl Cole. Because she met her now ex-husband Ashley Cole.

Because he shouted, oi, nice bum, out of a car window at her. Did he? Well, he is a scrub, isn't he? He's wealthy. He's a wealthy scrub. Wealthy scrub. Yeah, so can you be wealthy and a scrub? Yes, you can, Ashley Cole. But they didn't know this was pre ashley cole it was well he was alive yeah obviously but it was before his before his wealth well he would have just been a scrub it

was before his successful shouting out of a car window at a woman yes well here's a question from katie who is very nearly 27 oh it's a good age katie. She says, I've recently switched from wearing foundation to using BB cream. It's a form of tinted moisturiser, she says. OK. So Helen answered me this. What does the BB in BB cream stand for? I imagine it's not the same as BB King. Or BB gun.

It's a blemish balm or blemish base or beauty balm. But why not one of the three identifiably is it this sounds to me like this is a guessing game well yeah because uh these products which have been all the rage in the beauty industry for the last couple of years even though they're not really different to tinted moisturizer but those people have short attention spans and they think it's new uh they came out of south korea and the idea is it kind of does the job of many products in one so moisturizer and a foundation and an spf and it evens out your pores. But really, it doesn't do any of those jobs particularly well.

And also, a lot of the original purpose was to give South Korean women very pale, doll-like porcelain skin. So it had a kind of whitening element. So after about 10 years, they caught on here and were renamed BB to make you look radiant. I keep seeing press releases about makeup vloggers from YouTube. I know we've touched on this before, but Christ, they're everywhere. Why do you care? Their videos are so boring. Why didn't we get into it? I mean, seriously. That would have been really funny.

In January 2007, if we'd have started a makeup tutorial vlog, we'd be massive by now. We'd be so rich. There's one that has her own eyelash range available in Superdrug. All she's done is sit on her arse in her bedroom and show you how to sell them individually and show you how to tint your skin uh there is one drawback to being a beauty vlogger i can't think of one i was i was at a do with a beauty journalist the other night and she just gets shit loads of personalized stuff because the stuff's personalized like when she gets bottles of perfume or something

and they put a photo of her as a baby on it you can't sell it on ebay so if you're getting loads of freebs you can you can flog them but that you can't give it to someone else for christmas maybe your grandma but you'd have to scrub out your name with tippex you are you are making it sound like hell i'm glad we're not beauty vloggers after all. Worst job ever. I've got a question. Email your question. To answer me this podcast at googlemail.com To answer me this podcast at googlemail.com

To answer me this podcast at googlemail.com To answer me this podcast at googlemail.com So retrospectives, what historical events are we ticking off on this week's run of Today in History? On Monday, we bring you the real story of the mutiny on the bounty. On Tuesday, the anniversary of the day somebody invented the meatball, but who? On Wednesday, the iconic British car that ripped off an iconic American car. On Thursday, how American airlines invented air miles.

And on Friday, the UFO sighting that gripped colonial America. We discuss this and more on Today in History with The Retrospectors. Ten minutes each weekday, wherever you get your podcasts. Here's a question from Luke, who was born and raised in Perth, Australia Australia but lives in the UK

just in case you want to map his trajectory from birth to now He says While looking after a friend's hamster, Jet this summer while I was at work Jet decided to pass away The suicidal hamster, really?

I don't think hamsters generally decide that unless life living with you, Luke was so awful that he just thought I'm going to run myself to death I can't bear it anymore. No this is what happened when we looked after the school hamster snoozy and it jumped down the stairs and we had

to buy another one. Did it jump? Well it was a clear leap of intention I don't know it made its way from the top of the stairs to death at the bottom I did not witness the precipitation of that but the net result was the same. Here's Luke's problem with the dead Jet.

As I was looking after Jet at my place, I could not lay him to rest in my garden and it did not feel right to go and dig a hole in my friend's back garden while they were away. I see that issue, yes. I did what I thought was the right thing to do and I put Jet in a shoebox

and placed him in the freezer until they returned. I was not anticipating the deep frozen aspect. I can see why you made that decision though. Two weeks later, upon my friend's arrival back in the freezer until they returned. I was not anticipating the deep frozen aspect. I can see why you made that decision, though. Two weeks later, upon my friend's arrival back in the UK, they came round to collect Jet. Before they got into the house, I explained what had happened and the reason for setting up my pet mortuary.

They seemed okay. It is just a hamster. I mean, it's hard to work up a great emotional attachment. But on the few occasions we've caught up since the summer, they have not been the same. Bit Stephen King-y, this, isn't it? It is. Came back covered in mud and with a strange smell that never went away.

You could write another called Jet Cemetery. I do wonder whether, actually, this isn't to do with their attachment to Jet or your particular behaviour in this instance, but just that when you share death with a friend, it's hard to be jolly next time you see them. It's a strange bond, isn't it? Yeah. I didn't mean for Jet the hamster to die while they were on holiday because Jet decided, but

Ollie, answer me this, was freezing him too much. Well, I understand why you would, because if it was a hot day and you've got two weeks to go, then you would be thinking, I need to present them the animal, but I don't want to present them a festering animal. No, and I can't freeze dry it because I haven't got the equipment. I think you were trying to be compassionate,

and it's obvious looking at the facts that you were, but I think ashes would have been easier to deal with. Yes, but when you take a hamster to be cremated, you're not going to get their ashes back. That's true, but again, it's the symbolism, isn't it? You're saying, I'm truly sorry for your loss. I've done this in a respectful way. Perhaps you could have a little pot made with Jet written on it,

and then you give them that, and it looks nicer than giving them their dead hamster frozen in a shoebox. You could have embalmed the hamster. Could you? Yes. How? Vinegar.

Big kilner jar full of vinegar. Yeah. I think maybe you should have just disposed of the hamster and be like, I'm so sorry, Jet died. It's in a little tiny coffin in the garden. We can disinter Jet if you want the grave somewhere else but i mean realistically who's going to be tending a hamster's grave in their own garden um but yeah you should probably taken it to the vet got them to dispose of it however they respectfully do and given you whatever they

do to person that's ridiculous it's not ridiculous as a hamster yes you don't know their emotional attachment to the hamster it could be that their children were involved and the children are emotionally attached. Yeah, for about an hour. Children get over these things very fast. Well, okay. What you definitely should have done, I think, and yes, this would ruin their holiday for an evening,

but I think it's not your responsibility to avoid this. Text them, ask them what they want. Yeah. Waiting till they get to your house to come and pick up Jet to tell them that Jet is in your freezer is a little bit hard to deal with. You know, that's the thing. You put them on that emotional cable car two weeks after martin and i got back from honeymoon my mum was in a near fatal car crash in the aftermath she was saying oh

i don't know what would have happened if it had happened while you're on honeymoon and if i died we would have just had to not tell you till you got back so we didn't spoil it really really wow because of course that wouldn't have an impact on your life together afterwards would it as a married couple that you enjoyed your honeymoon whilst your mother had died. Yeah. No impact on my relationship with the surviving members of the family

or my attitude towards her. So I know I am now comparing a rodent to a woman, but I do think in the case of hamster and children, it would be up to your friends to decide whether or not to tell the kids that the hamster was dead. But I think you should have told them. I think in future, work out an arrangement before your friends go on holiday and you're left pet sitting say in the event of a fatality do you want to be informed or should

i wait till you get home and if you do want me to dispose of the body please let me know which method you would find acceptable get this in writing well actually coco went into a cattery when we went away in september murdered 14 people and one of the questions on the form it was a really good cattery this where they really prepare you for every outcome belt and braces yeah uh you know they asked do you have pet insurance yes or no we don't so then it said what is the maximum amount you would want to spend on saving your cat's life so in other words it gets a disease while she's and needs because it was a cattery based in a vet it's a bit like blackmail. Shame if anything happens to your cat.

So if she's in there and the vet identifies suddenly she has feline HIV and needs to treat her, what's the maximum you're prepared? And I had to put a figure. What was it? I think I put £1,000. Okay. Because I thought anything over that,

we really would want a phone call to discuss that because the cat's like 11 years old. Yeah yeah how many good years of pleasure have you got left before she starts pissing on the sofa yeah but anything under that i'd be like well i've spent more on the holiday and you know it's my fault that she was in the cat tree when this happened i'd feel responsible so that was the figure i picked but that's a hard you don't think about that figure until someone asks you you could go on another holiday for that grand. Yeah, for the price of one dead, untreated cat. She's just going to die anyway. Why keep pets at all?

They just die on you. They just die unless they're a tortoise, in which case they might outlive you. But I do feel nervous when people that I've asked to look after Coco have to do that whilst I'm on holiday. I feel nervous for the friend and I feel nervous for the animal.

I do. Because you feel responsible because you know that if you were them and something happened to the animal, you'd feel awful. But equally as the owner, you're more devastated about the animal than their feelings when it happens.

Yeah, unless it's a hamster, in which case no one's devastated. Maybe, maybe that's true. Maybe that's true. It's just a tiny jab to the conscience. That's all. Is there, do you think, some implicit suggestion in this email

that they should do the classic comedy thing and replace Jet? Yes. Just replace it and no one would know the difference uh i think they'd know the difference especially if you had a younger hamster that was a lot more sprightly well that would be much worse wouldn't it if you pretended it was the same hamster gave it back and said oh yeah jet's fine really perked up what you should have done was defrost jet just before they got back and pretend that jet had died that day and then they would have had the opportunity themselves to decide what to do.

Yes. Oh, Luke! Yes. The freezer burn's a bit of an issue there. Freezer burn's not a problem if you put it in a proper Ziploc bag. Or just microwave it for a couple of minutes before they get back. On a low setting. Or you could have weekend at Bernie's, did you?

Ladies and gentlemen, We could have weekend at Bernie's, did we? Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the intermission. Brought to you today by Episode 75. Available now from AnswerMeThisStore.com. Bad news now from Tom. He says, a dear friend of mine recently contracted chlamydia. The silent killer. Helen answered me this.

What are the origins of the phrase, the gift that keeps on giving? The things that spark thought in our listeners. Nice link. Could it be an old advertising tagline or something moderately more exciting and edifying? No, it's the former. It's unexciting and unedifying. Yeah, it's from a campaign in the 20s for a phonograph machine. And ironically, a gift that you can no longer buy and probably not many people have.

If you're going to get existential about this, how many things keep on giving indefinitely? I mean, the sun, even that's going to grow cold and die one day, aren't they? I tell you what keeps on giving, a ginger beer plant, because it just grows and grows. You halve it and you give it away to other people, you halve it again, because it's a fungus that just increases all the time. A miracle of broadcasting with you, Helen Zaltzman. I literally don't know

what's coming next out of that break. Honestly. Listeners, please remember that you can send your questions not just via email but also via phone call to the following number. 0208 123 5807

Or as a Skype message to answer me this. And let's hear who's been in touch today. This is Jessie in Zurich. I am 33 and I don't understand Twin Peaks. Answer me this. What am I missing? Is it meant to be overly dramatic? Am I nodding on a joke? What is it I'm not overly dramatic um am i in my nodding on the joke what is it i'm not getting

about twin peaks well let's just set the scene ollie you've not seen twin peaks yeah i'm a uh willing cultural philistine on this i enjoy twin peaks but it's kind of contrary to what i usually enjoy because what you've got in twin peaks you've got a murder mystery in the manner of the killing right a teenage girl I'm saying yes never seen it okay right I didn't even know

there was a murder mystery element yeah that is the central conceit murder mystery and then it's sort of combined with a small town full of eccentrics like you're seeing

Gilmore Girls and just countless American dramas plus soap opera essentially and then on top of that and this is my usual sticking point

weirdness supernatural elements yeah I usually hate supernatural any sniff of that has put me off Twin Peaks, I guess, in the past. And it's very comical for a murder show and then sometimes very scary

and it's quite uneven in quality. Some of the acting is amazing, but then some of the people, you're just like, I can't believe I'm having to sit through this person. Is it on Netflix? It's on American Netflix. See, if it was on Netflix, it didn't cost me any extra money. I'd probably try it.

Because it seems like the sort of thing that I'd have been well into if I were an adult when it came out. Yes. You know, like, it was the sort of early 90s Breaking Bad or Homeland, wasn't it? Yes, yeah. It was a discerning kind of East Village kind of viewer would watch it and I'd have been into that. But now I'd just be asked to discover it.

I don't find it on all of of those series i think they wouldn't really yeah exist things like desperate housewives wouldn't but the thing is if you're expecting like a straightforward narrative where you get like satisfactory conclusions to arcs and if you're expecting consistent acting and easy answers then you're not going to get on with it because you're not going to get any of these but i think I watched it not really knowing what it was about. And I was like, oh, okay then. But after, if you are watching it, after the big reveal, just stop.

What episode is that roughly? It's like halfway through the second series, which is quite a long series. It's not even halfway through, I don't think. I think they thought it was just going to run like a soap opera for years. They didn't want to solve the murder at all, but they were under network pressure to do it because ratings were falling but now they're bringing twin peaks back and and i was like oh that's exciting but also it's probably going to be bad well the thing is

like you say it was very influential it seems to me that particularly david lynch when you look at him because i've seen some of his films i've seen moholland drive yeah and i've seen um uh the elephant man yeah and blue velvet i haven seen, but that was his biggest critical commercial success. And then after that, he decided to make Twin Peaks. In that sense, it was influential in terms of, I presume in Hollywood, he could have gone on to do another big thriller, but he decided to do a TV series

at a time when that would have been seen to be quite an unsexy thing to do. And in fact, Mulholland Drive was reportedly meant to be a pilot for a long like mystical tv series and then the network dropped it and so he made it into a feature so he was kind of ahead of his time in terms of you know being someone creative and interesting in hollywood who wanted to work in telly rather than film but now that is everyone and i think also twin peaks worked for the people it worked and and jesse i'm not saying it has to work for you because it doesn't and it's fine not to like things like i

can't get into the wire and i have tried twice so we've got that out of the way but twin peaks i think wouldn't work if it was done knowingly and i think when it comes back it will be knowing there'll be so many references to things that happened in the past and like sherlock they probably won't be able to help themselves referencing fans on the internet and that's a mistake isn't it i don't think lynch will do that i think he's got i mean he'd make some catastrophic missteps but I don't think he's quite up his own arse about his own mistake. Someone there is going to be thinking what's the bit that's going to go viral and that's a different conversation

to what's the best hour long weird lynching thing. So I think if you're letting David Lynch do this, you're only going to do that with the proviso that you're going to leave him alone to do whatever he wants even if you lose a lot of money. Despite never having seen Twin Peaks, I've got a weird soft spot for it.

Pretty girls in it, undoubtedly. Yeah, you say that. Because when I was at boarding school in prep time, Abigail Levy used to write out of her novelisation of Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me. Oh no! One of the sex scenes, Which was set in a lagoon and she used to pass it around

all the boys at boarding school and it used to give me a hard on when I was 12. Wow. So Twin Peaks fanfic did it for you? Yes, yes. I mean, I didn't, I couldn't,

I didn't even know who the characters were but it was quite an explicit sex scene. It's quite a sexual film but don't watch it people because it's rubbish. In 1993 that... That's all you needed.

Well, it ignited my imagination. Sure did. Yeah. So that's still there, weirdly. I hear the words Twin Peaks and there's still some Pavlovian sizzle. Here is another question of Televisual Entertainment. Maybe Jesse will enjoy this programme more than Twin Peaks.

The question is from Nick from Milton Keynes, who says, my girlfriend and I have been watching supermarket sweep repeats on Challenge TV. Often mentioned in one breath, isn't it, with Twin Peaks as well as the finding TV shows of the 90s. I went around the corner and there was a terrifying spectre and then I died of fright,

as it's the only way to spend a Saturday night. That is not true. They're showing the repeats on Challenge TV, aren't they? Challenge TV is one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me. The other night I was watching Stars In Their Eyes before Matthew Kelly. Who presented it before Matthew Kelly? Leslie Crather. Wow. greatest things that has ever happened to me the other night i was watching stars in their eyes before matthew kelly i didn't even know before matthew kelly leslie craver wow he's the most insincere performer i've ever seen it's really incredible so you're gonna do a song are you the best one for that was david dimbleby when he does his trips around britain you know and

he's just obviously geriatric and tired like not like on question time where he's just there for an hour and he's interested in meeting the deputy prime minister but when they get him like running a steam train or something you can hear in his interviewing style that he's been there for six hours and he actually says oh this is your job is it yeah we uh we pull the lever here and then we twist here and it's just like it was in the 1870s yes isn't it remarkable you do this all day do you i mean literally like literally, like that. Brilliant. Anyway. Well, anyway, Nick says it was all good fun,

but my girlfriend and I disagree as to whether Supermarket Sweep was filmed in an actual supermarket or not. I reckon it was. You're wrong. But my girlfriend reckons it was a large studio made to look like a supermarket. Yeah, and she's obviously right because it's obviously not a supermarket.

I mean, if you look at it, it's got a studio audience in's got ridiculous clapping they ruin everything every episode it would be very impractical to do it in a real supermarket because you'd have to like essentially knock quite a lot of it down so you could put the big cameras in wouldn't you as a format it goes back to the 1960s wow and i imagine that at some point in its history from the 1960s in the USA, someone has filmed it in a real supermarket because in the USA, they never had anti-product placement regulations. So you could actually call it Tesco Sweep effectively,

and you can have it filmed in a Tesco and you can have a round where someone says, go and find all the Nestle cereals. Well, you can't do that in the UK because of really stringent product placement laws. So it was always really odd in the UK uh when it was built in a set and it was like a generic supermarket and the products just say bleach bit like supermarkets as I imagine they were in East Germany before the Berlin Wall came down exactly well actually now we do have product placement now I could imagine easily imagine Dale's Aldi sweep on Channel 5, couldn't you? Do you think Dale would go back to that?

I think he could because two things about Dale Winton. One, he's not on telly and radio as much as he used to be. No, no. I mean, since our friend Tony Blackburn kicked him out of the way on Pick of the Pops, I think all he does, and he must be getting good money for it, but all he does is those national lottery quizzes on the BBC. He must do a bit of voiceover work as well. I'm sure, but you know. is those national lottery quizzes on the BBC. He must do a bit of voiceover work as well. I'm sure but you know

Things about pets that we don't watch. He's worked in daytime TV and that's where his heart is. I think he'd do it again. How old is he? He's much that was my second point

about Dale Winton thank you for pre-empting it. Guess. Well he looked about 40 in supermarket sweeps from 20 years ago but that's because the styles are so ageing then.

He looks younger now. So is he about I would say about 55. He's 59. Oh okay. So I is he about, I would say about 55. He's 59. Oh, okay. So I think he's older. I thought he was 50. Because the styles were so bad.

But his suits then were amazing. Like a man pulling off a turquoise and yellow suit with like a giant tie. Amazing. But I think at his age now, you see, I think he would want a bit of a nest egg and he'd go back to it. I think he'd do more of a sitting down quiz

than one where people run about. I think the problem with Dale Winton actually was that he slightly ironized himself out of existence with those multi-colored suits actually because the thing about daytime telly is you're always appealing to geriatrics and students and he leaned it too far towards students i think the whole thing felt like a nudge and a wink and then when he did his cameo in train spotting as nightmarish daytime tv quiz show host and then Pets Win Prizes on BBC, a template which had been established by Danny Baker taking the piss out of it,

I think he became a bit postmodern. What he was good at though, compared to other stalwarts of Challenge TV because they run a lot of crystal maze and both Richard O'Brien and Ed Tudorpole looked like they could snap at any minute and start screaming at the contestants being stupid. Dale Winton is very good at swallowing those screams.

Like, can see on his face that he would stab someone in a heartbeat. Yeah, there's nothing creepy about Winton giving the two women players in the supermarket a big hug, as he says, well done on getting the point. He's very gentle. He does it well. You know, supermarket sweep is the reason why I can't drive. Go on.

Because I started driving lessons and then about four lessons in my instructor who was very nice but not very good uh she said i want supermarket sweep next week and uh i just lost all confidence in her as a confident person though and after after the block of lessons i'd booked was up i was like yeah no it is a great format though i mean it's it's such a mad idea To create a game show Based on something really boring in real life Like Paper Round That game you were talking about earlier

I quite like that I want one based on putting up a shelf Ikea Flatpak 24-7 channel I would watch Multi-storey parking sweep I want to see I want to see queuing in the post office sweep I'd like to see lots of those shows I remember when my parents told me about the concept of a trolley dash And I thought, imagine if you could do that

And Toys R Us have a trolley dash That would literally be the best thing ever You're always kind of mentally planning for a trolley dash aren't you Like which aisles would you No it would be guitar shops It does tap into something in the psyche And the supermarket does have a lot in it I mean actually if I gave you a trolley dash

If you won a trolley dash in Tesco So not M&S, not Waitroseey dash, if you won a trolley dash in Tesco, so not M&S, not Waitrose, Tesco, would you fill your trolley with huddles and sell them on eBay? Or would you buy lots of slightly dearer food than you'd normally buy, but still not particularly extravagant food? I think by the rules of supermarket sweep, you can't buy too many multiples of anything.

Which makes sense. You would want things with longevity. You'd go to the Tesco Extra and you read the electronics department Is what you'd do Isn't it I think I'd go to I'd try and find items Which weren't easily damaged By falling

So that I could Do it quickly Yes yeah But then you're compromising your speed By trying to find items That weren't easily damaged By falling Trolley full of batteries

Expensive small Yes eBayable Yep Yeah set up a car boot with that Couldn't you You can do very well out of those I put my picture

on Tinder but nobody swiped right. I went on Match and OK Cupid, no suitors would bite. My body clock is ticking and I need to find my Mr. Right! Or at least a willing donor. With a personal website built through squarespace.com

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have a play around. And if you sign up, you can get 10% off for a whole year if you use the code ANSWER. It'sondon hello raleigh answer me this why does takeaway sushi have to have a small piece of plastic fashion to look like a blade of glass well some would say it's to provide a little bit of structure you know to keep your wasabi from going over everything by sequestering it off because the last thing you want is very very spicy sushi if you're not a spicy sushi person, but you

certainly want the option to be able to spice it up. I absolutely do, Ollie. Absolutely do. But why a divider made of fake grass? Well, there is a long historical heritage. It didn't used to be fake grass. Back in the Edo period, they used to cut bamboo leaves, which A, made the

bento boxes look prettier, but also B, it released a kind of antimicrobial substance that stopped plants from rotting so it's almost like a preservative actually what are those things in the bento box you get the the uh the wasabi paste which is good and then you get the is it ginger yeah that's meant to freshen your breath and palate at the end ah i always wondered about that because i sometimes pile it on with this wasabi and i'm like this i don't really need this i'm just doing this because it's here i like it but you're not supposed to you're supposed to have it at the end at the end like a mint and then i mean the best soy sauce is when you get a little

fish shaped bottle isn't it that's squirty that's fun i love those like a little water pistol full of soy yeah it's like a little joke bottle isn't it it's like something the eight-year-old me would have had inside a bow tie but anyway the plastic grass happened when um in the 60s supermarkets became very common in japan and they needed something cheaper and quicker and more easy to mass produce than bamboo leaves. Plastic. Voila. I think I'm generally staggered that sushi seems to be more popular than sashimi.

When I think sashimi is... Yeah, it is cheaper. But the last thing I want is the stodgy rice on it. I actually like just the raw fish. It's quite filling though, isn't it? But some people are massive fans of rice, Oli. And let's not rule them out of this commercial equation because they're a powerful force.

Maybe that explains why the Chinese takeaway on Boreham Wood High Street is called lots of rice. Of all the names you could possibly call a Chinese takeaway. I mean, I can make rice at home. I don't go to a takeaway for rice. And even when I get rice from a takeaway, it's never the reason I'm there. And I certainly don't need lots of it.

You're not worried about the quantities, are you? No, it's just like the worst name for a Chinese takeaway ever. But some people, Ollie, are glad just to have rice. You know, if they didn't have rice, they'd die. That's right. But again, not a selling point for a treat on a Friday, I wouldn't think. What about the price is rice?

All the rice is right. Yeah. Or just something that isn't based around rice, maybe focuses on the breaded chicken or fish that they do probably the fact of rice being in the food is the only thing it has in common with genuine chinese food here's another question about a certain element of japanese culture it's from mike from bath who says ollie answer me this what is mario and luigi's surname ah what sort of japanese culture sort of italian culture as well of course because it's inerringly accurate isn't it in his depiction of the italian diaspora uh super mario brothers um

before i say i feel a bit guilty sort of being too tongue-in-cheek about this because the reason it doesn't quite make sense, really, when you boil it down... Unlike everything else in the Mario universe. ...is the same sort of reason you get people poking fun at funny foreign signs on the internet. Do you know what I mean? Like, if lots of rice in their menu said, I don't know,

steak and chips, but spelt it S-T-A-K-E, and everyone put it on Facebook, it was like, ho, ho, ho. And it's like, well, yeah, but they speak three languages. What do you do? I couldn't know, steak and chips, but spelt it S-T-A-K-E. And everyone put it on Facebook and was like, ho, ho, ho. And it's like, well, yeah, but they speak three languages. What do you do? I couldn't do better. And in fact, we took the piss out of Americans not being able to pronounce English words. I met an American man called Grant the other day.

He doesn't pronounce his name Grant. He pronounces it... Grant. I can't say it. I physically don't have the capacity to do it right. But when he was like, oh, I'm Grant. And I was like, oh, yeah, Grant. And I was like, oh yeah, Grant. And I was like, no, hang on.

I'm not saying this is how you should pronounce your name. I just actually can't pronounce it. So I'm the dick. I'm just saying, listeners, I've realised I am the dick. The dick is me. It's a good point to launch a word-based podcast, isn't it? I am really going to knock that out of the park, listeners. But anyway, so what I'm saying is I think a lot of the folklore around the Mario story

depends on the fact that actually, as you pointed out, it's a Japanese, not an Italian creation. Indeed. And it's kind of just a bit of a mistake. So, for example, you know, the whole Donkey Kong thing, I mean, just for a start, he first featured in Donkey Kong, which should have really been called Monkey Kong, but I think that was a translation issue.

I mean, that's a typo. Yeah, it's a typo, but I imagine to the untrained Japanese eye who was developing what they thought at the time was just an unremarkable 8-bit game. Donkey, monkey, what's the difference? Yeah, well, it's almost all right. It's five out of six right. Yeah, exactly.

The Mario Brothers are so-called because their surname is Mario. I don't think the Japanese people that invented them thought that that therefore meant that he would be called Mario Mario, but that is actually his name. It's Mario Mario and Luigi Mario. That's literally his name? Yes, yeah.

Wow! Yeah. Huh. The Mario Brothers. Was it explicit that his first name was Mario, or could it just be that, like, Columbo, you know that his surname is Mario, but his first name is just The Plumber,

as in the same way Columbo is Lieutenant? Or Inspector Morse? Again, you know, you're talking about a gaming universe but his first name is just the plumber as in samuel colombo's lieutenant or inspector morse again you know you're talking about a gaming universe that came about at the time there weren't geeks to analyze gaming universes oh i think there were well yeah but not on this kind of level like not to the extent that they didn't know they were creating a character that would be franchised and still be being discussed 40 years later and be as recognizable as mickey mouse he was just a guy from the game he was a plumber from the game you'll notice that mario is very rarely pictured facing to the left something i realize oh has he got a side like ariana grande well yeah because he's always going left to right

isn't he in the platformers and then later from front to back but very rarely does he turn around and you see what's on the left interesting i wonder if he's got a scar yeah well it's possible isn't it do you see the same side of lu Luigi's face or are they symmetrical when you put them together? Are they one person divided? It's interesting, isn't it? Yes. Maybe they're Brad Pitt and Edward Norton.

Can I get a witness? I don't know. I said, can I get a witness? I don't know. Well, you aren't much use to me. Sorry.

Who can tell me if I can get a witness? Answer me this. Podcast.com. That was a jingle from listener Chris who said, I discovered Answer Me This far too late in life when Helen, that's me, appeared on No Such Thing As A Fish. I've been stuffing myself with old episodes of Answer Me This ever since. If I'm being honest, in life, I tend to find things I like, gorge on them until I'm sick, then move on. Maybe this will happen with Answer Me This.

It did with Adam and Joe, Wagamama, and Iceland's one pound big Toblerones. Toblerone for breakfast seems like a good idea for a couple of days and then not. But Chris says, i haven't got to that point with answer me this yet so boyd with enthusiasm in a two-hour window while my three-year-old son was out visiting his granddad i recorded you that jingle we don't actually often like put out requests for jingles but if you want to do us one send it to us yeah nothing copyrighted

no parodies between 30 seconds and a minute yeah get our url right please happy to have it uh nicola uh has emailed a question, though, and we're happy to have those too. She says, I have been suffering from mild hyperemesis gravidarum of Kate Middleton fame. Really has popularised chronic morning sickness. For the last

four to five months. Oh, no. It is a serious medical condition. Really? No shit. And frankly, a living hell Yes, as if just gestation wasn't bad enough To have this thing that completely destroys you Seems unfair Indeed

Women and babies can die from it Charlotte Bronte, for example Really? She gives us for historical context I did not know that Some low points for me have included Vomiting so hard I wet myself That's what happens to most of geordie

shaw people on a night out uh instantly retching after playing the word beef on my scrabble app you're not safe anywhere are you that's almost worth it for the email comedy yeah true but you know lying in bed thinking what can i do not to not to die of boredom or this nausea i'll play scrabble i can't even do that my husband not being able to cook in the house for four months because i can't handle the smells just got this vision of him out in the road stirring a little pot over a gas tube not being able to drink water or eat a vegetable or look at either for months on end lord no water no watching supermarket sweep uh losing weight for six weeks although you're about to put on a lot of weight

so that's actually probably not such a big problem. When you're pregnant, people are anxious for you to put on weight. So this is happening to you, and you're getting bollocked by medical professionals. And the final point in her illustrious list, crying for hours every day because the nausea is so unbearable. Okay, so I think we can understand where you're at here. Are you feeling more sorry for Kate Middleton now?

I've always felt sorry for Kate Middleton. She's married to the most boring man in the world. Yeah, but she's a cipher but this i've read articles about it because more people have piped up about this condition since she had it because people are only interested if kate middleton's had a thing yes numerous medical professionals have in all seriousness told me to try ginger biscuits to cure the sickness well it'll act like a bung. Maybe. According to my limited Google research, there is zero decent medical evidence that ginger helps women

with hyperemesis or anything beyond very mild pregnancy sickness. It seems ridiculous, like telling someone with manic depression to try watching a funny film, or telling someone with a broken leg just not to put any weight on it. Yep, the Alison Zaltzman cure for horrific injuries.

It's all right, I'll just limp. Women with hyperemesis, she says, need serious medical treatment. Yes. Helen, answer me this. Are there other examples in modern medicine of medical professionals knowingly offering treatments to patients which are proven to be completely ineffectual or which are universally dismissed as useless by the sufferers themselves? I'm not aware of a single woman with hyperemesis who has found ginger in any way beneficial.

In fact, there are even online forums where sufferers exchange ginger biscuit anecdotes. Fun forums. You're having all the fun. Well, you could argue that that is perhaps the placebo effect at work. It brings you together. It's giving you a diversion tactic, yes, and you're meeting other women who have had similar experiences. Do you ever, as a kid, get told to drink peppermint cordial

if you're feeling sick? No, I don't think until you've just said the words that I've ever knowingly heard the words peppermint cordial. Peppermint cordial is utterly disgusting. It's a really, really sweet, minty drink. Well, it's mouthwash, isn't it, but with less alcohol in it. Yeah, but, you know... Takes your mind off it.

It's really gross, but my parents always used to feed that to me if I was sick, like, spewy sick. Yeah's but the peppermint's supposed to calm your stomach though isn't it but that's not hyperemesis no exactly ginger is meant to help with mild nausea as she points out but i think the problem is they don't know anything that cures hyperemesis i think they can kind of replace lost fluids and stuff but they can't cure it and therefore most doctors are like well i feel like i should say something but and ginger is a fun word isn't it yeah it is offering a mild nausea soother and a little bit of sugar and bulk in the form of the biscuit yeah but yeah i think they're

just trying to do something when actually they can do nothing and they don't want to admit that it must be frustrating for doctors that all they can say is ginger biscuits for this yeah especially as they're power crazed individuals that hold people's health in their hands yeah also i've read uh that um you can drink one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and one tablespoon of honey mixed in cold water that surely is going to make you puke more that sounds like a nematic and apparently you should eat iron rich foods including sardines which if you're finding the word beef a scrabble app nauseating, again, highly problematic. So essentially what we're saying, Nicola, is I'm afraid,

although the medical establishment is amazing in what they can do, they're also a bit shit sometimes, and this is one of those instances. However, it appears that you've formed informal support groups with other women who hate the idea of being offered ginger biscuits. Do you think Kate Middleton is on the ginger biscuit forums? Probably. Do you think she's a brand ambassador for McVitie's? That's how this whole thing started.

She could be because they had chocolate fridge cake at the wedding, didn't they? Did they? Yes, food for thought. That's about the only interesting thing those kids have ever done. Anyway. If they can't cure it for her,

they can't cure it, can they? Surely there is someone out there who has a slam dunk cure for Nicola's condition. Surely. There are so many of you and you're so wise. Wisdom of the crowd. And many of you will have had morning sickness and many of you won't like ginger biscuits yes but it's chronic morning sickness don't write in if you've only had mild morning sickness we're not interested

have you nearly died from morning sickness yes if you've got feedback on that yes or just a question it's not gonna be that jolly is it that feedback no we're starting answer me this episode 303 with someone saying yes i actually puke my liver out goody can't wait all of our contact details as always are on our website answer me this podcast.com and on there also you can find links to our twitter and our facebook and also if you visit answer me this store.com you can find all of our old stuff that's right our first 170 episodes you can buy you can buy our albums you can buy our apps you can donate to us all of which we would be very grateful if you did. Because your funds keep this show going. Which seems like a good moment to say thank you again

to Squarespace.com for their support of the show. Also bankrolling this operation. And we will see you next time. Bye!