Answer Me This! - AMT339: Dalmatians, Jaffa Cakes and Being On Fleek

Episode Date: September 8, 2016

In AMT339, all hail the greatest Middleton sibling - not the one that begat the next generation of royals; not the one with 2011's favourite bottom; the Marshmallow King! We also discover that Pringles were actually cakes, until they weren't; how you would have alerted the emergency services before phones; and the unbearable fleekness of being. Find out more about the episode at http://answermethispodcast.com/episode339. Tweet us http://twitter.com/helenandolly Be our Facebook friend at http://facebook.com/answermethis Subscribe on iTunes http://iTunes.com/AnswerMeThis Buy old episodes and albums at http://answermethisstore.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now iPhone 7's waterproof, will people stop buying rice? How silly it is, how silly it is Why don't they pay journalists properly for working advice? How silly it is, how silly it is Heaven and lonely, how silly it is News just in about the mum who was offered free space cake in last episode Alice from Hampshire's mum Alice says, I thought I'd give you an update

After dinner and several large glasses of claret last night Alice from Hampshire's mum. Alice says, I thought I'd give you an update. After dinner and several large glasses of claret last night, my mother tried some of the aforementioned space cake. She ended up giggling for a full five minutes non-stop because, quote, the bench made a fart noise. I'm surprised that was only five minutes. That sounds like a good hour-long laugh. And then she slurringly suggested we all go find the foxes at the bottom of the garden

before being steered towards bed and a glass of water where she had to wait for the room to stop spinning until she could sleep she's feeling a little delicate the day after but it was a hilarious end to an evening for her children and bemused partner well I'm glad it went well and thank you for the correspondence

we never recommended that she mix it with wine. No, that's not unusually a great combo. The spinniness is normally a result of the combination of alcohol and cake. What I want to know is if she took our suggestions of going to buy a bottle of fake piss, and if so, did she take it to work the next day? Yes, did she prepare for the

random drug test? Exactly. Because now it remains to be seen as to whether she's going to get rumbled by work. Exactly. Which was the whole point of the question. Yes. Not just whether her mother wants to get off her tits

but whether she can get away with it with her legal office's random drug testing. Yeah. Well, that is not a responsibility. We made that clear at the time. Very clear.

So, can't touch us. Also, apropos of answering this episode 338, Jim in San Francisco says, I believe that the show that we know in britain is the great british bake-off in america is called the great british baking show yes because pillsbury owns the trademark on the term bake-off seems crazy i know says jim but if you google pillsbury bake-off

you'll see that on the pillsbury website bake-off has a registered trademark symbol after it it certainly does what are they doing with it uh i well, we're not in the country of the United States of America where Pillsbury are running Bake Off promotions, but it appears that for many years, yeah, they've had a sort of annual event called the Pillsbury Bake Off and they've trademarked Bake Off, but only in the USA. You would think they would be pleased by the association of people who can mix and create their own baked creations in Pillsbury

where it's ready-made. I think, generally speaking, copyright lawyers aren't pleased by associations when someone takes their trademark. It makes them seem more wholesome. It tends not to be their reaction. In some other countries, the show is called The Master Baker which is the kind of innuendo they love

on Great British Bake Off, so I'm really surprised they didn't go for that. In Finland, it's called The Whole of Finland Bakes, which is kind of a clunky... I know Finland's population is small, but they can't all be on the show. But that is the same formulation as it is in Norway and Sweden. But in Denmark, it's called The Great Bake Fight,

which I think is quite a good name. Great Bake Fight's good, yeah. It's dramatic. Yeah, but it's too dramatic for the BBC version, which is quite home counties and pleasant. Well, then Master Baker, they should have gone for that. Here is a question that may have been prompted by a controversy from the Great British Bake Off this season.

It's always such a controversial show, isn't it? Oh, yes. Bingate last year. Custard time. No, it was the fact that one of the challenges in the first episode of this series was they had to make Jaffa Cakes. That caused lots of people on Twitter to start talking about Jaffa Cakes.

What was the controversy? They didn't know which way up they were. No, it was just more the fact that you can make Jaffa Cakes rather than them being a branded thing. And that is what this question is saying. Morgan says, Helen, answer me this. Why is it that anyone can make Jaffa Cakes and call them Jaffa Cakes when we all know that the real Jaffa Cakes are made them Jaffa Cakes when we all know that the real Jaffa Cakes are

made by McVitie's. Morgan one day I'll introduce you to the M&S ones and you will eat your words. No they'll be Jaffa Cakes. So how is it that all producers of the confection are allowed to use what I assume is a company name? Well you assume that but McVitie's never trademarked the term Jaffa Cakes. McVitie's have been producing Jaffa Cakes since 1927. And although there were trademarks around before, the Trademarks Act didn't kick in until 1938. And therefore, I think that is when trademarking things became a lot more common.

And I think by then there were enough imitators that it was basically pointless. But of course it wasn't. Like, even if now they managed to get a trademark on Jaffa Cakes, that would be worth a lot of money. It's just presumably they can't. I don't think they've lost out by the imitators. I think they are still considered the definitive Jaffa Cake.

Yeah. It's like the Heinz baked beans, isn't it? It doesn't matter. Other people can make baked beans and you're still going to compare it to the brand leader. Now, we often get asked about the Jaffa Cakes. Is it a cake? Is it a biscuit trial?

Don't even say it. No, but this is important, Ollie. We covered it. We've deliberately never spoken of it again. In the trial, it was determined, for VAT reasons... This is the 1991 court case of McVitie's versus HM Customs and Excise. ...that Jaffa Cakes are a cake, but apparently you cannot trademark cakes. So if they had paid the VAT and agreed that it is a biscuit,

then they could have trademarked it. And this fun fact related to that trial, I think you're going to enjoy, Oli. So after that trial, where they didn't want to pay VAT and therefore prove that Jaffa Cakes were a cake, not a biscuit, because there's VAT on biscuits and not cakes. Procter & Gamble argued that in the UK, Pringles should be considered cakes. Because only 42% of a Pringle is made of potato and it is fashioned from a potato dough. And they won in the high court and pringles were very briefly considered a cake um and then potato cakes not anymore because uh very shortly afterwards the decision was appealed and the company had to start paying vat it's a bit

of a worry to think only 42 of a pringle is potato what the fuck else is it cut with actually that doesn't worry me i just just assumed it was weird. Starchy. Manufactured powder. Yeah, skin flakes. Dust. Sure. Here's a question from Richard, previously from Rayleigh, now from Canudon.

He says, Ever since the MILF song came out by the Duchess, Fergie not of Cambridge. Do you understand? Well, it was Duchess of York, Fergie, Sarah Ferguson. So she had nothing to do with Cambridge. But is this... I don't even get what he's doing. So he's talking about Fergie... The Black Eyed Peas?

Of the Black Eyed Peas. She has a song called... Called Milf. Yes, but it stands for Mums I'd Like to Follow. And at the end, there's a picture of her Instagram feed, even though the song is basically tits and arse of people who are also parents. Okay, thanks for explaining. Happy to.

You're going to have to do more of that. I'd like to be your conduit into the matters of the day. He says, Now I keep hearing the term fleek as it is in the song. Girls on fleek and hair and nails on fleek. I'm getting married in November. Is this still lyrics? I don't even know anymore.

And my wife-to-be was told by her maid of honour that her makeup needs to be on fleek. Sack that maid of honour. I'm needs to be on fleek sack that maid of honour um i'm confused as to what fleek really means uh so helen answer me this what is fleek and did the duchess invent this word like fergalicious well even though the word fergalicious did establish fergie as one of the premier neologists of her time i think we can say balance for a second she is late to the fleek bandwagon right yeah explain the fleek i'm sorry i don't just explain what milf is

this surprises me ollie because it's usually me that avoids memes as much as possible you're like there's obviously that meme yeah yeah that kid with the dentals the cat that done the thing um you know the cat played the violin but it's do with your cultural reference isn't it so like i don't go seeking those things out they come to me yeah same so what you're basically saying is this fleek open your door granddad and let fleek come in i don't know why i've never seen the word fleek the term in its modern usage is really on fleek and that means that something is on point or really excellent eyebrows on fleek was the original context and it was a vine posted on the 21st of june 2014 by peaches monroe monroe with two e's it's actually the alias of a chicago

teenager kayla newman in the video she's sitting in a car um talking to the camera and she says that her eyebrows are on fleek because her eyebrows are so superlative and did she just make that up um she said in an interview... I'm glad that original journalism has been done on this. Well, that Vine has had nearly 50 million views and it's been reconstituted elsewhere. So the view count is probably a lot higher than that. She said, it just came to me out of the blue.

I never heard of the word and nobody else had heard of the word. I just said it and I guess that's what came out. That's about it. However, she also said in a second vine that she had been saying the word on flick as in just you know flicking um which eyebrows do do once they've been sculpted for makeup purposes so her spontaneous saying of flick in a way that people interpreted as fleek yes spawned the term on fleek and many people replicated it and to people replicated it.

And to be honest, it sounded to me very kind of awkward and dated within a couple of weeks. But fleek is a word that had been around before, not on fleek, which I think is analogous to the term on point, which also meant excellent, which was a military term, because it meant the person in the lead position in a military operation. But that's the worst position. Why would that be a good thing?

That's a person who gets shot first. They're not going to put that in a sign up to join the military ad are they i mean they've got to try and make it sound like glory and then there are some urban dictionary um entries where like not that many over the last um 15 years or so where it's always in quite a complimentary nice context that surprises me because the word fergalicious i understand immediately what she's done there she's taken her name she's put it into the word delicious youicious, I understand immediately what she's done there. She's taken her name and she's put it into the word delicious. You sort of know like bootilicious, that means a good thing, right? It's an easy portmanteau

to make. Exactly. It's positive, that much is clear. Yeah. But fleek, as it's new to me, and you ask me what is that, that could be a rank and putrid smell. It could, yeah. Oh, it's fleek in here. Do you know what I mean? One of the other uses it has had this very kind of 2009,

was a portmanteau for fake Gleeks, Glee fans. And so I think it was fake Gleeks who went in to ruin Glee fandom for the genuine ones. Right. Fleeks. Wow. I read this long post as well from someone saying, look at all these instances of fleek in 19th century books.

But I think they were actually sleek, spelt with the long S. Yeah. So it's just a nonsense word, but that's where words come from. It's Peaches Monroe is the Edward Lear of her time. Still not going to hear the Fergie song to hear it in context though.

Not interested. It is not a good song. I didn't think it would be. I mean, I'm basing that on past form. It goes, I've got that milf money. You see, because it's like a pun on milk money and there's a lot of milk theming in the video i do see but it's also about milfs yeah like fergie and her other sexy friends sounds very clever i mean we've done a footnote on it here but really we could record hours on this masterpiece i think

probably that will happen in the decades to come something to look forward forward to, isn't it, in the 22nd century? Not so much fleek as bleak. If you've got a question, email your question to answer me this podcast at googlemail.com answer me this podcast at googlemail.com answer me this podcast at googlemail.com

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 Ryan in Melbourne, who says, my choir, the Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Chorus, has a concert coming up in October. Our PR manager gave us flyers to put up to promote the show. Old school. Including a QR code. Presumably linking to the site where you can buy tickets. I've not checked because I don't actually know how to use them, really. Olly, answer me this. Have you ever actually scanned a QR code

instead of taking out your phone and just googling whatever keywords are also on the poster or pamphlet? So why do advertisers keep whacking them on things? I have no idea either what to do with the QR codes. I always thought just ride this fad out like Blu-ray. We should clarify for people who are listening that actually don't know what a QR code is. It's those square things.

It's like a square barcode. You see it on ads at bus stops. It's a bit like a really messed up crossword grid. Yes, exactly. It would be really useful if the technology to read them was integral into all mobile phones, like the way that, you know, Bluetooth

or something is, wouldn't it? And it is in Asia. Not iPhones, but Android handsets in Asia come generally with a camera that when you take the picture, immediately opens its own integrated app and then translates it for you into a website. And you're right, that's what, essentially take the picture, it immediately opens its own integrated app and then translates it for you into a website. Yeah. And you're right.

That's what, essentially, in the West, Apple needed to do so that all the other Android handset makers did the same. And then that would be a slightly more useful thing because it would be quicker. It is quick, isn't it? It would be quick. It would be quicker. The problem is that, at the moment,

you need to download a QR reading app to be able to read the QR code. This is the problem. Podcasts have. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, at least the podcasts app on iOS is actually called podcasts. Yes. No one really knows, still years on, what the big brand for QR reading is.

You have to go in the app store and literally search for QR reader and then a few of them pop up and it's not clear which one's the best. Google makes one. I'd use the word Google Goggles. So it's not like they don't exist but you do have to, like you say, dig one out. What does QR stand for please? Quick response code. Okay.

Originated in Japan. Still popular, still big in Asia as I say. They're still all over the place, just ignore them. Okay, so the reason I think that they are still all over the place is I suspect advertisers like them because it allows them to track exactly the way in which the customer has come to their website and even where exactly so from the particular qr code that they scan theoretically they can have a different one at every bus stop yeah so they can say right people

in balham really like our product and have wanted to find out more but i just think that's true to an extent but it is relevant to the tiny population of people that have qr apps on their phone and then would so actually what you're measuring is the amount of idiots that are interested i mean people like care about following up on an advert in that way and i just think you're therefore measuring odd people rather than seeing whether your brand has traction outside of following through directly on a link. It's a good market, odd people.

Odd people with the commitment to scan your code. That is a very devoted populace. And it isn't breaking through in the West. So the last survey on this in America was in 2013, but still recent enough, I think, to look at. And 2% of smartphone users in 2013 scanned a QR code every day. I was amazed it was that high that is good but then i thought what's the percentage of people in america that work in marketing

it's probably about that's ridiculous i think they're just checking each other's campaigns if i made a patchwork quilt that was square and all black and white yeah could that be scanned yes some people must have qr tattoos i yeah and that would be cool i wonder what you well i don't know what would you have written on it? Life story? Or in case your body got washed up and they could just scan the QR code and find out who you were?

No, I think you'd just essentially become a Pokemon Go character, don't you, if you've got a QR code tattooed on you. That is a life that quite a lot of people would go for. It's a life that a lot of people have actually adopted. That's some genuinely innovative tech. Well, it's related, isn't it, though? It is AR.

It is where the real world and the digital world meet. Sort of like what QR was trying to do, but Pokemon's just made it more fun. Well, they've made it more cute than black and white squares, haven't they? Yeah, exactly. Well, it is now time to take an intermission where we listen to a little bit of Answer Me This from the bygone era.

And if we had a QR code for this section of the show... Then no one would access it. But which episode would it be pointing us to with our smartphones that had integrated capability to do so? I think maybe episode 110. Oh, and remind us what was so great about that episode that I'd want to buy it. You're being a twat about your cat.

Excellent. Let's listen to it and then remember that if we want to buy it, we go to where? AnswerMethisStore.com. That's right. Or Amazon or iTunes, but we go to where? Answermethisstore.com. That's right. Or Amazon or iTunes, but we'd rather you bought it from us. Thanks.

It is a bit more difficult to put on your iPad or iPhone. Yes, that's true. If you are buying it for your iOS, then fair enough, get it from iTunes. You have to fiddle around with desktop. That's fine. We're cool with that. That kind of retro tech behavior

where you have to put it onto another thing and then upload it to the thing. But anyway, you can work it out because you're intelligent people. That's right. You've got this far i've got a special voice for my cat which i'm going to premiere here now and answer me this just for you first i'm going to hear it on the airwaves cats you're going to enjoy this actually i need a sentence that what could i conceivably

say to my cat coco uh coco why am i demeaning myself in this way just to converse with you when you don't even understand human language? Brilliant, yeah, no, that's the kind of thing I'd say. Okay, so I'd say like, Coco, why am I demeaning myself in this way when you don't even understand human language? That's my voice for the cat. I was doing that voice for the cat and I was saying, are you a special girl, are you a special girl?

My girlfriend came in and she said, do you love the cat more than you love me? Uh-oh, well, it had to come sometime. And I made the mistake of saying, as a joke,, do you love the cat more than you love me? Uh-oh. Well, it had to come sometime. And I made the mistake of saying, as a joke, I love you about the same. No joke. Oh, dear. And then she said, right, so you love the cat as much as you love me. You've only had the cat a few months.

You've had the girlfriend for, what, nearly six years? It was just a joke. And of course, because I'm the kind of person I am, I then had to defend my point of view. Rather than just say it was a joke. And of course, because I'm the kind of person I am, I then had to defend my point of view rather than just say it was a joke. So I was like, When Harry Met Sally is a really good film and so is Schindler's List, you know, but they're different. You know, one's a five-star rom-com,

one's a five-star historical story. You're a five-star girlfriend, Coco's a five-star cat. Didn't work out for me. Let's take a question off our phone line now. Oh yes, please. Yes. And if you want to leave a question on our phone line now. Oh yes, please. Yes, and if you want to leave a question on our phone line, then you can dial the following number. 0208 123 58 007. Or you can Skype answer me this. Let's hear who's been in touch today.

Joe from Watford. Hello, Molly. Answer me me this we all know that the emergency services obviously existed a long time before the telephone did but how did one summon the emergency services before a number like 999 was it actually just a case of running through the streets shouting or what actually happened i think in a lot of cases it was pretty similar to running shouting through the streets well that's basically what people do now anyway my mum had a fire in her flat last week whoa yeah is she all right she's okay um okay the flats it's okay i mean for insurance purposes i should emphasize it's completely destroyed um the smoke damage is crippling um but no it was it was it was smoke damaged everywhere but it was that's rough she had a papier-mâché

sculpture that fell on top of her hob oh god and caught fire very quickly and rapidly that is not the best place for papier-mâché art to live sorry Karen

no it wasn't it wasn't but you wouldn't have expected it to suddenly implode on top of the hob so anyway it caught fire to the kitchen and what she did

I mean it wasn't there but I've come to understand what she did is basically run out onto her balcony and shout at the bloke that was on the ground floor Fire! There's a fire! Call the fire!

She could have picked up the phone and called 999 herself but actually your instinct when that happens is to think But before phones they had various different systems. They had public alarms and whistles. They had people on fire watch Oh yeah. And remember they had police doing foot patrol so you were probably closer to a policeman

than you are now. I don't suppose either of you happen to know the gap between police phone boxes existing and then people getting phones in their homes because presumably a policeman could phone you know what i'm talking about like in doctor who that was a real thing right yeah well actually now you saying that has just reminded me in the village where i live it doesn't look like the tardis it's not remotely cool but in an old 19th century cottage you can see that it used to be the police station like as in not the proper local police station but the police desk where a police bobby would sit for the village and when he wasn't there or she but i'm guessing you know up to the 80s probably he there'd be a window open and you if you saw a crime could lean in and pick up the phone and dial just the police that's the only number on it right and they've left the window open kind of

symbolically to show that's what it used to be and if you look in you can still see the wires where they used to be the phone that's amazing and that like i say was discontinued in the 80s it was quite recent really but the police apparently in britain didn't really want to have phones installed in the police station they thought it'd be embarrassing to have the public calling them but the problem before we got 999 was that calls were connected by operators and they were dealing with all the calls and so they didn't necessarily know that yours was an emergency call so if there was a backlog like you weren't at the front of a cure and thing and you might call and just be screaming and they wouldn't know that that was an emergency or whether that was just your hobby they wouldn't know whether you were calling for the fire

brigade or the police or an ambulance or whatever they didn't know where they were either because all the fire stations at the time were decentralized but also if you didn't say where you were then the operator who might also not be very near where you were wouldn't know which fire brigade was closest to you so then uh in 1927, the general public in London were advised that if they had an emergency, they should dial zero. And then when the operator answered, you should say the service you required. So that was the system and it was just getting more and more clogged. And then in 1935, there was a fire in which five people died.

And in the inquiry afterwards, they said, you've got to sort this situation out and make it better. So that's when they started working on 999. And my understanding is, though, that other countries don't have the thing where you have an operator pick up and you specify which service you require actually there is a separate number for the police the ambulance the fire then you've got more to remember at a time of crisis yeah no i think our system works you know what's gonna be bad is when they replace that with an automated phone system where it's like to reach the police press one but there's like a minute long recorded message before that where you're like hurry up hurry up and please visit our website

h t t p colon slash well you're a student of english language haven't um fire makes sense right fire is a quick uh word which tells you that there's danger but ambulance is a long word police is even you know a little bit more difficult to say. Why haven't we condensed it down to like cops? Help. Medic. Help is the one that I would reach for there. But when you're on the phone, what service do you want?

Ambulance is slow to say. It'd be easier to just say pain. Dead. If you say dead, you could need any of them. Could be an undertaker. So you see the problems, Martin. Fuzz. But then they might think you wanted a fuss,

and they'll be like, all right then, who's a pretty boy? Who's a pretty boy? That's normally what I want when I find emergency services. It is, and you're wasting a lot of public money and time. It's really helping my mental health, though. Please send us an email. We love to keep in touch. If you send us an email, we'll like you very much it's

that's so please send us an email or we won't know you're there and if we like your email we'll read it out on air before we continue with the questions just a quick word from our sponsors for this episode at fail better games and their excellent game fallen london fallen london so helen i know that they've previously sponsored an episode of the illusionist as well many episodes yeah they're good friends of podcasts and keen listeners to podcasts so they're fun so explain what fallen london is fallen london is a really huge text adventure game it's basically like having 10 massive novels

about a weird version of victorian london that has been stolen and stashed underground and you start the game in jail okay when you say weird version is it a bit like russell brandy it's a bit like steampunk yeah victorians were quirky anyway they were yeah but in this version you can marry a squid person if you want which i think in victoria and london they were more conservative about relationships so you start off the game in prison but once you've busted out of prison then you can basically do what you want you can just roam around this version of underground london having adventures or running a business if having fun is more fun for you if it's like work so it's all text you pay with text it's a text adventure game okay well it's not a text adventure game like when

you do like get lamp you've been eaten by a group it's more like a click clicking through different options so it's quite quick to play and you can like choose what you look like can't you and choose um you can be a squid person i think yeah you can play on an app now but it's best if you go to failbettergames.com slash answers yes they've got special offers for you answer me this listeners that is right you get special little things that you can play in the game the game is free to play but you can get little extras if you pay for them but if you're if you sign up at failbettergames.com slash answers then you get some of those for free and apparently this works as well if you did sign up through the

illusionist you can still get free stuff through this way oh excellent okay generous because they're very generous the fallen london people they are it sounds it sounds good they want you to fuck squid people and they want you to have free things and free play okay so to be clear if you're into victoriana gaming and squid yeah um you don't have to be into squid not just, just one of the things. Yeah. Yeah. And or squid. FallenLondon.com slash answers. Hi, Helen and Olly. This is Vin from Telford, Commerce, Rockshire. I watch a lot of films,

and obviously every film has the sort of disclaimer on the closing credits that this film didn't harm any animals um i just wondered was there ever a time in the history of cinema where animals were quite frequently harmed i really hope not but i'm just curious well are you going to dash vin's hopes it sounds a little bit like you've been harmed vin just by calling and leaving that question. You sound like a very delicate flower. I think people from Telford are very sensitive. Unfortunately, yes, there was a time when animals were harmed in the making of films,

and that is why the American Humane Association became involved in filmmaking. So let me talk you through that process. In 1903, Thomas Edison, yes, the Thomas Edison, made a short film, Electrocuting it wasn't him what it's a myth uh he did electrocute lots of other animals and so when someone's fine so when someone electrocutes an element everyone thought it was done as thomas edison but it wasn't you're questioning these numerous sources online this thomas edison personally making i can't remember who it was um okay i'll take martin debunking it

anyway the film pretty much does what it says on the tin The film exists because I've seen it Which I suppose the point was That even seeing a film back then 1903 That was an entertainment in itself Like VR is now So the ideas were pretty straight forward

The story goes I don't think I'm going to debunk this as well Martin That Topsy the Elephant From Coney Island's Luna Park Was deemed a threat To the visiting crowds going to debunk this as well martin go on that topsy the elephant uh from coney islands lunar park uh was deemed a threat to the visiting crowds and that's why she'd been sentenced to death oh so it's like an execution yeah and people used to go and watch those in public so so why not film it yeah yeah and so that's what they did they filmed it but uh if you then look into the decades after that of course there are many many films predominantly cowboy and indians type films where horses were injured all the time to generate the

scenes of required uh you know battle accuracy it's dangerous being a horse in film it is i mean until i think about the 1930s there was actually a trip wire um called the running w which was used routinely in cowboy and indians movies show horses going, falling over. But in so doing, they would routinely kill three or four horses in the making of each film. And this reached its apex, actually, in a film called Jesse James in 1939, in which Henry Fonda rides a horse off a tall cliff and into a river. And to achieve that then, they literally filmed it on a cliff off a tall cliff and into a river. And to achieve that then, they literally filmed it on a cliff with a river below

because there was no filling in the special effects afterwards. And to film it, they essentially had to throw a horse out of a chute down a hill and then get the stuntman to run behind and jump on the horse and do the stunt. Oh my God. And did the stuntman or the horse survive? The stuntman did, two horses didn't. Oh god! And the negative publicity around that, similar actually, fast forwarding about 70 years,

to the negative publicity around the HBO series Luck with Dustin Hoffman. You might remember that, they killed a load of horses doing racetrack scenes, accidentally. I didn't even know that series existed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I watched the first one thinking, oh, I'd like this. My girlfriend likes horses, I like Dustin Hoffman. Not not very good but anyway hbo cancelled that because of the negative publicity of horse death you would think they could have preempted that i mean every year with the grand national the issue of horse death not being very popular comes up well actually that was their argument when they made luck was they said we've made a 24 part series or whatever it

was 12 part series set around a horse track and we've only horses. Yeah, we've only killed three thoroughbreds and actually in a season at a normal horse track one that wasn't being simulated for film and TV you'd lose more than that. The American Humane Association are supposed to stop it happening but even though they have been involved since that Jesse James film there have been numerous slip ups.

Even really high profile films like Life of Pi, the tiger no spoilers. It's not a real tiger, is it? It is at one point. Is it? And it almost drowned. There was a tiger in a water tank in Taiwan

and it almost drowned. Is that why they did the rest through digimation? No, I don't think so. I think there was one shot they needed a close-up and it wasn't good for the tiger to be in that surreal environment. I see that. And The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey in 2011.

Did they hit the dragon? This is quite interesting um there were 27 animals reportedly um not to be fair particularly spectacular animals like sheep and stuff like that but there were 27 animals that reportedly perished from dehydration or exhaustion so those were like totally avoidable deaths it wasn't like stunt deaths and so as a result of that the american humane association which did have their disclaimer on the film got into trouble because of course the reality is all they're doing is certifying that risk assessment's been done

they're not actually there on set every day so they changed it so if you watch the hobbit an unexpected journey in the film now at the end if you make it to the credits of a 15 hour film it says that the humane association monitored all of the significant animal action. No animals were harmed during such action. In other words, sorry, we weren't there watching the dehydrating sheep. They died between takes. That's fine. That's really shit, isn't it?

This is terrible news for Vin. Yeah, Vin's going to take this really bad. Even with the disclaimer, that is no guarantee. Even if there aren't any animals in the disclaimer, that is no guarantee. Yeah. Even if there aren't any animals in the film, you can't guarantee that between takes to relax, they weren't kicking them to death. Where do you go to find all the answers that you are looking for?

I will tell you the secret. Very good, very good. Where do you go to find the answer? AnswerMeThisPodcast.com Where do you go to find the answer? AnswerMeThisPodcast.com Where do you go to find the answer? AnswerMeThisPodcast.com You will find your answer here. AnswerMeThisPodcast.com

You will find your answer here. AnswerMeThisPodcast.com Here's a question from Claire who says, After spending a glorious ten days on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia for the wedding of my boyfriend's cousin, I had to spool that back through my head a few times to make sense of it. I had to draw a little spider diagram. I am baffled by a glaring omission from the cultural experience.

Okay. What could this be? What cultural experience are you expecting Croatia that you're not receiving? Something to do with the Balkan War? Maybe a trip in a larder. You don't really get to do that anymore. Although we saw wildlife of all sorts, not a single spotty dalmatian dog did we see have they become extinct because of the ominous sounding dalmatian ham that appears on every

croatian menu assuming this is not the case then helen answer me this why are dalmatians called dalmatians if they're not to be seen natively roaming free amidst the olive and fig groves of the dalmatian coast. And as a side note, why do Dalmatians have spots? Whoa! Just chucking in a second question at the end there. Which do you want first? Spots, please. Okay. They are born white and then they develop spots when they're a few weeks old.

They're a reverse Michael Jackson. There are some white Dalmatians that never do develop them. I didn't know that. But the thing is, the most prized Dalmatians are the spotty ones the black and white spotty ones so the ones that have brown spots or lemon spots as it's called which is very beige um the dog shows that i that's bullshit disqualified so i think there's been selective breeding to encourage the spots because that is a dalmatians usp there are no other dogs or probably not even animals that have a similar type of spotage. You say that I mean I'm not a dog person but if I had a Dalmatian that didn't have spots I'd

relish people stopping me and saying what kind of dog's that? Spots all fall off do they? Spots come off in the wash. You'd really relish that, that is what would happen. They wouldn't recognise it was Dalmatian. Exactly. What I was going for is the casual kind of what kind of dog's that like you just have to ask and then I'd say it was a Dalmatian

Oh give over Yeah there's no spots And I'd be like yeah it's a Dalmatian with no spots It's really cool I don't know I think you're kind of missing out What's great about Dalmatians They'll be like oh so it doesn't have the spots But it does have the higher likelihood of blindness and hip problems

I'm with you in terms of if I relate it to that weird cat with no fur That's missing everything that's cool about cats But I also wonder whether Dalmatians were bred for spots not just because of that kind of kennel club eugenics but also because they were working dogs so they are often called firehouse dogs because they have an affinity with horses so they were good ones to have around carts that were horse drawn and they were bred to run under carts and they're a bit more visible aren't they in the shadows of a cart they're black and white so I think maybe some of that was relevant

okay so that's why Dalmatians have spots and it means that sometimes they were known as plum pudding dogs or spotted dick dogs I mean the dicks probably are spotted because like even the inside of their mouths have got spots on but I think it's just because they look like a pudding with raisins in it sorry say that again the inside of a Dalmatian's mouth has spots on yeah spotty dogs i did not know

that that's interesting did you know that no i didn't right that's why dalmatians have spots yeah and that's why they're called spotted dick dogs well which is you've got a bonus answer though you didn't ask what's it got to do in croatia well dalmatian breeding i think was really popularized in britain but there is like this strong suggestion that the brits got them from croatia and that they appeared a lot in croatian paintings and writings of like 17th 18th century and they used to be century dogs on the dalmatian border because they were good kind of military dogs good guard dogs are they good guard dogs good good watch dogs yeah yeah good working dog the dalmatian however they almost certainly did not originate in dalmatia because they appear in like 13th century

spanish frescoes and ancient greek paintings and egyptian drawings from like 3 000 years ago yeah i mean but isn't that like i'm'm guessing the Scotty Dog isn't from Scotland. It's just popularised that name because they're popular in Scotland. I mean, isn't that the case with all dog names that are related to places really? Because they're all more ancient than that. And also if you're a Brit

and you had this spotty dog in, I don't know, 1800 or something, you might want it to sound exotic and foreign. Yes, exactly. And Croatia then was not a package holiday station. Here's a question from Ryan and Joe who say, we don't understand the monarchy

or how it works. Right. Sounds like a broad question. It is. You can't apply logic to it because it is an illogical system. That's true. What you're basically saying

is you're a socialist. Yep. And also, if you need a primer, may I recommend the Answer Me This Jubilee available from the Answer Me This store? Lovely job, Ollie.

Lovely job, Ollie. So, Ollie, answer me this. When the Queen dies, will Will become King? And does that mean Kate Middleton will become a Queen? And if so, does that make Pippa a princess? I know by your own admission you say you don't understand how the monarchy works. You've really missed how the monarchy works. Well, you've missed a whole generation, namely Charles.

He's first in line to the throne. Yes. So, I mean, of course it is possible that Charles will die before the Queen but might we Or they just can't really be bothered to become King because he's what 17?

I don't think that's possible I think he's You can easily not bother to become King the rest of us managed I think he's quite keen on it though Helen Do you? I think he's been preparing for a while No I think he's been not bothering anymore

He's got his biscuit range and his hats Anyway you know it's same shit different day with the Royal Family isn't it so let's assume that convention happens right and the queen dies and then charles becomes king so and then he dies and will becomes king is pippa a princess no she's just an in-law yeah it's possible that you know if she does a lot of work for charity

for example in the next 30 years they'd give her some honorific she's gonna get bumped up that list isn't she just a lady or something though she She's not going to get an amazing title. She's just the sister of the woman who was married to the king. Princess Diana's brother had a title anyway because she was from aristocratic lineage. Well that's the thing. This is actually an obstacle that hasn't really come up before. Yeah because they didn't marry

commons. Because they didn't marry commons, yeah. Spare a thought for the Middleton's brother, James, who is a king of start-ups that print Instagrams onto square marshmallows. I really like that for the Middleton's brother, James, who is a king of startups that print Instagrams onto square marshmallows. I really like that service. It's really great eating your face. Before we knew that this was a Middleton wheeze,

Martin sent off for some boomf marshmallows. Did you buy something from the Middleton Marshmallow Empire? Well, I didn't know it was the Middletons at the time. I just thought that was brilliant. Was it good? Well, there's some marshmallows with pictures for my Instagram feed on. It was terrific. It's a good novelty.

You said that like you wouldn't nail support it because it's owned by a Middleton. That's a bit unfair, isn't it? I mean, I wouldn't nail support it because it was a silly novelty. But yeah, it certainly puts me off a little bit. Why? Because I thought it was some young startup guy rather than a rich person related to it. He's from a rich family, but you'd probably assume that of anyone who could afford to do a marshmallow startup. Yeah, but I mean, there's rich and there's rich, right?

Yeah, but he's not from rich and rich. He's from sort of, you know, well-to-do big country house rich. He's not from aristocratic rich. When your family marries into the royal family, though, it kind of creates a safety net that is unknown elsewhere in the Western world, right? Yeah, but I don't think that means you should deny them your support as an entrepreneur. We have now come to the end of this episode of Answer Me This.

And if you didn't like the way that you listened to this episode, let it be known that now you can listen to Answer Me This on Spotify. That's right, yeah. This is actually quite good. Ooh, and a two-party playlist. But I know what you're thinking. You think, well hold on I've got Spotify

And I don't see a podcast tab You might not, just wait Because it just suddenly appeared one day on my app But it's not on every version of Spotify They have been rolling it out very slowly for a year Very cautiously, but anyway You don't need the link, you know what Spotify is If you're on Spotify you can now listen to Answer Me This

Just search for us over there,. But if not, all of the other ways work as well, but they work better if you supply questions so that we can make episodes. Yes. That is essential. Well, we're just tangents, aren't we, if we don't have the initial starting point to bounce off from. Who wants that? Who wants a podcast of just tangents?

Quite a lot of people, apparently, considering some of the other podcasts that are popular, but we don't. We don't. Because we are self-hating. But anyway, supply your questions via email, phone and Skype. And our contact details are on our website. AnswerMeThisPodcast.com And remember as well to go and check out Fallen London, the game,

who we thank very much for sponsoring this episode of the show. Yes, FailBetterGames.com slash answers. Thank you for that. Please rejoin us in two weeks time for more of this bye