Answer Me This! - Answer Us Back: Stir and Forget. Stir and Forget

Episode Date: October 22, 2026

Welcome to this month's Answer Us Back, full of your feedback and questions provoked by previous Answer Me Thises. On today’s dance card: ● Elly from London corrects Olly’s assertion in AMT422 that radio legend Ken Bruce goes to see Les Miserables every year. That’s SLANDER, Olly, and Elly won’t stand for it! But maybe you can redeem yourself by getting on PopMaster to impress him with your Whigfield knowledge. ● Chris did not find Cosette’s tiny toy sword, as discussed in AMT422, at all unusual, since when he was a ten-year-old in North London, he wore an actual hunting knife on his belt. ● Charlie in Kreuzberg, Berlin takes exception to the lack of Stoke-on-Trent alums in AMT419’s list of famous people from the West Midlands. But one of her picks brings shame upon Stoke. ● Katie from Halifax has using her Soundbag-tier patreonage at patreon.com/answermethis to listen to the entire AMT back catalogue, which has left her with a burning question: who is this Meat Loaf of whom we speak?? A question we are only too delighted to answer. ● Rebecca from Missoula, Montana feeds back about AUB: All Aboard the Bidet Train to object to our dismissal of the ubiquitous American grape flavour as tasting chemically, when in fact it’s the real taste of concord grapes. If AMTs 1-422 left you with lingering questions and opinions, share them with us for future episodes of Answer Us Back. And as always, send in your questions, in voicenote or written form, to [e-mail]. All new AMT423 will be in your podfeed on 29 October 2026. Help keep AMT going by signing up at patreon.com/answermethis, where you can get an ad-free version of the show, monthly bonus bits, our video livestream Petty Problems, AND access to our ENTIRE back catalogue, including all our paywalled episodes, our special albums, and all the Retro AMT episodes.  • Cozy Earth, luxurious bedding, sleepwear, loungewear, and towels for bath and beach. Shop at cozyearth.com and get 20% off using our code ANSWER.  • Eight Sleep. Use our code ANSWER at eightsleep.com/answer for up to £200 off the Pod 6. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Answer Us Back, where we filled your feedback upon Answer Me This episode's Young and Old. And dig deep into our mailbag to get to the real interactive grot. Interactive grot is my favourite kind of interaction and grot. Me too. Why not combine two of the grates? I learnt after our most recent episode, Ollie, when you were talking about smile makers, a company that issues stickers to dentists. Yes, the business-to-business oral hygiene to encourage children

to visit the dentist company. Well, that company does not have the Google juice of smile makers, a term very frequently used for vibrators. Well, business to business, you see. They don't need to, do they? Yeah, maybe it's a different B2B. Well, it's better than grimace makers, I guess. Ellie in London has written to say,

first of all, thank you for the many years of content. You've provided me over the years. Yes. It's all just content, isn't it? Just content. Edmill abandon a took-took, content. I have missed that content and I feel fine about that.

I started listening in around 2009 when I used to download episodes onto my iPod classic to keep me entertained on the three-hour trip to London to meet my internet message board friends when I was a teenager, such a specific technological time.

Yes, so time before the iPod had Wi-Fi on it. So you had to decide what you wanted and sync it up with the cable before you left the house. By modern standards, you look back and it feels kind of gritty. Yeah, like having to do your laundry

with a washboard. Ellie says, I am now in my 30s and work in radio and podcasting, in no small part because I was inspired by Answer Me This. Oh, wow, that is a responsibility. You'll never have a home of your own. In fact, she says, I think Helen once emailed me back personally with great advice, did I? And I costed her and Martin on an overground to tell her what a fan I was and how sad it was that you ended. Do you remember that? You don't. God, these people are just flotsam and jets them to you, aren't they? You seem so relatable in real life.

Yeah, you know, just batting off the fans. Just Beatlemania, every overground trip. However, Ellie says, as you will know, the UK audio industry is very small. Lots of bald men. Oh, so many. And she's writing about one of them. I have worked with the man, the myth, the legend that is Ken Bruce. Oh, the ultimate bald man in audio, I guess.

I'd say. Ken Bruce, says Ellie, refutes the notion that, as Ollie claimed in a recent episode, he goes to see Le Miz every year. I don't think it goes as far as libel. she says with a little threat. Yes. But Ken Bruce is not, in fact, a Le Miz superfan, having only seen it twice. I don't know where I got that information from.

I'm happy to apologise for this. I can't replicate the research that led that fact to have crossed my lips, but in the course of researching knives in Le Miserables, which is what we were talking about, I did come across the fact on the internet that Ken Bruce went every year. Shouldn't be calling that a fact. It did seem to be from a reputed source. I wonder if it was like an A.m. summary of a website

and it was just a hallucination. Oh shit. Because Christopher Biggins, I know, does go to see LeMay's every year. That is a fact. No, you can't take it back, Ollie. Ellie says, I look forward to your ardent apology and putting the record straight.

I would never slander Ken Bruce deliberately. No. Well, let me try and correct the imbalance with this verified fun fact about Ken Bruce. Okay, better be. He once owned a quarter share in a vintage route master bus in a consortium

that included Alan Dedicate, the voice of the balls and newsreader Charles Nove. Okay, I wonder who kept it? Or did they, was it like sisterhood of travelling pants where they all got the bus for a spell of time over the summer? Well, this is where I don't want to drift into dubious research and slander him again, Helen, but as far as I can work out, he took a week off work to pass his public service passenger vehicle driving test

so that he could personally operate it. Oh. But they tried to grow it into a private wedding and corporate hire business, which is no longer extant on the internet. So something went wrong. Maybe the boss just died eventually. I suppose you don't buy a Rootmaster thinking, how's this going to be in 30 years time? You do it as a lark, don't you?

And it's still worth something when you sell it. And I guess that's where we're at. When they were selling off those old Rootmasters, they were 20 grand or so, and I didn't have it. But I was like, how cool would it be to have one of those in your back garden as a kind of summer house? But alas. Yeah, but that's the problem you need a big garden, don't you, in the first place? Yeah, but at the time my parents had a big garden. Another Ken Bruce fact, he owns the rights to Popmaster.

That's the other fact about Ken Bruce, isn't it? So he did it on Radio 2 for years. and the BBC wasn't interested in owning that piece of IP until he left. Oopsie. Oh shit. We've lost it. Really fucked that up. And now it's a slightly odd Channel 4 quiz show that nonetheless I would love to be on.

Have you ever seen Popmaster on telly? No, because I don't live in the UK, Olin. I'm not VPNing for that. I actually would like to compete in Popmaster on the radio as well now because although I used to think, I think I'm good, but there's too many 60s questions. It's now come up to your era. That's the thing. You've aged into Popmaster.

there's questions about the 90s and naughties. Yes. Name three singles by Wigfield, Saturday night, another day close to you. Got it, nailed it done. Like I'm ready. I'm ready. Close to you. I can't, how does that go?

Monday night and I'm feeling close to you. I think that's how it goes. Oh yes. That's a classic. Because I did remember the other one, the name of which has just immediately fled from my head. Sunday night and it's just another day. I think that's how that one goes. Oh,

Weekfield Duke Box musical Performed by Oli Man, when? Ken Bruce would come every week. Yes. Both weeks, it was open. With Biggins. That sounds fucking awesome. Actually, apropos our conversation

around Le Miserables and I tangented off in that conversation to talk about Martin Gare, which has been revived at the Old Vic. I've now been to see it, so I can give my review. The reviews are in, Oli Man's review is in. That's what they've been waiting for, breathlessly. since opening night. How is it? Yeah, I mean, you say that.

This is so niche that I have actually posted this review in advance in our Patreon chat, and no one pressed like. Out of a thousand listeners who give us money for access, no one cared. That's a cold, cold review in itself. Exactly, yeah. But here it is.

My feeling is that Matthew Walker's has done a great job at keeping it intimate and pacey at 90 minutes with no interval, though all of the melodrama could still do with a few more moments of fun. Four man stars out of five. That's a generous rating. Because that read like a three. Yes.

Well, I suppose the thing is, it's not to my taste, something that's just relentlessly grim, and it is a bit relentlessly grim. War is grim. So I think for what it's trying to do, it does it well. Yeah. Okay. Are there any toy swords in it?

No, there are real swords and guns. And flags in what I feel is a Le Maiz reference. I don't remember there being so many flags in the original. I don't think Le Maimers has the monopoly on flags. You know, you can look at just footage of the main stage at Glastonbury, and that's got more flags. than Les Mises. I know, but these aren't flags with Mr. Blobby and Ed the Duck on.

These are flags that are clearly French people singing about a war. Ed the Duck. Ed the Duck, you with your up-to-date refs. At Glastonbury, Ed the Duck is a staple. I often say meet me by Ed the Duck. Wow. Yeah. Well, that means there's only one Ed the Duck, otherwise it'd be a confusing meeting point.

I think that's probably right. In which case, this was sort of a niche reference, but I am giving a review for Martin Gereff. Okay. It's just like fractal nichedness, isn't it? Yeah. Well, apropos Cosette's tiny, sharp lead sword. We also said in Ansmey This 422 that we thought that toy weapons aren't that surprising. No.

In literature or in life. Not that we approve of them. It's just they're a very common toy. They seem to be, yeah, something people have done through history. And a listener backing up our assertion is Chris. Hi, Chris. Who says, your conversation reminded me of when I was a child around 10 years old. And I used to carry a sheath knife, a large hunting type knife, around on my belt.

Blimey. It was quite common among boys of that age and no one. thought it was odd or dangerous, this being Palmer's Green in the late 1960s. It's like a little clockwork orangey. Yeah. I've mentioned it to people since, he says, and they don't believe me. But recently I saw a film from 1953 called The Yellow Balloon, and the boy in that film wears a knife just like mine.

He even meets a policeman and the policeman isn't bothered. So having a toy knife isn't so odd after all. Okay. I mean, yes, in comparison to you having a large hunting type knife on your belt age 10, I guess. But also, 1953, in terms of its distance from the Victorian era, which we were discussing, is almost as long ago as 1953 as to now, isn't it? So it doesn't really prove anything in a sense about how a modern audience might think about it. Although I can say, my 10-year-old boy loves knives.

Does he? Any excuse? Is that because he's into doing some fine vegetable chopping? That is the context in which it comes up. But, you know, he's not interested in grating, for example. He's only interested in the big hardcore knives. So it is the knives. It's the appeal, not the corgettes.

Interesting, but he's not using them to like hold up to people's throats in a threatening way. Not that I can see. If he starts with any of your household animals, that is a warning sign of a serial killer. I know, yes. Animal harm in childhoods. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like apt to people. But, you know, chopping a carrot into perfect tiny little cubes, I would say it's probably not an indicator of serial killer and could be quite useful to you. Write a Nazi novella about that, Stephen King.

Actually, hello to my friend's wife, Lynn, who I think is listening, who I heard via my friend, just, chopped off a bit of her finger and can't dry for a week. Oh. Oh, that's happened to me when I've used mandolins. Yes, me too. Now I won't use one because it's fucking scary. Well, apparently she sliced a bit off and they went to A&E. They knew it was serious.

But, you know, she was using her finger, so they didn't think it was that serious. But then when she went back in to do the surgery on it, they said, oh, no, this is worse than we thought. You're going to have to have your hand, your whole hand in a cast for a week and you can't drive. Well, inconvenient. Not being able to drive for a week still better than, her losing a finger to gangrene or something. Yeah, sure, sure, sure.

But I guess, you know, you know when you just like slice a bit off your finger, you sort of imagine, because everything's so repairable these days, I'd sort of think it would be a bit like, you don't get those Halloween costumes which are like spooky single fingers that go over the top. Imagine you can wear something like that for a bit. And then it would, you know, heal, but apparently not. Apparently the whole army's going to cars, can't drive.

The only rubric that I'd say to sort of give her some comfort is the greater the injury, the better the anecdote. I think at some point it swings around to the anecdote just being a really depressing story of how someone slowly bled to death. Sure. That's right. Yes.

We're not at that yet. We haven't reached that tipping point. It's like a parabola, the graph of emotions in those anecdotes. You've just got to hit the right point. Fair. But what I'm saying is we're at a different inflection point now, which is the inflection point at which it would have been a story about getting a paper cut. Whereas now it's I sliced off a bit of my finger.

Paper cut, don't give a shit. Exactly. There you go. Unless the paper cut bled onto some important document and changed the constitution of the USA. That would be a great moment in a film, wouldn't it? Why doesn't that happen in a movie? It's relatable, isn't it? Maybe it has.

Maybe Chris would know a movie it happened in in 1953. It's the kind of thing that I bet Agatha Christie would have thought about as a twist. You know, because there's blood all over the document and the person slumped all over it. And the whole thing would be like, oh, is it about who inherited the estate? What was the motive? But it was a paper cut whilst they were reviewing the documents. And they were anemic or something. That would be good, wouldn't it?

Well, yeah, clever stuff. That could be a play. Yeah. We could have our theatrical glory after all. Yeah, well, the old thing's available in three weeks, time. Let's take it. Oh, fuck yeah. Here's a missive from Charlie in Kreuttsberg, Berlin, who says, I was very happy to hear that you've arisen from the podcasting grave. News is slow, isn't it? I'm pleased that people are discovering that we're back,

but we've been back for nearly two years now. Tell people. They're still pleased, Ollie. Maybe Charlie was right across it when we came back, but is just still pleased two years later, nearly. It's taken 18 months to write an email, fair. However, says Charlie, it made me sad that when in answer me this 419, Martin and Olly attempted to name famous Midlands people and completely failed to mention anyone from Stoke-on-Trent. Right. We have Robbie Williams. Yeah, he's famous.

Slash. Also famous. I can't believe Martin didn't mention Slash. He's always mentioning. The captain that sank the Titanic. Congrats Stoke-on-Trent. Frank Boff and the lovely Anthea Turner. That is her full name.

There's probably more, says. Charlie, but in reality I don't care, as it's a shit-hole and that's why I moved to Berlin. Ha, ha, ha, fuck you, Stoke. P.S., though, I do miss Staffordshire Oatkekes. So I feel, even though I haven't spent that much time in the Midlands, quite protective now, because I've just interviewed a guy called Chris Moss for the modern man who's a travel writer. And his whole thing is, don't go on foreign holidays and don't even go on mini-breaks to places in the UK that you think are going to be nice, like Stratford-upon-Avon.

Go to Dudley. That's the example he gives. Go to Dudley. I've spent quite a bit of time in Dudley and Chris you're going to have to really persuade me hard He says walk the canal along to the M5 He says admire the 1960s brutalist architecture Sure

He says the pub in the black country living museum is superb And there's also the black country living museum If you like people dressed up in 19th century garb pretending to be from the 19th century I personally can't stand it But if you like that it's great And also I fondly remember the day Helen that you and I spent in Stoke-on-Trent

learning about knobbing. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we went to the Emma Bridgewater factory and watched Emma Bridgewater's then-husband sketching in his book. They've split up since then, and then watched a bunch of workers just painting the knobs on teapots.

Yeah, it was a good day. It was a good day. And there's some beautiful buildings in the Midlands, because there's money there in the 19th century, and you can see it because they're these amazing red brick buildings. And then most of the West Midlands

had a really shit 20th century, but some of the buildings still stand. They haven't sunk into the collapsing mine shop. Yes, exactly that. So that's Chris Moss's point. He's like, look up. Don't look at the shop fronts that are day glow and awful. Look up and you'll still see architecture from a time of comparative wealth and a time when people celebrated the towns. And it wasn't that long ago. You don't need to talk about it like it's ancient Egypt or something. It's, you know, it's still recoverable. I will say for the West Midlands. So we spend a lot of time in Wolverhampton where Martin's mom and sister now live. Well, one of them's in Dudley. One of them's in Wolverhampton. There is some amazing food there. Really fucking good. food, a lot of DESE food, a lot of really good pubs. If you're into meat, the meat culture is strong. I mean, in terms of Frank Boff. See a football commentator? No, so he's, I mean, I'm going to say it now, so we don't like praise him for three minutes and then have to do the awkward bit.

He sexually harassed Fern Britain. That came up in Fern's autobiography that we listened to on that long car journey about 12 years ago. Yeah. So I, you know, I'm always with Team Fern on these matters. Yes. So fuck you, Frank Boff. Fuck you, Frank Boff. A shame upon Stoke-on-Trent. Also, his pickup line was like, I've got a massive cock, so when are you going to get on it or something? Which is, you know, forward for 80s breakfast television.

I doubt he said it on camera. Not very charming. Not very charming, I would agree. Not very professional in the workplace either. All said, yes, indeed. But nonetheless, a pioneer of that kind of cuddly breakfast sofa chat thing. And I think the reason he hasn't come up and answer me this before, because he was, people forget, Frank Boff, well, clearly, we're forgetting.

Frank Boff was this enormous. I'm trying to think what the equivalent would be really Richard Madele I suppose He'd been around for like 40 years And he was like the daytime TV presenter With a kind of journalistic background But cuddly interviews dominated BBC Breakfast Time when they launched it

Him and Selena Scott I think it was Now people don't remember him at all And I think that's because It's like what we'd be saying earlier About the generation that we're in Now sort of having Popmaster questions for us which are about Wigfield I feel like

I'm an Anne and Nick generation child I don't remember Frank Boff. I remember Roland Ratt, but like, you know, you're putting all that work, no one remembers because it's disposable breakfast television. Well, according to the scandal section of his Wikipedia, he left the BBC for arrest in 1988 before being sacked because there were tabloid reports that he'd been at parties

with sex workers where he'd taken Coke and worn lingerie, and then later there were allegations that he'd been at a dungeon orgy. And you're like, okay, none of those things are illegal if everyone's consented. Well, okay, taking the cocaine is it. illegal. But I feel like sexually harassing people at work, there's a bigger story here that is not in the scandal entry. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, so that's become nowadays the thing that would turn me off him, whereas what he got up to in his private life if it was consenting, just as I agree, it's not really anyone's business. Right, that's between him and his

wife, I'd say. Yes, and his jumpers. He's just known for his jumpers in the way that Giles Brandreth was also known for jumpers. It was just a very sweater-based era. Well, because it wasn't as hot then. That's right. Global heating hadn't kicked. in fully at sabotaging jumper wearing. I do think that. If like, I don't know, you know, if a cuddly 30-year-old man wanted to come off for sexually unthreatening to a female audience now,

I don't think they'd retreat to jumpers. Too warm. Too warm. And then they'd be old, like, sweaty and people would interpret that as sinister. I'll tell you, who loves jumpers? Who? Ken Bruce.

He's got a hundred of them. Oh, no, Ollie. We do not have the legal funds for this. We could open up another Patreon tier. Funds for Ollie's minor libels of Ken Bruce. Answer me. is sponsored by 8 Sleep, introducing their new Pod 6. Into my bedroom.

Oh. It's a life changer, Helen, because of the hugely variable temperatures that we've been having in this country. So sometimes on the very same night, I want to go to bed cold because the room temperature is so hot. Yeah. But then wake up warm because, you know, dewy autumnal morning. Your own body can't regulate that on its own.

Absolutely. But the pod six from 8 Sleep can. It's a smart mattress cover. that goes over the top of your existing mattress. You can even program both sides of the bed independently, so my partner has a different temperature that she likes. Oh, that's clever. As cool as 12 degrees centigrade or as hot as 43 degrees centigrade.

Wow. At different times of the day, which really makes a difference to quality of sleep. Especially in one's 40s. The body temperature becomes a much more jagged graph. And also being middle age. I'm interested in intelligently tracking my sleep patterns to improve them, they send you a text on WhatsApp the next morning with all your

data in it. Oh, cool. Well, if you want to try it, use our code answer at 8sleep.com slash answer for up to 200 pounds off the pod six. You get 30 days to try it at home and return it if you don't love it, but we're confident you will. Use our code answer at 8 sleep.com slash answer for up to 200 pounds off the pod six. Katie from Halifax says, I've listened to your show for probably 10 years now. And as a soundbag member on Patreon, thank you, Katie. Thank you all the soundbags and all the other patrons, I have listened back to every single episode. Yes, how convenient that you should mention that, Katie,

that a way to indulge your interest in catching up ad free on 20 years of our show is to visit patreon.com slash answer me this and join the soundbag tier. Thanks. Katie says, I grew up in a very conservative environment without TV or much internet. You folks have been like the cool, older sibling I never had. Thank you, Katie. That really means a lot to me because I would have loved to have been a cool older sibling. Yeah, you were the opposite to every part of that sentence.

Well, I was a sibling. Well, yeah, it's true. Okay. You were a younger, less cool sibling, generally. Actually, I don't think my brothers are more cool than me, and I think their children now think I'm the coolest. No, I think that's probably true. I suppose what I mean is when you're at the age where you care about things being cool,

you were the younger one, and therefore people would define... Impossible, yeah. Exactly. Coolness is just inhibit in the fact that they're older. You just don't stand a chance when you're the third. That's right. Through, answer me this, says Katie. I feel like I've been able to build up knowledge of the basic plot points of many a movie,

celebrity career, music video or pop culture moment. I'm so happy to provide that service. Can Bruce watch his lame is every day? But Katie says, and I think this could hurt you greatly, Ollie. One thing I have never understood is meatloaf. Who is meatloaf? He comes up in quite a few episodes. He does.

I most recently listened to episode 390 about Halloween songs. I don't remember what we would have been talking about that one. Could be any of them, honestly. They're all that Halloween ballads. They're all goffy, yeah. But all the information I've gleaned over various episodes is so odd that I can't quite picture who this person is, what they have done and when. Please help.

You never know when Meatloaf might come up in conversation. This is bizarre. Ollie, I can't wait for your master's presentation on Who is Meatloaf. I'm going to take it in that spirit, Helen, because what a gift of a question is who is Meatloaf. But I'm still slightly staggered, Katie. I get what you're saying, that you grew up without TV or much internet in a conservative household.

But I mean, you have the internet now, don't you? Because you've emailed us. You could have Googled in the time you took to write that, who is meatloaf, and get a very good pricey. Yeah, but you know, you can't trust the internet now, Olly, if it's delivering fake facts about Ken Bruce, you could tell her any load of shit about meatloaf

and just act like he's a little loaf made of meat. Well, okay, obviously, as you suggest, Helen, I take this personally, because meatloaf was very influential, not really on my career or my lifestyle. I don't know, there's quite a lengthy section in the answer me this book from 2010 about meatloaf, it's a blow, blah, blow description of the anything for love video. Well, this is it. So that, as you describe in the book, is there because

in, I suppose, about 2008 on the show, we answered, you know, one of the quintessential questions about meatloaf, what is it so that he won't do for love? Let's not go there now. No, we've done it. Katie's listened to it. Yeah. She's listened to every single episode. Yeah. I feel like he'd come up in answer me this, even if I wasn't a meatloaf fan, is my point. But, okay, so who is he? So his real name was Marvin Lee Aday, although he later changed that to Michael. Did he? He did? Late in life, like in his 60s, I think.

Is that because he'd gone by Michael for a lot of his life? Or was he like, I want the most common male name in America for 60 years. I just want that level of normality. Well, there's, I mean, you and I both watched a fascinating documentary about him, and I can't remember the details now, but I do remember it was grim. I don't remember watching that, but I would love to. It was like, damn it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we traded notes on it.

About 10 years ago, it was on BBC 4. It was like, abuse. relationship, I think, with his father, alcohol, definitely. And then, like, also fell out in and out again with Jim Steinman, who was the guy who wrote all the songs, like, and they sued each other. And, you know, it was very rocky. So, anyway, he's an actor, I suppose, but primarily, actually, Katie. That was what was interesting about him, is he made his way through musical theatre.

He was in hair and then in the Rocky Horror Show, but became a pop star because Jim Steinman spotted him and thought, this is the perfect embodiment of the aesthetic that I'm trying to create. It's weird talking about this like it's to a Martian. He doesn't know. It was one of the best selling albums of all time. It's also odd because usually a guy that looks like Meatloaf is not spotted for having the perfect look for being a music star. A pop star.

Yes, exactly. So the aesthetic that Jim Steinman wanted for what became Bat Out of Hell was sort of Biker Dude, which is why Meatloaf fits. because he's, I mean, the nickname, rather than being called Marvin is because he's a bit chunky, although by modern standards, he's not really. He's a chunky biker dude then in the 70s, so he was called Meatloaf. And it's that mixed with the sort of gothicness that he plays in Rocky Horror and in hair. So they created this sort of flamboyant, gutsy, rock ballad aesthetic. The songs go on for like 16 minutes long. Great value if you're buying singles in those days. Indeed. Very parodyable as well, because they're so.

slightly ridiculous, but kind of knowingly so. I'm sort of amazed that you've got through life without hearing either bat out of hell or I'd do anything for love, but I won't do that, which are both two of the biggest songs of all time. Maybe Katie had heard them, but hadn't put them together with the way we speak about meatloat. I mean, they're not on the radio much because they're so long. And actually also because, like, the audio panning of them somehow, they still sound a bit like vinyl.

They haven't been remastered that well. They haven't. That's interesting. But I would say, if you haven't heard Dead Ring of Fing. for love. Start with that. Because that one's only four minutes long. It's got share in it. It gets quickly to the chorus. So if you don't like that, I mean, that gives you a taste of what it's like, then don't bother with the 16 minute long track, certainly. Okay. What about objects in the rearview mirror? That's an Ollyman's stalwart, isn't it? Come on, Helen. You know you're scratching

an itch there. If I start talking about that, we'll need another 16 minutes, which is almost as long as the song. I'm here for it. Objects in the review mirror may appear closer than they are. It's like Jim Steinman's tribute, one of many, to the fad of, like, rock songs from the 50s, like leader of the pack about people who die in car crashes and motorbike crashes. And it's very emotional and very full on. Do you think he literally just looked out of his car window and he was like, oh, it's edged on my mirror. The name of the song, I'll just go from there. That's where the inspiration is from.

Inspiration can strike anywhere. So as a 13-year-old, it was my favorite song in the world and I listened to it endlessly. And I actually swore to myself then, Helen. that if ever I had a radio show, that would be the song that I'd play first. Yeah, and that's why you get put on talk radio to prevent that from ever happening. That's right. As it turned out, my first radio show was for LBC, so I had to do an hour-long phone in about respite care. Different tone, really?

It is, although similarly leads to death. Do you think this is really stuff that Katie doesn't know, though? Maybe what she wants to know is who is meatloaf spiritually to you, Ollie? Were you inspired by the fact that this kind of ordinary-looking guy could be such an epic conduit for human emotion? Yeah, the sort of goth rock Ron Jeremy effect. Yeah, the every man. Maybe, I mean, I was 13 in 1994,

which is when Bat Out of Hell 2 came out, and I just had a CD player. So I do think that's pretty crucial, really. I think every 13-year-old, well, every white 13-year-old in the home counties with the CD player, would have considered listening to Bat Out of Hell too even if they didn't like it. So, you know, it was that or Michael Jackson's history,

which when you look back on it now is a shit album. So that's why I like Meatloaf. I've done Culture Beat, I've done Ace of Bass. It's time for Bat Out of Hell. Culture Beat. Are there any Meatloaf credits you find surprising? Like some people might forget that he was the bus driver in Spice World. Some people might forget that he was in Fight Club.

He's great in Fight Club, isn't he? He's got a massive filmography. I didn't realize it was quite so big. Yeah. His last credit is sausage party. Yeah, that's voice only though, isn't it? That's animated comedy. Yeah.

Still, it's a funny way for that list to end. Well, it starts strong, doesn't it? I mean, that's the problem with Burning Bright when you're young. I mean, if you watch the performances that he did on the old grey whistle test, which are the reason that he made his name in the UK, and then sort of weirdly developed a career in America, even though he was from America because he was popular here, you can see why in the 70s that just felt so different to everything else

that was in the charts, it's still like exciting live music to watch on telly. And when he's young and really going for it and wearing all the levers and everything, it's quite compelling. Here's an email from Rebecca in Missoula, Montana. I've just come back from Montana in the summer and I didn't visit Missoula. I'm so sorry, Rebecca. You didn't go to Missoula? I've been, I know I've eaten a meal in Missoula, but I can't say I know the place well.

I do remember somewhere in Montana, Martin ate a meal, which is just a big bowl of yellow. It's like hash browns and melted cheese and other yellow things. I'm here for that in certain conditions, but it would have to be salad for dinner, wouldn't it? Salad and statins for dinner. Benicol Chaser. She says, I'm writing in after listening to Your Answerous Back episode all aboard the B-Day train. In it, she says, listener Dan from Pennsylvania wondered what English fruit or veg he could grow in his garden. And Alyssa from Indiana suggested blackcurrant in reply, inspired by the Gastropod podcast partially about the eradication of black currents in the US.

That's an excellent recap. Thank you. Yep. Thanks for reminding me because I had forgotten. Previously, on Answer Us Back. During your discussion, says Rebecca, the three of you went on a digression.

Doesn't sound like us. Slagging the fruit flavour Americans use for sweet purple-colored foods. Grape. Yep, I stand by that. Incidentally, slagging doesn't feel like a word that someone from Missoula would ordinarily use. Maybe she's learned her from us.

Maybe. Fingers crossed. We can't teach the world about meatloaf. We can teach them great words like slagging. I'd like to teach the world to slag. She says, I believe the word chemical was used. Yes, I said that.

I said it's a chemically flavor more so than blackcurrant. It does taste chemically. Yes. As I've heard so often when people bring up our singular love, especially it means American singular love, of that unique purple grape flavor. Yeah, you can keep it the US, like you can keep Fahrenheit. I am here to stand up for our grape.

Oh, grapes, can you use? see? It is a real flavour, she says, or in the case of some candies and sodas, based on a real flavour, Concord grape. Yeah, I know, I just think that real flavour taste of chemicals are not in a nice way. Concord grapes are an early 19th century

American hybrid of fox grapes, which are native to North America, and Old World Mediterranean grapes. Good grape knowledge, Rebecca. They were once grown all over upstate New York and New England. Now, the Concord grape industry is largely in Washington State. Oh, tantalizingly close to

me. I can probably smell the grapey whiff. That flavour of Welch's grape juice or smuckers jelly, she says, delicious to some of us, distressing to you and others, is the real flavour of concords, as I discovered to my delight many years ago when I made my first batch of homemade concord grape jelly from a growers' local fruit in my kitchen. To be honest, I'd eat that homemade jam made from real concord grapes. That probably would taste totally different to the smuckers you get in a sashay and dettys. Well, they're still going to taste of the concord grape, and that is a fundamental issue in the grape flavour that we're talking about. I think the thing is you probably like the smuckers and welches

if that's what you had in childhood, right? Because it's nostalgic. It's like I like Sunpat, even though I can say quantifiably, it's like the worst peanut butter, but it's just the one I had when I was six. Yeah, you're a skippy man. Yeah, exactly. Through and through. Actually, well, no, these days I'd go pip and nut.

Pip and nut, I'm not acquainted with. Or Mani Life? Did they sell that in Costco in buckets? Yeah, they do. Mani Life is really good, actually. Yeah, it's like it's got a little bit too much oil on the top when you first hope that you're like, ooh, is that all going into you? That's just because it's separating. Yeah, then you stir and forget.

Stir and forget. That's how we get through life, isn't it? Stirring and forgetting. She says, as a member of Gen X, I've always loved that purple grape. To me, she says, it's been my lifelong essential element in that most quintessential of American childhood treats the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Not a classic sandwich, I'd say for Gen X's in Britain. No, but actually, with my Posh Money Life peanut butter, and my Marks and Spencer's four berry Scottish jam,

I do make myself a version of peanut butter and jelly and enjoy it. I think a jam, particularly a sharp jam, cutting through the peanut butter would be quite nice, but I think every jam I've ever had in the States has been too sweet to perform that function. Yes, whereas I grate salt on top of it. Whilst I probably won't ever convert you to liking our purple flavour with this information, she admits, accurately,

please know that it is just as real as blackcurrant. Yeah, I did know. I knew about the corn called grape. Everyone's been like, Helen, Concord Grape. real. I'm like, yeah, I know. I know. I still don't like them. I didn't when I said that it was more chemically than blackcurrant. So I take the point that it's based on a

real taste, but I still think the net result of what you put in your tongue is chemically. I personally don't like blackcurrant flavor. To me, it tastes rather different to black corrants. I can't stand it as an artificial flavour. So I hope that helps, Rebecca. That's big, big words. Now you're in trouble. I don't claim

either of the purple flavors. I don't know if you know, but Ken Brew starts every day with just blackcurant and licorice sweets. now I simply don't know if you are fucking with us or not because that seems plausible. It goes to Le Miz with a big tub of blackcurrant sorbet, rubs it all over his head. And yeah, his favourite lubricant is Ribina. I think if I actually tried a Concord grape, I might change my mind, but I don't know if you can get them in Britain. I've never seen them.

I'm pretty sure I can get them in Vancouver being just over the border from Washington State, where Rebecca tells us they are now mostly grown. Do you want me to get some and eat them on the next answer to spack? Oh, I thought you were said another reason for me to spaff 800 pounds on a flight to come over and record an episode. Live Concord grape tasting. Oh, sure, yeah. Just make sure you come in grape season.

Yeah. Fun fact, I learned actually about banana flavoring. Oh, that's a very weird flavoring. Yes, but it's partly weird, or like we process it as partly weird, because we've been used to Cavendish bananas, which has been the dominant banana since Panama disease wiped out plantations of the Gromichelle bananas in the 1950s. Mm-hmm.

But if we'd been brought up on gross Michelle bananas that people had until the 1950s, then we'd more readily recognize that artificial banana sweet taste because it's based on that. It's like the last way you can taste what a banana used to taste like is actually a McDonald's milkshake. Wow. Yeah. Well, sorry, Rebecca, I don't mean to come across as super hostile.

A bit fucking late for that. Sorry, I'm just very defensive about this grape thing. The truth is, I don't really care. I don't eat that many grapes. I find them all too sweet now. It's all just content, isn't it? It's all just material. Nothing matters, really.

All just content, but that's acting like, content doesn't matter, Olly. You know, one day when you are sent to the cleaners by Ken Bruce, you'll realise the content did matter after all. It did matter. There were consequences to the content. That's right. Content sequences. And getting your feedback like we do in these episodes of answer us back makes us realise that there's a justifiable reason we spend our life creating these diversions that otherwise don't matter. They just pass the time until we all die. Yes. And no, I absolutely love hearing from you and the things that tweak your interest and sometimes your rage. Send it all to us. Also send us your questions because there will be a new

episode of Answer Me This on the last Thursday of this month and subsequent months because, as Ollie pointed out, we are back. Yeah. Remember as well that the best way to support us financially if you would like to do that is at patreon.com slash answer me this. You get loads of bonus things in return, but the main thing is you keep the show going by sending us your money and thank you. Yes, we like that. But you do get loads of things in return. Yeah, including this thing that you've just listened to. You could have listened to it on your own ad-free feed on Apple podcast, YouTube music, or Spotify. They feel like an idiot now for not having done that.

Well, maybe they did, and you've just called them an idiot and they're like, I'm not an idiot, I did that thing. No, no, no, then they'll be feeling smug. I think the messaging works both ways. All right. Well, idiots and non-idiotes alike, we're very fond of you all. All are welcome at patreon.com slash answer me missed. Absolutely. All you need is be his 18 plus in a bank account.

We don't judge. Bye. Bye.