Do Go On - 371 - The Destruction of Pompeii by Mount Vesuvius

Episode Date: November 30, 2022

In AD 79 Mount Vesuvius violently erupted, destroying and Pompeii other nearby towns. Pompeii lay hidden under metres of ash for 1500 years, preserving much of the city and even the people that had died in the eruption. This is the number one topic for Block 2022!This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 09:47 (though as always, we go off on tangents throughout the report). Support the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPodLive show tickets: https://dogoonpod.com/live-shows/  Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/suggest-a-topic/ Check out our new merch! : https://do-go-on-podcast.creator-spring.com/  Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail]  Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader Thomas Do Go On acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we record on, the Wurundjeri people, in the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders, past and present. REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:youtube.com/watch?v=gpv8BK_zgoY https://museum.wa.gov.au/pompeii2010/daily-life/index.htmlhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/pompeii_portents_01.shtmlhttps://www.wired.com/2014/07/fantastically-wrong-doctrine-of-signatures/https://www.world-archaeology.com/great-discoveries/great-discoveries-pompeii/https://igppweb.ucsd.edu/~gabi/sio15/lectures/volcanoes/pliny.html https://www.history.co.uk/article/the-eruption-of-mount-vesuvius-in-79-ad-and-the-destruction-of-pompeii Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just jumping in really quickly at the start of today's episode to tell you about some upcoming opportunities to see us live in the flesh. And you can see us live at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2024. We are doing three live podcasts on Sundays at 3.30 at Basement Comedy Club, April 7, 14 and 21. You can get tickets at dogo1pod.com. Matt, you're also doing some shows around the country. That's right. I'm doing shows with Saren Jayamana, who's been on the show before. We're going to be in Perth in January, Adelaide in February, Melbourne through the festival in April, and then Brisbane after that. I'm also doing Who Knew It's in Perth and Adelaide. Details for all that stuff at mattstuartcomedy.com.

You can get anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea and ice cream? Yes, we can deliver that. Uber Eats. Get almost, almost anything. Order now. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details.

We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. hello and welcome to another episode of do go on my name is Dave Warnke and as always I'm here with Jess Perkins and Matt Stewart.

Hello. I wanted you to speak exclusively in horns for the whole episode. I'm trying to find a new kind of uh I don't know like a like a like a catchphrase or like a you know like you'd be like yeah I'm with Jess and Matt and Jess always says the same funny thing. Well not everyone can have one um but isn't it good to be alive? And thanks so much for being here with me today, Dave and Jess. See, he's got one. Dave and Jess. Look at his hat. Dave and Jess.

Dave and Jess. Now kiss. Who, me and Matt or Dave and Jess? Dave and Jess. Give me a kiss. Oh, it's very wet. You two are sitting right under the block mistletoe. Oh, that's right.

We are rocketing through. We're blocketing through. Come on. It was right there. Come on. It was right there. And I appreciate it. We're casting jokes and mushing words together.

Thank you for. You missed the opportunity. Thank you for educating me. We've both just had ice coffees we're a little excited we're rocketing through block we're blocketing through rock whatever this i thought this is the most exciting part for a time of year but it's also a sad time of year for me because it's also this is the last week of block yeah can you believe it has blown by as it always does. Quickly. Yeah.

Feels like we're in Chicago or something, huh? Not a slow wind. No. A brisk one. Yeah, yeah. Blowing a gale. Like Oprah's friend. And Oprah's from Chicago at some point. God, that's good.

Now, Matt, do you want to explain for people that may have just tuned in for this topic why this is so special this week? Well, block is the most special time of the year it's the block blocking us time of the year um yep and it's the time of the year where we take october and now we also take november blocktober and blowvember and we count down the most requested and voted for topics of all time not Not of all time, of all year. If this is the first time you're listening to this podcast, look, welcome, but sorry.

The show starts soon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it is. Thousands of people have voted. We've counted them down the last eight weeks. This is, we had a top nine because that's how many weeks in October and November there are. Infuriating.

And this is the number. Talk to Gregory. Okay. Don't look at me when you're saying that. Gregory, you know, Pius Gregory or whatever his name is. Gregory Weekday. Of the Gregorian calendar. Gregory calendar.

Obviously, it's right there. God, you're an idiot. Now, this is the most voted for topic this year. So, it's a big one. It's a bad one. Oh, it's a bad one. They voted poorly, have they? Oh, wow.

Bad as in good. Do you understand? Oh, like, yeah. Yeah, like bad as in good. I was going to say like Michael Jackson, but then I was like, but that's a bad analogy because. That's just bad as in bad. Yeah, that's just bad.

Great. We've established what bad is. Great. Now, this is good. What is good? Now, the way the show works is we usually take it in turns to report on a topic often suggested by one of the listeners. It is my turn this week and we always start with the topic.

With a question. Here it is. We always start... Sorry. Oh, no. We've been doing this for seven years. This is the messiest start we've had in ages. Is it seven years? More than, I think. 2015? No, this for seven years. This is the messiest start we've had in ages. Is it seven years?

More than, I think. 2015? No, it's seven years. Seven years. Almost. We've just passed our seven-year birthday. Happy birthday, everyone. Happy birthday, Matt.

Give me a birthday kiss. Oh, tickled. I'm sorry. I haven't shaved. Oh, my God. We always start with a question to get us on the topic. My question is, which Blockbuster-tober topic did I visit in July this year? Okay, it's in Europe now.

The penis hospital. Was I visiting a patient or was I checking in? You were checking in. It's too big. The Virgin Islands. I know you wrote a camel eating a pie in Africa. That's right. That was in Morocco.

Is the topic Africa? That's a very big topic. Yeah. Well, it's blocked over. It is. No. Exactly. This is in...

Mount Vesuvius Volcano? Yeah. I was going to give you a clue, but you didn't need it. Can I have the clue, please? This is in Italy. And it's near a volcano, Jess. Name of an ancient city? Pompeii.

Pompeii. Damn it. Yes. Is that the same thing? And Mount Vesuvius is the name of this city. So we get a point each. Point each? Dave, I need an official ruling. I didn't realise that was the same. Matt, I'm getting an official ruling. city. So we get a point each. Point each? Dave, I need an official ruling.

I didn't realise that was the same. Matt, Matt, I'm getting an official ruling. Okay. Do we get a point each? Bing, bing, bing. Yeah. That's no. That was the third one for me.

It's points all round. Points for all. That's nice. So Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius is the same thing. Yes, Pompeii is the city that was covered by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, and that's what we're talking about this week. 79 AD. That is a very long time ago.

Mount Vesuvius exploded all over Pompeii, like literally head to toe, leaving a lot of people encased in its ejaculate. Don't you turn your head and regret your jokes privately. Can I just say, at the end of this report, we will discover how Matt is very much getting into the mindset of a Pompeian with that kind of language. Oh. Just keep that in the back of your mind.

Okay, I will, but I'm confused. If you see the end of the world coming, what are you doing? You're coming. You're coming. I'm going, so I'm coming. If you see the end of the world coming, what are you doing? You're coming. You're coming. I'm going, so I'm coming. I wonder what you would do. I think about that often. Would I just panic or would I just, yeah, would I just be at peace?

Would I, I don't know, finish an episode of something on Netflix? I feel like, yeah, I feel like I'd attempt to run or get out. Yeah. Just go for a run. Yeah. Go for a run. You know. One last run before heaven. Want to leave behind a run before i fly a svelte corpse yeah oh no i've really put on a couple of kilos now so i went to uh pompeii in in july visit the city fantastic i wanted to

go there and get a photo and have a pie and caption it, more like Pum Pie. Oh, that's good stuff. But they didn't have any pies available. That's why you are the pun master. So it was very disappointing. Why don't you BYO pie? I should. You've got to start BYO pie-ing, Dave.

BYOPP. The second P is a typo. So there was no Pum Pie, but it was a fantastic visit, and I'll talk a bit about that. Hang on. Does that also mean that your entire six-week trip was tax deductible now? Yes, absolutely. Here I am research.

Yeah. And then I had to go to Morocco to do further research. You also did a live podcast, like literally doing all that. Yeah, you're writing all that off, babe. So we've topped and tailed with work. Yeah, yeah. Fantastic. This is all research.

Yeah, you've nailed that, Unless the tax man's listening. How well was that timed, though? Because you didn't know any of the block topics, what were coming up. No, we just divvy them up in the order that they come up and the fact that I've been given it. I've actually tried to put it up for the vote twice this year. Really? Both times it lost.

The second time was one of those second chance. Yeah, yeah. For people at home, our Patreon supporters often vote for our topics i put three up it came second and i said i'll give it a second chance it came second again and now here it is as the most voted for topic of block wow amazing so there you go i think because it's a slightly different kind of vote in the normal votes you can only vote for one topic but this one you can vote for all the topics you want to hear so i think it just gives it a different result in the end it'd be too brutal otherwise i think there's over 100 options yeah just picking one one too much stress uh this topic has been suggested

by a bunch of people and you can do that so there's a topic anytime through our website uh thank you to brie finlay lucy smith devon bruns chris beaumont, Amy from the Philippines, and Lisa Honeyford, who suggested four topics within a 28-minute period in October 2018, and we've now done three of them. Wow. Great work, Lisa. That's a hot hand she had there. The Dancing Plague, Tarara Who Ate Everything, and now Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius.

What will the fourth and final one be, Lisa? Well, you surely know what it is. I do know. And it sounds like she suggests good topics. Yeah, very good topics. Lisa, I hope you're still listening. I hope you haven't given up on us. Hey, Dave, you totally lied to the audience just before, though, obviously.

You said that this just happened to fall to you, the number one topic, but we purposely switched the order around so you could do it because you begged us. You said if Vesuvius ever comes up, I want it. I've been there. Give it to me. People aren't going to look at this order and say oh it's weird that dave did two reports in three weeks and not get it you dog then why did you set me up before and say oh it's amazing that this topic fell to you you fucking idiot you started it and then rebutted your own point. Well, I'd say edit that bit out then, Dave.

Keep the magic alive. Usually we never know what the topics are. No, block is a bit harder. But yeah, normally I think the block questions are normally not the topic because it's like now I'm going to pretend I don't know the answer. And I'm not good at pretending. I'm a bad liar. You're a terrible liar. You're a terrible person. Yeah, I was got to pretend I don't know the answer. Yeah. And I'm not good at pretending. I'm a bad liar.

You're a terrible liar. You're a terrible person. Yeah. Okay, let's talk Pompeii. Do you guys know much about it? You've been there. You've both been to Italy. I've been to Italy. I haven't been to Pompeii.

I've been to Milano for half a day-o. Okay. And I went to the McDonald's. No Irish bar there? No, I was just there just a change a quick change over on a train trip or something that's the only italy i've ever seen oh okay huh well i've done rome venice pisa see this is your generation i've done rome i've done just just items on a list to you. Yeah. Whereas I experience Milano by the McDonald's.

How do they do a junior burger here? Oh, slightly differently. Oh. Hmm. And then I take it on my list. And I get back on a train. Yeah. The site of the ancient city of Pompeii is found found near modern day naples in the campagna region of

italy it began life as a small coastal settlement which covered about 10 hectares it wasn't too big at the start but by the 6th century bc the town had expanded to more than six times its original size and it only continued to grow when it fell under the roman empire around the first century bce latin became the official language and a roman constitution was imposed on the new colony and wealthy romans desired living in the bay of naples which was extremely prosperous due to its fertile agricultural land but why oh why was the land so fertile i guess they'll never find out so volcanic earth is particularly fertile?

Very fertile. Right. And even to this day, that region is famous for tomatoes and beautiful fruits and vegetables. What region did you say it was? Campania. Campania. So that's famous for tomatoes and stuff.

So maybe like if I go home tonight and have a look at my cupboard, crushed tomato can. If I have a look, Campania is probably on the label. Yeah, probably. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100% locked in.

Nowhere else grows them. And yeah, they'll all be from Campania. Campania. But it's very, very fertile. They grow beautiful fruits and vegetables there. Yum. They probably don't even put them in cans. That's how good they would be.

You don't need to can them. Oh, that's like spitting on a tomato. Yeah. Like people who refrigerate their tomatoes remember my my nana once said to me gets rid of all the flavor refrigerating a tomato yeah don't refrigerate the tomato you lose all the flavor well what if some of us like flat flavorless tomatoes well obviously you refrigerate everything though yeah exactly i don't like to taste my meal. Can we blend that up, get it in some sort of a slop? Tomato slop in a can from Campania. So it became a very wealthy and sophisticated place to live. As in any growing place, it began to gentrify

and houses were subdivided and upper stories added to make room for the newcomers. So it was a boom in time. Cool. Now a bustling town, it was home to about 10,000 to 12,000 people with as many again living in the surrounding countryside. Bars and restaurants lined the streets and shopping in the city was apparently world class.

Oh. I wonder if they had like a Collins Street type set up. Did they have Jimmy Choo? Oh, of course. Harry Winston? Coco Chanel? Did they have Jimmy Choo? Oh, of course. Harry Winston? Coco Chanel? Do they have Coco Chanel? Yeah.

That would be a pretty good name for a nail salon because they're always puns. So Coco Chanel would be pretty funny, actually. I copyright that one. Nah, it probably already exists. Yeah, it's too good to not exist. Chanel! Coco Chanel. Coco Chanel. They're honestly always punny and it's it's too good to not exist shanale cocoa shanale they're honestly

always punny and it's always lame so cocoa shanale isn't that bad there's a few industries that do that hair thai thai food yes it's always there's a lot of thai puns uh and pho as well even though i think pho is not even pronounced like that but it's like photo is one around nearby to here. I think on Sydney Road there's a photo restaurant. But it should be like fur-toe. Yeah. And that is different, isn't it? That's why language is beautiful to me.

Hairdressers do it a bit. Nail salons do it a bit. What's a good hairdresser's one? Snip, snip. You know? Oh, yeah. And what's that playing on? Scissors. Oh, yeah. And what's that playing on? Scissors.

Oh, okay. I think you misunderstand puns more than me. You know what I am very good at? Improv. Yeah. Well, I mean, you're playing with a heavy weight here. I did two semesters. Yeah, that's right.

You know, and that probably still shines through. Snip, snip. I think that's good you know and that probably still shines through that's good personally i'd go there about 10 years ago i used to listen to a podcast of the dave gorman radio show and they had they were obsessed with pun names for places and there was a hairdressers uh called uh salon lebon which i did not get that to explain it was It was a pun on the Duran Duran singer, Simon Le Bon. Simon Le Bon. That does need to be explained. I'm like, this must be a pun in French or something. No.

So good. That doesn't work, I don't think. Salon Le Bon. Salon's not close enough to Simon to work. No, at all. I like it. That's more like what you do for puns in the Patreon shout-out bit later on. That's right.

But more like pom-pie. That's pretty good. That's good. Come on. Yeah, and you're setting it up as well. You're saying pom-pie more like pom-pie. Yeah. Out of context, maybe people would be like, what's that referring to?

Like if I call my pie shop pom-pie. What? It's confusing. So it's a world-class shopping, lots of places to eat and drink. It's also very advanced. Using Roman aqueduct technology, the city was supplied with fresh water flowing from the hills over 40 kilometres away. Oh, wow.

This is 2,000 years ago. To quote from the Western Australian Museum, which in 2010 had an exhibit on Pompeii, this water flowed into a roofed reservoir before dividing into three large lead pipes, which ran under the pavements six meter high towers with lead tanks again lead's not great but anyway on top were built at intervals along these three pipelines the 35 meter height difference between the castellum which is the name of the tank and the lowest point in the city meant that the water in the pipes was under

pressure allowing smaller pipes to carry water up to the tanks, then back down to the towers to supply public fountains, houses, shops and facilities like baths. It sounds like heaven. At first I'm like, take me back. And now I'm like, ah, but my phone. How would you stay in touch with people? How would I stay in touch with people? Well, my next sentence, they also had phones.

Do they have Nintendo Switches? Yes. Can I play my little Bear and Becfrest game? I, my next sentence, they also had phones. Do they have Nintendo Switches? Yes. Can I play my little Bear and Bec Frisk game? I'm afraid that game hasn't come out yet. Back then. Yeah, that comes out the next year. I have to wait. You have to wait through an eruption.

But what have I told you? Spoilers. They do have toilets. Okay. While decidedly rare in other parts of the world at this time, toilets were commonplace in the sophisticated Pompeii city and often occupied a small room off the kitchen. Off the kitchen.

Off the kitchen. Yeah, I don't think they say occupied. They say occupied. Do you want to shit next to the kitchen? Well, a gentleman never shits, but do you want to piss right next to the kitchen? Well, no, and I think there's regulations about you can't have a toilet off a kitchen,

at least here in Australia. I don't know what they're doing in Pompeii. Yeah, true. Obviously different rules. We're still on a toilet to whoever built my house. Anyway, bathing was a popular public activity and Pompeii boasted three public baths. Beautiful. The city also boasted advanced use of medicine with doctors and surgeons.

The Roman medical system was so advanced that some say it remained unsurpassed until the 19th century. Wow. Pretty amazing. That is amazing. The city also claimed world-class entertainment. Oh, my God. Have they got it? Tina Arena?

Ricky Martin? I was already improv-ing. You don't have to improv over the top of me improving. No, that's not me doing over the top. That's me thinking at the same time as you, but your mind works quicker. So you say it about five, ten minutes earlier than me. Something said, not good.

In about half an hour, Matt will just say, Ricky Martin. Yeah, that's good, mate. Genuinely, I think we were both going, aiming for the same pause there. You just got to it so long before me. Well, they didn't have a Tina Arena, but they did have a Tina. Ricky Martin. They did have a Tina Amphitheater. Oh.

No relation. It's the oldest known amphitheater in the Roman world. Actually called Tina? Yeah. Oh, my God. Can you imagine? nailed that and is it is it true you've seen bronwyn cuss's bit about tina arena's real name is tina pina oh no i didn't i haven't seen that bit i've never looked up to see if it's true it's a very funny bit no well no doubt bronwyn cuss very funny comedian yes tina pina That's funny.

Again, from the WA Museum, the contest Pompeians enjoyed were ultra-violent, ultra-violent, even by today's standards. That's so different. But I love that. Even by today's standards, it's like, yeah, these people fought to the death. Yeah.

By today's standards, what violence are we doing like that yeah that's right ours is more macro violence yeah that's from above and stuff back then they at least killed people face to face yeah about micro aggressions and macro violence but uh it got quite rowdy in the air and our micro violence uh these days is even bad for Roman times. Yeah. Back then, people would say stuff like, huh, you're wearing that today. Yeah.

Is that a micro-violence? And now what would we say? Now we'd say, huh. You're wearing fucking that today. Yeah. That's an interesting choice, matching that eyeliner with that blouse. That hurts. Matt knows so much about fashion.

He really does. Are people still wearing blouses? Of course. Blouses will always be in. Violent, you were saying. Got rowdy. He got rowdy in the stands. And one time there was a riot afterwards.

And then to show them all, the emperor went, okay, fine. I'm closing down the amphitheater for 10 years now nobody gets an amphitheater you're happy cop it wow that's a big 10 years i know dad's angry yeah well that's it i'm gonna turn this amphitheater around no dad please dad we love watching gladiators fight animals gladiators were very popular amongst all of society both men and women idolize the fighters who are often foreign slaves one piece of surviving graffiti in pompeii reads saladus the thracian makes all the girls sigh that is so good now what are they saying at all

2 000 years ago what are they saying about maybe he's really dull maybe he says really problematic things and all the women go have you thought about that saladus the thracian shut the fuck up because i've never seen a man so attractive that i've sighed well you haven't seen saladus thracian but i wouldn't sigh i'd go Arruga. I'd gasp. Hubba hubba. That's written. Saladus the Thracian makes all the girls go arrruga. Psy might have, you know, language is always evolving. Psy back then might mean arrruga now. We don't know. I wonder how all of us have done that very differently.

It's very fun to do that. If you put like Psy into Google Translate from Italian to English, it does give you arruga. I wish I could roll R's like Jess did. I didn't roll R's. Dave rolled R's. Ruga. I can't roll them like that.

I get you too confused. I know. I went for that sort of like grunt that always makes you laugh. Beautiful sound. Beautiful sound. Our delicate lady. Satisfying. Love to hear it.

Right in my ears. ears wearing these headphones. You know what? When you do that sound, it makes me think. Well, it did hurt my throat a little bit, so I'm just going to have a little break. Worth it. So I'm trying to paint a picture of this city, though. So it's very advanced for the time, especially, and would that way uh on any scale for a long time isn't that wild that it was until the did you say till the 19th century yeah for medicine yeah

that's so cool i love that our century our couple of centuries have really taken the world forward and i think that was us you know collectively the modern romans we've been around for most of that time that's right i've seen a lot of that stuff being done. I'm just a little baby. Yeah. So I haven't had much of an opportunity to make an impact on the world. Hey, but you've played your part. Well, I've tried. Dave had a medical condition named after him,

if I'm remembering that anecdote correctly. I'm not, I'm guessing. Which one? No, that was someone else. All right. How many people are you podcasting with? Oh, my God. That's a very personal question. This is how we find out. Yeah, that was someone else. All right. How many people are you podcasting with? Oh, my God. That's a very personal question.

This is how we find out. Yeah, hang on a second. I don't really do body counts, Jess. I think they're a bit uncouth. Yeah, I think so too. Potty counts. Potty counts. Pun King is back.

Now, this debate as to how many people lived there in 79 AD, the year in question, but most historians estimate it's about 20,000 people. Yeah, right. That's a decent sized town. Yeah. And nearby to Pompeii was the smaller town of Herculaneum. Oh my God. That's pretty awesome, isn't it?

Holy shit. Herculaneum. It had about 5, my God. It's pretty awesome, isn't it? Holy shit. Herculaneum. It had about 5,000 residents. Hydrogen, helium, Herculaneum. That would sound like the strongest metal ever discovered. Sorry, Dave. Sorry, we were interrupting a lot. I'm going to pipe down.

It had 5,000 residents. It was a bit smaller, but it grew to become a holiday resort and luxurious retreat for the wealthy landowners who built and bought estates there. So it's much more wealthy. It's a bit smaller, but it grew to become a holiday resort and luxurious retreat for the wealthy landowners who built and bought estates there. So it's much more wealthy. It's very exclusive. A little enclave. Sounds like where I'd want to live. I think you would.

The largest villa known as the Villa of Papyri is widely believed to have been owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law, who I only bring up because he's got an incredible name, which is Lucius Calpurnius Piso Sisoninus. That is a beautiful name for a boy or girl. I'm going to need that one more time. Lucius Calpurnius Piso Sisoninus. Oh, that is good. What would his nickname be? Nenus the Penis, surely. Yeah.

People, you know. Yeah. Back then. They hear what they want to hear they heard nina's the penis there's also a couple of other places nearby including stabby a and what stabby a it's a fancy place to get stabbed that's the nickname of uh cork or limerick i always get i forget one of stab city in ireland right you can never remember I can never remember which one it is. And the people from the other city, I imagine, don't appreciate that. Yeah.

Stabby A and also Torre Annunziata are the two other places nearby. Okay. And they all had one thing in common. They were overlooked by a giant. Oh. I'm talking about Mount Vesuvius, but in fact, in Greek and Roman mythology, giants were said to have been defeated and then buried under mountains where their tormented shivers were said to cause earthquakes

and volcanic eruptions. Oh, wow. So you could say it's a giant, yeah. That's sick. I kind of like that. We defeated the giants, but they haunt us. Yeah, they fuck us up every few years. Every time they shiver, tormentedly.

We've got to rebuild. God, these fucking giants. God, these fucking giants. These fucking giants. Even after death giving us grief. Jeez Louise. Mount Vesuvius does really loom over the whole area, though. And even today, when driving down the highway, you can see it from miles and miles away. You're like, holy shit, there it is.

And it really looks like a cartoon of a volcano. Right. Like what you're imagining. It's like, bang, there it is. Wow. Got a bit of steam coming out the big hole in the middle may as well yeah pump that's a no no it doesn't but we can talk about why that's important okay hey dave is pompey is what's that where pompous comes from any relation

there uh i'm not sure i'm not sure that comes from pompey the great maybe pompous meaning pompey the great geez you can throw anything at can throw anything at Dave and he'll have an answer. Thank you for never doing that to me. Even if you were like, hey, Jess, what is your middle name? I'd be like, oh, I'm frazzled. Can you ask Dave? Snip, snip. Snip, snip.

Jess, snip, snip Perkins. Oh, that could overtake Bop, I reckon. No. Snip, snip. No. I've had Bop personal personalized on so many things. I can't start again. Jess, you know the only way to ensure a new nickname is to deny it.

Yeah, you're right. I love it. Call me Snip, snip, everybody. All right, Snip, snip. No! Call me Simon Le Bon. That's a great name. What a great name.

Now, pompous, I'm looking up, it's late Middle English, so not from here, from this period of time. From Old French, Pompos, which means full of grandeur. Ah, yes. That's nice. And from Late Latin, Pompous from Pomper or Pomp. There you go. I love the word, though, Pompous.

It's fantastic. Pomp, all of that is great. So fun. Great fun there. Great fun. So Pompeii was located just five miles away from Mount Vesuvius, and by AD 79, it hadn't erupted in four centuries, which is quite a long time.

And the longer the time between eruptions, the more catastrophic the eventual eruption will be. So that's why it's important. That volcano's got blue moles. So if steam was coming out, that would actually be good because it would be venting a bit. Right. Have it a wank.

But it ain't wanking. Wet dreams. The giant's having a wet dream. The chastity belt is padlocked on at this point. I'm so sorry. My parents listen to this podcast. Do they really? Sorry, guys.

It's a bit funny, though. So it hasn't gone off, so to in four centuries so to speak they had no idea but they were living directly underneath a ticking time bomb oh no now two of the most famous people connected to pompeii and vesuvius are two people who are also very well known in their own time in the roman world plinny the elder and Pliny the Younger. Oh, yep. That makes sense. No relation.

Are these? No, they are. They love that younger and elder thing in the olden days. They didn't have as many names. So you sort of had to name your kid after yourself. And it's a bit like senior and junior now. Yeah. We've just made it way cooler.

Yeah, yeah. Senior and junior way cooler. And the older is a bit hurtful too because I had kids younger back then as well. So you're like, what, I'm 20 and I'm the elder? Come on. I've got my whole life ahead of me. That's on you for naming your kid after yourself though.

Yeah, true. I've got my whole life ahead of me. I've got like seven or eight years left. I've got seven or eight good years left and then I'll die of old age. With dignity. Thank you very much. Pliny, but it's also even worse, I think, though,

when you're Pliny the Younger, your whole life you've been the Younger, but when you're an old man, they're still calling you the Younger. It's like you with Master. Take me seriously, bank. Dave, for those who don't know, the credit card still says Master instead of Mister, and he's tried so hard to get them to judge it. They refuse. They say, little boy's tried so hard to get them to judge it. They refuse.

They say, little boy, get your mother to call us back. Your Dolomites account is doing very well. Aren't you a good little saver? So Pliny the Elder was a Roman author, naturalist, natural philosopher, as well as a naval and army commander. Naturalist meaning he goes nude? He's a nudist never wore pants this man i get it plenty plenty of the elder and he called his uh don't do it

okay nah go on he called his well you know he's always out and about and he called plenty plenty of the plenty of the smaller or something. I don't know. So you had nowhere to go. You didn't know where you were going with it. No. So I almost helped you by saying don't do it. I said thank you very much. I'm sorry for making you do it then.

Dave will edit around that and make it, tidy that up a bit. Yep. Where did you think I was going when you said don't go there? Penis. Yeah. Yeah. We knew you were naming the wang. It was very clear you were going to name a penis. Yeah. Yeah. We knew you were naming the wang. It was very clear.

You were going to name a penis. Yeah. I just think if you, I think it's a beautiful naming, what do you call that naming thing? Convention. Convention, thank you. I think it's, yeah, I think it's an honour that all young men get to a certain age and they get to name their penis. Yeah, they get to name, well, they get to.

Naming does. But if you're, you know, you get to a certain age and they get to name their penis. Yeah, they get to name their penis. Naming days. But if you're, you know, you get to call everything. Just plenty the, you know, call your hand plenty the fingers. Plenty the finger. Finger holder. I don't mind that. Plenty the finger.

Plenty the. Plenty the toe. Yeah, plenty the big toe. That was the nickname of his penis. Plenty the knee. Not good. Oh, the toe. Yeah, plenty the toe. Big toe, little toe.

Little toe. The knee would be plenty the leg bendy. Okay, mine was better. Plenty the toe. Big toe, little toe. Little toe. The knee would be Pliny the leg bendy. Okay. Mine was better. Pliny the knee. But, okay. I mean, it's a knee though. Yeah.

Okay. Dave. I haven't thought about it like that. Dave. I've edited that bit out. Dave. Do go on. Dave.

Do go on. The BBC describes Pliny the Elder as possibly the most well-informed living Roman on matters of natural science. His 37-volume Natural History is the longest work on science in Latin that has survived from antiquity and is described by Britannica with semi-praise. Natural History, an encyclopedic work of uneven accuracy that was an authority on scientific matters up to the Middle Ages.

Uneven accuracy. I mean, to even be accurate a bit back then yes this is 2 000 years ago yeah when they're thinking that giants are buried under mounds and yeah it's not bad it's pretty good in the 37 volumes he had a crack at astronomy zoology botany agriculture medicine minerals and geography whoa He was a very influential writer, although he didn't get everything right. He believed heavily in magic and superstition, and this helped shape scientific and medical theory in subsequent centuries, for better or worse.

Right. He was a... You've got to go to your GP and they're like, have you tried magic? Have you contacted a warlock about this? Yeah, take a couple of hours of the night and have a bit of rest. I've definitely had medical experiences worse than that. When I went in, I was getting a reaction where I was getting boils on my skin

and I went to the doctor and he goes, what do you think it is? Oh, my God, I've had a doctor do that. What do you mean? The childhood doctor I went to for a very long time, when I started getting migraines Like I'd seen him We did some tests I came back two days later

And he was like What can I help you with? And I was like It's been two days Look at your chart And then he had a look at the chart And then went Hmm

So what should we do? And I was like I don't know Rex I've come to you mate That's why I'm here I like it You dropped the doctor At that point

It's like You're just Rex His name's Rex He's just some guy exactly you've taken back far out don't see him anymore this this guy ended my uh 70 consultation by saying oh hang on got onto his computer started typing saying how do you spell it how do you spell it and then he wrote down on a post-it note and slid it across the desk and all it said on it was Zyrtec. Good. The antihistamine breaker. How do you spell it?

How do you spell it? And yeah. Like it sounds, actually. Paid that man $70. Good. Was that helpful? The Zyrtec help with the skin irritation? It's fun to know that we're basically all doctors already.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I can remember an ad. I can do that too. I can almost remember an ad. I can do that too. I can almost remember an ad. I might be overqualified for this one. So Pliny had some theories. One was he was a big proponent of the doctrine of signatures,

which I'd never heard of, but it's the belief that plants display characteristics or signatures such as colour, shape, or a common name that are indicative of the disease that they can cure. The idea that God or a higher being has given us clues as to what stuff can help our bodies with. A common name. God gave us all the names.

No. And this belief was actually widespread throughout many cultures in the world for a long, long time. Some examples include walnuts, which were considered to be shaped a bit like the human brain. Maybe they could help with brain disease. Blood brood. They also look like testes.

Yeah. Yeah. Brain disease. Brain disease. Your ball brains. Yeah, lower brain. His upper brain. His brain, the elder.

Plithy the lower. That's what I should have said before. Yeah, that was it. Damn it. It's good to workshop these things. Plithy the lower. That's what I should have said before. Damn it. It's good to workshop these things. Plithy? Plithy the lower. That's what I call my balls.

Plithy. Plithy. What was his name? His name is Pliny. Plithy the lower. Pliny the dangling. Some other examples of the doctrine of signatures include blood root, which has a red

extract, was theorized it could fix problems with blood. Or rooting. Maybe. The plant saxophage. Saxophones. And brendafrasia. No, it breaks apart rocks as it grows. Because it's like a plant that

breaks the rocks. So they thought it could cure, help, it could help kidney stones. Oh, yeah. Break them apart. Break them down. The herb called alkanet has a viper-shaped seed. So they thought that could treat snakebites. Damn it! They could help penis.

Hello, doctor, I have a sick penis. Well, they might give you ginseng root, which was used to assist male sexual vitality due to its resemblance to the male reproductive anatomy. Are you kidding me? I just said penis for the other one, and you couldn't have said, Jess, hang on one go, have a guess of this one.

You couldn't let me have a guess of that one when I just yelled penis. Come on. Let's just yell penis again. For the last 368 episodes, you've just yelled penis over and over again. That's true. I'm a delight to work with. Ginseng root is still used today, though. Penis again For the last 368 episodes You've just yelled penis over and over again That's true I'm a delight to work with

Ginseng root is still used today though Penis That's true, yeah Today the doctrine of signatures Is considered to be pseudoscience And has led to many deaths And severe illnesses Oh boy

Whoops, anyway Still pseudoscience Hasn't been fully taken off the science Yeah, science is still in there isn't it Makes you think There you go Pseudo-science hasn't been fully taken off the science. Yeah, science is still in there, isn't it? Yeah. Makes you think. There you go. So, obviously, I wasn't too far off the mark there.

Pliny. Plithy. Oh, fuck. No, you're right. Just fucking with you. Anyway, I just found that interesting. I don't want to paint Pliny the Elder to be a complete quack. He was, and he was one of the most educated people of his day.

Yeah. Unlike many of the sources, his writings were based on his work survived and became sort of a default text and wasn't properly challenged for about 1500 years wow so good on you plenty that's pretty good plenty also held a number of positions of influence in rome his last assignment was that of commander of the fleet and he was also a social media influencer yes he was commander of the fleet. And he was also a social media influencer. Yes. He was commander of the fleet in the Bay of Naples, where he was charged with the suppression of piracy. The Bay of Naples is very close to Pompeii,

and his job would mean that he would be very nearby on that fateful day. Now, was he the elder or the younger or the dangling? That's the elder. The younger slash dangling is his nephew, Pliny the Younger. Not even his son. But he was adopted by Pliny the Elder. He grew to be famous and influential in his own right, becoming a lawyer, author, and magistrate,

holding many positions of power, including consul and head of the military and senatorial treasuries. How are you doing all those things? I hope he was a lawyer and magistrate at the same time. I'll allow it. Objection. Overruled. What?

I'm me. Fuck you. Sustained. Sustained. Well, that's slanderous. It's important that I show impartiality. That's right. Don't make me throw you out, Pliny.

Many of the letters he wrote survive, including to emperors and historians like tacitus that give us a snapshot of rome at the time including a certain fateful day in pompeii in ad 79 there's a 1879 ad 79 i'm like whoa the roman empire was around much more recently, I realised. No, it's a long, long time ago. And because that's one of the reasons there's debate to this day as to whether the eruption happened in August, as recalled by Pliny the Younger, or in October, based on the fact that fresh pomegranates and olives

were found in houses in Pompeii. And seasonally, for that to be possible, it's more likely to have been later in the year. Did you say August or October? Yeah. No, not September though. Well, Pliny says August and then science says October. And then how was fresh fruit found?

How was it found? Yeah. From seeds and the like. Okay. Because remarkably, it's been very well preserved, as we'll talk about. But we do know it was AD 79. That's important.

During the period leading up to the eruption, there had been many telltale signs of what was to come. For days, the region had been rocked by tremors, but the townsfolk carried on with their lives as small earthquakes were common across the Campania region. They were only concerned by large earthquakes that happened from time to time, including 17 years earlier in 62 AD when Pompeii was rocked by a seismic activity that almost destroyed the entire town.

Right. And there's evidence that they were still rebuilding stuff when the volcano erupted 17 years later. Is it possible? I know this will help prove my delayed brain thing, but, you know, we're talking about October and August. Here we go. I thought you were going to say because... Ricky Martin.

Because October is the 8th, which got bumped back because some pope or someone added a couple more months in. So August is actually the 8th month. I thought you were going to say it was some confusion about it being the eighth month. No, I think it's mostly because of bad handwriting, I think. Okay. Probably Rex scribbled down something.

Honestly, I think your theory there is too intelligent. That's too smart. That's too smart. It's bad handwriting or the fact that, as we'll talk about, Pliny described the events 25 years later. Right. So his mind might have just been a little bit off. Right.

Because he was alive for 25 more years. Holy shit. Which is like a person's entire lifetime. Yeah. Well, he was a baby at the time. It's like living to 200 now. His memories of a baby. So then I started crying.

Yeah. I normally did that around August. Or was it October that I cried? I can't remember. Did I cry twice that year? Now, so in the days before the eruption, there's lots of earthquakes going on. Small light tremors, but they're ignoring them. Life is normal.

Who cares? This happens a lot. They happen, whatever. Yep. Now, educated Romans knew what volcanoes were, and Pliny the Elder had written about lava flows in Mount Etna in Sicily. But most Pompeians had no idea what was going on underneath the earth beneath their feet. But now, thanks to modern science, we do.

Giants. In fact, I knew so little about volcanoes, I didn't even know the word volcano is derived from the name of Volcano, which is V-U-L-C-A-N-O, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands off of Italy, whose name in turn comes from Vulcan, the god of fire in Roman mythology. Holy shit. And Vulcan was my favorite gladiator.

Yes. It all comes back around. I preferred Tower, but Vulcan was still pretty cool. Tower's great. Delta was probably my other favorite. Yeah. comes back around. I preferred Tower, but Vulcan was still pretty cool. Tower's great. Delta was probably my other favorite. Taipan. Taipan, pretty good. Good stuff.

They're all great, let's be honest. But yeah. Russell Crowe as well. But Volcano is an island that has a big, like very stereotypical looking volcano on it as well. So it's named after that. But this didn't come into use until the 1600s. So a long time after the eruption in 79 AD so they didn't have a word they just used to be

angry mountains or something yeah they'd seen lava and been like oh I guess that's to do with the giants underneath what they also didn't realize is underneath the volcano is a magma chamber filled with molten rock some volcanologists estimate the tank of molten rock underneath Vesuvius to be three kilometres deep and five kilometres in diameter. It fills up over time and causes earthquakes and heats the local groundwater. Over time, the ground above the tanks split, and a thin column of magma makes its way to the surface via a small fissure or a crack.

It's sort of releasing a bit of the energy. Usually... Pre-cum. Yes. Thanks for putting it into understandable terms. Usually it leaks out slowly in the form of a lava flow. You don't want it leaking out slowly.

You want it leaking out fast? I don't know. The tank underneath is overflowing and a bit just flows out. It releases the chamber, you know? Every now and then you've got to let it go. But in 79 AD, the magma couldn't make its way to the surface to vent because it was covered by dense rock formations that trapped it all inside. The pressure of the gases created by the magma built up underneath the rocks

for hundreds of years until it could no longer hold. Someone lightly touched the giant's leg. Oh, no, stop. Oh, my God. Oh, dear Lord. Oh, there's going to be an eruption. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Okay, okay. Got to think about something unsexy. Dead dead puppies oh imagine you imagine the giant does that and all of a sudden he's coming thinking about dead puppies and grandma oh that's gonna lead to issues down the track so eventually after hundreds of years it can no longer hold and eventually Down the track. So eventually, after hundreds of years, it could no longer hold. And eventually, it cracked. That's not a bad weight. Yeah, it's pretty good. How long?

400 years. 400 years. Eventually, it cracked through the cone of the volcano. Talk about edging. Yeah. Now, this type of eruption is ultimate edging because it's only seen every 2,000 to 5,000 years. And it's much, much more destructive. In this case, this was Vesuvius' biggest eruption for 2,000 years.

Wow. But the Romans had no idea about this. And they had no idea that in many ways this was history repeating itself. Because in 2001, archaeologists unearthed remnants of a Bronze Age village just 25 kilometers from Pompeii in Nola. Oh, wow. bronze age village just 25 kilometers from pompeii in nola oh wow which had been abandoned after vesuvius's eruption 2 000 years before the 79 ad eruption so this was so this whole area had a history of settlements being taken out by the volcano being buried totally forgotten about and the new people would come along wow how rich is this soil the soil so fertile here we should live here fantastic why aren't people already living here no It's so weird. No one's claimed this land.

It's great. It feels like it's like nature setting a trap, you know, like a Venus fly trap or something. Hey, come in here. And they wouldn't know that it's so fertile because of the repeated eruptions and then history would repeat itself and then things would just get buried and it would start again. That's just the earth just eating humans, basically.

Yeah. Reclaiming them. Earth. Just eating humans, basically. Yeah, reclaiming them. So in 79 AD, it all came to a head, so to speak. It erupted and molten rock that was previously trapped shot into the air with incredible force and then fragmented and cooled into billions of fragments of dust and pumice. The cloud above the volcano quickly reached

kilometres into the air. 10,000 tonnes of material was ejected every second. So it just goes every second. And the town just hears this massive sort of explosion and they're looking up at this now kilometres high cloud

going, what the hell is that? Winds up at high altitudes above the volcano blew the cloud south-east, which unfortunately for the pompeians put their city directly at the center of the deluge so a lot of things have have gone wrong at the same time and it's a lot of of molten lava like spewing up yeah so at this time it's like sort of more ashy type stuff so it's you're not being burnt by it but it is, what the hell is that? Fuck. And how far away are they again?

They're not far. Five miles. That's not far at all. Yeah, hoping they're reading this as a warning. Yes. Maybe start running? You'd hope that, wouldn't you? Oh, no.

Panic set in as dust and pumice began to rain down. The noise must have been absolutely incredible. Fortunately for the people being covered in it, pumice is quite a light volcanic rock. Described by Britannica as a very porous, froth-like volcanic glass, it's lightweight and floats on water. It's debated, but a lot of scientists believe that the volcanic matter that initially fell on Pompeii wasn't heavy enough to kill people,

but it fell at a rate of 20 centimetres per hour. So it quickly began to bury the city and cover all the roofs. Pliny the Younger wrote about people fleeing. He wrote, after weighing up the risks, centimeters per hour so quickly began to bury the city and cover all the roofs plenty the younger wrote about people fleeing he wrote after weighing up the risks they chose the open country and tied pillows over their heads with cloths for protection so it doesn't feel like it's going to be all that much protection no so a lot of people are but i honestly first thing i'd grab is my pillow i love my pillow you do love your you've brought it up on a trip recently. We went away. I brought a bigger suitcase than I needed for a three-day trip.

Did you take the pillow? So that one half of it was my pillow. And you know what? I was happy with that. It was a good decision. I've never done it, but yeah, I hadn't seen it done before either, but that could be a real game changer. Love my pillow.

I've got a great pillow as well. I've got a bad back and a bad neck. I need my pillow. I've got one of those pillows that's got, you can flip it depending on if you're on your side or on your back, and it's got different sort of ridges. Sort of like a low half-pipe kind of pillow. Yeah, that's good stuff.

It's real good. Dropping in on your sleep. Yeah. Oh, man, I had a dream. I know dreams are so tedious, but I had a dream last night that I had huge muscular legs. And I'm like, I don't know what I've done. How has this happened?

The rest of you, exactly the same. The rest of me basically the same. Your legs just really muscular. So I almost look like one of those half man, half beasts. They were that muscular. Yeah, they were real. I'm like, holy shit. Wow, like horse legs.

I was in my dream looking in the mirror, just flexing my legs going, this is awesome. This guy never skips leg day. Oh, no. Did you wake up disappointed? Yeah. Did you check your legs? Oh, no. These little spindles.

These little pins. They're still in proportion with the resume. Little toothpicks. It sucks. Yeah. I thought I had the legs of Jess for a minute. Wow. Imagine.

I don't have to. So a lot of people used their muscular legs to run away, but not everyone did. Some decided to wait and see. Shelter in place, as it were. Like they did during an earthquake. They'd set it out before and been fine. For many, this decision would cost them their lives.

So people made it out if they ran. If you left early, a of people did did get away i didn't know that and if you stayed and defended you did not get away it's hard to defend something like that yeah this isn't a bushfire yeah a fire blanket isn't going to protect you over the first few hours after the eruption material began to fall at an increasing rate the eruption became more intense expelling more and more magma. The falling materials increased from 1 million kilograms per second to 10 million kilograms every second. 10 million kilos every second.

I can't even... No, it's impossible to imagine. I can't even fathom that, yeah. You can't imagine it. But it's a lot. All I'm just imagining is a lot. Dave, I know you're going to know what question I'm about to ask. How many Olympic pools fall?

Every pool ever. Wow. Even the ones that have been filled in. Holy shit. They dig them out and then... Holy shit. That's how big this is. The eruption column eventually reached a height of 32 kilometres into the air,

which is 105,000 feet. Whoa. Holy shit. Is that higher than a bird flies? Yeah. Yeah. Even. Holy shit. Is that a lot higher than like a bird flies? Yeah. Yeah. Even a really big bird. Like a plane?

But not big bird. Okay. Who doesn't fly. Little wings. Wings are too small. Not in proportion with the rest of him. Yeah. Great pins though.

Oh yeah, great pins. Big bird's a boy. I think so. There you go. I mean, you know. Probably doesn't really matter. Gender is a construct. Yeah.

Much like the costume is a construct. So, you know, Big Bird can be whatever they want to be. I don't care. You know, I love Big Bird. I for once am glad that Big Bird wasn't there that day. I think I always thought Big Bird was a woman. Not a girl. A woman.

Or is Big Bird meant to be a kid? I have no idea. Oh, my God. How Or is Big Bird meant to be a kid? I have no idea. Oh, my God. How big is Big Bird going to get? Oh, my God. If Big Bird's like six months old, holy shit. Just a toddler bird. Oh, my God, Big Bird.

Big Bird will crush us all. If I Google... I'm doing it. I'm doing it. What is the age? Oh, yeah. Of Big Bird. Let's have a look. Big Bird is male. Oh yeah Of Big Bird Let's have a look

Big Bird is male Ah there you go Is Big Bird a kid is the second thing Big Bird is a six year old walking talking yellow bird Holy shit Standing eight feet two inches Eight feet two at six Holy shit it's got ten more years of growth probably

Wow Assuming it's sort of... Well, I don't know. Animals are a bit different, aren't they? Yeah, that's true. I'm thinking of it as a human. My dog's fully grown. He's only two.

Right. Well, there you go. He's not going to get any bigger. And this is a big bird. That is a big bird. You know how giraffes are born pretty big, but they do get quite a lot bigger. Yeah. Anyway, Dave, back to...

I've also looked up the highest flying bird species on record as the endangered Ruppel's griffin vulture. Oh, Dave, back to... I've also looked up the highest flying bird species on record as the endangered Ruppel's griffon vulture. Oh, wow. I might borrow that for Who Knew It with Matt Stewart. Ruppel's griffon vulture. It flies at 37,000 feet, which is the same as a coasting commercial aeroplane, but this is 105,000 feet, so it's smoking all the birds.

A bird's never flown this high. No. It's higher than planes? Way higher than planes fly. Whoa! We fly really high. Is it higher than a rocket's ever gone? Yes.

Was this lava to the moon? The moon is covered in lava. Whoa! This is getting intense. It's almost, it's like, remember I said the Concorde flies super high? That's only 60,000 feet. So it's so fucking high. The whole area was blanketed in darkness,

and as the column reached the sky... Oh, yeah, because the sun's covered in lava now. Yeah. Sorry, sun. The sun got burnt out that day. Oh, no, I'm supposed to be the hot one. Stop it. Ow.

So how do they know these things? These are obviously solid guesstimates. No one was out there with a tape measure on the day. It's to do with now they can study where the ash flew and all that sort of stuff on the ground. Yeah, sort of the splatter zones. Yeah, splatter zones and how thick it was. Yeah.

And based on other volcanoes of this size. It's like how they know which rows are the splash zone at SeaWorld. Right. It's only a guesstimate. Yeah. Some of you, in this zone you will get wet, in the other zones you may get wet. That's right.

Can I stress this enough? So the whole area of Blanket in Darkness, as the column reached for the sky, it connected the earth with the upper atmosphere, causing continuous lightning strikes. It must have felt like the end of the world to these people who have no idea what's going on. They've got no scientific knowledge of this.

Are they religious people? Yes. They've got many, many gods. So you might be thinking some version of the rapture. Yeah. A lot of people are thinking this is end of days. That's why I think a lot of people also don't leave because they're like, well, I'm sure this is happening all over earth.

Yeah. It's not just here. Yes. Of course. Whoa. Yeah. Where will I run? Yeah.

Even the sun is coming. Yeah, that's right. Oh, no. The eruption kicked off around noon, and by 4pm, Pompeii was buried in a blanket of pomace a metre deep. So then for a... And that's a coincidence as well, pomace and Pompeii. When was it named Pompeii?

Was it before or after the pomace? Before. Wow. What are the odds? What are the chances? But imagine that. There's a metre of, like, ash, and this glass, like, rock has buried everything. And we know a lot about the eruption because of two of Pliny the Younger's surviving letters.

In fact, they are the only first-hand account of the eruption that have survived. Oh, wow. So they're very important to history. So he's in the bay trying to suppress pirates and he looks over his shoulder. No, that's the elf. That's his uncle dad. Right. Dunkel.

Dunkel. Wait, so this guy was there and he was one of the fleers? No, so I'll explain where he was. How about I let you explain? Wait, so he was on a horse. Yes. Matt, do you want to take a room here? The Matthew and Christian hour. I'm a nightmare after half a horse. Yes. Matt, do you want to take a room here? The Matthew and Christian hour.

I'm a nightmare after half a coffee. Oh, my God. Don't finish the rest of that coffee. So he's written two letters. Even then, as I said before, they were written 25 years later to Tacitus, a famous historian who contacted his friend Pliny for his account of the eruption. So Tacitus was doing a bit of research and he said, oh, you were close by that day. What was it like? And he wrote two letters describing it. Tacitus himself is now

thought of by many to be one of the greatest Roman historians. So that's how they survived. Have you heard Tacitus quoted by the great man? The great man, Dan Carlin. Yeah. It does seem like a tacit... But he would say tacitus. Tacitus. Quote.

Unquote. Plutarch. Right. He loves Plutarch. The letters have been translated into English in many different ways, but this translation comes from the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. I'm trusting it. Me too.

I didn't do too much research, but they seem trustworthy. Yeah, seems legit to me. The first letter describes the journey of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, and is the reason that for hundreds of years people thought the date of the eruption was the 24th of August. But there's a chance he either got it wrong because it was 25 years later or the writing was hard to read and has been mistranslated over the years. I heard someone blame his scribe.

Oh, no. Brutal. He's like, write this. Yep, October 24, 79 AD, and the guy's written it really quick. I've cut it down a bit, but this is most of his first letter about his uncle, Pliny the Elder. He writes, at that time, and then he writes, 24th of August, AD 79, my uncle was at Meissenem, which is not far, well, I've added this in, which is not far around the bay from Pompeii.

Okay. He's close by. In command of the fleet. Because memory's taken on pirates. About one in the afternoon, my mother pointed out a cloud with an odd size and appearance that had just formed. From that distance, it was not clear from which mountain the cloud was rising. Although it was found afterwards to be Vesuvius. The cloud could be described as more like an umbrella pine than any other tree. from which mountain the cloud was rising, although it was found afterwards to be Vesuvius.

The cloud could be described as more like an umbrella pine than any other tree because it rose high up in a kind of trunk and then divided off into branches. So he says it's like a pine tree coming out of the mountain. More of a pine tree than any pine tree. Yes. Or any other tree. Right. And this is the first ever description.

It feels like such a bad description of it. It's from 2,000 years ago. Okay, good point. Thank you. And you think this is a bad description? This is the first ever description of such an eruption. And because of this, this type of eruption is now known as a Plinian eruption.

Oh. Because he's the first guy to ever describe it. Wow. And Matt's like like what a shit description i would surely it would now be known as a pine tree and eruption no amazingly not another recent example of a plinian eruption includes my previous report topic mounts and helens when it erupted in 1980 you've've become our explosion expert or our volcanologist. You're a volcanologist.

Yeah. Thank you. What am I? Well, you've got a few. You do a lot of serial killers in the past. Have you? So I'm a serial killer. Colts, maybe?

Is that you? No, that's me. That's you. Okay. We'll find my thing. Our Dolly Parton. Musicians. Dolly Parton Our Dolly Parton Musicians Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton Freddie Mercury Elton John The Beatles Yeah, okay, yeah You might have done Bowie I'm a musician You did Bowie

I did Bowie Okay, yeah, great Mine's actually the coolest Yeah Mine's volcanoes Loser Lame Lame

Loser Pliny continues Like a true scholar My uncle saw it once That it deserved closer study and ordered a boat to be prepared. He said that I could go with him, but I chose to continue my studies. Nerd. What a freaking nerd. A volcano is erupting and he's like, I have homework to do. Just as he was leaving the house, he was handed a message from Rectina, which is a great name.

Just as he was leaving the house, he was handed a message from Rectina, which is a great name, the wife of Tascus, whose home was at the foot of the mountain and had no way of escape except by boat. She was terrified by the threatening danger and begged him to rescue her. He changed plan at once, and what had started in the spirit of scientific curiosity, he ended as a hero. He ordered the large galley to be launched and set sail he steered bravely straight for the danger zone that everyone else was living in fear and haste but still he kept on noting his

observations oh that's heroic he's really uh bigging up his uncle in this yeah there's nothing more heroic than noting observations in the face of possible disaster suddenly the sea shallowed where the shore was obstructed oh my god the sea shallowed where the shore was obstructed oh my god the sea shallowed where the shore was obstructed oh my god that was you made that sound easy have a go the sea shallow where the shore was obstructed oh my god you nailed it holy fuck what a thrill suddenly the sea shallowed where the shore was obstructed and choked by debris from the mountain he wondered whether to turn back as the captain advised, but decided instead to go on.

Fortune favors the brave, he said. Take me to Pomponianus. What is this, a Bitcoin ad? Hey, that's too much for me to remember. She said, what if it adds? And then you said you could just keep going. I don't think I can remember all that. You don't remember Pomponianus?

Pomponianus is fantastic. Who is an unfortunately named Roman senator, and I've only included because his name made me laugh so much. Pomponianus. I'd say fortunately named. Fortunately favors the brave in naming rights. Pomponianus. Pomponianus.

Is that two names? That's all one word, Pomponianus. Pomponianus. Beautiful nameus Is that two names? That's all one word, Pomponianus Pomponianus Beautiful name for a boy or a girl Could I suggest that? Even as a middle name You know, if you're like Oh, we don't want to have a real

You know, look at me name Yeah Pomponianus Just bury it in the middle Call him like Richard Pomponianus Yeah, Perkins Dickie Perks That's nice.

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At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. That is nice. So he makes it to shore to stay with his people. But then, unfortunately for him, the wind changed because of the volcano and they weren't able to get back into the boat because the wind was blowing to where they were rather than from so they couldn't escape so they decided to stay the night and shelter in place he even went to bed

bravely everything is big up bravely i went to bed at my regular bedtime in the face of danger i had a cup of tea and i read a book for a bit until I was quite sleepy. And then courageously I shut my eyelids one after the other, as I tend to do. And I dropped peacefully into a brave slumber. A mighty slumber. Yes. I face my nightmares without fear or reproach but actually he's saying i face my

nightmares without fear but then you see him sleeping he's going ah bats i hate bats oh my legs are so big i courageously cleaned the shit off the sheets the next morning. I wasn't going to let the housekeeper have to deal with that. No, I am a man. And a man cleans up his own shit. That's a bit of fun. That's a real catch-22 because a gentleman never shits. That's right, but a man... But also a gentleman never leaves shit for other people to clean up.

It's tough, isn't it? Yeah, it's like Schrodinger's shit. That's right. If nobody sees the gentleman's shit, does he shit? You know what I mean? I can't remember why I started saying that. I just find it so funny when there's rules like that. Well, the gentleman never does whatever.

So it's sort of meant to be like taking that to the nth degree. But someone tweeted one at me recently. It was a gentleman never wears gaudy socks. And it was from an old newspaper. And it was like a genuine article with these sort of quite outrageous socks. But a gentleman never does that. I'm like, that's exactly what I'm talking about. It's so funny.

Toxic masculinity. That funny toxic masculinity that's toxic masculinity fuck I don't understand anything I know Pliny the Younger finishes his description of his uncle saying it was daylight everywhere else by this time but they were still enveloped in a darkness that was blacker and denser than any

night and they were forced to light their torches and lamps. My uncle went down to the shore to see if there was any chance of escape by the sea, but the waves were still far too high. He lay down to rest on a sheet and called for drinks of water, bravely. Then suddenly flames and a strong smell of sulfur, giving warning of yet more flames to come forced the others to flee he himself stood up with the support of two slaves and then he suddenly collapsed and died because i imagine he was suffocated when the dense fumes choked him when light returned on the third day after the last day that he had seen his body was found intact and uninjured still fully clothed and looking like a man asleep than dead. How did they know all that?

Because some people did escape. Right, and they watched him die and relayed that story. Some people say he either had asthma or he was either gravely unwell already and just had a heart attack because he lived a very excessive life. That was Plethi? That's Pliny the Elder. Pliny the Elder. But does that mean is his nephew's son filling in some blanks there?

Yeah, so remember his nephew son, he said to him, do you want to come with me? He said, oh, no, I'll stay here and study. Yeah. So he's safely away from the flames. So he's got the, but how do people know all this stuff if the guy died and he couldn't tell his own story? Oh, because other people that were with him did survive.

Right, okay. Who didn't have a heart attack on the beach and died. Bravely. Bravely. Bravely. Not a bad way to go. So that's his first letter. No, because then you die on a beach.

You know when you go to the beach and there's just sand everywhere for like a week? That's your eternity. You'd be in heaven, presumably. Yeah. Sand in your crack still. Every time. It's got it all. But you didn't.

You never had it all. It's like glitter. You know, like the many times that we have glitter. Not enough. So that's the first letter describing what his uncle did and it ends up changing the name for what we call eruptions. His second letter details what Pliny the Younger himself was up to at Meissenum. He's 18 miles away from the volcano on the other side of the Bay of Naples.

He was 17 years old at the time, but he's written this letter 25 years later. He said, meanwhile, my mother and I had stayed at Meissenum. After my uncle left us, I studied, dined and went to bed, but slept only fitfully. We had earth tremors for several days, which are not especially alarming because they happen so often in campagna but that night they were so violent that everything felt as if it were being shaken and turned over we were followed by a panic-stricken crowd that chose to follow someone else's judgment rather than decide anything for themselves so they all started to flee because everyone's panicking at this point then we saw the sea sucked back

apparently by an earthquake and many sea creatures were left stranded on the dry sand. And this description makes many people think that possibly a tsunami had also occurred that day. Wow. But they're not sure. Can a volcano cause a tsunami like that? Yes, because of the seismic activity underneath the ocean. Holy shit.

Which is crazy. It would be pretty amazing to see just an ocean empty and all of a sudden you can just see... Like sea creatures just left there going, oh my God, where's the water? Yeah. That would be very surreal. He writes, we could hear women shrieking,

children crying and men shouting. See, women shriek, men shout. And children cry. That's right. That all adds up. See, we're not so different, them and us. That's right. Nothing's changed in two thousand years.

What is the difference between a shriek and a shout? That's just the person doing it. The pitch. Oh, okay. So like, ah! And ah! Oh! Oh!

That's a shout. That was a shout. That was obviously a shout. It's a man did it. But this is a shriek. That's a shriek. Ah! Yeah, he's shrieking. Oh, sh's a shout. That was a shout. That was obviously a shout. Demanded it. But this is a shriek. That's a shriek. Yeah, he's shrieking. Oh, stop.

Yeah, that's a shriek. Oh, stop it. That's a shout. Shout. That's a shout. Shriek. Fun game, shriek or shout. I think I'm around the hang of it.

You get it? So this... Is a... Shriek. shout? I think I'm getting the hang of it. You get it? So this... Is a... Shriek. Correct. This... Is a... Shout. Correct.

Now do a cry. Oh, no. What is that? A shout cry? Yeah, that's pretty good. What's that? That's a shriek. What's a shriek?

What's that? That's a bird dying. That's a sea creature that's had the sea swept from him. That's a mollusk. That's a mollusk on its last legs. And I don't even have legs. Where are my legs? So, you're right.

We could hear women shrieking, children crying, and men shouting. Some were calling for their parents, their children or their wives, and trying to recognize them by their voices. Some people were so frightened of dying that they actually prayed for death. Does that make sense? Many begged for the help of the gods but even more imagined that there were no gods left and that the last eternal night had fallen on the world. So I think it's the end of days. A glimmer of light returned but we took this to be the warning of approaching fire rather than daylight. But the fire stayed some distance away.

The darkness came back and ash began to fall again, this time in heavier showers. We had to get up from time to time just to shake it off, or we would have been crushed and buried under its weight. Wow. I could boast that I never expressed any fear at this time, but I was only kept going by the consolation that the whole world was perishing with me is that consolation mate yeah oh as long as everyone else is dying we're all in it together i love that sort of boast though yeah i don't even feel fear i don't feel fear i don't even sweat after a while the darkness paled into smoke or cloud and the real daylight returned but the sun shone as wanely as during an eclipse. We were amazed by what we saw, because everything had changed and was buried deep in ash like snow.

We went back to Mycenum and spent an anxious night, switching between hope and fear. Fear was uppermost because the earth tremors were still continuing, and the hysterics still kept on making their alarming forecasts. The world is coming to an end. But it sounds like a terrifying Terrifying scene But we know a lot of what it was like Because of those two simple letters

Right, oh that's great Luckily someone asked the question Yeah, hey man, what was it like? And then he said, let me tell you I'll fill this one Write this down, Uncle, a hero. Me, never feared. Dad, uncle.

Very important that I stress. Yeah, you can imagine that he's covering something up there. Yeah, I definitely never pissed my pants. Very defensive. I didn't cry to my mummy. All right, nobody was accusing you of that. Okay. The ruse of Pompeii began to collapse under the

pressure of the pumice and ash that blanketed them people had been evacuating and almost all of the 20 000 people in the town had left those that stuck around which have commonly been estimated to be around 2000 were met with one of the most terrifying things nature ever produces a pyroclastic flow fortunately this phenomenon is quite rare but uh if you face with it it's terrifying does it happen quickly like because people were frozen in their spots right yeah so thankfully it is quick so when volcanoes have a plinian eruption which we know comes from plenty it's a bit like a jet engine with the power that the eruption generates keeping the whole eruption column in the air wow but when the crater at the top generates keeping the whole eruption column in the air wow

but when the crater at the top of the volcano starts to cave in on itself the flow of power is interrupted and the column briefly collapses the collapsed cloud of hot gas and volcanic rock hits the ground at over 200 kilometers per hour and just starts crashing down the mountain the gases can reach temperatures of a thousand degrees c Celsius or 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit and are the most deadly of all volcanic hazards. So usually lava doesn't flow that quickly usually. You usually outrun lava, but you cannot outrun a pyroclastic flow.

So you can outrun lava though? In most circumstances. That is fantastic. There are some times where you can't. If it's really, really quick. You can at least out drive it, for example, but you can't out drive a pyroclastic floor. Side note, do you think we'd be good on the show, the floor is lava?

I haven't seen it, but I assume yes. Could we climb on your back and then your legs are so strong, they're volcanic and fireproof. I was actually going to use you. I was going to throw you in. Oh, like grandma in Dante's Peak style. Use me to paddle the boat. Yeah.

Do you remember that? We've talked about that before. Yeah. I think there should be some sort of easy rhyming thing to help us stay between lava and econoclastic flow or whatever. Pyroclastic. Because, you know, isn't there one about if the bear is brown, stare it down?

And I think that's bullshit. No, no, that's... Can I stress this enough? If it was a bear, if it's brown, lie down. If it's black, fight back. Right. Imagine staring it down. Come and get me, you fuck.

That's a bit of a problem with these rhyming things. Other words do rhyme as well. But can you come up with a rhyme for the lava versus... Okay, pyroclastic flow. You got it. We better go. Lava flow, you're good to go. Right.

That's the same fucking thing. Acastic flow, you're dead. Yeah. Pyroclastic... Oh, pyroclastic flow, you're dead. Pyroclastic. Pyroclastic flow, heaven you go. Yes. Lava flow, run for your life. How about that?

Yeah, that's good. I love it. And black bear, make yourself big and yell at them. Is that what you do? And brown bear, stare them down. It says lie down. Do you just stay very still? Yeah, I think so.

I think maybe it helps if they think you're dead. Oh, they'll leave you alone. Hey, we don't have bears here, so if we're saying bad advice, don't act on us. Don't listen to us. If we only got the drop bears. Yeah, I saw someone recently talked about it, and they're like, don't take that advice.

That rhyme is very... Not safe. It's not necessary. And it's hard to tell. Some bears are of different colours and stuff, and they all react differently. Right.... Not safe. It's not necessary. And it's hard to tell. Some, like, bears are of different colours and stuff and they all react differently. Right. Here we go.

The rhyme could be, if it's brown, lie down. If it's black, fight back. If it's white, goodnight. That's what someone written. Oh, okay. Polar bears, nothing you can do. I think there's nothing you can do.

You're on your own. Or albino bears. So, pyroclastic flower. It's fast. It's hot. And there's pretty much no way to escape it. You just have to hope that by the time it reaches where you are, it's run out of energy. Wow.

Doesn't make it to you. It's tired. They happen in surges. And it's been calculated that Pompeii was hit by multiple surges, each stronger than the last. First at 1am. Remember, it started at midday. This is now 1am. Then 2.15am.

And then 6.30am. Thankfully, these surges only made it to the outer walls of Pompeii so the people who had sheltered in place probably still okay but for anyone who was unlucky enough to still be there for the fourth surge at 7.30am it was game over they were almost certainly killed by the extreme heat

and choked on hot ash and the dusty air that they inhaled even before the flow got to them well that is the pyroclastic flow yeah so because it's gas it's oh i see yeah so the last so it's not another version of lava no no it's it's gas and ash basically right oh that sounds but it's just so hot that it's gash it's gash and you yeah it cooks you so quick that you die almost a study published in the new england journal of medicine found that the heat was so extreme,

one of the bodies that was later found had parts of its brain turned into glass. What? That is hard to fully understand. So the heat had vitrified it. Vitrification is the process by which material is burned at a high heat and cooled rapidly, turning it into glass or a glaze. So the liquidy bit in the brain had been cooked so quick and then holy shit and it cooled down it became glass when was that discovered

uh in the last 20 years wow whoa incredible absolutely wild stuff these poor people fell to the ground in an attempt to shield their bodies from the burning hot wind but it was absolutely no use they were unfortunately killed almost instantly. Well, at least that's some consolation that it would have been a very quick death. Yes, rather than lingering. Even though at this point it's been a few days, has it? No, so it started at midday and this is about 7.30 the next morning is the knockout hit.

Still, yeah, you're saying they had time to run. They had time to run, but they also had time to think about it. It's not like they... True, yes. If it was just like they didn't even know it was coming. You're right. Boom, and then, yeah. You've had a day of sheltering, freaking out,

thinking it's the end of the world. Yeah, you're right. It's not a nice way to go. At 8 a.m., a final giant flow consumed Pompeii, Herculaneum, and beyond. It caught up with some that thought they'd escaped into the countryside and the sea. This is a tragedy, but some people that did escape. Oh, wow.

Because it travelled 30 kilometres across the Bay of Naples. Right. Yeah, so there's a lesson there just to keep going. Don't stop running. Yeah, yeah. Volcano, no. Don't look back. It went 30km into the bay.

Yeah. So it sort of depended on which way the wind was going or something? Yes that did depend on yeah wow so yeah you'd think like we're out in the water we're fine if there was ever a volcano in chicago could go anywhere could go either way windy city that's good stuff and you're talking about the wind there jess at 1am a surge headed west and pummeled herculaneum which because of wind direction had mostly been initially spared from falling ash and debris because it had blown towards pompeii and they'd gone oh we're actually even closer to the mountain than everyone else but it's not blowing on us we're okay but at 1am

it blew back on them fortunately many of the residents had evacuated when they saw the eruption but like its neighbors at pompeii when the flow hit those that stayed behind were instantly killed exposed to 250 degree heat or 480 degrees fahrenheit which had likely killed residents within 10 kilometers including those sheltering inside buildings it was just too hot yeah like pompeii herculaneum was completely buried under meters of volcanic material in some places it's thought to have been as deep as 20 meters wow 65 feet so completely buried all in all the eruption lasted about 24 hours and ultimately released this is mind-blowing 100 000 times the thermal energy of the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki i can't get

my head around that at all but that that's obviously a lot of energy. So bombs were big enough to flatten an entire city. Yeah. They released 100,000 times that energy was released. I know, it's unbelievable. Can you put it into Olympic pools? No. MCGs?

Can you put it into an MCG? Oh, MCGs, yes. Well, MCG holds 100,000 people. Yes. This is 100,000 times. Okay. So each person represents how much more powerful the volcano was than Magsuck in Hiroshima.

Imagine like Collingwood supporters. Yeah. Maybe playing against Richmond. They've packed it out. Packed it out. Grand final or something maybe when they pack it out. Yeah. A lot of corporates in there.

Yeah. There's still a lot of people there, isn't there? There's still people though. Bums in seats, isn't there? Yeah. Whether or not they care about the game and that maybe money's ruined what was once a great day. Yeah.

So these people have died really suddenly, have they, Dave? Really suddenly. And it's impossible to know the exact death toll, but the BBC notes the Romans were accustomed to losses mounting to tens of thousands in battle, and even they regarded this catastrophe as exceptional. Shit. I've seen many estimates, but History.com writes about 2,000 Pompeians died in the city,

but the eruption in total killed up to 16,000 people in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other towns and villages in the region. Because remember, people escaped, but then they also got caught up with it later. This makes it one of the most deadly volcanic eruptions in history that's brutal to um to for the people who think they've gotten away i know and it just catches you oh it was normal practice to rebuild the cities of this region after even the most massive earthquakes but neither herculaneum nor pompeii was reoccupied over the centuries pompeii lay underneath the meters of volcanic material tunnelers came through and looted parts of the site,

but it was never fully dug out. Looted it? Yeah, people came through and stole the stuff that was left behind. Because most people just left with the clothes on their back, so there was households full of possessions underneath there. But they would have all been caked in, like... Yeah. Yeah, wouldn't things melt or burn or...

Well, some of this stuff lasted amazingly well, even for 2,000 years underneath. If they looked hard enough, they could have found some cool glass brains. Beautiful on a shelf. Imagine that, a little conversation starter for your next dinner party. Bit of decor.

That coffee table, that's made of brains. Okay. I have to go. That's not a conversation about how I need to go. I think I left the oven on. I have to go. Bye. Bye, bye, bye, bye.

Okay, yep, yep, yep, yep, bye. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye. Bye, bye, bye, bye, yep, yep, bye Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye Yeah, okay, see you later, bye Bye, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep Pliny never mentioned the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii in his letters Of course not It's debated as to whether the existence remained somewhat unknown

Until the late 16th century Some say locals just referred to the lost city as the town or the settlement. So Pompeii was sort of lost to history for at least a while. According to Archaeology World, which is the only world I want to be a part of. That might be one of the lamest things you've ever said. That's the only world I want to be a part of. Okay. Archaeology world.

So awesome. My favourite theme park. Oh, yeah, archaeology world. Every ticket comes with a free trowel. In 1594, workmen employed to dig a tunnel designed to divert waters of the River Sarno uncovered roman wall paintings or digging in this area they were working for architect domenico fontana but the site uncovered could not at the time be identified they're a bit like oh there's roman stuff here

but we're in italy there's roman stuff in lots of places we don't know what this is again from archaeology world in 1689 an inscription was found which referred to world in 1689 an inscription was found which referred to desurion a town councillor of pompeii even then uncertainty remained many assumed that the site was the villa of a pompeian councillor rather than the town itself because they found just the house and they went oh cool there's a house here but they didn't realize that everywhere around there is a whole city wow more time passed only when the bourbon kings of the two Sicilies, Charles III, ordered the site to be excavated did the truth emerge.

Charles III? Isn't he our current king? Yes, but we don't have a Bourbon King. Yeah. What's he? He's more of like a... He's like a gin. Gin king?

I was going to say a gin. Gin king. Gin and tonic on that one. Yeah. I don't know. He's probably like a... I was going to say a gin and tonic on that one. I don't know. He's probably like a weak glass of water. Yeah. Just a weak glass of water, please.

Not like Dave, tall glass of water. This guy's a weak glass of water. Yeah, so I'm a strong tall glass of water. Yeah, crisp. So this was about the mid-1700s, and they found it was pretty easy to dig it out because of the light volcanic material. Around this time, the study of ancient and classical art took off across the world and became quite fashionable.

Wealthy aristocrats of the time would visit the site and return home with expensive souvenirs. Class brains. So they're like kind of wealthy modern grave robbers. It's okay. Like it's cool and classy if you're very rich. If you're already rich, stealing is very different. Isn't it funny? Yeah, I know.

Then you're just an eccentric collector. Yeah. It's the same with everything, like tax evasion or, you know, like... Yeah. There's welfare cheats, but if you're poor, you're a welfare cheat. If you're rich, hey, I'm a businessman. Yeah, yeah. Hey, I'm working with the government.

I'm creating jobs. It's trickling down. That's right. Makes you think, doesn't it?'m creating jobs. It's trickling down. That's right. Makes you think, doesn't it? Rich pricks. Doesn't make you think? I love saying things like I've thought of them. Yeah, just a little thing I've been mulling over.

Wow. Is that one of yours? Yeah, that's one of mine. Here's an idea I've had. The Stuart original? Yeah. I'm a piece of shit. With the unification of Italy in 1860

the legal status of Pompeii changed from being a royal possession from which monarchs could use the site to obtain antiquities for their private collections or gift artifacts to illustrious foreign guests to property of the state so it became property of Italy but before that it had been like

yeah yeah you can have some of that you're my rich friend you can have a bit of that but it wasn't just antiquities and treasures that were found on the site archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli was named superintendent and he began to manage the excavations in 1863 he noticed that the skeletons that were discovered at Pompeii were usually found inside hollow cavities buried under meters of ash and other volcanic material, the soft tissue of the body had long ago rotted away, leaving only the bones surrounded by a hollowed-out shape.

Wow. Where, like, you know, your skin and stuff had been. He decided to pour plaster into the cavity. When the plaster was poured in, the bodies were seemingly brought back to life, showing an exact hollow impression of the corpse. He created the first plaster funhouse. Yeah. Wow.

And then kids got to go in and paint them. They were big in the 90s, weren't they? Yeah, I had a crocodile from a plaster funhouse for so long. Oh. plaster fun house for so long oh i reckon i painted it when i was seven proudly set up sat on my bookshelf or my desk or whatever in my room till i was probably an adult you'd still give it a little pat every day as you left your room goodbye goodbye i love you so this was my best friend this plaster method is known as the Fiorelli method or the Fiorelli process. It was able to show a new and much more human side of the bodies,

showing what they were wearing and how they looked in their final terrifying moments. And what was his name? Giuseppe Fiorelli. That's such a great name. Incredible name. And he was a superintendent. Sounds more like a Super Nintendo Mario Brothers guy. There was a third guy I reckon he would have been

called Giuseppe. Super Nintendo Giuseppe Ferrelli. Mario, Luigi and Giuseppe. Yeah, you're right. The forgotten triplet. Suck shit, Wario. Some of them their bodies are covering their faces. Some look like they're screaming out and images of the cast fascinated people at the time and it really put Pompeii on the map.

Dave screaming or shrieking? Depends. It's hard to say. The women, shrieking. Yes. Men, yelling. Yelling. Oh!

It's hot! I'll bravely yell you down, you robber. See, men yell, women nag. Some of the women can be seen to be nagging. You should come away from the window, please. Whose doughty socks are these? Don't you want to die in clean socks? Just left on the ground, huh?

Oh, okay. The maid will pick them up, will they? Are you born in a tent? Huh? Shut the door, mate. Come on. So you can see the plaster casts of bodies as well as those of a pig, a cat, and a dog. Wow.

And the dog's got a collar on it. Really? Yeah. What collar's on a dog? That's the best thing so far. Yeah, it's amazing. A fascinating story, but they found a pig with a collar on it. A dog.

A dog with a collar on it. Okay, not quite as fun. It's fairly normal. These days you see that all the time. All the time. Tate was saying it was very gentrified, this city. Yeah. That's the biggest proof yet.

People out walking their cats. Yeah. Crazy. By 2003, 1,044 bodies had been recovered. These days new ones don't have the plaster injected into them. It's very much an old school thing, but they survive and they're still a very famous part of the site. So many bodies were discovered in Pompeii, but they were also made a discovery they weren't quite expecting. And that is Pompeians were horny. Very, very horny.

What do you mean? Circling back to that way at the start of the episode. At the time, Rome had been a very sexualized society, but over time it had become more and more conservative so for a city to be frozen in time during its horniest period was quite a shock to the prude victorian era that unearthed piles and piles of erotic art ah it's all over the place the massive wanged god priapus was a common good luck symbol and can be seen all over the city in frescoes, mosaics, penis-shaped wind chimes, and oil lamps. Apparently, his huge dick had little to do with sex. It served to scare off thieves. That's how big it is. It was like a club you to death in this thing.

Wow. And there were sculptures of dicks everywhere. But it wasn't about sex. Grow up, everyone. Depictions of the phallus could be used in gardens to encourage the production of fertile plants. Sure. You got to understand. You got to. Yeah, well, we're still getting over the prude eras, aren't we? Because it used to be like, you know, it doesn't matter.

Free the dick. Free the dick. Free the nipple. Free the dick. Back then, they didn't have to worry about that sort of stuff. It was just like, it's the body is the body. Who gives a shit? Now we're all like in these straight jackets of clothes.

I just want to rip it off. You all right there? Your face just did something I've never seen it do before. That was amazing. And I think really what I'm describing there is you finally being vulnerable with us. And if you want to get naked, now's not the time. Yeah, because of society. That's right.

And we're at work. So, you know. Well, this is my point. Yeah. Work and rules. Yeah, yeah, yeah. True. I'm part of the problem.

Is this still the Victorian era? Victorian era, more like it. There's also erotic paintings depicting many sexual liaisons and orgies. But these weren't sexual. Grow up, it's about plants. These orgies were not sexual, okay? It's about fertile land. Everyday objects such as mirrors and serving vessels

were decorated with erotic scenes. Sex is everywhere you look. In 1819, when King Francis I of Naples visited the Pompeii exhibition with his wife and daughter, he was embarrassed by the erotic artwork and ordered it to be locked away in a secret cabinet. Oh, yes, that only he had the keys to. Accessible to only people of mature age and respected morals

and also only men. He was embarrassed that he got a stiffy. Oh, dear. Known as Gabinetto Segreto, the secret museum or secret cabinet, it was reopened, then closed, then reopened again, then closed again with the entranceway being bricked up in 1849 it was too hot to handle this stuff wow it was off limits for nearly 100 years the secret room was briefly made accessible again at the end of the 60s before finally being reopened in the year 2000 since 2005 the collection has been kept in a

separate room in the naples national archaeologicalchaeological Museum. I'm spewing. I didn't go. One of the most famous pieces in the collection is a statue of what looks like a devil-like creature fucking a goat. Wow. Okay. That is hot. And Dave's disappointed he didn't get to see that.

I didn't get to go. It still sounds funny. I can't even picture it. What would it look like? I'd love to know. Oh, please. Let me in. Hanging on the bricked up door i'm of mature age and a man so far it's estimated that only two-thirds of pompeii has been excavated so who knows what

they'll find over the coming decades maybe more dicks wow how more orgies depicted and just to finish up the threat of vesuvius has not gone away over the millennia. In fact, in the last 2,000 years, it has erupted about 30 more times. Really? Starting in 1631, Vesuvius entered a period of steady volcanic activity, including lava flows and eruptions of ash and mud. Violent eruptions in the late 1700s, 1800s, and early 1900s created more fissures, lava flows and ash and gas explosions.

These damage still destroyed many towns around the volcano and sometimes killed people. The eruption of 1906 had 100 casualties. The most recent eruption was in 1944 during World War II. It caused major problems for the newly arrived Allied forces in Italy when ash and rock from the eruption destroyed planes and forced evacuations at a nearby air base. So it erupted not that long ago, which is probably a good thing because you want it to be steady, small eruptions rather than hundreds of years of nothing. Yeah.

Have scientists tried to like manipulate it at all or they're just letting it do what it does? Well, it's closely monitored by scientists, thankfully, these days. So hopefully next time it erupts, everyone will be able to escape right safely roslyn top that's right pierce roslyn and his grandmother today vesuvius is the only active volcano in mainland europe although there are others on islands in nearby sicily and santorini and has produced some of the continent's largest volcanic eruptions it is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of three million people living near that would probably be affected by an eruption with 600 000 in the danger zone holy shit making it the most densely populated volcanic

region in the world oh that's uh i always think it's wild people you know like just on the outskirts of melbourne real bushfire prone areas where people live there and it's just their life. They just know every summer there's a chance their house might burn down. They've got a plan and it's all worked out. Somehow it feels even more full on to be living, even though it's less likely to happen and it's not every year, but it could be any time. Yeah, exactly.

And it could be big. They don't know. These things are difficult to predict. The destruction of Pompeii has been the basis for paintings, poems, TV shows, movies, songs, and books. Pink Floyd filmed a famous music special in the Amphitheater there in the 1970s, which is pretty cool. Wow.

That's awesome. It's fascinated people for centuries. And at this point, it's been the longest continually excavated site ever found. And I'm sure it will continue for decades and centuries to come. That's such a funny record to have. The longest continuously excavated site. Yeah. People just for over 300 years,

they've just been digging out bit by bit. Non-stop. Is there a queue there? Discovering new stuff. I think for a while there, they decided to back off on discovering, on digging out new stuff and conserving what they do have because UNESCO designated it like in danger of being...

Overdug. Overdug and also the fact that- I think it's one of Italy's most visited tourist attractions. Did you see- Yeah, you can walk through it. It's amazing. And you did all that? Yeah, you walk through.

God, it was hot though, but it was fantastic. Yeah, it's really, really cool. I don't think you get to complain about how hot it was. You're right. A bit hot for me. What, 38 degrees? High 30s, yeah. You're walking A bit hot for me What 38 degrees High 30s Yeah

You're walking past The corpses Of people who died instantly From From How hot gas was And you're like Bloody hell that's sun

Yeah fair call Fair call At first I thought you meant It was hot as in Sexy Sexy hot Because you saw a dick And there are some

There is inside They've got like a Cooled part of the exhibit Where you go in, which was lovely. They would have loved it. They would love some air conditioning. And they have a lot of erotic art.

Were you at the photo you posted around that time when you're over there and you look like a character from Poirot? Were you wearing that outfit the whole time? I am wearing that outfit

because Qantas had lost all our baggage and I had to basically wear what I could buy in a small Italian town. So I'll be posting a photo of myself there with the famous Vesuvius in the background. And it's right there, looms over you.

So if that was erupting, you can imagine how terrified I would have been. One day we should do, like Led Zeppelin, we should do a live podcast there. What do you think? I think that's a great plan. Imagine if we could time it with an eruption. That'd be sick. That'd be absolutely the sickest thing ever.

We'll see you next week. Goodbye, erupt. Yes. Yeah, pyrotechnics. Yeah, we all run into the danger zone. But that's my report. That's the final episode of Block 2022. How about a round of applause for Block?

Block, Block, Block, Block, Block. Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss. Oh, Block, you're so sexy. Well done, Dave. That was awesome, Dave. What a story. So glad to have heard that tale told. Finally, I was able to report on it.

Very happy. Wow. I can't believe Block is over. Dave, how are you feeling? Well, I feel like it ain't over till it's over there's still more to go that's true we're still blocking it out uh jess unfortunately didn't realize that and she's left but yeah we went hang on just oh okay well i guess we'll be talking to our patreon supporters then uh and the beauty of block as opposed to other festive seasons like christmas after christmas it's nearly a full 12 months till it's Christmas again.

That's right. Less one day. Yeah. Whereas block, it's only 10 months till the next block. That's nothing. Isn't that a beautiful part of block? About 300 odd days, 300 sleeps till the next block. And you can just keep listening to these nine episodes from block 2022 until next block.

Or check out a couple of the previous blocks. Some people live like it's Christmas every day. You can live like it's block every day. But we, at the end of the show, love to thank some of our great supporters. Without them, this show would not exist. And if you want to be involved there with them, you can do so by signing up at patreon.com slash dogoonpod. And there's a bunch of different rewards you can get there, Dave, including what are some of the things there?

We put out three bonus episodes every single month. And as soon as you sign up, you get access to the back catalog. And that's over 150 bonus episodes at this point. So cool. So that's one level, but there's also other different levels where you can vote for topics, decide what the show is going to be about, join the Patreon group on any single level, and it's a lovely, lovely place to be.

On any level, you also get to write the questions for Who Knew It With Matt Stewart Now, my new comedy quiz show. So if you listen to that show, you'll know there's seven questions every week, and they're all written by fabulous Patreon supporters. And a great job they do. They do a fantastic job. But the first thing we normally

like to do in this section of the show is uh the fact quote or question section which i think has a jingle go somewhere like this fact quote or question you remember the ding ding ding and the jingle and uh which is very appropriate as we end block we are coming into the festive krishmish time of year absolutely another beautiful time of your second greatest time the jingle bells are ring ding dingling all of a sudden um but in this section of the show people on the sydney schoenberg level of our patreon get to give us a fact a quote or a question or a brag or a suggestion or a recipe whatever they freaking well like it is up to them. They get carte blanche.

Am I saying that right? Maybe. And this week we have some fantastic facts, some fantastic quotes, some fantastic questions and a brag in there as well as I look down the list. The first one comes from Tessa Chilcott, who's given herself the title of Director of Moving Furniture Around the House for Short Periods to see how it looks there. Oh, fantastic.

Well, Jess will tell you that she recently moved her dining table, flipped it over, hasn't looked back. How good does her dining room look now? Oh, game changer. Oh my goodness. So much more room for podcasting, as is the most important use of a dining table. And Tessa has offered a fact this week, writing, elephants can recognize themselves in the mirror and mirror. The mirror.

Mirror selfie. Amazing, Tessa says. I can barely do this sometimes myself. They join humans, apes, and dolphins. And, of course, humans are apes, but, you know, I don't know. I'm actually their Tessa, but I also host a podcast called Primates About Primates. You're well within your rights. And their closest living relative is the hyrax.

Seriously, look it up. It is insane that this is the closest to an elephant. I've never heard of a hyrax. Have you heard of a hyrax, Dave heard of a hyrax no that's their closest living closest living relative uh tessa finishes by saying anywho thanks for the laughs you're an amazing bunch hey tessa right back at you i've never heard of a hyrax h-y-r-a-x what is a hyrax oh they're like a little they look like a little marsupial or something. Yeah, they're very small. They're a rock rabbit. That's fun.

How can they possibly be related to elephants? It says they're closely related to elephants and sea cows. What is going on? This feels like we're in an alternative universe where these things exist. Yeah. Never heard of a hyrax or a sea cow. Sea cow. universe where these things exist yeah never heard of a hyrax or a sea cow sea cow sirenia there's two families of which one of which is uh the dugong right okay i've heard of a dugong and

then this they're now extinct stellas sea cow but these animals are all completely different a dugong a little rock rabbit and an elephant amazing and are you have you confirmed that close relative to an elephant yeah i'm i just googled it saying rock hyrax i i can't get my head around that that is a wild fact tessa you've outdone yourself thank you so much that's great i mean they're between two and five kilos how many is an elephant yeah at least double that yeah at least possibly double and a half the next one comes from n Swap. Okay. Wizards Cartwright, in brackets. In brackets. It will make sense.

Close brackets. Good. Nathan's got a question, which reads, What is an item or prop from a film that you love and would like to own? Ooh. Nathan has answered his own question, saying, In the first Lord of the Rings movie, the wizard Gandalf arrives to the Shire in a two-wheel horse and drawn cart. Or just two-wheel horse drawn cart. And I love it. It looks so well built and cozy.

I would love to travel around through forests and fields in it wearing a big pointy hat while smoking a pipe. That sounds like a dream. Yes. I mean, I love that. That's a real elaborate prop or item. Yeah, I don't know. What are you thinking, Dave? Anything coming to mind? I've seen replicas online for sale in The Mummy, a fantastic Brendan Fraser movie that we all love. They've got the Book of the Dead that they only open with a key,

which is that thing that sort of clasps open. It looks like a little box and then it opens up and then that turns out to be a key do you remember that that little metal thing in the movie yes and it you know it looks like a star when it's split up i've seen people have replicas of that for sale online i think that's a very cool little thing i think if i could choose anything at all and that one's already been taken i'll get i'll go with my second pick uh which is the ford xb falcon hardtop uh featured in eric banner's 2009 documentary film love the beast love the beast of course a beautiful automobile and uh it'd be it's very close to my dream car probably technically would like the xc the next model but very would be very

happy you're happy with that i'd also be happy with the mansion from the adams family it's kind of cool do you get would you get thing and cousin it and everyone doesn't it lurch you rang you rang oh you're perfect lurch give me the role get him in there everyone get me in get him in you could oh you destroy lurch. Get him in. You could destroy Lurch. Uncle Fester. I feel like you'd do a great Fester. I love Uncle Fester. Uncle Fester's great.

The original cartoon, not cartoon, but the live action show. Loved it so much as a kid. Yeah, fantastic work. Was it Doc from Back to the Future played Fester in the 90s films? Oh, did he? I think. That's did he? I think. That's a vague memory I have. Christopher Plummer?

No. Christopher Plummer is Christopher Lloyd. Christopher Lloyd. Christopher Plummer is the dad from Santa Music, I think. Thank you. He'd also make a great Uncle Fester in his old age. Oh, yeah, mate. Get him in there.

I mean. Christopher Lloyd. Fucking hell. Sometimes you take a punt and you're like, I think that's that guy's name. But the funny thing is you could be right. Maybe that's who did play it. No, it was Christopher Lloyd. Imagine if it was Christopher Lloyd.

Oh, man, that would have been fantastic. He would have been a good. Christopher Lloyd's so funny. Great question. Thank you very much, Nathan Swap. I think I gave you probably more of an answer that you were looking for than me. I just couldn't think. The first thing I thought of was that beautiful automobile.

I mean, if they were real, a lightsaber would be fucking cool. Yeah, that's true. Just go... Cut through. Toast. Oh, imagine. I think you could say that. In this world here.

In this... The next one this week comes from Drew Fallsberg, aka Vycount of Five Finger Discount. Vycount of Five Finger Discount discount that's real good stuff drew and drew's got a brag can only assume this brag is going to be about him stealing something let's read okay it's related to a brag because i'm proud i thought of it here goes did you hear about the fella who was distraught over the limited scope of his out-of-body experience? He was just beside himself. Says, cheers from God's country.

Keep up the brilliant work. Hey, you too, Drew. Did you hear about the fella who was distraught over the limited scope of his out-of-body experience? He was beside himself. Any joke that features the phrase limited scope is very funny and finally this week this comes from sophie choo choo shooter so i'm guessing is that sophie telling us that it is shooter not shooter because you corrected me saying it was shooter you wouldn't say sophie shoo shoo shooter would? Or is she buying into the gag?

I don't know, Sophie. I don't know, Sophie. I'm so sorry. But Sophie writes, her title is Group Mum. Jess, finish your homework. Well, maybe that's where she rushed off to. Yeah. And Jess, sorry, Sophie is offering a suggestion.

Jeez, we got all four of the different options in one week. Love it. Collect them all. Sophie writes, may I suggest at some point today today you take five minutes to yourself take three big breaths in let's do it now dave out in out in out not in in in out out, out, out. Not in. Not. I guess. Okay. That was it.

Yeah. Okay. Close your eyes. Relax your shoulders. And let out a big, deep, long fart. I was going to do whatever she said. Dave. Dave can't even fart on command. Damn it.

What a loser. Thank you very much, Sophie, Drew, Nathan, and Tessa for these great facts, quotes, and questions. If you are on the Sidney Scheinberg level, don't forget to get them in. Some people get them in really frequently, including I think the four people we read out today. Some people very sporadically.

So stop what you're doing right now. Go give us a fact, quote, or question. It could be whatever you like. It doesn't matter. It matter could be telling us to fuck it's like get them in and then let them out let it out uh but we appreciate all those great people i'll be taking that advice later on sophie i'll be doing it every day uh the other thing we like to do is thank a few of our other great supporters jess only comes up with a bit of a game based on the topic at hand. Dave, that responsibility falls to you. What should we do with these people here today?

What about what they were doing when the eruption started? Oh, okay, great. And we're talking about the volcano eruption. The volcano. Can I ask you, and I hope you've done this, so it's a bit confusing, my request, but can you take out a lot of the sexual stuff I said in this episode? Well, if people are hearing this and it doesn't make sense you've i've done what

you want thank you so much um well maybe i'll kick us off i'll do the first five do the second four because we normally do three okay great uh first off i would love if i may to thank from Coon, Oregon in the Australian Capital Territory. I'd love to thank Mac Noble. Mac Noble. What about Mac Noble was doing a magic show. Oh, yeah. And then for a couple of seconds thought, oh, shit, have I done this? Oh, no.

I've summoned the beast. Oh, no. So he's frozen in time with a rabbit halfway out of a hat. Going, oh, shit. Oh, that's great. Noble. MacNoble's a pretty good magician. Yeah.

Please welcome MacNoble. The magnificent MacNoble. Oh, that's good. I'd also love to thank from Austin, Texas. Stay weird. Remain weird or whatever it is. Alex Hill. Alex Hill.

Alex Hill was baking pies oh yeah and annoyingly for alex they'd realize shit i miscounted five people are at home i've only got four and they were freaking about out what to do what to do then the eruption started they thought yes i've gotten out of it yeah no one's going to be noticing this anymore at first he's like oh what did temperature did i set the oven to shit and then hang on we're all going to be horribly killed this is great i've only got four pies for five people uh thank you very much alex i'd also love to thank from kira ville also in the australian capital territory zach arkley smith zach arkley smith as always fantastic name uh zach had just finished mowing the front lawn.

What a waste of time. What a waste. Sorry, Zach. Shit. Yeah. I mean, and depending on how long the grass was, I don't know for sure, but maybe that could have blocked out the lava. Thank you very much for your fine work, Zach.

May I thank from Inverness in Great Britain. Inverness would be in Scotland. That's in Scotland, absolutely. I would love to thank Jordan Taylor. Jordan Taylor. Not Thomas. Drop the Thomas. You can only assume this is JTT.

Oh, Jordan Taylor Thomas. I forgot, absolutely, going under the radar. Oh, my God. Jordan Taylor Thomas. He dropped the Taylor. He dropped the Thomas and added the Ordon. Yeah. And also dropped the Ornathan.

He kept only that very specific name, Taylor. Jordan Taylor Thomas. Could it be? Could it be? What are the odds? Yeah, nice try. Yeah, you're hiding in plain sight there, JTT. JTT.

What did JT, what was he up to? JT was actually playing kick to kick in the park with their child. Yep. Aussie rules in Scotland? I love that. Yeah, Aussie rules. But this is in Pompeii. There's a Scottish person in Pompeii.

Oh, of course. Playing Aussie rules. Jack in the pack. The real global game. Yes. So, of course. Playing Aussie rules. Jack in the pack. The real global game. Yes. So you kick it. And honestly, Jordan was a bit like, I'm actually a bit bored of this,

but the kids wants to keep playing. He does Oz kick. Yes. He wants to keep practicing. Okay, all right. An hour, is this enough? The eruption starts. Again, Jordan's off the hook.

They've got to run for their lives. And Jordan purposely left the footy to be covered in pyroclastic flow so didn't have to even worry about playing wherever they ran to fantastic work there got away with it and finally from me i'd love to thank from i want to say how is that how you pronounce a word like that dave in maybe belgium hell in belgium that's pretty cool i'm sure we're saying it wrong, but hey. I'd love to thank Alison M. Hell in Belgium.

It is a city in Belgium. Looking it up. Does it give you a pronounce there? No, it's a small population of 31,000. Not far from Waterloo. 31,000. Not far from the population of the place we talked about today. Pompeii.

Pompeii, which is where Alison M was during the eruption, obviously. And Alison M had just finished doing a news cross. Alison, of course, being a local reporter, live on TV. It finishes and they'd just done a very boring cooking segment. Nothing interesting happened. The director had yelled, cut cut we're out and then the eruption started and they thought fuck we've just missed oh god we've missed our moment damn it sorry allison get the cameras rolling oh no they're gone yeah but i mean so they're like oh

we never got to capture this moment on camera for posterity but they were actually just captured exactly what they were doing yeah exactly the moment frozen in time forever there's a yeah someone holding a camera in 2018 i didn't mention this in the report but um a video sort of went sorry a photo went viral of a skeleton in pompeii and then there was a big rock over the skull and it looked like the person had been absolutely rock over the skull and it looked like the person had been absolutely killed i'll show you by a boulder by a boulder it just looked like the boulder it just landed on their head but and then it went viral people thought it was very funny you know people have they thought that was funny yes people had a lot of fun with it that's so weird um but it turned out that they weren't

crushed by the stone it just looks like like that. So, but yeah. Oh, fun spoiler. The internet went wild with this thing. I missed that. I obviously had a day off the internet that day. Dave, would you like to thank a few of our great supporters? I would love to thank from Menasha in WI. Where's WI? Wisconsin.

It is Wisconsin. Well done. It's from Menasha. It's W-I? Wisconsin? It is Wisconsin. Well done. It's from Manassher. It's Sam Diemel. Sam Diemel. Sam Diemel, unfortunately, was just filling up their diesel engine with unleaded. Oh. So, yeah, their last moments were going, oh, shit.

Who do I call? It was a hire car. They weren't used were going, oh, shit. Who do I call? It was a hire car. They weren't used to it. Oh, no. And they were about to siphon out the unleaded to start again. They're going to suck it out. So what a way to go. Frozen in time forever, sucking it out.

Sucking it out. Suck off a car. Oh, no. Yeah. Sam. That's a shame. Someone had to do it. I would like to thank now from Carlisle in Illinois in the United States.

It's Nikita Pruitt. Nikita Pruitt was picking some fruit off the tree, an apple tree. Oh. So, tippy toes on a ladder. It's frozen in time. On a ladder, on tippy toes. The tree, the apple. It just was magnificent.

I think a rich person from a few hundred years ago now has it in their courtyard. Oh, fantastic. The whole scene. I'd like to buy this scene. Yes. But it was a magnificent scene. You can picture it, little step ladder, tippy toes, just plucking off the perfect apple. Oh, beautiful.

Dangling off a high branch. Not going for any low fruit. Going for a high fruit. High fruit. Well, the higher up the fruit, the better the fruit. You knew it. I would like to thank also from Brunswick West here in Victoria, Jessica Hewitson.

Jessica Hewitson was, of course, one of the great, great, great, great, great ancestors of Ian Huey Hewitson. Oh. Even though the names, I think, are spelt differently, but that's what happens over time. Language evolves. Huey, of course, a famous TV chef. Yes. And he obviously was a big cook, but he got all of that from Jessica's genes. And Jessica was cooking up a strudel at the time.

She was working with Nikita and expecting a delivery of fresh apples from Nikita at the time. She was waiting. So she's frozen in time looking at her wristwatch. Of course, at the time, wristwatches were not invented, but she did come up with the joke, what's the time?

It's a hair past a freckle, which is a classic bit. What a great joke that is. It doesn't seem that funny now, but back then in 79 AD. Oh, this is killing. That was cutting edge humour. Well done, Jessica, and thank you so much for your support. And finally, I'd like to thank from beautiful sounding place,

Pleasanton, Pleasanton in California, George Pascoe. George Pascoe was just settling down to a romantic bath, had just lit the 200th candle in his, surrounding his bathroom on the floor, on the shelves, everywhere. And was just about to settle into the bath when it hit. So did all the prep work, but didn't get to enjoy the relaxing scented candles for long, unfortunately. But I mean, like most of life, a lot of the joy is found in the anticipation. And George did get to enjoy that

anticipation absolutely forever forever he was stuck in that beautiful spot of dipping your toe into the spa bath beautiful thank you so much to george jessica nikita sam allison jordan zach alex and mac we appreciate your support so much i don't think I can even put it into words, so I won't bother trying. Dave, can you? I love you. Yeah, that's basically it. Really should have been able to find those words.

Yeah, come on, mate. Sometimes love is the hardest word to say. Or is that sorry? And that brings us to our final section of the show where we welcome in our Triptptych club members our new members in the triptych club only one inductee this week dave uh the way this works is if you're on the shout out level or above the three straight years you get welcomed into the club it's a bit of mind the club is ever expanding every week and uh dave normally books a band for the after party dave also emcees the show

he's hyping up the crowd as we speak they're all in there all the previous inductees he's hyping them up they're so sick of me i'm there every night get someone else and uh jess is normally behind the bar but she's got an audio this week so I'm jumping in behind the bar as well. And she normally has a cocktail named after the topic. This week, the Pompeii. What would a Pompeii cocktail be? I feel like it would be hot. It would be hot. It's one of those lit ones, so maybe it includes.

Where's Pompeii? What's an Italian spirit? Frangelico? Is that Italian? Yeah, or like Cenzino. It's Cenzino and Frangelico is that italian or like um chenzino chenz it's chenzino and frangelico and if they're not flammable a flammable uh liqueur and they're mixing together lit on fire uh and you get to enjoy those don't forget to breathe in those toxic hot gases yes that authentic pompey flavor it's cinzano sorry everyone I don't mean for you

To yell at your iPods Vaubanee Vaubanee Vaubanee Vaubanee Vaubanee Vaubanee And Dave you normally

Book a band for the Alpha Party Who have you got this week? You're never going to believe it I've obviously booked These months out Because all these High profile acts Have big tours and stuff

But we've actually got The band Bastille Famous for their hit song Pompeii Oh Pompeii Is that a big song? Yeah About 10 years ago. They're an English band.

It's all that sort of like pop rock stuff. Great, fantastic stuff. That'll really get the crowd going. Absolutely. So just one inductee this week. Please make them welcome Dave from Hawthorne in California in the United States. It's Michelle.

Michelle. Not much to work with him. My bell. Michelle, my bell. I will sell my soul to welcome you. You know, Hawthorne in my side, you are now a rose between two thorns. Is that me and you? I think we're the thorns.

Okay. And California, here we come. Yeah, Bastille, start playing. Thanks, Bastille. Appreciate that. Welcome in, Michelle. Make yourself at home. Really do appreciate it very much.

That's really all we need to do, and that closes up Block once and for all. Really, I just want it to keep going on forever. But, Dave, we really should let people move on with their lives. We really, really should. But in the meantime, if they want to get in contact with us, they can hit up our website, dogoonpod.com, with links to Patreon, merchandise, both are two great ways to support the show,

as well as tickets to our live shows. You can get in contact with us, dogoonpod.gmail.com. And we're on social media, dogoonpod. Jump on board. And check out all our other podcasts. If you're up to date with Do Go On, there's's book cheat which there's uh nearly 100 or more than 100 yeah closing in i think we're 70 something of them so uh dave does a show where he uh it's basically do go on but instead of uh historical stories they're fictional stories uh from classic novels uh i've also started a new

podcast called who knew it with matt stewart it's a comedy quiz kind of based around the old olden days game when my mom was a kid i think of that as the olden days uh called dictionary so it's a game of bluff it's a quiz but the guests also um help write the questions um we call it the quiz where the guests write the wrong answers that tagline was suggested by patreon i wish i could remember who it was so I could send them a bouquet. Oh, that'd be lovely. That was a bluff. It's all part of the game. There's also Primates, which is a show where we talk about primates,

popular culture, done recent episodes about movies like Nope and the Hit Monkey series on Disney Plus and such things like that. So check out all those shows as well. A lot of fun to be had. A lot of fun to be had. All right, Dave. Want to boot this baby home? Hey, we'll be back next week with another episode.

It won't be block anymore, but it will be a great episode. I can assure you of that. The quality will not drop. We never drop the quality. Never drop the quality. And we'll be back with another episode then, but until then, I'll say thank you so much,

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