Do Go On - 389 - The Nome Serum Dog Sled Run

Episode Date: April 5, 2023

In 1925, the town of Nome in rural Alaska found itself facing a potentially catastrophic outbreak of diphtheria. Almost completely cut off from the rest of the world by the harsh Winter, the only way to get medicine in was via a relay of 20 teams of sled dogs. The inspiration for the cartoon film Balto, this is the true story of the Nome Serum Run. This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 05:18 (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 merch store: https://do-go-on-podcast.creator-spring.com/ Check out our AACTA nominated web series: http://bit.ly/DGOWebSeries​ Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Who Knew It with Matt Stewart: https://play.acast.com/s/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart/ Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasDo 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:Icebound The Greatest Dog Story Ever Told (Discovery Channel)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQbJ1PNTZyo&t=10s https://www.baltostruestory.net/serumrunsynopsisp2.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20101127233139/http://www.litsite.org/index.cfm?section=Digital-Archives&page=Land-Sea-Air&cat=Dog-Mushing&viewpost=2&ContentId=2559 https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/togo/ https://www.maruskiyas.com/nome-alaska 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.

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 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 Warnocki and as always I'm here with Matt Stewart and Jess Perkins. Hello Dave. Hey Dave. Hey Jess. Hey, how's it going? So good to see you. So good to see you. So good to see you. You look so beautiful in that colour.

You do too. Oh my god, thank you. You are glowing. You are, I was literally about to say you are glowing. Hey, how good is it to be alive? Oh man, I love to be alive. It's so good. Yeah, it's so great.

Especially when I'm with my best friend, Matt. What is this? I don't know. You got a weird vibe today. Yeah, we don't like it. Is it because I'm not wearing a green shirt like Matt? Yeah, that's right. Wearing a black shirt. I'm the bad boy of this podcast. Also, I mean, I'm also in a green shirt like Matt? Yeah, that's right. Wearing a black shirt.

I'm the bad boy of this podcast. Also, I mean, I'm also in a black shirt, but okay. Yeah, but yours is a picture of Dolly Parton. Which really takes it out. It'll soften it a bit. Yeah, mine is just plain black. I think it's just that we're getting the Sass Twins energy early. Okay, fantastic.

So, I'm going to be rooted in this episode. We are going to rip you a new one. Yeah. Anyway, little boy, do you want to explain how this show works? Well, what we do here is we take an intense report on a topic Often suggested to us by a listener What we've done is we've gone away, done a bit of research and brought it back And it is my turn to do that this week, which traditionally means I get sassed Yeah, we can't help it You're very sassable.

We always start with a question. Okay. My question to you is, what is the best way to travel across the Western Alaskan wilderness? Sled. Plane. Oh, yeah, plane is probably. Sled plane is what I meant.

Sled plane. Sled plane. Put them together and what have you got? Sled plane. An incorrect answer. Matt, you are correct It is sled Dog sledding

Dog sledding Wow Is this one about One of those Disney movies Where dogs sled In Alaska This is legitimately The basis of

Several Disney movies Is it Balto? It is But the subject Kind of inspires Well very much inspires Balto Have you seen Balto? Oh my god

I've wanted Like I Yes You've seen Baltoto yes there's a goose in it and at one point he says i'm getting people bumps and that's funny because people get goose bumps that is actually good stuff he gets people bumps i would really need to listen to the director's commentary track on the dvd to get that really i got it as a child really yeah i thought that was very funny that's advanced humor that is advanced that is good shit people bumps um this is great did you walk around the room and

explain to your family what was yeah so what's going on there i'd be like this goose has lost its mind that's not a thing that's what my parents said as i explained the joke these kids lost their mind yes we are going to uh talk about Balto the dog in this journey. Wow. I've never heard of Balto the dog, but somehow I knew that Disney had movies about dogs and sleds. Yes, it's a 1995 movie starring Kevin Bacon as Balto and Phil Collins as Muck and Luck, a pair of polar bears.

Phil Collins? He voiced not one, but two characters. And I'm guessing that they weren't wearing jackets. Those polar bears, no jacket required. Right. Kevin Bacon playing a dog. Voicing the dog or fully going? Fully playing the dog, yeah.

And he's circusing it. That's right, yeah. Wow. It was not required, but he did it. No, they did not film it. Yeah, but he did it. Yeah, no green balls required. That's the Kevin Bacon album.

This topic's been suggested by a bunch of people, and I appreciate them. First of all, Pamela Garrity from Eagle River in Alaska, where our story takes place today. Claire Hesselmans from Croydon Hills here in Victoria. Megan Castle from Guthrie, Oklahoma. Oof. Brandy Broyhill from Greensboro, North Carolina.

Does anyone have any facts about North Carolina? Yes. That is where the Venus flytrap's from. Fantastic. Do you know it was also the first place they had mini golf? Oh. Mini golf course. That's interesting.

Almost. And it had a pun name, I think, from memory. Can't remember what it was. Near enough or something like that? I think that's it. Fantastic. And that joke's near enough for me. And finally.

Oh, it wasn't a joke. No, I think they're joking. And finally from. Thistlewood. Thistle. Thistle do. Thistle do. Jeez, you've got a good memory.

Famously. Near enough. And finally from McKinney in Texas, Alicia Moore. Thank you so much. Actually, first of all, so do you remember much about the Disney movie, Jess? Mostly that one line from The Goose. I haven't watched it in quite some time, but I remember that they needed medicine. Yes.

This is an epic journey with a ticking clock. Whoa. It's a chemist run. Yeah. It is. This is called the Gnome Serum Run. Serum It's a chemist run. Yeah. It is. This is called the gnome serum run. Serum. They are after a serum.

The only kind of serum I use is for skincare, not medicinal. Yeah, but sometimes you're desperate for that. You will embark on a hazardous journey to get that serum to you. That's right. I'll make my dog drag me on a skateboard. To get some La Roche-Posay. That's right. I'll do it.

I'll do whatever it takes. So, our story takes place in Nome, Alaska, situated on the southern side of the Seaward Peninsula on the coast of the Bering Sea. So, for your minds to imagine this, it's in the very western side of Alaska. So, it's only a few hundred kilometres from Russia. The Bering Sea is the one that freezes over and you can walk across it. but no one yet has been able to drive across it uh even though they thought they could in our episode about the new york to paris i mean surely they've tried that on top gear or something yeah they've got richard hammond in a hummer or something i think someone's got one across there

but it was it was like a a Jeep converted into a boat. Like a bit of a loophole there. Yeah. It is technically a car. Yeah, they used the James Bond Lotus that turned into a submarine. Yeah, so it's actually much closer to Russia than it is to the rest of America. To give you an idea of how far it is to the rest of the United States, Nome is nearly 2,000 miles or 3,200 kilometres from Seattle, Washington.

Wow. But it's only a few hundred K to Russia. How many MCGs is that or Olympic swimming pools? About 48,000. Wow, that's quite a distance. He had that ready to go. Yeah. It's lucky that Olympic swimming pools are 50 metres.

Yes. And also amazing that the MCG is the exact same size as an Olympic swimming pool. So it works for both. Depends on which angle you're taking it from, you know. Yeah. All right. And how do you spell Nome?

What a great name for a city. N-O-M-E. Okay. Nome. Nome. I like it a lot. I like it too. Now, Inupiat people, who are the indigenous people of northwestern Alaska,

hunted for game on the west coast of Alaska from prehistoric times, and there is some recent archaeological evidence to suggest that there was an Inupiat settlement at Nome, known in Inupiat as Sit Nusa Wake. I'm going to have a few goes at some native Alaskan names here, and I have Googled how to pronounce each of them, but there were a few conflicting pronunciations. And you're going to just pick the right one in the edit?

I'm going to pick the right one in my mind. Okay. He's just going to have a go and do your very best. Exactly. That's what I'm trying to say here. And I'll admit, I didn't actually know very much about Alaska. I don't know about you guys. I didn't know very much, but I looked into it.

People have lived there for 10,000 years. Wow. When you said the term prehistoric, what does that mean? Since when did history start? You know? I think it's before, like, how do they define it? I think it is. I'd never thought about that.

I just, if I hear prehistoric, I'm like, old. Yeah, no, I think I normally do too. Oh, that's fucking ages. Before written records. Right. Right. Oh, yeah, I guess that does make sense. Yeah, what's that, about 8,000 years ago or something?

8,000, 10,000 years ago? Wow. So, they've been there since before written records. Yeah. Hmm. Love that. Love that for them. According to Britannica, at at the time a land bridge extended

from siberia to eastern alaska so it would have been much easier to drive a hummer with james may and the stig racing all three of them would have a go and and then they'd have like the winner of like who got the best time and then they'd get the stig in and smash them all Like, who got the best time? And then they'd get the Stig in and the Stig would smash them all. I used to watch a lot of that show. Yeah, my family used to sit down and watch Top Gear. Same.

Have they dropped off since the change of cast? Yeah, since Matt LeBlanc started co-hosting with Andrew Freddie Flintoff. Really? Freddie? I don't know. I think both of them have since moved on as well, but they've had lots of different people come in and out. Freddie's recorded a podcast in the Stupid Old Podcast Studios.

Really? Yeah. He did Fitbet with Dil and Ben Lomas. Oh, fantastic. I love that. Two degrees of Kevin Bacon. Voice of Balto. And we're back.

And we're back. Okay. So, there used to be a land bridge and migrants followed herds of animals across it. Of these migrant groups, the Athabascans, the Unagan Inuit, the Yupit, the Klingit, and the Haida remained in Alaska and developed their own cultures. And now the name Alaska is derived from an Aluit word meaning the mainland, or more literally, the object towards which the action of the sea is directed. Oh, wow. That's nice.

I love that. That makes you think. Love that. I don't fully get it, but it does sound really nice. Yeah, follow the sea. That's where the thinking comes in. I have to really analyse this one. I'm going to need a pen and paper at about 15 minutes.

I think we're going to need a blackboard. Yeah. A few equations. I don't get it. But it sounds nice. It does sound really nice. And then to compress a lot of time in history into one paragraph, the first European settlement wasn't established until 1784, first by Russian people.

Then Russia sold the land to the United States in 1867 in a deal known as the Alaska Purchase, spearheaded by Secretary of State William H. Seawood. At the time, the purchase was referred to as Seawood's Folly by critics who were convinced that the land had nothing to offer. It's so funny, some of those deals that were made. Yeah, just selling land. Didn't France sell like half or like a third of what is now the US to America? Oh, yeah, yeah.

For a camel or something? And hey, France still has that camel. That's true. But you feel like an idiot. Every French camel can be traced back to that camel. And it's amazing that this place has nothing to offer. Alaska was admitted to the union as the 49th state, not until January 3rd, 1959 did it become a state.

It's huge. Upon attaining statehood, Alaska increased the size of the United States by nearly one-fifth. Whoa. And at the time, they're like, this massive landmass. What's it going to offer? Why do we want this? Yeah.

It's huge well seawards folly soon became seawards success because at the end of the 19th century gold was discovered in alaska and that changed everything especially in the area around gnome okay in 1898 eric lindblom john b Bernston and Jaffet Lindbergh. Okay. Incredible name. Known as three lucky Swedes, despite Lindbergh being Norwegian. But that's harder to write in a newspaper.

Two lucky Swedes and a lucky Norwegian. Discovered gold in Anvil Creek, which is near Nome, and thousands flocked to Nome, hoping to strike it rich. And I mean thousands. Wow. In response to the rising population, the city of Nome was incorporated as a city in 1901. During the peak of the gold rush, Nome's population is estimated to have reached 20,000, making

it Alaska's most populous city at the time. And it had just exploded overnight. According to the Smithsonian, discovery of gold in Anvil Creek led to an incredible and unexpected revelation. This is a quote from the Smithsonian. Many of the stampeters who arrived too late to stake claims along the mouth of the river set up tents along the beach where they made an amazing discovery. There was gold on the beach.

Oh, my God. Miners swarming over the strike termed it poor man's paradise. So, they got there too late to actually get into the actions. They're like, oh, I guess we'll sleep on the beach. And they're like, hey. There's gold here. This beach is made of gold. That's great. So, they found gold on the beach. Fantastic. And the good news for them is land on the beach could not be staked or claimed, so claims were open to everyone. All these men and women needed were shovels, buckets and a rocker to separate gold from sand.

Also a positive attitude. That's right. Which you always need. And the place transformed almost overnight. By 1900, a tent city on the beaches and on the treeless coast reached 48 kilometres long. What? 30 miles of tents. How many Olympic swimming pools?

960. Oh, God. I'd take your word for it, but it does feel impressive. And the once tiny place quickly became congested and 100 saloons and dozens of stores, restaurants and hotels in tents and quickly constructed wooden buildings sprang up overnight. Here's the thing. You go to a music festival and all the tents look the same. I mean, not the ones where you, like, BYO tent,

but, like, I've gone to Splendour and they put you in a tent in the VIP section. It's a terrible tent, but they put you in it and they all look the same. And every year I'm like, how the fuck am I going to remember which tent's mine? 48Ks of this. 48Ks.

I wouldn't bother. I'd never find my tent again. You'd want to have one of those poles that have a bit of a marker on the top. A Jennifer Coolidge on it or something. Yeah, yeah. I go at Meredith Music Festival, go to each year. My uncle, Cam, he's had bad form with this and every tent does look different there.

But he's got into other people's tents. One time he went to the entirely wrong camp and he carried the esky back by himself thinking that everyone had left him down there. We hadn't. We were still down there. He just lost us. And taken the esky?

He took the esky. He dragged it back, threw it in the middle of a – there was a group sitting around back at their campsite under their marquee type place, similar-ish to what we had, threw it on the ground in the middle of them and went, I've never seen such a lazy bunch of c**ts. Oh, sorry about the language there. And then he looked up and didn't recognise any faces

and they looked at him and he's like, sorry, wrong camp. That's amazing. Picked up the S key and wandered back And plenty of that is happening In this 48 kilometres of text Yeah exactly that'd be just happening all over the show All the time I've never seen such a bunch

Okay yep wrong settlement Wrong settlement Sorry wrong gold diggers I'm about 6k in the wrong direction I love a beach walk but but not a 48K one. Yeah. That's too far. Do they have a singles ad newspaper there?

Love walks along the beach. We all do, mate. Yeah, we've got to do it, all right? But by 1910, most of the gold had been found and people left almost as fast as they had arrived. And by 1925, when today's story takes place, a lot less people living there. Tent City25, when today's story takes place, a lot less people living there. Tent City is over. Rays, it's closed down. 455 Alaska natives and 975 settlers of

European descent made up the population. And I make the distinction because that's what the history books do. At the time and up until the mid-1940s, racial segregation was common across Alaska, meaning Alaska natives were treated as second-class citizens, if not worse, to be honest. Alaska natives were restricted in where they could live, which hospitals would accept them, where they could go to school, and which restaurants or theatres they could enter. In 1945, the Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, I wonder where they got the name from, was passed largely in thanks to an incredible woman named Elizabeth Wanamaker Paratrovich, who was a member of the Tlingit Nation.

She and her husband Roy and a few others drafted and introduced an anti-discrimination bill in 1941. It failed, but she persisted, and in 1945, they again brought the bill before the Alaska Senate. It passed thanks to an impassioned and moving speech that Elizabeth gave detailing what it was like to be treated as a second-class citizen. The law, signed on February 16, 1945, prevents and criminalises discrimination against individuals in public areas based on race.

When speaking, one of her opponents, Alan Shattuck, which is, from what I've read about this guy, an appropriate name, asked if she expected the bill to stop all discrimination. And she said, Do your laws against larceny and even murder prevent these crimes? Yeah. No law will eliminate crimes, but at least you legislators can assert to the world that you recognise the evil of the present situation

and speak of your intent to help us overcome discrimination. Yeah. Shut up. Drop. That's great. That's just riff. That's off the top of her dome. She's not reading a speech. That's conversational. Off the top of her gnome. Yeah, shut up. Drop. That's great. That's just riff. That's off the top of her dome. She's not reading a speech.

That's conversational. Off the top of her gnome. That is, yeah, like, come on, man. He must have been like, oh, yeah, that's right. That's everything we do. Yeah, but in the moment he's like, fuck it. Oh, and you think this is just going to magically fix it? She's like, no, I'm not a fucking idiot.

You are. He's like, oh, not a fucking idiot you are he's like oh okay oh yeah no point taken i've definitely think he would have been like point taken definitely yeah i think he would have been i think he probably would have had to uh sit down when the audience erupted in applause yeah yeah no i think he went you know what you're absolutely right there and i i do feel a little foolish, but I'm going to sit in this feeling of discomfort because it's my own fault. You know, he would have been really cool and gracious about it. Yeah, either he said that or he said, no, fuck you. Yeah, one or the other.

Well, now February 16 is honoured as Elizabeth Peratrovich Day in Alaska. Every now and then you come across someone you've never heard of and it probably doesn't have enough info on them to have a full report. But at the same time, you want more people to know about them. Yeah, that's great. So good on you. Fantastic. But our main story, sadly, takes place 20 years before that when discrimination was

very rife in Nome in 1925. Even now, Nome has no highways or roads connecting it with the outside world. Basically, I think there's the longest trail out is about 80 miles of dirt road and then it just suddenly stops. That's as far as you can take your car. What? So, you just go drive to see the end of the road and turn around? Yeah.

So, how do you get to Nome? Well, in the 1920s, it was mostly connected by boat and that's how you get your cars in there still. You ship your boat in. How do you get to Nome? You ship your car in. You ship your boat in and then on your boat is your car. Fantastic.

And then inside the car is you and you're there. You and your dog. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. From Russia, Russian doll style. Just ship in a ship in a ship in a ship in a ship. Yeah, these days you can fly in and out.

But back then, it's very early days for planes. So, mostly back then connected by boat. But during the seven-month-long winter, it becomes so frozen that boats can't get in and out. So, you're just stuck. Yeah. So, most of the year, like the majority of the year- That's when you're called Jeremy Clarkson and the stick.

Yeah. The stick gets in. Most of the year, it was cut off from everything else. Okay. The majority of the year. And in 19 year, it was cut off from everything else, the majority of the year. And in 1924, the town only had one doctor, Curtis Welsh. Dr Welsh, I'll call him. I want a second opinion.

Well, bad luck. I'm the doctor here. He was assisted by four nurses at a local hospital and noticed in 1924 that the town's diphtheria antitoxin had expired. He placed an order in for a new shipment, but it didn't arrive before the winter, sealed gnome off from the rest of the world. Yeah, that feels like an oversight. Dr. Welsh became concerned when in autumn, two children died under unexplained circumstances

and his fears only began to grow when on Christmas Day, that's right, this is a Christmas episode, 1924, seven-year-old Margaret Ida fell ill and died just three days later. A fourth child, Billy Barnett, died a few days after that. All four had been diagnosed with tonsillitis, but with four deaths, he started to worry that he was dealing with something much, much worse. But also, he's the doctor, so he's the one diagnosing them.

And it sounds like he hasn't diagnosed them properly. Yeah, maybe he needs to get a second opinion. But just the fact that you mentioned that diphtheria drug before makes me wonder if that's related. No, I don't think it is. Well, he'd gone through the Rolodex of what it could be. And he had initially Discounted diphtheria As it's really contagious

And he expected If it was diphtheria It should have shown up In the sick kids family members Right He's like It can't be that They'd all have it

It's probably tonsillitis But then they started Getting so sick That they were dying He thought I've got to look at this again But now with four dead He started to think

He might be wrong So he didn't want to tell The town too quickly Out of risk of panicking everyone because he wasn't sure sadly his fears became a reality when a few days later a young inuit girl became seriously ill and dr welsh this time diagnosed her as having diphtheria so dr welsh called an emergency meeting of the town's elders and leaders and i say white people, I should say, he told them that their town was facing an outbreak of diphtheria. And diphtheria is nasty stuff.

The Australian government website for health writes, when a person catches diphtheria, the bacteria releases a toxin or poison into the person's body. The toxin infects the upper airways and sometimes the skin, causing a membrane to grow across the windpipe. This makes it hard to breathe, and if the membrane completely blocks the windpipe, it can lead to suffocation and death.

Oh, my God. So, nasty stuff. Awful. You also get a horrific fever. It affects your nose, your throat, your tonsils. That's why he's thinking it could be tonsillitis. And it can permanently damage your heart, nerves, and kidneys, even if you do survive.

Wow. And to make things worse like i said it's very contagious and without the antitoxin estimated mortality rates in gnome were estimated to be anywhere from 75 to 99.99 wow just it could just wipe out the whole town that's what they're thinking anyone who gets it three quarters of them to everyone could die and he and it's super contagious but he's been hanging out with a few people we've got and he's, is he in any danger? Or is it, it does sound like it's kids are more likely to get it? Yes, it's especially deadly for children.

I think the mortality rate is extremely high for children. Is this one that we've been vaccinated against? Yes, absolutely. So these are the days before anyone had been vaccinated against it. It's one of the early ones, isn't it? Yes, nowadays it's very uncommon, especially in the developed world, but even in the third world, it's not a real problem anymore. I say that.

Still probably hundreds of thousands of people get it. Yeah. When you look at the whole big picture. It's a very small percentage of what it used to be because of inoculation. Yeah. But back then, that didn't happen. People aren't inoculated. They don't have the immunity to it.

And the townsfolk had history to worry them. The Spanish flu pandemic had hit the area only a few years earlier in 1918, causing fatalities in about 50% of the native population of Nome. Shit. And 8% of the native population of Alaska overall. So, it killed lots of people. Only five years before. Yeah.

More than 1,000 people died in northwestern alaska and approximately 2 000 across the state so this is yeah about six years earlier but to wipe out 50 percent of the native people and then five years later you've got another thing oh man that is is really contagious for everybody that's wild how scary it would be like and i mean knock on wood here but it would be like very soon there being some other kind of, you know, pandemic. Yeah, the double whammy. Yeah.

It's coming through again. Fucking hell. You know what? I kind of, I wouldn't mind a little bit more lockdown. I hope that people aren't listening to this in two years' time and we're locked down again. God, how naive was she? I know.

I'm knocking on wood as I'm saying this. No, fuck you. That's what they're thinking. You stupid bitch. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're putting words in their mouth now. So there's a bit of a precedent here. We should be expecting something to come.

Is this something that would normally happen? Is that what you're predicting, Dave? That there's going to be another worldwide pandemic? One does not cause the other. No. This is just back then they had more things to worry about because they weren't inoculated against. Yeah. Nearly anything. Until the late 19th century, diphtheria was a gruesome killer with no known cause and many ineffective treatments.

People tried, but often if the diphtheria didn't kill you, the treatment would. What? The treatment was an axe. Chop it out. Chop it out. It's in the wind part. Chop it out. In 1890, it was reported that in germany the

blood of immune rats and mice could be a cure which seemed like a step in the right direction but then the article from the time that i read went on to report that two human patients transfused with the animal's blood almost immediately dropped dead yeah they're like it hasn't quite diphtheria did not kill these people yeah that's right if the blood cured the diphtheria did not kill these people. Yeah, that's right. If the blood cured the diphtheria and just killed him in a different way, I think that's a success. Yeah. Is the diphtheria alive?

No. No. Next patient, send them in. Here we go. But they were onto something because German doctor Emil von Behring worked out that if you inject diphtheria into a horse, it develops immunity and then you are able to derive antitoxins, now known to contain antibodies, from the horse's blood. And then you put them into a rat.

Once you take the blood out of the rat, you put it in a dog. It is wild to think that for a lot of history, medicine was just trial and error. What if I just put the blood into a horse? I'm sure it still is in so many ways. Yes, but now, you know. A little bit safer testing. Yes, but like forever it's just like, hey, what about we put your blood into that horse and then put

that horse's blood back into you? Let's find out what happens. Now they don't do any errors. It's trial and success. Now it's clinical trial and error. Yeah, a bit more paperwork involved. Yeah, that's right. It's an nightmare success Now it's clinical trial Yeah a bit more paperwork involved Yeah that's right It's an art man

Take me back I just want to put stuff in a horse Just put some horse's blood in me Mr. Hands No Dr. Hands Well Dr. Bearing Sorry Bearing

Won the original, Hans, won the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901 for the development of serum therapies against diphtheria. Wow. On May 15, 1914, a short article reported that the French newspaper Le Matin had declared the serum one of the seven wonders of the modern world. That's the paper that sponsored the uh

peaking the paris race really yeah you remember so well what do you think were the other six wonders of the of the modern world in 1914 according to the newspaper oh the mcg yeah okay telephone is that around yeah okay the telephone at the MCG. Yeah. It's a beauty. What about The Locomotive? Oh, yeah. It's a Carla Minogue song. Yeah. Do the locomotive.

Which was a cover, but still. I think she made it her own. Great track. The other six were The Aeroplane, The Wireless, Radium, The Loc locomotive, human grafting, and the dynamo. Oh, that was my name back then. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. When Matt was doing porn, that's what he was known as. He was known as the-

Send in the dynamo. The seventh wonder of the modern world. Send in the dynamo. This just isn't cutting it. This scene- Fetch me the dynamo. Imagine you're in a You're in a sex scene And you get the tap on the shoulder

Yeah The dynamo will take it from you You're in a sex scene In a porno? Alright we're ready to Shoot the sex scene We've got all the story Out of the way

Yeah No I'm just an actor I do the set up Whoa whoa hang on I genuinely am a pool boy Okay I'm just in the background. This porno is rated R for sex scenes.

Do you think it's appropriate to show the kids? Don't need nudity? As long as there's no blood or gore, I'm fine. Adult themes. So, like I said, these days diphtheria is very uncommon in the developed world and less and less common all over because of immunisation. But back in Nome, Dr Welsh was looking at his antitoxin and there's not enough.

There's only enough for a few people and it's all expired by five years. Okay. Okay. And he was too scared to use it. Oh, right, because you don't know what it does. Maybe it's even more potent. But it's like, what if I kill them because of this and they would have lived, no?

Yeah, right. And so, is it like, do you administer it to a sick person, to an already sick person, or do you give it to a healthy person so they don't get sick? You can do both. Okay, great. You can do both, yeah. That is convenient.

To people who are at risk of getting it, so like a family member who's living in the household, or you can give it to the person who is ill, hoping that, you know, it'll act fast enough. Yep. But he's worried, like, I can't immunise people against it because there's a chance they get diphtheria, but there's also a chance that this thing kills them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, he's too scared to act at the moment. He's got a wait and see policy.

Yeah. Sort of like when something is past its best before date and you're like- He's given it a sniff. Yeah. He's got the sniff test. Five years I'd be chucking it. Yeah. A couple of days I'm like, nah, it's fine.

Five-year-old horse's blood. Yeah, I don't- Five years, is that any product? Like, or are we just talking dairy? Probably any product. Yeah. It's definitely dairy. Yeah.

Five years. Yeah, and I'm not into that. What about a canned product? Would you eat that five years plus? Maybe. Are we in an apocalyptic type scenario? Yeah. Or is it just-

I'd be a bit sus. Because I could pop down the shops, get another can. Yeah, that's okay. I'd probably do that. Because when clearing out my grandpa's house, there was a mini can of baked beans right at the back from 2001. Oh, good vintage. I was so tempted, but then I decided to not try it.

Yeah, it's probably a good call. It's probably fine. And I regret that, actually. My biggest regret. My only regret. Wow. Your only regret. I did it my way, baby.

Okay. It's for you to mention. All right, I'll mention it. It was a can of beans So on January 22nd The town was put into lockdown Been there The kind of thing that a few years ago

I would have had to explain Businesses and schools were closed Transport ceased And people were told to stay home In a bid to stop the spread Yep Wait was Dan Andrews in charge over there? Victorian Premier?

They sort of did school on Zoom, yeah? The mayor of the town, the Dan Andrews of the town, if you will. Ah, yes. George Maynard also owned the local newspaper called The Gnome Nugget. Oh, I love it. Love that. Love it. Remember they had gold in the area earlier?

They were very proud of that. The Gnome Nugget. The Gnome Nugget. It's good. I love alliteration. And nugget is just fun area earlier? They were very proud of that. The gnome nugget. The gnome nugget. It's good. I love alliteration. And nugget is just fun. Yeah. Nugget's always fun.

Nugget's always fun. I think the Denver Nuggets is one of the great sporting team names. Yeah, agreed. I love that too. I think the chicken nugget is one of the great snacks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree. The gold nugget, one of the best rocks to find in a hole.

Yes, definitely. One of the a hole. Yes, definitely. One of the top five. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, I think you could very comfortably say that, yes. To find in a hole. Did you dig the hole? Was it just a hole? It was a hole, yeah.

Oh, who put that there? Well, let's have a little rummage around and see what we find. That's how easy it used to be. You'd walk on a beach and go, oh, gold. Nugget. Can't do that anymore. So, the outbreak, as you'd expect, was front page news and it told people to stay home. But more and more people started to arrive at the one local hospital with symptoms.

Some of them were legit. Others were caused by panic. You know how it is. You have any sort of cough or sore throat, you're like, I'm dying. I've got it. Got it. It's my turn. It's my time.

Don't mourn me. It was my time. I lived a good life. I did it my way. On the third day of the lockdown, six patients had reported to the hospital with actual signs of diphtheria. Dr. Welsh sent out an urgent telegram to the health authorities in Washington, D.C., begging for their help with more serum to treat the sick to hold off an epidemic. Yeah, some planes exist.

You already told us about locomotives. There's still stuff around. I mean, there's no railway to get in there, but you've got to build one. You've got to build one You can build a track Build a track Meter by meter Do it like one of those old movies Where they're just putting it out in front

Wallace and Gromit? Yeah, Wallace and Gromit Is that what I was thinking of? Probably One of those old movies You know, before they had actors They just Had clay

They had a bit of clay and shit So, but yeah But the planes There were Planes were Oh and shit. But, yeah, but the planes, there were planes words. Oh, yeah, I'm going to get to the planes. Send them in. Send in the planes. Send in the clowns. Not an option.

Flying planes. So, telegram, that's really the only way to communicate fast. With Washington DC, he's like, we desperately need serum. And meanwhile, fearing he had no other option, he began to administer the five-year-old expired diphtheria antitoxin. Uh-oh. He just had to- They got a bunch of hulks now.

Yeah. Doesn't that sound like a Marvel origin story? They're strong and they're dying. Yeah. Great. Great. Now we got 500 Captain Americas here. They're too big for the hospital bed.

This is ridiculous. He just had to hope for the best. And a couple of days went by and good news came in. More antitoxin had been discovered. It was only enough for a few more people, but it could possibly buy enough time until the largest shipment arrived. The only problem was that the serum was in the Alaskan city of Anchorage, more than 1,000 miles away.

And in between the two cities lay tundra, ice and snow and no roads or train tracks. Oh. And that's like way more kilometres, isn't it? It's 1.6. 1,600km, baby. Oh. So, yeah, but I mean, to an Alaskan, that's not very far.

It just happens to be a brutal, at that time of year, it's brutal to get between two. Yes, the worst possible time of year for this to happen. That's pretty far. I think it's pretty far, but I bet an Alaskan would be like, oh, yeah, I'd jog that. Because it's so huge. Yeah, and they're just like every town's remote in Alaska.

I mean, I'm saying that like I have any idea. That seems right. What's 1,600km away from here? Oh, good question. Great question. Like, I mean, Sydney's not even that. Yes, you're past Sydney. So it's beyond Sydney.

Are we going as the crow flies? I'm going as a car drives. If a crow's driving, as the crow drives. We're going Brisbane. Pretty erratically. Let's go Brisbane from the studio where we are right now. That's 1759. Very close.

So pretty close. And that's a 17-hour, 47-minute drive in a car on highways. Yes. But with dog power, probably you'd cut that down. Yeah, easy. With a flat in dog power. Yeah. You'd cut that in half at least.

You'd get 50,000 dogs. Yeah, if Kevin Bacon's leading one of those dogs then yeah it's a long way it is a while all right it's a fairly long no no i totally hear what you're saying it'd be the same in like western australia of like no yeah but that's a when you're in a rush when you're in a rush and it's like oh we don't travel at this time of year no that's the thing you do not travel this time the worst possible time six months later they'd be like oh i'll pop over yeah i'll pop over anchorage back easy. I'll pop over Anchorage. Back in a couple of days.

Yeah. But the question is, how will they get the serum there in time to stop a full-blown pandemic or epidemic? The clock is ticking. At first, planes were proposed by Matt Stewart and also these people. They were in their pretty early stages in 1925, and only a few very brave pilots were up to the task of flying in an alaskan winter the planes were mostly made out of wood canvas and fabric and offered the pilot and the engine very little if

no protection from the elements geez so it's risky yeah the engine will freeze or you'll freeze we've done a few episodes the last six or twelve months about flying around those times and it was just a wild time. But all the pilots who did it, they were all nuts. Oh, yeah. They were all just up for death-defying journeys and stuff. I was standing on a two-metre ladder yesterday and it was too high for me. I did not know how these people did this.

I had a power sander in one hand. I'm going to the ground. Oh! Oh! My wife's like, oh, that sander's making a lot of noise. I'm like, I haven't even turned it on yet. It's me. Got the job done.

Only found a couple of nuggets in my pants later on, but apart from that, the only bad kind of nugget. Turkish delight? No. A nugget. Turkish delight? No. A nugget of Turkish. A small fleet of planes could be found at Fairbanks, which was about 500 miles away, known as the Fairbanks Airplane Corporation,

owned by a group of local businessmen, including William Fentress Thompson, who was the editor of the Fairbanks Daily News Minor newspaper. They don't make names like they used to. No. The paper or the guy? The guy. William Fentress Thompson.

The middle name. Fentress. I know. Editor of the Fairbanks Daily News Minor newspaper. Described as a dynamic and overconfident man. Ah, the dynamo. He was. A worthy adversary.

I don't think overconfident is a compliment ever. Absolutely not. Is it? No, because it says you're more confident than you should be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Based on your abilities. It says that you go into things very confidently, but you fuck them up.

So I don't know if I want this guy on the team. Yeah, you want to ideally be the right level of confident. Yeah. Under confident doesn't help. You want quietly confident. Oh, yeah, quietly confident. That's what you want. A steely resolve.

Yeah. A steely-eyed missile man. That's what you want. A steely resolve. Yeah. A steely-eyed missile man. Yes. If you will. Was he available? He wasn't. Was he born yet? John Aaron was not born yet.

Oh, come on. Come on. We need you. Jeez. But instead they had William Fentress Thompson, the overconfident dynamo. He was a tireless promoter of the fairbanks airplane corporation remember he's a co-owner and when he caught wind of what was happening in gnome he

proposed that one of his planes could fly the serum to gnome in just two days the problem was no pilot had ever flown that route in the dead of winter it was a very dangerous prospect and i'm guessing he's not the one flying he's just the one yes he's like one of my planes can do that and the pilot's like fucking what what sorry sorry He's like, one of my planes can do that, and the pilot's like, fucking what? What? Sorry, what, William? Sorry, one of your planes, not one of your pilots, mate. But the overconfident William Fentress Thompson reckoned his plane was good enough, so

he lobbied the Alaskan Governor Scott Cordell Bone. What? Oh my god. Governor Bone? Governor Bone. Give the governor a bone. Governor Bone's office? Bone by name, bone by nature. What does that mean, Dave? He likes to get out amongst nature.

Have sex outside. It's a real performer. That time of year in Alaska. Risky business. You've gotten pervier and pervier. And you started out pervier. You talking to me? Yeah, mate.

Oh, come on. on well maybe you've just gotten a little too comfortable you've become overconfident in your perviness where were you where were you gonna take governor bone i'm interested to know i wasn't gonna take governor bone anywhere i think if you'll rewind the tape i was his receptionist answering the phone saying governor bone's office and i thought that was a bit of fun i was not thinking he's fucking outside okay look i see a maths equation and i work it out i put two and two together and i get bone i was thinking barn is a dog thing you know so like the dogs would go and fetch him and and also the serum or he is a dog yeah i had a whole cartoon in my head.

Yeah, you just went straight to porn. Well, this is an R-rated story. We've already established that. All right, he's gone to Governor Bone. And he's like, Bone, give me permission to use one of my planes to make the delivery. My plane can do it. My guy can do it.

My guy, I got the guy. The editor, William Fentress Thompson, used his newspaper to publish articles about planes being the best option. Jesus Christ. He's a real self-promoter. That's good journalism. Because this could be a real win for him. Really unbiased.

A real boon for Bone. Come on, that writes itself. You should be a sub-editor. Thank you. Wait, that wasn't a compliment, was it? Thompson's pushing for the planes, but much to his annoyance, Governor Bone thought aeroplanes were too unreliable. Just a passing fad.

They'll never take off. Well, ideally they will. Yeah, your problem is your planes don't take off. Okay? You've been on the ground for days. He instead opted a more old-fashioned route using sleds pulled by dogs. Yes. Hey, why not both?

Race them. Race them. Put a bit half in each and, you know, just race them. Maybe tie a string between the two or a rope even. String probably won't work. Oh. So whichever one fails, the other one gets dragged along. So the plane's either being dragged along by Kevin Bacon and his crew

or the plane just drags these dead dogs along. Either way. I think I like what you're saying because if the plane starts going down, you just cut the rope. Yeah. You let the plane go. Yeah, yeah. But if the plane succeeds, the dogs have been pulled Santa's sleight of

Yeah exactly Hopefully still alive Yeah Sure why not What's wrong with you The plane's dragging Dead dogs I again

Picturing a cartoon Don't you Don't want to be picturing that as your dogs, you know. I think sometimes when I make these dog-related jokes, listeners are picturing their own dogs. Don't do that. Picture just a cartoon. Cartoon dogs.

Humphrey's not lasting 40 seconds in the Alaskan wilderness. I mean, I actually think, because sometimes Goose is, like, pulling so hard with such intensity that he is, like, his back legs are completely straight behind him. He's, like, it's like he's flying. He looks like- He sounds like a little frog. Yeah.

He's a nugget as well. He's a real nugget. He's insane. I sometimes think he'd be pretty great as a sleigh dog. He's a ball of muscle. Yeah, he'd be great, and he just wants to run. But the cold would kill him instantly frenchies are very susceptible they can't handle hot or cold it's got to be just right so yeah he'd be dead but fuck he'd have fun for those last few seconds of his life and he'd

get a great airplane ride yeah been tricked along you know dragged along. You know the skiers? They do a big jump, skis, and they make themselves into a little pencil. Oh, yeah. Eddie the Eagle. Yeah, that sort of style. That's what he looks like sometimes. Is he fully airborne? Pretty much.

No, he's not airborne. He's just dragging along the ground. He's land-born. He's land-born. Anyway, so I think he'd be pretty good, actually, for a French Bulldog, if any... Just needs a little coat. He just needs a little coat on. Some booties, maybe. Booties, mittens. But he can't get too hot.

So the coat has to be air-conditioned. That's my boy! The perfect temperature. He can't move, because we put so many gadgets on him. And like, and go. But we also fit him with like, you know, wheels and stuff, and a motor. And we put a him with like you know wheels and stuff and a motor and we put a little gopro on the front so we could see so it's up just basically been a go-kart

he's a remote control dog yeah it's actually sick it's actually really sick we can make him do all sorts of spins and moves look we'll make him flip good boy and. And he can't move, but his eyes are just looking shit scared. His tongue is frozen, but he's having a good time. And keeping all this in mind, the governor's heard all this and gone, dogs are the way. Get them in. Let's go with the dogs. I mean, the sled dogs are amazing.

Because he thought that was a much more reliable option. After all, this mode of transport was proven in the area. That's how they delivered mail in winter. Right. So, they got mail to know, but it was much slower. If they did just put the serum in with a regular mail route, it would take 30 days. Oof. As usually the sleds usually travel about 30 miles in one day, pull up at a roadhouse,

stay overnight, and then keep traveling during the day. But they didn't have 30 days. By that time, many more people would be sick and dying. Right. So, I need to go quick. What are we talking, huskies? That's one of the dogs. Oh, they just had one of each kind of dog.

Just to see how it goes. One of the- A Dalmatian. Day one, Pomeranian did not do so well. Put a line through the Pomeranian. Very cute. Now, get the chihuahuas ready. Mush.

All right. Okay. Why do they say mush? Did you look into that? I think I've looked into it at some point. It's just a word that means go or something like that. Right. I like it.

Yeah. It's much. Mush. Mush. Mush. Mushing comes from the French word mâcher, which means to walk. Oh, that's cute. Spelled marcher.

Huh. There you go. French prospectors and voyagers who explored and hunted across North America in the mid to late 1800s probably introduced the term. I like it. Contrary to popular belief, the word mush is not really used as a command for the dogs as the sound is too soft. This is nh.gov.

Is that another one of these Disney lies? Do they say that in that movie you watched? Probably. That would have been where I got it from. Yeah, Disney, they famously fact check things just like that. Yeah. Mary Poppins. There's nothing in the rule book.

So, Governor Bowen decided to send the serum as far north as possible via train. So, Governor Bowen decided to send the serum as far north as possible via train. Then it would travel west the rest of the way via a relay of dog teams travelling both day and night over the perilous 700 mile journey. Day and night. Day and night. Because usually they only travel during the day. Yeah. Because it gets very cold and it's very dark at night, obviously, out there.

There's got to be a better way to get ice back to Springfield. Do you know another way? I lost three men on this expedition. Get that reference. Nah. I'm cool. Simpsons the Bobo episode. Good stuff.

The serum was stored in little glass bottles and then wrapped in a quilt for protection from breakage, but also to stop them from becoming frozen. If they froze, they could be rendered unusable oh my god so another thing to think about you gotta make sure they don't break also don't freeze out there you got an electric blanket to keep the serums warm but you're not allowed to have a little snuggle in there keep yourself warm it's ridiculous you gotta snuggle the dogs and they smell bad so they packed them up and left Anchorage on a train that headed north to a tiny village called Nanana, the last stop on the Alaskan Railway. Dog sleds would handle the rest of the trip, which would follow the Tanana and Yukon Rivers until they reached the coast and the frozen Norton Sound, which they would follow the Itterod Trail until they got into Nome.

Like I said, all up 700 miles through some of the harshest terrain and weather on planet Earth. And you're never going to believe this. Due to a high-pressure system blowing in from the Arctic, the area they were travelling through happened to be experiencing record low temperatures. Perfect. Perfect.

Wonderful. Just what we want to hear. It's the coldest it's ever been. Oh, my God. The stage is set. Let's go for it. In an already very cold place. Exactly. Wonderful. Just what we want to hear. It's the coldest it's ever been. Oh, my God. The stage is set. Let's go for it. In an orient night. In a very cold place.

Exactly. Great. But these sled dog drivers or mushers were experienced. Sled dogs have been used in the Arctic for at least 8,000 years. And along with boats were the only transportation in Arctic areas until the introduction of semi-trailer trucks, snowmobiles and aeroplanes. And razor scooters. And snow razor scooters in the 20th century.

That's sick. Do a flip. Land on the snow, you'll be fine. You'll be all right. So, dog sleds were relied upon to haul supplies in areas that were inaccessible by other methods. Proven track record, used them forever. And in some parts of the world,

dog sleds are still commonly used for transportation. For example, the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol is an elite Danish naval unit that's used in Greenland. Musher and their dogs head out for months at a time to patrol the massive country. That's awesome. Yeah, you know, Greenland's massive. Apparently, it takes them a year or two

to patrol the whole hallway around the coast, and then they start again. Oh, if you were casing that joint, you know, as someone who wanted to heist Greenland, you'd be like, alright, we've only got the next eleven and a half months before they come back around, so we gotta move quick.

We gotta move quick. Oh my god. No time to dilly or dally. If you get busted by them, you are really unlucky. Yeah. You're importing pirated DVDs. I forgot, say. What are the chances? First up on the relay of the dog sled from Nanana was William Shannon,

a part-time male driver who was known for his love of drinking and was nicknamed Wild Bill. He was waiting at the station with nine dogs, and as soon as he received his special 20 pound or nine kilo cargo, they were off and disappeared into the pitch black night. Do you think the old nightclub at Southland, Wild Bill's, was

named after him? I think so. A tribute. Is there a photo of him on the wall? Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh, that would be why. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. It's nice when you put those things together. You can connect the dots there. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. It's nice when you put those things together. You can connect the dots there. Wild Bill, no relation.

Meanwhile in Nome, a Norwegian-born musher called Leonard Seppala set out and headed east. His plan was to travel 300 miles, meet the mushers coming west, and then turn around and take the serum back to Gnome as he was deemed the only one who could tackle the last and most challenging part of the journey. Wow. So he's some sort of sled badass. He's a badass.

He's the only one that can do it. I mean, the dogs surely were playing their part. Yeah. No, no, no, just him. He's like, I don't need a dog. I'm walking. Strap me up. Strap me up. He pulls like, I don't need a dog. I'm walking. Strap me up. Strap me up.

He pulls the sled. It's only nine kilos. You don't need the sled. Use your pockets. Nah. I've been training my whole life for this. He's become one of the dogs. He has to get into the mind of a dog.

One of those absolute wild people that pull an aeroplane or something. Yeah. He's strapped of the dogs. He has to get into the mind of the dog. One of those absolute wild people that pull an aeroplane or something. They strap the harness on. He's just pulling. Pulling a plane through the snow. I thought this wasn't a challenge enough. I thought I'd set a world record whilst I was here. Now, this would have been pretty daunting for even the most experienced of mushers, but Seppala was a racing champion referred to as king of the trail.

Oh, that's nice. While most drivers considered 30 miles or 48k a long run, Seppala travelled between 50 miles and 100 miles, which is up to 160 kilometres most days, working his dogs for 12 hours at a time. Oh, poor dogs. He kept his dogs fit by training them even in summer when the ice thawed, getting them to pull a cart on wheels. Yeah, great.

They're like, oh, cool, snow's over. This is our holiday season. A bit of a down time. Wait, what? A bit of dog time. He's like, strap them to the cart. And the dog's like, you know what? I'm heading to the beach.

All right. I want to find some gold. It's a day off for me. I've got to look after my mental health. Yeah, come on. Yeah. Jeez, those dogs pulled the short straw, didn't they? Getting teamed up with this psychopath.

Oh, my God. No, not this guy. Not again. Because he was competitive, loved the challenge, and loved the spotlight. He used smaller Siberian Huskies. That was his dog of choice. I love, yeah, I love that idea that people are like,

I've got a competitive advantage here. He's a smaller dog. Smaller dog. Apparently thought that they were more reliable, stronger, could go further. And he set out with- That worked out really well in the Peking to Paris race. There was one racer, remember, who thought smaller, lighter cars was the way to go. And he did, you know.

Didn't they technically have a tricycle? It was basically a tricycle. It is a fourth wheel. That's something that'll slow me down. So, he set off with the best team he could muster. He could mush-ter. Sean Connery's in charge. Mush, mush. Onwards, onwards. Sean Connery's in charge mush mush

onward onward into the Alaskan wilderness it's so funny because it does sound great it's such a great word but it's so funny that it basically means

walk walk and then they're not even saying it walk walk I'm walking here I'm mushing here that's what he's saying

mushers and their team of dogs have an incredibly close relationship the dogs are bred and trained to run as a cohesive unit and together can pull an incredible amount according to pbs along with their power comes a huge responsibility also appetite of course thanks uncle Doug, or whatever his name was. What was the Spider-Man Doug guy name? Ben. It's not Doug. Ben.

Uncle Ben. I was going to say Uncle Jerry. Thanks, Uncle Jerry. Uncle Leo. Uncle Leo. While a normal mutt, this is from PBS, a normal mutt might get by on 1,500 calories a day, sled dogs can easily consume up to 10,000 calories per day.

Wait, can you say that again? So, a normal dog eats 1,500 calories per day. Yes. Yep. A sled dog can easily consume 10,000 calories per day. Whoa. I don't think the rock eats that much. Really?

Well, he'd be up there. He eats a lot. What do you reckon a dog eats on cheat day? How many pancakes? Yeah. How many calories does The Rock eat? He eats, this is in an interview from 2002, between 6,000 and 8,000 a day.

Wow, the dog out-eat The Rock. Yeah. Sucks shit The Rock. That is incredible. If The Rock hears that, I just get the feeling that he's that kind of guy. I'd be like, I'm not going to get beaten by a dog. That's a lot. But, I mean, yeah, the energy that they're putting out is insane

and they're running for 12 hours straight. Yeah, amazing. Like a human would need to eat that much if we're running 12 hours straight. It's insane. 10,000 a day. That's wild. My dog gets two little scoops. Of?

Of food. Oh, okay. A day. Two little scoops. I like that measurement for food. Scoops? Scoops. Yeah.

How hungry are you? How many scoops of pasta do you want tonight? Two and a half scoops. All right. All right. Big boy. With a big spoon? Two and a half before it's boiled or after?

Because that's a very different amount. That is a very different amount. Falling for that trap nearly every day of my life. Did it last night. I'm trying not to anymore. This does not look like much pasta. Yeah. I'll chuck a little more in. Yeah, every time.

How much rice could a kilo be? I'm going to feed my whole family. Including the dogs. And I got Siberian Huskies. They might seem smaller, but they have a big appetite. Huge. So, that means you've also got to be carrying a whole ton of food as well. Yeah, that must be what most of the sled is.

Yeah. They eat the sled at the end of the sled. Yeah, it's made of kippers and chocolate. Yeah, wow. Cans of pal. Frozen solid. As his lead dog, Seppala chose his most trusted pup, a 12-year-old dog called Togo.

12? That's very old to be a lead dog. That's an old dog. Yeah, it's an old dog off the course. It's an old dog of, of like an apartment dweller. You know, it's just lived on a couch its whole life. Yeah, what's the dog? They say dog years about seven.

So he's chosen his lead man, an 84-year-old. Come on, boys. We can do this. We've got some running to do. Mush. We've got some running to do. Mush. So, apparently the Siberian husky's life expectancy is 12 to 14 years. Yeah.

So, he could run for another two years. 12's old for a dog. I mean, these are mega fit dogs. But honestly, it's super old. A lot of people are like, that is too old for your lead dog. Wow. But he knew Togo was special. despite his first impressions of the dog. Early on, as a result of his relatively small size, illness, and bad behaviour as a young

pup, Leonard Seppala decided that Togo was not even sled dog material and gave him away to be a house pet when he was six months old. Togo spent a few weeks at his new home before he jumped through the glass of a shut window and ran several miles back to Leonard's kennel. Broke the glass ceiling for dogs. Yes, he did it. He did it. Impressed, Seppala decided to keep him and he eventually became the lead dog.

He's like, this dog's got moxie. Yeah. All right, I'll put him on the track. He just took it back from her family. The family's like, we love that got moxie. Yeah. All right, I'll put him on the track. They just took it back from her family. The family's like, we love that dog. That was our dog. He broke a window, but it's kind of, you know, you take risks when you get a new pet.

Yeah, you know they're going to destroy a few things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This does sound like a million different sports movies where it's like, you know, it's an underdog story. Yes, it's literally a dog though. Yeah. I don't know if it's literallydog story. Yes, it's literally a dog though. Yeah. I don't know if it's literally an underdog, but it's literally a dog. That's amazing.

Have you guys heard of Togo the dog? It's another famous dog in the story. I've heard the name Togo, but maybe I'm thinking of Tojo, the Japanese general, whatever. I get those two confused. He was a dog. Better look him up, make sure he's not a good guy. Together with their team of dogs behind them,

Seppala and Togo set off for their 600 mile or thousand plus kilometre round journey. Wow. In January 28. Seppala's section of trail featured a dangerous shortcut across the frozen Norton Sound, which is an inlet of the Bering Sea. The shortcut could save a full day of travel, but was seen as incredibly dangerous because the ice on Norton Sound was in constant motion due to currents from the sea and the incessant wind.

Small cracks in the ice could suddenly widen, and then both driver and dog could be plunged into the freezing water. There was also a real risk that a sustained east wind could push the ice out to sea and a team caught on a drifting flow could find itself stranded out in open ocean water. Imagine that. It breaks and you just start to float out. No way of getting back. That feels like a Disney cartoon movie, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

All of a sudden floating out on an iceberg. Which would be terrible, obviously, for Seppala and the dogs, but on the way back would also mean the life-saving medicine would be lost forever. Yeah. Yeah, all of a sudden floating out on an iceberg. Which would be terrible, obviously, for Seppala and the dogs, but on the way back would also mean the life-saving medicine would be lost forever. Yeah. So it was super risky, but they decided that time was of the essence and took the shortcut on the way to meet the relay team with the medicine. The conditions were horrific.

If the wind blew from the east, it could reach speeds as high as 110 miles per hour, which could easily flip over the sled. Whoa. Pushing dogs off course, and it caused a wind chill as low as 110 miles per hour, which could easily flip over the sled, pushing dogs off course, and it caused a wind chill as low as, and this is unfathomably cold, minus 116.5 degrees Fahrenheit or 82.5 below Celsius. No. I'd be like, give me diphtheria. I'm out.

I don't think I'd even have the option. I think I would just die. Yeah. I'd be trying to get out the words. Dead. Can I just, oh, whatever. Just lie down and die. Oh, I'd be lying down to die.

That's horrendous. You really hope some sort of survival instincts kick in for us, but... I don't think so. I'm not built for that. You and Goose? Yeah, similar. Who's lasting longer, you or Goose? Well, me by a few seconds, just because I'm much bigger than him.

And you wouldn't want him to die alone. Well... Don't worry, dog. I'm dying too, if that gives you some comfort good boy i've looked up tojo he was prime minister of japan during world war ii and was tried and executed for war crimes so he was a dog okay great i stand by it worth checking 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 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. better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Back in Nome itself, things were getting worse. There were five new suspected cases in two days and Dr. Welsh tried the expired serum on more patients. Thankfully, they seemed to improve, but he was quickly running out. Because remember, he only had limited supply. He started giving it

out and now that vial is running low. he tried this trick it's a classic parents are away you've drunk some of their scotch you fill it up with tea ah fantastic you tell people you're injecting them with medicine you just placebo and slightly diluted with cold tea local town mayor george maynard who was also the editor of the local newspaper, remember, wrote a cry for help in the form of a press release to the Associated Press. He wrote, there is only one physician here and new cases are appearing daily.

The story was picked up by dozens of newspapers and the tale of the isolated Alaska town and the dog mushers racing against the clock to save their lives was an instant media sensation. Several alarmist articles were written with headlines like, dog teams race to fight deaths in gnome plague, and less catchy ones like, every dog has his day and gnome epidemic has given him opportunity.

Yeah, all right. Send me in. I'm sub-editing this paper. That's good stuff. Wait, what? That's got real first draft energy. And the nation was absolutely gripped. And because it was impossible to get any local photos out of the frozen north,

remember there's no way in or out, some newspaper editors resorted to making their own sensationalised photos to accompany the articles. They just take a photo of someone in the snow or some dogs and say, here they are. Wow. Cheer them on. Love that.

Cool. Again, some great journalism. Every dog has his day. Very ethical. Has given him opportunity. That sounds like it was translated into russian and back again or something as sepala and togo bravely headed east wild bill kicked off the relay west through the yukon kuyukok area which is one of the two coldest points in all of the interior and is colder than

the arctic itself no thank you at the of the relay, the temperature dropped to 54 below Fahrenheit, which is negative 47 degrees Celsius. Whoa. You should see Jess's face right now. She's disgusted by the temperature. I am disgusted. Positive 47 is so hot. Yeah.

Negative 47. The equivalent of cold. That'd be so cold. That's the only way we can think about it. I remember being in Amsterdam. Have I told you this before? Being in Amsterdam, talking about how it can get quite cold in Melbourne and saying it gets under 10.

And the bartender just went, I'm so sorry, but fuck you. She wasn't Dutch. I forgot where she was from, but she was like, it gets so cold that, like, snot freezes in your nose. Fuck. This is like that but way worse. It's so bad. I can't even imagine.

We truly can't. We just don't get that cold where we live. We don't get anywhere near that. It gets to under 10 degrees and we're like, bloody hell, staying inside today. Someone in our Patreon Facebook group lives right in a cold place and they've been posting photos out the front. It's just like full covered with snow.

A winter wonderland. I'm like, look, I love the idea of it, but just when you're able to go inside and have a cup of tea by the fire. Visiting it for the novelty. Yeah. Not living with it. I think it's very different. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah.

I guess when the conditions that you live in, you just sort of set yourself up better. You get used to it. You got better quality clothing and, yeah. Not these tattered rags we get around in. Because of the dropping temperature and bad conditions on the trail caused by ruts and marks from horse-drawn carriages, curse you, which could easily tear up the paw pads of the dogs and injure their ankles. Wild Bill diverted the team onto the smoother ice of the Tanana River, which is riskier. Right. Can fall through. Bill and his dogs traveled all night, but sadly not without incident. Despite

jogging alongside the sled to keep warm, so he had to run the whole way, Wild Bill developed hypothermia. When he handed over the serum to the next musher, his face was black with frostbite. Wow. And his team of nine dogs had been reduced to six, dropping three off on the way due to cold and exhaustion. Sadly, two didn't make it. Dropping them off where? So, there's these sort of little outposts on the way.

So, he drops the dogs off because they're struggling so badly. And he was like, I'll come back for you, which he did, but two of them, it was too cold. That's how hard it's, yeah, they're working. He's jogging alongside the sled. Yeah, just to keep warm. And still getting hypothermia. Yeah.

And his face, because imagine. How do you cover your entire face? It'd be so hard. What the fuck? This is to save the kids. Oh, I understand. But whoa. Yeah. It'd be so hard. What the fuck? This is to save the kids. Oh, I understand. But whoa.

Yeah. It's unbelievable. Oh, it is. And he's only the first in a chain of many, many people that have to do this. I'm guessing that Disney took away some of the grimness of this in their movie portrayals. Jess, do you remember any of the grimness of this? I don't remember any of the dogs dying, but they might have. Do you remember a man losing his face? No, I don't remember that.

They definitely left that bit out. But he made it, Wild Bill. He did his part. He handed the serum to 20-year-old Edgar Callens, who, like the rest of the men in this part of the relay, were Indigenous Alaskans of the interior, mostly Alaskan Athabascans. Callens warmed the serum by the fire and then headed off at a time when the conditions were

only getting worse. Oh, God. The temperature had fallen to minus 49 degrees Celsius or minus 56 Fahrenheit, causing Callens' hands to freeze to the sled's handlebar, requiring the owner of the Manly Hot Springs Roadhouse to pour boiling water on the birch wood bar for thawing to get his gloves off. Appropriate place to stop, the hot springs. Beautiful. I think that's good marketing.

Yeah. Jeez. I mean, it would be, in some ways, that would be ideal. You'd be like, I'd love to jog along the side, but my hands are stuck. It's my hands. Oh, so I'm going to have to stay on the sled. Callan's passed the package on to Johnny Folger, who gave the precious cargo to Sam Joseph,

who was tasked with another perilous night shift. Wow. That's the hardest bit. Any old timey guy with the name Johnny something always sounds cool. Yeah. Johnny Folger. Johnny Folger. I just, you just picture him being a dashing gent.

Yeah. You know? Oh, yeah. You get it? Oh, I get it. This guy's a gent. And let me tell you what he's up to. He's dashing.

He's dashing. He's dancing. He's prancing. He's vixen. Mm-hmm. Ooh. Mm-hmm. He's comet.

He's Cupid. He's Donda. He's blitzing it. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Absolutely killing it, this guy. Johnny Tandenbaum, or whatever his name was. Johnny Liptenstein?

You didn't interrupt him quick enough, and now he's just spiralling. I would just say, Dave, do go on. Johnny. No, no, I've said the magic words. Next up was Harry Pitka, who knew exactly how awful an epidemic could be as he lost six siblings to a previous outbreak of tuberculosis. So, that's another big inspiration for these guys. Right.

They're saving kids and also a lot of them, they're saving fellow Indigenous people because they know it's terrible, especially for their communities. Their own families and their own community, yeah. Tuberculosis, that's the wasting disease, is it? The consumption. The consumption, yeah. The one that sort of kicked off the vampire thing. The wasting. that i think they know you waste away but it's called consumption it

consumes you yeah it makes you waste every 30 miles or so a new brave man and his dogs would step up to take the serum interesting it's all men isn't it jess as a feminist i just think that it's a shame that women didn't step up in the time of the children's need that's all and as a woman i say fuck that fuck that you know i want equality but i do not want to take the bins out you know yeah that's a boy job yeah that's what my wife says when i've got to pick up poo or something she goes the feminism has left my body yeah 100% interesting as a feminist i think that's interesting yeah well i say to her the He goes, the feminism has left my body. Yeah, 100%. Interesting. As a feminist, I think that's interesting. Yeah, well, I say to her, the feminism has never left my body.

As an ally, I will allow you. Just throw something at Matt. As an ally, I'll allow you to pick up that poo. Luckily, she threw it like a girl. And you flinched like a little bitch anyway they're handing it on this is wild the ninth man i'm afraid this is a man they're all men was bill mccarty who was traveling with a lead dog called prince he had to trust prince with his life and all the other dogs lives when a white out occurred the conditions were so awful he couldn't see his own hand

in front of his face. That's so scary. He can't see anything. He had to trust that Prince could smell and sense the way and continue to follow the trail. I heard Amasha say that a good lead dog can go over a trail once and then five years later they'll come back and they'll remember it perfectly.

Wow. Amazing. Wow. It's so interesting, isn't it, that there's just like breeds of dogs that are that can just do stuff like that so easily and sometimes a treat will be between my dog's front paws and he cannot find it it's on the ground it's there bud it's there come on look look here it is and he's looking

everywhere where like that's been a that's been selectively bred for ages, right, just to look cool, not to do stuff. Yeah, a type of dog that should not exist. But I'm glad he does. Fucking idiot. It's that guy. I'll get it. Hand feed it to him.

He's still like, what, you want me to eat your hand? Okay. What is it? Huh? By the time the relay got to the 12 He's still like, what, you want me to eat your hand? Okay. What is it? Huh? By the time the relay got to the 12th musher, Charlie Evans, at Bishop Mountain, the temperature had dropped again. Now we're at minus 53 Celsius, negative 64 Fahrenheit. That's so cold that any exposed skin will blister

and the cold air will scorch your lungs. Oh. As he raced below them, Evans could hear trees cracking from the cold, popping like guns going off. It's so cold the trees are cracking. Whoa. That's crazy. When Evans got to the Yukon River,

he found that some of the frozen river had cracked, causing what was akin to a minefield. He had to wind along the river rather than over it out of fear of the ice falling below him. When it's that cold, if you get wet, you will die. It's as simple and terrifying as that. A few miles down the track, his two lead dogs began to stiffen up before collapsing under the conditions. And with no other option, Evans had to hitch himself to the front of the pack and pull the sled with them. No. An incredible badass.

What? And there's this great doco that I'll link to called Icebound, the greatest dog story ever told, made by Discovery Channel, and it's narrated by Patrick Stewart. And when it gets to this part of the story where Charlie Evans hitches himself to the front, he says in a beautiful Sir Patrick Stewart accent, he had become his own lead dog. It's so funny.

Wow. And now the dogs are like, because the dogs can run faster than humans. Yeah. So they're kind of like, oh, come on, mate. Oh, my God, this is the slowest lead dog ever. Could you not have gone to the back of the pack? Yeah. You are not lead dog material.

You are not lead dog material. You can't smell where we're going. Amazingly, Charlie Evans made it and passed the serum onto the last Alaskan Athabascan musher, Jack Nicolai, a.k.a. Jack Screw. That was his nickname, Jack Screw. Jack Screw. A local legend known as a very small but very tough man,

he handed the serum onto Victor Anagic, an Inupiat man. The serum had been travelling for three days but was still 240 miles from Nome, where the suspected cases of diphtheria had blown out to 16 and they were almost completely out of the expired antitoxin. So, numbers are still going up and the medicine is going down. How long was the journey at the start? They're hoping to do it in about a week.

But how far was it? 700 miles. And they've got 200 and something to go. Yeah, but it's the hardest part of the journey. Right. According to a reporter living in the town, they wrote, quote, all hope is in the dogs and their heroic drivers. Wow.

Remember Alaska Governor Bone? Of course. I'll never forget. Well, I will forget. Governor Bone's office.. I'll never forget. Well, I will forget. Governor Bone's office. See, that's fun. Governor Bone, I have your wife on the phone. Rhymes.

Cheryl Bone. Cheryl, is that you? Cheryl? Cheryl, darling? Well, around this time on January 30th, he received a telegram. This is Governor Bone from the Universal News Syndicate in California asking for updates and a comment on how the serum run was going. Because remember, it's a media storm over in mainland America, but they can't really get much firsthand information out of Nome.

The syndicate offered Bone a large amount of money for comment and for what was basically speculation about how it was going and how it would all end up. He had some idea that a relay, you know, that the relay was going on west as people had sent telegrams along the way. So he sort of had some information, but no one had heard from Seppala, the lone ranger heading east with Togo. But Bone wrote about Seppala anyway, saying that he'd already crossed the sound, crossed the frozen bit, and headed to the town of Keltag.

He didn't know, but it sounded good, so he just told the newspapers that. Oh, dear. Which is not great journalism. No, it's not true. So it's not journalism at all. It's fake news. And it was, because Bone Day, I love. Is that a Trump impression?

I don't know, but maybe. Matt, you do it. Okay, okay. What does he sound like? I don't know. China. Fake news. No, I don't know. That's better, though. Okay, okay. What does he sound like? I don't know. Chyna. Fake news. No, that's better, though.

Dr. Evil. One million dollars. So, he said, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's going to stop at Caltech. He didn't know that the relay had already passed through Caltech going the other way and were nearly at the coast. So, they were supposed to meet Seppler at Caltech, but they just kept going. I could do Biden.

Okay, give us Biden. I could do Dana Carvey's Biden. Okay. He says he always finishes by saying, Pirates of the Caribbean. Yeah, it was worth it. Come on, guys, come on. Pirates of the Caribbean. was worth it. Come on. Guys, come on. That's the Caribbean.

He does it. It's real fun when he does it. An impression of an impression. Always fun. Always good. So they've gone further than they were planning to. Yeah, they kept going. They were told to expect to see Seppala coming any time now

and they would flag him down and then give him the medicine. Yeah, because Seppala is going from the town he's he's leaving the town to meet them yes he's heading east they're heading west and they were going to meet in celtic but they went through the town they're like we're making great time we'll keep going and when we see him on the trail we'll flag him down hand him the medicine and he'll turn around yeah okay but it's a little bit risky because if you miss him yeah he keeps going one way, you keep going the other way. Yeah. I'd say just wait in the town.

So they kept the relay going and after three days they'd hit the frozen Bering Sea. There was no way to contact Seppala to see how he was going and he had no idea that the serum had travelled further than the agreed rendezvous point and he didn't know that a new plan was to flag him down. So it is possible that they will miss each other. Yeah.

Especially if, you know, like there's circumstances here where instead of being on the river, they're just to the side of the river. And if you can't see your hand, you can't see someone just on the other side of the river. You know, it's risky. It's risky. The serum got to Shakhtyulik and was handed to a half-Russian, half-Inuit man by the name of Henry Ivanov, who had been waiting in case Seppala didn't arrive. He didn't know, but Seppala wasn't

far off. But a storm was coming and Ivanov was racing to get ahead of it, having already travelled 43 miles that day. Remember, they usually only travel about 30. So, he's already pushed it, but he's got to keep going because there's a storm coming. At first, he didn't see Seppala coming in the other direction. At this point, Ivanov had paused along the trail outside Shakhtyuk because he had to straighten out his team, which had gotten tangled. The dogs all got tangled after they'd had a frightening encounter with a reindeer and all the dogs are freaked out. Dasher?

No, Prancer. Oh, yeah. Of course, it's always Prancer makes it about themselves. Prancer's the bad boy. Fucking hell, Prancer. Oh, yeah. Of course, it's always Prancer makes it about themselves. Prancer's the bad boy. Fucking hell, Prancer. Got to make up for that girly name. I don't Prance. I Stomp.

Call me Stomper. All right, Prancer. All right, Prancer. Okay. Settle down. Settle down, princess. All right, sweetheart. Jeez, here we go.

Get that hysterical prancer so ivanov's there with the dogs on the side of the trail getting ready again and he sees sepula coming and sepula comes around the corner and sees a man waving and shouting at him ivanov was yelling the serum the serum i have it here pretty amazing that in those conditions they saw each other yeah sepula quickly grabbed the package and he and his team of dogs turned around to immediately retrace their steps all the way back to gnome wow just immediately went no time for chit chat buddy see you later so they end up doing what three times what they would normally do in a day yep amazing wild when he got back to frozen norton sound the frozen ocean he had to make a dramatic decision the

fastest way back to gnome was directly over norton sound across the frozen ocean, he had to make a dramatic decision. The fastest way back to Nome was directly over Norton Sound across the frozen ocean, but otherwise he'd have to go the long way around. But it was getting dark, sun's quickly setting, a storm was brewing, and crossing the sound meant going across 20 miles of open frozen sea, which was perilous in the dark. One false move, the ice could crack and it could be all over. Not to mention the lack of any protection against the elements out there. He'd been told by his boss, Mark Summers, that with so many lives on the line, it was safety first and speed second. He should never put the serum at risk.

The sepulcher looked out at the frozen ocean sound and decided to go for it anyway. He's going to put the serum at risk. He's going to risk everything. Wow. He gave the order to Togo, his trusted 12-year-old lead dog, to step out onto the ice, and they were off the night closing in on them. He listened for the sound of the ice cracking, but couldn't hear anything over the wind.

He just had to trust Togo. Finally, they stopped for the night at an Inuit shelter, and when Seppala woke up the next morning, the ice that he and the team had travelled across was all gone and it had floated out to sea. So, they'd only just made it. Far out. If they'd stalled or had any delays, they would have floated out to sea

and no one ever would have seen them again. Wild. Wow. Good job, Togo. Great work, Togo. You 84-year-old man. I know. What?

The next day, they pulled another 13-hour straight shift, and having covered 200 miles in total of the hardest part of the relay, absolutely exhausted, Seppala handed the serum over to another musher, Charlie Olsen, who took the serum a brief distance and handed it over to Gunnar Karsen, another Norwegian-born musher. Karsen was 43 years old and three years younger than his countryman, Seppala. They both worked at the mine in Nome, and Carson often worked as Seppala's assistant.

He was seen as Seppala's protege. Seppala 2, back in the habit. Carson had been asked to assist in the relay, but he didn't have his own dog team, so he had to ask back home. He had to ask Seppala's wife, Constance, if he could borrow some of their dogs for the mission. How many fucking dogs have they got? If Seppala's out with nine dogs and he's like, can I borrow nine more dogs?

And she's like, all right, well, I'll round some up because I've got heaps of dogs. Part of his thing was he bred dogs. Wow. And he had heaps and chose the strongest ones and trained them wow so he asked the wife too many dogs constance can i have a dog team she agreed and gunner carson chose bolto as his lead dog yes this this was seen as an unusual call as bolto was used as a freight dog sepala bolto's owner and trainer didn't think much of bolto who he thought lacked speed and he'd never picked him for any of his racing teams but gunner carson for whatever reason chose bolto as his lead dog it's like that movie where the zebra goes in the horse race it's exactly like that exactly like that because the zebra is not like everybody

underestimated the zebra and everyone said zebras are not for horse racing because they are not horses but that little zebra said just watch me put me in coach it's exactly like how does it ever go spoilers butbra go? Spoilers, but how'd it go? I've never seen it. I don't think. I just thought that the movie poster was funny. I think it's called Racing Stripes. That's right. Wow. So, Zebra and a horse race.

I can't assume it wins. Fun in shoes. It's a kid's movie, so I'm sure it does. A kid's movie. I thought it was a gritty drama. You're fun today. Dave, do go on. So Gunnar Carson and Balto now have the medicine.

And at 10pm on the 1st of February, Carson started making his way back to Nome. It was the worst blizzard Carson had ever experienced. Of course it was. He couldn't see. A group of dogs that aren't his. Yes, and aren't the best dogs, to be honest. Honestly. They had given him Balto and nine Chihuahuas.

And they weren't pulling. They didn't have a great deal of, like, horsepower. But they did yap the whole time. Yap power at an all-time high. And he also had a zebra, which died instantly. The two hours just had to pull the zebra along the ground. Not fit for purpose. It really feels like every single step of the way,

it's been the worst possible conditions. Yep. This isn't just in the retelling, you know, the tail's gotten taller over the years. You're talking about temperatures that are on record. Yeah, they got weather reports. Yeah, that's right. Amazing.

This happened to be the front coming across at the time. And I know- Because this got turned into a Disney movie. I'm expecting a happy ending. This would be so brutal if they don't make it right at the end. Dave, why did you pick this story? And gnome doesn't exist anymore. Sadly, the zebra ate them all.

So, it's the worst blizzard he's ever experienced. He couldn't see any of his dogs, let alone Balto at the front who couldn't hear the musher calling directions either, because usually you signal them. He can't hear shit. So Balto had to go on autopilot and make his own choices as to where to go in the storm.

He chose a lounge room. A fireplace. He chose the pet warehouse. Oh, this is awesome. He chose the lounge room. The fireplace. He chose the pet warehouse. Oh, this is awesome. He chose the toy aisle. Oh, that one. Oh, a little stuffy shaped like a coffee. Oh, it's fun.

They had travelled 22 miles and all was on track, as it could be under the circumstances, when they hit Bonanza Flat. Insert Bonanza theme here. How does the Bonanza theme go? Oh. Insert Bonanza theme here How does the Bonanza theme go? Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum

Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum Bum bum bum bum bum bum I know that from City Slickers, I think they sing that While they're riding the horse Nice one Great theme Good to finally get that reference

But they hit Bonanza flat And disaster struck. Oh, no. The sled flipped over. What? They did what, a kickflip? Yeah, but they didn't land it. Oh.

They bailed. That's embarrassing. No points. That is, honestly, that is quite risky. They're getting cocky now. Is this the overconfident guy? Yeah, he's like, I reckon I can take this over some sweet jumps. Carson and the dogs weren't injured, thankfully,

but as he went to right the sled, he felt for the precious life-saving serum. Oh, no. Oh, you're kidding. And it was gone. Oh, my God. And it was night, and it was pitch black. Oh, my God, no. They're in a blizzard.

What the hell is he going to do? And it can't get cold. It'll freeze. It'll freeze. As soon as it freezes, it could be ruined. Like, you can't wait till morning or anything. He's got to find a way out. Yeah, he's got to sit there all night.

He got down, and also he'd probably die in the blizzard if him and the dogs aren't moving. He got down on hands and knees and started feeling around in the darkness. Fifth, thinking like a dog, that's clever. He started sniffing. Got his nose in there. Yeah. He lost his nose immediately to frostbite.

Fell straight off. He was stuck to the ground. He was like, I can't smell glass bottles. Oh, my God. I don't know. Now my face is stuck here. I don't know what serum smells like. Why didn't they scent it?

He couldn't feel anything. So, he took his protective gloves off. Oh, my God. Tried to feel with his bare hands. Started digging around in the snow. He suffered frostbite to his fingers. Yeah. But, my God. Tried to feel with his bare hands. Started digging around in the snow. He suffered frostbite to his fingers. Yeah. But he felt a small bump.

On his testicles. He called the doctor immediately, as you all should. Always check your bits. I think it's that you've had a big coffee and a big orange juice. That's the perfect combo. Yeah. He found a lump on his testicles and then he said, okay, back to searching. Okay, I'll see the doctor tomorrow.

I'll put it in the calendar. I'll go straight away. I'm not going to dilly-dally on this one. Now that I've warmed up my hands in my scrotum. He found a second bump. What? The other testicle. Oh, myum. He found a second bump. What? The other testicle. Oh, my God.

But then a third bump. It was the serum. Is it still all bundled up in the quilt? Yeah, thankfully he felt it. It was unbroken. Oh, so he just needs to find one lump. I'm thinking all the little bottles have gone everywhere. Oh, no, no, no.

He just had to find the package in the dark. Yep, yep, yep. He got back on the sled and continued on into the night, but now he's got frostbitten fingers. Wow. It was expected that at about 2 a.m he would reach his destination the aptly named point safety but he would hand over the medicine to the man that would be the last musher in the run ed roan roan was a gnome local he's run from gnome which is good fun. He's known in Rome. Rome is known in Rome. Rome is known in Nome.

Am I getting close? Rome's home is in Nome. He's not known in Nome. He's available on the phone. He wrote a long book. Now he'll read from his epic tome. He wrote a long book. Now he'll read from his epic tome.

Do you think there's something collectively wrong with us? Yes. I think so. This guy, like in any relay race at the Olympics or whatever, they normally have the gun last. You've absolutely nailed it. This is the Cathy Freeman. He owned the fastest dogs in the whole country over

short distances. He was chosen as the anchor for the relay. The Usain Bolt is what I refer to him as in my script here. Two and four are usually the fastest. Why is that? Or is it one and four? I think it's one and four. You probably want a good start and a good finish. So yeah, this guy's fast at the end. It's

interesting because to me it doesn't make any sense. It's just like 400-metre sprints. It doesn't really matter what order it is, but that is like the science of it. I was always two because I can't run around bends. Oh, yeah. Two or four for me. I'll run straight.

I reckon that maybe it's the fourth are the most likely to look around and go, fuck it, I can do it. Yeah, right. I can make this up. Yeah. Push hard. Yeah. Which is what this up. Yeah. Push hard. Yeah. Which is what they wanted from Roan from Gnome.

Now, there's some slightly conflicting accounts of what happened next. The most oft-reported story is that Carson, Gunnar Carson with Balto, made it to Point Safety only to find that Ed Roan was asleep, having expected Carson to arrive much later. Thinking that it would take too long for Rohn to get set up, get appropriately dressed for the conditions and then ready his dogs, Carson decided to just continue on and complete the final 25 miles of the journey himself.

Others have speculated that Carson continued on knowing that he would get all the more glory if he was the one to hand over the serum. What a- I mean, either- why talk like that? Oh, this guy, assuming he makes it, oh, look, he saved the day. Because if that is his decision, it's a dumb one because of how many people up until this point and packs of dogs have done chunks of this journey. If that is his decision, it's a selfish one. Yeah, but they would have no way of knowing that.

So just saying that is them being like, yeah, classic, this guy who risked his life. I mean, there is debate. Some people say Ed Rohn wasn't asleep. He was ready. He didn't stop. He kept going. But it's 100 years ago, so there are conflicting accounts.

And it does affect the way this story is remembered in history, which we'll talk about. But that's the decision he makes. He's just going to keep going. He's kept going. At 5.30 a.m. on February the 6th. Even though there's a fresh person and a fresh set of dogs waiting. And that person is the fastest in the country.

Great. Perfect. Yeah, cool. Just keep going, I reckon, with your exhausted dogs. But he said, his version of accounts is, he was asleep. It might take him an hour to get dressed, to get the dogs ready, get it settled. Yeah, this guy takes forever.

He's like, I'll just keep going. It'll be faster. Long shower. Oh, my God. I'll just waste his effort to get here in the first place. It takes him so long putting in the brill cream, which is probably what they used in their hair back then. Probably.

Oh, this guy. This guy. What a nightmare. Ugh. Probably. Ugh, this guy. This guy. A nightmare. Ugh. He looks fantastic. Don't get me wrong. And his dogs take forever to wake up. They're all like, not until I've had my coffee.

And I'm like, I don't think you can give dogs coffee, you know? Ugh. But the dogs, they won't run without their coffee. They won't run without it. Don't even talk to those dogs until they've had their coffee. Don't even mush those dogs until they've had their coffee. Don't even talk to those dogs until they've had their coffee. No, don't even mush those dogs until they've had their coffee.

At 5.30am on February 2nd, Carson rode into town and startled the sleeping Dr. Welch when he pounded on his door. It had taken 20 dog sled teams comprising over 150 dogs who covered 674 miles on nearly 1,100 kilometres, but the serum had made it. And what's more, after Dr. Welch th thawed the serum he found that it was usable okay that's big i like the idea that he woke up dr welsh and dr welsh like oh come on well don't talk to me unless i've had my coffee yeah give us some fucking give us some time they can wait and do you think um he was a bit upset that he he came in at 5 30 in the morning so nobody was like lining the streets to see him and he's like fuck where's the parade i wanted

where is the parade so cynical i mean either way this man has risked his life to save the kids so have many many others that's right 20 20 of them that's wild of course but it just seems wild that people are going looking for the negative there. Yeah. He stole Rome from gnomes. Big moment. Big moment. Yeah.

No, I mean, if I was Rome from gnome and they're like, you don't have to do it, I would probably be like, but I really wanted to. Yeah. Can I have that on the record? I was ready. I was ready. I was just getting a little kip in.

So he found the serum was usable. It was just getting a little kip in. So, he found the serum was usable. It was only about a quarter of what was necessary overall, but it was enough to halt an epidemic. And on February the 8th, another dog sled relay was launched with more serum that had been procured, and it too made the perilous journey. Many of the same mushers were involved, so they did it twice. Double mush.

Some serum was also launched by a plane, backed by William Fentress Thompson. Of course. Remember the eccentric newspaper editor who owned a plane? And I'm sorry- The front page news was, planes good. The dog's bad. Yeah. I'm sorry to say the plane never even took off.

The conditions were just too full on. Ah. That guy was right. Flight will never work. Planes will never take off. And Thompson wrote in his newspaper, because it was a bit embarrassing for him, because he kept saying, this is the way, it's faster, it's better. He had to write, and this is basically his admitting defeat.

Oh, how everyone likes to put in with the winner and laugh at the loser. The only satisfaction is that we've never worried if you can laugh with us or at us, as long as you laugh. He's in it for the comedy that is so funny what that is so funny oh man that is not where i thought he was gonna go so i thought it was gonna be it doesn't matter to us as long as the medicine made it but this thing was it doesn't matter to us as long as the comedy survives. Isn't laughter the best medicine? He signed off by saying, the airship will go on when it can. We take our hat off to the dog.

That is so funny. That's great. They made it. But the plane was never needed because the ever reliable dog sled got there again. This time, Ed Roan from Nome ran the final part of the relay as intended the first time. And I'm happy to report that over the next couple of weeks, the whole town was inoculated. And by February 21, the lockdown was lifted and life returned to normal. Dr. Welsh recorded that only five people had died in the outbreak, but deaths amongst Inuit

people were not properly recorded. So it's likely much higher than that, despite the fact that most of the mushers that saved the day were Alaska natives. That tracks, yeah. Terrible. Because this is 20 years before they had equal rights. Yep.

Because, yeah, fuck. One good thing that came from the press coverage was that after this, inoculation against diphtheria greatly increased across the United States, and it was eventually relegated to a thing of the past so this was good advertising for hey this is why you get your sharts get your sharts get your sharts oh that's when you're overconfident get your sharts you can get your sharts that's how you get your nuggets oh i see they're not nuggetsarts, I don't think. Nah. Depends. No, don't take it any further.

Speaking of the press that have been following the story like man, they wanted to know who was this mysterious Gunnar Carson that handed over the serum? He wasn't expected to complete the journey. And what about his dogs? Who were they? Well, Balto had been the lead dog on the mission, but for at least the last part of the journey,

he'd been paired with another dog called Fox. Apparently, one of the first journos on the scene thought it would confuse his readers if he reported on a lead dog called Fox. Is it a fox or a dog? They really underestimated people's intelligence back then. Jeez. Imagine what your dog would do. Yeah.

Very confusing. Was it a goose? You've got a pet goose. So, this journal reported that Balto was the sole lead dog. And Balto became an overnight sensation. A real media darling. He was declared the hero of the mission. Photos and videos were taken of

Carson and Balto, but they had to wait until spring when the ice had thawed for the photos to arrive in the contiguous United States and appear in newspapers across the US. Then the film footage was screened, and a few weeks later, Gunnar Carson, Balto, and the crew reenacted the run for Hollywood cameras, further elevating them into stardom. This is why people say he did it for the publicity because he got heaps of it. Wow. The 25-minute film called Balto's Race to Nome came out in 1925

and I'm happy to say it has a huge 9.2 rating on IMDb. Wow. Yes. There's no way he could have known that he would have got this much attention. You're so upset about this. I just feel like it seems so strange for them to focus on that. To project that onto someone.

I think it tracks, but- Are you arguing it makes sense that he- I think that there is a case to argue that he could have done it because of the fame. This is the point. There's no- But that's a guess. So why even speculate just in case he might have-

Well, it seems to be pretty obvious that the last person to do it will be a reporter on an interview more than anyone else. Yeah, but someone has to be the last person, and if what he said is true, he possibly wouldn't have survived if he waited the extra hour or whatever. Yeah, but what I'm saying is I think either could be correct. Yes, but if you're not sure of one why bother speculating on the negative oh because a lot of people have no not you i'm not i'm not having to

go at you talking about the i don't know why a lot of people have focused on that well there could be a reason i'll get to here the film toured theaters across the united states and gunner carson would appear in person at the end he'd come out and and be like, hey, here I am. And then so would Balto. So they did a big tour of the United States. But not everybody was happy with Balto's fame. Leonard Seppala, who himself had travelled the largest and most dangerous part of the serum run and who owned Balto and thought very little of the dog, was annoyed that what he saw as a second-rate dog was getting all the attention. Yeah, there was like 150 dogs.

Yeah. And even he's like, it's not fair that that dog gets all the attention because my dog was also in it, you know? And to the end of his days, Seppala was bitter about it. Oh, don't let something like that ruin your life. A statue of Balto sculpted by Frederick Roth was erected in New York City's Central Park. Another thing for us to see on the US tour. On December 17th, 1925, 10 months after Balto's arrival in Nome, Balto himself was present

for the monument's unveiling, which we, I'm sure he knew that that was him. Yeah, he's like, I get it. But Leonard Seppala was not happy. He said, I hope I shall never be the man to take away credit from any other dog or driver who participated in that run. We all did our best. But when the country was roused to enthusiasm over the serum run driver, I resented the statue to Balto, for if any dog deserves special mention, it was Togo.

Yeah. But it's not like he didn't get any credit or fame. Seppala, Togo, and a team of his dogs went on a victory tour in the lower 48 states as well, making various stops, including in Seattle, California, and New York City. Seppala and Togo were also featured in a Lucky Strike cigarette campaign. Oh, my God. That's what they would have wanted.

And a chewing gum collector card was also issued featuring the pair. The team appeared multiple times at Madison Square Garden. They appeared together. Oh, this is Seppala and Togo. Seppala and Togo. And on December 30, Togo was awarded a gold medal by Polar Explorer and Norwegian hero Roald Amundsen. So what more do you want, Seppala?

Yeah, I just don't get like the rest of his life he was focused on this. Yeah, he was furious. Like the dog doesn't care. Dog doesn't know. The dog, Balto was just a, you know, just like a symbol of all the dogs. Yeah, but he was mostly annoyed that he thought the dog was second rate. That was what irked him the most. He's like, out of all the dogs, there's probably the shittest dog out there.

But that makes the story better. I think so, for sure. It's like he's just some mutt in Seppala's eyes and he proved that he could step up and do it. But the fame of the mission allowed Seppala to begin a Siberian dog kennel and partnership with Elizabeth M. Ricker in Maine, where Togo lived out his days in a life of luxury, eventually passing away at the age of 16. Whoa.

That's old for one of them dogs, from what I understand. And he fathered many pups in that time, laying down the foundation for the modern Siberian sled dog breed known as the Seppala Siberian Sled Dog and also the Siberian Husky. Modern Siberian Huskies registered in the US are almost entirely the descendants of the 1930 Siberian imports and of Leonard Seppala's dogs, particularly Togo. What? So most of them are related to Togo.

Wow. Togo's body was taxidermied and is on display in the Peabody Museum of Natural History's collection at Yale University. It's so funny how much credit it got and he still was so bitter about it. Still bitter. And honestly, things worked out better for Togo. The next couple of years weren't as nice for Balto, I'm afraid. By 1926, Balto and six other dogs were sold to a museum of

oddities in los angeles where they were kept in awful conditions mistreated what that's no way to treat a hero hero dog but the next year in 1927 george kimball a traveling salesman from god's country cleveland saw the exhibit and the mistreated dogs and vowed to do something to help them. With the help of the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, Kimball established the Balto Fund. The people of Cleveland generously rallied to the cause. Schoolchildren collected monies in buckets. Factory workers passed their hats.

Hotels, stores, and visitors donated what they could to the Balto Fund. And in the end, they raised $2,200 to buy and rescue the dogs. I think that's a beautiful end of the story because it means that the person mistreating the dogs got a big payday. Got a big reward. And that's, yeah, that's nice. That's what it's all about. On March 19, 1927, Balto and his six remaining companions

were brought to Cleveland and given a hero's welcome in a triumphant parade. They finally got the parade through Public Square. They were then moved to the Cleveland Zoo where apparently they lived much better lives. Yeah, I've turned back on that guy, whoever the last guy to run into town who you thought was doing it maybe for the glory. Seppala?

No, the other guy. Oh, you mean Gunnar Carlson. Gunnar Carlson, yeah. I've come back around on him I don't like him He sold his dog like that To a place that was going to mistreat it so badly But it wasn't even his dog

Maybe he did just it for the glory Yeah that's the thing I don't know of Seppala who technically owned the dogs I don't know if he sold it Because he was like I hate this dog Right I don't know Good point

I'm back around on Carlsen Carlsen's still your man When Balto died in 1933 at the age of 14, he still lived a long life for the breed. He too was taxidermied and stuffed and can now be seen at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Okay, another stop on our tour. Yeah, two stuffed dogs, one statue of a dog.

Yeah, yeah. We'll just do the dog tour via sled. Jess? Love that. You'll be leading us. Fair. Now, the gnome serum as we've already talked about, and particularly the dogs involved here,

have been the subject of a few movies, including in 1995, Balto starring Kevin Bacon. This film was a major financial disappointment because it was overshadowed by the release of Pixar's Toy Story. Oof, yeah. But its subsequent sales on home video led to two more director video sequels, Balto 2, Wolf Quest, and Balto 3, Wings of Change. Wow.

Though none of the original voice cast reprised their roles. Air Bud was also based on it. A lot of changes to the story. In 2019, Disney made a live action film called Togo, starring Willem Dafoe as Leonard Seppala. So, Togo got his own movie too. And it has a 7.9 rating on IMDb, which is higher than Balto the cartoon, which is only a 7.1. So, maybe he got the last laugh in the end.

That is my report on the gnome serum run. Great story. That had a little bit of everything. Yeah. Dogs, cold, drama. Honestly, I've seen, I'm aware of these sort of movies, but they always seem dull to me. I'm like, ugh, you know.

But then I hear the story, I'm like, oh, that's very cinematic. That'd be an awesome movie. Yeah. I don't know why I would think that'd be boring. Some dogs running in the snow. Whatever. I get it. Yeah.

But you don't get it. I didn't get it. Clearly not. Now I think I'm starting to get it. I'm pretty sure Bob Hoskins played the goose. Oh, yeah. I just looked it up. Bob Hoskins.

I love that you just looked it up and you're only pretty sure. Well, it says he played Boris and I'm pretty sure Boris was the goose. Right. Gotcha. From memory. Now, and he's the one with- Pipper bumps. Pipper bumps.

It's good stuff. It's good stuff. That's classic Hoskins. Classic Hoskins. Funny shit. Award winning actor. Well, that brings us to everyone's favorite section of the show where we spend a little bit of time thanking our great Patreon supporters.

If you want to get involved, you can go to patreon.com slash dogoonpod. Jess, what are some of the things that they can get involved with there? Well, you can be part of the Facebook group that is the nicest corner of the internet. You get to vote on what topics that we are going to do our reports on. You get early access to live shows, three bonus episodes a month. Honestly, the list goes on. It does.

Honestly. And if we were going to be honest, which we will, the list goes on. The list goes on. One of the other things on that list is the fact, quote, or question section. And this is open for people on the Sidney Schoenberg level or above. This section actually has a jingle, I think. It goes something like this. Fact, quote, or question.

Ding. Always remembers the ding. She always remembers the sing. And the way this works is people on the Sidney Schoenberg level or above get to give us a fact, a quote, or a question, or a joke, or a brag, or a suggestion, or really whatever they like. And I read them out on the show for the first time when I read them out on the show, which makes sense.

But that's just me covering myself in case I misread anything. The first one this week comes from Amy Clark, and they also get to give themselves a title. And Amy's title is Former Chief Embalmer Sands Arse Packing. Fruit is so bright, I gotta wear shades. Wow. That's a lot to fit on the badge, but I like it a lot. At Duke Go On Incorporated, we make everyone wear badges. We make them.

Put it on. And Amy has offered us a quote writing, I've been listening to almost too many podcasts since being fired out of the blue 10 days before Christmas. Come on, Amy. Jeez. And though I don't know if it's well known or who may have originally said it, my quote comes from one of the fiction pods I've been enjoying while looking for new employment. This is the quote.

When your back's against the wall, you may as well strike a pose. As soon as I heard it, I decided to adopt it as a new mantra to help me get through this generally unfun and occasionally overwhelming time. I'd been considering submitting the Mother Jones quote, which is, whatever the fight, don't be ladylike. But I decided to take my former employer to court for wrongful termination instead of to a back alley for my retribution. And I need more reminders to keep it light and remember that this too shall pass than I do on being less ladylike. Many thanks to you three and all your wonderful guests, as always, for bringing laughter and glee to myself and so many others week after week.

Wow. Holy shit, Amy. I'm so sorry that happened. Yeah, good luck with the fight. Keep fighting the good fight. This was sent in a few weeks ago. So, hopefully this has all come to a positive conclusion, or if not, it's on the way to.

And you're right, all things shall pass i like the striker pose quote too that's nice yeah that's great cheers amy uh next one comes from emily path okay executive director of uh um and emily's offered a joke, what do you call a lazy baby kangaroo? Should I have a stab at this or? Lazy baby kangaroo. Something to do with Joey. Surely, yeah. Joe.

A pouch potato. Oh, that's pretty good. That's even better than I expected. I was expecting it to be great. A pouch potato. That's good. A pouch potato. Again, alliteration. Fun. That's Emily. A pouch potato. Again, alliteration.

Fun. That's Emily's first entry into the Fat Quota question section. A fantastic entry. We rarely get a joke, if ever. I've only just added it into the drop-down menu. Excellent. So, hopefully more will be coming. Thank you so much.

The next one comes from Fahad Al-Thani, who is head coach of the Dugoan basketball team. And really, Fahad, you've been doing some fantastic work. I've been perfecting my layup. Jess has always been strong, but Dave and I, our games have come on in leaps and bounds since you got on board. Yeah, I still say, Gaze-y whenever I make a layup. Yeah.

But now more often than not, I get it in. That's right. And Fahad's offered a fact writing, my fact is about the weirdest yellow card in English football history. Once in 2012, a football or soccer player for Portsmouth named Levi Foster was having his cleats checked by the referee before kickoff. But while he was checking his cleats, Levi farted in the referee's face. The ref was so mad, he almost gave him a red card, but was talked down to giving him a yellow.

His excuse for farting was that he had a curry the night before. And the best part is that he was named man of the match after Portsmouth's 5-0 win. Wow. He's linked to a Mirror article for proof. Is it headlined something about a brown card? Okay, let's see. Because that would be good. I think the Mirror is a tabloid, so if it's like our Herald Sun,

it will have a funny or a funny like a headline. No, this is just telling it like it is headline. Player farts on referee's face. Yes, basically. Football player gets booked for farting in ref space. I'd click that. Yeah, absolutely. That is appealing.

That's good stuff. Thanks for sharing. That's good stuff. Thanks for sharing. That's definitely kind of, if I remember, I'm going to put that in a who knew it question for sure. Finally this week, we've got one from Paul Meller. Okay. Proud international member of the St Kilda Football Club, Oldham Branch.

That is sick, Paul. Time of recording, we're one from one. Wow. The streak. The streak. Is this the start? One loss. Win, sorry.

Oh. Against the odds, we're playing Dave's team this week at the time of recording. But, yeah, hopefully. I think my team is zero from one. That's correct. So, uh-oh. Bob's team is one from one and looking real good. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. You saw that? You watched that? You went to the games? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The boys, they went out there, they gave 110%. Honestly, they looked very impressive, the pies. Dave and Jerry.

They did good shit. Love the pies. Anyway, Paul has offered us a fact writing, Hi, all. I have another strange Oldham-based fact I discovered recently. Whether it is fun is up to Jess to decide. That's right. As always.

It is up to me. I'm glad that's respected. Yes. I am the merchant of fun. Yes. The merchant of mirth. No. The merchant of fun.

Let me finish. The merchant of mirth is me, but the merchant of fun, of course, is Jess. Is she? Now, that's mirthful, which I can say. Paul continues, in the 1960s, the powers that be decided to test a new teaching method to help children learn to read. This was done using an alphabet called the Initial Teaching Alphabet, ITA, and was trialled in the Oldham Experiment.

This alphabet consisted of 24 letters of the alphabet plus 20 more characters or symbols to make phonetic sounds. After primary school children had been taught with this alphabet, they then moved on to the traditional alphabet. The symbols look like two letters smushed together. Mushed together. There are examples of books in our local gallery, and although they look strange, two letters smushed together. Mushed together. There are examples of books in our local gallery, and although they look strange, you can kind of work it out.

For example, the sound A-E, as in gate, was spelled A mushed together with an E. Oh, yep. And the sound O-E in goat was spelled O mushed together with E. Is that how, you know those phonetic gods in dictionaries and stuff? Is that what that means? People, I read that and I'm like, I don't know what that means. Oh, there you go.

Well, there is a phonetic alphabet, but this is different. Oh, this is a separate one maybe, right. So, the sentence, I have a goat would be written, I have a goate, G, O smushed with E, T. It fell out of popularity and thankfully I missed this in the 70s. It fell out of popularity and thankfully I missed this in the 70s. Still, I look around my town at that slightly older generation and think, yes, this explains a lot. Thanks for the great pods. Loving all the content you put out.

Keep the faith, Paul. I think that's a Saints-related keep the faith. Appreciate that, Paul. I'm always keeping the faith. Always. You got to as a Saints supporter. You simply must. And happy 150 years, Paul, to you and all the saint supporters out there and cheers for becoming

a member i love that you can be an international member so good so that's our facts quotes and questions the next thing we like to do is thank a few of our other fantastic patreon supporters and normally uh with this section jess you normally come up with a bit of a game based on the topic at hand. Yeah. I was thinking about naming their lead dog. Yeah, that's great. So who do we have? We had Fox.

We had- Balto. Balto. We had Prince. Togo, Prince. So many names still left up for grabs. Just to make sure we're not doubling up, we have to recap. Okay.

That's good. If I could kick us off. Sure. I'd love to thank, from Singleton in New South Wales, Australia, it's Melissa LP. Jingle. Oh, yeah. Jingle's a great dog.

Jingle. Jingle. Here. Jingle. Jingle. Drop it. Jingle. Drop it.

Mush, mush. Jingle. Yeah, that's fantastic. Jingle. Mush. Drop it. Mush, mush. Jingle. Yeah, that's fantastic. I love that as a dog name. I'd also love to thank from Kensington in maybe Maryland in the United States. It's Scott Turner. Scott Turner. What about Wigwam?

Wigwam. Okay, I like that. Wigwam. Wigwam. Wigwam. Good Wigwam. I'd also love to thank from West Beach in South Australia, it's Aidan Malloy.

What are we thinking? I'm thinking shepherd's pie. Oh, yes. That's cute. And people are like, oh, I assume it's a German shepherd. No. Chihuahua. I assume it's a pie.

No. Not until it's lived a full life. Oh, man. Okay, I'm going to use, for the next person, I'm going to tell you one of my favourite dog names I've ever heard. Okay, but only if it fits their name, okay? Only if you think it matches. Okay, it doesn't.

Well, you hang on to it until you get to one that doesn't. None of them. I don't think any of them. Jess, do you want to thank a few of our great supporters? I guess. I'm pretty deflated now. I mean, you could have just lied. I really thought you could have just said.

Nah, it doesn't work. They all go together, right? But I still want to thank these people. I would love to thank from, well, we'd say Berwick. You might say Berwick in Pennsylvania. Tom Henry. PA, Pennsylvania? Yeah.

And Tom Henry. Tom Henry. It's a great name. Topper. Superman. Did you meet a dog called Superman? No. Because it's pretty good.

Tom Henry. I think that matches with Superman beautifully. I know. That's why I allocated Superman to him. You're still holding back your favourite. Yeah, I'm holding back. I'll show you. It's a TikTok. I know. That's why I allocated Superman to him. You're still holding back your favourite? Yeah, I'm holding back. I'll show you. It's a TikTok.

I'll show you later. But unfortunately, none of these people deserve this name. Wow. Okay. It's that good. That's how good it is. Because these people are great. We appreciate them so much.

No, I was thinking Henry, Henry Cavill, Superman. Oh, yeah, that's good stuff. I would also love to thank, from Boston, where Harvard is, Caleb Plummer. Caleb Plummer. The Bird. The Bird. The Bird.

I like that. The Bird. The Bird, not Bird. No. The Bird. This is my dog, the Bird. This is my dog, the Bird. Okay.

But you could call it Bird for short, Birdie. Birdie. That'd be nicknames. Bird. Yeah. Yeah, true. You never end up calling your dog their actual name. Okay. But you could call it Bird for short, Birdie. Birdie. That'd be nicknames. Bird. Yeah. Yeah, true. You never end up calling your dog their actual name. No.

Lots of nicknames. Ours is Goobatron. And finally for me, I would love to thank, from Blanford Forum in Great Britain, I would love to thank Samuel Matheson. Wilhelm. Oh, that's good. Willie Wilhelm.

That's a good one. Yep, love that. The Kaiser. The Kaiser. Dave, that's good. Willie Wilhelm. That's a good one. Yep, love that. The Kaiser. The Kaiser. Dave, would you like to thank some people? I would love to. Now, this next person from a location that is unknown to us, possibly to them.

We don't know. Do they know where they are? Is it the Fortress of the Moles? I can only assume. Big shout-out to Benjamin Humpage. Humpage. You're getting good humpage out of Benjamin Humpage. How'sage. You're getting good humpage out of... Ben, you should have meant humpage. How's the humpage in those hips?

I'm getting about 28 to 29 reps per minute. That's not bad. That's great. One every two seconds. That's good fun. I've tried to... One, two, three, four. Can I go with...

That's very slow. That's very slow. But you could be in like a rehabilitation sort of thing. Exactly. I'm hoping to get up to 35 by the end of the week. Yeah, to get your thrustage right up to. Yeah, my thrustage, my humpage is down. Can I go with Topper, which I think is a great, after the clash.

The drummer. Drummer. Topper Hayden. Topper, I think, is a great name for a dog. Love that. Topper. Topper. I would like to thank from From in Great Britain

It is Alex Whitehead Come on Jess use your best one That's a great name A name that can be applied to a few things I think Alright fine I saw a TikTok about a little dog A little fluffy dog Whose tongue was always sticking out And his name was Stumpman Mike

That feels perfect for was Stuntman Mike. That feels perfect for Alex. Stuntman Mike. I love that. It's such a good, it's so funny. It's this woman who her husband has like a proper hunting dog and he's very proud of his hunting dog and then she has this little fluffy idiot called Stuntman Mike. Stuntman Mike.

And she keeps like, she got her husband a portrait of his beautiful hunting dog, like portrait done. But then in the background is Stuntman Mike holding a duck. It's very funny. I loved it. I found that Stuntman Mike's got an Instagram. Yeah, I love Stuntman Mike. With almost 20,000 followers.

Killing it, Stuntman Mike. Stuntman Mike has more followers than I do. That feels right. It does feel right. Yep. Anyway, Stuntman Mike. Hey, Alex Whitehead, now you've got your own Stuntman Mike has more followers than I do. That feels right. It does feel right. Yep. Anyway, Stuntman Mike. Hey, Alex Whitehead, now you've got your own Stuntman Mike. So funny.

And finally, I'd like to thank you from Fremantle in WA, it is Spencer Parks. Spencer Parks. Barry. Oh, yeah. Barry. One of my favourite dogs at the park who always gets in trouble. Barry.

I think Barry's just one of my favourite names. Barry, Gary, Bruce, Greg. Yeah. They're all good. They're so good. I'll go back to you, Barry. I think Barry is just one of my favourite names. Barry, Gary, Bruce, Greg. Yeah. They're all good. They're so good. I'll go back to you, Barry. Yeah, yeah. Classic.

Did you hear the voice of Yoga Gorilla died recently? Who was it? It was an Australian actor. Oh, okay. But it wasn't someone that I'd recognised from other things? I think maybe it was also in Mad Max. Oh. Other things?

I think maybe it was also in Mad Max. Oh. I only found this out because we were tweeted by one of our great listeners. Who was it? I can't remember. I have no idea what you're talking about. Do you know the Yoga Gorilla, the ads? You know, Yogo, the yogurt? Oh, yeah, yeah.

And then they have the cartoon with the yellow snake. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that guy was on the phone saying, I'll get back to you, Barry. Yeah, okay. It was Street Machine, the magazine, tweeted letting me know that Paul P.J. Johnson, Aussie voice over actor extraordinaire, best known to us as Mad Max's Kundalini. But also, oh, he was also in Cold Chisel's Forever Now film clip and the voice of Yogo Gorilla. So that, what a career.

Jinx. That's sick. Yeah. Rest in peace, PJ. Good name for a dog too, in honour of. So if anyone didn't like their dog name. Take PJ instead. PJ's there for you.

So thank you so much to Spencer, Alex, Benjamin, Samuel, Caleb, Tom, Aidan, Scott and Melissa. And the last thing we need to do is welcome a few people into the Triptych Club. Now, Dave, what is the Triptych Club? It's mysterious to me. Can you explain it? No, it's not mysterious. It's a thing of beauty is what it is. It's a clubhouse, a hall of fame where we induct people that have been on the shout out level for three years or above or more.

They've hit this. We've already given them a shout out a couple of years back, but they've stayed true with us. And to thank them again, we induct them into this hall of fame, this clubhouse, this theater of the mind sort of club restaurant that we've built. There's live music, there's food. There's drinks. There's shows. There's chill-out sections. And Jess usually comes up with a bit of food or a drink that we add to the menu.

Every week the menu gets longer and longer. Yeah. We are – it feels a bit poor taste, but I didn't know. But it tastes good. Tastes good, but I am serving sled dog. Okay. What, literal sled dog? Or that's just the name of a cocktail?

It's just the name of it. Don't look into it. Okay. Oh, my God. Also, all the cocktails and even just like a glass of beer are going to be served with dry ice. You know, they make a cocktail look all fancy and stuff. I'm going to be doing that.

That's great. So, I'd be careful. You're working hard back there. I'm working a bit too all fancy and stuff. I'm going to be doing that. That's great. So I'd be careful. You're working hard back there. I'm working a bit too hard, I think. I think I'm overthinking it. I'm honestly quite stressed. You know what would be great for people coming out of the cold would be just a bowl of hot soup,

if you could organise something like that. I don't have any soup left. Oh, it was so hot it just boiled away. Don't have any soup left. Oh, it was so hot it just boiled away. Dave, you normally book a band for the after party? Oh, my God. You're never going to believe it.

I've booked a band from Alaska for this week, and it's just a coincidence. I've booked these obviously months, if not years, in advance for these people's schedules. This week we've got the American metal band 36 Crazy Fists. Oh, I love 36 Crazy Fists. what's the name of their their big song uh what i mean what i love all their songs i think i may have even gone to a gig of theirs but i can't even remember any of their songs 36 crazy fists uh my favorite song is blood work blood work i also love skin and atmosphere, destroy the map,

and I'll go until my heart stops. Yeah, all good songs. Beautiful band, beautiful message, beautiful addition to our line-up tonight. Exactly. But before we get there, we're going to invite a few new names and faces into the Triptych Club. I'm going to read out the names. I'm standing at the door.

I'm the doorman. I've got the clipboard. I'm going to read out the names. I'm standing at the door. I'm the doorman. I've got the clipboard. I'm going to read out these names. And Dave's on stage. He's hosting the evening and he's going to hype you up, get the crowd going. Absolutely. With a bit of weak wordplay.

And Jess will also be there to hype Dave up. Very strong wordplay. Thank you. That, man, is a great example of Jess hyping Dave up. So, if I can kick us off, are you ready, Dave? Let's open the floodgates. All right. I'd love to.

Welcome in from Boston, Massachusetts. In the United States, it's Michelle Rooten. Michelle, my bell. Rooten. Rooten tootin', son of a gun. Welcome, Michelle, from St. Paul in Minnesota. In the United States, it's Hans Christensen., from St. Paul in Minnesota in the United States. It's Hans Christensen.

Oh, St. Paul. They should call it St. Hans. Yeah, because you're a saint. You're a saint to me. Okay, Hans Christian and a son for you. I hope you have a great family. What the fuck are you doing? From Hawthorne, Victoria in Australia, it's Tubby Glanville. You make me feel Tubby Gladville.

Yeah. Me too. From Golden Grove in South Australia, it's Heidi Stoll. Well, this night has just gotten a bit more Golden Grove. Now, Heidi's here, am I right? Heidi Stoll, my heart. It certainly hasn't- Shut up.

Stolled- Shut up. How dare you. From Reygate in Great Britain, it's Jonathan Withers. This night will never wither. Now, Jonathan Withers is with us. Woo! Oh, yeah, that's good.

No, no, it's from Greeley in Colorado in the United States, it's Cindy Hernandez. Cindy, you are my number one. We'll never rescind you. Cindy, your invitation. Welcome into the club. Oh, man, thank you for saving me there. No, don't you dare.

Thank you. Okay, Cindy, you're my number one bindi and you know what that means you know what that means cindy gets it we've got a special we've got a special relationship from brighton in great britain it's lottie and bobby hottie and hobby yeah hottie and hobby Come on in, Hoddy and Hobby Eastbourne and Great Britain, it's Tom Tom I mean, not much to work with here

But let's just go with T stands for tremendous O that stands for, oh my god, it's Tom And M stands for my favourite person is Tom My love for you was eastbound tonight. Welcome in from address unknown. Can only shoot from deep within the fortress of the

moles. Please welcome in Suze. I would never snooze on Suze. Yeah, snooze on Suze. From Edinburgh in Great Britain, it's Thomas Perritt. Thomas Perritt? Well, you've got lots of merit. I thought you were going to say merit. Merit. Thomas Perritt. Well, you've got lots of Merritt. I thought you were going to say Merritt. Merritt.

Thomas Perritt. I love how you can zig and zag. And finally, from Portland, Oregon in the United States, it's Ray Bradley. This night will never go Ray badly. It'll go Ray Bradley. Ray of sunshine. Shut up. Welcome in Ray, Thomas, Suze, Tom, Lottie, Bobby, Cindy, Jonathan, Heidi, Tubby, Hans and Michelle.

Welcome one and all. Welcome in. Grab yourself a drink. Get comfortable. Sorry about it too. And just enjoy 36 Crazy Fists. Welcome to the stage now. Woo.

And that's all we have time for here on the show. Unfortunately, we've had to edit out this set due to copyright reasons, but let's just say they rocked. They blew the roof off. Bop, is there anything we need to tell people before we go? That we love them and to wash your butt and that if you would like to suggest a topic, you absolutely can. There's a link in the show notes and also on our website, DoGoOnPod, where you can also find info on our other podcasts and InfoBat

live shows. And you can find us on social media at DoGoOnPod. Hey, we'll be back next week with another episode. But until then, we'll say thank you so much for listening and I'll say goodbye. Later. Bye. 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 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. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future.