Do Go On - 400 - The Millennium Dome Heist

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

We celebrated our 400th epsiode with a live audience AND a crowd favourite - a heist episode. This one has all the makings of an action movie - bombs, elaborate plans, priceless jewels, and a super cool getaway vehicle.Get a catch up live stream ticket to watch the episode, some behind the scenes stuff and of course our 400th episode after party:https://www.trybooking.com/CICVA This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 06:20 (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: https://do-go-on-podcast.creator-spring.com/  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:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Dome_raidhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcnST-qOZEchttps://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82162&page=1https://www.truecrimeedition.com/post/millennium-dome-heisthttps://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/feb/18/dome1https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/feb/24/dome.tonythompson 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 Warnke and as always I'm here with Jess Perkins and Matt Stewart.

And we're here for the 400th episode. Can't believe we made it. Can't believe we made it. I can't believe it either. 400 episodes, Jess. It's too many. Really? No, sorry. I would have thought it either. 400 episodes, Jess. Yeah. It's too many. Really? No, sorry. I would have thought it's around enough number for you, but no.

Oh, great point. But it's too many. Should have stopped at 200, I reckon. Really? Leave them wanting more. Yeah, okay. You know? Nah, great to be here.

I've started on a weird tone. I'll bring that back. Don't worry. It'll be fine. Save me, Dave. We're recording this live at Stupid Old Studios. We've got a live audience here. Hello, live audience.

We're also streaming this one live. Hello, streamers at home. And so Jess and I, just to paint a picture for the people at home, we're on stage here. But our good friend Matt Stewart is via satellite. Hello, satellite Matt. Hey, how's it going? Quick question. How good is it to be alive? And I won't be able to ask that question for much longer as I have COVID. It's very hard to ask that question

when you're dead for two reasons. One of them is you can't talk anymore. The other one is you're not alive. How can you ask how good it is to be alive when you're not alive? How do we mute him? Look, I was going to ask Matt to explain how the show works, but what do you reckon? I should do a chance to it? I think you have a go at that one, yeah. Well, what we do here is we take it in terms of a report on a topic

often suggested to us by one of the listeners. We go away. We do a bit of research. We bring it back to the group in the form of a little report. We've done this now 400 times. And to celebrate the 400th, I believe I did the 100th episode, the report. The 200th, I remember we were in Queensland, we did a mini reports each. You remember this?

Yeah. And Matt did the 300th and had to do the 400th episode. I don't know. It worked out. Jess, it's your turn basically. It is mine. It is mine. And we always start with a question to get us on the topic.

Do you actually have a question? I do. That's pretty good. to get us on the topic. Do you actually have a question? I do. That's pretty good. My question is, which big diamond shares a name with a Mario Party 3 character?

Come on, everybody at once. Waluigi? This is about the Waluigi diamond. No, you're not going to. There's always the character I hate when you're playing any sort of Mario game these days. Ludwig. Do you know this guy with the blue hair? Curse you, Ludwig.

Ugh! Yeah. My blood boils for Ludwig. My heart beats for Ludwig. Ask my wife. She hears me in the other room yelling at a fictional Ludwig while doing Mario Kart 50cc. I'm not very good, but... Not very good, not very good.

But that fucking Ludwig. Dave, Dave, I need to... Please tell me that was a joke. Are you playing 50cc? I'm working my way up to 100. The carts are just so fast, you can't control them. Wait, wait, wait. You're flying off the road And you're playing alone

So you have the entire TV screen It's just you And you're still like It's too quick It's too quick I've got the characters on easy It's on 50cc Jasmine, I have another guess

Yeah, sure Chain chomps I've got a list up here To be honest, Jess Yeah, sure. Chain chomps. I've got a list up here. To be honest, Jess, is it a character that a lot of us have heard of? Absolutely not, no. Oh, okay. I just couldn't think of a question.

And so here we are. Little clue, little clue. Okay. Year 2000. Millennium bugs. Silver chair. Part of what he said was right. Millennium. Millennium Phil. Millennium Bugs. Silverchair. Part of what he said was right. Millennium.

Millennium Phil. Millennium? Millennium Phil. That's fun. Millennium Phil. Is it? Which player do you want to be? Yoshi or Millennium Phil? Millennium Phil for me.

I'd pick him over Ludwig. Okay. I'm going to lock in Millennium Star. That is correct. Well done, Dave. Can you believe I got that, Matt? I cannot believe you got that. He's very clever.

Yeah, this topic is the Millennium Dome heist. Oh, wow, the Millennium Dome. Yeah, I asked the Patreons, I said, what kind of topic do you want? And a lot of people were like, heist. And then the other half said, anything dome related. Yeah, yeah. And I was like, have I got the topic for you? Oh, that's exciting.

I reckon you're going to have a good time. That's my prediction. Straight off the mark. You're going to have a good time. It's been suggested by a few people. It's been suggested by Daisy Porter, Ellie, Adam Stanford, and Ronan Williams. Any of them in the room tonight?

Imagine. Oh, gosh. I think it happened one time and it was so good. And we were like, what the fuck? It was so good. It was so exciting. Maybe they're watching, what the fuck? It was so good. It was so exciting. Maybe they're watching on stream.

But I cannot check the comments right now. No. So, I won't know. And then you'll tweet at me later. Oh, that's such a good point. And I'll be like, I don't know. I'm going to go into the comments. Oh, yeah, you can do that. Yeah, you can.

But I- Can I? Should I? Well, yeah. Yeah. It's always dangerous. Because I do doubt your concentration a tiny little bit.

Okay. At the best of times. Oh, because now he's got the footy on one screen. Hang on. The YouTube comments and then us. We're definitely coming third. Yeah, yeah. And we're fourth.

He's also got news.com up for some reason. The cricket's about to start in 15 minutes actually. He likes to stay current. No, okay, so the Millennium Dome. Does anybody know what the Millennium Dome is or was? Yeah, I remember that. In London? Yeah, that's right.

And then it became the O2 Arena? That's right. Yes, that's right. And it was in one of the James Bond movies. Do you remember he was rolling down it for a little bit? Was he? Pierce? Which one was that?

One of the not as good ones. Basically, not Goldeneye. Huh. The world is not enough. Well said. Could not agree more. Not enough. I think so.

Beautifully said. So, the Millennium Dome was built to celebrate the year 2000. And it had this big, massive public exhibition, which organisers said was going to attract 12 million visitors. It attracted 6.5. So close but not at all. But that's fine.

We also said tonight we would attract 12 million here tonight and we have only just hit 6.5 million and it is embarrassing. My dad asked how many people were watching on stream and I said, oh, I think a couple hundred. He said, oh, I thought it would be in the thousands. And I was like, who the fuck do you think we are? And why is a couple hundred not good enough? Oh, that's disappointing.

But any time you have a high expectation like 12 million, six and a half now seems pathetic. But if you said six and a half million people went there five minutes ago, I would have been like, that's amazing. That's amazing. And that's across a 12-month period. Yeah. So it is pretty great.

And, yeah, as Dave mentioned, it looks pretty different now. Part of the complex is like a shopping centre and a cinema and the middle is the O2 Arena. So it's in London. But in its early prime, the Dome had circus performances and the surrounding area was split into 14 different themed zones, all part of this exhibition they were doing, right? And so the zones were like-

14. 14. What a weird number to choose, Bob. That is upsetting. I kind of don't mind 14. Really? I don't know why. I don't know why.

I hadn't thought about it. Matt's brought it up. I'm just going to move on before i throw up all over this stage so they had zones like body mind faith play talk money all these different zones with different sort of exhibitions in each of them and apparently at the entrance of the money zone the walls and floor were covered in one million pounds in cash, like stuck to the wall. Not like you couldn't just grab a pound. Oh, okay.

Behind like a glass or a prospect or something, but it was just a million dollars pounds. So what, like 45 million Australian dollars? Yeah. Back in the year 2000, yeah, honestly, wow. So pretty fun. Today's story is actually about the main attraction of the money zone at the Millennium Dome, and that Money Zone at the Millennium Dome.

And that main attraction was the Millennium Jewels. Ooh. La-di-da. They were a collection of precious stones, including rare and priceless blue diamonds. But the main attraction was the Millennium Star, the world's second largest flawless white pear-cut diamond. It's a big-ass diamond, right? And these stones were all owned by the De Beers Diamond Consortium, which is, I imagine, the only place Matt would buy diamonds. Anywhere else, Matt?

No, well, De Beers, we talked about – you'd remember this, Jess, in my episode about the diamond myth. They're the people who – they're the cartel who have sort of inflated the prices to ridiculous levels over the years and they've made up the whole diamond myth. They're the ones who came up with the diamond is forever. Yeah. Yeah, and like I'd summarise that. So, thank you for doing that for me.

So, the value of these stones altogether came to about 350 million pounds. Whoa. So, they're worth a lot of cash. And that hefty sum caught the attention of a gang of crooks. So at 9.30am. The De Beers. The De Beers, yeah. Allegedly.

That was an inside job, okay. At 9.30am on the 7th of November 2000, surveillance at the Millennium Dome picked up a seven-ton JCB Earth digger heading towards the dome. How far away? Like, oh, my God, there's a thing coming. It's 25 miles away.

Now it's only 24. It's crossing the dam somehow. It's going underwater. It's bright yellow too. Big old crossing the dam somehow. It's going underwater. It's bright yellow too. Big old JCB digger. Which is crazy because I've written JCB digger so many times in this report and then today I was driving along and I saw a big yellow thing up ahead. I was like, get fucked.

Got close, saw JCB and I was like, ah! And I wouldn't have taken a photo, but I was driving. Safety first. Well, I, for one, without a photo, don't believe you. It was awesome. I couldn't wait to tell you I saw one. Wow, the JCB. To be honest, they're panicking that a digger is coming towards the dome.

There's a big digger coming. I mean, surely it's got to get through quite a bit of dome before it's inside. Wow. Yeah. That's so great. Now, those diggers, those machinery, how many people can fit in that? Two. This is like a clown digger.

There's four of them. Oh, my God. There's four men inside wearing body armour and gas masks. They're armed with smoke bombs, sledgehammers and nail guns. It's good to blend in when you're trying to get a horse, you know. You don't want to look suspicious. And a digger! At 9.30 in the morning, you probably had peak hour to get there.

Just on the horn. Oh, fucking hell. Go! Go! I have a diamond to steal. So the digger drove up a ramp, smashed through a locked gate and into a steel delivery door, smashing that open as well. So it's just smashing its way through.

Once inside, the digger drove towards the money zone where the De Beers diamonds were on display. The money zone. The money zone. That's like you put a big sign out front. It's like when they're talking back to the people at the base, like we've just entered the money zone. The money zone. That's like you put a big sign out the front. It's like when they're talking back to the people at the base, like we've just entered the money zone. Fuck yeah, you have.

The money zone. It feels very cool. Two of the men jumped from the digger and started throwing smoke bombs. One of them attempted to break the glass that encased the diamonds. Now, they knew that the bomb-proof glass could resist a force of a 60-tonne ram raid. It's a strong protective glass. But the plan was to weaken the glass with three shots

from a powerful Hilti nail gun and then use a sledgehammer to smash at the weakened glass. A foolproof plan. So you're telling me it is bomb proof but not nail gun proof. Yeah. Not sledgehammer proof. Yeah. And we laugh but it worked. No. No.

How? Determination. That's. So the plan was working and the gang were inches away from the diamonds. But here's the thing. Those weren't the real diamonds. But here's the thing. Those weren't the real diamonds. No. Yes, my puppets, yes.

Matt, you still with us? Yeah. That's a good twist. Edge of my seat over here, Bob. Good to check in every now and then. So let's go back in time a little bit, right? So in the summer of 2000, a branch of the Serious and Organised Crime Command within London's Metropolitan Police

called the Flying Squad, very cool, they were working on a case. The squad's purpose is to investigate and thwart robberies and aims to catch robbers in the act because that usually means a stronger chance of conviction. So sometimes they know a crime's going to happen and they let it start to happen so they can catch them in the act and then it's sort of like, well, we caught you red-handed. Off to jail. So just a fun little tidbit here from a famous crime website,

wikipedia.org. Oh, yeah, I've heard of it. It is often referred to by the nicknames The Heavy Mob or The Sweeney, rhyming slang for Flying Squad from Sweeney Todd. The British. There you go. They're so good at lots of things, you know. I don't know if I understand.

Can you? What? Flying Squad, Sweeney Todd, Sweeney. Sweeney. So that's why that Dennis Waterman show from the 70s was called The Sweeney Todd. Sweeney. Sweeney. So that's why that Dennis Waterman show from the 70s was called The Sweeney. Yes. The more you know. Dennis, you've done it again.

Dennis. Anyway, so in February of 2000, armed men had attempted a raid on a security van carrying 10 million pound in cash. They'd blocked off both ends of Nine Elms Lane in South London and the plan was to use a lorry, which was carrying Christmas trees, in February. Hang on a second. Sus.

And so they're going to use that lorry as a battering ram. Attached to the lorry was a huge metal spike that they'd covered with Christmas trees. That makes sense now. It's a secret. And they were going to, yep, the plan was, it was going to be used to split the security van's doors open. Just

shove a big old metal spike in there. It's a fucking huge metal spike. It was only supposed to split the bloody doors off. That's, just saying, that's the plan. That's the plan. That's the plan. You feel good about yourself? Yeah, so good.

So that's the plan. However, when they returned to the lorry holding the Christmas trees and the huge metal spike, the keys to the truck were missing. One story I read said a motorist who was stuck in gridlock because they blocked the road was annoyed

and took the keys from the ignition. They just lost the keys to the truck. Either someone took it or they just lost them and that ruined their whole plan. But if you're worried about gridlock and you take the keys away from the person that's blocking you. You're not just fixing your own problem. Not at all.

So it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's a beautiful act of passive aggression and it foiled a robbery, which is pretty amazing. So the gang abandoned the plan. They set off small explosives. Do you think stealing is passive aggressive? Stealing the keys? What would it take for it to be an actively aggressive thing for you?

If they, like, grabbed him and went, fuck you. Yeah. You know what I mean? I think that feels more aggressive. Yeah, in comparison to, like, a ram raid with a Christmas tree spike. Yeah, that feels quite aggressive, yes. So they set off small explosives in the vehicles that they were using for the heist to sort of, like, destroy the evidence.

They hadn't got anything but destroyed any sort of record of themselves being there and they took off on foot. And luckily, I suppose for the robbers, Nine Elms Lane is very close to the Thames so they were able to escape without the loot on speedboats. That's fucking cool. That's cool. That's sick.

That's actually really sick. It's actually pretty freaking sick yeah yeah we'll pay that we'll pay that they just run off if you forget that they're not getting away with anything it's pretty fucking sick it's pretty cool so the same gang popped up again several months later in july this time in aylesford in kent um this is from the guardian the gang struck with military precision first a blue transit van skidded to a halt directly in This is from The Guardian. strong gang informed the terrified security guards that explosive charges were being fitted to the van and would be detonated if they attempted to escape. Green landmine looking boxes with like flashing red lights on them were attached to the doors and on top of the bonnet. So they're putting

bombs on this security van. At the same time, two other gang members armed with petrol driven cutting machines ducked under the van and cut its hydraulic cables, immobilising it. They then attempted to cut away the tailgate at the rear of the van, which when it's in the up position acts as an extra layer of protection. So they're just like breaking in real quick. When they failed, an articulated lorry with a massive metal spike... Oh, no. ...welded to its rear any christmas trees no christmas

trees this time it's july that would be ridiculous um so then they're reversing it at speed into the rear of the security van the first attempt made a small hole in the metal skin and the second a far larger one so they've hit it twice they They're getting in. The cash is within reach. But by then, dozens of mobile phone calls from eyewitnesses had been received by Kent Police because that is a baffling thing to see on the street. And you probably would call the cops. But they're yelling out, don't worry, we work for the bank.

It's fine. Sorry. Never mind. Sorry to waste your time. So cops arrive on the scene pretty quickly and the robbers fired shots at the police car and again took off on foot and made their escape on speedboats. That's sick.

These guys are the best. Yeah. I wouldn't pick a side just yet. Okay. I love these people and I think morally they're all bang on. They're good people. I trust them. I love everything they do and I stand by everything they've done

and will do into the future. Yeah. I reckon it's going to be jet skis. God, I wish. So far they haven't stolen anything. No, no, no. They haven't successfully stolen anything. They've just attached some bombs to it. Yes.

Point to the crime here. Huh. What's the charge? I guess I can't. Brammy a car? It's all very action movie and I love it. But these two attempted robberies and elaborate escapes were very cool, but also really put this gang

on the Flying Squad's radar. A gang capable of carrying out robberies. Robberies. I love that you jumped in because I was about to. I've got to get in first. A gang capable of carrying out robberies with this level of planning was definitely one to watch. This is from The Guardian again.

When army bomb disposal experts attended the scene at Aylesbury, they found that the landmines were in fact, you'll love this, Dave, tinned Fray Bento's steak and kidney pies. Oh. Tinned pies. We don't have that kind of culture here. I've never had a tinned pie here. You've never had one?

But they've got one of those in less magnitude. Well, they've painted it green and put some little red lights on it. Do you reckon they ate it first? It doesn't say if the can was empty or full. It's a waste. Well, I mean, maybe for the weight you'd want them full, but that is a waste of pie. Tinned pie.

Again, the British. They know how to eat. You do things right over there. Yeah, never had a bad meal over there. Gosh, I love that. I have. Oh, the British. They know how to eat. You do things right over there. Yeah, never had a bad meal over there. Gosh, I love that. I have. Oh, my God. And I was eating with Dave.

Couldn't believe how good their stuff tasted. Yeah, no, he loves it, doesn't he, Matt? He loves it. Loves it, yeah. He's got really bad taste. It's like Dave's mouth is stupid. Yeah. Yeah, Stupid mouth.

So, any doubts that the same gang had been involved in both crimes vanished when police examined the vehicle holding the ramming spike. Etched into a girder on the back of the truck were the words, persistent, aren't we? Oh, that's badass. Yeah yeah but you failed again but you cannot fault our perseverance and resilience yeah it's great to be that cocky and then you've fucked it twice persistent aren't we you fucked it yeah so good so the second unsuccessful attack provided the police with important clues because remember

they they blew up the cars in the first one um so there wasn't any evidence uh but the second one it was slightly more because they didn't blow up the cars and they were able to track some of the vehicles that were used in the two raids to isolated farms in rural kent the properties coincidentally were already under surveillance for unrelated reasons and security was then just increased. Like we've already got surveillance on it, let's make it 24-7. It was actually quite convenient for the cops. Kent Police Serious Crimes Unit suspected 32-year-old Lee Wenham and several of his associates of being involved in organised car theft,

drug smuggling and money laundering. Several stolen vehicles were seen being taken to Tong Farm, which is a property recently purchased by Lee's father, James. So a bunch of stolen cars turning up there and they're like, they're probably involved in this somehow. Any speedboats? Not yet. Okay.

But police decided not to act because they felt like something bigger was being planned. We had to make a decision, Detective Superintendent Andy Dolden of Kent Police said. We could have made arrests for stolen vehicles, but the chances are they would have claimed to have bought them at auction, not knowing their background. We decided to wait.

They're just watching them. And they're just doing crimes, right? They're so – anyway. Are they police or are they pervs just watching they sound like grubs do your job man i will i will just remind you there's a bunch of people watching us oh yeah we are under surveillance right now yeah i wouldn't look i wouldn't call them all pervs well Only some of them. I think we know, though, don't we?

We know. Yeah, we know. We know we sit amongst the pervs. Present company excluded. Of course. The ones who keep laughing a little too long. Pervs. After the Ailesford attempted-

I'm watching them watching you, by the way. I'm a double perv. Who pervs the pervs? Me. And we're so glad to have you. So after the Aylesford, the second attempted robbery, Detective Dolden was on the scene within an hour and immediately recognised two transit vans.

He said they'd both been at Tong Farm for several weeks. It meant I could link the robbery to Lee Wenham right away but they hadn't managed to get any money and I had no idea what forensic evidence we'd be able to get. I knew the gang were not simply going to give up committing crime. Once again, I decided to wait. A lot of waiting around. He just can't be fucked, this guy.

He's like, oh, so much paperwork. Let's wait till they murder someone or something serious. No, let's wait till they murder two people. Yeah, you're right. Knock it out in one bit of paperwork. So, yeah, he's like, I'm not sure what sort of forensics we'll get. Well, the forensic test took nearly 10 weeks, but it finally bore fruit. Saliva on a pair of rubber gloves found on the dashboard of one of the vans

belonged to Lee Wenham. What is he up to with those gloves? Yeah. I can only imagine. Any way you think about it, it's weird. Like, if he's spitting inside the glove, what's he doing? How do you put on gloves? That's what I thought of it.

Yeah. I put on my gloves one finger at a time, just like the rest of you, okay? Yeah. It's very difficult. And very uncomfortable to watch. I hate that he insists on wearing gloves to podcasts. Okay, so during the surveillance on the farmhouse in Kent, a few other interesting things happened that were certainly noteworthy

for the police. One day, a stolen digger arrived. That's odd, isn't it? Stored that on the property. And another day, a car tows in a speedboat. And how many people are watching this farm? A few. They're watching everything.

How do they not notice that for months there's a van outside watching everything they're doing? I've seen footage because it was in, like in like 2000 and I watched a doco about it and there's just footage of them like getting out of cars and saying hello to their friend. Nice clear shots of their faces, broad daylight, all of their associates turning up with stolen shit. They're dumb.

That's awesome. And I love it. Love a dumb crook. Love a dumb crook. So fairly soon they were able to observe a few more familiar faces appearing at the farm. Again, broad daylight. They're just not covering their face.

They're just like, G'day, mate. It's crazy. So Terry Millman, a known South London gangster who'd previously served 14 years for armed robbery. There was Ray Betson who had convictions for fraud and theft and William Cockrum. These are all great names. How would Jason Statham say some of these names, Jess?

Terry Millman. Fucking, that's great. That's so good. I didn't even have to do my line to get into his voice that time. Which I normally do. Which you can do it anyway because we love it. I'll do it anyway. What makes you think I'd risk my life for you? Terry Millman. Terry Millman.

Terry Millman. Fuck, that's good. On the Megalodon. That's Matt's version. What's yours? Do you have one to give to Statham? Or can you just snap straight in? I'm always him.

That's on me for inviting him to do that. To be honest, the thing is that Matt used to have no thanks Turkish, I'm sweet enough, but now he's changed to the Megalodon. So he's got two, you've got one, and I've got none. Why don't you take no thanks Turkish? Well, that's not him. That's Bricktop. So if you want me to get into Bricktop talking to Statham,

then sure. If you could have a back and forth between Bricktop and Jason Statham. Yeah. Okay. Well, what's Statham up to at the moment? He's a Megalodon. He's a Megalodon. Maybe he's some sort of like giant shark offering Bricktop like sugar

in his tea, for example. Okay. Yeah, I could try something like that. Okay, great, great. Hey, Bricktop, I in his tea, for example? Okay, yeah, I could try something like that. Okay, great, great. Hey, Bricktop, I'm a Megalodon. Now, you want any sugar in that tea? No, folks, Turkish, I'm sweet enough. Incredible.

Even with COVID, he's that good uh so yeah ray betson who had his convictions of fraud and theft and william cockram cockram let's be serious his name is willie cockram and the answer, yes. We're adults. And you all are too. Giggling like idiots. So Willie Cockram had heat surfed time for ram raiding. I mean, that is nominative determinism.

Honestly, you shouldn't even go to jail if that is your name. Ram raiding. He's doing what he's born to do. And handling stolen goods. Okay. In September of 2000, the team identified three of the suspected robbers, Lee Wenham, Ray Bettson and Willie Cockram, visiting the Millennium Dome. And they were observed visiting the exhibitions, recording video footage, leading the police to suspect that the money exhibition could be a target. I love that there's like no way anyone would volunteer to attend this shithouse exhibition.

Filming it, documenting the memories. Come on. They go a few times and that surveillance on the men was significantly increased and the dome was placed under close watch. In fact, the first time Lee went and visited the dome, first thing he did, you go to this beautiful exhibition, right? It's got 14 different zones and a circus. First thing he does, goes and checks the security gate.

Just has a good look at it on camera. There's CCTV everywhere and he's just having a good old look at the security gate. Just sort of shaking it a bit. Pushing it a bit, trying to get through it. Trying to pick a lock. Trying to pick a lock. Trying to pick a lock. Oh, it's just not part of the exhibition.

Oh, I didn't know. That's why I thought this was a security zone. Okay. I thought the idea was to try to get out. Oh, okay. It's not interactive. It would have been a good idea if you wanted to implement it. The undercover police film him visiting the money zone three times

on that first visit. Just keeps going back and, oh, is that a million pound, is it? He's drawing a map. They're like, hmm, that's sus. But police also noticed another detail. Each time the three men visited the dome, the Thames, which the building sat right on, was at high tide. Huh. each time the three men visited the dome, the Thames, which the building sat right on, was at high tide.

Huh. Somebody's just whispering to themselves, speedboats. Speedboats. Yeah, that's why I mentioned it a few times. Speedboats. Yeah, it's why I mentioned it a few times. Speedboats. Speedboats. Speedboats. So if the gang were to pull off this heist,

it would be the equivalent of 12 great train robberies, previous topic we've done. Wow. Or 38 Hatton Garden heists. Did you do the maths on this? Yes. Ink? I did not see it in a documentary. Oh, okay.

I thought you were doing it. I did it myself. How many? And I accounted for inflation. Yeah. How many MCGs full of cash? Three. Three?

If you're putting like one pound on each seat. I assume that's what you mean. One. Two. Takes ages. Some pounds are jealous of the others. Pounds have better view than they do. What the fuck are they in a box?

Sorry, that pound is a member. Basically, it would be the biggest and most audacious robbery in British history. And most bodacious. And definitely the most bodacious. Speedboats. Speedboats. Speedboats.

So you can understand why the Flying Squad are pretty keen to stop this robbery. Now, they're now very confident of the gang's next target, so the Flying Squad get to work. The dome exterior is protected by a high perimeter fence and regular security patrols. The jewels are displayed in a vault built with ram-proof concrete walls and visitors enter the vault through a high security door.

So they've put some measures in place. The jewels are displayed inside the cabinets. Oh, no, that was right, actually. Speedboat. Hey, Jess, you're doing a great job. What's that? You're doing a great job out there. Thank you so much, Matt. Thank you. I needed that. I love you. I can never do what you do. Matt, Jess, you're doing a great job. What's that? You're doing a great job out there. Thank you so much, Matt.

Thank you. I needed that. I love you. I can never do what you do. Matt, I love you. I love you too. Thank you. Thank you.

Inside, the cabinets the diamonds are in are fully alarmed and the glass is designed to withstand a hammer for a minimum of 30 minutes. And I would love to be in the lab when they tested that. Yeah, is it like just one guy for 30 minutes? Maybe. It could be two taking 15-minute shifts. I don't know. But do they calculate that after 29 minutes, surely he'll be tired?

I think it's more that, like, that it'll hold out for long enough for police to get there. Oh, okay. Some kind of security. That doesn't roll off the tongue as well as 30 minutes of hammer time. They can't touch this. Cocker hammer time. That's Dave's regret face.

Thanks for stepping up, Dave. Hey, you've still got time to regret something. If you regret it, like, still got time to regret something. If you regret it, like your face is bigger than ever. You could just turn the laptop away though, I guess. Don't look at me. Don't look at me. So there's also CCTV in the vault and it's monitored by Dome Security and also by De Beers security who's watching remotely from their head office,

which is like seven miles away. So there's a lot of surveillance, a lot of security around these diamonds. And even though there is a lot of security, the Flying Squad decided to replace the jewels with very convincing replicas. So they've got so much time because these robbers have been so obvious that this is their next target that they're like, well, we've got ages. Let's get some replicas made.

Let's train up some more people. They've got ages to prepare for this. That's so good. They built a whole second Millennium 10. And as you approach the first one, it just has a big, like, crayon-drawn sign that says Millennium Dome that way. And you're like, okay. So the Flying Squad assumes that the gang are likely to strike

during the day because the vaults will be open to the public and it's sort of a bit easier. But the danger then is that a heist occurs with a large number of civilians present and the police need to ensure that if the gang are going to attempt the robbery, they were going to maintain an element of surprise so they didn't alert the robbers to their presence.

So they bring in members from the Specialist Firearms Command, they're the SO-19, who they discover that the dome has a 100-metre-long tunnel in the basement that it just opens up to some fire doors and some stairs which basically pops up right at the money sign. Like it couldn't be in a better spot. They're like, oh, great, we'll use that. That's sorted then.

Yeah, they're like, should we use the trap door? De Beers is like, sorry, what? Come again? So that's a perfect spot to launch a surprise ambush. They also built a false wall inside the exhibit for some cops to hide behind. They had time to build a new wall. But it doesn't go all the way to the bottom

so you can just sort of see their feet. There's these big combat boots. And you can hear them going, hee, hee, hee. Shh. Speedboat. Yeah, they're going to use the speedboat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

So they could fit 20 cops in the vault, in the room, where the robbers would be. There'd just be 20 cops waiting. That's really good. It's so good waiting it's so good because they've made it so obvious so they also try to figure out when the robbery is going to happen and due to an increase in surveillance uh they just the the police discovered a few other members of the gang that they were sort of like i reckon this guy's going to be involved um they

they saw as terry millman was tasked with obtaining a speedboat. They watched him just go buy a speedboat. I think, yeah, they witnessed some of the gang, like, testing out a speedboat on a river near Kent. They're like, okay. And then that one didn't work very well, so Terry went and bought a new one. He paid, like, £3,700 cash, but he signed it Terry Diamond. Like, you cocky fuck. Terry Diamond.

You'll get that in a few weeks. So good. So he's got the speedboat. And based on the tides, police were able to identify a few dates for possible raids because they're like, well, they need the water level to be at a certain spot so they can actually get out. What for?

For the speedboat. Oh. Speedboat. So there's only a few times that month where the high tide and the place is open. Yeah, so they've just got these few dates and then they just kind of check on them. Are they coming?

Oh, no. It's so good. That's great. They attempted in early October and that sort of plan was aborted because the speedboat malfunctioned. And that's when Terry went and bought a new one. Sorry, Terry Diamond. On November 6th, the gang were planning to attempt again,

but they found the tide was a bit too low for a safe getaway. Okay. But then on the 7th of November 2000, police are confident the gang is going to try again today. Months of surveillance and investigation had come down to this. The code name was Operation Magician. Very cool. And Detective Superintendent John Shatford.

He was in command. Cockram and Shatford. Fun stuff. A total of 200 officers were involved. 40 of them were from the Specialist Firearms Command. They were the ones in the tunnel. A further 60 armed flying squad officers were stationed around the Thames and 20 were on the river in boats.

And they'd been doing training exercises for ages because they knew this was going to happen. So there's just cops in boats just waiting. I love it so much. On the day of the rugby look out and see all these cops doing these training exercises, they're like, today's the day. Yeah. This makes sense.

No, they're just distracted because they're in speedboats. Speedboat. Speedboat. So surveillance officers are disguised as dome employees and like cleaners and stuff like that. Every employee in the dome is a cop. But I also – I like to imagine that they're, like, they're all undercover cops and then somebody's like,

excuse me, where are the toilets? And they're like, um, there, that way. Here's a bucket. Ask Shitford. He'll know. Shatford always knows where a toilet is. Shit Ford

sorry is my first car. A bit of fun. A bit of fun. That was disrespectful. It was a great car. Nah, it was a shit Ford. So they used the dome cctv room is now the police's control room some officers

were positioned behind the dummy wall and others were dressed as cleaners and dome employees with their firearms concealed just in like one woman was saying her gun was just in her bum bag not as convenient as a holster but still pretty good you gotta go like...

Should have converted the mops and stuff. That would have been sick. Oh, shit, yeah. You know, like that guy from Bond, Dave, what's his name, who makes all the things? Q. Sorry, I'm not Dave. You can make a mop gun.

Yeah, a mop gun. At least a mop shiv. That's England, right? They're not far. Mop shiv. You know, just like? They're not far. Mop shiv. You know, just like a knife that comes out of the top of it. Oh, like a bayonet out of the top of it. Like you're just like, la, la, la, vlink.

What about a- The blood straight away would be cleaned up as well. Perfect. Brilliant. That is good. Brilliant. So at approximately 9.30am, the yellow JCP digger approached the dome and they must have been like, they'll never see this cover.

They're expecting a speedboat. Digger. Four members were inside wearing body armour and armed with smoke bombs, sledgehammers and nail guns. It was Cockram who attempted to weaken the glass with the nail gun and another member, Robert Adams, planned to use the sledgehammer to break the glass. The police pounced on four members of the gang,

two as they were attempting to smash their way into the display case and two outside the vault with the digger. So there was a guy called Aldo Ciarocci. He was the man throwing smoke bombs. He was swiftly arrested and pinned to the ground while Ray Batson was surrounded by police as he sat in the driver's seat in the cab of the digger. And as he sat in the driver's seat with his hands up,

he tried his luck by saying, oh, it's all right, mate. This has nothing to do with me. I work here. That's brilliant. I'm just doing a bit of digging. I'm just driving a digger into the dome at 9.30 in the morning. Smoke bombs never happen. What's going on?

Oh, something bad's happening. Okay. It's worth a try if you don't know that the cops have been tracking you for ages and know exactly who you are. Oh, I work here. I've never heard of anyone called Terry Diamond. I certainly don't think that's very funny. As the four men inside were being arrested,

police boats approached the getaway speedboat, which by this stage was moored at the Dome's private dock. It's very cool, actually. There's footage in the doco um and and they talk a lot in the documentary about all the contingency plans they'd come up with and and how they sort of needed to like stay out of sight and they really thought through every possible scenario because you know if if a gunfight started between two boats like the the gang might shoot at them but they can't safely like shoot back.

Like, you know, it's too far away, it's too dangerous that they might hit civilians, whatever. So they're thinking through everything and then they essentially just kind of sneak up on the guy. They seriously just come around a different way. He's not looking and then he turns around and he's like, oh, and there's just cops everywhere. It was so fucking easy.

All these contingency plans. They had thought of everything and then they just go, hello. And he goes, oh, no, it's all right, I work here. He genuinely didn't even try. He just sort of went like, ah, all right. Apparently he was very quiet. They just arrested him, took him off and he's like, ah, that's it. And they trained.

They thought of everything and then they just kind of went like, hee-hee-hee. I found it so funny. They also arrested a man whom they suspected of monitoring police radio frequencies. He was detained on the north shore of the Thames opposite the dome. Terry Millman, Diamond, he was arrested outside the dome and Lee Wenham was arrested on the farm in Kent.

He wasn't even there. Wenham. Once all the suspects had been detained, they were taken to police stations in South London. By noon, some areas of the dome had reopened, but others, including the money zone, were cornered off. They're like, well, just, yeah. Shatford defended the decision that was taken to wait

until the gang had reached the diamonds before arresting them. He said, our chief concern throughout was public safety. We decided it was better to let the robbers get to the vault where they were effectively imprisoned with 20 cops inside. Yeah, that's pretty good. Ta-da! It's like the robbers had planned it out and they'd thought it through so much but they just never kind of expected cops to be around.

It's one thing. The case went to trial the following year. Terry Millman had died of cancer before the trial had started and the others who were present at the Dome faced a three-month trial. On the first day of the defence case, one of them, some sources say Cochrane, others say it was Aldo, discussed the lack of security inside the Dome. I couldn't believe how simple it was.

I was thinking, this cannot be true. It was a gift. At first I thought it was a pie in the sky, but after going down there, I couldn't believe security was so bad. There was nobody in the vault, no security workers walking around. The De Beers person's like, oh, shit, shut up, shut up up shut up but also like that's on purpose we're letting you in yeah that's so funny he's he's so he's on trial at this point he still hasn't figured out yeah he's like i couldn't believe it they just wandered on in there

there was some guys i think they had guns on them, but they looked like cleaners and they were like, yeah, come through here, boys, in you go. The only thing that was really unlucky, it turned out the diamonds were fake. I don't know what happened. It was weird. He stated that if the plan had succeeded,

it would have taken a very short time from hitting the main gate to getting back across the Thames. Five minutes max. He's bragging from trial. I've got a thing that hasn't happened. Yeah, he's like, oh, man, it would have been so easy. Would it have been? So funny.

Yeah, this is what I would have spent the money on too. 10 houses, 38 boats, six new wives. And honestly, if I just got the chance, my dad would have totally beaten up your dad. He was sick that day, that's all. He's away on business. Yeah. He also added no one was going to get hurt.

There was no one to hurt. The dome was always empty. Bit of a jab there. Oh, yeah. 12 million. Yeah, all right. The publicity people are like, shut the fuck up. Shut up.

6.5 is actually pretty impressive. There's still a lot of millions. So he's just like, he's going down swinging. Yeah. No, fuck you. There was a claim at one point that Betson's brother-in-law, Michael Waring, who worked at the Dome as a security officer, was in on the plan.

According to Betson, Waring had told him about his school friend, Tony, who was also working at the Dome. Waring had told him about a plan that Tony had put together. It's so funny. It's my cousin's friend, right? Tony had got this plan together. He had a backer, someone to buy the jewellery. He said the security was crap.

Again, the security's like, come on. Yeah, she does. Betson then went on to say, I had every confidence in him. There's no way I thought he'd betray me, not for two seconds. If this had come to me from someone else in a pub, I wouldn't have gone along with it, but it was the background to where it had come from. It was solid. I did not think he would try to do me any harm. I trust it. Bit dramatic. Called as a prosecution witness, Waring totally denied that he was part of the plan or had offered to act in a criminal way by providing information.

That kind of, that allegation sort of went nowhere. There was no evidence, nothing to suggest that that was true. At the trial, Crown Prosecutor Martin Heslop said that the raid was planned professionally, carefully and down to the last detail. So well organised was it that it would probably have succeeded had it not been for an equally professional, careful and detailed police operation. And you being so fucking obvious.

They would have got away with it too if they hadn't set up the exact plan to allow us to do this in the first place. Willie Cockram was sentenced to 18 years for conspiring to rob, which was later reduced to 15. Ray Bettson was sentenced to 18 years for conspiring to rob and also reduced to 15. After his release, he was convicted again in 2014 following a botched raid on a cash depot in 2012

and sentenced to 13 years. So he's still in prison. Aldo and Robert Adams were given 15 years. And another man who's barely mentioned in any reports kevin meredith he was sentenced to five years for conspiracy to steal which is apparently different to conspiracy to rob i don't get it lee wenham was sentenced to four years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal and was at the same time sentenced to nine years for the aylesford attempted robbery because he was the only one that they could link to it because his DNA was there.

Oh, because he spat on his gloves. He went. It's just my tongue. So, yeah, there's no evidence to connect any of the others. So, Lee had licked his gloves and he got nicked. Now, this part felt straight out of an action movie as well. The Flying Squad arrested a man that believed was the mastermind behind the plot, but he wasn't present on the day of the raid. His name was James Hurley. He was

from South London and he was arrested following an undercover operation. The operation tracked Hurley to the Costa del Sol and the officer in charge of the operation, Detective Chief Superintendent John Shatford, arrived in Spain with a team of three others and an emergency warrant for Hurley's arrest. You know, they went and nabbed him. They couldn't find him for ages and they found him in Spain and they got him.

And I don't think anything happened from it, so don't worry. They did a big investigation and they were sort of like, ah, we probably don't have enough to they got him. And I don't think anything happened from it, so don't worry. They did a big investigation and they were sort of like, ah, we probably don't have enough. They walked up to him and said, are you James Hurley? And he said, yeah. And they said, right then. Yeah.

Good. Good. And then they left. It's really cool. Scared him. So there you go. A lot of preparation and planning on both sides of the heist, all for it to with over within minutes and you know nobody got hurt so that's good um as for the dome uh it attracted like we said barely half of the 12 million customers its sponsors forecast

and it was deemed a failure by the press but people loved it like the the public really enjoyed it but you know the press were like, duh, shit. Didn't get 12 mil. Shit. And then all the original exhibition elements were sold or dismantled. The Dome was renamed as the O2 in 2005 and was opened to the public on the 24th of June 2007 with a concert by Bon Jovi.

Oh. All right. Yeah. Living on a prayer. Yes, please. My grandparents were a fan of the dome. I remember they had like a snow globe with a dome in it. They had a snow dome.

Yeah. Snow dome. They had a snow globe with the dome. It's not a particularly interesting looking building. They loved it. Okay. Did they go to it? No.

I mean, you don't need to go to the dome. If you've got a globe, you don't go to the dome. You know what I mean? Well, there you go. Well, that is my report on the Millennium Dome. And I just want to – something that really – I just want a five-second delay. Jeez, they've really gotten zero applause.

That's the end of my report. Cricket, cricket. I've got some good claps in here. Hear on them. Oh, that is nice. Crispy. Yeah. No, all I was going to add was that I'd finished writing this report and I was like, yep, happy with that.

And then I saw a comment on the YouTube of the documentary and it was from DouglasDouglas8842 who said- Are you here tonight? Before you say anything, Bob, can I have a guess? Yeah. This guy's a bit of a fuckwit. Probably. Because DouglasDouglas says,

should have taken no more than 10 minutes, just got stretched out and stretched out until it became a boring non-story and then I spiralled so I was like oh I just wrote an hour report on this oh Douglas's comment didn't

end with and then I spiralled no no no that spiral was for me so I hope you enjoyed Speedboats and the Raid of the Millennium Dome. Yeah! I loved it.

I thought it was really fun. We love a heist, but there's only one thing better than a heist, and that's a heist with dumb criminals. Yeah. But it's like they had, you know, they were smart in so many ways and then just like kind of cocky, I think. Just sort of like, well, they couldn't possibly be watching us on this farm that we live at.

Anyway, g'day, Terry. You know, like, oh, man, I love it so much. And they think they're so clever and the cops are just waiting. Oh, I love it. And then, yeah, the speedboats just kind of, they just snuck up on him. It was so easy in the end. I mean, that must have been quite disappointing, actually,

if you've been doing all these, like, training exercises and then it's just a matter of walking up to somebody and going, you're under arrest. Oh, yeah, you're really disappointed. I was ready to do, like, barrel rolls and cool shit. It just wasn't meant to be. But, yeah, you're really disappointed. I was ready to do like barrel rolls and cool shit. It just wasn't meant to be. But yeah, there you go. Great work.

Thank you. Loved it. Thank you. I love you. Love you too. Kind of trailed off at the start, which is weird. Weird place to trail. Yeah, technically I didn't say it.

Yeah, I got louder as I went on. 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 university we work together

to create positive change for a better tomorrow join us at yorku.ca write the future and we're back in the room another classic episode live 400th episode extravaganza. It really was. It was a really fun time. Loved your report, Jess, whoever that YouTube commenter putting down in your mind. I was thinking about that since because this is the day after in real time, people. We did the party and everything last night.

So basically, if you weren't there, you missed out, basically. Yeah, sucked in. Sucked in, but we did a live show, which was great for the people in the room and we really appreciate them coming out and then there were a bunch of people watching on the stream and then just debuted dj bop her deck skills were unparalleled i was very impressed and we you were handing out glow sticks and there was party lights and uh people getting into it it was a great time then we had some. Look, so much of being a DJ is obviously the music, of course, but it's also about the vibe, setting the vibe and creating a space for people to just let loose.

And what better way to do that than with glow sticks on, like you're 14 at a school disco. And I loved it and it was very fun. It really, I think it unlocked something in me. I think I'm going to keep playing with this little DJ app that I got because it's fun. Oh, man, you were so good at that. And I reckon you're right about the vibe setting

because that's the most I've danced, I reckon, in that one night more than I've danced in the entire decade previous to that point. Wow. Not a dancer. Not usually a dancer. But then when the DJ's good enough. God, imagine if Matt Stewart was there. My goodness.

He would have been tearing it up. It would have been embarrassing. He would have been really going for it. We would have had to, at some point, pull him aside and be like, okay, mate, just, hey, just remember this is for everybody and you're taking up the whole dance floor. Stop doing the worm, we'd have to say. There was a moment when it cut to him at home on the couch

like he'd been on the stream, but then Stupid Old put this effect on him and he was dancing to it. And honestly, it was one of the highlights. He looked so great. Like just a shout out again to Stupid Old because like, you know, they could have just, they didn't have to put Matt up on the screen at all. They could have just put him up as he was for the report. But instead they're like, how can we make this fun?

And they put a little effect on him dancing. It's just so great. Anyway, a big thank you to everybody who came out and partied with us watch us on the stream and or has listened to this episode of the podcast in your normal podcast feed uh we genuinely cannot believe we've done 400 episodes of this podcast it's insane we had a great time celebrating it but now it's time for everybody's favorite section of the show all right and this is the section so i believe it's got for everybody's favourite section of the show. Oh, right. And this is the section of the show I believe it's got a jingle. Fact, quote or question. Ding.

He always remembers the ding. She, I always remember to sing. She, I. She, I. So, of course, sadly Matt couldn't be with us. The poor man has been struck down ill, and we hope he is all good over the next few days, and he'll be on next week's episode. And if he's not all good, I hope he's left me something cool.

His Porsche? He'd never leave me the Porsche. His beloved Porsche. Now, usually Matt takes charge of this segment, so we're going to have our best go at doing this. Yes. Obviously, we'll have to remember one of the last times that we did this without Matt when we got to the shout-out section where people have been

waiting usually about a year or so to hear their shout-out. They've been supporting the show on Patreon. And I somehow stuffed up Matt's method and I ended up shouting out someone who had joined about seven hours before. Well luckily Matt's been really organized lately and he has already marked these down so we know that these are correct and if they're wrong then it's Matt's fault still which is the perfect scenario. So yeah first part of this Patreon section of the podcast is a little section that has that jingle, Fact, Quota, Question, where people who support us on the Sydney Scheinberg level.

Is that right? Yes, the deluxe package level on Patreon. Look, we're so bad at this. We haven't even mentioned this is the show powered by our Patreon supporters, this section of the pod. You go to patreon.com slash do go on pod and there's all sorts of rewards, including shout outs that we're about to get to uh discounted tickets to live shows you hear about live shows before everyone

else does the patreon people bought nearly all of the tickets to the 400th episode which was awesome and also we put out three bonus episodes a month for their ears only and of course when you support us on the bonus episode level or above you get access to close to 190 episodes in the back catalogue and counting. So lots of bonus stuff. And people, like Jess said, on the Sydney Scheinberg Deluxe package, rest in peace level, get to submit a fact, a quote, or a question or suggestion. Or a suggestion, a recipe, a brag. It can be really anything. But they also get to give themselves a title and that's always a place for some creativity and some fun um without matt

here dave do you want to maybe read out some of these facts quotes questions etc yes and in tribute to the great man matt stewart as he always does i haven't read these before i'm reading these out loud for the first time so no proofreading has been done here and that is matt's way and now my way of making sure if i stuff it up you know why and no fact checking either yes absolutely no so if this is all slanderous that's not on us so let's get some fat quotes or questions on here for our 400th episode first cab off the rank sweaty sky okay sweaty sky has given themselves the nickname. Well, this is what it says here. What title are you giving yourself?

It's like 30 degrees here in Canada and I'm walking in long pants and long sleeves in the sun. That's not a title. Let's just say Sandwich Sculptor. But I like that's also giving the context for Sweaty Sky. Yeah, there you go. Thank you, Sweaty Sky. Sandwich Sculptor.

Thank you, SS. Oh, all SS. Sweaty Sky, Sandwich Sculptor. Oh, all SS. Sweaty Sky, Sandwich Sculptor. Oh, my goodness. Put that on a business card right now. And our Sandwich Sculptor has given us a fact this week. It's a fact and a brag, which we love. We love a brag.

So this is what Sweaty Sky writes. It's so hot, I'm getting delirious. Come on, brain, think. Oh, yeah, it's a stream of consciousness. I'm loving this. Oh, yeah, the artist that made pride decals for NYPD police vehicles hid a cab in it. Oh, my God.

Oh, that's the fact. Thank you. Wow, there you go. Really? That's pretty funny because they've been commissioned to make these little flags by the police, so they're taking the money but then also like you know making a political statement at the same time yeah there you go that's that's pretty

good it's a pretty funny prank and the brag is that i got my boating license i'm so sweaty there's no love keeps going back to the sweat i cannot stress how sweaty it am. It really is. I'm so sweaty there's no wind. I need an ice drink, something blended, fruity and boozy, maybe a Bellini. I've drank six litres of water already today. I wish it would rain or something. Okay, good night. All thanks for my rambling listening to. Six litres of water already?

That sounds dangerous. Oh, yeah, that's too much. But also it could be like 8pm yeah that's almost that's too much but also it could be like 8 p.m yeah okay still too much still a lot of water but you know wow okay thank you sweaty sky thanks sweaty sky our next one is from andrew swipes andy swipes swipes well the nickname is the guy trying to make swipes work work in the US and failing. Damn it. You've got to move to Australia, Swibesy. It would take seconds flat.

You wouldn't even have to try to make it work. People would do it for you. You'd get to immigration and they'd look at your passport and go, welcome, Swibesy, on your way. Welcome in, Swibesy. Yeah, 100%. Ridiculous. I'm so sorry that Americans just aren't grasping onto this swibesy goodness.

Well, swibesy's given us. I think this might be a new one. It's a plea. Ooh, I don't know how I'll feel about this. I tend to get pretty stubborn when people ask me to do things. Okay, here we go. The plea is, I started listening to the pod via the Shackleton's Endurance app from my then new partner.

Recently, she asked me to be her husband and I am beyond elated. Oh, congratulations, Swibesy. Swibesy. Can I just be the first to say, Mr. and Mrs. Swibesy? It sounds great. It's lovely. I have just one plea. Don't be in Chicago for a North American tour during the month of September because there's too much wedding stuff happening, please and thanks.

Well, Swibesy. Like this September? I think it's this September. Oh, wow. You are in luck because we are looking at coming over in the second half of 2023 and September is before any of the dates we've been looking at. So you are off the hook. And don't take that as a promise.

I'm so paranoid every time we mention it. I'm so scared. Maybe visa's pending. Yeah, we're in a visa process right now. You will be the first to know when stuff is actually confirmed. Especially the Patreon people, absolutely, yeah. Oh, 100%, that's what I mean, yeah. But September, absolutely safe, Swibesy.

You just focus on the wedding, my friend. I'm a little disappointed because we could have been there for Swibesy's wedding, presumably, yeah. But September, absolutely safe, Swibesie. You just focus on the wedding, my friend. Enjoy. I'm a little disappointed because we could have been there for Swibesie's wedding presumably if you were there September. Yeah, you're right actually. Now Swibesie's sort of like, hey, don't come in September because that's my wedding. But it's like maybe it should have been can you come in September because we would have gone over a month early.

Yeah, for sure. It feels like, Swibesie, you don't want us there for the wedding. Is that what's happening? That's a little hurtful. I mean we gave you the nickname Swibesie. Yeah, for sure. It feels like, Swabsy, you don't want us there for the wedding. Is that what's happening? That's a little hurtful. I mean, we gave you the nickname Swabsy. Yeah, come on. And now we don't even get to be guests of honour at your wedding.

Okay. Nice to know where we stand. On you, Swabsy. Congratulations, though. No, it's so exciting. Really happy for you. And is it a do-go-on love story if he was introduced via his now wife-to-be? Did we do this? Yes.

Yes. That's us. Okay. Next one comes from Sophie Shooter, whose title is Group Mom in brackets again. What's a great title? We love you, Sophie Shooter. Love you, Group Mom. And Sophie has given us a brag, which we love, slash complaint,

which I don't know how I feel about that. Very interesting combo. Love that. All right, let's go. Okay, let me read this. Again, have not read this beforehand. All right. Hi, guys.

This is a long one, so grab a drink, a blanket, and get comfy. Thank you so much. Here we go. In my last Fat Quarter question, I said I'd had a naff year so far. Well, it got a little better when I found out I'm pregnant. Hooray! Congratulations. Fantastic news.

We've had a marriage announcement and a pregnancy announcement in the Patreon section. This is incredible. Well, it's the 400th episode. Some special stuff happening. I appreciate it. Yeah. That's amazing. So, if it continues, my last pregnancy was nearly 18 years ago when I was young and naive.

That's great. I sailed through that one without issue. This time is different. I have been so, so unwell. Oh, Soph. Sorry to hear that. Which leads to my complaint. After having a bit of a sad day today, I decided to listen to one of my favorite Do Go On Eps,

episode 128, The Death of Carl McCann. Remember that one recorded live at the european beer cafe good fun so if it continues it was helping a lot laughing is jess getting more and more outraged at this man's inability to do anything properly okay we've got to remember before i go on that jess and i didn't know that man's fate when matt was telling us the story so there's been a few youtube comments like how would you laugh at a man's death when Matt was telling us the story. So there's been a few YouTube comments like, how would you laugh at a man's death? But we didn't know that was going to happen. We didn't know.

We didn't know. Let that be proof for the people who say like, because a lot of people truly believe we know the topics ahead of time. We don't. We didn't know. Let that be proof where they're like, Liz, idiot. And then he dies and we're like, oh, no. All right.

So we're laughing or you're laughing at a man's inability to do anything fun. Yeah, like oh no whoops all right so we're laughing you're laughing at a man's inability to do anything fun yeah like he can't do anything right live yeah yeah so he continues but then things got dire for poor old mcconnie food was running low he had thrown most of his bullets in the lake and accidentally told the rescue plane that he was okay. I forgot that he threw bullets in the lake. Oh, man. Matt went on to describe what Carl had to eat to survive. The entirety of ducks and squirrels, internal organs and bones included. Well, my pregnancy brain decided that that was too much detail

and I projectile vomited over the clean washing I was folding at the time. She signs off. Cheers, Matt. I'm quite glad Matt didn't hear that, actually. But we'll tell him about it for sure. We will pass that on. Oh, Sophie, I'm so sorry. It's also very interesting.

I think, like, I don't know, Sophie saying the first pregnancy was really smooth and then this one not so much. I feel like that happens a lot and it's one of those things that lures people into the confidence of having another kid. It's the same when, like, you have your first baby and they're pretty chill and you're like, ah, that'll be all right. And the second one's feral and I say that as a second child. But that's so exciting, Sophie.

I'm so happy for you. I'm so sorry we made you throw up. But it's so exciting. How wonderful. Lovely news. Congratulations. And finally for this Fact Quota question section, we've got one from Alec Ruiz Guerrero who's given us the title,

do go on stunt doubles slash guy who comments on Matt Stewart's socials. Oh, an important role. Somebody's got to comment. Someone has to. And Alex given us a question, which is, what is y'all's go-to song that gets you pumped up for a workout? And Alex, something which we always appreciate and encourage, answered their own question. Mine is Wild Thing by X. Mostly

because I'm really into wrestling and it happens to be one of my favourite wrestlers' theme songs. Coincidence? Muchas gracias. Very cool. Thank you, Alex. Whose theme song is it? Wild Thing by X. I'm just looking this up now. Yeah.

That is the music used by Jon Moxley. Jon Moxley? Jon Moxley. There you go. I don't think I'm as familiar with the Jon Moxley wrestlers as I was hoping I was going to be there. Maybe a bit after when I was fully all in on WWE. Yeah. But love, sounds like a great pump-up song.

Do you have one, Jess? Well, I was going to say say I assume you do because you're an absolute gym junkie. Yeah, man. It is hard to choose. I have recently been – I just use like – I usually just go to like Spotify and type in workout and just use one of those playlists because I just sort of want something

to drown out the awful music at the gym and to also just be like loud in my ears with a high-energy beat. That's all I want. My friend recently sent me her – she's made a playlist, her workout playlist. She shared it with me, which is very generous. I think that's a beautiful – I don't know. I think that's a lovely friendship thing you can do oh yeah it's like it's like it's the modern day equivalent of a mixtape

um and sharing such an intimate um playlist with somebody is really lovely it is so much pitbull though um that's a lot and it's it's the only time where you want to listen to pitbull in my you know and sorry if you're a big pitbull fan out there but i mean it's just a time where you want to listen to Pitbull in my, you know, and sorry if you're a big Pitbull fan out there, but it's just a lot of, there's a lot of like remixes of like there's a remix of Bulletproof, you know, LaRue. Oh, yeah, great track. Great track.

There's a remix of Snoop Dogg's Sweat. There's a remix of Shania Twain in here as well, which, I mean, Shania Twain, man, I feel like a woman is always going to get you kind of pumped up. But when it goes like, ba-ba-ba-da-da-da-da, and then like this thumping beat comes in, you're like, well, now I'm going to lift 400 kilos, aren't I? And you hear, let's go, girls.

Yeah, and you're like, yeah, I love it. So honestly, for me, it's just anything fast and loud. Fast and loud. I think, yeah, I like sort of a rock and tracks. I'm talking Motley Crue, Kickstart My Heart. Okay. You go for some classic rock. I sort of go for, like, dance music.

Yeah, sure, sure, sure. To be honest, I haven't really put it into practice at the gym yet, but I will. Oh, I believe that. Thank that thank you 100 i believe that yeah yeah any day now that's a great question i would love to know what other people's pump up workout songs i have at the time of recording i've just shared in the patreon group a um the playlist that i made for our 400th show that are all songs that kind of tie into previous topics and stuff, little deep cut references. It's a really eclectic and kind of bonkers playlist. But anyway, maybe I'll put a little link to it as well in my link tree

in my bio on Instagram if you missed it and want to catch it. But maybe somebody could get started a playlist of like do-go-on-workout songs. That's cool. That'd be fun. Great idea. Alec, maybe you can get on that. And thank you to Alec, Sophie, Andy, and Sweaty Sky. Sweaty Sky.

Now, another part of the second half of our show is we also shout out to a few people that have been supporting us on the shout out level or above. Jess, you often come up with a little game for how we thank these people. We usually give them a little nickname or something, anything come to mind. Well, how about because you remember the operation code name was Operation Magician? Yes. I'm thinking maybe we could give them an operation name.

And I say that because I want to use the horse name generator. Oh, yes. Love the horse name generator. What do you reckon? So it'll just be operation and then I'll give it a word. I love that. Now, before we fire up the horse name generator, how about a horse name fact shared with me by the great man, my father, Martin Warnke, when I was hanging out at my parents' house last weekend.

And he said, oh, you've been listening to a bit of the show lately and you did the horse name generator. And he wanted me to tell you, Jess, did you know a famous horse name that inspired a name? And that is, do you know Tim Tams, the biscuits? Yeah. Named after a famous racehorse. Really?

Yeah, there you go. So I can only imagine that they were on the old school horse name generator. Tim Tam came up. Tim Tam is so cute for a horse. Yes. The rest is history. Or even any kind of pet, I reckon, because if it's your dog, you could just call it Tim.

Timmy. Timmy. Oh, that's a great fact. I love that. And I also love Tim Tams. Yes, me too. They're so good. I watched it. I don That's a great fact. I love that. And I also love Tim Tams. Yes, me too. They're so good. I watched it.

I don't remember who it was. I saw a TikTok recently of an American woman trying Tim Tams for the first time, and she took a bite and just lost her freaking mind. She was like, oh, my God, it's so good. And I shed a little tear of patriotism. I felt really proud to be Australian in that moment. That's so great. All right, let's thank some people.

Do you want to kick it off and I'll get the horse name generator going? All right, you get the name generator fired up and I'll have some names here. First of all, I'd like to thank From Norwich. Aha. Down the road from Alan Partridge. I can only assume. Amanda Hulley.

Operation Jet Set. Oh, that's good. That's a good one. You can actually, I could see that happening. Yeah. Operation Jet Set. I like that. Because, you know, they often do like when they, you know,

you team up with the Canadian police, teams up with the Irish police to do some sort of like crack operation and it's good. Yeah. Amanda, thank you so much. I would next up like to thank from Carnegie here in Victoria. It's simply Jennifer. Operation Bullseye.

Yes. That's great. And a great horse name. Bullseye. Very good. Yes. Next I'd like to thank from Bristol in Great Britain, a fantastic place we visited a few times, Mackenzie Tyler.

Operation Rush Hour. That's good. How good are these? These are really good. Because have you got it set to operation somehow? No. Because I feel like these are all better operation names than horse names so far. Yeah.

Yeah, that's great. Like Jet Set, you're like, oh, that's all right. Operation Jet Set. All right. Jet Set's kind of cool for a horse. Would you call a horse Rush Hour? Suppose that if they're racing, maybe. Yeah, that's kind of good. All right. Alright. Jet Set's kind of cool for a horse. Would you call a horse Rush Hour? I suppose that if they're racing maybe. Yeah, that's kind of good. Alright, sorry. I'm sorry I besmirched the horse name

generally. You're right. How dare you. It was ridiculous. I would like to thank next up from Bayswater in Western Australia Madison Owen. Okay. Operation Pegasus. Yeah, that sounds good too. Yes! I don't know how but it's really because sometimes,

just for a peek behind the curtain, often I have to, like, refresh these quite a bit to get something that's going to be – I've refreshed it once and gotten, like, three out of this, and I've got another one I can do from this. Oh, this is great. Then I'll refresh. But it's crazy how good this is working. Yeah, Madison Owen Operation Pegasus. You can't complain about that. That's really working. Yeah, Madison Owen, Operation Pegasus. You can't complain about that.

That's really good. Yeah. Next up, I'd like to thank from Springfield in what I believe is Missouri, but I will fact check that as Jess fires up the horse name generator. This is Curtis Prost. Operation Black Cloud. Oh, fuck. That is so badass.

That is so badass. Operation Black. Do you think that this is what cops do? Maybe. I mean, where'd they that this is what cops do? Maybe. I mean, where'd they get magician from, you know? Yeah. Where did they get that? Nobody was doing magic. Yeah.

I love it. I think I should be a cop. Well, I should work in the copywriting for cops. Yeah. I'll name your operations, boys. Off you go. You're easily influenced this week. You're like, I should be a cop.

No, I should be a DJ. I should be a dj i'm great at this hey look more often than not i think i'm incapable of everything so let's just embrace that for once i've gone i could do that because that's i think it's a nice feeling absolutely good you've already proved that you could be a dj take it off don't have to do it again you've one and done now you just have to prove you could be a cop yeah how hard it off. Don't have to do it again. You've won and done. Now you just have to prove you could be a cop. Yeah. How hard can it be? How hard can it be? You've just got to put your life on the line.

I would like to thank now from Brighton in Essex. Looks like in Great Britain. It is Zach Huntley. Operation Milky. That one just sounds a bit gross. Yeah, it does, doesn't it? Operation Milky. Milky. Oh, okay. that one just sounds a bit gross yeah it does operation milky oh okay i've got some i've just refreshed i got some really good ones do you want to i'm so do you want me to um do you want me to read some or do you want to keep going no this system seems

to be working great here we go here we go so thanks zach from brighton next up i'd like to thank from maropna in the austral Territory. It's Caitlin Hall. Operation Xanadu. Yeah. Xanadu. Incredible stuff. That, oh, my God. And then, like, for short, like, Operation X.

Yes. Very cool. You're going to love the next one, too. Awesome. Well, the next one belongs to someone we don't know where they're from. We can only assume they're deep within the Fort of the moles listen to this episode where we are quite popular emma nicholson operation molder yeah kind of perfect that it's location unknown because it's actually a different planet whoa I didn't know Mulder.

Oh, man. I love Mulder. So great. Thanks, Emma. And finally, for this section, we've got one operation ready to go, and it is from Wheat Ridge in Colorado. Thank you to Al Mason. Al Mason from Operation Capitane. Capitane.

How good is that? That's really good. Oh my god. This might be my favourite website. It never misses. It never misses. Incredible stuff. Do you have it favourited? Is it in a toolbar somewhere? It is. Yeah, it is.

That's so good. On my laptop, which is what I usually have with me at the studio for the podcast, it absolutely is. But also I start to type in horse and my computer is like, horse name generator, is that what you want? And I'm like, yes, please. Thank you. All right, there is just one last thing that we need to do and that is to welcome some people in to the Trip Ditch Club.

Sorry, that was everybody, wasn't it? Shoutouts? Have I moved on too early? Fantastic. That is all, and thank you so much to all of those people. And one more time, those people were Al, Emma, Caitlin, Zach, Curtis, Madison, Mackenzie, Jennifer, and Amanda. And the last thing we have to do is welcome a few people

into the Trip Ditch Club. Now, I'll explain what that is. It is an exclusive club for people who have supported us on Patreon.com on the shout-out level or above for three consecutive years, and they are welcomed with open arms into this club. It's a very cool clubhouse. Think of it like a cool bar, lounge-type space.

It's got everything you could possibly want. We've got food. We've got got drinks we've got a band matt is behind the velvet rope normally he's lifting the rope he's got a clipboard he's reading out your names um perhaps i'll read out the names this time dave um because you can hype them up and and it's it's a role that you do so well and then i hype you up so i'll read a name you say. So I'll read a name, you say something, I'll hype you. You know, I'll keep some momentum going, unlike Matt, who just kind of like shuts you down, criticises and completely disrupts the flow. So I won't be doing that. I can't think of food and drinks.

What about we have those do-go-on cakes that we gave out last night? Oh, my God, yeah, we gave out cute little custom cakes. I'm so happy with how they came out. They were adorable. Okay, three different designs that you whipped up, Jess, and they looked fantastic. I think I could be a graphic designer. I think you could too.

I'm getting cocky. I reckon I could. You're on fire. I could do it. You're great. I feel like, have you seen a careers counsellor lately? Oh, God. What was my careers counsellor's name?

He kind of sucked i think his name was mr bruce i don't think we had a great one on my school either and but i can't remember what they told me i should do mine told me to drop drama and take up biology and i was the drama captain what and then i sort of went okay and was like walking away like well that's not gonna happen but then he went and told the drama teacher, Jess is going to be dropping drama. And then the drama teacher came to me and was like, you can't drop drama.

You're the drama captain. And I said, I'm not dropping drama. And he said, what? And I was like, who told you? Oh, Mr. Bruce tell you? I'm not dropping drama. That's crazy. All because I was like, I think I might be interested in nutrition. And he was like, well, you'll need to drop the one thing

you're really good at. I was like, I don't think that's a good idea. Anyway, he sucks. So, okay. But it's also, okay, okay. Food and drinks. It was a British topic. So we're having British food.

What's that? Bangers and mash. Oh, bangers and mash. Yes, please. A pie with peas. Full of eels. and we're having pints oh what about bad pizza terrible you loved it you loved it i like it i like we had we had one horrendous pizza at a hotel near the airport i think there might have been two horrendous

pizza i think it's true from two, to be honest. Yeah, true. But we did have one fantastic one. Where was that one from? There was one, it was at the venue that had Hen in the name. Oh, Hen and Chicken. Hen and Chicken. And they brought us some food in our little backstage area

and that was a fantastic pizza. That's in Bristol. That's right. The comedy box, the venue there. Fantastic. But the worst pizza I'm talking about was on our, like, last night. Remember, we put ourselves up in a hotel for the last night just to, like, have some space and get some.

And it was a hotel near the airport too. Hotels near the airport are never good. And we couldn't be fucked going anywhere because we were so exhausted. So we all had room service to our rooms and it was terrible but i didn't care i didn't have to leave my bed yeah exactly and they had puero on the tv and that's a country i respect yes that was great oh great anyway okay so um let's welcome some people in have you booked a band by any chance dave you're never gonna to believe it. What?

I couldn't believe my ears when you said this episode is about the Millennium Dome. Why? Because performing their album, Millennium, in full, it is the Backstreet Boys. David, get the fuck out. Can you believe it? I can't. I don't believe it. I refuse to believe it.

Let me just read you the first three tracks of this album. Okay. Larger Than Life. Yep. I Want It That Way. What? Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely. Being lonely.

That's just the first three tracks. Oh, my God. We're going to have such a good time while we're eating bangers and mash and having pints. And I'm going to demand that they wear those white outfits that they're wearing on the cover that I'm looking at right now. Absolutely, yes. It looks so great.

And they'd look really good now when those guys are in their 50s. That'd look really good. All right, are we ready to bring some people in? Yes, so I'm going to hype these people up. Here we go. This is their big moment. They're running in. They're running into the club.

We're high-fiving them. You're hyping them. I'm hyping you. Okay, here we go. Absolutely. From Auckland in New Zealand're running into the club. We're high-fiving him. You're hyping him. I'm hyping you. Okay, here we go. Absolutely. From Auckland in New Zealand, please welcome Roy Salazar. Salazar! Yeah!

Like, I don't have to do anything with it. It's such a great name. Salazar! It announces itself. Incredible stuff. Exactly. The last name may as well be Shazam. Exactly right.

It's the same kind of sound. An explosive name. Love it. From Sydney,. Exactly right. It's the same kind of sound. An explosive name. Love it. Fantastic. From Sydney, New South Wales, it's Tim Everingham. You're Everingham to me. Yes. Every thing to me.

Yes. No, it was very clear. Good job. Yes. Welcome in, Tim. From Wellington in New Zealand, please welcome Hilary McKay. More like Hilarious McKay. Oh, my God.

He's so good. Yes like Hilarious McKay. Oh, my God, he's so good. Yes, Hilarious McKay from Canton in GA. Is that Georgia? Must be Georgia, yeah. Tyler and Mandy Edwards. The Tyler's the limit hit the Mandy bar. Oh, my God, are you kidding me? How are you so good at this?

I don't know. That's straight from the time straight from the millennium you needed somebody oh fuck that was very good too um is this just that you needed somebody to believe in you because matt's usually like oh yeah so then he has a go at one and it's so bad anyway okay yes uh from orange in new south wales please welcome Megan. Megan. So good to see you. So good to see you. Yeah, no, very clear again. You nailed it.

From Braintree in Essex in Great Britain, it's Joe and Pippa. Oh, my Braintree is exploding right now with joy. Joe and Pippa. Flo and Skipper. Yeah, Flo and Skipper. Skipper, yeah. Flo and Chipper. That's what I say about you. And finally, I would love to thank from Three Hills in Canada.

Where in Canada? AB? I don't know where that is. I think, is that Alberta? Oh, yeah, probably is. Alberta in Canada. Jesse Malps. Well, you went up one hill. You nailed it. You went up a second hill. You're there. You've gone up three hills and I bow down to you, Jesse Malps.

Yes! We did it. Thank you to Jesse, Joe and Pippa, Megan, Tyler and Mandy, Hilary, Tim and Roy. And congratulations on being welcomed in on the 400th episode. That's quite a milestone. This is one to remember. You'll never forget that you were part of the 400th episode. That's quite a milestone. Yeah, this is one to remember. You'll never forget that you were part of the 400th episode.

Yeah, and we'll never forget. Never. Never. But that's everything, I guess, isn't it? Have we done it? We've done it for the 400th time. That's it. Wow.

I can't believe it. I can't believe that. I would just like to say before we go that if people wanted to suggest a topic, they can. There's a link in the show notes. You can also go to our website, dogoonpod.com. You can find us at dogoonpod on social media. And remember to wash your butt.

Great advice as always. Hey, we'll be back next week with the 401st episode of the podcast. But until then, we'll say thank you so much for listening over the years. And until next time time it's goodbye 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 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.