Futility Closet - 345-Climbing Mont Blanc

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Futility Closet podcast, forgotten stories from the pages of history. Visit us online to sample more than 11,000 quirky curiosities from a legal raven to a puzzling inn. This is episode 345. I'm Greg Ross. And I'm Sharon Ross. In 1838, Frenchwoman Henriette d'Angeville set out to climb Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, against the advice of nearly everyone she knew. In today's show, we'll follow d'Angeville up the mountain to fulfill what she called a monomania of the heart. We'll also escape Australia in a box and puzzle

Starting point is 00:00:46 over a fixed game. Henriette d'Angeville had loved the mountains for as long as she could remember. Born in 1794, she'd lost her mother as a child and grown up with three brothers playing and racing across the elevated countryside around their home in eastern France, from which on a clear day she could see the Alps. When she read that Rousseau preferred the mountains to the plains, she copied the passage and added, this is in conformity with my taste. In 1827, sometime after her father's death, she settled in Geneva, where she kept up her love of strenuous walking among the hills, and it was on one of these walks that she became attached to the idea of climbing Mont Blanc,

Starting point is 00:01:36 the highest mountain in the Alps. Its first ascent, just eight years before her birth, had marked the start of modern mountaineering. Seeing the mountain decked with fresh snow, she had been transported, quote, into a state that even today I can hardly understand or explain. My heart beat violently, my breath became short, profound sighs escaped from my breast. I felt a desire to climb it so ardent that it gave movement even to my feet. Only one woman had ever climbed the mountain. A maidservant named Marie Paradis had made the ascent in 1808, hoping that she might profit by the publicity. But the altitude had affected her so severely that her guides had had to carry her

Starting point is 00:02:16 to the summit, and afterward she said, I just remember it was white all around and black down away below, but that's all. For ten years, Dongeville dreamed of her own climb, but each year the weather conditions stopped her. Finally, in August 1838, she decided the time had come. That summer, she had climbed some smaller mountains near Chamonix, north of Mont Blanc, and was pleased that she experienced none of the fatigue that other travelers reported. But when she returned to Geneva and announced her plans, she met what she called a general outcry of amazement and disapproval. Acquaintances warned that she'd suffocate, bleed from the eyes, nose, and ears, or die in a storm. Her doctor tried to talk her out

Starting point is 00:02:56 of the climb, and the local priest was reluctant to bless it. He said he feared that he and her guides would be blamed if she came to any harm. In Chamonix, odds were laid at a thousand francs to five that she would not reach the top. So many acquaintances tried to discourage Dangeville that for a time she had to stop accepting visits altogether. She wrote, in a city of 25,000, I was supported by exactly three. But Dangeville's resolution never wavered. When her friends asked why she didn't choose a more conventional pastime such as touring Switzerland by carriage or sketching in Italy, she answered, the soul has needs as does the body, peculiar to each individual. I am among those who prefer the grandeur of natural landscapes to the sweetest or most charming views imaginable.

Starting point is 00:03:41 Besides, she said, a woman's experience might be valuable, for women sometimes see and feel things very differently than men. At the start of her preparations, she wrote, She who wills the end wills the means. She assembled a climbing outfit that weighed more than 21 pounds, including a man's shirt, a fleece-lined jacket and trousers with six layers of wool, a leather belt, a fur-lined bonnet with a green veil, a straw hat, a black velvet mask, a black boa, a plaid coat, a fur-lined cloak, and nailed boots large enough to accommodate silk and wool stockings. The total effect was unstylish, she wrote, but one does not attend to the court of the King of the Alps in a silk dress

Starting point is 00:04:22 and gauze bonnet. For a guide, she chose 45-year-old Joseph-Marie Coutet, a veteran of nine ascents of the mountain, whom she described as short, witty, and intelligent. She engaged five further guides. The guides hired six porters, and Coutet began to gather provisions for an expedition that was expected to last three days and two nights. His list included two legs of mutton, two sides of veal, 24 roast chickens, and 18 bottles of wine. For herself, Dongeville added a blancmange, flagons of barley water and lemonade, and a pot of chicken broth. In a straw basket, she gathered some personal items, including an enormous fan in case she had to be given air,

Starting point is 00:05:01 cucumber face cream, a telescope, a looking glass, and a notebook and pencils. By the time she arrived in Chamonix, the townspeople were buzzing with her plans. She wrote, the natives of the valley regard Mont Blanc with such awe that they did not credit that a woman conspiring to conquer it could be in full possession of her senses. The residents placed bets as to whether she'd turn back at the first crevasse or die in an avalanche. Two guides backed out, but she simply replaced them. Once one has made a decision, she wrote,

Starting point is 00:05:30 everything but the advantages should be forgotten and one should remain fixed in one's intentions, unmoved by the praise or blame of the world. Otherwise, life would be frittered away in every kind of uncertainty and doubt. Privately, though, she calculated that if her guides died in an avalanche, it would create six widows and twenty-seven orphans. On the eve of the appointed day, September 3, 1838, she sat up past midnight writing letters to her friends, but she was up early and ready to go. She was astounded at the crowds that had turned out. People filled the hotel courtyard and gathered on every balcony, and she wrote that she was filled with uncontrollable joy. At six o'clock, amid the

Starting point is 00:06:09 cheers of the crowd and the salutes of soldiers, the party began their ascent. Dongeville wrote, Those who saw our little caravan file up the valley have told me since that it made a very good appearance. I did not walk, I flew, and more than once they called to me, gently, gently. At the first crevasse, she agreed to tie a rope around her waist before jumping, but after seeing the men leap across without help, she asked to do the same, and the guides told each other, let her alone, she goes as well as we do and fears nothing. They camped at 10,000 feet at granite buttresses known as the Grand Moulet, and that evening heard from two other parties that were climbing the

Starting point is 00:06:43 mountain. The Polish nobleman Count Karl de Stoppen sent a guide with his card and asked permission to call on D'Angeville, and while she was receiving him, an English party joined them. They ate supper together and traded songs and stories as the night came on. That night, D'Angeville couldn't sleep. Her feet were cold and her limbs ached, but when she got up and pulled back the flap of her tent, she saw distant summits shining in the moonlight and the fantastic shapes of nearby ice formations. She wrote, Nothing spoke of the earth as we know it.

Starting point is 00:07:12 I felt I had been transported into a new world, that the great mystery of creation would be revealed to me on this mountainside, and that my proximity to the heavens would expose me to divine inspiration. In her imagination, a voice in the sky told her, Do what is right and follow your path with confidence. At 2 a.m., she rose and ate 12 cooked prunes and a cup of soup. She would eat nothing more for 16 hours. When the Pole and the English party set out,

Starting point is 00:07:39 Dangeville pressed Coutet to get ahead of them, but he said she'd already proven her courage and the others would break the trail for them. She started climbing quickly all the same, but the guides urged her to slow down. They said, slowly, walk as if you did not want to reach the top. She wielded an alpenstock, a wooden pole with an iron spike at the tip, which helped her keep her balance and could arrest a slide if she fell. Her layers of wool, silk, and flannel kept her warm, but the wind stung her face and she realized she neglected to bring shaded spectacles. She wrote afterward to a friend, It was not until we reached the foot of ice at the Grand de Côte that I had to struggle against

Starting point is 00:08:15 two enemies of equal violence, suffocating palpitations of the heart when I walked and a lethargic drowsiness whenever I stopped. It was not the sort of drowsiness that comes to one every evening, but an overwhelming sense of sleepiness which began in my eyes and passed through all my limbs. The efforts of will that I had to make to get rid of this torpor are more than I can tell you. I was obliged to wind up my willpower as far as it would go, and in this way I obtained a nervous paroxysm of strength, which lasted a few minutes and enabled me to stagger on for from seven to ten paces. Then my heart beat again as though it would burst my chest, and when the suffocation came I threw myself on the ground, overcome by the stupefying drowsiness of which I have spoken to you.

Starting point is 00:08:57 She climbed for four hours in this state, plagued by the knowledge that she had only to turn back and go down to be completely cured. But her determination was steadfast. She told her guides, If I die before getting to the top, drag my body up and leave it there. My family will reward you for thus executing my last wishes. At last they passed 13,000 feet and faced the wall of granite and ice that guarded the summit cone. Several in the party were feeling the effects of altitude, exhaustion, migraines, and nausea. She suggested that those who were afflicted might wait at the bottom of the wall, but they refused, saying their reputations would suffer if a woman took

Starting point is 00:09:33 the summit while they waited below. Climbing the wall was like climbing a very steep staircase of ice. D'Angeville dug in her nailed boots, concentrated on each step, and tried to ignore the drop below her. But the altitude, the lack of sleep, and tried to ignore the drop below her. But the altitude, the lack of sleep, and the exertion of nearly twelve hours of continuous climbing told on her, and her pace faltered. She stopped and leaned on her alpenstock, overcome with a feeling of inertia. She could hardly keep her eyes open. But, fighting through a lethargic doze, she made her way up the wall, onto the final broad snowfield, and collapsed on a blanket of white. The guides had to keep prodding her awake, but, she wrote, the thought of giving

Starting point is 00:10:09 up never entered my spirit. She refused to be carried, but agreed to grasp a stick that was held for her, like a stair railing, by guides walking before and behind. As they approached the summit, she threw off even this, and, she wrote, alone and unaided, took the three steps that lay between me and victory. At twenty-five past one, I finally set foot on the summit of Mont Blanc, and drove the ferrule of my stick into its flank, as a soldier plants his standard on a captured citadel. At the instant when my foot stood upon the summit, I recovered, as it were, by a miracle. A vivifying air circulated in my lungs, the drowsiness disappeared, the vigor returned to my limbs, and it was in the full possession of my moral and physical faculties that I admired the

Starting point is 00:10:51 magnificent and imposing spectacle which presented itself to my gaze. This astonishing sky, the desolation of colossal mountains, the fretwork of clouds and gray peaks, the eternal snows, the solemn silence of the wastes, the absence of any sound, any living being, any vegetation, and above all of a great city that might recall the world of men, all convinced to conjure up an image of a new world or to transport the spectator to primitive times. There was a moment when I could believe I was witnessing the birth of creation from the lap of chaos. They released a pigeon with a parchment announcing their success, and Coutet told her,

Starting point is 00:11:27 Now you shall go higher than Mont Blanc. She said, Is there a road leading to the moon? He said, You will see. And he and the other guides lifted her as high as they could above the summit. I don't know whether anyone else has done this. Perhaps she still holds the record for climbing the mountain that thoroughly. She inscribed her favorite proverb in the snow, Vouloir c'est pouvoir, to will is to do, and the guides asked to be allowed to kiss her. She said

Starting point is 00:11:51 later the kisses were so hearty that they may well have been heard in the valley of Chamonix. She wanted to stay longer, but her companions pointed to clouds gathering on the horizon. As they prepared to start down again, she looked at the men. Their faces were blistered, their lips bleeding. She looked in her mirror and saw a mask of horror. Her skin was swollen and purple from the roots of her hair to the base of her chin, and her eyes were bloodshot. But she said she felt physically and morally in the best of health, light of foot and sound in wind and limb. and limb. The descent was much easier. She learned to glissade down the slope, sliding on the soft snow and leaning backward on her alpenstock. When she lost the pole in a crevasse, a porter descended on a rope and managed to retrieve it. It took only four hours to reach the Grande Moulet. By now a storm was brewing, so they ate a quick supper and hid their gear. There was no sense in erecting a tent before a gale, so they wedged themselves into crevices. D'Angeville put on her warmest clothes and slept in a fur-lined sleeping bag. The storm passed

Starting point is 00:12:51 uneventfully, and in the morning they walked down the rest of the way. At the top of the forest zone, a mule had been left for them by an English lady, but D'Angeville refused to ride it, saying that she didn't want anyone to claim that she'd been tired. They were still miles from town when the cannons started firing. In Chamonix, she was congratulated at every hand. The townspeople told her they'd watched her progress through telescopes, and at the hotel, a young woman embraced her, saying, Dear lady, what an heroic exploit. What a glorious day for womanhood. The Chamonix correspondent for the Journal des Débats sent a dispatch to Paris,

Starting point is 00:13:24 saying, All our valley is in excitement. A woman has had the courage to climb Mont Blanc. The guides who accompanied this young lady never tire of boasting of the courage and strength with which she surmounted all the obstacles of this perilous and difficult journey. She took a hot bath and, at the celebratory feast the next day, met Maria Paradis, who now white-haired and 60, and the two compared their experiences in climbing the mountain. Sixteen years would pass before another woman would follow them to the top of Mont Blanc, but Dongeville went on climbing mountains for another 25 years. At age 69, she climbed for 10 hours to reach the peak of the Oldenhorn at more than

Starting point is 00:14:00 10,000 feet. She wrote to a friend, I am thoroughly well and am suffering no unpleasant consequences from my mad freak. On the contrary, I have one recollection the more to add to those which I have stored up from the sight of the beautiful works of God. The Oldenhorn is my 21st Alpine ascent and will probably be one of the last, for it is wise at my age to drop the alpenstock before the alpenstock drops me. But the following year, she was still making enraptured trips to points from which she could view Mont Blanc. She died five years later in 1871, the same year that Lucy Walker became the first woman to climb the Matterhorn.

Starting point is 00:15:09 Thank you. gives us an ongoing source of support so that we can commit to the amount of time that the podcast takes to make. Patreon also gives us a good way to share some extras with our show's supporters, like extra information and discussion on some of the stories, outtakes, more lateral thinking puzzles, and peeks behind the scenes of the show. You can learn more about our Patreon campaign at patreon.com slash futilitycloset, or see the support us section of our website for the link. And thanks again to everyone who helps support the show. We wouldn't still be here without you. In episode five, Greg told the story of how Henry Brown escaped slavery in 1849 by mailing himself from Virginia to Pennsylvania in a box. And then in episode 70, I told the story of Reg Spears, who shipped himself in a box from London to Australia in 1964. Duncan Reynolds and William Spencer both let us know that a similar story was recently in the news. There were a number of articles written back in April about Brian Robson,

Starting point is 00:16:06 a Welshman who was 19 in 1965 and living in Australia and was so desperate to get back home that he tried to ship himself from Melbourne to London in a crate. Robson was working in a railway job at the time as part of an assisted immigration program. The Australian government had paid his travel costs from the UK, but he couldn't afford the return trip. So he convinced some of his co-workers to help him ship himself. The crate that Robson traveled in was reported to have been 36 inches by 30 by 38, or about the size of a small fridge.

Starting point is 00:16:39 And it also had to hold his suitcase and a few other items, so that, Robson said, he couldn't stretch out his legs or turn around. His journey seems to have been extremely uncomfortable and rather frightening, and he reported that the crate was left upside down for 22 hours at the Sydney airport. Robson had expected to be flown straight to London on Qantas, a trip of about 36 hours, but instead the crate got diverted into a more circuitous route and he was flown to Los Angeles by Pan American Jet, where he was discovered by a freight worker after having traveled for 92 hours. An article at the time in Australia's The Age reported that when he was

Starting point is 00:17:17 found, Robson was cramped, dehydrated, and too weak to walk. The article stated that a member of the airport police said that if Robson had had to go through the next 5,500-mile leg of his journey to London, he would not have survived it. And a Pan-American spokesperson said that if Robson had been freighted in a different kind of aircraft, he would have died of hypothermia. Robson spent some time recovering in the prison ward of the Los Angeles County General Hospital and faced charges of illegal entry into the U.S., although he apparently wasn't officially charged in the end. He was deported by the U.S. to London, flying there in a regular seat. An article from The Age from 1965 reported that, unbeknownst to Robson,

Starting point is 00:18:04 Australia's Immigration Department had actually decided to send him back to Wales, free of charge, as he really didn't seem to be working out in Australia. Robson had spent some time in jail after an unsuccessful attempt to stow away on a ship to try to get back to the UK, and if he had contacted the Immigration Department when he was released, as he was supposed to have done, he would have learned of their decision and saved himself a lot of trouble. This story seems to have been in the news in April because Robson was releasing a book that he had written about the escapade called The Crate Escape. Many of the articles mentioned that Robson was seeking to find

Starting point is 00:18:41 the friends who had helped him, who he hadn't spoken with since he left Australia. He was pretty sure their first names were Paul and John, and he knew that they were Irish, but he couldn't remember their surnames or much else about them. The BBC quoted him as saying, If I met them again, I'd just like to say that I'm sorry I got them into this and that I missed them when I came back. I'd like to buy them a drink. back. I'd like to buy them a drink. The Irish Times ran a story on this on April 6th, including an email address for Paul or John or their relatives to contact Robson. And then they reported on April 17th that one of the two men had made contact. Robson verified the man's identity by asking him questions that only Robson and the Irishman would have known the answers to.

Starting point is 00:19:21 And the man, who wished to be anonymous, explained that when his friends heard how Robson had been discovered, they had changed their address to avoid any possible repercussions, which is why Robson's later attempt to contact them had failed. Robson seemed quite pleased to have heard from one of his old friends and stated that they were still trying to find the other one. Overall, I found this a somewhat difficult story to report on, as there were various discrepancies between different articles that I read, some of them written in different years. I ended up having to leave out many details because it was unclear which ones were correct. There were differing reports on many things, such as whether two or three co-workers had helped Robson, what items

Starting point is 00:20:01 he had in the crate with him, how exactly he was discovered in LA, and what happened next, and whether his scheme had been inspired by reading about Spears' similar one or that he'd never heard of Spears until afterwards. I wasn't quite sure what to make of all the different versions until I saw an article in the New York Times from April 14th that said, Mr. Robson acknowledged that details of his journey had differed across retellings over the years. So I relied most heavily on articles that were written in 1965, thinking that those had the highest chance of being the most accurate. I guess a story can change over 55 years. But we do know that it did happen. I mean, the bearer of the bearer. Oh,

Starting point is 00:20:39 yeah, it definitely seems to have happened. Yeah, I've had stories like that that just sort of fall apart in your hands. Yeah, or you just get these different accounts and you're like, okay, which one is it? Ian Bruce wrote about a follow-up to a puzzle, and this isn't a spoiler to the original answer. Hello, Futiliteers. In episode 335, you followed up on the puzzle from episode 302, asking how someone could have a death date before his or her marriage date, with the discussion of the adoption of the Gregorian calendar and the 10 or 11 day gap that could be created between adjacent countries who adopted the Gregorian calendar at

Starting point is 00:21:16 different times. That reminded me that in many countries, the new year began on March 25th, not January 1st. This, by the way, is how we named September, 7th month, October, 8th month, November, 9th month, and December, 10th month. These names don't make sense if we start the year in January, but they do if we start the year in March. According to Wikipedia, England didn't adopt January 1st as the first day of the new year until 1752. Scotland adopted it in 1600, France in 1564, and other countries in other years. With the different adoption dates of New Year's Day, it would be possible for a person to be married in France, say, in January of 1650, and to die in England in February of 1649. The English, at some point, recognized the

Starting point is 00:22:03 cognitive dissonance their dating system could produce, and therefore often reported dates between January 1st and March 25th as being old-style, OS, or new-style, NS, or gave both, as, for example, February 1st, 1650-51. I don't know when this double dating started, but perhaps it was a byproduct of the union of the Scottish and English crowns in 1603. Wikipedia notes that the crowns were united on March 24, 1603, but amusingly does not clearly indicate whether this was old style or new style. At least in theory, it was March 24, 1603 in Scotland, but 1602 in England, although one day later it would have been 1603 in both countries. The 1603 date was indeed new style because we now universally recognize the ascension of James VI of Scots as James I of

Starting point is 00:22:52 England as taking place in 1603, but still it would have been nice of Wikipedia to say so clearly. This OSNS dating and double dating does help genealogists like me quite a bit, but unfortunately it wasn't done as consistently as we would like, so we have to be awfully careful when we are working with original records from this period. It looks like there are lots of viable solutions to that particular puzzle. Keep up the good work. And we had listeners send several alternative solutions to that puzzle, so it does seem like it is one that has a lot of possible answers. I find the changes in calendar systems to be particularly interesting answers, partly because they highlight how

Starting point is 00:23:29 arbitrary in some ways our calendar systems are, and because I find the idea of having multiple systems in place at the same time or changing over from one to the other to be rather interesting. I was generally aware that the date of New Year's Day had changed, but I really hadn't realized over how considerable a period of time that it happened. Similar to the staggered change to the Gregorian calendar, there would have been several centuries where different European countries started the new year on different days. Although in this case, it was over even more centuries from 45 BC to 1752. centuries from 45 BC to 1752. Wikipedia says, from Roman times until the middle of the 18th century, the new year was celebrated at various stages and in various parts of Christian Europe on 25 December, on 1 March, on 25 March, and on the movable feast of Easter. So that wouldn't have been confusing at all. Certainly recognizes its allusion to the puzzle. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:24:25 Yes, it does. The puzzle in episode 338, and this will include a spoiler, was about why the American Kennel Club doesn't allow more than 37 dogs of each breed to be registered with the same name. Two of our listeners sent us the same alternative answer to that puzzle. Paul Rippey wrote, of our listeners sent us the same alternative answer to that puzzle. Paul Rippey wrote, Dear Laterites, When Sharon read the lateral thinking puzzle about the limit of 37 dogs with the same name, it was clear that the challenge was figuring out why the 38th instance would pose a problem. Bingo, I thought. I've got it. The AKC must have left just a single space after the name.

Starting point is 00:25:00 The first Flutzy is just Flutzy. The second Flutzy would be Flutzy 1 and so on through 10 digits. Then they would use the alphabet, Flutzy A, B, C, and so on. 26 letters plus 10 digits plus the first instance, just plain Flutzy, makes 37. Problem solved. I didn't think of Roman numerals. I like to think my answer is more alternate solution than wrong answer. And John Simankiewicz, who is apparently usually not so great at the puzzles, but in this case was frantically yelling his answer at the car radio, gave the same explanation and noted that, and that model only takes one additional space after the name instead of the six spaces the AKC uses. Vaguely waving towards Occam's razor? I like my answer better. And John, a fellow

Starting point is 00:25:46 Raleighite, ended with, anyway, thanks as always for y'all's great work. That's a much more reasonable solution than the one we gave. Than trying to come up with. The actual fact. Remembering how Roman numerals work and how complicated that system would be. Thanks so much to everyone who

Starting point is 00:26:02 writes to us. We always appreciate your comments and follow-ups. If you have any that you'd like to send, please send those to podcast at futilitycloset.com. It's my turn to try to solve a lateral thinking puzzle. Greg is going to give me a strange sounding situation, and I'm going to try to work out what is going on by asking yes or no questions. and I'm going to try to work out what is going on by asking yes or no questions. This is from listener Stephen Jones. In 1971, an underdog basketball team won a game against their heavily favored rivals. There was talk that the game was fixed, but many fans supported the fix and were outraged by the outcome.

Starting point is 00:26:39 Why? Okay. When you say the game was fixed, but many fans supported the fix, usually that means that something underhand was done, like somebody threw a game. I'm trying to think of how do you express this. That's usually what it means when you say a game is fixed. Is that what you mean? Essentially, yes. Essentially, yes. Did they think that somebody was throwing the game? I'm going to say yes.

Starting point is 00:27:11 Okay. This is a basketball game. Yes. Oh. Did one of the teams have like special needs or something? Like it's like the Special Olympics or something? No. Oh, I thought maybe they let them win or something.

Starting point is 00:27:26 That's not it. Okay. Well, was it something like the underdog team, they were like kids or really young or like, and so like the more experienced team or the older team sort of let them win? Was it something along those lines? No. No. Okay.

Starting point is 00:27:46 Because I was thinking the fans would sort of support that. Mm-hmm. Okay. So when you say that the game was fixed, and I said that it means somebody threw the game, somebody involved in the game deliberately... Okay. Did the person who threw the game or people, was it more than one? Yes. Multiple people threw the game.

Starting point is 00:28:05 Was it the entire team? Yeah. The team that won? Let me get this straight in my head. Okay. Or at least most of them? No. To be clear, okay, there's two teams.

Starting point is 00:28:19 Two teams. And one was expected to win. Yes. And the crowd expected them to win, but wanted that to happen. Oh, the crowd wanted the team to win, but then the team that wasn't expected to win did win. Yes. Yes. Unexpectedly.

Starting point is 00:28:37 And you're saying there were accusations that the game was fixed, meaning that the team that was expected to win somehow threw the game, deliberately lost it, or at least some of the members of it. No, Stephen is saying that the crowd went into this expecting that the game had already been fixed in favor of the... Oh, they went into the game thinking it had been fixed. Favored team, yes. So the surprise here was that the team, the fix was against a certain team, and that's the one that won, but the crowd were unhappy with that. Okay, this is kind of confusing to me. The crowd went into a game thinking it had already been fixed. Oh, is this, like, is there some aspect of fiction? Like they're recording a movie or something? They're filming a movie or something?

Starting point is 00:29:27 No, but... Or this is some sort of like an exhibition, not like a true competitive game? Yes. Yes. So it's something that's being done more for entertainment than for like regular sport. Yes. Okay. Was one of the teams like the harlem globetrotters yes okay

Starting point is 00:29:48 i was trying to think of 1971 because you told me the year and i'm like i know nothing about basketball in 1971 but but that so i'm still not like putting it together so the harlem globetrotters would have been expected to win. Right. So their opponents are the underdogs. So their opponents are the underdogs. I don't really know what the Harlem Globetrotters used to do. I didn't know that they actually used to play.

Starting point is 00:30:15 So they were playing some kind of exhibition game. Does it matter who the team was they were playing? I may just give it to you because you've got the heart of it. I can't quite get the details. The underdogs were the New Jersey Reds, better known as the Washington Generals, I may just give it to you because you've got the heart of it. I can't quite get the details. The underdogs were the New Jersey Reds, better known as the Washington Generals, the perennial foils of the Harlem Globetrotters. In a game in Martin, Tennessee, the Globetrotters lost track of the score and the Generals managed to win the game 100 to 99. Oh.

Starting point is 00:30:42 Ending a losing streak of 2,495 games. So they were supposed to lose as part of the entertainment. And they sort of, everyone lost track of they accidentally won. And stunning the crowd. General's point guard, Red Klotz, said they looked at us like we killed Santa Claus. They doused themselves with orange soda and Meadowlark Lemon congratulated them after the game. I guess I just didn't remember how like the Harlem Globetrotters worked. Like I didn't realize they played actual games with another team.

Starting point is 00:31:06 But you got it. Well, sort of. Thank you, Stephen. We'll count it as I got it. And if anybody else has a puzzle they'd like to send in for us to try, please send that to podcast at futilitycloset.com. Futility Closet really relies on the support of our listeners. If you'd like to become one of the awesome supporters of our show,

Starting point is 00:31:28 please check out the Support Us section of the website at futilitycloset.com, where you can find a donate button and a link to our Patreon page. At our website, you can also graze through Greg's collection of over 11,000 frantic trantles. Browse the Futility Closet store, learn about the Futility Closet books, and see the show notes for the episode with the links and references for the topics we've covered. If you have any comments or feedback for us, please email us at podcast at futilitycloset.com.

Starting point is 00:31:57 Our music was written and performed by Greg's phenomenal brother, Doug Ross. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you next week.

Futility Closet - 345-Climbing Mont Blanc

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