Lateral with Tom Scott - 159: It's raining lemons

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

Jack Chambers, Manu Henriot and Alex Bell from QI's 'Lunchbox Envy' podcast face questions about rider ridicule, bountiful beef and crunchy comparisons. LATERAL is a comedy panel game podcast about weird questions with wonderful answers, hosted by Tom Scott. For business enquiries, contestant appearances or question submissions, visit https://lateralcast.com. HOST: Tom Scott. QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe. EDITED BY: Julie Hassett at The Podcast Studios, Dublin. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Beaulieu, Sebastian Cuttlefish, Isaiah, Zilland, Chris Dickson, Annabel Couzijn, Stine. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. what does mrs crunch have that mr crunch does not the answer to that at the end of the show my name's tom scott and this is lateral welcome to the lateral cafe we're out of keenwa

and oat and oat milk but i can do you trivia porridge a factoid sandwich or an omelette that's as Eggie as this introduction. Thank you. I appreciate the laugh. And so is our producer who wrote the script. Let's see if our guests today are full of beans. They are the team from Lunchbox Envy. We start with Jack Chambers. Welcome to the show. Hello. Thank you for having me. Tell us a bit about lunchbox envy. So it's the QI approach to food. It's a podcast comes out weekly. And every week we come up with all the sort of interesting historical stories and scientific backstory behind different ingredient or food stuff. We have a lot of fun making it. We each bring a lunchbox and we sort of compete to find the best one and meanwhile, you know, tell the world all about it.

So I should ask to our next player here, Manuel, also in front of the microphone, who's winning at the moment? Oh, I mean, in terms of bringing tasty food. Definitely, definitely Rosie. There is no question. Jack and I bring in some pretty disgusting foods to try. I'm proud, but you wouldn't want to eat them. So I think Rosie at the moment. Rosie is a professional chef, right? Yes, she is fantastic. And a food stylist, and she's got wealth of knowledge about, like, the science and nitty-gritty behind, like, how cooking actually works. So, so much fun. Well, the third member of our panel today is the producer of the show, Alex Bell. Welcome. Hi, Tom. From a production side of things, like, do you have to manage, like, food styling here?

Like, what's it like working for this? Oh, fortunately, I don't really have to do the styling, because Rosie does that. And she's so great. She knows everything about how to make ice cream that doesn't melt because she's worked in advertising. And, you know, you have to put ice cream on the table for three days and make it look exactly the same. So she's very good at cheese pool and sandwich construction and stuff like that. But I occasionally pitch in and help make some of the lunchboxes. invariably make absolutely disgusting things that I don't have to eat, which is brilliant.

Well, very best of luck to all three of on the show today. Put a quick plug in, where can people find you? We're on everywhere, wherever you get your podcasts from, and we're also coming to BBC Sounds pretty soon. Well, very best of luck to all of you. It's time to pull up a plastic chair, wipe down the menu, and see what's cooking with question one. Let's go. Thank you to Chris Dixon for this question. In Pennsylvania, why do thousands of bears suddenly appear when a biscuit goes into a basket. I'll say that again. In Pennsylvania,

why do thousands of bears suddenly appear when a biscuit goes into a basket? Is Pennsylvania the state where basketball was invented? I'm just... These sort of connections jump into my head. The only thing I know about what you think this is something to do with basketball... Well, no, I just...

That's quite a good, quite good connection. Because the only thing I know about basketball is that when they invented it, it was 30 years before anyone had the idea of putting the hole in the bottom of the net. So every single time someone scored a basket, that they'd have to, like, get a ladder and, like, fish it out and stop the game.

I mean, it sounds like I would go for something along the lines of, like, what is it, as you say, a fish in a basket? A biscuit in a basket. Sorry, biscuit in a basket. So I'm kind of thinking of some kind of, like, hunting. I don't know. That's what kind of biscuits they have in America,

and I know they have goldfish, like, a snack. But I was thinking, oh, maybe, it's like some kind of like a baiting thing where they, you, like, they're tempting the bears in a national park somewhere. Now, the American definition of biscuit is different to the British world.

There's an American biscuit or in it. A British biscuit. We'll get on to that later, but how much American biscuit knowledge do you all have? I mean, they're like scones, aren't they? Yeah, they kind of like buttermilk scones. Little different to the recipe, more savoury and salty, but yes.

Okay. Because they call cook, like, what we would call a biscuit, they often call a cookie. Right, yeah. Right. So are we not... I'm trying to think which of these words are metaphorical. This is the right way to approach this question, yes. Because the biscuit is the little code that the president carries for the nuclear codes. Oh, that's good.

So that was the other way, it's my lateral thinking, right? Maybe a bear is slang for a nuclear missile. So it's like, we're just talking about World War III. But bears, aren't bears also like a sporty thing? Like, is there a sports team called the bear? The Bears, Chicago Bears, I think. Yeah. What do they do?

Football, maybe. They're also, like, as speaking as someone from the gay community, they're also like a like a big hairy man. Yes, that goes along with the Oshkosh Otters and the Tennessee Twinks. There we go. I had that jogged ahead and I was like, somewhere starting with O, somewhere starting with O. Oregon was the obvious answer, but I went with Oshkosh for some reason. You are circling around sport, and you've gone to that twice.

So I think it is fair to tell you that, yes, this is a sport question. And did you say 10,000 or 100,000? Thousands of bears suddenly appear when a biscuit goes into a basket. It is not basketball, though. Interesting. I mean, I guess, like, because it could be, I mean, it could be netball or anything, but maybe because thousands of bears appear, it's something to do with a fan base. So, like, if this is, I don't know, like they...

Oh, is it something like you've got a load of crowd, of people in an arena and then they all do something like they like open their jackets and they're all wearing like their logo of the of the team whenever they they like you know the team scores a basket but not basketball it's very close again i feel like throwing open clothing there tattoos tattoos they've all got tattoos not quite right with the throwing open of clothing uh and again i'm not sure quite where your head's going during this episode, but you are definitely along the right lines. Like this is... Well, you don't stand up, right? Like, if when, if someone scores a goal or something, so... Yes. You said, score a goal. That's right. The basket is the goal. What

might the biscuit be? If you can work that out, you'll have the sport as well. Is it, I mean, I'm going to say, like, is it ice hockey? Because they have a park. Yes. Okay, really. Yeah. Because that's very biscuit shapes, yeah. Yeah, the puck is biscuit shaped. So when the biscuit goes in the basket, when the puck goes in the The fans do something. You've got nearly all the elements.

Thousands of bears. I have one more guess is that the pictures are printed on the seats, so they appear because everyone stands up to cheer. And the seats flip up, that's very good thinking. Oh, lovely guess, it's not right. Is it Bear B-A-R-E? Like, going back to that, Lexington.

I'll even give you the team name. It's the Hershey Bears of Pennsylvania. Oh, well, Hershey is the town. We talked about this in the podcast. Hershey was the town that was founded for Hershey's, right? Yep. Like, okay. And these days, it's mostly visited for the theme park there. Yeah, I really want to go.

Sounds amazing. It's not like Winnie Wonka, I'm sure. No. No, the roller coaster's safer at Hershey Park. Yeah. So are they all holding something? Is this, is it fashion? Is it like, is it intentional?

Do they intentionally appear? Yes, it's intentional. Yes, they're holding something. But do, I mean, is it as simple as having like a small stuff mascot, like on a university challenge. Yeah. Cool. You know what, we've got through this, I'm going to ask one other thing. They've brought all these stuffed toys, toys of all sorts.

Okay. Why might they suddenly appear on that first goal? What might be the point of that? Do they throw them into the ring? Yes, they do. Ah. Yes. I remember this from something.

I think I've seen footage of it. It's mad. Yes. Every year, the Hershey Bears of Pennsylvania hold a special event, and when the first goal is scored by, home team, most of the fans will take out a stuffed toy and throw it onto the rink. There's one key thing missing there. Why? What's the point of that? Because that's just going to disrupt the game. Yeah, of course. I was thinking about the cleanup operation.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Got to happen very quickly. And where do they go afterwards? Oh, do they go to charity? Yes. Spot on Jack. It's a charity promotion. In 2025, they set a new record of 102,343 toys. That's eight toys for every person in the stand. A seat, yeah, it's going to say. That puts a lot of pressure on the team, though, because if you don't score, A, you lose the team. And all the orphans go without their Christmas presents.

So, yes, this is the Hershey Bears of Pennsylvania, who every year hold a promotion where in the first home goal, the fans throw toys on the ice rink of a charity. Amazing. It's very sweet. I remember reading about some sort of college football team where they all throw toast onto the field. That's not donated, but it is a similar tradition. Again, it started out some sort of random rumor that went around that, like, I don't know,

or maybe they had their opposition on toast or something and that just became a thing. And now they have to, like, have, you know, professional cleanup teams to, yeah, because they don't want to ban it because it's America land of the free. Each of our guests has brought a question in. We will start, I think, with Alex. What have you got for us? Sure, okay. This question has been sent in by Isaiah.

Two motorcyclists are eating outside a cafe. Mike looks down and gently mocks Keith for his chicken strips. What does this tell you about Keith? I'll read that one more time. Two motorcyclists are eating outside a cafe. Mike looks down and gently mocks Keith. Keith for his chicken strips. What does this tell you about Keith? Okay, this sounds like a body part. Vegan? Is he being like meat shaming? Meat shaming. Um, no, I think it's relevant to the cyclists,

surely. So, chicken strips. Is it a specific body part that cyclists have? I mean, they're humans. They've got the same body parts as me, but, um, uh, What do chicken strips look like? They're breaded. Yeah, we are assuming that these are chicken strips he's eating. And this is, we've locked in on the meta game here, which is identify the metaphor in the question. Well, it's lateral, pleasing the name. I think it's a bike part.

Yeah, okay. So I think I'll say the chicken strips aren't edible. Okay. I wish my uncle was here. He's a bike mechanic. and he was actually the man who built the racing wheelchairs for the Olympians. Oh, wow. He's got like multiple gold medals to his name.

I think he's retired now, but he still sort of fixes people's bikes for fun, which is quite sweet. But he would definitely know. The speed of those is incredible. I remember watching London Marathon and seeing them go by. I'm just the sheer speed.

Yeah, it's terrifying. Yeah, it's amazing. I wonder if they have... Sorry, I'm going on a tangent here. That's fine. And I wonder if, like, Formula One, they have to slow down for the corners? Oh, yeah. Because runners don't have to do that in a marathon.

No, exactly. And I guess maybe you can lean, but you can't lean too far because you're not on two wheels. But I don't know if racing wheelchairs have chicken strips. Maybe you think about where Mike could be looking. Yeah, he said looking down. That is relevant. And I think he's literally looking down. He's not just looking down on...

As in looking down with the nose. Or maybe he is. And the question is, what does that tell us about Keith, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Okay. Something has happened to Keith or his bike that hasn't happened to Mike and he's getting mocked for it. And it looks like a chicken strip. And what...

You don't know, this is the right track. Okay, good. I know a lot of cyclists shave their legs and then a lot of other cyclists claim that it makes no difference. Is it anything to do with that? Again, back to the bare skin. I'd say Tom is closer. Tom is on the close to the right track. Chicken strips.

Oh, is it like you give it a notch in your bed frame? It's like every time you get a speeding ticket, you put a little chicken strip in your exhaust pipe or something. Scratch one out. Maybe not. Is it something on the frame? Like, I don't know. People stick all sorts of stuff to their bikes if they're like bike packing.

Oh, it's to show my knowledge of bikes. You need to ride more. So I guess having chicken strips is unimpressive. Is that right? Yeah, Mike is mocking keith for the chicken strips. Okay. So maybe it's like, without getting too violent, maybe he's got some sort of friction burns on his leg.

Okay, again, you're kind of, you're circling a little bit closer. Okay, okay. If you're thinking about, like, marks. Oh, is it with Lycra? Is it about wearing lycra that's too tight? No, but I kind of really, I like that answer. In that scenario, what are the chicken strips? Just like the sort of red marks you get when you take them off.

Because it's stopped for coffee, right? Yeah, but I don't think they take all their lycra off when they stop at the cafe. I don't think that's allowed. Is it like when you know you're going really fast and you get hit by bugs or something on the way? Okay, it's definitely speed is definitely a part of it. Okay.

So again, you're inching a little bit closer there. Are the mud getting kicked up or something like that causing... Because that would be roughly the right colour, like red of chicken strips are brown, mud's brown. Or I'm thinking like chicken... is brown. And that looks muddy. Okay, I'm going to say the chicken strips look more like loops than strips. Loops.

Loops. Yeah. As in circles. Yes. To speed and circular. Has he not put his letters on perhaps? And they're little stones that have, like, making marks. I never would have ever make loops, would it?

They are strips, but they're circular strips. Oh. Oh, now, there's two ways that could be. That could be circular like someone has drawn a zero on the leg, or it could be circular around the leg. Oh, yeah. Also, you're fixating on legs, and it's not necessarily to do with legs. Okay.

He looks down and mocks Keith for his chicken strips. So maybe it's feet or clothing or... Oh. it's on the tires yes correct oh are there things that make you go faster

that are called chicken strips and he's like no it's the little thing you put through the tire there's click click click click click as you yeah I would definitely mock mic for that I would say it's the opposite

but related to speed huh oh is it well in track cycling they often like put a they block out all the spokes for aerodynamics no it's not that

So this is a mockery that is most commonly directed at sports bike riders. Huh. Something to do with logging your speed in Strava. Okay, okay, I'm going to give you one more clue. Think about how riders take corners, especially in like MotoGP. Oh, is it, are they sort of like stabilizers that keep you from hitting the ground? No, no, it's got to be a different definition of chicken. It's not they look like chicken strips

It's the cowardly definition of chicken There we go, yes, yes Amazing What are those going to be? So it's to help them take corners More safely No, it does tell you something about Keith's driving style though More conservative, let's not say cowardly

He's more conservative Yes, yes, yes He's not getting as low in the corners Yes So what does that tell you about his driving style oh is it that he's not worn off the tread from the tires from from when he's days oh amazing okay yes i can picture that i can see exactly these sort of macho bikers who like assess the tires and like all the inside or you know further up the tire wall is you know fresh

from when you bought them and therefore you're not taking the corners fast enough oh exactly that so mike has noticed that the only the middle of the tires are worn so the outsides aren't, which is they like a different colour, because he doesn't take the corners as quickly and he's afraid to lean in. So, chicken strips. Chicken strips. That's such a clever word. I know. What a healthy relationship those two have. I'm going to say, cyclists are so mean. They look silly and like her and they're mean. This is motorbike, to be clear, right? This is motorbikes. Yeah, this is motorbikes. And as bikers are a huge segment of our listening with my family. So thanks so much for alienating them. We're massive in the hardcore biking

community. Yeah, I don't know how far you lean into corners when you're on your road bike, but I'm going to assess your chicken strips tonight. I'm going for it. It's the matchat or the three ensemble Cadocephora of the fact that I

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To find some Swiss cheese, Steve and Alex used to have to travel for a minimum of 12,500 kilometers. Why did they have to travel so far? I'll say that again. To find some Swiss cheese, Steve and Alex used to have to travel for a minimum of 12,500 kilometers. Why did they have to travel so far? So the number 12,500 strikes me. I can't remember now if there's miles of kilometres, but I think the Earth's circumference is 24,000 of either of them, kilometres or miles. So that would be halfway around the Earth. That would be halfway

around the road, yeah. Maybe they are just really, really picky. They have a really one preferred shop. I was thinking more of that, like, because you said a minimum, I was thinking there's something geographical there. So, for example, they live in a really remote island and you can, like, you have to go to the mainland to get it. But like you say, that's such a long distance that I can't really imagine they're not being a closer shot. I think it might be 24,000 miles, in which case 12,500 kilometres would be less than half way around the world. The odd circumference is about 40,000 kilometres. Okay, yeah, it's 25,000 miles. So... Or is it Swiss cheese as in literal has to be from Switzerland

cheese. Oh yeah, we've been doing the cheese research, haven't we? The cheese search? Yeah. In my son. Oh, Bree search.

Oh, that's better. That's better. It might not be, that might be the metaphorical bit. So, like, Swiss cheese, I feel like Swiss cheese could be a nickname

for something, again, because it sounds like, something that's got a whole holes in. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, absolutely right.

I feel like I've heard of something before that's called Swiss cheese is a nickname. I can't think what it was. I'll be honest. If you could remember it, that would probably help you a lot with this question. Okay. So wait, 12,500 kilometres. Could it be upwards? Is it going to be in space? Ah, okay.

Because I think it's 100 kilometres until you're officially in space. So that's quite far into space. This won't be right, but I do know that on the moon, they have these devices that they put up there during the Apollo missions, which are basically reflective plates that look like Swiss cheese they've got loads of holes in and they're designed specifically to shoot a laser all the way from the earth to the moon

and it will bounce back again and they can measure exactly like to the sort of centimeter how far away the moon is and that's how they realise that the moon is actually slowly drifting away from us and we're going to lose it today.

But I think that's more than $12,000. Unfortunately, yes. So it's definitely not cheese. We're not talking about cheese. Right. something holy. They used to travel to get this and now they don't have to, which suggests that either they've moved or the supply of the thing has moved. So as in, they used to be made in one place and now it's made somewhere else, or they just moved closer to it. Or it's not available

anymore. Oh, yeah. Is this some sort of lethally toxic refrigerant that we just banned because it's making a whole of the air, yeah. Are we? In the arts here, could it actually just be... Very, very vaguely. The cheese didn't appear when the distance was small. So is it something that is generated as a result of them travelling? Generated, it's definitely the right word here. Very much like a chicken strip.

Generated. Well, that makes me think of power. Is it the smell? Is it no? Thinking about journeys and smells. I know it's not like cheese. Or maybe like visual, something holy, ah. Yes, visual, definitely.

Okay, visual travelling holes. I can tell you the Swiss cheese was caused by a glitch. It's something like insulation that, like, gets eaten away by, like, I feel like I have this right in the back of my brain somewhere. I mean, if the things your brain's coming out with are insulation, Got to be honest with you. Not that. Not that.

Sorry. You've just read on your house, haven't you, Alex? Like, I was, again, I was thinking of, like, space shuttles and, like, the insulation padding around and then, like, you know, how they used to have problems with cuckoos, like, going inside and stuff like that. So that's what I was thinking of. Steve and Alex are quite famous. And there is going to be a subset of our audience who have been screaming this since the question

came out. Their first names for McQueen, there's famous McQueen's, but they're in very different rights. Very different industries, yeah. Steve and Alex, maybe they're, are they astronauts? Alex, you probably know all the men who've been on space. There are two astronauts. They're not the twins, are they? I don't think they are.

No, remember glitch. Oh, yes, glitch. Oh, computers, so Steve Jobs and Alex. I don't know. We're getting closer now, though. Yeah. Okay. This is a computer thing.

Yeah. It's like pre-i-phone, I imagine. It's going to be like... Is it like about microprocessing and things? Not really. Like, why would they travel 12,500 kilometres? Is it about gaming? Yes.

Yes, it is. Are these Americans who used to travel to Japan to play, like, a Pac-Man or something? Steve and Alex are the default characters in something that I suspect. None of you play. Are they the first names of, like, Man? Mario and, like, his brother? No, it's his name. Maybe I'm like, wait a second.

Maybe that's his surname. You will all know of this game. Yeah. Oh, is it like a fighting game? Oh, no. No, it's not. Because you don't have to travel 12,500 kilometres in a fighting game. Oh, it's within the game.

It's Minecraft. It's Minecraft. Yes, it is. I think my cousin would have got this. My sort of 15 years younger cousin. So this is a glitch that appears when you travel in the game? Yes. Yes, I reckon this could be to do with like powers of two

because isn't, maybe I'm going out the wrong tree, but like Pac-Man, you've got to level 257 and it just really, it's sort of, because it was 16 bit or something. Yeah. I don't really know that. Yeah, you're right, Jack. The numbers get too large, or at least they're used to. It's been fixed since.

Once you get too many blocks away, the terrain generation system just kind of breaks. So why might it be called Swiss cheese? Presumably it looks like it's full of holes. It is full of holes. That's absolutely right. Swiss cheese happens when Steve, Alex or any other Minecraft player get more than 12,500 kilometres from the centre of the world,

or at least it did until they fixed it. Manu, whenever you're ready, it's your question. All right. This question has been sent in by Boulia. On the 15th of April, 1923, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia was braced for confused horses and accidents which didn't materialise.

Instead, 1923 became known as the Year of Free Beef. Why? Wow, there's a lot to unpack there. Yeah, okay, I'm going to read it again. So on the 15th of April, 1923, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia was braced for confused horses and accidents which didn't materialise.

Instead, 1923 became known as the Year of Free Beef. Why? I am going to risk sticking my flag in the ground here and say, I think I know this one. Or at least I've worked out. Oh, so Alex, Jack, it's over to you. Okay, so firstly 15th of April, my wife's birthday, presumably nothing to do with it.

But that jumped out of me straight away. I think... I'm going to rule it out. Yeah, true. wasn't 1923 the year of the Tunguska explosion? Oh, classic. Yeah, of course. Who could forget?

What is the Tangustra explosion? There was some sort of meteorite that came into Earth. Oh, okay. Or not meteorite. I think it has to land. Oh, no, it's about the atmosphere. Anyway, some sort of extraterrestrial objects came into the Earth atmosphere and exploded. And maybe that was 1913.

Anyway, it was around that time. But that sent me down the idea that a meteorite that was predicted might spook some horses. Yeah. But it's a bit early to be predicting that to the day. My direction for some of it, because I don't think I can explain the first bit sounded a bit like, you know when countries switch the direction that vehicles are going on the road. And so they have a day. And then at midnight, everyone has to start driving on the right instead of the left.

There's loads of confusion. They have to change over all of the road signs. That's what I was thinking. But it doesn't explain the rest of it, the year of free beef or anything like that. It might do if you take beef to mean aggressiveness. Oh, conflict. Okay, so I agree with you on the first half. And I know it looks like that's right. Alex, you are so on the right track, like doing so well. It was the day they changed to driving on the right. Amazing. So why did all the cows die?

That's what I want to, like, why were there's their free beef everywhere, is the question. So that's our second part of the question. So could that be, I mean, I suspect it's not, well, okay, it's either something to do with lots of cows dying, or like some sort of weird legal loophole that meant that beef was, you know, much cheaper than it was. Were the two, are the two things related, Manu? Or is this just coincidentally something totally different happened to all cows? No, they are absolutely related. Yeah, it must be.

Were the cows used to vehicles being on one side of the road? So they looked the wrong way. So they land. And a lot of cows got hit by cars. That's pretty, that's pretty bang on, I'd say. Who's letting cows cross the road unaccompanied? So it's oxen that were driving cars. So basically they could not be trained to drive on the right side of the road.

Like other animals could. could, but the oxen couldn't. So what did it with oxen that can't be retrained? Wow. And thus the price of beef drops. Amazing. I mean, not amazing for the oxen, but... So they thought the horses were going to have an issue with it, but actually it was

oxen, so then horses became the dominant vehicle species. Is that right? Yeah. Okay, interesting. Well, at least in Nova Scotia for that year. And were they switching sides of the road, or were they just establishing a side of the road to to drive on for once? No, they were switching.

switching sides of the road so they used to drive yeah um on the right and then oh no they used to drive on the left and then they switched in 1923 but the oxen i guess what the ones who had grown up their whole lives driving ones like couldn't be retrained but they did understand to drive on the one side yeah but i think they just couldn't yeah couldn't make that switch can't teach an old dog wow you can't teach an old oxen a new side of the road Thank you to Steena for this next question. In 1911, why did crowds gather to see a few lemons rain down on the Norwegian town of Trondheim? I'll say that again.

In 1911, why did crowds gather to see a few lemons rain down on the Norwegian town of Trondheim? Was it because they switched sides of the road and a lemon truck crashed and then, like, there's one everywhere? No, I think the lemons are there sort of not too little. meaning here. I think because Trondheim and 1911 and just Norway generally, I'm thinking maybe this is one of the early

the wrong year for a winter Olympics but maybe a sort of world championship ski jump or something. Oh, interesting. I was thinking like experimental flight because when was the like... Oh yeah. Like a lemon being something that doesn't work. I wonder if

you know, there's one of those like crazy like flight flight expos where people were trying to demonstrate their ideas of planes where they were like pedal-powered things. Sorry, was it multiple lemons, or did you specify hundreds or dozens? A few lemons. A few.

Okay. My brain went immediately to, you know, when like, storms pick up loads of sea animals and then rain them down somewhere else? I was like, maybe there's a fish called a lemon, but if it's a few, I don't think that fits. Alex, I'm going to flag up Flight Expo there.

I think yeah that's that's a that's a fair summary of what's going on here it was a flight demonstration I mean what I when was the plane invented I suppose air balloon hot air balloons are another option for like people gather to see hot air balloons and I feel like that was the sort of around the world in 80 days era or the extension of hot air balloon the zeppelin I think this is before Hindenberg and I think it's I don't know how true this is but like zeppelins and airplanes were on a pretty similar trajectory and it was one of those sliding doors moments. I'm sorry, this is a bit euphemistic called the hymn of Hindenburg, a lemon, Jack.

I don't think it predates at Hindenburg by 25 years or so, but like I reckon that early zeppelins might have been, and if they were yellow-colored, they would look like lemons. But they fell to the, do you say they fell to the ground, or they... A few lemons rained down. range down. Okay, because that's quite poetic. That could be, I mean, that could be land. I'll give you that this was a plane.

Okay, okay. The plane had been invented by the Wright brothers about eight years earlier. Yeah, okay. And people gathered, so they knew this was going to happen. Yeah, it was, let's say, flight demonstration. Did someone throw out Sherbert Lemons from their airplane? Because I'm pretty sure, was it...

When was the Sherbert Lemon invented? I'll say that for the Sherbert Lemon podcast, that we have to do the episode. It was reminded me speaking of the cow that they took up. I was going to say, I was thinking about that.

Can you remember the story, I can't remember when... Yeah, so it was, I think it was later than this, but yeah, it was someone that was throwing milk out of an airplane. Did I advertise

the first cow in the air? Yeah. They were live milking hair. Below, yeah. And then they'd drop it in parachutes. I think that was in America, wasn't it? I reckon lemons would have been

pretty scarce in... If it is literal lemons, It is literal lemons I'll tell you that Alex, early on you were trying to find the metaphor in this question there's not one

there's literal lemons being dropped on Trondheim Wow And she'd call this literal Not lateral So why would they be doing it I guess they're pretty scarce You don't find them in Norway do you

Also like Netflix had them invented then so you could literally get people to come and look at anything I mean yeah like it was a stunt It was a stunt It was a flight demonstration.

This was a Swedish aviation pioneer, but he is demonstrating something that would become very important a few years later. Parishy. That's a good one. I was going to say the concept of bombing. The concept of bombing. Really?

Yeah. Crazy. That's crazy. Absolutely right. No way. What a whimsical way to do that. Yeah, this is Baron Seidostrom, a Swedish aviation pioneer who demonstrated a way to bomb enemy territories

by taking some lemons and throwing them down at the town. Now, you may have noticed something in that description I just gave. Why did some people find that stunt a bit insensitive? Is it because lemons are expensive? I mean, especially in Norway in 1911. I don't think they were ten a penny. Swedish aviation pioneer.

Oh, and he's doing it in Norway. Did they have some beef? Was it the year of free beef between... Norway and Sweden. Well, in 1905 was kind of the year of beef between Norway and Sweden, because that's when they dissolved the Union. Oh. So it was only six years after that, his Swedish aviation pioneer, flies over Trondheim,

demonstrates his plane, and chuck some lemons at them. Wow. I suppose that could go, like, you either goes in someone's eye or they're eating alfresco and they're having the fish, and they're like, oh, perfect. And then they just get like some free seasoning. And then the salt and pepper planes come over. Tim's new Cravable Raps are made for the times

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for limited time Jack, your question whenever you're ready. This question has been sent in by Sebastian Custlefish great name. A forge in Herefordshire, England runs events for families

to experience blacksmithing. Why does the forge require a supply of lollipops and why are they not given to children? I'll read that again. A forge in Herefordshire, England, runs events for families to experience blacksmithing. Why does the forge require a supply of lollipops and why are they not given to children? I remember something about police giving out lollipops. And again, not for people to enjoy the lollipops. for people to enjoy the lollipops, but if you give them out to nightclub people, revelers, whatever they're called, normal, I know normal people will go out going to come in. When they leave the club, you absolutely go into a nightclub. When you leave a nightclub, you don't want people

to be noisy on residential streets and it's not really easy to tell drunk people to shut up. So police would hand out lollipops and they put the lollipops in their mouth and suck them and not talk. And so it would keep them quiet. So it was like a sideways like solution. to a problem that had actually nothing to do the lollibops. You're kind of on the right lines. It's not about keeping them silent, though. Is it stopping, keeping their tongues in their mouth so they don't get caught in the blacksmithing equipment?

That would be pretty loose. How do you get your tongue caught? Like, that's an anvil on a hammer. Yeah, I've watched a lot of cartoons growing up, I feel that's why I'm doing. Is it to stop them breathing out their mouths? No, good thinking. I mean, what I will say is they don't give them out. to everyone.

Or is it like if you've injured yourself? Oh God, are they doing like dentistry? Because that's when the other time you get a lollipot. They're like, do free teeth removal. Do you know what a forge does, Alex? Sorry, I shouldn't mock the guests. But in this question, you've, you bet. I reckon they could knock some teeth out if they wanted to.

That's three sons go on your nightclub social abilities, on your knowledge of forges and your knowledge of dentists. I apologize. Just in my question. I think Alex is thinking of, like, a dual business where you've got like a forge on one side and then a dentist on the other. I mean, I've no information on whether there's a dentist, but that's a red herring. Okay, but injuries.

Yes, you do not want to get a lollipop if you can help it. The event is open to adults and children, so why would you not give them to children? Because the children are not allowed to do what the adults are allowed to do. Like, for example, use the blacksmith equipment. It's like a live demo. I think in some cases they are both allowed to participate. So what would they be doing here? All the different things that you can make at a forgery.

I mean, swords, surely is one. Yeah, I look to the website. There are sword-making courses. Really like suits of armour. Yeah. I wouldn't go down that route. I think what's unique about lollipops that, for instance, isn't common. Like, you could, in some universes, give them chocolate bars, but they wouldn't work in this case.

Oh, the heat would melt the chocolate bar in the forge. Lollipops wouldn't melt. Not necessarily in the forge. Yeah, they're quite hard as well, lollipop. So, like, you could, like, crack them and I don't know, there's, whereas, obviously, the chocolate bar would just splatter. It's lollipops a metaphor. We haven't checked if lollipops is a metaphor. We didn't do the metaphor check.

Luckily, there's no meta, like, everything's. They are literal lollipops. And they're not the frozen type. I don't know what you would call that. That's a lolly in my house. Yeah, but they're not like a freeze pop or something like that. No, exactly. Are they being given to people to suck?

Correct. See, now I'm thinking that Alex was right with this whole dental injury or mouth injury thing. Oh, you've come around to my dental theory. I've been looking the fore, yes. A burns involved. Those are involved, yes. You're on the right line.

If you burn yourself, you get a lolley. You do? And why would you? To get saliva? Is it a medical connection? It's not just so you feel better and don't soothe the forgery. Like, it's like if you burn your mouth or something, it's good to suck a lollipop. I'd say it's wider than burning your mouth.

Although, in fact, I think if you burn your mouth, that would be the time they wouldn't prescribe a lollipop because you're making it worse. So again, why would you not give them chocolate? because that would help soothe their mind and help them not sue you. Yeah, it would do the same thing. But like you say, chocolate melts. So that was an issue. Which means it doesn't last as long? So lollipops last a long time.

Okay, fine, right? So what, but why do you need them to suck a lollipop for a long time if they've been burned? That's my question to you. This show is really hard. Also, like lollipops are hands free. Is that they burn their hands? Yeah, I think you're going down the wrong, like you're almost there. It's, they do take a long time.

And in fact, they take a specific amount of time. Oh, is it when you're like holding your hand under the thing and then you have to suck the lollipop for that amount of time? That's exactly it. So when you burn, there's a small possibility, but if you burn yourself the burn is treated by putting it in cold running water for about 20 minutes

so the injured party is given a lollipop to suck so they can stay there for 20 minutes and they don't have to like look at a camera on their phone Oh, I did not call my hand for long enough when I got burned in a forge once that's a very specific thing I did like two minutes I can't believe you have first-hand experience

of this scenario and you didn't bring that up that could have helped no one gave me a lollipop Also, I swear I read something about That's like not how you should treat burns Is category like don't put it under cold water Oh well take it up with this fortune airship I'm gonna find them

That sounds like the kind of slightly questionable medical advice We do on QI Where we're like actually this is a misnestown Put it back in the fire It'll heal first in it literally fight fire with fire Oh, homeopathic burn recovery Go ahead of you take a tiny bit of fire and then dilute it until there's no fire.

Actually, that genuinely is probably how homeopathic burn medication thanks to work. But you haven't fully answered the question. Why would you not give it to children? There's a different treatment for children, the hospital. That would be the responsible thing to do is get an actual doctor to take a look at their burns. I think that comes later, yeah.

Is it they take too long to suck the lollipop? Because of their tiny mouths. Yeah, they're just smaller. Stupid children. Sort of. I think, how can I push you towards this? What is it about children and lollipops? They tend not to.

Well, in my experience, whenever I give my goddrauddle lollipops, they will suck them for two minutes and then throw them, forget them, get them stuck on someone else. But have you grown out of a love of lollipops as you've become an adult? Yes. Because that's why they don't offer them to children is that children would accidentally burn themselves so they could get a lollipop.

Yeah. Funny. If you tell them, if you show them, here's lollipops there for burns victims, then you know children, they'll stick their hand in the fire. That's hardcore. I would want to be friends with that childhood. Just like looking the blacks were dead in the eye

with their hand in the flame. They're like, give me a lollipop. Burning both hands, so they'll get two. Which brings us to the question at the start of the show. Thank you to Zilland for sending this one in. What does Mrs. Crunch have? that Mr. Crunch does not. Any guesses from our panel

before I give the audience the answer? Is this like Mr. Potato Head? Some sort of failed Hasbro. An active sex life. She's taking a lover. Her marriage is broken down. So the Mrs. Hazan. Oh, is it...

Because I think of Captain Crunch, the serial. So, well, he has, obviously, like, he has a title, a command title. He's in the army. But I don't know what she has. Isn't he missing a leg, so she might have her leg? Anyway, that's not Mr. and Mr. I don't think there's a Mrs. Crunch. Yeah, there's not Mrs. Crunch.

Are we in the realms of food? You are in the realm of food, and it's a fairly well-known pair. There's the Crunchy. Snap, Crackle and Pop. Well, you think there's an extended family tree. There is. Mr. Mrs. Crunch. Oh, what are there two of?

Is it something like a Twix? Are they known as Mr. and Mrs. Crunch? Mr and Mrs. Crunch are not English Oh, so this is a foreign version of something we'll recognise I wouldn't put those words in exactly that order But yes Well I think like Mrs. Pac-Man has a bow And this is something really superficial like that

Sort of, yes Oh, oh I've got it Is it French? Yes, it is Okay, it's Croc Monsieur and Croc madame Yes, it is Mrs Crunch has an egg Correct.

Yes. That's so good. The crock madame is Mrs. Crunch, which has a sunny side egg on top compared to a croc monsieur, which does not. Thank you very much to all of our players. Let's find out where can people find you? What's going on your lives and work? We will start with Manu. Yeah, so you can find us wherever you listen to your podcast.

It's called Lunchbox Envy. And, yeah, so like I said today, I've been looking at cheese. If you're interested in cheese, this is a place for you. and also main made foods, all over your foods. Jack, what other episodes do you have? Well, we've got ones on pastries, pizza, I think we did a peanuts episode, an olives episode, and you guys recorded the Microy's episode the other day.

We did. I'm looking forward to hearing that one. And Alex, what sort of stuff do you have coming up? Yeah, as many as I was doing cheese, we've got, well, we're going to do sweets. We're definitely going to do something for, Christmas. We've got apples coming up. We're also going on BBC Sounds as well, so you'll be able to get us, you'll be able to listen to us literally anywhere, all podcast platforms.

And if you want to know more about this show, you can do that at lateralcast.com. We can also send in your own ideas for questions. We are at lateral cast, basically, everywhere, and there are regular video highlights at YouTube.com slash lateral cast and full video episodes on Spotify. Thank you very much to Alex Bell. Thank you. Jack Chambers. Thank you very much. And Manu On Rio. Oh, thank you. I've been Tom Scott, and that's been. much. Thank you.