Lateral with Tom Scott - 36: The no-show French king

Episode Date: June 16, 2023

Annie Rauwerda ('Depths of Wikipedia'), J. Draper and Geoff Marshall face questions about sporting schemes, misty mirrors and Boston billboards. 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://www.lateralcast.com. HOST: Tom Scott. QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe. RECORDED AT: The Podcast Studios, Dublin. EDITED BY: Julie Hassett. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Ricky James, Ryan G., Jared Pike, Charlie. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why do some people celebrate their birthday on the 25th of June, even though that's nowhere near their real birthday? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. We've assembled another three agile minds who have an uncanny ability to solve lateral thinking problems while talking at a steady pace, which means they're passing our lateral flow test. With that and with apologies, we start this week from the London History Show and her own TikTok channel and a qualified London tour guide,

Jay Draper. Hi, good to be here. Welcome to the show. I think you're our first TikToker in a while. You sort of started out on YouTube a while back and then kind of moved over to short form. How are you finding that? So I've kind of moved back, actually. Oh, spot me not catching up with what you're putting out. Sorry. Oh, no worries, no worries.

I barely keep up. But yeah, so I started out on YouTube years and years ago and had a lot of fun, but never sort of went very far with it. And then in the pandemic, like most people, went on TikTok and that exploded rather. And now since things are sort of winding up more in real life now, I'm back on YouTube and it's doing much better. So I'm really enjoying it. back on YouTube and it's doing much better. So I'm really enjoying it. Also joining us from the depths of Wikipedia, which is not just a literal description, but also the Twitter and TikTok account you run, among many other things in your life.

Annie Rowoda, how are you doing? I am doing well and I'm so excited to be here. Thank you very much for coming on the show. I hope that the train near my house is not too annoying for everyone to listen to. Now, I saw someone else in this call perk up here. Normally, normally, I would have asked you a couple more questions there, Annie, but you mentioned train, and Jeff Marshall, you have just perked up, and I assume you're going to ask what train that is. Well, I'm getting an American accent. I'm assuming you're in New York. So which subway line is it, Annie? It is the L. There is a very lengthy Wikipedia article about the L train that gets 5,000 page views every month.

Geoff, I should probably introduce you as well. A man who has gone to every train station in the UK and Ireland and presumably some other countries. Does the Isle of Man count as a kind of a separate country? We did the Isle of Man as well. Oh, I mean, the trouble is the answer to that is a really technical and complicated one that I can't be bothered to answer right now. I think it's a crown colony or something, isn't it? Yes. Okay. But yes, I've been to a lot of all the railway stations, not train stations, Tom, railway stations. I apologise sincerely, by which I apologise entirely insincerely. This show is like a Formula One circuit where all the questions are chicanes, because one thing's for sure, they are going to drive you round the bend, and we start with this.

A listener question sent in by Ricky James. In recent years, various medium-sized roundabouts in rural Scotland have been flattened on one half. However, mini roundabouts and large gyratories are untouched. Why? I'll give you that one more time. In recent years, various medium-sized roundabouts in rural Scotland have been flattened on one half.

However, mini roundabouts and large gyratories are untouched. Why? So specifically medium-sized, not large or mini? Yeah, we've got this on a question for three people who occasionally do some videos about transit, and I've given you a road question. Wow. For some reason, I'm thinking of, like, delicate haulage.

Is it, like, to do with farmers and cattle or milk floats carrying delicate milk bottles going over bumpy roads or something? That's where my mind's gone. I don't... That's completely wrong, obviously. That's where my mind's gone. That's completely wrong, obviously. That's where my mind's going. I just think of people racing and trying to skid out. They flattened it.

They flattened the roundabout. Could that happen? I love the idea of just a race circuit around roundabouts in rural Scotland. I hope that exists. Geoff's a bit closer there but this is oh so it's a delicate kind of cargo but in one direction only why would it be in one direction only is it like something to do with animals being able to get past roundabout sheep it's got to be sheep

that's what i think of but why can't sheep use a medium-sized roundabout i did say farmer and something that was close so it might be a farm sheep thing yeah i'm trying to think of scottish things is it like bagpipers and kilts marching together i've never been to scotland it shows is this something that's been done officially? Or is this like an accident? Just a horrible disease of a blight that's affected medium-sized roundabouts? This is a deliberate flattening.

It's very professionally done. Whoa, that changed everything. It's not the Loch Ness Monster. No, it's not just... just whoa we've gone through all the scottish stereotypes here no this is this is something that has been done and jeff it's not so much delicate haulage but there's there's haulage there and you i mean scottish stereotype is kind of going in the right direction but i think it's one that um it's it's not an old stereotype this

well in that case i'm thinking of like a low loader like a truck with a very low i don't know what you'd call it in railway terms gauge but again you said it was on one side only so in my mind i'm thinking oh you're going in one direction surely lorry's low loads around both directions um that was there was a sudden gas anywhere there oh well i was thinking of things scotland is known for. Castles, I can think of. We already talked about the Loch Ness Monster. Bagpipers.

Also, I think of sheep. But what about whiskey? Is that involved? I really thought that you were nailing it on the target there. You looked so excited and you sounded so excited. I was like, she's got it. She's got, no, absolutely not. I realised I'm supposed to yes and these suggestions.

So this wouldn't happen in England. Is it a Scottish transport thing? That's particular to Scotland. It happens a lot more up in Scotland. Annie, keep going with your crass stereotypes. Go. Come on. I'm going to get cancels for this cancelled for this Scotland is going to be so angry

all the comments what are they going to do to you you're an ocean away they could really come and get us if we said it really big trebuchet really big accurate trebuchet cross the Atlantic someday I will go to Scotland I will go to Scotland and the only thing I'm going to visit

is the medium-sized roundabouts to make it up for all of you Scottish listeners. So the only other thing I can think of are those, I think they're called Shetland cattle, like the hairy cows. But that's not a recent Scottish phenomenon, I don't think. No.

And medium-sized roundabouts only. The massive gyratories don't have to be changed, and the tiny little mini roundabouts don't have to be changed. What else is Scotland known for? Golf courses? I'm just thinking about some medium-sized things that are perfectly sized to go on the medium roundabouts, like a motorcycle or a horse-drawn carriage why do you say perfectly sized um now you're asking me questions i haven't thought about

so it was professionally done and perfectly sized is this like a is it a race is it like a a road race like a like the Tour de France, but in Scotland? It's not a military thing, is it? There's a lot of RAF bases up in Scotland. It's not a military thing, is it? No. No, not military. But I think you're getting closer with sort of logistics

and moving things around here. These are on fairly specific routes. Several roundabouts on the same road might have to move this way. They'll have to move signs and trees. They'll have to move signs and trees. They'll have to move signs and trees as well. Yep. So, okay, this is some kind of, something's being transported, like a large truck or something, and it's going on a road, and it's too wide. So it's something wide that's too big to fit a road. What would you move in Scotland that's too wide for a truck? Why do I feel like

I've read this somewhere? You probably have. You're going to kick yourselves on this. No, I think I know. I think I've read a news article about this. Hang on. The back of my head is stirring. It knows this. When you say it, I'm going to know it. I'm not going to go, that's ridiculous. I'm going to go, yeah, I read that last month and I just totally forgot. Happens in a few other countries as well, but they're all

kind of this sort of region. It's a wide load. Yep. It's a wide load. Yep. It's a very wide, very long load. Jenny, Annie, jump in, because I've given you wide load. Run with it. Come on.

I don't know, like a big cannon? A big cannon. Oh, it's got to be those, those like the green energy windmills. Yes. Oh. It's blades for wind turbines. You're absolutely right, Annie. They are so big, so massive.

And the trucks that carry them cannot get round certain turning radiuses. So the little roundabouts, they drive straight over or flatten entirely. The massive gyratories, they can just drive round. But medium-sized roundabouts, they have to flatten half of it and drive round that way.

God, that was a workout. My brain is exhausted. That's good. That's good. We got there. That was a team effort. Anna, you need to add turbines, along with whiskey and cows, to your list of things.

Yeah, that's what Scotland's best known for. Nowhere else in the world can you find one. Nowhere. Yeah. And it's only half the roundabout because it's such a massive thing and such a big convoy that they have to stop traffic for it anyway.

So they can just go the wrong way around if they need to. So yes, 80-metre wind turbine blades are being transported through Scotland for which they have to half-flatten some roundabouts. Jenny, you said that your mind was having a workout, so we'll give you a rest for this one. Each of our guests have brought in a question. I don't know the question, I definitely don't know the answer, and we'll go to you first whenever you're ready.

So this listener question has been sent in by Charlie. After the King of France, Louis X, died on the 5th of June 1316, France had no king. His rightful heir, John I, eventually became king on the 15th of November. There were no legal disputes or pretenders to the throne. What caused the delay? So I'll read it again. After the king of France, Louis X died on the 5th of June, 1316, France had no king. His rightful heir, John I, eventually became king on the 15th of November. There were no legal disputes or pretenders to the throne. What caused the delay? And then the second thing is, is it a weird calendar issue? That's the way... What was the year that they swapped from one calendar system

to another? Did you ever see the article about space-time and futuristic sci-fi monarchy problems? That if you have two planets, and you have two heirs to the throne, and

the monarch dies, and they are separated in space as well as time, in theory you could have a different monarch have, what's the word for it, primogeniture? Something like that? Primogeniture, yeah. Primogeniture. You could have a different monarch based on where they are in space-time and it would be against the laws of physics impossible to work that out? I realise that's not a thing that's even relevant to this question.

You're correct. That is what happened in France 1316. You got it in the first time. Nice one. Wait, not the space time. Just to be clear, that was sarcasm about space time, right? No, but Geoff, your first idea was a little more on track. Oh. Oh, I was sure you'd got it with the calendar thing, Geoff. I was like, oh, God, this is going to be a short question. He's got it immediately.

So the calendar thing is quite a bit later, where we switched calendars. There wasn't until the 15th or 16th century, was it? We swapped from Julian to Gregorian calendar. Okay. Then it's to do with the age of of the air oh i thought i knew it but that was go for it annie you might throw the suggestion in anyway i thought it was gonna be that everyone was quarantining from the bubonic plague i know we can't have a king yet he's uh he might die but is the timeline right was that 1316

I don't know I just know it was back then we're a little early for the bubonic plague only a little bit to be fair 1368 this is a gap

assuming no calendar shenanigans this is a gap of about five months just over five months so I the rules of monarchy say that there is always a monarch.

Like at the instant that the old monarch dies, that passes. Hence the king is dead, long live the king. There is no moment at which the country doesn't have a monarch, except apparently there is for five months. It wasn't something weird that they weren't actually born yet. Was it that the child didn't pop out until like November? Is that it? You got it.

Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Exactly. Nice one. Yeah. So he died quite suddenly, Louis X. And his wife was pregnant when he died. And they were waiting for the baby to be born. They were waiting for the baby to be born.

They were waiting for the king to be born. Oh, yes, finally this newborn can rule the nation. What is your command, sire? I can't believe I got it. I got one. Yeah, good job. I got something right. Go me. Baby coronation? It was crazy enough with adults they they put the

crown on and the baby just disappears underneath it that's that's crazy i wish there was you know that makes me want there to be babies of everything like a baby pope imagine a a baby in the pope garb and the popeemobile. I was going to say, Annie, I think you've invented a new movie franchise there. Like Cars, like the movie Cars, but everyone's a baby. I mean, the Cars universe does have a Pope. It does. I have only seen that based on other people sharing pictures of the Popemobile,

which I remember implies a Pope assassination attempt in the cars universe and a pope jesus right uh a car jesus um a car jesus who was car crucified um and rose to car heaven the the cars universe does fall apart the more you think about it but i think that's true of a lot of fictional worlds. Well, yeah, I remember almost losing my mind when I saw planes in the Cars universe. I believe they were introduced in Cars 2. I don't know. So John I was not born yet when Louis X died. They had to wait for him to be born a couple months later in November.

The next one's from me, and this listener question was sent in by Ryan G, so thank you, Ryan. Why did Trevor put up a large billboard in Boston that read, this is Boston? I'll say that again. Why did Trevor put up a large billboard in Boston that read, this is Boston? Hang on, hang on. There's a thing here with people putting up signs. So Max Frosch, YouTube, put up a sign saying, Welcome to Lieutenant Gatwick. And that was based upon somebody in America

putting up a sign saying, Welcome to Cleveland in Detroit or something. So was this somebody trying to say, No, this is Boston and you're in the right place. It's like an anti, it's like a sign that is truthful as opposed to a lie. A billboard war. A billboard war.

I won't participate because I know this one because I wrote the Wikipedia article about somebody involved. Oh, wow. Okay. So that's what happens. Annie knows this one. So Jenny, Jeff, this one's on you. What?

But I will say, Jeff, that the Max Fosh prank is actually in my notes here as one of the, not really related, but one of the extra facts I can add in if the question runs short. So thank you. That's off my list now. It's only very, very vaguely related to that. I'm sorry, did you say it was Boston? Was it Boston? It was Boston and the sign said, this is Boston. Is it because there was some sort of disagreement about if it was actually called Boston, or if it was called, like, New Boston, or Boston on Thames, or something?

Or was it a border dispute, and somebody local went, no, no, Boston starts here, and they were trying to sort of argue that it was, you know, 100 metres up the road, as to where the local authority thought it was or something. I love that, because I remember there being a big dispute about where Shoreditch ends in London. Out of Towers would call Shoreditch, like, anywhere where there's hipsters in East London. And the locals were like, no, it's here, that bit's not Shoreditch, that bit's not, that's Hoxton, and it got but in this case no it's just

just in the middle of Boston I will say the full text is this is Boston nice this is Boston nice two separate sentences there is there a comma is there a comma

this is Boston there's a full stop and a smiley emoji between them oh sorry it's in Boston there's a period and a smiley emoji between them. Oh, sorry. It's in Boston. There's a period and a smiley emoji between them. Which emoji? Emoji expert? Which one is it? I don't know. It's just a smiley face.

Okay. All right. You're the emoji man. All right. I was the emoji man like five, six. I've left that shtick behind the same as I've left a lot of shtick behind, Geoff. I've left more shtick behind than you've had at dinners. lot of shtick behind jeff i've left more shtick behind than you've had hot dinners i haven't heard that in years finally got someone from the north on here um is this billboard like next to something really weird and the billboard is commenting on, hey, you'd only find this in Boston. Nice. Not in this case. Hang on, is it an homage to like a TV show, like in the opening sequence of Cheers or something?

Is there a sign saying this is Boston and someone's replicated it from like TV or film? No, it's just a billboard. It also has his face on it. Is it there because people keep filming Boston pretending it's other cities and now they've got this billboard in shot saying, hey, it's Boston actually? Oh, that'd be lovely. I wish it was because I was in Vancouver a while back and there's always some film crew taking over one of the civic buildings and pretending that it's New York or LA or in one case, Vancouver, Washington, which they just filmed in Vancouver, Canada instead. In this case, he's trying to be genuinely

helpful. The local road signs are wrong, and so he's put up a correct road sign. I know someone did that somewhere. I think that was near LA. Someone did, I think they called it guerrilla infrastructure or something like that, just dressed up in a high-vis jacket, went up and fixed a road sign. But no, it's also got his face on it. It's his face. This is Boston.

Nice. And he's trying to be helpful. It would only be helpful a tiny, tiny fraction of the time. Is his last name Boston? Trevor Boston? Who is this Trevor anyway? His last name is Trevor Rainbolt. And actually, who is he is kind of an important clue here. He is a streamer on YouTube. Or possibly Twitch. I think it's YouTube, but he's a streamer. Is his stream name This Is Boston? Is that the name he goes by online? No, but it is relevant to what he streams.

Did he have to do this as like a, you know, if I get to so many subscribers, I'll buy a billboard? Is that billboard visible as a backdrop on his stream? Is it like he's got a webcam outside his house or something? It's like outside his window. No, but in a very, very rare circumstance, it might show up on his stream. Does he play the GeoGuessr game? Yes, he does.

Ah, finally. So why has he put the billboard up? So that he knows if he accidentally clicks on it, if that's where he gets dropped in GeoGuessr, he knows where he is. Trevor Rainbolt! And you did his Wikipedia article. Yeah, I forgot to ask about that.

You've been staying quiet through all that question. Annie, tell us about Trevor. Oh, I love Trevor. So I wrote this article probably a year ago, and he was taking off. I guess one interesting thing that's in the article that's been mentioned in most interviews with him is that before a few months ago he had never left the country and then when he quit his job in i think he did like social media stuff as a job he quit that job once this geoguessr thing took off and now he's traveling the world and he lives in bangkok as of um a post recently i mean that i

cannot believe we asked a question to to our depths of wikipedia person about someone you've written an article about thank you thank you so much i will i mean it feels almost unnecessary for me to give the wrap-up now but uh yes trevor rainbolt is a geoguessr player and he put up the billboard so that hopefully one day it shows up in someone's stream. Next question comes from Jeff. Whenever you're ready. Okay, the question is, around 250,000 Americans will get married this year,

partly because Jonathan Badin forgot to turn on his bathroom fan. How? I'll read that again. A quarter of a million 250 000 americans will get married this year partly because jonathan badin forgot to turn on his bathroom fan how is that i love questions like this we've got nothing to go on at all nothing 250 000. Is he like a character in a sitcom or something? Is this like a joke that's like a running joke for somebody? Okay, how many Americans are going to get married every year?

Is that all the Americans? Like how many? Okay, what's the population of America? It's like 330 million? It's a little more than that, but something like that, yeah. So is that all the weddings in America, or is that just like a subset of them? That's got to be just a subset.

It's not all the weddings in America. Okay. Can you give us the name of the guy again? David... The name is Jonathan Badien, was it? Badien, B-A-D-E-E-N. Has Annie, have you written the Wikipedia article on that? No, I haven't written the Wikipedia article on this.

So if you don't turn your bathroom fan on, you get mould. So they're getting married because he has a mouldy bathroom. Ah, that's why I always get married. Whenever I see mould, i'm like oh just need to tie the knot i'm thinking about things that could be a subset of marriages like courthouse weddings versus weddings in churches or like weddings on the beach weddings in vegas weddings in vegas because you don't need much of a license to do it so like well weddings uh is the reason that weddings in Vegas

are allowed as like snap with no waiting period is because someone had a moldy bathroom. I don't know where I was going with that. Or you know how you can get certified to marry people online? You like pay $10. Oh yeah. But he can't do 250,000 on his own, right?

That's... Oh no no but i wonder if there are enough what was that church the church of universal something i can't remember the name i'm sure my producer will tell me in a minute there is a church where you can just sign up online get ordained as a minister and then yeah ten ten dollars later you can yeah like his his bathroom was going moldy and so his wife left him and he decided to turn it around and become the head of the Universal Church of marriage licence giving.

And now 250,000 people in America get married every year. Thanks to... It's not mould, but Jenny, you're the closest so far. It's a consequence of something that happens if you don't turn on the bathroom extractor fan. What else happens in the bathroom?

Steamy, steamy. Get steamy. Can't see a thing. So someone wrote a note to him. Did someone write a note to him on the number and it got steamed up? I don't know. Just thinking.

But more on those marriages. This is kind of beside the point now. Do you have that? Where you can just sign up and get ordained? I think that church, I have it as like Universal Life Church. Thank you to David, the producer. Costs about $40 and 84% of all ministers in the world are ordained with the Universal Life Church. In the world?

In the world. Because their requirements are pretty limited. But it's just one of those things where tons of people do it. Like, I have tons of friends that do it so that they can be the officiant at weddings. Yeah. Oh, I know someone who's done that. So he uses a fun fact. But now I feel like it's so mainstream that it's about as fun of a fact as like, I like The Office.

Well, they do it in sitcoms a lot, right? It's cool, but I've seen it before. We've seen ordained ministers. I'm not impressed. Come back when you're an astronaut. Come back when you're car pope. Come back when you're a baby king. Anna, you said mist up.

What mists up in a bathroom? The mirror. Condensation on the mirror. Tom, you're almost there. So the mirror's steamed up, and then what happens? You want to brush your hair, check your face, clean your teeth. What do you do? Uh-oh.

Wipe it. You can't see yourself very well. So what do you do? You wipe, clean your teeth. What do you do? Uh-oh. Wipe it. You can't see yourself very well. So what do you do? You wipe it clean. Okay. And then you can see yourself all right. What are we missing here? There's got to be something.

What do you do? Do you have some, like, procession you do every time it steams up? So what action do you do to wipe a mirror clean? I mean, this does not work in audio, but it's a kind of like waving sideways. Like a wax on, wax off sort of deal. It's not karate, kid. No, it's not waving or waxing.

It's another action, which I'm also doing right now, which on audio you can't see. Oh, he's like swiping left on people. Swiping on Tinder? Is this just the guy who invented Tinder? It is, yes. That's where the inspiration for the Tinder swipe came from.

250 million, I mean, excuse me, 1,000 Americans get married off Tinder? With dating apps? Every year. Well, not even just dating apps, like Tinder specifically, Tinder alone. And the guy came up with the idea for swiping because his bathroom mirror was steamed up is that after stepping out the

shower one day but dean swiped his hands across his misted up bathroom mirror and saw his own face and they were trying to think of something else other than just a button like yes or no and came up with the with the swiping idea i don't believe that for a second that's one of those startup stories that some PR agency has come up with, like, months afterwards. Like, the story about Google being spelled that way because someone miswrote a check. I don't think that one's true. I think

I remember seeing someone debunk this. This sounds like one of those myths that they've come up with. Alright, we're all going to be in a race now. First one to put out a video debunking this. But if you want, have i have the numbers uh tinder's had 30 billion matches since uh of the two million american couples that marry in a typical year 23 of them meet on a dating app of which 27 of those 23 used tinder so there we go

wow quarter met on an app that's amazing I didn't think they worked that well. I mean, spot the person who's like early millennial. I would never have thought it was that high. Never. I'd have put it at like 5%, 10% at most for like all dating apps. Wow. Yeah, same. Absolutely.

Oh, I'm not surprised, but maybe that's because I'm 23. I guess, right, like Tom, you and I are sort of ageing out of the normal marriage bracket, right? And so it's not us getting married anymore. Don't be wrong. That's entirely true, but also, ouch. I guess. Because I think the same as you.

I would have put it way lower than that. Thanks, Jenny. As someone who has used a dating app, but I thought it was just, you know, for people, you know, who'd failed in their relationships later on in life. And then I spoke to like 18 and 19 year olds and it's all the rage just as they use, you know, apps to do everything. They're just like, yeah, we just use an app to do like regular dating. And I'm like, but you're 18, go out and meet people in real life. Don't just use an app, but they all do.

I've heard of people that have like met somebody in real life. And then because they weren't sure if they were looking for a relationship would go on the apps and just obsessively swipe to see if they can find them which seems like a roundabout way of getting out what you want i've had an ex-girlfriend of mine appear on a dating app and she used a fake name true story i i i have never used one, and I don't think I ever will. I just... I don't like the idea. It's just...

I'm clearly too old for this. I'm clearly just too old for this. Tom, thanks. I'm older than you. Thanks. That's really comforting. I've met people that automate the swiping. Like, they write a script to swipe for them,

and so they swipe, yes. So they swipe on everybody? They swipe right on everybody. And then they have better selection. They don't have to waste their time with people that aren't going to match with them. Yeah, I mean, obviously it works. Yeah, Badim was the co-founder of Tinder. And when stepping out of the shower one day, he swiped his mirror to clean it.

And that gave him the idea of having the swipe right to match with a person on the app. There we go. Another listener question now. Thank you very much to Jared Pike. In 1892, the American football team of Gallaudet University hit a snag when they played a team with the same student profile as theirs.

Their solution was copied by other teams who did not need it. What was the problem and the solution? I'll say that one more time. In 1892, the American football team of Gallaudet University hit a snag when they played a team with the same student profile as theirs. Their solution was copied by other teams who did not need it. What was the problem and the solution? I'm not sure what you mean by profile. This question is very carefully phrased and I'm not sure I want to clarify that all that much right now. I will say that they have an unusual intake of students. The profile of those students is different to your regular university.

Did they all have the same last name? I love the idea of a university with a University of Smiths. I mean, like somewhere where there's like a very common last name, where almost everybody's got the same one. Or maybe no last names. Like, but obviously not. Sorry, Annie, I know you're from there i spent some time living in the usa too but i used to cover uh university and college stories where you know

students would go to particular universities so that they could play for that football team on purpose so it wasn't what you know academics they were good at it was what it was like what physical attributes they had and they signed to a particular college just so that they could play sport there wondering how does that go back to the 1800s? Was that a thing back then? Might that be a reason? Well, one thing I can think of with sports is how you have your normal jerseys for home and then you have different jerseys for away games.

And when I heard student profile, for some reason I was I was like oh they have the same school colours even though that's probably not what profile means but is that it? Have they used the word profile so as not to say kit or team shirt and that's what it is. No it is definitely something about the players. A physical attribute

their height or their build or their... Yeah like do you think it's a military university type of thing? a military university type of thing a military university is that a thing is that yeah like you can go to like the navy school or the army school were they were they all deaf and they had to have like a different kind of buzzer yes yeah right in there so how did you know that annie sparked it off in my mind well Well, I would have never thought of that. Hearing you work through it. You've got the first bit of the question.

The unusual profile of the students is that, yes, Gallaudet University is for deaf students. So what was the problem when they met and played another team of deaf students? Yeah, that they wouldn't normally get when they're just playing on their own. Have a think about American football. I don't know how much each of you all know about American football, or for you, Annie, football. Have a think about how the teams play what they have to do.

They shout orders at each other. Do they? But they must have had a way of doing that without playing another team. Do you think there's a lot of symbols with their hands and fingers to represent certain moves? Is that a thing? They would have done, yes. Other teams wouldn't have had to do that.

Oh, they each had come up with their own symbols for the referee to use, and the referee needed to use both of them at the same time. Oh, not quite, but they had come up with their own symbols. Or at least they were using sign language. So did they have to invent new bits of sign language that had never been used before to play football? They invented something that every American football team now uses.

The, do they, like this for touchdown? That sort of thing? Oh, the holding the hands above the head? Or like referee signs? Like, ow, blah. Why would they not have wanted to use sign language with another deaf team around? Because you indicate what kind of play you're going to do, right? So they invented some, like, sneaky inside code. They invented something, and now every team uses it.

You see it in every NFL game. I'm worried that I don't know enough about football to answer this question. We are totally judging you, Annie. You've basically got all the points so yes jenny they're a deaf team who met another deaf team and so they didn't want the opposing team to read their sign language as they performed it so i think you're close enough and you all don't know enough about american football to identify the specific thing so like they invented the huddle. They all got together in a closed group, backs to everyone else, signed their plays like that. And every other team went, oh, that's a good idea. We should do that before plays.

So they were the team. No one huddled back in 1892. The idea that there was going to be that moment before the play when they figure out their strategy like that, that was Gallaudet University, 1892. Wow. So before that, they all just sort of stood around loudly, like non-deaf teams just standing around loudly shouting their plays at each other. Yeah, obviously there were other approaches

for hiding your plays. You could have just gone to the other side of the pitch and had a chat. You could have kept the voice. But the idea of there is a symbolic huddle and everyone's there and you're going to work out your play there. That was, I mean, I'm sure some historians

will have some notes to attach to it, but that was put down to Gallaudet University, 1892. Our last guest question of the show then comes from Annie. Take it away. After the writer John Lovett added smashed avocado to his bacon lettuce tomato sandwich, what small protein item did he add next? I'll read it one more time.

After the writer John Lovett added smashed avocado to his bacon lettuce tomato sandwich, what small protein item did he add next? I don't want to be the person who goes, oh, I think I've sold this. So I'm going to take a risk here. I'm going to back out of this question and say,

I think I've got this. And I'm going to let Jeff and Jenny figure it out. And if I'm wrong, I will take the ribbing and humiliation that follows. I think I've got this one. So did he invent smashed avocado on toast? But with bacon and lettuce and tomato? I'm pretty sure other people had eaten the sandwich before.

I've never heard of anyone adding avocado to a BLT, let alone a fifth ingredient. Have you not? Okay, this is a really common thing, I think in Australia? I've had this a couple of times. I've heard it in a few places. In a shore ditch, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it is. We could be talking about literally anything

and you could be like, oh, this is really common in Australia and I would be like, oh, okay, sure. I don't know. I know this because, all right, are you ready for a long rambling story that goes nowhere? I was in Australia many, many years ago for the eclipse that was there, which must have been like 2012, 2013, something like that.

And I missed the eclipse by like two kilometres. The next beach over had a break in the cloud and they saw it. And we just got a lot of darkness and didn't see a single thing. And I remember being quite frustrated about that. And then I remember the sandwich I had afterwards, because I remember sitting on a beach cafe up in the northeast of Australia and having a moment of going, oh, life's not so bad, is it? As I sat back and had a BLT with avocado, which they call a BLAT.

BLAT. Anything else, Tom? Was it like a fifth thing? Anything else in there? No, but I think if we're talking about adding letters to a BLT like that, I think I might have solved it. If, however, it's not about adding letters to a BLT like that, I think I might have solved it. If, however, it's not about adding letters to a BLT, I'm entirely wrong and I'm backing the question. Annie? You should keep sitting out. Okay. Okay. I'm going to have that clue and say that Australia calls it a blap and

I'm gone. I'm gone. what what what other things could we add for example i want to say peanut butter i don't know why lapper blapped uh yeah uh if you made it if you added something with an s it would be blast or blast um things that begin with s go salmon sushi oh no uh um but i mean i was thinking uh yeah like prawns or something but that wouldn't be good and wouldn't make a and wouldn't make a good acronym either um i'll give i'll give you a little tiny hint if if that's okay it doesn't have to be in blat order okay oh right an anagram cool uh let me anagram on the fly without writing anything down um actually it probably helps i had a pen and paper for this that's and remember that the smashed avocado there are different names for that smashed oh are there different names for that so smashed avocado well sort of mushed avocado

trouble is i'm not big on avocados and when i but what i mean is i i don't like avocados so i'd never do this or eat them i don't know of any other names for smashed avocado i wouldn't know what you call smashed avocado i didn't anagram this so I've not got it all the way. Okay, well, what's like a... With chips, you definitely know this thing. It's an avocado thing. Mushy peas. No, that was...

Oh, you guys are being so British right now. Oh, come on, come on. Okay, no. Okay, I'm going to say my solution then, and I don't think I've got it right. I assumed that the small protein item was an egg. Which would give you B-L-E-A-T

which would give you bleat, or if you anagram that, you get table. And I assumed that was the pun. So am I wrong there? What? You were wrong. It's not... Oh, I was so confident.

You're back in the room. I'm back yeah give me a give me a table sandwich humiliating i'm wrong what you put you you eat a sandwich off a plate that's on a table that's a plate it's gonna be plate i need all my food to spell out the the items near me in life that's such a funny like thing no it's not it does not spell out table the idea of an egg isn't totally wrong but it's not a normal egg um and we're going for a different a different acronym or word and it's it's definitely a it's definitely a protein you just say protein it is a small protein item a small protein like tiny nuts uh i didn't say it couldn't be an egg but don't think about eggs when you're trying to get to the answer

because you want to think about the letter. Is it A for avocado? No. You still haven't gotten... S for smashed avocado? The smashed avocado dish. No, there's like a thing. Oh, guacamole.

Guacamole. Yes! Okay. I thought you all didn't know what guacamole was for a long time. Oh my God, it's LGBT. What did he add? It's either a Q or a plus. So is it like...

Quail's egg. Yes! We've now stolen from you, Tom. I'm so sorry. No, I was going for quinoa, which says a lot about what I've been eating. I'm so sorry, Tom. That's entirely yours.

No, it's not. I was nowhere near. I sold for Blatt and then found Table. I was so confident I was completely wrong. You were leaning back in your chair, looking so smug, thinking, oh, I know, Table. How did none of us get guacamole? Yeah, yeah. I'm worried that a lot of the internet are shouting guacamole at their screen right now.

A lot of the internet, there's a lot of people on commutes and in cars who have just been screaming guacamole for the last like two, three minutes. I cannot believe we didn't spot. I'm so sorry, guys. You thought it was peas. I didn't think it was peas.

I didn't think it was peas, I didn't think it was peas. There was some American publication that claimed that mushy peas and guacamole were basically the same thing. And they're really not. They're really not. Every time. So part of my job as a tour guide involves bringing Americans to pubs. And I say to them, oh, you must get the fish and chips while you're here and then very often it comes with mushy peas and the look of disgust that they give me what what

is this and i'm like oh it's just peas it's just peas they're just mashed up and they they like pick at it like moving it away so it's so it doesn't touch the fish. It's just peas. You did a really good California accent there. What is this? What is this? Yes. In 2017, Levitt tweeted that he had made an LGBT sandwich by taking a standard BLT and adding guacamole. And he later expanded on the idea by adding a quail's egg to make an LGBTQ. And in 2019, the British retail company M&S released their own LGBT sandwich in their food outlets in support of Pride. Some of the proceeds even went to charity supporting homeless LGBT youngsters. Which brings us to our last bit of business for the day. At the start of the show,

I asked why some people celebrate their birthday on the 25th of June, even though it isn't anywhere near their real birthday. Before I give the audience the answer, anyone else want to take a shot at that? Is this the calendar thing that came up earlier or not? I will be vindicated. This is not a Julian Gregorian thing.

Okay. Doesn't the Queen have two birthdays and one of them is June the 25th? I thought we were like, well, Queen's no longer alive, sorry. Unfortunately, these days, Geoff, the Queen doesn't get any birthdays anymore. And I probably shouldn't say that while laughing. That's probably treason. But doesn't the reigning monarch have two birthdays, sorry?

Is it something to do with that? This is an official birthday versus an actual day when you were born, but there's a very different reason behind it. But that's what the monarch does. They have their official birthday and their actual birthday. Okay. Is it... Is it because they don't have an official birthday

because they don't know it, and so that's the default? Oh, they do. They know their real one. It's very far away from the 25th of June. Is it a security risk? They don't want their sort of identity being given away with their actual birthdays and they have a fake birthday. No, it's a more materialistic reason.

Is it to get more presents because their birthday's on Christmas? Yep. 25th of June is six months away from the 25th of December. So quite a few people hold their birthday six months later. With that, thank you very much to all our panellists. We'll find out what's going on with you in your life and where people can find you. We will start with Annie.

Hello. You can find me at Depths of Wikipedia on most social media. I'm on TikTok, Blue Sky, Mastodon, Twitter, Instagram most of the time. I'm writing a book about wikipedia and sometimes i do live shows jeff is it eponymous they're just a youtube channel in my own name jeff marshall i'm on twitter jeff take as well i've applied to my blue sky account i haven't got it yet i make transport and travel videos though predominantly on youtube have a look and jenny or jay where can folks find you i I'm Jay Draper London on YouTube and TikTok,

and I make videos about London history and British history. Thank you very much to all our players. You can find out more about this show at lateralcast.com. We are at Lateral Cast pretty much everywhere, and there are video highlights every week at youtube.com slash lateralcast. You can also send in your own question through the form on our website. With that, thank you very much. It is goodbye to Geoff Marshall.

Thank you, Tom. Bye. To Jay Draper. Goodbye. And to Annie Rowder. Bye, thank you. I've been Tom Scott, and that has been Lateral.