Oh What A Time... - #200 The Big Ep200 ‘Your Letters’ Special! (Part 1)

Episode Date: September 27, 2026

Here it is: our 200th episode and we’ve chosen to mark the occasion by celebrating you, our listeners, via the medium of your wonderful letters. It’s a special episode dedicated purely to a special set of correspondence we’ve been holding back for the big one.In this episode: More on tobacco-bum resuscitation! Isy’s alleged GWR-based affair! The Byford-Dolphin accident! And if you’re in the market for some tittle-tattle about the Gallagher brothers, boy are you in the right place.And if you want to add to our mailbag, please do get in touch: [e-mail] you so much for following us through the first 200 episodes, here’s to the next 200!And if you want more Oh What A Time and both parts at once, you should sign up for our Patreon! On there you’ll now find: • The full archive of bonus episodes • Brand new bonus episodes each month • OWAT subscriber group chats • Loads of extra perks for supporters of the show • PLUS ad-free episodes earlier than everyone elseJoin us at 👉 patreon.com/ohwhatatimeAnd as a special thank you for joining, use the code CUSTARD for 25% off your first month.You can also follow us on: X (formerly Twitter) at @ohwhatatimepodAnd Instagram at @ohwhatatimepodAaannnd if you like it, why not drop us a review in your podcast app of choice?Thank you to Dan Evans for the artwork (idrawforfood.co.uk).Chris, Elis and Tom x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh, Whatter Time is now on Patreon. You can get main feed episodes before everyone else, add free, plus access to our full archive of bonus content, two bonus episodes every month, early access to live show tickets, and access to the Oh Watertime Group chat. Plus, if you become an Oh Watertime All-Timer, myself, Tom and Ellis, will riff on your name to postulate

where else in history you might have popped up. For all your options, you can go to patreon.com forward slash O Watertime. Hello and welcome to Oh, what a time. And over the last 199 episodes, this of course is episode 200, we've asked incredibly pertinent historical questions, such as, is my wife, is he Suti, a woman out of time? Should she really have been born about 300 years ago? And the reason I say this is, and I can say this, because it would not cross her mind to listen. She doesn't know the name of this podcast. I've heard her say, oh, what a lovely time a couple of times.

I love that. That's so great. That's like my mum. When I did stand up, you say, you say, you're off to do a jig. That's what she always said to me. You've got to do a jig. You never got a head around it. So Izzy is like my mum essentially.

Yeah. You know, if I said, what podcast do I do? She'd say, oh, John on Radio X. And I'd say, hasn't been on Radio X since 2019. That's fine. And then she'd say, the sport one, the sport one. And I'd say, is there another one? Do you spend new year with them?

Tom's one of my oldest friends? Did she go, parenting hell? No, not Josh. Oh, what a lovely history time. Yeah, yeah, I suppose. Yeah. Close enough. Oh, that's so sweet.

Where is you, by the way, Alice, you listen to everything that Izzy does. Is that right? Just to quickly check, just to balance the books there? I would say I pick and choose. Her CBBC sitcom at the moment, you watching that? That's sort of, I sort of imbibe that via as more sis because the kids watch it. Okay, fine.

Her podcast with Dan Skinner about travelling on the Great Western Network. I must admit I haven't listened to any of those. There was a joke going around, our WhatsApp group we're in, that Izzy and Dan Skinner are having an affair, wasn't it? That was it was a running joke? The promotional literature would imply that they're having an affair, yes. The photographs It's quite loving I'd say some of the most loving photographs

I've ever seen including my own wedding photos Most affectionate I should add They are from two separate photoshoots And they've been put together But because in Izzy's photo shoot from six years ago She's looking to the left And in Dan's one from whenever it was

He's looking to the right It looks like they're just staring lovingly Into each other's eyes I would describe it as a tender motion Caption on film, that's what I said. Not ideal. But you were saying, so you haven't listened to that yet,

but you're waiting for the right train journey to do so. And I also travel a lot on the Western Railway Network. So I did a gig in Bristol the other day, and as soon as I arrived at Temple of Meads, just dozens of photos of my wife having an affair. I was doing it. It was a charity gig. But, yeah, so I turned up the Bristol beacon,

not in a great frame of mine. But, uh, Our daughter started secondary school, and it's not a smartphone. It's like an old-fashioned brick phone. But for some reason, the SIM card, it's not recognising the SIM card. And Izzy's going to have to call. Oh, she's got her first phone. It's like a brick phone, is it?

Yeah, yeah. So there's no social media anything on it. It's just for calls. It's sort of phone a drug dealer would have, yeah? Okay, a burner phone, fine. Yeah, she's got her first burner phone. Okay, fine. And the first drug deal she does, we're going to be there just to watch.

And then she'll do a couple of simple local drug deals. And we'll let her get those under her belt before she moves on into the sort of wider South London area. The pride inside you as you witnessed that. Oh, yeah. When she does her first really big one in the West End, I'm going to be absolutely, I'm so pleased. For a celebrity. Backstage. A theatre.

But Izzy's got to phone the phone company to sort up this SIM card issue. And as soon as I said, well, I can't do it because I'm recording episode 200 of a wartime. And she said, what's that? And I said, forget it. But I am recording something. You're going to have to do it. Her shoulders slumped. She lost about five centimeters of height.

Oh, no. Because she's, and I said it's just... The prospect of it. It's just calling Nokia. Yeah. And she says, what's Nokia? You've had a phone for at least quarter of a century. You must have.

You had one when we met. You must have set that one. Oh, what if they tell me to do something? for they will. And you'll follow the instructions and then the phone will work. Why do I imagine that Izzy has, not like the early knocker,

but I imagine she has sort of like a flip phone, not the modern one, like the original type of flip phone where you open it and there be a keypad and a little green screen. To my mind, she's got one of those,

I think they're called oyster phones or something, aren't they? Oh, yeah. That's how I'm imagining her. Clamshell, that's the one, yeah. Is that what she's got, or is she got an iPhone? No, am I doing her disservice?

She's got an iPhone, but she hates it because she doesn't understand it. Okay. So it would be simpler she had a clam phone. I'd tell you what Izzy is like, Elle, in history. She would have been burning everyone at the stake who came up with any kind of advance thinking about science.

Anything that was so, anyway, revolutionary, she'd be burning. She would have been big friends with what Tyler. Yeah, the Loddites. Yeah. Those looms would have been smashed. Exactly. Yeah, those looms Because she's very good at knitting and cooking

But these are these are 19th century pursuits I don't think cooking is a 19th century pursuit I think that's just part of it. Oh, come on. Have you not heard of the microwave, Tom? That's modern cooking. Bung it in three and a half minutes. You've got a meal.

Meals of the world available at your local spa. Has Izzy ever done any research into past lives? I feel like she may have had a past life. I don't necessarily believe in that, but it feels like Izzy. That's one of the tall puddle bartess. I reckon she was smushing spinning jenny's. She had a past life with Ellis James, her husband. Her current life is with Dan Skinner.

A new play thing. So we're talking about the past here, Izzy. You know, she's not built for this world. She's built for the past. And this show, as Ellis says, has been knocking around for 200 episodes. We will go deep into the past. If you look back, our first episode is now part of history. Yeah.

Yeah. And guys, not to put words in your mouth, this show would not be here if it was not for who? The you, the, the you, the listeners. The you, the listener, there you are. Chris, no response whatsoever. Couldn't work that out. Yeah. He did know.

What were you thinking? Dan Snow. Yeah. Going through West Ham players in his head. Dan Snow did one episode. I could be him. Could be Dan Snow. No, the dear listeners.

The dear listeners. The dear listeners, of course. Yeah. On our 200th anniversary edition, we thought we do an episode, which is all about you, by which I mean your wonderful correspondency, is a correspondent special. Also, I love this podcast. And I was in a bookshop yesterday. And I was just staring at the history section thinking there's so much stuff that I don't know. And there's so many topics here that would be good for the show.

Yeah. And, you know, if you've been interested in history since you were surviving, I don't probably had since I was five or six. That doesn't go away, does it? Absolutely, yeah. You don't stop becoming curious. I've learned enough. What an amazing attitude. And with, you close the book.

So I've got a book here. You close the book. And with that, I'm done. I've learned enough. I'd like it if we were like, so if you're like a MacBook, you know,

when it tells you there's no gigabytes of space free, it just gets to the end. It's like, well, now I can't take anything else in. That's me done. Your brain is. is full. You need to defrag your brain. Yeah, exactly. Can I just say it on episode 200, like in terms of a podcasting canvas, what a great idea it was from all of us to pick for that podcasting canvas, everything that ever happened ever. Yes. It's limitless, isn't it?

Limitless. And every new day brings more stuff as well. Exactly. I'll never get through it. But genuinely, before we get into your corresponders, it means the world that you've listened to the show, means as well as you support it. We absolutely love doing it, and I hope you will stick with us into the future and keep sending us brilliant emails like you have today. So should we crack into some correspondence from our lovely, lovely listeners? Should we do that? Yes, please. So, you sent us some correspondence, have you? Well, let's try and look at you then. Our first email, now look at this. This isn't the sort of highbrow listener we have. This is from David Pearson, who's a conservation manager of the Mary Rose in Portsmouth.

How cool is that? Mary Rose, of course, being a sunken ship, based in ports and the incredible museum. David Pearson says, Hello, Chaps, listening to Pod 197 Part 2 on the bellows, up the bum method of resuscitation. Chris, you'll quickly explain this

because you're responsible for bringing this to the airways? I think this is one of the biggest revelations in the first 200 episodes of O Water Time, that there was a moment in time where before resuscitation, before we'd really nailed it, they would blow bellows up your bum, tobacco smoke. up your bum to revive you if you'd nearly drowned or something. I can't remember for it worked or not.

No. It must off. You don't think so. Okay. I think what they did, there was an example of the woman who they were doing it to and then she was revived anyway. Okay. And they kind of, they blamed it on the wrong thing. They were like, it's the tobacco up the bum.

We've done it. We've discovered it. There's also, there was definitely a time in my late teens and 20s when I was, I would say, impressionable enough that if someone had said tobacco, the bum is actually really good. And I'm like, yeah, at the party. Shem it up there. Get it up.

Get it up there. So this is what David has to say. During that episode, you talked about Henry Fleece. Or Flus, I'm probably pronouncing that wrong, and his rebreather diving helmet and airbag, which he created. You were all surprised that in 1879, I remember this. He could stay underwater for three hours. That is remarkable, that's in 1879.

Well, listen to this. In the late 1820s, John Dean and his brother developed the first ever diving helmet adapting their original smoke helmet, or as was the full title of the helmet, apparatus or machines to be worn by persons entering rooms or other places filled with smoke or other vapour for the purpose of extinguishing fire

or extricating persons or property therein. That was the thing with the Victorians. They never had catchy slogans. Yeah, that is this. The titles would just be every possible thing that it does for the avoidance of doubt. When was the first sub-editor? Because they must have absolutely cleaned up.

That is remarkable. So this is 1820s. This diving helmet had a leather hose attached to the back of it, which fed up to a boat on the surface. Now, do you remember at all times that this is 1820, where a manual pump was used to supply fresh air? There was a reference that John Dean himself spent five hours and 40 minutes underwater using the diving helmet.

Wow. There's a picture here of him underwater, relying on his mate, up on the boat, pumping the air through and not getting distracted or bored. He dived on a number of wrecks on the South Coast, but most importantly, the Mary Rose, which he dived on the 1830s. Oh, there we are. So here we are, the Mary Rose, which is where David is the conservation manager. It's based in Portsmouth, if anyone's going to see it. Here he brought up a variety of artefacts, including guns, iron, cannonballs and timbers. Some of the wood from these timbers was used to create items like walking canes and book covers and a selection of which we have donated to the museum over the years. Keep up a great work,

David. How fascinating is that? 1820s, 5 hours and 40 minutes underwater with a pump action helmet. Is it not freezing cold? And also, how can he see anything? Well, that's what that little tiny circular windows for. Isn't that? It's dark. Yeah, I mean, I've worn goggles in the pool. And like in Spain, you can only see like a meter ahead, like in some dirty old river trying to find Noeli. You wouldn't have had sort of an electric light, like we're I've had a lamp. Yes, that's true. But then, I suppose the main name wasn't a sightseeing tour.

It was to see whether they could breathe underwater, isn't it? Yeah. Oh, no, he was bringing stuff up for the Mary Rose. Oh, yeah, he was doing that as well, isn't he? Also, an ex-girlfriend of mine, when she would look in her bag for her keys, she would never use her eyes. That's a lot like being a 19th century diver. She would just rummage. I remember once saying, why didn't you actually just look in there?

Yeah. And she said, I'm looking with my hands. I was like, why didn't you look with your eyes? And I think that's what being a diver was like in 1820. I have to say, the kind of feel your way around approach, I just don't think that's an approach I would like on the seabed. No, God, no. Yes. Yeah, that's such a good point.

Like, I'd be terrified of a squid or, I mean, a shark or something to rip your hand off. That is terrifying. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Five hours as well. Also, the claustropho pho. of that heavy metal helmet around you, the weight of that costume must feel claustrophobic.

Yeah. It's so close and pressing to you. Yeah, yeah. Wow. I'm so glad I don't do that job. We look back in history and things we wouldn't want to do. I think this is really at the top of it, to be honest. Going around a shit wet, wearing an early sort of breathing apparatus prototype.

I wonder how deep he was going because, you know, if you go deep enough, you have to come up in stages to avoid getting the bends and things. Yeah. Well, it's got to be, it's got to be deep. enough to warrant this massive contraption. No. It only went up to his ankles, actually. It's really shallow.

It's got to be more than like 10 meters, because otherwise you'd just go up and up and down, wouldn't you? So it's got to be like substantial. Yeah. Well, there you go. Oh, that is this terrible. And also, wouldn't you be terrified that the guy on the boat above might just forget about you?

Or hate you. Or like get distracted or hate. That's my worry. Is there something I've done to him about seven years again? years again, I've forgotten about. Oh, fuck, I've let the gas on. You hear footsteps going away up the gangway. He hasn't, has he?

He hasn't gone. You can dive up to 40 metres without mandatory decompression. Oh, really? Okay. So I don't know. So I didn't think it was that deeper. I thought it was less, the shallower than up. Yeah.

A standard safety stop, three to five minutes of 15 feet or five meters is recommended on most dives deeper than 10 meters as a precaution. Okay. But yeah. Chris once told me the most horrific thing I've ever heard about something that happened on a oil rig. I don't know if we really want to go into it, but it's the worst death I've ever heard of anything ever.

I think it's called the Biford Dolphin. Can we tell the story very, very quickly? Because this is pretty for long. In fact, I would say to Jody or editor, take a judgment of whether we want to keep the him. And if you're hearing this, me saying that listeners, you know that I have done my duty. of care now. It's no longer on me. Yes, Tom, you are referring to the Bifid Dolphin accident, which happened in 1983. And essentially a group of divers were in a decompression chamber

and it was rapidly, explosively decompressed and the divers were sucked out of a chamber at like incredible velocity. Due to a mechanical failure, the chambers they were in rapidly depressurized from nine atmospheres to the external pressure of one atmosphere and as a result, all the air in the chamber rushed out and these four divers were like pulled through a tiny little pipe basically. There you go.

This is one of the few things I know about professional divers that you have to go into these chambers and I find it terrifying. Yes. The idea of the bends is terrifying and the idea of being sucked through a tiny pipe is also terrifying. Neither are things I'm particularly keen to do.

I just, yeah, any kind of diver, you have my admiration. Another one of Chris's horrible stories. Palet Cleenser. A new feature for episode 200, Chris's favorite industrial accidents. Chris's horrible stories. Palate Cleanser here. Our next email is from Ed Bridges, and it has a light and playful.

Whatty to it. It's simply unlikely twin towns. There you go. That's nicer, isn't it? Yes, it feels far lighter. Hello, chaps. In your latest episode, you muse that Preston and Neme might be the most unlikely twinning of towns.

Well, the 41 residents of Whitwell, a tiny village in Rutland, would like a word. According to Wikipedia, residents of Whitwell wrote to the then mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac. This is incredible. It's incredible. In 1980, proposing the twinning of their areas and stipulated a tight deadline for a response, As no answer arrived from the mayor's office by the set date, the village unilaterally declared itself to be twinned with Paris. That's so funny.

The erected road signs to the effect, which can still be found today. Those road signs, I've looked this up, by the way, were initially would, and they recently turned to metal. So they are sticking with it. That's so funny. Admittedly, the civic leaders of Paris are largely unaware of the arrangement. So this is a tiny village of 41 people, which is twinned with Paris, and Paris has no idea about it. 41 absolute legends. That is such a funny thing to do.

Because usually the towns have something in common, like Carmarthen's, twinned with Lesnevon, which is in Britain, very similar-sized places, similar sort of industries, sort of agricultural market towns, all that kind of thing.

But when in Paris, very little, very little in common, I would say. If you could twin Camarvon with anywhere in the world, what would be the funniest place for Camarvans to be twinned with? Uh, Sao Paulo.

I was thinking Vegas. Yeah, Buenos Aires, Rio. The Rio Carnival. And then the commander could have a little Commodore carnival as well. There's normally an exchange in there as well when like the mayor from that town would come across. I'm just imagining the mayor of Rio coming across to Camarva. The celebration's advice first. So what a lovely image.

He's getting ready to samba his way down Lama Street. If you could unilaterally twin with anywhere, the options are limitless. Yes. Mars, exactly. Wanstead in New York. You tempted by that, Scal? That would work. That'll work.

It works. Cairo and Onstead. What's fun here, actually, though, is not when you see Cairo on the Onsteads to sign. It's when you go to Cairo. Coming in, it says twin with Wonstead. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what it's funny, when you're seeing it in the bigger city. Yeah.

Welcome to Rio de Janeiro, twinned with Kamarthen. This isn't the only twinned with email we got this week, actually. This next one, hello historical trio of hermunkie lie. What does the hymunkie mean? I hope it's nice. Any ideas or how monkey line means? Quickly Google that. Her monkey lie.

Just while you're doing that, I had a quick look to see whether Wonstit, which is where I live, is twinned with any other villages. It's, Wonstead is one of the few areas in London without any formal twinning arrangements. Oh, hang on a minute. Oh, okay. We could, we could lead the charge here, can't we? Oh, that's great. We're pushing at an open door.

Are there any other Wonsteads worldwide? Like, is there a Wonstead in Australia? That's good. Or New Zealand, maybe. Have a quick look. For the US. Because yours is quite a nice one stead. So they might be interested.

Yeah. I mean, you're offering them something decent. A homunculus is a Latin term, meaning little man or little person used across history, science, and folklore. In 16th century alchemy, a homunculus was an artificial humanoid creature supposedly grown through secret laboratory processes. That sounds about right. In that case, it's the perfect description, isn't it? Yeah. That's us to a tea.

I'm choosing to see it. It's quite a cutesy phrase, by the way. In the Tritchell and fantasy stories, it refers to small mythical humanoids or constructed creatures. Yeah, that's us. Yeah, that's us all over. Chris, you found out anything about Wonsteads around the world? No, I don't think there's any other. I thought you were looking them up.

No, no, there's none. This is a huge opportunity. Chelmsford is twinned with Bac-Nanging Germany, Anonai in France, and it's got a twin sister city in China. Well, there you go. I need to get on this. Listeners, if you are from somewhere around the world that you think could do with a twinning,

then may we suggest Wonstead. Do get in contact and tell us, Why you think your place should be twinned with Wonstead? Once's key traits are, well, the main claim to fame. Chris Scull is there. It has a pie and liquor shop, which you don't get many of those around anymore, which has been around for ages. Anything else, Chris, what's the third thing?

Get one more. Also, Andy Oliver lives around the corner. Well, there you go. So if we're looking for someone... The TV chef, Andy Oliver, lives near that. Great. If we're looking for someone to help with the signing ceremony, I can have a word with Andy Oliver.

Yeah. Perfect. And cook a delicious meat. for the signing ceremony as well. Yes. Who else do you need? Lambeth, where I live, is twinned with Brooklyn in New York, Shinjuku in Japan, Spanish town, Jamaica,

Mosque Voretsky in Russia, currently in obeisance due to changes of Moscow or cities government, blue fields in Nicaragua. Blimey. And the Vincennes district in Paris. My understanding, though, is that these twinnings only really benefit the may as you get to go on exchange trips. Is that basically here? That's my understanding. Only one person benefits from this.

Yeah. Well, basically, the mayor of Lambeth, really fancy go to Nicaragua, New York, Japan, Jamaica, Russia and Paris. Whenever you see him or her, they're always walking through Lambeth with a wheelie suitcase on their way, on the way back for a holiday. One of the perks. You were talking in episode 198 about peculiar twin towns. I'm always amazed when I drive in the historical Yorkshire village of Haworth or Hayworth, apologies if I'm pronouncing that wrong, famous for the Bronte Sisters and where the railway children. and was filmed, with its cobbled streets and industrial heritage,

it's straight out of a hovis advert. However, as you drive into the village, you see this sign. Here we are. Can you see that? The world's first fair trade village. The world's first fair trade village. And underneath that, the twin with Machu Picchu in Peru. I think that's the funniest place to be to end with, actually. That's so funny.

Why is that so funny? That is so funny. Once again, is it on the Machu Picchu sign when you go there, is it twin with Hayworth? I don't know very much about Machu Picchu, actually. I've never been to Peru. How much you know about Hayworth? Yeah, very little.

Well, Ellis, a bit hurt because I actually did a full section on Machupeachio on this show, but right back at the beginning. Was it Discoveries? That was a good one. It was Discovery. It was like a lost city there, isn't there? Exactly. If anyone hasn't heard, I do go back and have a listen. Right, onwards.

Next email is from Rob Smith. Hi, gents, love the pod. Just listen to your recent episode about the cooks obsession with burgers. This is a podcast that does everything, isn't it? And it got me thinking about a useless fact I've sat on for 20 years. In 2006, I was working at a luxury five-star sporting estate

called Stapledford Park in Leicestershire. On Valentine's Day, I was working. And to my delight, Liam Gallagher walks in with his girlfriend, Nicole Appleton, for an afternoon tea before the Oasis gig that night in Nottingham. The couple sat down, looked over the menu for afternoon tea, and after a few minutes, I excitedly went over to take their order for their romantic lunch. Nicole did all of the talking.

That is how I imagined that, by the way. I'm imagining him sort of sat there in Stoney silence. Cannot imagine Liam Gallagher taking afternoon tea. Yeah. We've got to fill the time somehow before a gig, isn't you? Also, I mean, this is one of my controversial opinions, because I'm actually more of a shock jock these days. I think afternoon tea is... immensely overrated.

Yeah, this is a great point. It is so, so disappointing. So describe, just briefly describe what you, how are you imagining afternoon tea, just see that I've got the same image. For my birthday, about 10 years ago, is he took me for afternoon tea out of posth. She really is from the past, isn't she?

It might have been, it might have been the Dorchester. And there's a place called... You both together on your penny father? by a steam train. There's an amazing place called Betty's Tea Rooms, and there's quite a few in, I think it's four in Yorkshire, has one in Harrogat, there's one in Leeds, and I went to one of those as well.

It's basically afternoon tea. It's sandwiches, cakes, and tea. And is it on one of those things that means that the cakes are higher than the sandwiches? Yeah, it's on a sort of, you know, a silver stand. Basically, for tourists in Pennsylvania. That's my idea. That's basically what I think afternoon tea is, isn't it? Yeah, and, you know, sandwiches are all right.

But they didn't particularly, at the Dorchester, they didn't particularly stand out. I like a cake. But I don't want to eat multiple cakes. And I like a cup of tea. I'm not Augustus Gluck. No, no, but after the second cup of tea on the trot, I'm sort of at my limit, really. It's such a good point. And it's also, it's all cold.

Yeah. Yeah. It's also sandwiches you never eat anywhere else. Cucumber sandwiches. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes. Like I say, it was cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches. You're like, okay, fine if you're at Wimbledon and it's like 34 degrees. But it was, my birthday is in November.

So I want you to describe the scene, L, when you're 40 minutes into this afternoon tea with Izzy. What are you chatting about and how are you feeling? I was checking the football scores on my phone. And, um... She was reading The Magist by John Fowles. It was good. It was a great afternoon. But it's one of those things that you hear about it

are loads when you're a kid. And I think if you had to ask a kid, certainly in the 80s, what's your definition of like a posh day out? Afternoon tea would have been quite high up there, I think. Absolutely. And I went, I was that, or is that it? In some respects, it's such a genius innovation.

Like, a way of charging, instead of like three pounds for a sandwich, two pounds for a cup of tea, you know, charging hundreds of pounds. Yeah, yeah. For a fondant fancy. The Dorchester, I can't remember which hotel. It was something like that.

It's nice to be in a posh hotel, I suppose. The toilets were very nice. It was clean. I can imagine my mum really enjoying it. Yeah, it's that kind of thing. I want to share something now. This may not work tremendously well on the, podcast, but it will work well on socials. So in December 2024, I went to New York with the wife.

And when I was asking for recommendations, someone said to me, oh, you've got to go to, I think it was the Mandarin Oriental for afternoon tea. It's the best afternoon tea. And like, not really analyzing the situation with, as Elle has just described, it's a rip off. I was like, yeah, okay, I'll do that. When we got there, it had been raining all day. The visibility was absolutely horrendous, but we had a very kind way he said, and he said, I know, I know what will make this

a really special day for you. I've got this trick where I can make, make it look like it's a drone shot. Give me your phone and I'll create a video for you. Overlooking, overlooking Central Park,

it'll look just like a drone shot, yeah? Do you want to see that video? Just be clear at this point, I'm now hoping he just runs off with your phone. Yeah, that's what I'm happening happened. Do you want to say,

I'll send it to you now, if you wouldn't mind describing what this shot looks like. So take a look. at this. This is the drone shot, me having after it. No. I need to watch it again. The thing about it, Chris, is it's so natural.

That's what's so lovely about it. It's turned to look out on the camera at the window. It's so mechanical. It's so mechanical. Now, what did I say when the waiter showed me that video? did I say, mate, what is this? Or did I say, mate, that's tremendous? I can laugh, mate.

Or did I say, oh, that's lovely, thank you so much. I'm guessing you said, oh, that's lovely, thank you so much. Correct. That is hilarious. That's so funny. Josh Whitaker always points out the fact that whenever a waiter brings food to the table, I'm unable to react as if it isn't the greatest thing I've ever seen. Yes, I've noticed this.

So we would work together, for instance, in the, because it's a normal cafe and someone would bring quite an underwhelming panini and my response would be, wow, thank you. Always that. And it's like the most depressing tuna sandwich you've ever seen.

The other thing you do, which I find so funny, is you and I could be in like a, like a greasy spoon, like a, like an 80s sort of calf. And some woman with a fagging over, out of her mouth will come over and say,

what do you want? And you will say, what's good to hear? What would you recommend? Yes, always, yeah. And then they will say, The breakfast, the belly buster. A bacon roll.

You love, what would you recommend? I always think it's the strangest question because they don't know your tastes. And also I think as well, if you ask a waiter what they'd recommend, they're always going to tell you the stuff that they can't get rid of, right? Surely that's the strategy. Also, like if you're going to one of the best hotels in town, or one of the best restaurants in town, I should say, And it's a really diverse, varied menu, then by all means, ask the waiter or waitress for a little bit of guidance.

If you're going into like Carlos, if you're going into Carlos Caff that does all day breakfasts, you've got to have a food in mind. The one that Claire will never let me forget was when we were at McDonald's at midnight once and I asked them what they'd recommend. What would you recommend? That's not a lie. And she still brings her up. And they said the Big Mac. And for the very, it was good. It was good. They knew what they were talking about.

Okay. Back to the email. What would you reckon? And I wish that was a lie. Oh, God. Oh, my God. Right. Turn to this email.

So, let's set the scene again. The Gallagher's sat there. Noel Gallagher and Appleton are sat at the table. We're back there. We're not even told us anymore. Come on, transport yourself back. Oh, I may. What would you recommend?

I've never had an afternoon tea before. Rob Smith comes across. Nicole is doing. all the talking, orders the afternoon tea. Just as she ordered, she asked for no fish, as Liam doesn't like fish in a sandwich. Liam just sat there silently and I added the request to the order. This is an absolutely pointless fact that I've never had the opportunity to bring up,

but thankfully 20 years later, I can now bring this off my chest. Thank you, Rob Smith. So that's an actual email, just because he wants to tell us the fact that he's always wanted to get rid of after hearing us talk about the couges and burgers that Noel Gallagher doesn't like fish in his sandwich. So there's a good fact for the nation. I've always dreamt about meeting Liam, but I've never known what I'd say to him.

Yes. And now I'd lie, and I'd say, I've heard you don't like fish and sandwiches, me neither. Even though actually I don't mind fishing sandwiches. But I think I could keep up the pretense. And as he looks down, he notices you're currently eating a fish sandwich, and you've forgotten it still in your hand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tune can come up again from Pret, and he's like, why are you lying to me, mate?

I'm like, oh, sorry, I just love your music. All right, we'll pause here for the end of part one. want part two right now. You can get it, patreon.com forward slash oh what a time. Otherwise, we'll see you tomorrow for the rest of episode 200. Oh, what a time is now on Patreon. You can get main feed episodes before everyone else, add free, plus access to our full archive of bonus content, two bonus episodes every month, early access to live show tickets and access to the Oh, What a Time group chat. Plus, if you become an O Water Time All-Timer, myself Tom and Ellis, will riff on your name to postulate where else in history you might.

might have popped up. For all your options, you can go to patreon.com forward slash oh what a time.