Oh What A Time... - #58 Bad Ideas (Part 1)

Episode Date: July 21, 2024

On the show this week we’re discussing some of the most absolutely disastrous ideas that history has to offer; we’ve got airships, the infamous Sinclair C5 and various attempts at creating ’smell-o-vision’ (which sometimes involved a ‘smell-brain’). Plus, we’re still struggling to get over the concept of trifle, especially with the possible inclusion of veal. If you’ve got any more of trifle, savoury trifle or anything on the worst excesses of Victorian cuisine, you know what to do: [e-mail] If you're impatient and want both parts in one lovely go next time plus a whole lot more(!), why not treat yourself and become an Oh What A Time: FULL TIMER? In exchange for your £4.99 per month to support the show, you'll get: - two bonus episodes every month! - ad-free listening - episodes a week ahead of everyone else - And first dibs on any live show tickets Subscriptions are available via AnotherSlice, Apple and Spotify. For all the links head to: ohwhatatime.com You can also follow us on:  X (formerly Twitter) at @ohwhatatimepod And Instagram at @ohwhatatimepod Aaannnd 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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If you or someone you know has concerns about gambling, visit Connects Ontario.CA. Hello and welcome to O'Watertime, the history podcast that tries to decide if the past, i.e., a time before the suitcase with wheels really was worth living in. I mean it's absurd how long that invention took to be invented actually. Prior to that Ellis, was there a period where it was just a suitcase as we see them now but without the wheels you're just dragging the cloth across the floor. If you went to an airport in the 60s, is that what it was? I remember in the 90s, my dad had a suitcase with like very tiny wheels but only on one corner of the suitcase and you would have to pick it up by the other diagonal end and drag it along on those the the the the the the th th th th th. th. th. th. th. th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was the. I was the. the. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. If you th. If you were th. If you were were th. If. If. If. If. If, th. If, th. If, th. If, th. If, th. If, th. I, th. I, th. If, th. I, th. I, th. I was the. I was the. the. It was the. It was to the. It's thea. I was to to throoooooooooooooooooe. the the thea. If you house between that and yeah and modern kind of wheels. I also remember

Genuinely a time when people when men would look at you if you were using the wheels on a suitcase was seen as so effeminate? Yeah, you're like. Really? Really? Yeah. There was a time when using the wheels on a suitcase was seen as so effeminate. Yeah, you're like, oh god look at this look. Look. Look at this look. Look. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. the. the. I. I. I. I. the. the. I, the. I, the. I, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the ti. I ti. I ti. I ti. I ti. I time. I ti. I ti. I ti. I ti. I ti. I ti. I ti. I ti. I the tie. I t when using the wheels on a suitcase was seen as so effeminate. Yeah. You're like, oh God, look at this. Call yourself a man, mate. I'd be caught, unfortunately, in the no man's land between feeling completely emasculated, but not strong enough to lift my suitcase, so my only option would be go on holiday without any clothes. That would be my only option to not pack. No, do what you would do? You would wear all your clothes on your clothes without any clothes. That would be my only to not pack, since I'm not judged. Do what you do? You would wear all your clothes on the flight. All the clothes you needed. Human lasagna. That's genuinely quite panicking.

I tell you what we've got, Ellis, we've got a suitcase which is the size of a bungalow. Oh yeah. But it has wheels that you would put on like inline skates for a child. That's cleanly wheels. So if you hit any bump in the train, it just goes mad. It just has no idea what to do. Just rocks. And it gets into a rocking motion as well, once it gets knocked and you're trying to sort of the car spinning and people are a tryrying trying trying to sort of stop it from going off the road. We made the mistake of buying a suitcase that was too big and our thinking was,

well why wouldn't we get a suitcase that's really big? But then you realize when you fill it up you take to the airport they're like, that's going to cost you 200 pounds on top to account for all the extra weight you've managed to put in there........ Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.. Yeah............. Yeah. Yeah..... Yeah. Yeah... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.to put in there. Yeah, that's true. And so it's become so uneconomically viable as a suitcase. With the bad wheels on suitcases, which is something pretty much everyone has ever owned a suitcase has a story about, the suitcase industry needs someone to come from the outside and just go, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah. What is happening? Come on! I would counter that,that Ellis and say the reason the wheels are so bad is because it means we'll keep buying suitcases. Oh yeah. If it wasn't for the dodgy wheels giving up the ghost. Built-in obsolescence, yeah. Exactly. It's Apple over again.

It's the changing connectors. It's all the say it's the same spirit. Oh my god. That's why suitcase business heads are the richest people in the world. We need to do a podcast. We need to do an episode on the evils of capitalism, don't we? Exactly. You work around just riffs. Doesn't even need Darrell the historian to do any research for it. I think it's worth saying one good thing about you getting that big suitcase, so Chris. And you probably were, you won't mind me saying this. It, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, th. th. the, th. the, th. the, the, the, th. th. th. the, the, the, the, th. the, the, th. the, the, th. their, th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. We, th. We, th. th. th. th. th. th. It, th. It, the, the, the, the, the, the same, the same, the same, the same, is, the same, the the the thi, the thi. thei. thean. thean. thean. thi. thean. thi. thean. thi. the. It's were, you won't mind me saying this. It's, it saves you on one child ticket, doesn't it, every time you go on a long haul flight because you, you put one of your children in there. Is this right? That's right, yeah, just stuff with a banana's as well

to make sure they're comfortable. Exactly. They love it in towers. I did used to think that as a kid. I remember thinking I wouldn't mind being stuffed in a suitcase and going in the hole. That'd be quite fun. Yeah. But bloody health and safety, as mentioned on a previous episode of O'Water. So I got in the way of all the fun. When this podcast goes so well that you can finally buy your own private jet you can actually make that happen Chris. So let's let that be the dream. Anyway I think we should get on with the episode. I'm Ellis James. I'm Chris Goll and I'm Tom Crane and each week on this show we will be looking a brand new historical subject and today we're discussing wheelie suitcases. No we're discussing bad ideas. Yeah that was a good idea we're only discussing bad ideas. The S. the same. the same. the same. the same. the same. the same. the same. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi's th. We're th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. thi. the. the. the. the. the. thi. the. the. thi. C5, airships and smell a vision.

Before we do that though, should we crack into a little bit of correspondence? Does that sound good? I want to start with one brief thing. I always love it when we have an ancient Latin review the their theaute the their the theaunt of ancient Latin, do you know it'll make me smile. What do you reckon this means? Nupa ad convivium said amorous, spectacular. It's convivial, amorous, they're in love, and it's spectacular. Not a millimile, no? Late for the feast, but the spectacle of love. There's a couple of options here.

I think it means that this is something they love, it's a spectacle of love. There's a couple of options here. I think it means that this is something they love. It's a spectacle of love, I hope. Or the spectacle of love is a pair of glasses you put on when you... Yeah, all they want to see is in a spectacle of love. I'm not quite sure. But I think late for the Feast basically means I'm meant to write this earlier. But I'm reading this is the good thing. There is one more th th th th th th th th th th th th th the the th th the th. I th. I thi the the th. I thi the thi the the thi the the the the the the the the the the. I'm reading. I'm reading. I'm reading. I'm reading. I'm reading the the the the the their their their their their the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. the of the of the of the of theateateateateateateateateateateate. theateateateate. theateateate. theateateate. which is that you've completely garbled that translation. Okay. But you're conveniently not you're not ruling that in. Absolutely not. Google Translate is to blame. Not me, I'll say if there's any fault here it's Google Translate. Right, thank you for that. Let's crack into some correspondence. What have we got? Right oh this is from Jack. Now unfortunately it's another corrections corner but we had a great suggestion from Amy she reckons that corrections

corner should be called oh what a shame which is a much much much better name for it. So we need to we need to make a jingle for Oh what a shame. Absolutely. But oh dear, out of the three of us, who do you think is guilty of this week's oh what a shame? Yeah, based on prior form, possibly me. I would bet everything that I own and will ever own on the fact, and my children will ever own on the fact it's Chris Scull. Okay, Tom Crane betting everything he will ever own in the future on the fact is Chris Skull. And he's right. I don't know what the odds were. But he's done really well. Here we go. You asked us to listen closely for errors in Scull's historical accuracy. I was pretty much expecting something from 100 years ago

along the lines of the Cardiff Squad releasing a CD single to commemorate the FAA Cup final appearance in 1927. However, the West Ham presenter who was a job solely about West Ham referenced West Ham as the 2024 Europa Conference League champions. We all know that was Olympiacos. You might say what difference is one year make out in the annals of history, however, when that year out is literally this year it does need calling out yours pedantically, Jack. Jack sounds quite angry. That's such a good email, brilliantly written Jack. Well down, that's fantastic. Right to reply, Chris, is we stumbling into yet another one of your mistakes?

I don't think an email has ever come in that's ended with yours pedantically. Yeah, that's a wonderful way to sign off. Now I've got nothing to say. Just shame from my end. So Weston with the 2022, 2023 Europe conference league. Champions of Europe, yes. You won't need to worry about dates in which West Ham wins something for quite some time Chris. It won't be a problem again for another century so don't worry about it. Should we do one more correction section very briefly to balance it out? I'm afraid this one's actually at me. Oh, brutal. Hello, gents says Benjamin Snowden, loving the podcast. Also need to admit to being a custard drinker when stressed out at work, people treat me with such disdain when they notice. Benjamin, you're a legend. I do however, have two small corrections, a point of view. Now one of these, actually we talked about last week, which is about zebras and zebraoid. The other one is a mistake I made.

In your episode on music, you spoke about castle trifle. Remember that? Yeah. We said, we said, castle, which we called castle trifle. And then, weaft cake, custard and then jam. What on earth is this madness of jam? I've googled it and he is correct. Inside a custard, let me quickly look it up. Here it is. Inside a custard apparently is sponge fingers. Sherry, fortified wine, a fruit element which is fresh or jelly. So not jam. Which ever sure I thought about, jam is a mad, I... It's clearly not jam, is it?

I think trifle is mad anyway. Do you? Okay. Yeah, I really do. Mum makes trifle, and every time I just look at it and think, gee whiz. You are right. What is it? Trifle is? It's a lot. It's a lot. It's everything. It's everything at once. It's all of the possible puddings in one bowl. What is the thought process there? How has that happened? It is the manifestation of Victorian excess, isn't it? Anything? Custa cream, jelly.

There's nothing in it which offers let up. There is all consistent sweetness. It's just an absolute avalanche of sugar. There is no point, there is no bite where you go, at least I'm getting to have a breather at this point. There's no base camp, there's nothing. It's just relentless. You don't get down to the sponge and think, oh good, it's the sponge section.

It's just relentless as a dessert. According to Wikipedia, trifle appearing in cookery books in the 16 in the 16 in ord appeared in cookery books in the 16th century. Wow. The earliest use of the name Trifle was an recipe for a thick cream flavored with sugar, ginger, and rose water in Thomas Dawson's 1585 book of English cookery, the good, her swife's jewel. Wow. This flavored thick cream was cooked gently like a custard and was grand enough to be presented in a silver bowl. It sort of of the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th the the the the the the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, tre, tre, tre, tre, true, true, true, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, tre, trien, trienthe, trienthe, trie, trie, trie, trieanananan, truthy, truthy, truth, truth, truth, truth, truth, truth, truth, truths, truths, truths, truths, tr like a custard and was grand enough to be presented in a silver bowl.

It's sort of standardized in the 70s and that's when it started looking like the trifle of today. I think it's an absolutely nuts pudding. If we think it's full on Ellis today when we have access to infinite sugar, at that point sugar obviously was slightly harder to come by so it was more of a treat. Imagine how full-on that would have been when it's like your one pudding of the year. Oh people would have died. Heads expoing. Death by trifle. I've realized I've got tactics for kind of making trifle a little more bland. And I don't know if anyone else does this. I love triflethat it has a, it gets a, there's a consistency there. So it's all the flavors are combined as opposed to your custard, your creams delineated clearly through the trifle. What's quite sweet about this is Chris's face says this is a useful tip that people will. Who do you think that's for? This is an education? At its heart, this is an educational podcast.

You mash up your trifle, of course you do. Try yourself. Maybe this is the thing that inspired the Friends storyline. Where, who is it who puts beef in the... Rachel, no, it's, yeah, that's right, yeah, Rachel, yeah. The late 19th century was according to thethe food historian Annie Gray, a sort of heyday for trifles. And by the early 1900s, they were, in Prince, says Gray, a bewildering number of recipes. Would you mean bewildered by all of the trifle choice?

Wow. There were 13 in the encyclopedia of practical cooker, 1891, from Theodore Francis Garrett alone. That book, get this Is Unusual, suggests Gray, and including two savory versions, one with veal, one with lobster. Imagine chicken veal in there. A trifle with veal and lobster. Oh! But Ellis, let me, let me count it, I would suggest that might offer the respite you've been looking for. A bit of salt, a bit of sort of meatiness, really salty veal halfway down. I think you'd be thinking, thank goodness I've hit the veil. I think you'd be thinking that. We've got, we have- The sweat from your brow as you tuck into the

veal. We have Americanistness. I don't know if they eat much trif- well presumably not because of the French storyline but Google trifle then imagine chucking a bit of veal in there. There's a picture on the Wikipedia page of what I would refer to as hundreds and thousands because I'm very old but what my kids refer to as sprinkles. Ah so obviously you've got sprinkles on the top or hundreds and thousands on the top or hundreds and thousands on the top, cream, sponge, jelly, veal. A hundred and thousand is what they were called in the 80s and 90s, isn't it? Yeah, and the before. You know that due to inflation they're now millions and billions of stuff, a bit of fun, which isn't? Well, it's, is it? Is it actually funny? It's thi. It's actually thi. It's funny, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, thi. It's thi. It's thi. It's thi. It's thi. It's thi. It's thi. It's thi, is, is, is it, is it, is it, is, is, is, is it, is it, is it, is it, is, is, is, is, is they. It's they. It's their their their their their their, is, is, is, is, the the the the the the the the the their, their, their. It's their. It's their. It's their. It's their. It's their, their. It's their, their, their, their, their, their their their thi. It's the it, is it? It's completely harmless humor.

But I say that's all it is, Ellis. It's just harmless. It's causing no one any harm is the best thing you can say about that. When you get back from a day in the writers' room, Claire says, how did it go? I said, I said, eight harmless things. And I haven't been sacked. If you were wired up to one to those sort of medical heart monitors and what the things will kind of measure bodily response.

And I told you that joke. It would be anodyne. There would be absolutely no recognition on the screen that you'd heard anything. Do you know what, right? On another podcast I do with John Robbins, we've had loads of emails in, encouraged by myself, from people detailing the prices of nights out in the 80s and 90s. So drinks offers and how much a nightclub cost to get in. I find these endlessly fascinating.

John doesn't because he keeps saying it's just inflation. Things were cheaper then. There's nothing in this. Yes, of course a night club was $2.50 to get in back in 1991. It's just, I mean, I don't know what else, but I'd really like seeing the figures. I'm with you Ellis. Yeah, I find it really, well, maybe you could bring the emails over. The thing I'm most fascinated by Ellis is the changing price of confectionery from when we were at school. Yeah, if you go into a news agent, you go, wait a second, those crisp used to be 5P and now I bought 4 quid.

I bought some chewing gun the other day. It was like, a pound? Whatever it was. I can't remember, but I remember, I'm bought chewing friege. I was like, oh my God. How much is a chomp? Is it still 10? It? Is it? It? It? It? It? It? It? It? It? It? It? It? It? It? It? It? It? It? 10? It's? It's? It's? 10? It's? It's? 10? to? to? to? to? to? to? to? to? to? to? to? to? to to? to to to? I? I? I'm? I'm? I'm to? I'm to? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I? I. I. I t. I ttttso. I bought. I bought. I bought. I bought. tso. tso. tso. I bought. I bought. tso. Iid. It's absolutely bonk. Right. It's the Guardian newspaper, right, when I was a student, they used to have an offer on for students, it was 15 pence. It's not like 3 bonn 50 or something, completely ridiculous. Better days, better days. Right, let's crack into the history. Very briefly you mentioned Annie Gray,

came on another book because I did once, and she's a fantastic historian. She's an amazing book on the history of food Christmas, which I read last Christmas and is brilliant. Do check it out. She's a lovely person and a very, very interesting historian. Can I just say, for a brief moment there, I thought you said Andy Gray. I was quite excited. Sky Sports pundit. It. It. It. It. It. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. the thi, the the tho. th. th. th. th. thi, the thi, thi, thi, th. the th. the th. th. the the th. the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tha. to tha. to to to to to to to to to to to to the the to the toda. the the the to the the the thea. the quite excited. Sky Sports Pundit. The old Sky Sports... The sideline. The cancelled Sky Sports Pundit. It was now having to live in Dubai.

Who's this? Yeah, like Napoleon was cast away to an island. That's what we've done with Andy Gray. Yeah, that's where he writes his history of trifles. So thanks for getting in contact with the show. It's brilliant emails as always. If you want to the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old the old th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th tho tho tho tho tho tho tho's tho's tho. The old old old tho. The old old tho- tho------------------------------------------------------------s. It's is is th. It's is th. It's th. It's th. It's th. I I th. I th. I th. I th. I thi's tho'' tho'-s. tho'-s. tho'-s. tho'-sea-s'-s'-s'-sya-sya-s'-s'-s'-s. It's thi-s. I's thanks for getting in contact with the show. Brilliant emails as always. If you want to get in contact with us, there are many wonderful ways. All right, you horrible luck. Here's how you can stay in touch with the show. You can email us and hello at what a time dot com. And you can follow us on Instagram and twoi-tweigh at O'Watta timetime.com and you can follow us on Instagram and Twitter at O-Water Time pod. Now clear off.

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GTA.org. This will be the day. So in today's episode on Bad Ideas. Are you going to be talking about the very weird idea of something called smell-a-vision. It's bizarre. Which I vividly remember I'll be talking about the Sinclair C-5. And I'll be telling you right now about airships now. There's one thing I really myth. I mean, airships are insanethey look like floating cities almost. And of course, it's now agreed they were a bad idea.

But I'm going to tell, now I'm going to tell you how we got to that conclusion. The concept of an airship, a flying balloon with a passenger gondola has been around for hundreds of years. I'm a bit skeptical about this. It was back in the 17th century, for example, when the Italian priest Francesco Lana Deserzee a specialist in physics and mathematics came up with the idea of a flying boat. Do you ever see the sketches of Leonardo da Vinci like sketching the helicopter as well? Yeah yeah yeah. Basically people in the car in the past messing around sketching mad stuff I think that's what this is. But I used to

sketch spaces when I was seven or eight. In 500 years time no one's going to find these sketches and go, oh my god, he invented it. He invented it. A seven-year-old from Comarthen. Oh my god. He was so far ahead of his time. Looking at this James notebook from school. He's sketched out there a flying saucer.

God he was so clever wasn't he? Wow. He was so far ahead of his time. Why did he waste his time doing podcasts? And there's also a picture of him scoring the winner for Swansea. Yeah, yeah from that as well. Wow. It gets Real Madrid in the world cup fight. He's got his arm around he in rush. Were they friends? In what way you dubious, though Chris about ious? In the same way as Ellis can't be credited for inventing a flying saucer. I don't think you can credit people hundreds of years ago for sketching out helicopters and airships. Look, like, they knew. They knew what they were going to do.

Yeah. That's not a blueprint. You just to tell us you musk up your tifle and I'm sorry about to be judging Da Vinci. Are you? I don't want to start this history podcast by slagging off Leonardo da Vinci. However, you're on shaky ground, don't you doing that, I think. Okay, so you think Davenchang-y was a liar? A cheat? And a charlatan. Okay, good to get that cup. So he, he sketch, his sketch was a boat with a mast and a sail, room enough for six passengers which would be raised into the air by several attached and then experimental Magdeburg Hemispheres. Unfortunately for Francesco, the hemispheres were proven to be a dud in 1710 and so the prospect of his invention taking off was nullified. But humans continued in the years following to look to the sky as some sort of highway. I think it's too early early to to to to to to to the to to to to to the to to the to to the to to the to the to to thi to to look to the sky as some sort of highway. I think it's too early, 1710.

If you look around you at the stuff you're doing them, it's all pretty basic, generally. There's no TV, there's no radio. I'm not pointing at the sky and going, we're ready for that. I'd be thinking, that's not for us yet, that's not for us. Let's get central the central the central the central the central th the central th the the the the the the the the the. the. the. the. the. the. to get to get to get to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be. to be. too. too. too. too. too. too. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. there. That's not for us. Let's get central heating sorted. There's an element of sort of walking before you can crawl, isn't there? Yeah. Yeah. We can't refrigerate our food. I just focus on refrigerating our food and heating our houses before trying to flow it. You know, Samuel Johnson hasn't written his dictionary yet. Can we not do that, which we can all be which you could do at a desk?

Do you know I think if we were to grab someone from the past say Henry the 8th if we were to take Henry the 8th into the year 2024 I think it's aeroplanes that would most blow his mind definitely. Yeah. Yeah. I would take Henry 8th in my car and just hot like just drive around Heathrow watching those planes coming in and I think his head would explode. Yeah it's so insane when you think about it. He'd be terrifying actually. Yeah and then explaining it to him all these people they go to the airport and then they're getting this plane that goes 30-odd thousand feet into the air and then flies for hours and then comes back down and land somewhere. Yeah at 5 at at at at at at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5 at 5. the the the the the their. their. their. their. their. th. th. th. th. th. their. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. It's th. It's th. It th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It's the the the th. It's th. It's the th. It's the th. It's the. It's the. the. theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. theeee. the. the. the. the. the. th centuries really is all about the hot air balloon. This is how we began to populate the skies.

But these were of course not large enough to provide like a commercial alternative to stagecoach and then to the train. And I think we might have touched on this before. I don't understand how you steer a hot air balloon. I think you just go up in the air, the wind, the wind, the wind,the best. It's not commercially viable to jump on a hot air balloon as a method of transport because you have no idea where you're going in my opinion and my limited understanding. See you somewhere else. Wherever the wind decides. Where you go to holiday, I, where are you going? Oh, it's the Arctic. Oh, it's the thi the thi. the the the the the the the the the the the the thi. thi. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. thi thi. thi. thi. tho the the the the the the the hot the hot air the hot tho the hot air the hot air b- the the the hot the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. thi. thi. the the. the the the the the the. the. the. the the the. the. the. the. the. the. the the. the. the. the the the the. the the. the the Oh, where you going? Where are you going? I have no idea. There's a long list of names of people who attempted air ships and invented some form of

air travel and they've all bailed. I'll give you a little whistle-stop tour of all the names. Rufus Blan, William Blan, Henry Giffard, theirn, Halle, Hanlonne, Charles Richelieu, Gaston, Tess, thea, t, thea, thea, and they, and they, and they, and they, and they, and they, and they, and they, and theirse, and their, and their, and their, and their,on Tessandier, Frederick Wolfer, David Schwartz, Konstantin Danielowski, and the big one, Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin. Oh! 1838, 1917. Now that name on that list is going to stand out, of course, a name now really synonymous with failure, but Zepplin is the man who gave his name to to to to to to to to to to to to the great to the great their their their their their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, the, the, their, the.e.e.e, which, whiche, their, their, their, their, their, the, but Zeppelin is the man who gave his name to the great airships of Imperial Germany. The first aircraft to blitz British cities during the First World War, his first successful airship was the LZ1.

Have we heard about this that in the First World War? In the First World War, the Bits, the German aircraft flying? But there's something about that? I mean, the Second World War, the Blitz, the German aircraft flying, but there's something about the slow pace of an airship. Yeah, so ominous. And I did not know that at all. I didn't know that was what was used. That's incredible.

That is so sinister, isn't it? I'm sure a listen. Can't you just shoot? Can't, like, like, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't you, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the, the the, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thease, that, the that, that, that, that, the slow Or a long pole with a pin on them? That's the answer, isn't it? And then it would do that really funny thing where you pop a balloon and it sort of... And it's sort of... And it's got really faster a bit. It makes a squeaky noise for about 30 seconds and spins around London. And the guy inside it's going, whoa! Everyone has a laugh at quite a sad time. It's it's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's the the the that's the the the the the the the answer that's the the the the the answer the answer the answer the answer the answer the answer the answer the answer the the answer the answer the the the the answer the the the the the the answer the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. That's th. That's th. That's th. That's th. It's th. It's th. It's th. It's thus. It's thus. It's thus. thus. thus. thus. the an the an answer. thus. It's the. It's tie, that's kind of it's a... It's also obvious in retrospect. Yeah, well done. I wish you were there in the first one. What would have been over in about a week? Thanks, mate. Yeah, thank you. His first successful airship, LZ1, carried out its maiden fly

over late Constance on the 2nd of July 1900. Construction construction began on the 17th of June 19th, th the 27th of January 1900. Around 18 months, further tests occurred in October 1900. But work on developing an airship was so expensive, as I'm sure you can well imagine. The company ran through their entire startup capital of 800,000 marks, and that was the only ship they were able to build. So all the spares, tools and other equipment had to be sold off to pay debts. And when those thoes were thoes were thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes, tho, th.. So all the spares, tools and other equipment had to be sold off to pay debts and when those were not enough for the LZ1 it was dismantled and sold for scrap. But people believed in this Zeppin, they're like, you're onto something here. This is a good idea. So metal manufacturer Karl Berg and the Daimler Motor Company enabled a new airship, the name names coming up now in a minute.

LZ2 was completed in 1906 but it was almost an immediate failure. He only had two flights before it was dismantled. He created a sister ship the LZ3 which had its maiden flight on the 9th October 1906. It flew a few more times but had to be retired from military service in 1913. Zeppelin thought, okay, I've proven the principle of an airship, and so he launched the LZ6 in 1909, and this was the airship that began its life as a commercial service to be operated by the DLAG, the German Airship Travel Corporation, and it made its maiden commercial flight on the 19th of June, 1910 with the LZ7, was called Deutchland and nine days later

LZ7 was destroyed in a storm flying over the Tutoburg Forest. The way. Z6 lasted only a few months more before it was also destroyed by fire this time in its hangar and LZ8 which was launched in March 1911. the thoak. the storm on the 16th of May 1911. So, wow. I'm not to la launched th, la launched launched launched launched launched that th th that th th th th th thenenenenen that that then then then then then then tha thuuuuuined tha tha tha the thoe thoe thoe thoed thoe thoe tooe thoe thozee thoe thoe thoe th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th. I was was was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was thuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. I can can can't tooed tooed tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooe. I was toe a storm on the 16th of May at 1911. So I'm not particularly

scared of flying. I can come to terms of it and kind of rationalise it in my head. But airship travel when the amount of accidents these airships are having and the frequency of which they're destroyed by something like a storm, I can't believe people were still getting on them. It's incredible, isn't it? I just don't need to fly that much that much th th th th th th th th th th th to th to to to to to th to to to to to the to to to the to the to their their their their their their. their. their. their. their. thi. thi. thi. their. their. their. their. their. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. storm. I can't believe people were still getting on them. It's incredible, isn't it? I just don't need to fly that much. I suppose I think kind of the maiden journey of most new types of transport would require a certain bravery that I probably do not have. Like when you read about these people who are looking to buy their way onto the first flight into space, you know, when they start these commercial flights with regularity, A, I probably wouldn't have the bravery anyway, but I definitely

don't want it to be one of the first people. I just don't have that mindset at all. I'll just be what I want. Let's just see how this plays out for a bit. Yeah. And then maybe when it beds in, 10 years in expectations based on an awful lot of evidence if I'm going to fly into space. It's a very data-led decision. Yeah, yeah, to whether I'm going to go to space. On a similar note, I wouldn't be the first guy to eat a trifle. I'm waiting for 10 or so people to eat a trifle before I knock it. So airships, as I've kind of demonstrated there, really dangerous. Most of the LZ craft were destroyed in fire and a lot of the time there was loss of passenger life. You would think everyone would have said this is a failure, but DLAG. You think they'd be banned? Commercial travel on airships continued

for 28 years. Wow! Carrying hundreds of thousands of passengers across Germany and international. There's two big ones you might have heard of. The Graf Zeppelin, LZ127, and the Hindenburg, LZ1-129, were built in the late 1920s and 30s, and were able to overcome many of the fundamental problems of design and danger. The Graf Zeppelin, in particular, flew commercial transatlantic flights, carrying passengers from Europe to North and South America, the Arctic, and even around the world.

The thing with this is, if you guarantee me it's going to be safe, I imagine it's quite cool. Yes. Because you're kind of, you're going to slow, quietly across the world. In a weird way, it's going to be more of a spectacle than if you're just on a plane. And you're not so high, you're not as high as high as high as high as high, you know, a passenger plane would be now, so the views will probably be amazing. Yeah, there is a really famous flight, which occurred on the 26th of April 1930 when an airship flew over Wembley during the F. Oh, I've seen that. Yeah. Oh, I've seen that. Yeah. Settakers record seeing the vessel dip as though dothing its cap in deference to King George the 5th and the event gave rise to some of the great propaganda photographs of the period

and it is mad. You see the F.A. Cup Final at Wemble and there's this huge airship hovering overhead. Take a look at this picture I, isn't it? But nothing could prevent a disastrous destiny for the airship. The Hindenburg disaster of the 6th of May, 1937. After all the remarkable success of the Grafseplin, the last great airship of the Vimoire Republic, the Hindenburg was intended to show that Nazi Germany was even better. The Eternal Airship for the Eternal Rike. It launched on the 4th of March, 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, th, th, thi. 30, thirte. 30, thirte. 30, thirte. thirt, thirt, thirt, thirt, thirt, thirt, thirt, thirt, thi Reich. It launched on the 4th of March 1936. The Hinderburg was the largest airship ever built and it was in a deliberate act of competitive provocation since the previous biggest airship belonged to the Royal Navy. We did actually have one. But flying through an electrical storm as it arrived in the United States,

the Hindenburg had built up a substantial static electrical charge and a single spark was enough to cause the fatal ignition. I'm presumed we've all seen this. It's one of those photos that when you see it for the first time you will never forget it. Oh my word. It's an absolutely remarkable photograph. For me it's the news footage has the phrase, oh the humanity, that's what? Yeah, Yeah. I mean, that's hot as well. The guy's like doing a live commentary of an airship landing. Well, it's an amazing thing, isn't it? It's an incredible accomplishment and there's an amazing vehicle. It's that huge. When he was filming it, he didn't know it was going to go horribly wrong. To be other there's other blunder TV shows where you might want to... What he really wanted was to see someone drop their triflo to the airship.

Or someone run into the patio doors not realizing they closed. So wow so it was static electricity was yeah yeah yeah a single spark caused the fatal ignition in all 35 people died from a total on board complement of 97 13 of the 36 passengers, 22 of the 61 crew, and those who survived suffered life-changing burns. I mean, you got the footage is absolutely insane. The result was the grounding and cancellation of airships from all over the world. The technology survives, and occasionally you'll see airship revivals as experiments

or advertisement gimmicks. The one that I remember as a kid was the good year blimps. Oh yeah. It was a period where if you run Sky Sports Monday Night Football I remember seeing one at Upton Park that have the Good Year blimp flying over head. Yep absolutely. And with that, yeah, commercial airship programs which have been launched by most of the major economies of the early 20th century, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Soviet Union, United States, all of those airship programs shut down and the technology was ultimately described as a bad idea. Right, yeah. Sad though. Sad we haven't really nailed it. It very sad, but it should have been shut down way before it was. Amazingly.

Yeah. Are you right? That is the only surprising thing really is that they carried it on for as long as they did. I don't want to compare my life to that of the Hindenburg disaster. But you've mentioned it has, it went down because of static electricity. Ellis knows about this, but I have a real problem with static electricity. I forgot about this. In the I'm, yeah, I'm constantly get static electric shocks, so much so that I went and spoke to the doctor about it. What did the doctor say, by the way?

The doctor said, he said, walk around the room, I didn't know you were Mr Bean. So, like, handrails and stuff like that. I constantly get static electric shocks. So, the doctor tha I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I'm th. I I I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm the I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I constantly the. I'm constantly the. I constantly tho. I constantly the. I constantly the. I constantly the. I constantly the. I constantly the. I constantly the. I have the. I have th. I have th. I have th. I have th. I have th. I have th. I have th. I have th. I have th. I have th. I have th. I have th. I have th. I have the. I have the. I have the. I have the. I have the. I have theeeeateat theateeat theeeeeeat theeeeeeeat thee the the the the th saty electric shocks. So the doctor told me is because I drag my feet when I walk and I charge myself up throughout the day. And then when I tough something metal, I just get zapped. So do you want to know what the suggestions were from the doctor? What? And it's those that, do you, Gellus, can you remember what the doctor? What should I just tell you the the th. Do th rubber soles on your shoes? Suggestion one was to wrap a rubber band around my shoes. That was that was suggestion number one. It's at all time so I have my trainers and then a large rubber band around my trainers, not doing that. That's not a doctor's advice. That's not a doctor's a doctor's. That's not a doctor's the doctor's the doctor's the doctor's the doctor's the doctor's the doctor's the doctor's the doctor's the doctor's the doctor's the doctor's the doctor's the doctor's the doctor's th. That's th. That's th. That's th. That's th. That's th. That's th. That's th. That's not th. That's not th. That's th. That's th. That's th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. That's. That's. That's. That's. That's th. That's. That's. That's. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the the t. the t. the t. t. t. toge. toge. to. to. to. the to. the to. the the the the toge. the the true. the tru doctors. There's nothing medical about that advice. It's like something Brownowl would say, the Bronies. Suggestion 2 was to put a rubber mat under my desk at work or when I'm working. Yeah, that's not. That's all right. Suggestion

Three was the least realistic. Suggestion 3 was to carry a small spoon with me at all times times in my pocket and regularly discharge myself myself myself myself myself myself myself myself myself myself myself myself myself myself myself myself myself. that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's it's it's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is that's is th. It is th. It's is th. It's is th. It's. It's. It's th. th. th. th. th. thoes. thoes. thoes. the the the the the the the the the thooooing. thoing. the thoing. thoing. thoing. thoing. tho at all times in my pocket and regularly discharge myself throughout the day on the spoon. The idea of me at a party getting a spoon out and just giving a little tap and tell you what you doing I'll say it's nothing weird don't worry I'm just getting rid of static electric charge so it's fine and just put the spoon back so we were talking about the election how are you feeling? Yeah, I'm on Tinder actually. I can't be a guy who has to take a spoon with him because of electrical reasons. Electric spoon boy. For electrical reasons.

Electric spoon boy. Sort of band I was into in about 2004. Yeah, yeah, it's like, oh, and then, yeah, and Chris Scull will be there and Tom Crane. Who's Tom Crane? You do know Tom Crane? Do I, which one is Tom Crane? You definitely remember him. No, which one was he?

Electric Spoonboy. Oh, right. That's Tom Crane, yeah, I remember him. He left his rubber bands at my house last week. Discharged himself on his spoon every 30 minutes at our wedding. He did what? All right, that's the end of part one. Bad ideas. Part two will be out tomorrow. But if you can't wait until tomorrow, you can become an O'Water Time full-timer. You can get episodes ahead of everyone else in one complete bit.

Add free two bonus episodes every month and you'll get exclusive access to live show tickets when we go for live touring. If you want to go do that, you can go to O-Watertime.com for all your options, which are another slice, Apple and Spotify. Otherwise, we'll see you tomorrow. Bye. Oh, the