Podiots - Podiots: Episode 143 – Gary’s Back
Episode Date: April 13, 2024Mikey’s on a gorilla hunt, Peter’s taking us on a lion-filled Victorian journey, and Ben’s making his last stand. Donate £3 or more to get a shoutout and join the Pod Squad! - https://podiots....com/ And check our website and store: http://vidiotsofficial.com ------------------- Subscribe for more and TELL YOUR FRIENDS! YouTube: https://youtube.com/vidiotsofficial Podiots: https://vidiotsofficial.com Pod Squad: https://podiots.com Shop: https://vidiotsofficial.com/shop Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vidiots.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vidiots.official Twitch: https://twitch.tv/vidiotsofficial Twitter: https://twitter.com/VidiotsOfficial Facebook: https://facebook.com/vidiotsofficial Discord: https://vidiotsofficial.com/discord/ Site: https://vidiotsofficial.com/ Follow the gang on Twitter: Ben: @Confused_Dude Peter: @ThatPeterAustin Michael: @ParrotBoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Peter Austin?
Yeah.
Did you have a birthday?
I'm old now.
Oh, man, it happened.
You just ticked over into old.
32 years young.
Oh, disgusting.
Which makes me officially, well, it's always been true, but the oldest video.
But now, even by numbers, I'm the oldest.
for there's a brief period every year
where I am older than Ben
in terms of the individual digits
but it won't be long
and he'll catch up with me again
It'll happen to you
I'll catch up one day as well
I'll get to that age
You've got years
You'll be fine
How was your birthday Peter
Oh yeah how was your birthday
I was also going to quickly ask
Before you tell us how your birthday was
Yeah
How old were we all when we did vidiots again
Oh, well, it was 2018, wasn't it?
So, uh, I was 23.
That requires some math.
Yeah, were we 26?
Yeah.
I want to say yeah?
Yeah.
Does that seem right?
I don't fucking know.
Yeah, 26.
Was there a period where we were 25?
Uh, yeah, a couple of months where we were 25.
Jesus.
Oh, then now we're about to be 32.
Yeah, God, where did the time go?
It makes you feel ill.
We know where the time went.
We documented it week by week on this podcast.
We did.
It slowly aged.
In my old years, I'll go back and revisit the old pottyets and on my deathbed,
I'm like, ah, they're good old days.
I remember Bobby Babylonie.
Yeah.
Still going, maybe.
Who knows?
How was your birthday, though, Peter?
It was very good, thank you.
I went to the zoo.
Sorry, I shouldn't laugh.
It's good.
It's a grown-up activity.
It's a grown-up activity.
Got up in the morning.
Had a bacon sandwich.
We had been and bought bacon the other day.
Then went to the zoo.
No parrots, sadly.
So I couldn't go for the full trifecta.
But I was on holiday from work.
Maybe there were parrots, but we just didn't see them.
There might be parrots in this episode, that's all I'm saying.
Oh, how exciting.
Full circle.
Went to the zoo.
They have a little like kind of average canteen style cafe there where you can get just like hot dogs and chicken nuggets.
So, you know, that was lunch and then came home, had oven pizzas that we'd bought and birthday cake.
I may have been 32, but I celebrated like an eight year old and I had a wonderful time.
On all levels except physical.
Yes.
And then by the end of the day, I just felt kind of.
just full of like sugar and bad stuff and uh you know i was still happy but i was like oh man
i've really i can't do this anymore why am i doing this i'm 32 i should not be
shouldn't be doing this to my body means you did it right that's what it means yeah yeah i think
so you go for like an asda pizza and cake that sounds that's funny actually i was i was saying
at work today i was um uh so it was like the day before my birthday i was like oh i really want
oven pizza for tea on my birthday.
Okay, that sounds good.
We're on our way back from somewhere, and
the shop that we happened to be passing
on that route was waitrose.
So I had
Tori pizza for my
birthday. So, yeah,
it was good. Blimey. How were the
truffles, I can only assume.
Oh, yes. It was a delicious
truffle caviar and lobster pizza.
It was delicious.
Oh.
Yeah. It's a
sophisticated way to do pizza and cake for a 32-year-old.
Yeah.
I think you're doing it right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
How are you, boys?
What have you been doing on my birthday and previously?
I, well, at the minute, I'm just training for the charity bike ride, which as of releasing this episode, I think at the time of release, I'll probably be just about finishing it, actually.
Plug that link again?
Sorry?
Plug that link again.
Bit.
It might still work when this comes out. Might not give it a go.
But I'm sure it was lovely and had a delightful time.
And thank you everyone who very kindly donated to the campaign and got me over my goal and then some.
And it's incredibly generous of you all to give your hard-end money in these trying times.
So it's very, very much appreciated.
If you're listening very soon after release of this episode,
you might literally be doing a mad stunt in the way.
this very moment he might be upside down as we speak if he's upside down it's either going really
well or terribly wrong yeah i did try and learn how to do a wheelie so i could go over the finish
line in style but i didn't it didn't go to plan and i'm not chancing that on the on the big day
in front of potentially hundreds of people over the finish line that's the moment yeah
once i get over it then i can fall over and yeah i'll go wild maybe i'll maybe i'll feel sprightly
at the end and do it but probably not i don't want to
Don't want to suffer any consequences for being a daft boy on my bicycle.
You'll make it onto those compilation videos where people are celebrating as they run
towards the ribbon and then get overtaken, you know, hubris.
How are you, Ben?
I'm all good.
One of my bike tires popped.
Oh, no.
I got nearly, I nearly got home.
Today?
No, it was yesterday, yesterday at the time of recording.
not in the future. And I could feel that something was slightly wrong with my back tire.
And then I started to feel the gravel a lot more than I thought I should. So I hopped off
and I noticed that my back tire was completely deflated. So I pulled over and I got out my
tiny miniature pump and I started pumping it up and it did start to go up. And then because
it's so, it's been so wet, the tire was wet. I could see little air bubbles on the outside and I
thought, oh, that's not. It's probably not right. So I had to do the walk of shame or
the way home than my bicycle.
But it's okay.
It wasn't too bad.
I wasn't too far from home.
It was only like 20 minutes, so it could have been worse.
But I've ordered a new inner tube, and I've had dad vice, which everyone should seek
when repairing a bicycle.
And so I'm confident that I can get it sorted.
And I bought a puncture repair kit just in case I'm a bit further from home in the future.
And I need to, you know, slap it up with some plaster.
Sadly, that's the
Everyone tells you
I learn to replace a tube
And I ignored that advice for ages
Until I was left stranded somewhere
I was like
I should have learned to do that a long time ago
I find that's the best time to learn
Is when your backs up against the wall
And you have no other choice
Yeah
Otherwise I just won't bother
I've got to be put in a stressful situation
To learn anything
Preparation is for nerds
And I won't abide it
Although I have now prepared for next time
But I, you know
I got stung
So it's good.
On this occasion, I'm not a nerd,
but if I had prepared before this,
I would be a big stinky loser.
A big stinky nerdy loser who got home 20 minutes earlier.
Yeah, oh, can you imagine?
More time in my pyjamas, disgusting.
We don't want, we don't want that.
Without much further adour,
would you guys like to record this episode of Podiards?
Okay.
Yeah, let's go.
Kevin, please.
Hello everybody and welcome to Poddy.
It's the official vidiates podcast.
It's a conversational podcast where we take some questions from you at home and obey the law of the three urs, where everybody brings a thing along to talk about.
I'm Ben.
I'm Peter.
And I'm Michael.
Well, we all know how each other are, but one thing that we have failed to promote on the last two podcasts is the fact that the video version of this podcast now has accompanying images, which is something that people have been requesting for as long as we've done a video version, instead of just signposting people to the Twitter thread that we often, you know, refer to and discuss as we go through. We're reacting to images. You can now, if you watch the video version, it's shown on the screen because technology has advanced far enough to it.
allow us to do that, i.e., we can be bothered to do it. Yes, we will, it doesn't, you don't have
to be afraid if you're an audio listener that we're going to suddenly start leaning even further
into visual-based things necessarily. We will just be bringing along exactly the kinds of
things we always have done. So if you're not asked about the visual aspect, don't worry. We're
not going to go too far into it. It's just, it's going to be exactly the same. But now you can
look at it if you want to.
Yeah.
Totally an option.
Totally your choice.
Additionally, make sure you're checking us out on the TikTok and the Instagram,
although most of the input from you guys will be requested via Instagram, but there may be
some semi-recurring stuff that happens there that allows you to influence things that
happen on the podcast, similar to how we always source our listener-submitted things from
Twitter.
There may well be stuff requested from you on Instagram as well.
so make sure you follow us there, vidyats. Dot official.
Yes.
And that's enough of my plug, plug, plug in.
I suppose we should now be beg, beg, beg, begging
because it's time to talk about Pod Squad.
If you go to poddiots.com and donate three pounds or more,
you get a shout out at the beginning and the end of the next episode
and you get to join Pod Squad for that week,
and we'd really appreciate it if you're in a position to do so.
Mikey is going to kick us off.
We begin with Tiny Birthday for Tiny Peter.
look up jizz on wukipedia uh peter you are a walking wukipedia i think what is jizz is a musical genre
oh god it is the the music that is played in the moss isley canteener by the the funny aliens they
played i think it's either that one or in jabber's palace one of the two star wars bands is
are jiz musicians jiz band yeah thanks george lucas
Fuck me. How am I 59 now? Happy birthday, you? It's not that bad being 59, I'm sure.
Happy birthday.
Caroline, are you having an affair with Ainsley Harriet?
No.
Give you me a good old rub.
Oh, lovely.
Caroline, I do da do do do.
Caroline, it wasn't just a fart.
Caroline, I found meat face.
Caroline, please pay the gardener.
Big bumper set of Carolines there.
Good lots of Carolines.
Yeah.
Packet of blob-nob biscuits, Donak 07, Frogly, and the generous Anonymous who says,
Hey, just wanted to say thank you for keeping me smiling as I've been training for the London Marathon.
You've been a real boost.
Can you give me a motivational speech to push me through on the big day.
please. I'll be listening as I run.
Whoa.
Oh my goodness.
All right. No pressure. All right.
You want to do it anonymous?
Yeah, you can.
Legs.
Go do the legs.
Do you guys want to do a one word story, motivational speech?
Yeah, okay.
That's cool.
Mikey, do you want to start and then Peter?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Today.
Anonymous.
Will.
Race.
so
perhaps
so what was that bit
what did you say
perhaps
oh right
okay
so
wait okay
oh my god
I've lost the story
I've lost the story
oh god
jeez
where were we
today
anonymous
will race
so perhaps
go on
I can do this
I can hear your brain
so perhaps
why do you go from
perhaps
any word
so perhaps
the police
that's two words
police just police
God
so perhaps police
is more motivational
will
yeah
provide
safety
for
the
tired
anonymous
and
Anonymous
Oh, okay
China
there you go
Keep going
I don't really know
what the message of that was
But you could
You will finish this race
With or without a police escort
You will finish the race
Better than we finish that story
Goodness gracious
What a car race
What a kerfuffle
Oh god
Now probably far too much time has passed
For me to say
That Caroline I found meatface
just reminds me of
it's like finding Jesus,
I think, you know?
Like the new meat religion.
I am interested in joining your religion.
I'm like a corn again Christian.
Oh, very good.
Oh, bloody hell.
Very good.
Well, the list continues with
Steven Skodes,
so do me,
so do you,
ha ha.
Sorry, aha.
Oh, I get it.
Sodomie,
sodder you.
Ah, ha.
Fweddies Shreddies can't cope
Caroline where's the anusole
Oh no
It's anasol
Anasol
Yeah
I think it's pronounced aniosol isn't it
Is it?
Even though you use it on your anus
I don't think they
As explicit
I mean that's what it is though
Why would you try and hide that?
Yeah
Lord Birmingham
Tevich
Paraboy go live again when
Never
I'm done with streaming
sadly
You've seen the price of turnips
Caroline our law is too dense
I am become dominoes
Pissor of Bums
Quantum Leap's Scott Baculum
What is that? Is that just someone from Quantum Leap?
Scott Bacula is the guy from Quantum Leap
What was Baculum? That was something we...
Oh no. We talked about recently.
Not sure.
Baculum. But Baculum
is the penis bone.
Ah, okay, there we go.
Remember that.
And we've also got Caroline,
I'm in Cheggy, Slovenia,
and Prince Beefcakes.
You have an additional one there.
Sorry, there is, I did know about that as well,
I immediately forgot.
And also, Rocks the Fox,
who was very generous and said,
I said on the Discord server
that I tried to get Peter
to say this phrase,
so here goes.
It's not made from vidiates,
made from poddy,
It's instead a wicks.
I shan't provide context here
as I don't have enough characters,
but it's on the Discord.
Kis-Keece.
Thank you, Rocks the Fox.
Thank you.
And finally we have Brussels
was shit, don't go, Mikey.
Caroline, it's flaking again.
Gravy Bavaria.
Gravy Bavaria, I think.
Bavaria, yeah.
Yes.
Count Baculum, there's another one.
Yeah, yeah.
Big Billy's biggest wet willie.
Who likes short shorts?
We like short shorts.
Bumpiss McQuack.
Blobby Jump Scare.
Sue Pov the Day.
Oh, very good.
Jamie Nation.
And Cat Karen or Cattercaron.
And that is your Pod Squad.
for this episode.
Podiatts.com
forward slash
no, just pottyts.com,
that's it.
Three pounds or more
gets you a shout
at the beginning
and the end of the next episode.
Thank you so much
to this week's pod squad.
Do you guys have a favourite there?
Soup of the day, got a good laugh.
Soup of the day is great, yeah.
And I also quite like
the late entry of Count Baculum
towards the end of the list as well.
It's got to be I and become Domino's pisser of bums.
Oh, yeah, that's really good.
Yeah.
I'm going to go with
Caroline please pay the gardener
I'm going to give Caroline some love today
because Lord knows her partner isn't seemingly
it's not going well
it's not going well over there
perhaps just one person did lots of Carolines
in the hope of maybe getting a favourite
pod squad of the day
they were all very good
yeah
the best competition out there in Pod Squad land
Yeah, it is.
Well, let's crack on with the podcast proper.
I am Thingman today, and I decree that Peter Austin shall bring his viewer-slash-listener-submitted thing along first.
Okay, wonderful.
Well, thank you very much.
I've not actually got it open in a tab, but thank you very much.
It is from Connor Ryan underscore on Twitter, Connor Ryan.
we debated whether to do this but we're doing it
oh okay it's happening
yeah man urged this is according to the abogavenny chronicle
man urges public to keep away from abogavenny's underworld
this is written by tim butters
and is a follow-up to the story of johnny turnip
big tony and porto rico paul
Oh, my God.
It continues.
So it's basically, I think this is just a serial story that's in the Abigavenny Chronicle.
This was posted on April Fool's Day, but given that the previous parts of this story weren't,
then it's anyone's guess how much of it is bullshit.
All of it, I think.
But we're going to read it anyway.
A man who claimed to have rediscovered Abugavenny's secret tunnel network
is now urging people to stay away after he and his friends made a discovery
quote, that will mess with your head.
Johnny Turnip, Big Tony, and Puerto Rico Paul
explained that they set out to trap and tame a fairy,
which is hyperlinked to the previous story we covered,
but got a lot more than they bargained for
when they accidentally found the entrance
to Abugaveni's underworld in the grounds of the castle.
Turnip told the Chronicle,
at first, the riddle on the door leading to the tunnels
had us all stumped.
It read,
What is the name of the ancient tribe of Abogaveni,
and what mythical animal did they once worship in the deepest wild?
Turnip added,
we must have smoked about ten fags each trying to work that one out.
Although I can name all of King Henry the Eighth's wives and how they died,
and Puerto Rico Paul is something of a specialist on the life and works of German existential philosophers,
none of us are exactly history buffs.
Suddenly,
What is this?
Suddenly, Big Tony, surprised us all by shrieking,
I've got it.
They didn't spell wild wrong.
It's W-I-L-D-E in the riddle.
They're talking about the Marty Wilde song, Abaghavani.
Of course.
Of course.
To be honest, I had no idea Wilde was spelled wrong,
but then I'm not a reader-like tone.
When he's not busy digging ditches
or drinking his body weight in lager,
you'll usually find him with his head buried in Martina...
You'll usually find him with his head buried in Martina Cole.
Oh, God.
Turnip added, thank God for Tone's Eureka moment.
We knew the lyrics to a song we had grown up.
We knew the lyrics to a song we had grown up drinking fortified wine to by heart.
As one, we chanted, the ancient tribe is paradise people and the mythical animal is a red dog.
As soon as we spoke, the door slid open and from somewhere inside, the song began to blast out from some hidden sound system.
The bass was something else.
It had a real kick.
With Tony taking the lead and merrily snouting,
He Who dares,
we began to descend more steps
into a dark and dank tunnel.
Turnip explained,
We all began to do with little dance as we walked.
Big Tony sort of raised his hand above his head,
wiggled his fingers,
and did this sort of mincing movement with his feet.
For a big man,
Tone's always been light on his feet.
It's what makes him such a good fighter and dancer.
I want to meet big, Tony.
Yeah, it sounds great.
I can assure you that there's not a huge amount of this left,
given that it is just utter driffle.
Puerto Rico Paul did his trademark Axel Rose serpentine shuffle,
and I just brought up the rear strutting like John Travolta's character
in Saturday Night Fever as he makes his way to the dance floor
to teach some punk a lesson.
Yeah.
Turn it added, that tune is a proper upper.
Okay, I'm going to skip ahead of the table.
talking about dancing to this music.
It's all rubbish.
Tony told the Chronicle that once the song
was over, the three friends walked for what
seemed like, for what seemed
like five minutes
in complete silence,
apart from Big Tony's
labored breathing.
And then a strange apparition
blocked their path.
Oh my God.
Ternip recalled,
it was all fun and games until we saw what
looked like a slightly oversight male
wearing track suit bottoms and a pair of beaten up Nike airs.
As a semi-professional long-distance runner,
I hate to see trainers that have lost their integrity and box-fresh appeal.
It kind of reminds me of the horror at the end of all things.
But that wasn't the worst part.
For some reason, this dude decided to customize his look
by wearing a knight's helmet and some medieval body armour.
How'd you know he had a tracksuit on then?
I'm starting to think this isn't real.
It sounds like it might be.
be made up. He was also
holding an axe but seemed kind of
embarrassed by it. Turnip
added, he then said in a sort of voice
you don't usually find outside of the
panto, halt, I'm
Gary the Grey, custodian
of the Gateway and keep of
the Nine Secrets.
Fuck off Gary the Grey.
These paths belong to another
leave now if you value both
sanity and soul.
Turnip said, and this is
hyperlinked, I always
recognize a nutter when I see one and this guy was having a major meltdown and that's just
gone to another of the articles by Tim Butter's entitled Close Encounters of the Turnip
Kind. Wow. Oh that was the one wasn't it? Isn't that what we called? I think so. That was the
name of the last episode. Yeah. However, I needed to tread carefully. Big Tony has little patience for
dramatic types and if this athletic knight dude kept talking like that he was probably going to get
lamped. So, as a man of tact, I decided to take an innovative approach and play the madman at
his own game. I said, let us speak plainly. We've come to capture ourselves a fairy. Now, as soon as we
have one of the little people in the bag, we'll be on our way. This is the final paragraph.
He got all uppity at this, raised his axe, and shouted, I am sworn defender of the
Tillwith Tag, which you'll remember is the fairy people from the previous story. And you says,
are scoundrels, whose foul taint
I will cleanse the earth and other
realms of. It was strong stuff
but our teachers used to say worse.
Either way, it seemed
the time for talk was done.
Big Tony adopted his fighting stance
and it was about to kick off when
Puerto Rico Paul piped up with
hang on a second, I recognise that
voice. It's Manny from the
estate. Almost immediately
the athletic night dude dropped
his axe, took off his helmet
and all became clear
to be continued.
Oh no.
What is this?
I don't know what this is.
This is a news website. This is just great writing exercise.
I like it, but what?
I still am so baffled.
Just writing episodes of this strange story.
Has he ever written anything else?
Has he written normal stories?
Tim Butters is probably a pseudonym, right?
So the writer could have written.
This sounds like it should be a radio serial.
Yeah, it does, doesn't it?
It's very strange.
And now on BBC Radio 4, Tim Butters presents Close Encounters of the Turnip Kind.
But he has written a few...
I mean, they probably have to click on them and read them,
but they look like normal articles.
Councillors slam appalling decision to use Pembrokeshire dairy.
Greggs remains open and a town can breathe easy.
So I guess they were going to close a Greggs and now they're not.
Yeah, it's just a normal article.
But then he's just decided to do this strange thing.
Maybe that's all just a front to give his fiction weight.
Yeah.
People will believe it's real.
Well, thank you for the update there.
Thank you for submitting it, Connor Ryan.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say we might have,
maybe we won't cover any more of the abig of any chronicle.
We've heard enough.
Do you want know what happens next to Puerto Rico Paul?
Um, I don't know if I do.
It's just Manny from the estate.
I think everything's going to be all right.
Yeah, yeah.
But at this point, they're in the secret catacombs, aren't they?
Yeah.
Yeah, trying to catch a fairy.
Yeah.
I don't, I've never read a news article that's ended with to be continued.
Yeah, apart from last week.
Yeah.
Which is when it happened.
But yeah.
More on this as we get it.
Very strange.
We'll keep our eyes on it.
But, yeah, we'll see how it goes.
We'll see if there's any interesting device.
developments, like the truth being exposed and who is, who is, who is, who is, who is, who is, who is this turnip man.
Jesus.
Who is this turnip man?
Well, there we are.
Thank you very much for that thing, Peter.
Right.
Michael Johnson.
I come with great.
Summer's here, and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days, delivered with Uber Eats.
What do we mean by almost?
Well, you can't get a well-groom lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parmesan delivered.
A cabana?
That's a no.
Banana. That's a yes. A nice tan. Sorry. Nope. But a box fan, happily yes. A day of sunshine. No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by Regency app for details. Great, great, great news. If you cast your mind back to about almost exactly a year ago, our lives were forever changed when we discovered.
that Gary the gorilla, a mascot of a Scottish Garden Centre,
was cruelly stolen, abducted and was missing the entire time.
There were sightings of him strapped to the back of a van
going up and motorway towards Glasgow,
and then poof, until just the other day,
a message appears in the Garden Center's Facebook, and it reads,
Hi, I recently found this fiberglass gorilla
And they have it in the skip
But someone mentioned a gorilla had been stolen last year
And I'm wondering if it's your gorilla
Oh
And then they sent a picture
Does that look like it?
This was found last week
And then the garden centre replies
This could very well be him
Where was this?
And so they made the trek
They retrieved Gary
And he is back
home safe after an extended holiday.
Fantastic.
Unbelievable.
I'm going to send you...
Actually, no, I'm not going to send any pictures just yet.
But, and a emphasis on but there, Gary is not whole.
It seems that whichever scoundrel stole him may have abandoned his rear end, but his front half is still nowhere to be seen.
So Gary has been sawn in half.
Oh, my God.
So it's just his bum that's been found.
Yes.
So, I mean, arguably his greatest asset.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
You got it.
But I'm going to send you the pictures to show how Gary is looking.
So, yeah, he's back home.
He's back at the garden centre.
And I've got a lovely little news write up about the tale and how we got here.
Oh, Gary.
Oh.
And then there's the, uh,
reverse side. Oh no, that's so sad. Who would take, well, I suppose the front would be more
useful for repurposing, but why wouldn't you want the whole thing? Yeah. If you're going to go
the effort to like organize a heist of a guerrilla statue, like, yeah, take the full thing. And it's like,
the only thing I can think of is that they've taken the front half and they want to like
mount it on a wall or something. But would you want something that big anywhere other than
outdoors? And if you would, to put it outdoors, surely someone is eventually,
going to be like, hang on, that's half of, that's the other half of that gorilla you've got
on the front of your business or your house or maybe it is just inside someone's house
sticking out of the wall like Homer Simpson in the hedge.
Yeah, oh God.
So yeah, the story is not quite finished yet, but this is a good enough conclusion for me
for now until maybe eventually one day in like someone's attic and in like in their
inheritance they find this dusty front half of a gorilla and we can say Gary has changed.
truly been found.
So here's a little Sky News article about the discovery and the garden centers response to
everything.
Okay.
Part of a giant gorilla statue that was stolen from a garden center a year ago has been found,
but he's half the ape he used to be.
Oh, no.
Gary.
Gary, the gorilla was pinched from Raynard Garden Center in Karluk, South Lanarkshire,
last March.
Now, one year on, a section of the eight-foot fiberglass ornament has been found under bushes
in a layby on the A-92 between Dundee and Abarath.
Good God.
So I guess they drove him out and just dumped it there and then fled the scene.
Good God, these are mastermind criminals to do this so blazily and just dump a half a gorilla on the street.
It's inhumane.
Yeah.
It's going to be like an Ocean's 13 kind of thing.
13 because they needed, there were two prequels before they attempted this one.
Their biggest heist yet.
Indeed.
front half of a gorilla. The discovery was made by a team from road maintenance firm Bear, Scotland,
who said they were shocked to see a gorilla's bum, staring them in the face. However, Gary is
missing his front half as the statue appears to have been sawn in two. Owner Andrew Scott from the
Garden Centre told Sky News he was really disappointed. Only half the ornament had been recovered,
but hopes the rest of Gary can be found. He said, I've just been to Tesco to buy some
gorilla glue in the hope that we get the other half back.
You can stick him back.
Good one, Andy.
Oh, don't worry, he's full of them.
That's the first of many to come.
Somebody will know something, he says.
Mr. Scott said the discovery will hopefully spark another search,
but he believes the ornament is now in someone's house.
So yeah, yeah, God, just in someone's living room.
It's like, check out the new gorilla.
It's so big.
It's like almost twice the height of Andy.
photos.
It's nuts.
It must be about 10 feet tall, and that's without legs.
Yeah, someone's got a big bloody house as well.
Yeah, like, who is this mad eccentric person with, like, huge ceilings
and the ability to steal the gorilla?
Mr. Scott said, where was he?
How long was he hidden?
He can fit through a door now, at least.
He would have been too fat before.
Oh, I reckon he'll be in some little garden room or somewhere a few
select people know Gary club got go see Gary
Gary. Somebody will know something but they've obviously
kept it quiet a whole year and there must be more than one
person involved anyway. Anyway when they've cut and there must be
more than one person involved anyway when they've cut it in such a nice
tidy manner. God and again the profession is a good job actually yeah yeah
yeah Christ well done I mean not well done but you're going to do it do it well
I don't understand why they'd want to fly-tip it and not break it up and put it in a bin.
They could have hid the story dead easy, but now have reignited my hopes for finding him again.
Oh no.
Gary had been a fixture at the garden centre for more than the decade and was used to signpost customers to the store.
The theft on 19th of March triggered a huge response with members of the public urged to keep an eye out for the missing primate.
Gary was later bundled into a white van for removal around two hours after they closed that day.
A few weeks after Gary's disappearance, he was spotted all around motorways and whatnot before just disappearing into the blue.
However, it was a false sight.
Yeah, it was all false sightings.
It was actually one of several versions made by the same manufacturer.
The trail to find Gary had gone cold until earlier this month when the road maintenance staff came across the discard.
discarded ass of a gorilla.
A member of the team that found the dumped gorilla said,
we're out on our usual morning route inspection
when we spotted something lurking in the bushes at the back of a lay-by.
God, that's going to be scary.
What is that?
It's a giant twerking man, I don't, what is that?
It's so thick.
Look at them cheeks.
When we pulled in to check it out,
we were pretty shocked to see a gorilla's bum staring at the face.
After we composed ourselves,
we managed to catch the escapee in the van.
and take it back to the depot where we sat about trying to figure out where it came from.
A little digging online found some articles about a gorilla stolen from Carl Luke last year,
and we were able to reunite Gary back with his owner.
Mr Scott now plans to display half the statue inside the garden center.
He said, I'll fix it to the wall with a sign above him saying Gary's back
because it is Gary's back.
Very good.
He's good.
I like it.
It's quite good, yeah.
I think when he's had 10 years of, like, having a gorilla mascot for his garden center,
he's got, he's had plenty of time to think of this stuff.
Gary's back.
Gary's back.
This whole thing hits a bit too close to home for me,
because this exact thing happened to my class at school.
I don't know if I've ever told you this story.
Not only do I have the story to tell, I have a physical artifact to show you.
It is in the room with me.
Is it the front half of a gorilla?
It's almost the front half of a gorilla, yes, but sadly not a gorilla.
It's not Gary.
When I was in secondary school, we had a mascot, our history teacher.
Our form teacher was a history teacher, and he had a wooden seagull that sat on the shelf above his desk, and her name was Hilda.
Hilda, the historian, was her name.
I don't know if there was any more significance to it than that, the alliteration or what.
but um and she just sat in our in our form room for several years we moved classrooms on a year on year and she would come with us
then one day we came back into the room it was either after lunch or the next day and someone had cleanly very flat and cleanly and tidily
chopped hilda's head off with a saw what the hell and just her body remained and no one knew where the head was so the body went into a drawer
and it was a great big mystery
because my teacher
my form teacher
wasn't always teaching in that room
it was used by different classes
and different teachers
so someone had been in,
chop the head off,
anyway,
months later,
me and my friend John
found Hilda's head
No way
showing it to the camera now
you guys will be to see it
because we're not on video
we found Hilda's head
in one of the teacher's drawers
so our immediate
thought was, hang on, did a teacher steal
this? Did she chop the head off? But I think
what probably happened is some kids
chopped the head off.
Bloody kids. And were then maybe
throwing it around in a separate class
or something and it was confiscated.
But so
I, and then when we left
school, I took Hilda's head
with me. It's mine now.
And you've kept it all this time.
Yeah, sits on my shelf.
Wow.
This is a good story, Peter, for you decapit.
a poor wooden bird.
Oh yeah,
I found it in a drawer.
What did you say,
Ben?
You didn't want to return it?
Well,
we did,
I don't know if the camera
will show it.
We blue-tapped it
back on.
Okay.
And so she sat with her head
for a while,
but then when we left school,
my teacher had left by them,
my form tutor.
And so the only people
who were attached to Hilda,
unlike her head,
were the class itself.
And we were leaving.
No one would have given a flip,
a shit, in fact,
about.
at that point.
So we decided, me and John tossed a coin
and he kept the body and I kept the head.
Okay, fair trade.
Yeah.
Oh, God.
Wow.
Well, I'm praying for Gary.
Yeah.
Think about him in church, everyone.
He might be in my teacher's drawer.
It could be the giant 12-foot gorilla.
Oh, dear.
The article ends saying that the police in Scotland,
that extensive inquiries are carried out in connection to the
theft, but no suspects were identified, but they're open to new information, and they will
continue to investigate this crime.
Good.
So serious crime.
Terrible.
Terrible.
Yeah, Gary's back home, everybody.
Gary's back.
Gary's back.
Gary's back.
Oh, well, lovely.
Thank you for that update, Mikey.
Yeah, thank you very much.
We've all been worried sick.
Yeah.
A few people did submit that as well.
So thank you to people who submitted that.
But Mikey claimed that.
He sent us a message and was like, guys, I'm doing the,
I'm talking about Gary, all right?
I brought him into this world.
I'll take him out of it.
I'm not going to take him out of it.
It's time for my listener submitted thing.
This comes courtesy of Connor Bennett at C Bennett underscore 12 on Twitter.
This is an important story, not necessarily because it in and of itself is weird,
but it sort of serves as a warning for us in the future to be mindful.
Are you ready?
This is an article on.
ITV, written by nobody, apparently, written by ITV themselves, which is great.
The headline is, Joe Lysitt reveals he's behind multiple fake news stories which have hit
the headlines this month.
I've been curious about this.
I heard about this, but I haven't looked at which ones were his, and I wouldn't have
become any of them.
Yeah, I appreciate the hustle, but also, I can't be asked to watch his show to find out.
So I'm hoping someone, there's a summary at the end when they're all revealed.
Comedian Joe Lysitt claimed he is behind a number of fake news stories that have been reported across mainstream media.
In a self-shot video with an upside-down inflatable globe in the background,
Lysit admits he has been fooling the nation with silly fake news stories.
He said, for the last month, me and my team have been planting stupid silly fake news stories
about things that never actually happened in the hope that they would take up space
that more hateful or polarizing fake news might otherwise have used.
He confirmed multiple stories have been shared in the national news, including The Mail, The Sun, BBC News, ITV News, Sky News and The Independent.
The comedian did not reveal which stories he had created and said all would be revealed on his new series of Late Night Lycet, which airs on the 12th of April, which is tomorrow, actually, at the time of recording.
Many people on ex formerly known as Twitter immediately began guessing which recent headlines were made up.
A number of people recalled the woman who had rescued, who rescued, what?
A number of people recalled the woman who rescued Hedgehog, which turned out to be a fluffy hat bobble.
Oh yeah, I saw that one.
Someone actually submitted that as a thing.
Yeah.
This week as well.
Others thought the NHS who had, the NHS doctor who advised people not to eat a whole chocolate egg could be faked.
Oh yeah.
Some thought the infamous Glasgow Willy Wonka experience could have been one of Lysit's
elaborate pranks, surely not.
Nah, not, sure not.
Leicitt is known for his large-scale stunts and pranks,
including changing his name to Hugo Boss and shredding 10,000 pound,
which turned out to be fake in protest against David Beckham
being a pundit for the Qatar World Cup.
And that is where the story ends.
So we're going to have to be very vigilant from now on,
but we sort of have to trust that the respectable outlets
aren't peddling, fake news, however delightful that may be.
Yeah.
Tim Butters, we're watching you.
We're watching you, Tim.
You wouldn't lie to us, Tim.
No, no, that's real that one.
That's not a Joe Lice.
That's a Tim Butter's true, hard-hitting piece.
Yeah.
100%.
But there we are.
That's my listener submitted thing.
I think we've all got to just be very aware
that there's some dreadful, fake silly news out there.
Yeah.
So be on your toes, everyone.
Be on your fucking toes.
Peter Austin.
Yes.
It's time for your thing.
I brought it from a book
It is in a book
I'm going to read it to you
Okay
This is a book I've owned for many years
It is called
Oh, it's so shiny
You can see the screen
It's called Strange Victoriana
And it is
Tales of the Curious
The Weird and the Uncanny
From our Victorian ancestors
There's all sorts in here
I think
Most if not all of it
is taken from a quote-unquote newspaper of the time called the Illustrated Police News,
which sounds like it might be a sort of an official thing, like written for or by the police,
but I don't think it specifically was.
Is it Tim Butters special?
Yeah, it's that kind of thing.
Well, I mean, you know, some of it was a lot of it, well, I don't know how much of it.
Some of it was real and some of it was tabloid kind of sensationalism.
it does start with a whole chapter
on what the Illustrated Police News
or IPN was about
and what it was for and stuff
but essentially it was
just a newspaper of the time
in a sort of tabloid style
and I have just lost my page
I'm trying to read that first chapter
but don't worry I know roughly where it is
on the right chapter here
so I'm going to tell you about
a trend
of the
of the Victorian period
regarding lion wages
in which people would
basically do
for the content
they would do bets
about getting into the cage
with lions. Okay, I found it.
A small file of cuttings from the IPN
and other newspapers with the heading
lion wages provide some curious information
about a
Oh my goodness.
Finder Csciacal craze, which is, sounds French, but is written in italics, so maybe it's Latin.
I don't know.
It's a phrase I don't know.
But it's a craze that has not yet found it's historian.
The performance of various full hardy stunts inside cages full of lions.
In January 1890, a champion long-distance runner, George Littlewood, received a challenge from some of his friends, that he would not dare to enter the lion's cage.
at Womwell's Menagerie.
In front of an enormous crowd,
the runner accomplished this feat
with commendable intrepidity.
Ooh, that was harder than being
in the cage with lions, that one.
Although he got separated
from Orenzo the Lion Tamer,
and although the massive beasts
were jumping around in a dangerous manner,
Littlewood made it out of the cage unharmed,
and the first recorded Lion Wager was one.
In August 1894, a Paris barber made a bet that he would dare to shave the lion tamer of the Giuliano menagerie in a barber's chair situated inside the lion's cage itself.
The lions looked on with interest throughout the procedure, which lasted 20 minutes.
Once or twice, they came up to see what the barber was doing, but the lathered tamer shooed them away.
when the same stunt was repeated by another barber in Vicky or Vichi
he narrowly escaped being bitten by a lion named D'Artagnan.
In June 1895, when a travelling menagerie visited Toulin in France,
the local barber made a bet that he would shave one of his customers inside the lion cage.
Again, he won the lion wager.
Held in check by their tamer, the lions observed these bizarre proceedings,
with the greatest indifference.
Now, I don't want to, like, be a stickler here.
I don't want to split hairs.
But to me, if you're in there,
and there's also a lion tamer in there,
you know, cracking a whip at the lions,
it's not quite the same, is it?
You know?
I want to see you get in there on your own.
Yeah, the center of that lion's universe.
You've got to be that.
Mm-hmm.
Here is a picture.
Again, you guys can't see it,
but it's in the video version of the podcast,
of someone shaving a man
in the lion's den
there it is
so it continues
in St. Louis
the animal trainer
Pauline Devere
married the cowboy
Harry Bishop
inside the lion cage
at Woonwell Circus
they had the ceremony
with six lions and lionesses
acting as best men
and bridesmaids
this was the first
recorded lion wedding
considered as quite a
curiosity at the time, and featured in many newspapers, including the IPN.
Where have you sent that photo, Peter? I haven't got it.
I was showing it to the camera.
Oh, okay. It's in the book.
It is, yeah, I'm afraid.
Although if you do a Google for Lion Wager, maybe put some quotes around it, and maybe IPN.
Is it this?
Let's see.
That's, well, that looks like an escape.
That's the closest I can find.
That looks like an escaped lion to me, which will also be in here.
That is the illustration style of the IPN.
So, yeah, that will be from it, but that's probably not a wager.
I think that might be one that's just jumped over a fence and attacked people.
I'll keep looking.
Okay.
Maybe try Lion Barber or something.
But if you use the letters IPN, that should help.
So in September 1895 at Leon Railway,
the A porter, who was called Leon Esset, made a bet that he would dare to have his photograph taken inside the lion cage
when Castanet and Pezons Menagerie visited that city.
Having read about the various barbers plying their trade in the same surroundings without any ill effect,
the foolish young Frenchman had become convinced that lions were placid and friendly animals
who would welcome his visit to their quarters.
Fool.
Oh my God.
Well, that is not what we're looking for, that image you found there there, but that is a fantastic drawing.
I can't find any other IPN images apart from the first one I sent.
Okay.
Well, I'll show you some more from the book.
There's one of the wedding.
Can I get close and sharp?
There we go.
That's the wedding in the lion's cage.
And this is the one we're talking about now.
Spoilers, it's a man with his head
in a lion's mouth and blood coming out.
Draft. Right. Right.
So having read about the barbers,
he thought lions were all placid and fine
and you could just get in the cage
and it wouldn't matter.
Assuing the conventions of having a lion tamer handy
at the time of the wager and making sure the beasts
were well-fed beforehand,
the foolhardy young railwaymen
entered the lion cage just when the animals
were about to be fed.
Oh, good.
Before the photograph could be taken,
a large lion named Romulus leapt at him
and literally tore his head off.
Oh, nice.
Leon Asset lost his lion wager, it says.
Did he?
And his life, yeah.
I would say he won the lion wager
because he did get into the lion cage,
which is the wager that he made.
The sad outcome of the Leon's lion wager
did not prevent three jolly French men
from having a bet of their own when the Salvatoremenagerie visited Bourg in November the same year.
This time, they would play a game of cards inside the lion cage.
To begin with, this wager proceeded in good order.
The three gentlemen sat down, set up their gaming table and began to play.
But then a lion walked up to Monsieur Cheval, one of the card players, and sniffed at his clothes.
Wanting to display his courage, the Frenchman pushed the animal's head away.
The lion immediately pounced, knocking him off his chair and grabbing hold of his jacket.
The other two card players fled, yelling.
But the intrepid lion tamer seized hold of the lion's tongue and twisted it until the animal released its hold with a howl of pain.
Monsieur Chavot was unharmed, although his clothes were torn to pieces and the lion wager was lost.
We have a drawing.
Again, sorry for those just listening on audio, but here is the lion tamer saving the French.
men from the attack.
There we go.
We've got a couple more now, and
then that's it. In January 1898,
a Bolton publican won a lion wager of
25 pounds through entering the cage
containing three lions. A year
later, a cyclist won a wager
by peddling his machine inside
a lion's cage. March
1902, two Brighton
daredevils played a game of ping pong
inside a large cage full of lions
with several thousand spectators in
attendance. Again, the lion wager was won, although squeamish people criticized the Brighton
lion cage. What? No, the Brighton authorities for allowing such a dangerous exhibition to take
place. And about the same time, two Welsh lasses from Methir Tidfil, won a wager for 20 pounds
through dancing the can can inside a lion cage. When two French girls tried to emulate them
by performing a tightrope routine
just above a lion cage,
the rope broke
and they fell right on top
of the lions.
Although severely mauled,
they both survived,
but the Lion Wager was lost.
The final recorded Lion Wager
occurred in 1908
when intrepid young barmaid
Carrie Baker danced a hornpipe
inside a lion cage in Liverpool.
The ultimate notice in
Lion Wagers...
Excuse me.
The ultimate notice in the Lion
wages dossier is that in 1910, Bostok's Menagerie advertised a jungle wedding with three lions
acting the part of groomsmen and the same number of lionesses as bridesmaids.
So that's two weddings that took place in lion cages, and apparently that one went well.
It was fine.
It's a good place to be married, it seems.
Yeah.
So there you go.
That's the story of some lion wages.
I have some final images I'm showing the camera, but yeah, various people.
There's not just like one slightly insane person.
It's a string of people over a series of decades
who continue to put themselves in line cages.
Jesus.
Seemingly only one guy got his head bitten off,
which is pretty impressive.
Yeah, so...
Is that one of them that I've sent you the image over there?
It's not one of the ones I've seen in the book,
but I mean, that might just be our lion tamer.
I will...
I'll do some quiet Googling as we continue the podcast
and see if for your...
benefit, boys. I can find some...
A wonderful description, but we cannot see the images.
No, yeah.
He's very desperate to see the man with his head being bitten off.
I just want to see the illustration of the decapitated man, okay?
I don't think that's too much to ask.
I mean, I can send you a photo if you're like on WhatsApp or something.
Yeah, honestly, that'd be great, because we do a little quiz on Instagram as to
whose thing is who?
So if you could send that over, that'd be great.
I'll forward it on to Kevin.
Yeah, let's do that.
I'd appreciate that.
Wonderful.
Thank you so much, Peter.
Thank you, Peter.
You're very welcome.
It is now time for my thing,
and I have decided that we're going to talk about Yosef Mensich,
which is a name I may be butchering,
The Last Night Who Stood Up to the Germans in World War II.
This is an article from the beginning of last year,
written by Samantha Franco on War History Online.com.
citation possibly needed.
When the Germans went to invade Czechoslovakia during the Second World War,
it was believed that they wouldn't experience much, if any, retaliation.
However, they were met with resistance by one man, Josef Mensich.
Their encounter was a strange one,
and in a sense prevented the military from invading,
if only for a brief moment.
Mensich's defiance to the German invasion was not out of character
and it earned him the nickname of the last night.
Would you like to see him?
I'd love to.
So this isn't a photo taken on the day itself,
but this is Yosef Mensich, the last night, pictured on a different day.
Here he comes.
He's coming down the internet, and there he is.
Oh, that's a man.
Can you describe what you see?
Oh, goodness me.
I see a mighty, mighty beard.
I see knights armour, a big bloody sword.
and a great big bushy beard and sword
that's a warrior
to put it up in one word
maybe this is the bloke
Paul Turnip saw down the caves
and the air could be
it could be yeah
Joseph Mensich's early life is a mystery
is the subheader here
very little is known about Joseph Mensich's life
before the Second World War
his date of birth is contested
and the exact location it occurred is unknown
that being said historians have been able to
he lived in, oh God, here we go, Bohmavold, in the Bochmavold region of Czechoslovakia.
Mensich's family lineage is also a history.
Sourced records have been deemed unreliable, and some believe information that would reveal
his ancestry is concealed in archives that protect those who were involved in World War II.
It's a conspiracy.
It is a conspiracy.
Mensich never shared his mother or father's names, and he never disclosed if he had any siblings.
What is known of his family later in life is that he's a conspiracy.
had a wife named
Er-I-I-E-W?
I'm trying to remember how it's pronounced.
It's E-M-A, but I believe the M may be pronounced
as like a W, like Eva or some...
I don't know.
Menchikova.
Hang on.
Mensichova.
God.
And two children.
He became well known in his community and was dubbed
the Knight of Strachonich.
Possibly.
Who knows?
I have sent a...
Just in case you wanted to see it.
before we move any further up there.
Oh, lovely.
There's a picture of a man with his head bitten off.
That's great.
I'll afford that to Kevin.
I'll put that in the thread in the correct order.
Oh, fantastic.
Thank you.
Right, where were we?
When Yosef Mensich was old enough to afford a house of his own, he did exactly that.
Purchasing a castle that dated back to the 14th century.
It was called Dobris Castle and had been severely damaged by heavy rainfall and a fire that had broken out on the property.
After purchasing the structure, he began, he began restoring.
delivering Dobris to its former glory. Over the years, Mensich also amassed a remarkable collection
of antiques and curiosities from centuries prior. This led him to turn the castle into a pseudo-museum,
where he happily educated visitors on the history of the area. Part educator, part performer,
he's since been described as the definition of living history. Menzic embraced an alternative
lifestyle when living at Dobris Castle. He quite literally lived like a knight,
abandoning modern conveniences like cars and electricity, instead employing torches and candles
to light his residence. For lack of a better term, he lived chivalrously. Despite his strange way of
life, Mensich was respected in his community for being a generous and helpful person. And now we
move on to the war. The moment that cemented Yosef Mensich into history was the day he decided
to face the invading German army by himself. In many instances, where when the
Is it Wehrmacht? Am I pronouncing that, right, Peter?
Oh, uh...
Wehrmacht?
What's it? Weimacht, I think.
Wehrmacht?
I wanted to invade a territory.
They were met with retaliation from inhabitants.
When they crossed the Czechoslovakian border in 1938, however,
they were met by just one man, Mensich.
Mensich stood up...
It is Vermacht, sorry, you're right.
Wermacht.
I was thinking of something else.
Mensich stood up against the advancing German column
at the Buccina border,
wearing a full French medieval era suit of armour,
riding horse back on his thoroughbred
and holding a sword and halberd.
Hell yeah.
All of the weapons.
Some historians have called his defiance courageous,
while others have referred to it as foolish, and they're stupid.
Either way, it initially prevented the German soldiers
from advancing any further, if only for a moment.
The troops stood there in shock of the knight
that stood standing before them.
This didn't last long, however,
as they ultimately decided to pay no mind to Mensich and continue past him.
As they walked by, they tapped their helmets at him, suggesting he was crazy,
and Mensich moved out of the way, unable to stop them.
Oh, no.
Yosef Mensich's stand against the Germans has become a tale of legend.
Although some equate him to a Czechoslavian Don Quixote,
others believe he was fully aware of the fact he wasn't a real knight.
Instead, it's more likely that he idolized them
and saw honour in standing up against the enemy while dressing.
as one. Mensich likely never believed he could prevent the Germans from evading Czechoslovakia.
He was, however, successful in preventing his castle from being overrun. While he was regarded
as a non-issue by Germans, the fact remains that they never technically defeated him. So, who
really lost? Not Yose. They didn't dare fight him. They were like, oh, let's just walk past this
guy. Not because he's of no consequence, but because I don't actually want to start. I was going to say,
I like to think they were a little scared of him.
What could he do?
Look at this lunatic.
Following the end of the Second World War,
Dobris Castle became nationalised by the communist government
and it remains open to the public.
Mensich went on to live a long and chivalrous life
until his death at the age of 78.
His legacy continues to live on
and historians and scholars alike
have studied his story.
There we are.
Oh, wow.
He's got that guy.
He's Scottish.
In World War II, there's a photo of
Jack Churchill is its name,
who fought with a sword and bow.
Mad Jack.
There's a photo of him here.
Mad Jack.
I would have liked,
there were,
shame they were on the same side.
I would have liked to see these two
come up against each other
with swords in World War II.
That would have been a great spectacle.
That looks so photoshopped.
Doesn't it?
But it's real, apparently.
This is considered to be a genuine photo.
Wow.
Yeah.
That's great.
Well, there we are.
That is my thing.
And thus draws to a close, I believe, all of the things for this episode.
Thank you so much for listening and watching.
Don't go anywhere just yet.
Hello?
I think I still need to do my viewer submitted thing.
Oh, so you do.
Yeah.
Oh, Mikey, did I skip straight past you?
Yeah, I think you did.
It's fine.
Oh, bud.
Oh, Mikey, I'm sorry.
If you'd have spoken up, I would have to.
No, I realized, like, as you were here, it was like, oh, that's fine.
Hang on, we're only scraping past an hour.
This doesn't see you, right?
I was thinking, God, that's gone quick, but I thought we've done six things.
My apologies, I got completely out of order there.
I've got myself all turned around.
Well, then Michael Johnson, it's time for your listener submitted thing with my apologies.
Quite all right, Ben.
Well, we go from one noble hero to another, maybe.
This is submitted by Greg Miller at Greg Mill 2-290 on Twitter.
This is from the Essex Live.
and the headline reads
Fed up Essex locals
set up
pothole parrot
in protest
over road not being fixed
It's been
pirates
Holidays
A bacon
We got them all
It's been nicknamed
The pothole parrot
Of Pledgden
This is
Story by Ellis Whitehouse
Chief Reporter of Essex Live
A life
Actually you know
before I get on to it, let me send a picture of the parrot so you know what you're getting into.
Oh, there you go.
And another closer angle for you.
It's quite pretty.
It's very pretty, actually.
Oh, it's a great parrot.
Oh, wow.
That's great.
Yeah.
Oh, my God.
It looks so happy.
A life-sized taxidermy parrot has been placed in a massive pot hole in an Essex village after locals became fed up with it not being fixed.
The black and blue parrot can be seen.
sitting on a branch coming out of the pothole on the B-105-1 turning to Pledgden Green.
Next to its new home can be seen traffic cones and part of a road sign,
adding to the debris by the side of the road near the village of Hennam.
The bird was placed there by a nearby resident as locals are becoming fed up
that the crater has not been fixed by the authorities.
The bird has brought a lot of laughter to the issue and has since been named the Potthole Power to Pledgedon.
Oh, in March, an asphalt industry alliance report found that...
That's a good, that's the asphalt industry alliance, yeah.
A report found the amount needed to fix the backlog of local repairs had reached a record 16.3 billion.
Oh, my gosh.
Excuse me, local road apparel.
Oh, I guess that's local road repairs across the country.
Jesus.
I hope so, yeah.
This pothole is very expensive.
Well, they got arranged to find a new home for the parrot with this one.
They've only dug themselves a deeper hole.
It's only a matter of time before a car just plows into this parrot.
Or someone comes along, steals it, and we find the back half the parrot a year later.
Yeah.
Repairs reached 16.3 billion.
A 16% increase from 14 billion a year a year ago.
Pot holes can be tricky to spot, particularly in the dark of,
months when they might also be full of water
appearing like any other road puddle.
When potholes wreak havoc to cars
and key suspension parts, the repair bill
can easily run to more than a thousand pound.
Essek Highway's
stated in March that it fixed
more than 700 potholes in the previous
month despite a record-breaking
wet weather.
Cruise carried out a total of 700.
Now, this is the end of the article and it's just filler.
Cruise carried out a total of
708 pothole repairs during
East Anglia's wettest and warmest February
on record. This included
408 on priority roads and
300 on local roads.
Great. Interesting
statistics. Thank you.
300. Countrywide.
This included
408 on priority roads
and 300 on local roads.
Yeah, nationwide is that a statistic
for the entire of the UK.
Well, given that the 16 billion was
hopefully nationwide.
That's not a lot, is it?
That's fucking dreadful.
Yeah, across the country.
The crumbling infrastructure of Britain.
Less than a thousand total pot hole repairs across the entire country.
I think this might just be Essex.
That's pretty good.
You know what?
700 just in Essex.
I don't know how big Essex is.
If it is, then it means presumably that the number of the cost of it was also relating to Essex.
Do you think?
I think the number might just be in the broad.
This is a jumble of statistics.
but I've just chucked it all in.
Yeah, maybe so.
There's a parrot and a pothole.
Where do we go from here?
It can't possibly be 16 billion pounds worth of potholes in Essex alone.
Surely not.
Essex is just one giant crater.
That's the reason.
If you ever drive about in Essex, do you keep your eyes peeled for little parrots in the middle of the roads.
Don't steal it.
Please don't steal it.
Someone's either going to smash into it with their car or someone's going to nick it.
Oh, God.
Can we find the exact coordinates and change it on Google Maps to Poddiet's presents, the pothole parrot?
Yes.
Oh, amazing.
Yeah.
God, do we have enough information?
We probably could.
Probably not.
Someone could find that for next time.
If anyone's got some time, maybe us, might be someone at home.
The B-105-1 turning to pledged and green.
Okay.
Use your skills from that.
See if you can decipher that.
And the image as well.
That's findable, I'm sure.
I bet the potholes actually on the.
image, to be fair, on the Google Maps.
Might be on Google Maps, yeah.
Blimey.
Well, is that the end?
Is that right?
That is indeed the end.
Brilliant.
We did it, everyone.
Thank you very much for listening and watching.
Thank you, you guys, for your things as well.
Appreciate you all.
There's some kind of shop.
Michael Johnson, is that correct?
Your darn diddley to, if you head over, oh, we're getting big today.
If you head over to vidyatesofficial.com and click on the lovely enticing little shop button,
you will be greeted with a veritable bounty of goodies, including t-shirts, hat, mug,
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By God, what a spread it is.
All designs, new designs, it's all there.
So go check it out.
Treat yourself.
Summer's coming.
Sun's coming out.
Come on.
Get yourself some new summer duds.
Get yourself a nice woolly hat for.
the summer. Yeah. Yeah. Keep all the sweat contained and the nice wool. That's what the doctors are
recommending. Nice breathable wool. Lovely. We are on Instagram and TikTok at vidyat's dot official.
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Mikey, can you kick us off again, please?
Tiny birthday for Tiny Peter. Look up Jizz on Wikipedia.
Fuck me. How am I 59 now?
Caroline, are you having an affair with Innes the Harriet?
Give you meat a good old rab.
Caroline, I do da do do do.
Caroline, it wasn't just a fart.
Caroline, I found meatface.
Oh, and if that's related, it wasn't just a good old rab.
fart. Carolyn, I found midface.
He's saddened it. He's here.
Caroline, please
pay the gardener.
Packet of blob-nob biscuits,
Donakle 7, Frogly
and the generous Anonymous.
Good luck with your run.
We also had. Oh yeah. Good luck.
Wait, are you still listening to this episode?
He's still running? Go, go, go, go.
Have the police got you yet?
I'm sure Anonymous isn't still running
because it took less than an hour
in 10 minutes to do a run.
Of 59 minutes.
We have also got
Steven Skodes, sodder me,
sodder you,
aha.
Fredys, shreddies, can't cope.
Caroline, where's the aniosol or anosol?
Lord Birmingham tovich.
Parrot boy, go live again when?
You've seen the price of turdips.
Caroline, our law is too dense.
I am become dominoes,
pisser of bums.
Quantum Leaps, Scott, Baculum.
Caroline, I'm in Chegy, Slovenia,
Prince Beefcakes, and the very generous Rocks, the Fox.
And finally we have Brussels was shit, don't go, Mikey.
Caroline, it's flaking again.
Gravy Bavaria.
Count Baculum.
Big Billy's biggest wet willy.
Who likes short shorts?
We like short shorts.
Bum-piss-McQuack.
Blobby Jump Scare
Sue Pov the Day
Jamie Nation
Peter Lice that one
Yeah I do
Jamie Nation
And Cat Karen
Or Katticaran
And that
Once again is your Pod Squad
For this week
Thank you so much
Everybody
For supporting us
We really appreciate it
Podiotts.com
£3 or more
to get a shout out
at the beginning
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Peter Austin
What was out on
Vidiats
six years ago this week
I'll tell you
Skyroom Zoo, chapter 5, necromancing queen.
That's two abbers back to back there.
Memory cards for April the 2nd.
Poddiet's episode 3.
But with a pigeon, taking on Takeshi's Castle in Nippon Marathons, Lobster Mode.
That's just the name of the video.
It's just all there.
Post some tat number 7, the Montana Mother Load.
Worst games ever, game selection for the 5th of April.
Oh, we've started doing game selections now.
Prove It, The Sims 3, part 2
Worst games ever, Nauty Bear
In the Spotlight for a Way Out
Skyrim Zoo Chapter 6, The King of Carrot Flowers
Memory cards for April the 9th
Lomo di Milano, the man from Milan, part one,
Betrayal, the Milanoe live action series
that we did. Post some tap number 8,
Happy Birthday Tiny Peter, oh thank you.
Prove it, Sims 3,
live action challenge part one.
That's the building bit.
The Man from Milan part two, redemption.
Crash Team Racing, Spinning Challenge, piece of cake.
And one more.
Prove it, The Sims Part 3, Live Action Challenge, part two,
featuring Hap films where they judged our creations.
Good one. I like that video.
Yeah, I do. I really like that video.
Michael Johnson, where are you on the internet?
Plug that charity one more time.
Bit.L.Y
forward slash Mikey bikey
if you're feeling generous.
If you're not feeling generous,
sorry, that's a horrible thing to say.
If you're a piece of shit,
you can just check me out on Twitter.
Boo.
Yeah, fuck you.
But if you want to do something on the internet
that doesn't involve money,
you can go to go find Paraboy
on Twitter and Instagram
and have a little look through there.
There you go.
Oh yeah.
And Peter, where are we on the internet?
You can find us together at Team Triple Jump
where we're hanging out with Rules Boss and Billy Ray Walrus and playing bad games.
And you can also find us separately at Confused underscore Dude
and at That Peter Austin on Twitter.
Didn't the wrong way around this time, but hey, keeping it spicy.
He certainly can.
Finally, why not leave us a five-star review slash rating on your platform of choice?
It helps something to do with Al Gore's rhythms.
It was really appreciate it.
That's free.
It doesn't cost anything.
You can go and do that right now.
And, you know, it does something probably, you know, in the computer.
to WISWAS world.
I don't know, I don't know.
But it can't be bad.
Give it a fucking try, please.
Thank you.
Is there any final questions
you guys want to ask before we go?
Where would you put
half of an eight-foot gorilla
in your house if you had to hide it?
Yeah, how would you hide?
I'd say bigger than eight-foot.
I think it's well over a doorframe.
So it must be, I don't know.
Well, I think it's about
10 to 12, 10 to 12 feet tall. How would you hide that in your house?
Great question. Let us know everybody. And thank you again for all your support.
We'll see you in a couple of weeks' time. Take care of yourselves. Bye-bye. Bye.
Thank you.
