The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 307: NEW STORY—You Can Look It Up

Episode Date: March 25, 2023

Experts agree that the science is settled—this is yet another NEW mystery for the curious mind with a short attention span.  Factcheck: True.  But can you really believe everything you read?  Or hear? 

Wait, this is a soda? Yeah. And it has protein? 10 grams. No sugar? Zero. And it actually tastes good? It's Skypop!

Skypop protein soda delivers the refreshing taste you want from a real soda. Crisp and delicious with 10 grams of complete protein, zero sugar, and just 45 calories. So you're not choosing between great taste and real benefits. You're getting both in every sip. Skypot protein soda, reach for the sky. Get your Skypot protein soda now at Target, Ralph's, or GoPuff. I got a story to tell every word of it true except for the parts I made up for you

just some history that has been reworded into a mystery called the way I heard it Yeah, you know things are getting serious on the way I heard it when a new jingle is introduced to help differentiate what in the wide world of sports is going on here This is episode number 307 for the record It's called You Can Look It Up And it's one of those short stories, not just a short story, but a short story for the curious mind with a short attention span.

It's true. This entire podcast will be less than 10 minutes, I promise. It's going to start momentarily. This tale, for what it's worth, was written on the course of a trip to Las Vegas, got most of it done on an airplane. And what inspired the story are the headlines of the day, to a certain extent. And what came out the other end is, of course, the way I heard it. But I'll leave it to you to leave your comments over on my Facebook page. I still read them, you know, and that's where I get most of my ideas for these things. So don't be stingy with that. It's episode 307.

You can look it up. And I'm going to read it for you right after this. Shameless Plug! Long before she was Peggy Rowe, my mom was Peggy. Noble, daughter of Carl and Thelma Noble. It was her father, Carl, who inspired me to pitch a show called Dirty Jobs to the Discovery Channel and later start a foundation that honored the kind of work Carl Noble did for a living, trade work, skilled labor. That foundation is called MicroWorks, and today I'm proud to tell you that we've helped thousands of people get the training they need to begin a

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In fact, if you spend $100 bucks and use code car, C-A-R-L, you'll get one tube of orange bitter-infused sugar cubes for free. That's Code Carl with a C to get nine sugar cubes, ingeniously engineered to make nine perfect old-fashions every time. It's my favorite way to support MicroWorks and my favorite whiskey to sip responsibly after a long day of interviewing people on this podcast. Pick up a bottle at noblespirates.com. K-N-O-B-E-L-L spirits.

com. Soon may the nobleman come to bring a bottle for everyone. One day when the waitin is done, we'll take a drink and go. In the early spring of 1983, an editor at the Associated Press assigned a young reporter named Fred Bales to write a piece on the origins of a time-honored occasion celebrated by millions of Americans every year. Unsure of where to begin, Fred reached out to Boston University and asked if the there was an expert who was knowledgeable on the topic.

The PR department at the university called on one of their tenured history professors with all the proper credentials, an expert in the field named Dr. Joseph Boskin. Hello? Sorry to bother you at home, Professor Boskin, but a journalist from the AP is writing an article and has some questions that we thought you could answer. Can you help him? Well, what's the subject of the article? asked Professor Boskin.

The PR person told him and then said, we assume you have some knowledge on the topic? The professor laughed. Oh yeah, absolutely. I've been researching that topic for years. By all means, give Mr. Bales my number. Thank you, Professor. We'll pass it on.

A few hours later, the professor's telephone rang again. Hello. Professor Boskin, speaking. This is Fred Bales with you. the Associated Press, thank you so much for agreeing to speak with me. No problem, said the professor. What would you like to know? Well, I guess I'd like to know how it all began. Well, the professor said, based on my research, it all started back in Istanbul during the reign of Constantine the Great. Constantine was a king who understood the value of humor in everyday life

and therefore enjoyed a close relationship with his court jesters. As he spoke, the professor could hear Fred Bales typing away at his desk. No one knows exactly who floated the idea, but at some point, the court jesters formed a union. Quite possibly, the first union of its kind. And like all unions, this one had demands. The professor paused again, waiting for Fred Bales to catch up. the young reporter was typing as fast as he could. What were their demands, professor?

What did these court jesters want? Oh, the usual stuff, said Dr. Boskin. Better pay, shorter hours, that kind of thing. But there was one other request. One day every year, they wanted a jester to sit on the throne. You're kidding, said Fred. No, you can look it up. The gestures in Constantine's court wanted one of their own,

to be king for a day once a year. Or what, said Fred? Did they threaten to strike? They didn't have to, said the professor, because Constantine agreed to their demands. The gestures were allowed to unionize. They all got raises and bonuses. And then they were permitted to elect one of their own

to be king for a day once a year. I had no idea, said Fred. Who was the first court jester to be king? Professor Boskin thought for a moment. His name was Cuggle. Cuggle, said Fred. How do you spell that? K-U-G-E-L, said the professor.

King Coggle reigned for a single day in the spring of 312 AD. That's how it all started, and that's why we celebrate today. This is very helpful. Thank you so much, Professor Boskin. Our readers are going to love this. Thank you, Mr. Bales. It's a fascinating part of history that most people, simply don't know. And I'm glad to see it's finally being covered. Fred Bales hung up the phone and

wrote a very thorough piece about the origins of a time-honored occasion celebrated by millions of Americans every year. His editor was delighted, and aside from a few grammatical corrections, made no changes. The next day, Fred's article appeared on the front pages of multiple newspapers all over the country, and millions of people were intrigued by the story of the Jester King. Some of those people, including reporters at media outlets like the New York Times and the Today Show, called upon Professor Boskin, hoping to learn more about King Cuggle and the impact of his 24-hour reign on modern society. But alas, there was nothing more to learn because there was never a king called Cuggle. A cuggle, for the record, is a casserole made of Jewish egg noodles.

You can look it up. Nor was there ever a court of jesters who formed a union and lobbied Constantine the Great for shorter hours and better wages. And Constantine, the Great, for the record, was not a king in Istanbul. He was an emperor in Rome. When the truth came out, the Associated Press was embarrassed. They were also furious. They accused Professor Boskin of abusing his academic credentials,

deliberately deceiving a young reporter, and severely undermining their own journalistic reputation. They demanded an apology from the university, called for Professor Boskin's dismissal, and wrote a follow-up article with a headline that complained, quote, Professor Lies to AP. But Professor Boskin laughed off the criticism and refused to apologize.

I didn't lie to anyone, he said. I just made up a little story, and the AP decided to print it without checking a single fact. All things considered, they should have known better, right? I mean, King Cuggle? Seriously?

The professor had a point. After all, it's not like he'd made up a story about the origin of Labor Day or Veterans Day or Valentine's Day or Memorial. day, he'd made up a story about the origin of a day reserved for making up stories. Stories like the world-class Whopper, he told Fred Bales.

The same story the Associated Press rushed to publish without bothering to fact-check a single claim. The tall tale that millions of Americans fell for hook, line, and sinker when they woke up on April 1, 1983, picked up their trusted newspaper and read all about the fantastically fictitious and completely concocted origin story of April Fool's Day. Seriously. You can look it up.

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