- 2 days ago
QI XL S23E05 - Wild West
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00:00Thank you very much.
00:30Thank you very much.
01:00Thank you very much.
01:02And yippee-ki-yay, Mother Superior, it's Alan Davis.
01:10Their buzzers are from our own rodeo radio.
01:13Eshan goes...
01:15Oh, nice.
01:24Alex goes...
01:27This is great.
01:33Are you just getting over-excited?
01:35I need that chair for other people.
01:40Joe goes...
01:42Oh, yeah.
01:50And Alan goes...
01:51Three wheels on my way, and I'm still rolling along.
01:58Right, let's mosey on down to question one.
02:03Stop me when you know what I'm talking about.
02:06OK, they used whips, they wore leather chaps, big boots, even bigger hats, used lassoes, invented the rodeo, were mostly boys who herded cows in the 18th century.
02:19Two wheels on my wagon.
02:21Two wheels on my wagon.
02:25Er, cowboys.
02:26CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
02:32It's not cowboys.
02:33No, it's not cowboys.
02:34Cowgirls.
02:35LAUGHTER
02:42Cow-thems.
02:50I mean, let's just go for cows.
02:53So most of the things that we associate with the all-American cowboy originate from the Mexican vaquero.
02:58Cattle hand, so vaca, meaning cow.
03:00It comes from Spain, starts in about the 15th century, when established by the 17th century.
03:05So the cowboy that we think of, which is honestly mostly from the movies, comes to the US in the 19th century when they begin to get these big cattle ranching regions.
03:15Now, you've all got some bits and pieces to put on.
03:18A little bit of dressing up today.
03:20Yeah.
03:21OK.
03:23Oh, yes.
03:25The good stuff.
03:27Oh, they're spurs, Sandy, they're spurs.
03:28Yes, yes.
03:29They're very sharp.
03:30Have I meant to put that on?
03:32LAUGHTER
03:34I'm going to say, Joe, if you just wear that, you will definitely win.
03:38LAUGHTER
03:40What kind of hat are you wearing, Alex?
03:41What is it called?
03:43It's not a trick question.
03:44Cowboy hat.
03:46You look like a sort of...
03:48No, a mad mystic woman who's going to...
03:51LAUGHTER
03:53What are the hats called, anybody?
03:54Ten-gallon hat.
03:55Ten-gallon hat.
03:56Do you think it had ten gallons in it?
03:59Yes.
04:00No.
04:01It actually came from the vaqueros' sombrero, and it really didn't become popular until the 1920s, which is, like, way after the Wild West.
04:09Most cowboys wore bowler hats.
04:10They were called them Derby hats.
04:11And, of course, they didn't hold ten gallons.
04:14Maybe it came from the Spanish tan-galan, meaning so gallant.
04:19Probably, it's just an exaggeration.
04:20So, we had a go at making a hat that could actually hold ten gallons.
04:24LAUGHTER
04:25Now, this...
04:26Whoa!
04:27LAUGHTER
04:36It looks like you're about to go on a hen do and drink out of that.
04:40LAUGHTER
04:41I'm on if you are.
04:42Yeah.
04:43Weirdly, this is actually only five gallons.
04:44Do you want to try it on?
04:45If it had been ten gallons, it would have been as tall as me.
04:48So, tiny, then?
04:50LAUGHTER
04:51Oh, that's...
04:52That's fantastic.
04:53You could have to run it off a steamship.
04:54LAUGHTER
04:59So, chaps got their name from the thorny chapero grass.
05:03The idea was to protect yourself from the grass.
05:06That looks like the early first auditions for the village people.
05:09LAUGHTER
05:10The other thing they had, of course, is they had whips and lassos.
05:13If you look down there, that is a proper lariat braided from cattle hide.
05:18This is actually from Argentina, from 1914.
05:21But they had this thing when they were lassoing.
05:23You had to be incredibly careful because the rope was very, very strong
05:27and you could get your thumb trapped in the rope if you didn't throw it properly
05:32and it would come clean off.
05:34Oh!
05:35Don't know why I'm looking at you.
05:36LAUGHTER
05:37I tell you what, I'd have made a shit cowboy.
05:48LAUGHTER
05:50They'd be like, he still ain't learnt with the rope.
05:52It took the thumb, it took the other two buggers.
05:54LAUGHTER
05:55It was called rodeo thumb.
05:57Rodeo thumb?
05:58I know, you wouldn't think it'd be that strong, would you, the rope?
06:01Alarming.
06:02I know, absolutely.
06:03So, Alan, you showed me the spurs.
06:04What do you think is the point of spurs?
06:06And I don't mean a long diatribe about football.
06:08LAUGHTER
06:09Are they for digging into the horse to make it run faster?
06:14Well, that is the sort of theory of it.
06:16But to be honest, they were largely decorative.
06:18Look how smart they were looking in the picture.
06:20I mean, it looks really lovely.
06:21Not a very nice thing to do to your horse, are they?
06:23Yeah.
06:24And some of them wore something called...
06:26This is quite village people, I think.
06:27Jingle bobs.
06:28LAUGHTER
06:29Just little bits of metal that made a sort of a jingling sound.
06:32I mean, it's meant to tell the cattle that you're nearby.
06:36Because the cattle couldn't see a horse running towards them.
06:39Yeah, couldn't see that, but they could hear the jingle bobs.
06:41What is one of the things in the movies, though, about the way in which cowboys are pretty much always depicted?
06:48They're always having a row, weren't they?
06:50Yes.
06:51They're always there in the pub.
06:52There were some football fans.
06:54Yeah.
06:55So, almost always depicted as white men.
06:57But it wasn't true.
06:58About a third of cowhands were indigenous Mexicans, or mixed-raced mestizos.
07:03And about a quarter were black.
07:05There was a guy called Nate Love.
07:07He was known as Deadwood Dick.
07:09LAUGHTER
07:15He became a cowboy after he was freed from slavery.
07:18And he has an amazing autobiography.
07:20It's the only complete story of a black cowboy.
07:23He's amazing.
07:24He drank with Billy the Kid.
07:25He got shot 14 times.
07:27He once lassoed a train.
07:29Wow!
07:30Yeah.
07:31He'd just met his future wife, and he was absolutely drunk on love, I imagine.
07:34Yeah.
07:35And whiskey.
07:36And he was dragged into a ditch, and he wrote in his autobiography,
07:38Roping a live engine is my long odds worse than roping wild buffalo.
07:43But my love was as strong as ever, and I thank my lucky star.
07:46She did not see me as they dragged me out of the ditch.
07:49LAUGHTER
07:50Wow.
07:51The thing is, if you've survived being shot 14 times...
07:53Yeah.
07:54..you backed yourself lassoing a train, wouldn't you?
07:56Yeah, exactly.
07:57LAUGHTER
07:58You were actually 50 Cent at that point, weren't you?
07:59LAUGHTER
08:01I've had a 50 Cent reference to a QI audience.
08:04LAUGHTER
08:05You would love that.
08:06The QI audience and the 50 Cent.
08:0850 Cent.
08:09LAUGHTER
08:10OK, here's another question.
08:11Where did the famous gunfight between the Clanton Gang
08:14and Wyatt Earp's gang take place?
08:17Well, I wanted to make a noise, so I'm going to say the OK Corral.
08:21APPLAUSE
08:25So, we're looking here, Ike Clanton on the left, a wrong'un,
08:31and Wyatt Earp, who, at that time of the photograph,
08:35was a marshal in Dodge City in Kansas.
08:37So, we've got the bad guys against the law guys,
08:40and we talk about the OK Corral,
08:42but where did it actually take place?
08:44Croydon.
08:46LAUGHTER
08:47The OK Corral was near Tombstone, wasn't it?
08:49Yeah.
08:50It actually took place in an empty lot next to a photo studio,
08:54and it should be called the Gunfight Outside Fly's Photographic Studio.
08:59LAUGHTER
09:01In fact, that picture that we showed of Clanton in Tombstone
09:05was almost certainly taken at Fly's Photographic Studio.
09:08So, the gunfight did take place 1881 in Tombstone, Arizona,
09:11but when the newspapers wrote about it,
09:13the first thing they wrote was,
09:14there was a fight on Fremont Street,
09:16and that lasted for about 50 years,
09:18and then Wyatt Earp published his biography in 1931,
09:22and that's when it became the fight at the OK Corral.
09:25So, it is remembered as a shootout
09:27between a group of lawmen and a gang of outlaws,
09:29although lots of the lawmen were a bit dodgy themselves.
09:33Here's the thing about it.
09:34There were 30 shots fired in the 30-second fight.
09:37How many people do you think died?
09:39They were only six feet apart, these people.
09:41The two gangs. All of them?
09:42No, three. They must have been really shit shots.
09:45Oh, God.
09:46LAUGHTER
09:47Six feet apart, 30 shots, 30 seconds,
09:49three dead people.
09:50Doesn't seem like a very good...
09:51Who was shooting Brooker?
09:53LAUGHTER
09:54LAUGHTER
09:56Brucker Rule!
09:58We're back there!
09:59We're back there!
10:00I'd have been in 30 seconds,
10:01I'd have still been trying to get it out of your arms.
10:03LAUGHTER
10:04Get this out for me, mate.
10:05We're just...
10:06I'll hold it, you pull the trigger, mate.
10:08LAUGHTER
10:09LAUGHTER
10:10Now, here's some Wild West legends.
10:13Can you tell me how they got their nicknames?
10:16So, this is Wild Bill Hickok.
10:19Oh, is that how you say it?
10:20What did you think it was?
10:22Wild Bill Hickok.
10:23Yes.
10:24Oh.
10:25I mean, depends if he's wearing the chaps.
10:27I don't know.
10:28LAUGHTER
10:29Iconc sounds out of condition.
10:31Yeah, it does.
10:32LAUGHTER
10:33Guilty!
10:34LAUGHTER
10:35LAUGHTER
10:36My little brother, when he was about six,
10:40he thought he was called Wild Bill Hickok.
10:43LAUGHTER
10:45So, his real name was James Butler Hickok.
10:48We're not sure, but it's possibly to do with a bit of teasing.
10:50So, some people said that he had a long nose
10:53and quite protruding lips, and he looked a bit like a duck.
10:57Duck Bill?
10:58LAUGHTER
10:59Yes.
11:00His nickname was Duck Bill, and he decided he didn't like Duck Bill,
11:03but he would be OK if it was Wild Bill.
11:05Has he not realised he's got, like, the wrong hat on for a cowboy?
11:09LAUGHTER
11:10I'm Cossack.
11:11Wild Bill Cossack.
11:12LAUGHTER
11:13Shut up, Duck Bill!
11:14Fuck you, man!
11:15I'm Duck Bill!
11:16I'm Cossack!
11:17LAUGHTER
11:18LAUGHTER
11:19I'm starting to think on Wikipedia,
11:22and you is going to be Duck Bill.
11:24LAUGHTER
11:25LAUGHTER
11:26He did have a really boring brother called Lorenzo,
11:30who used to be known as Tame Bill.
11:32LAUGHTER
11:33LAUGHTER
11:34But it did kind of predict what was going to happen
11:37while Bill was shot in the back while playing cards
11:39when he was just 39.
11:40And old Lorenzo, Tame Bill, lived into his 80s.
11:43I'm just saying it.
11:44Calamity Jane?
11:45Anybody think how she got her nickname?
11:47Quite Bad PMT.
11:49LAUGHTER
11:51Don't come near me as having a personal calamity.
12:02LAUGHTER
12:03Her real name was Martha Cannery,
12:04and she was buried next to Wild Bill,
12:06who she claimed was the only man she ever really loved.
12:08I mean, she's grinning here.
12:09She's at his gravestone.
12:10It's not all that nice, is it?
12:12Is she grinning?
12:13Do you think she just looks pissed out of her head?
12:15She does.
12:16LAUGHTER
12:17I believe she enjoyed a drink.
12:18She was notorious for riding a la clothespin.
12:22What might that be?
12:23For a woman?
12:24Riding a la clothespin.
12:26Not side-side.
12:27Exactly right, darling, yes.
12:28Women were accustomed to riding side-side,
12:30and she literally would sit for her head while she was...
12:32Oh!
12:33I mean, again, we're not really sure,
12:34and most of what we know about her was produced in a pamphlet
12:37which she wrote for her own publicity.
12:39So, um...
12:40LAUGHTER
12:41It's really hard to say.
12:42Why is she called Calamity Jane?
12:44She claimed that she once saved a man called Captain Egan
12:48when he was ambushed by Native Americans,
12:50and he supposedly said,
12:51I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the planes.
12:54Right.
12:55We've no idea.
12:56I think it's the sort of thing,
12:57you walk into a door once in front of people,
12:59for a while.
13:00Yeah.
13:01And a woman's doing it.
13:02Here she is!
13:03Yeah.
13:04The next one is called Big Nose Kate.
13:06Oh.
13:07Which one do you think is Big Nose Kate?
13:10Definitely normal noses so far.
13:12I know, right?
13:13It's like you've got to go to VAR on this and get the lines out.
13:17LAUGHTER
13:19Is it referring to another part of their announcement?
13:22LAUGHTER
13:24So, which one do you think?
13:25So, one is her sister Wilma,
13:26and the one is Big Nose Kate.
13:28Kate's on the left.
13:29Kate is on the left, yes.
13:30Wait, hold on.
13:31My left?
13:32Or your left?
13:33He's...
13:34OK.
13:35LAUGHTER
13:36You look at that picture, darling,
13:38and don't worry about what he's looking at,
13:40which is also the same picture but from...
13:42LAUGHTER
13:43LAUGHTER
13:44No, wait.
13:45Hold on.
13:46Hey!
13:47No, because when you said on the left,
13:50I don't know whether you meant that as you were looking at it or...
13:53Were you...
13:54Do you know he's looking at the picture behind you, darling?
13:56Do you...
13:57Oh!
13:58Yes!
13:59APPLAUSE
14:00It is her on the left.
14:01I mean, some people say it was because she used to stick her nose in other people's business.
14:10She was the long-term companion of Doc Holliday.
14:14She was with him at the gunfight at the OK Corral, or the photographic studio,
14:19watching from a nearby window.
14:21I'd do that.
14:22Would you?
14:23Just watch.
14:24I'd go to the window if I heard a gunfight.
14:26Yeah.
14:27She worked as a sporting woman.
14:28Anybody?
14:29Is that like a...
14:30Is that a prostitute?
14:31It is a prostitute, yes, yes.
14:33Is that like a brass?
14:35LAUGHTER
14:36You're stupid now!
14:39LAUGHTER
14:42What a team we are.
14:44LAUGHTER
14:45Get that on a BBC poster.
14:47LAUGHTER
14:57The BBC for everyone.
14:59LAUGHTER
15:04We've got the photograph of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kids' infamous Wild Bunch.
15:09So, bottom left, that is Sundance.
15:12His real name was Harry Longobar.
15:13And on the right is Butch Cassidy, whose real name was Robert Leroy Parker.
15:18He thought to have got his name because he once worked as a butcher.
15:20Oh.
15:21I mean, it's not as exciting as you think it might be.
15:23They look like the posh village people.
15:26LAUGHTER
15:27The Sundance kid, he got his nickname for serving 18 months in prison
15:31in a place called Sundance for horse stealing in Wyoming.
15:34And then there was William News Carver.
15:36He's top left.
15:37He liked to be mentioned in the newspapers.
15:40Oh.
15:41There are other ones.
15:42Richard Rattlesnake Dick Barter.
15:44Oh!
15:45What?
15:46Rattlesnake...
15:47Rattlesnake Dick?
15:48Rattlesnake Dick.
15:49What a nickname that is.
15:50That is good.
15:52At the urinal.
15:53I can hear him.
15:54LAUGHTER
15:55I reckon Richard's going to the toilet again, isn't he?
16:00Yeah.
16:01LAUGHTER
16:04Go on, Richard, do it again.
16:06LAUGHTER
16:08This is the Rattlesnake mine where he kept telling everybody
16:11he was going to make his fortune.
16:13And then there was Jefferson's Soapy Smith.
16:15That's him at the front there.
16:16He sold soap which contained prize money in the packaging.
16:19They're giving him a wide berth, has he not used the soap?
16:22LAUGHTER
16:23It was a scam.
16:24His friends used to win the prizes and this photograph was taken
16:27shortly before he was killed.
16:28He's just got his round in as well.
16:30LAUGHTER
16:31How soon after that photo?
16:35Very soon after.
16:36This is the last photograph of him.
16:37If you look at the bottom of the photograph it says
16:39killed July the 8th, 1898.
16:41So, this is like a goodbye soapy.
16:44OK, next question.
16:45What use is a square wagon wheel?
16:49Stop me rolling away.
16:51That is a very good point.
16:53But in this case wagon is a person's name.
16:55So, in 1997 there was a professor called Stan Wagon
16:58at Macalester College in Minnesota
17:01and he made a functioning square-wheeled tricycle.
17:05OK?
17:06This is not him, this is a man who, I don't know, in a suit.
17:09LAUGHTER
17:11And he's called Stan Wagon?
17:13The guy who invented it is called Stan Wagon.
17:15Did J.K. Rowling name him?
17:16LAUGHTER
17:17I always think when I see things like this, like scientists,
17:21in one room they'll be going, what are you boys up to?
17:24Yeah.
17:25Just looking for a cure for cancer.
17:26What are you up to?
17:27Just trying to build a square wheel at the moment, mate.
17:29LAUGHTER
17:30So, in order for a wheel to work at all, the centre has to be level, right?
17:35And so the easiest way is to make a round wheel.
17:37But if you make a specific track, so you can see he's on a very specific track here,
17:42then the wheels can be any shape pretty much, apart from triangles really.
17:45So look at this, right?
17:46This is a rather brilliant bus, but it doesn't go anywhere because it's got square wheels.
17:51However, if you make a surface like this, which has got what these humps are called inverted catenaries,
18:00and basically, look, along it goes like that.
18:05I know.
18:06So the reason this is interesting, there's an engineer called Gerard Font,
18:11and he thinks because stones with very similar curves were found in Giza,
18:15this method may have been what helped people to roll the blocks into place for the pyramids.
18:20So I guess you can see it's kind of pointless, but it's also interesting.
18:24Yeah.
18:25How did they do that?
18:26But that road there looks like every 20 miles an hour is only a school anyway.
18:29Yeah, that is so true.
18:30LAUGHTER
18:32Isn't it fascinating?
18:33Wouldn't it be great to have a car with square wheels?
18:35I just really like it.
18:36I really don't think it would.
18:37No?
18:38LAUGHTER
18:39Just for one speed bump.
18:40Here we go.
18:41Here we go.
18:42It comes into its own.
18:43Oh, well.
18:44It's just me.
18:45I like a square wagon wheel.
18:46That's just the way I roll.
18:47Oh, nice.
18:48Come on.
18:49I like it.
18:50Thank you, Ethan.
18:51I appreciate that.
18:52Right, let's move on to a question about wondrous wealth.
18:53In which state was the first American gold rush?
19:04Wasn't it like California?
19:05Oh.
19:06Oh.
19:07Oh.
19:08Oh.
19:09Oh.
19:10Oh.
19:11Oh.
19:12Oh.
19:13Oh.
19:14Arizona.
19:15Nevada.
19:16Oh.
19:17Oh.
19:18We're talking about 1799, the United States is newly formed.
19:22Oh, so it's got to be over to the east.
19:23Yeah.
19:24New York State.
19:25We have another 46 to go, so I'm going to stop you there.
19:38North Carolina was the very first time.
19:40So there was a child playing called Conrad Reed, and he found a nugget of gold described
19:45as the size of a shoe, and for three years the family used it as a doorstop.
19:51So 1799, they find this thing, they keep it as a doorstop for three years, and then his
19:56father thought, I wonder what I could get for it, and he took it along to Silversmith,
19:59and he got $3.50.
20:01It was actually worth $3,600.
20:04Oh.
20:05He's adding away.
20:06I mean, this is at the time, right?
20:08Yeah.
20:09They found out that they had been rooked, so they thought, oh, let's go look for some
20:13more, and over the next 20 years they found $100,000 worth of gold.
20:17This is $100,000 at the time.
20:19I mean, we're talking millions.
20:20Damn.
20:21Yeah.
20:22And basically it was just what they could find in the river.
20:24There were no actual mineshafts dug until the 1830s.
20:27So the geezer who bought it off and didn't go, by the way, just out of interest, where'd
20:30you...
20:31Yeah.
20:32Have you got any...
20:33The California gold rush doesn't come until 1849.
20:36What is the most successful method that people used to make their fortune in the California
20:43gold rush?
20:44Probably selling things to the gold rushers.
20:46Sell supplies to the prospectors, absolutely.
20:48The very first American millionaire was a journalist, and also a shopkeeper called
20:52Sam Brannan, and someone came into his store with a lump of gold, and instead of
20:56looking for gold himself, he bought all of the shovels and pickaxes and so on, and went
21:01out into the town shouting, there's gold in them there hills, and everybody came.
21:06He bought pans for 20 cents, which he then sold for $15.
21:09What was his name?
21:10Sam Brannan.
21:11Sam Brannan.
21:12Oh, I thought you said Sam Brand.
21:14Oh!
21:15Because my beard's quite similar to that, because I...
21:20There are accounts of single lemons selling for a dollar, which is about $40 today, because
21:26people were frightened about getting scurvy.
21:28A single pair of boots today in Armony, $2,300.
21:32And one farmer earned the equivalent of $160,000 in 1849, just selling onions.
21:38Like Disney, they get you with the merch, didn't they?
21:40Yeah.
21:41Once in air.
21:42A shop every five metres.
21:44Yeah.
21:45Eleven.
21:46My wife and I were travelling through Wyoming, and there was a sign at a cafe that said
21:50last place for 300 miles.
21:52And I said, is it the last place to get coffee?
21:54And they said, no, it's the last place for 300 miles.
21:59When the M11 opened, where I grew up, we were against it for years.
22:03Everyone had stickers on their cars saying no to the M11.
22:06And then as soon as it opened, we were all on it.
22:09LAUGHTER
22:11Up and down.
22:12But every business in the area would put last news agent before the M11.
22:17Oh, yeah.
22:18Last shoe shop before the M11.
22:20It only went to Harlow.
22:22LAUGHTER
22:25Why did saloons in gold country have sawdust on the floor?
22:29For dancing.
22:30No, it's to make money.
22:32How might you make money putting sawdust on the floor?
22:35Sell it as cocaine.
22:37LAUGHTER
22:39So, anybody who panned for gold was hoping to get a large lump,
22:42and more often than not, they got a tiny shard.
22:45It was still quite a decent amount.
22:47So, one gram of gold today is worth about £80.
22:50And that could buy you a few drinks.
22:52But occasionally, people would drink and they would drop tiny bits of gold.
22:57And the next morning, what they would do is they'd take all the sawdust,
22:59they'd put it into a bucket of water, and the gold would sink to the bottom.
23:02So it was careless prospectors losing their gold out of their pockets.
23:07Imagine sweeping up a floor on the Wetherspoons.
23:10LAUGHTER
23:11You might get the odd gold tooth.
23:13LAUGHTER
23:15LAUGHTER
23:17Who or what are Blake's body grip, Smith's descending beads,
23:21and Morgan's perforated star?
23:24You use the body grip.
23:26Yeah.
23:27Make use of the descending beads.
23:28Mm-hm.
23:29And you end up with a perforated star, don't you?
23:31LAUGHTER
23:34See, I was thinking about it being arranged for Ann Summers.
23:39LAUGHTER
23:41So that's where I was, yeah.
23:42You know, it's like, yeah, cool.
23:43I've got a new...
23:44I've got a new perforated star.
23:45Star, yeah.
23:46LAUGHTER
23:47What do we think?
23:48Blake's body grip, Smith's descending beads, Morgan's perforated...
23:50Are they body parts as vested?
23:52No.
23:53No.
23:54They are all types of barbed wire, which is the thing there.
23:58Look, at all these different kinds of barbed wire,
24:00this is the thing that changed the West.
24:02For the very first time, huge areas of land could be completely enclosed
24:06at very, very low cost.
24:09So, in Texas, there was a farm in 1885, three million acres.
24:14That's slightly smaller than Northern Ireland, right?
24:16That photo looks like a memorial for someone who failed to get over.
24:19Yeah.
24:20LAUGHTER
24:21Yeah.
24:22It was invented by a farmer called Joseph Glidden in 1873,
24:26but it was the aptly-named salesman John Gates who popularised it.
24:30He used to call himself Better Million, and what he would do
24:33is that he would trap the wildest cattle in an area,
24:35with a barbed fence, and he would get people to bet who was going
24:38to break free.
24:39And, of course, the animals never did, because it's phenomenal stuff.
24:42And it stopped...
24:43You know, we have that image in movies of the open-range system
24:46with cattle being driven.
24:47That probably only lasted 20 to 25 years,
24:50and then America began to be closed off with this extraordinary thing.
24:53But there was another use for barbed wire.
24:56Does anybody think what that might be?
24:57That had nothing to do with containing cattle.
25:00Protecting buildings or monuments?
25:03Telephone.
25:04They made a telephone network, the American farmers,
25:06in the 19th century, out of barbed wire.
25:09So what you did is you attached a microphone to the fence,
25:12and that turned the sound to electrical signals,
25:15which then travelled down the fence,
25:16and then somebody had a receiver attached directly to the wire.
25:20And you could connect up to 20 telephones to the same wire,
25:23so you could call for medical attention, which is fantastic.
25:25But sometimes to entertain each other at night,
25:27some ranchers would play instruments down the line,
25:29they would read the newspaper, they would blast the radio down it.
25:32By 1907, three million people were using this telephone system,
25:37so that's half a million more than the official Bell telephone system,
25:40and it was still in use in Texas until the 1970s.
25:43Can I imagine the people calling for medical assistance?
25:46Yeah. What's happened?
25:47Well, I'm calling from barbed wire, mate.
25:49You can probably guess that they don't.
25:50LAUGHTER
25:52But I love that.
25:53I love the ingenuity of it.
25:54Yeah. Yeah.
25:55It's incredible.
25:56Barbed wire telephone meant farmers,
25:58much like cattle, could be heard.
26:00LAUGHTER
26:01All right.
26:04APPLAUSE
26:06What did Kaiser Bill learn from Buffalo Bill?
26:09So, Kaiser Bill on the left, who was he?
26:12German.
26:13He is.
26:14He's the last German Emperor, King of Prussia.
26:15Bill Helm?
26:16Yes, Bill Helm II, exactly.
26:18He abdicated in 1918, so the end of the First World War,
26:21and the guy on the right?
26:22Buffalo Bill.
26:23Buffalo Bill.
26:24Yes.
26:25He was a buffalo hunter,
26:27and he met a journalist called Ned Bundlein in 1869,
26:31and Ned wrote a biography about him called Buffalo Bill,
26:34the King of Border Men, and it was a huge hit, this book,
26:37and it was turned into a theatrical show with Buffalo Bill himself,
26:41and he went around the world, you know, showing wild animals
26:44and sharp shooting skills and so on, toured the US and eventually
26:47Europe, and I love this.
26:49It caught the eye of the German army.
26:52So, Annie Oakley, she was one of the great star acts,
26:55she wrote in her autobiography,
26:57we never moved without at least 40 officers of the Prussian Guard
27:01standing all about with notebooks taking down every detail
27:05of the performance.
27:06They made minute notes on how we pitched camp,
27:08how we boarded the trains and packed the horses and broke camp,
27:12and ironically, given the modern stereotype,
27:15the German media was especially impressed by the order
27:17and organisation of the camp.
27:19Oh, wow.
27:20They took that back with them in plans for the First World War.
27:23Now you notice it seems bizarre, doesn't it?
27:25Yeah.
27:26Is she going to shoot that dog?
27:27Well...
27:29This is Annie Oakley with her dog, Dave.
27:32Dave.
27:35The connection with her and the Kaiser is extraordinary.
27:37They were touring in Germany with the show,
27:39and she shot the ash off the cigarette that the Kaiser was holding.
27:44Whoa.
27:45And if she had been a better shot, World War One might not have happened.
27:48That's the thing.
27:49LAUGHTER
27:50Anyway, when the war began, her husband wrote to the Kaiser
27:52and asked if she could have a second go.
27:54LAUGHTER
27:56Who has been unfairly called a glutton for as long as we can remember?
28:01Is it me?
28:02CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
28:07Can I just say you're looking very beautiful?
28:11Fuck off.
28:12LAUGHTER
28:14Genuinely true.
28:16I told a friend of mine that I wanted to go on a weight loss kick,
28:19and she said to me,
28:20Yeah, but you're so handsome.
28:21That's got nothing to do with it.
28:23She was in her own way, in a woman's way, saying,
28:25Yeah, you should.
28:26LAUGHTER
28:28My stepdad, Keith, went on a diet,
28:31and he's a big old geezer, and he just wasn't losing any weight,
28:34and my mum went,
28:35He's trying so hard, bless him, and he ain't losing any weight.
28:38And then one day, he said he was going out to get the papers,
28:41and when I looked back on the CCTV on the door,
28:44I saw him go round the side of the house smashing fish and chips.
28:47LAUGHTER
28:48It's the sort of thing where I could have gone up to him privately,
28:50gone,
28:51Yeah, mate, look, I know you've been smashing the fish and chips on the side.
28:53Mm-mm-mm.
28:54Not me.
28:55I wait until everyone was in the house.
28:57LAUGHTER
28:58My wife, my mum, my in-laws, and I got the iPad out,
29:02and I went,
29:03Here's the evidence.
29:04LAUGHTER
29:06I don't know which is weirder, him doing that.
29:08Are you watching it?
29:09LAUGHTER
29:11So are you doing that a Zen pic thing, then?
29:14No.
29:15I consider it.
29:16I'm just trying to go...
29:17I'm just trying to be in a calorie deficit, really.
29:19And, um, it's not working, so...
29:22LAUGHTER
29:23Oh, you poor thing.
29:24It's very boring, doing calorie...
29:26Oh, that's why I've stopped.
29:28LAUGHTER
29:29OK.
29:30We are talking about the wild life of the Wild West.
29:34Anybody think of it's a W?
29:36Particular creature in the Wild West.
29:38A warthog.
29:39No.
29:40LAUGHTER
29:43Think of a single movie where a cowboy goes,
29:46Oh, my Lord, it's a warthog.
29:48LAUGHTER
29:49We've got three different versions of the Lion King.
29:51LAUGHTER
29:52So, not a wallaby, then?
29:55No.
29:56No, no.
29:57Er...
29:58The Wolverine was...
29:59Well, how would we get that?
30:01How the...?
30:02Isn't it magnificent?
30:04Do you not think?
30:05Its range reached down the American West
30:07as far as California's Sierra Nevada.
30:09I thought it was Hugh Jackman.
30:11Yeah, so did I.
30:12LAUGHTER
30:13I think it's been to a dentist in Turkey as well.
30:17LAUGHTER
30:18Don't you think it looks weird when people's teeth are that perfect?
30:23Yes, it looks so weird.
30:25That's why mine are all yellow with bits of green stuff in them.
30:29LAUGHTER
30:30It's nice to keep a bit of salad for later.
30:32LAUGHTER
30:33So, these are most closely related to Martins,
30:36which is a weasel-like carnivore.
30:38They were called gulo-gulo, their Latin name meaning glutton-glutton,
30:42but it's a mistranslation.
30:44So, the old Norwegian for a Wolverine was fjellfrås,
30:48which means mountain cat.
30:50It was translated into German as a rather similar sounding
30:53vjellfrås, which means eats a lot.
30:56LAUGHTER
30:57Oh.
30:58It's not fair.
30:59One nickname sticks.
31:00I know, right?
31:01LAUGHTER
31:02There are stories that it eats so much,
31:04it forces its faeces out of its body to make more space.
31:08LAUGHTER
31:10We've all been near Boxing Day.
31:12LAUGHTER
31:14Well, then after eight, hang on, I've got to go to the loo.
31:17LAUGHTER
31:20Does anybody eat after eights at any other time,
31:22other than Boxing Day, just after lunch?
31:24I have some on my coffee table, so I have it pretty much every night.
31:26How's that net deficit going?
31:28LAUGHTER
31:30Every time you meet someone who says,
31:35oh, I'm trying to lose weight,
31:37and then the next sentence,
31:38you know, I always have after eights.
31:40LAUGHTER
31:41It's not the whole thing, just one.
31:43No-one has one after eight.
31:45I have one.
31:46It's the single most moorish thing in the world.
31:48I've got really good self-control, actually.
31:50LAUGHTER
31:53Well, I can't think why there's a problem.
31:55LAUGHTER
31:57So they are amazing creatures.
31:59They're really adapted to snowy, mountainous conditions.
32:01But what is incredible about them?
32:03So when they step onto the snow,
32:05their paws spread out to twice the original size.
32:07So it's like having built-in snowshoes.
32:10And each paw has got five extremely sharp claws.
32:13So they can climb a sheer cliff or an icefall or whatever.
32:16They have an extraordinary keen sense of smell.
32:19So they can smell prey 20 feet under the snow.
32:22Why might that be a good thing?
32:25Because that's where prey hides.
32:27Time.
32:28It's where prey hibernates.
32:29Oh, how annoying.
32:30Yeah, they never even see it coming.
32:32And they also use snow a bit like refrigerators for keeping food fresh.
32:36They have special teeth.
32:38These are not from Turkey.
32:39These are their own teeth.
32:40Special teeth at the back of the jaws,
32:42which are rotated 90 degrees to the rest,
32:45so that they can crunch frozen food.
32:47That's something you could get, that, darling.
32:49And then...
32:50What is happening?!
32:52You have to defrost.
32:55Yeah.
32:56Just go straight in.
32:57Iceland.
32:58Boom.
32:59Yeah, boom.
33:00I want nice food.
33:02I'm not that desperate.
33:04Well, that's good.
33:05Moving on to larger animals.
33:09Can you describe the natural diet of a grizzly bear?
33:12After apes!
33:13Is it people?
33:21Well, so they are known as voracious carnivores,
33:24so you might think it would be people.
33:26But until the Europeans turned up,
33:28they were mostly vegan.
33:30What?!
33:31I know!
33:32I thought you would like this!
33:33So, they've looked at the chemicals in the bones
33:35of lots of museum specimens,
33:37and they've been able to work it out.
33:38Land animals made up only 10% of their diet,
33:41fish only 2%.
33:42They liked grass, vegetables and fruit.
33:46And then the Europeans turned up,
33:48and they began to eat more meat.
33:50Why do you think that might be...?
33:52Because they tasted nicer.
33:55You know what it's like?
33:56You can't just have one.
33:57Yeah.
33:58LAUGHTER
34:00They were raiding the stores of the humans.
34:03That's exactly right, darling.
34:04Like Yogi Bear.
34:05That is exactly right.
34:06Boo-hey, boo-boo!
34:07LAUGHTER
34:08I got my picnic basket!
34:12LAUGHTER
34:14So, basically, the colonists brought domesticated animals
34:17which were easier to catch.
34:18Dave the dog.
34:19Dave the dog.
34:20He's exactly right.
34:21That is exactly right.
34:22And they displaced lots of Native American groups,
34:24so the overall human population went down,
34:26and that led to an increase in wild animal populations.
34:29But before that, grass, veg, fruit.
34:33Imagine if you were in a vegan cafe in East London
34:35and two bears turned up.
34:36LAUGHTER
34:37And one of those milk latte.
34:38You'd be like...
34:40LAUGHTER
34:41I was in a cafe the other day,
34:42and a woman came in and she said very loudly,
34:44she said,
34:45I'm going to die if I don't have a chai latte.
34:46And I thought,
34:47what if that were true?
34:48Yeah, that's...
34:49LAUGHTER
34:50APPLAUSE
34:56Grizzly bears were mostly vegan,
34:58but they didn't go on about it.
35:00LAUGHTER
35:07OK, time for general ignorance.
35:08Fingers on buzzers, please.
35:10Which US state inspired the writers of the hit song
35:13Take Me Home Country Roads?
35:18West Virginia?
35:23I mean, it's like I open a trap door, isn't it?
35:27LAUGHTER
35:28So, anybody remember who sang it?
35:30John Denver.
35:31John Denver.
35:32Colorado, then.
35:33No.
35:34Kentucky, let's do some states.
35:36LAUGHTER
35:37North Dakota.
35:38Nope.
35:39South Dakota.
35:41We've run out of Dakotas now.
35:42OK.
35:43So that's it.
35:44Hawaii.
35:45Pennsylvania.
35:46So, it was written by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert.
35:49And they've got the...
35:50Tennessee.
35:51Mississippi.
35:52Michigan.
35:53Mexico.
35:54Texas.
35:55Oregon.
35:56Ohio.
35:57Nevada.
35:58Georgia.
35:59Washington.
36:00Argonne.
36:01Begins with M.
36:02Michigan.
36:03Missouri.
36:04Mississippi.
36:05Massachusetts.
36:06Massachusetts.
36:07Uh, Mumbai.
36:08Maryland.
36:09Maryland.
36:10Oh!
36:11Where's the cookies?
36:12Where the cookies come from?
36:13Do you only have one?
36:14Yeah.
36:15No way!
36:16One Maryland cookie.
36:17One halfway.
36:18A painful tart.
36:19One custard cream.
36:20One vicarious biscuit.
36:21Nice.
36:22A breakaway.
36:23A penguin.
36:24All lined up.
36:25God, now Alan's going to be naming biscuits all night.
36:29A pink wafer, a jammy dodger.
36:30A garry blue bin!
36:31Neither John Danivar, nor Bill, nor Taffy, who wrote the song, had ever been to West Virginia when
36:35they went home.
36:36Take it off.
36:37It was fun.
36:38It was fun.
36:39A happy mountain a young man.
36:40Yeah.
36:41It was fun.
36:42It was fun.
36:43It was fun.
36:44It was fun.
36:45It was fun.
36:46It was fun.
36:47It was fun.
36:48It was fun.
36:49It was fun.
36:50It was fun.
36:51So...
36:52It was fun.
36:53It was fun.
36:54It was fun.
36:55And...
36:56It was fun.
36:57ever been to West Virginia when they recorded this song and they chose it
37:00because it's got loads of poetic sounding landmarks like the Blue Ridge
37:04Mountains and the Shenandoah River but they're mostly actually in Virginia I
37:08mean really the song should be called it's about the west of Virginia there
37:12was a brief while they thought about using Massachusetts to fill in the
37:14four syllable gap in the song you know the wonderful song Moon River by Johnny
37:18Massa it's got a great line in it my Huckleberry friend it's one of the kind
37:22of great lyrics of all time and Huckleberry was a placeholder by Johnny
37:26Massa when he was writing it because he wanted that sound buh buh buh buh buh and
37:29he thought I'll just put that in for a moment and then they recorded it and it
37:33has now become one of the great lyrics of all time I never knew what apple-bottom
37:36jeans were
37:39who'd sweep the floor
37:41have you ever heard do you know that?
37:43no
37:45the whole world's looking at her
37:47she got the flow
37:49she got low low low low
37:53do you have one of those buzzers to stop people auditioning?
37:56sorry it's the young people's turn now
37:59right which of these knots is strongest so we've got a reef knot and a grief knot what do you think is the strongest?
38:17that grief knot looks tight doesn't it
38:19yeah you think it's the grief knot?
38:20I think it's the reef knot
38:21I think it's a reef knot
38:23well I would go reef knot also
38:25we used to do a reef knot in the Cubs
38:27yes why would you do that?
38:29because they made you do shit like that
38:31genuinely I've played handball in the Cubs
38:40left over right and under right over left and under
38:46yeah but the answer is reef knot
38:48so most people are terrible at working this out
38:51there's a thing called intuitive physics okay it's the ability to automatically work out how everyday things are going to behave
38:59so for example it's your hand automatically reaching out to catch something that is falling from a cupboard
39:04it's knowing which way a stack of books is going to fall if it's leaning over
39:08but there are some blind spots where we just think oh I can't really work this out
39:12and people seem to struggle to work out with knots what is the intuitive thing
39:16so the grief knot is it's called that because it's incredibly similar to the reef knot
39:20but if you pull on one end of the grief knot it will just come apart
39:23you can see that though I think don't you
39:26you're exactly right Joe I was trying to make Alex feel better because he was the only one that's
39:30bear in mind though I had a whole room full of people in tears when I first tied my shoelaces so he's a real legend
39:36what a gig that was
39:47yeah that was my pip assessment
39:53lost a lot did it too quick
39:56so what happens is because the grief knot seems to have more visible overlaps people think it's
40:00stronger but it is not at all which company was formed in 1850 by Henry Wells and William G Fargo
40:10Wells Fargo
40:16they did set up Wells Fargo but not in 1850 oh yeah 1852 they set that up what did they set up first
40:25it's still going it's one of the most famous companies in the world mcdonald's coca-cola it's american express
40:43along with a man called john butterworth in 1850 they set up american express to deliver goods around the east coast
40:49and the wells fargo company was created to move goods around the west basically it was profiting
40:54from the gold rush american express extraordinary by the end of the civil war 900 offices in 10 states
41:00almost 10 000 miles of railway and express routes the largest empire of stagecoaches in the world
41:07and they made an absolute fortune in fact when fargo died his home was so expensive to maintain
41:14they knocked it down whoa yeah the largest city in north dakota is called fargo also named after him
41:20but i'm a huge fan of henry wells is that him on the right on the left henry wells is on the left i like
41:26the other one do oh yeah why is that to get off with them he's much more attractive the one on the right
41:35and younger he is handsome the one on the right if i'd founded not one but two companies that were banging
41:40like that surely you're smiling he's just annoyed he didn't invent the camera
41:47i think joe you will like henry wells he believed in the education of women and you have to understand
41:53how rare this was he described the education of women as the dream of his life he said it is commonly
42:04said that women's mind is not capable of attaining to a higher order of discipline not acknowledging
42:11this let me say give her the opportunity yeah but when did he say get us a cup of tea love
42:26i bet he did he probably did even today wells fargo fourth largest bank in the united states has still
42:31continues all of which brings us to the end of the line so let's see who's cut the mustard and who
42:35couldn't teach a hen to cluck couldn't you just do that last bit in an american accent uh okay all of
42:41which brings us to the end of the line so let's see who's cut the mustard and who couldn't teach a hen to
42:45the clock in last place tonight it's got a bit ugly for ishan with minus 47
43:01in third place with minus 29 who was pretty bad alan
43:07in second place it's quite good for joe with minus 27.
43:10and our winner putting the okay in the okay corral with minus 19 it's alex
43:27thank you alex ishan joe and alan and i leave you with this not from the wild west but from may west
43:33i've no time for broads who want to rule the world alone without men who'd do up the zipper on the back
43:38of your dress thank you good night
43:56so
44:08so
44:12so
44:14so
44:16so
44:18so
44:20so
44:22so
44:24so
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