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So you don't have to open up your phone and shove it into your phone's guts If you have a phone that's capable of ESIM, there are over two hundred destinations where you can use SLe for your roaming and thus not rack up a huge phone bill while away. This sounds like a good thing to add to your checklist whenever you're going on holiday. Like my travel tips are that and four wheel suitcase. two. People don't believe me on that, but seriously, why do you hate your shoulders? Download Sale in the app store and use our code AMT fifteen checkout to get fifteen percent off your first purchase. You spell Sale SA I L Y. And you spell fifteen one five, you don't have to spell the whole word. So that is sale dot com slash AMT fifteen And use our code AMT fifteen at checkout You'll find the details in our show notes And we're live from the living room as Doug eyes up the match they spread He's reaching for the buffalo wing. Perfect Hang on, what's this? Oh, he's good for C of Pepsi too. Incredible to finish Sensational combination. Look at the delight on his face. There's no doubt about it. He just tastes better. Match days deserve Pepsi. Food deserves Pepsi. Grab a pack of Pepsi Zero Sugar for today's match It's poetry in motion Where can I buy an Easter egg that tastes of eggs?? I've never seen one shall we pitch it to Gregs In episode four hundred fifteen of Anw M this, we had a question from Jay in Minnesota who was preparing to donate a kidney a strer and Jay's wife was trepiditious about this. Yeah. And we decided to give it away to a lucky listener. I seem for cool. pull their name out of their hand. Yeah. going be. And Ela from Portland, Oregon has written in, with some comfort maybe, to say, My cousin's husband James, gave his kidney to his brother Jerry And that kidney is nearly the longest still working kidney donation in the USA over fifty years Wow, That's older than I am. Yeah. Elea seems very proud of the cousin's husband and cousin husband's brother and says, I think It's a really beautiful thing to do, and it is more and more successful. Think of how much the medical field has improved since nineteen seventy one, the risks are certainly much lower. Jay could save a cool person's life, not a wanker like we talked about Yeah, I mean, the Wanker risk is still there. let's not pretend it's not. Always. I'd say an increasing risk. I did actually Google celebrity kidney recipients to see whether there's been a true Wankker that's received a kidney that we could all agree and deserve on. And actually the list, although I suspect Big Kidney has intervened to make sure it's a popular list They all seem like people I'd give my kidney to. Tina Turner. Yes Alelina Gomz. Tracy Morgan, Neil Simon I feel like Neil Simon would write a good sitcom about having my kidney. But These guys are brothers, so this isn't what we were talking about. We were talking about and this is where the problem got sticky and difficult, altruistic kidney donation to somebody you don't know. Jay was saying I want to give my kidney regardless, even if they are a wanker and how do I tell my partner that's a good thing to do and I'm not sure we've quite got the answer, although I appreciate the anecdotal evidence Tia from New Jersey has also written in to say Instead of assuaging your partner's fear Why not just don't donate a kidney and instead G a huge donation to the Kidney Foundation Hm do an earnest YouTube video imploring others whose partners do not have such fears to donate a kidney That's like carbon offsetting for kidneys. This is just kicking the problem to other people rather. Like this is something Jay really wants to do so Yes. I don't think making a YouTube video saying effectively, I'm not as good a person as I'd like to be, but I am good at preaching to other people that they should be better than I am I don't think that's going help Jay scratch their itch No. I also think that like there are some charities where giving the money is definitely the thing to do, but like with Kidney donation you can't like buy one at Costco. You have to grow them out of human beings. So the donors is probably the important thing, isn't it? You know like at the Vanity Fair Oscar party, you get in if you're holding an Oscar, no questions asked. I wonder at the Kidney Foundation Turn up with a kid mey, you're in. Do you know what I mean? Like it doesn't matter what you've paid justust in a carrier bag. Just wrapped in a paper napkin. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. BY okay. We've had an email from Andy, age forty eight from Chesterfield, who says I've been watching a lot of BBC archive clips on YouTube. And I've been watching the Bow loosening footage, she says John Nokes cleaning Nelson's column. This was a blue Peter classic from the seventies. Y. Using just ladders Slacks and a bucket As in he was using a pair of slacks to buff up Nelson's column As in he's on a really wobbly ladder. He has no safety harness, no helmet and is wearing wide bottomed flares, that's where the slacks come in. Yes, well, it was nineteen seventy seven. Yes, everyone was. For people who don't know what Nelson's column is, all right, it's one hundred and seventy foot tall column made of granite in the middle of Trafalga Square in London, with a seventeen foot statue of Lord Admiral Nelson on top to commemorate the victory at the Battle of Trafalga in eighteen oh five at which he died.orct. I like that we're not defining John Nokes or Blue Peter but well done on that. Jhn Nokes TV presenter of Kids TV showow in nineteen seventyeen. S. And as terrifying as this looks, the TV presenter, John Nokes doing it. The camera operator had to go to the top before him with their nineteen seventy seven era camera Terry, He's name checked in the piece, which I think is John Noes sort of effectively, nodding to an adult audience. give it out for Terry. he's gone further than I have here. Terry's climbed up first and then lent over the top to get the aerial view of Nokes with no harness climbing the world's most terrifying ladder. And also because the statue is standing on a kind of wide plinth on top of the column. And so the ladder, the spindly ladder going all the way out the column, then has to sort of bend back so that they can get onto the plinth. It gets outrageously perilous, like clearly very, very dangerous, notot just kind of like fun for kids' TV. let's pretend it's dangerous stuff, but actually Genuinely, health and safety hasn't invented yet. It's just a dangerous thing do and they shouldn't be doing it. They treated Blue Peter presenters like an endlessly renewable resource throughout the twentieth century Uh anyyway, Andy has been watching this clip and says, Helen answs me this How is Nelson's column cleaned these days? Is it still done with ropes, etcera Is it scaffolding Or is it something less obvious? Something less obvious likeike ghosts, Like a really powerful hose from a long way away Drone That's where it's going, isn't? Thats a future, I reckon. Cherry Picker they do use cherry pickers, they do partial cleans with cherry pickers. They'll do a little clean every so often And before cherry pickers they would use steeple jacks. What's a steaple jack? A steeple jack is someone who climbs buildings and things on ropes in order to do cleaning and restoration and stuff. I'd say steeples aren't really the majority of their work now but is still a quite a common because there's some things that like you can't really get to without being a human dangling on a rope. But they don't clean the whole of Nelson's column all that often. John Nokes certainly didn't do the whole thing. he just like buffed the stat's nose or something. Yeah. I don didn't think anyone thought that John Nokes goes back regularly. Well he's dead now. So the last times that there was a thorough Cleaning were nineteen sixty eight, nineteen eighty six and two thousand six. whichich are actually the only restorations since the column was installed in eighteen forty three And for the eighty six and two thousand six restorations, they put up scaffolding and used sandblasters in nineteen sixty eight and then steam cleaners in two thousand six and also a light abrasive so they can just rub it without taking off too much of the stonework I mean, what I loved about the archive footage as well is that the guy who's showing Nkes up to the top is very much sort of out of central castings', cheeky chappy Bloke who works on Nelson's column in the seventies. And I'm thinking now person would be, you know, they'd probably work for English heritage. They theyd probably take it really seriously, like the history stuff, you know, whereereas this guy was treating it just like it was any other building, basically, just like he was cleaning a whimpie. But it's interesting that it doesn't get cleaned that often because Yeah, I've looked at Nelson Coum and thought, yeah, there was that whole thing about how they clean it, but it doesn't look clean. That makes sense if it was only every twenty years. Yeah, they sort of spot cleaning it. And then in two thousand six the scaffolding, which was sponsored by a bank and that paid for the four hundred grand cleaning bill. Was it Admiral? It must have been Admiral. No, sadly it was Zurich Wow. How did Admiral miss that opportunity? absolutely fucked it. Jesus Christ. But the scaffolding was up for three months because they were doing like restoration to the stonework. Nelson's arm was at the time held on by metal because it hadd been struck by lightning and they took the metal out and fixed it with a stone peg. So all that stuff is happening as well as cleaning. But I read a very detailed article by the company Coventry Scaffolding, which sorry Martin is a London based firm, despite the name. And they are the company that put up the scaffolding for the nineteen sixty eight clean. Right. And they said it was quite difficult because the base of the column is square And then it changes from square to round and tapers. And I thought, well, I've never considered the complications of scaffolding a tapering squared to round column. At height as well. because it's one thing to say you work in scaffolding. Yeah and you do a block of flats that's six stories talls. Nelson's Colum is tall. there's nothing else around it to lean on to. It's tall. They said you had to remember to go to the toilet beforehand. Yes. But they remarked on the fact that Some of the stones that make up the column weigh more than twelve tons and at the time it was built in the eighteen forties, they had to get them out there without mechanicalifting.id didn't even have Joh Nokes in his flared trousers to help? No, just to tuck them into the flares. They also said there's less pigeons shhip than youd think on the statue at the top of the column because it's too cold for the pigeons to roost there and their food is too far away Interesting, The pigeons like the lions, don't they? That I've noticed. Yeah, they're convenient. And you' near a lot of tourists foods. You near a lot of McDonald's wrappers, ye, whereas not too much at the top. Fun fact about dirty iconic buildings in London, which I discovered doing an episode of today in history. Number ten Downing Street. You know, you think of the bricks being black, I assumed they were designed black They're not. Oh That's dirt. It's all dirt. Are they like pale sandstone I think what happened is it became an iconic building because it was dirty. and so over time, they may have replaced bricks with bricks that are that color, but it originally that was smog that made it that color. It was like London, air and pollutants It wasn't supposed to be that. It was a brick house. It was a normal brick house and that's the color it went. Wow big in Central London. I remember in the early nineties going to visit my brothers when they were studying at Oxford and the high street was this sort of like smeary grrey. Yeah ye yeah. you know, all of the old buildings. and then they cleaimed them and I was like, oh, this place is yellow, how confusing? Yellow. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's amazing, isn't it? After centuries, you just completely have no relation to the original architectural vision at all Thomas has been inspired to write in, he says, by your recent question about books on sale in airports Yes, the large paperbacks. Yes. Thomas is writing about something even more large I was recently in Gatwick airport before a flight to France says Thomas And as a result of being far too early due to the travel related anxieties of my holiday companions relatable to me I had a lot of time to look through the airport shops, including the Lego store there. Oh, well, you've landed on your feet if you're a branch of an airport with a Lego store, to be honest, that's good. I've like padded out a Dixonss by making myself look at each section for ten minutes like a little boring show and tell for just yourself. I mean, it's that or like try all the Tom Ford perfume again. You know what I mean? Yeah, but then you're stinking on an aeropplane which is antisocial. Exactly right and a different stink in each arm and like each patch of wrist looves braided. That's not what Tom Ford would want Well, in that Lego store in Gatwick Airport Thomas says, I spotted a LEgo version of the Titanic with a special discounted airport price of Wait for it. Yeah. O five hundred and thirty pounds. Wow, that is yeah, that's expensive even for a stupid airport purchase. Yeah, what is the usual price of a Lego Titanic though? five hundred eighty nine ninetiney nine cents on Lego. com UK at the moment. Yeah, so you're not really saving a lot Well,' saving fifty grid, which is what you'd expect. This excursion raised two questions. For me, says Thomas.. Ollie answer me this First How long after a massive disaster does it take to make a Lego set of it Will we see a LeEGo twin towers set in the next one hundred years? or is that incident too political to ever lead to bracification? And secondly and more pressingly Who is buying a five hundred and thirty quid Lego set at the airport The set is so massive that it would take up someone's entire hand luggage allowance, and it doesn't seem like a spur of the moment purchase, both because of price and physical size. The shop was after security, so you'd have to buy an airport ticket to actually get that special discounted price, so I can't imagine it ever being worth it. Has anyone bought one of these ever? No, they don't. No, that's basically marketing, isn't it? of course occasionally once a year get the deressed business executive that doesn't spend any time with his children who quickly bundles an expensive thing into a bag and presents it to them and doesn't care what it costs to get it on the plane. But generally A lot of those airport shops are marketing, aren't they? They don't want you to buy it at a discount. They want you to see it and then buy it in the real world and talk about it like we are now. Okay, so it's just like a three D billboard. Basically, yeah But if you were to buy it Yes, if you've bought an item that is too large to fit in the overhead bin or under the seat in front of you You can still put it in the hold at the gate. It's just the airline might charge you for doing so It's still an option It might mean that you've paid the fifty quid difference that you've just saved though How long after a massive disaster does it take to make a LegO set of it I'm not sure there's a rule. but there is, you know, this kind of well known Calculation in comedy isn't there of traragedy plus time. You've sort of put your finger on it. You can make jokes about the Titanic now. There is a musical which is a comedy about Titanic. playing the West end right now. You couldn't make aull Leg musical about nine hundred and eleven yet. No. But I think you probably could in seventy years time. Living memory, that's the thing, isn't it? Living memory. But when you say is that incident too political to ever lead to britification? I mean, Lego obviously corporately would would not do a al Qaeda set But I think the twin towers themselves as ic buildings of the New York skyline from the nineteen seventies. I could imagine that happening now, could't you? I think there are enough young people wor LeGo that know that that would lead to a million people buying the set and then doing memes with it. Just to do the meme.ust to do the meme but that would also be bad for their brand, I think Well, the question is do people do that with the Titanic one? Again, the implication here is that because the Titanic was a disaster You know, it's bad taste to buy the ship, but actually it's also an architectural marvel before it crashed. D Iiceberg. You're not buying the Lego set split in half with people drowning, are you? You're buying the boat. So I'm not even sure that is in bad taste. It's a memorable iconic thing. And I suppose if you're marketing any massive ship Lego set, that is a famous one. It's a famous. And some of the ones that didn't s syink and didn't have a blockbuster film made about them might be a harder sell. Yes. What about a Lego Hindenberurg that would be difficult to pull off. But I did on my recent holiday buy completely unpredicted. Iulse airport thing A massage gun. On the way home or on the way out? On the way home, On the way home Al kind of wanted to try one. And the reason was it was that thing of I thought I'm never again going to spend ten minutes looking at massage guns. That's it. This is the allotted time in my life. I've looked at three different brands, tried them on my neck I might as well to choose the one if I'm going to buy one M as well just get this one. And how is it I do not regret it, Ellen. Oh good is The immense vibration off this thing. It is like one of those things construction workers have by the side of the road that dig into the concrete? it's like that. Like a hammer drill? Yeah. I thought that you'd sort of build up slowly to the relief. But you put it on your shoulder and it's a midiate like Oh I you in two seconds. And you put in a place where you didn't even know you needed that. like your asss cheek Oh yeah, you're getting first bit. You my arouse feels fine And then I put it on my glutes and I'm like, Oh It's so good. I absolutely love it. Isn't there a history of people trying to use those for sex and just like getting really bruised vulvas Yes, I do keep mine in my bedside table because that's where I keep my shoulders But I do worry that the cleaner will assume it's a just massive like hyper pack dildo But I mean, I'm cool with that. It isn't so. You keep your shoulders in your bed table. In my bed. When I wake up in the morning, that's where I was's where they are. but it's the same place where you would keep a sex toy because it's also where my genitals are. That's what I mean. Could you also strap a whisk to it and use it to froth milk for a cuppuccino? Definitely. The power is extraordinary If you've got a question, be m your question T toit this podcast and G in this podcast you hear that Sounds like breakfast is ready Because Quakers coming in hot with morning nutrition one hundred percent whole grain oats. and a good source of fiber. fueled the rhythm of your morning Kickstarts your day That sounds absolutely delicious. Fuel to start whatever's next. Quaker, official sponsor of FIFA World Cup twenty six When you need to build up your team to handle the growing chaos at work, use Indeed sponsored jobs. It gives your job posts the boost it needs to be seen and helps reach people with the right skills, certifications, and more. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this shel will get aarventy five dollars sponsored job credit at indndeed dot com slash podcast That's indndeed d. com slash podcast. Terms and conditions Apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for indndeed sponsored jobs Here is a question from an anonymous man who incidentally, by the way, says, I'm so glad that you're back. I first started listening to you when I was fifteen or sixteen thanks to iTunes Highlight. W. And it feels very strange now writing to you about my divorce. Ohoy. The story goes like this. I separated from my ex wife around three years ago and have since got divorced. I'm now in a serious relationship with someone else, and I've moved in with them Congratulations. Everyone mentioned in this email is in their early thirties, he says. I still have my suit from my wedding day, which, while not completely extravagant, was expensive for me and does stand out, not being a classic black or navy blue. I've not mentioned that I was married in this suit to my current partner, and she hasn't ever seen it as I don't often have a need to wear a suit and I wouldn't wear it to work. While she's comfortable with me being divorced, I could understand there being some weirdness around me wearing a suit that I was married in around her So Helen answers me this Should I keep it Also, whilst this has been saved in my drafts, I've just found my wedding ring. What's I do with that Obviously, I'm never wearing it again. Yeah, fair enough Gold prices are currently high. Yeah. seellll the ring or melt it down and turn it into something else I mean, it's literally what pawn brokers are for, isn't it? This exact scenario, if you're not sentimentally attached to it, that's why they're there. I'll sell it to a jeweler, I think, you could probably get a better price I've got a really boring response to this and it is to have a conversation with your partner this Ask what they would think about the suit if you ever did want to wear it or need to wear it. Like if you don't think you're ever going to use it again, I would put it on vintage or Facebook marketplace or something. If you think, well this is a nice suit still fits. A way to neutralize it, having had this conversation with your partner is to wear it a lot. like don't save it for special occasions. Cate so many different associations with it that it no longer has this huge overpowering one Or accessorize it, so it looks totally different. Absolutely. Put some patches on it, putut some badges on it. Some flare, yeah. Yeah. likeike you work in TGI Fridays But yeah, wear the trousers separately, wear the jacket separately. J like give the suit a different life. That's good. think. though the critical thing is your feelings of a secret that you don't want to have. And so just have a conversation about it because it is ultimately just a suit and it sounds like you know, you've moved on substantially and hopefully you're partner feels that to you Although actually. I mean I know this is slightly playing the c of but what if they awanka you're giving your kidney to. A useful conversation to have with your new partner is to find out how she'd actually feel about it from the point of view of like, I'm obviously not still in love with my ex wife I'm obviously in love with you becauseuse I'm having this conversation with you about how you feel about it. If she's really weird about it, it might be quite good to know that you wouldn't have known otherwise if you just assume how she's going to feel You get together with people any point basically beyond your childhood. and People have had a life You know, there's stuff that hass happened. There's choices that they've made. there's relationships they've had. There's suits that they've shagged in Yeah we don't know if they've actually shagged in this suit. We don't. He does. Sure. It's a consideration. I'll add that to the list of associations the suit is coming with. I think some people find it very hard to deal with the fact that their partner has a past, but you know, as an adult you got to. And so you're right that having this conversation with the Now partner would be psychologically important. even if the suit is just an implement for doing that The fact that a relatively valuable piece of costume in both the form of the ring and the suit didn't come up. in the divorce itself is actually a sign of positivity that you didn't do too badly out of the divorce Because these are things that people typically sell so they can pay for the legal fees, aren't they It's like, Ohh, I don't need this anymore, we've got this bill. Maybe it's just not worth enough to make a dent in the bill Yeah, but when it is, that's no better. I've been looking into this legally, sometimes the ring is considered a marital asset Sometimes it's considered a gift. So this can be part of the argument between lawyers When you talk about an expensive wedd ring, like' say it's worth fifty grand. Wow. People like, well, it was a gift It was given me on my wedding day And then they say, no, well, that was only as part of the contract that we signed where we were doing it together. which I think is bullshit because If we're being honest, gift is clearly the appropriate It's the closest thing to what is happening there where you put it on someone's finger. You don't say With this ring Of which I continue to own fifty five percent I the weed. do you? Its just that's not the deal. I will say A people who are willing to give a fifty grand ring probably more likely to be an absolute arhole about, well, anything, but the dissolution of a marriage. Our friend Nick, who is a divorce lawyer has told us many times that you should only Depploy a divorce lawyer when you have so much money, you can afford to lose so much money having a divorce lawsuit? Yes. Yes, doing it through a lawyer probably ends up costing more than not doing it through a lawyer. It costs substantially more. But it's for the person who wants to know that they've not given away things that they wouldn't have to otherwise. Well, he was saying, I don't understand why People who are rich enough to do this will quibble over all the stuff mights because they've translated their emotions into this tangible thing. Yes. rational about the money. That's just an implement, but that's not really what Anon is asking about. We assume not since he's just found it in a drawer or he's dumping us in the a. Exactly With suits, generally, I mean, obviously everyone has different lives. but here in twenty twenty six, as a forty four year old man I wear suits so infrequently that I've basically decided now to pivot to hiring fancy suitsit. Oh, yeah. So I've kept the ones that are like the nicest ones that I've got. I've got two suits that were tailored for me, semi tailored, know they're off the peg and then I got them adjusted. Yeah I've kept those two At the point I get too fat for them, I think I'm going to give them away and then hire them for my next year because I just think I'm literally wearing one every two years. I might as well choose one for the event and make a thing out of it. Yeah. And also a lot of events now don't require suit wearing. like I think there's a bit more impetus for men to jazz around a bit more with their formal wear Yeah. I'iss wearing a suit though Like a louge Yeah I'd never wore one for work, but a lounge. You can wear a suit Martin for this job if you want. You could put one on right now. It would look fantastic if you're wearing a suit. You've got some really nice jackets, Martin. It would really help our socials if you were in a dinner jacket. It looks really cool. I mean things I really like, I like wearing t shirts for work because I feel like the work I do is practical and I like to feel like I'm sort of Audio Mchanic.eez. I know that sounds stupid but that's the mset get into. I'm not a fancy guy. I'm just squeezing the guts of audio. You need one of those workshirts that says Soundman on the side in a badge. But I do love wearing a suit. I think I look good in the suit. And yet you so rarely wear a suit. And the suit that you have that you bought for our wedding sort of purplely Oswald boating. I can't fit into that. That's too slim. Right. It would have been too slim for a wedding except if I got gastroentthritis before. Good tip. Yeah no. Ollie, what did you wear to get married It was a suit. It was a Brook Brothers suit, which I think to American sisting is probably quite a funny idea because it's like the eighties Wall Street Tailor In Britain, there is only one branch of Brooks brothers and they're on Region Street. and I spent a day walking down Region Street going into ten different shops, trying on suits and I got suit blindness after a while. And also I had I had a four month old baby with me at the time who I couldn't just chuck into the street. So when we got to Brooks Broths, I think they gave they might have even like let him play somewhere on like the carpet. Whilst I changeed? Was he a harsh critic of your fashion choices? Yeah, if he really didn't like it, he threw up on them So I just at that point, I was just like, okay, this one, I'll go this is the fifth suit I've tried. they're all the same and this seems nice. So I ended up with a Pretty classic, yeah, Navy Blue Brooks Brothers affair. Reborn again I must have becausecause I got married in Gibraltar where it's obviously like sort of seven degrees hotter and more humid than in the UK at that time of year I discussed all that with the guy in the shop deliberately chose a fabric that worked well in humidity Hello ingenius. So it was a summer suit I have I think I've worn it to like go to horse racing or something similar, like something in the summer or maybe someone else's wedding once in the summer, but it only works in the summer is what I'm saying. So it's not, it doesn't become my multipurpose wear to office meetings type suit because actually it's a sumer suit Summer's coming Ollie, Time to smarten up Yeah, G to be wearing it every day from now on. I think you should. Think Hkerchief. I think When you do have clothes that are special, Wear them, donon't save them because I had had a dress like it wasn't an expensive dress. It was like thirty or forty quid. And I was like, Oh, I'm going to save this dress because I really like it. And by the time I was like spepecial occasion time to wear the dress as I Not really feeling it anymore Yeah, yeah yeah. Wh the good stuff now. I hear that and I agree But I think there's got to come a point where You acknowledge that sometimes preserving things from disaster is worth doing So my grandma had a dining set. It hadd been in her sitting room for forty years I remember it in the eighties having plastic on it and thinking how ridiculous it was that she had plastic on her dining set in the way that people of that generation did. After she died, it went into my mom's house After two weeks, my son Toby sat on it, had lunch and smeared gravyel down it and now it's stayed forever. Oh right. When you said dining set I pictured like ceramics being mean like The chairs, the chairs the table Yeah, its.. we took out like a whole set of furniture in one meal Just one chair, but it' stayed it forever And I was kind of thinking like My philosophy is use it, donon't save it for best. What's best? But it turns out best isn't a five year old sparing gravy on it Can you get a ra poster clean justust professionally clean. Yes, I think you probably can. Do you like it Re It's nostalgic. That's the thing though, isn't it? It's like Well, I'd never choose this, but I can't get rid of it. I never choo it. R I could I could get rid of it I like it in my mum's house If and when my mom dies, I don't want it in my house no But it's nice to see it occasionally. Maybe we should just smear gravy on every chair to make it match. Well, then you can sortair we would like that. Do I actually like this chair even with gravy on it orr we keeping out sentiment, Maybe that is a useful rubric that Toby inadvertently invented Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well maybe that's what anonymous man who's written in should do, Just meear gravy all over his wedding suit to decide whether he still wants it. If he does, then obviously he's worth having the conversation. There's more kind of culture around people trashing their wedding dresses after the marriage has ended. Yes, true. And not so much for suit wearers. Yes. But then wedding dresses usually cost so much more and you really can't wear them to, you know, funerals and stuff. But it is. It' be fle. Please send me pictures if you did. I think that the considerate thing to do with stuff that might otherwise get handed down is to like deal with it before you die. So that your grieving family are not like, what the fuck am I gonna do with this soup tourne? It's a bit dark though isn't it? Because then you are walking around like kind of giving your household possessions to people that visit. That's what my granny did. It's a bit macabre. It was a bit macabre, but it did save a lot of time afterwards. She died as efficiently as she lived. Fucking rightad, she did. m tired at thirty. I live on a beach. I'm a little bit bored but passive incomeomes a peach. I keep my empire running. O whilst I get my asshole ple keeping up with the Joneses. In the background squareres Sace keeps your business afloat, seirling products you made showcasing words that you wrote It does all the hard work while you drink pink fers on a b! My drink is as pink as my glistening balm. Thanks me to Squarespace for sponsoring Aswer mee this. and making it possible for everybody out there. 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Try it for yourself, go to squarespace dot com slash answert You can save ten percent off your first purchase of a website or domain if you use our code Aner Here's a question from Be who says, Ollie, answer me this. Why why why World Book Day This is a question Bard of Pion, rage dis. prrimal hell there pain echoed by unorganized primary school parents everywhere Since my child started school in the UK, says B, I now have to care about this day for the rest of what primary school Be has Numerous questions. One, why does World Book Day exist in this current form twow, when did this parents craft nightmare begin? Three. Is this also a thing in other countries? and why is it called World? Is it because it's something to do with books from all over the world? For who created this day? and for what purposes? I'm going to ask the invisible question B doesn't ask five. How can B find that person and kill them? B says, I'm from a South American country and in my country we have a book day as well But something beautifully simple Publishers would come to schools, sell books at discounted prices, and everyone went back home happy and educated and certainly not stressed from going to bed at two AM and with hot glue gun burns. Let me just sort of preface my answer to all these questions by saying that I think I generally prefer a world with World Book Day in it to a world without World Book Day in it But I do obviously You know, as a stressed and busy middle aged dad of two withith limited interest in crafting costumes? I think that's probably fair. Yeah. Identify with the frustrations that Be is exhibiting here. World Book Day was actually created by UNESCO. The first one was on april twenty third, nineteen ninety five And interestingly, it was originally called World Book and Copyright D. kids love copyright Oh God I just love the idea of dressing up my children. As's a big say. Yes Today you'll be addressed as my favourite legal protection for authorship. I don't know you saw fucking dress as lawyers. And the reason that UNESCO chose the date of april twenty third is because the whole thing is inspired by a Catalan tradition, which in itself was inspired by Cervantes. who wrote Don Quixote. Is it a tradition on a par with the shitting log at Christmas? No, he was known for distbuting books to his friends and family as gifts basically Kind of like a proto dolly Parton. And the date that Savvantis died was april twenty third, that's the same date that Shakespeare died So you've got two great European authors both died on the same day So UNESCO chose that as World Book Day and well book and copyright Day And the purpose of it really was just to spread the word about literacy, particularly in countries, obviously, where children don't have access to books, or very worthy like they expect from UNESCO But then what happened and the reason Why the answer is bit more complicated is to, you know, does it still happen all over the world What happened is that in the UK The Blair government registered a charity So there's a nonprofit called World Book Day Which exists to publicize and recruit schools and sponsors to get involved But it's now become bigger than the event itself in the rest of the world So yes, a hundred countries around the world do participate in World Book Day, but more along the lines that B is suggesting Whereas in this country, because it's registered here and also because there's this kind of private partnership thing going on It's just become this absolute monster So Business then about why I dress up Be it's about books, why can't they just give out free books and talk about books? The issue is not every child likes spogs. Not every child likes dressing up either. No, I didn't. I mean, when Helen was a kid, she was allowed to put in a potato sack and that was how she dress up.. And her family I was dressing up day. Sometimes she'd have a little hat made from natural potato. It's actually worse than that. Of course it is. My school had an annual mfty day, you know, you wear your home clothes to school. Yes. I was at school six days a week, right? So there was only one day a week where I had to wear my own clothes. My family did not have money. Most of my clothes were like not representative of how I wanted to dress and I didn't have style Yes. And so often I would just be like, I'm just going to wear a school uniform to Mfty day. I'm just going pretend I forgot That is the saddest thing. That is much sadder than what I said. Told you it'll be worse? Okay God. Anyway. The whole point is about getting children to read for fun. Reading for fun is the single biggest indicator apparently that a child is going to grow up to enjoy a happier and more successful life. This is according to World Book Dday's own research. Well, maybe they should stop making people study Thomas Hardy books at school So the idea of dressing up and associating dressing up is to try and get children to think about books in a fun way. Dmonstrating that they've read and understand books without saying let's a comprehension exercise. you can ask the class. So who you can dress up as? What's the most fun character we've learnnt about this year? And then you're talking about books and trying to establish the idea that it's fun So I mean, that's kind of the idea, but what's happened is because it's an enormous stress, especially if you've multiple children and you've got a job and you forget. and because Amazon Prime exists What happens is twenty four hours before, people are like, o, fuck, we haven't got a costume. I'm not going to spend all night. fashioning a rolld Dll character out of ininfoil. So I'm going to order a you know, off the peg, where's Wally. It's become a thing where so many kids now turn up in commercial costumes that some of the imagination and creativity of building your own has gone but also Children from poorer backgrounds tend not to be able to afford those, so they come in the homemade costume so you have this social strata that's evident in what they're wearing So what might be cool is if F Well Booked D you made your costume at school out of just like bit to rubbish and stuff. Yeah, you know, maybe that would be better. It's not mutually exclusive. so like Most schools have various different options of things. So my oldest son school this year did comfy clothes instead of dress up as a character to embellish the idea that you read in bed, you read in a comfy chair in your pajamas, then it's like absolutely literally zero effort. you just don't get changed that day. And then you know, everyone's creating the atmosphere and we're all going to relax and tell each other stories. 'll be honest, I was in the assembly and I thought it was a cop out I mean, I actually thought they'd taken it too far the other way looked lazy. like because I really liked it when we went the year before and all the teachers had dressed up because it's like, oh that's Mr. Donal and as Mr. Bump. I mean, that's quite fun The best year they did, I think, from the perspective of making it accessible to everybody was there was one year where they said Bring a wooden spoon and decorate it as your favourite character So you could bring an old wooden spoon from home. Okay. our Mr. Tickle wooden spoon is still in our blnt pot in the kitchen has been for sixase. So that lasted as well. As a childless person, sorry, child free person I just keep track of this from friends posting pictures on Facebook and occasionally statuses of how riiling it is, but it's not just World book Day. There seem to be so many days a year where they have to rreustle together a special outfit for their kids. Yeah, yeahah That is kind of the issue actually. As you say, Muffty Date, that's still a thing Christmas jumpper day Wear yellow for children in need, wear a ribbon for mental health. you know, it's like there's a thing every probably two weeks And if your kids are at different schools like mine are, then that's every week on average. You've got to remember in addition to everything else. on Monday and Wednesday, swimming on Thursday, pick up late on Tuesday. You know, it's just like, you just can't remember it all. And so you end up doing mad last minute. So I mean there's one here where we had completely forgotten that it was World Book Day Literally in the WhatsApp group on the way to school was like, oh fuck it's wellbook day as it happened at the time Harvey was a fan of horrid Henry So we were like, Harvey just come back in the house, L, we just got him in the car. We' got to come back in the house. Take your screen from off. We got an old t shirt and turned it inside out Th thenen we took him to the field at the back of the house and got him to roll around in the mud. Got some hair gel and like made his hair into a massive quiff Hey Presto, horrid Henry. Inredible. It was actually quite a good costume. So you just need to carry some modern hair gel in the back of the car for emergencies. And you're golden. But we've done the full spectrum. I mean, even this year we did both like the very crude handmaid and the fullon authorized costume because Harvey wanted to be Willy Wonker And actually that's quite a hard costume to fashion from scratch because it's suit Yes, nice tailoring, nice fabrics, no mud. Some chocolate, perhaps. Yeah When you said the Hmaid, I assumed Handmaid's taail initially. and I thought that's a bold choice. That yeah yeah, that's right. Yes. yeah. Tobbey wanted to go to Christian Gry from fifty Shades. But we went to we went on to Amazon and we got like, you know, like if you're spending twenty, you might as well spend thirty. So we do you what I mean? we got the proper It was very much the authorized Walner Brrosers Gean Wilder as Willy Wonker costume, which Helvey was wearing whichich was pretty cool, but like completely unnecessary. Whereas Toby, he didn't care about Well booked Day, didn't know what he wanted to be So we just decided right, you're Mr. Twit. Oh, classic. We got an old fake beard that we had from another Halloween costume and stuck some sausage puppets in it, like finger puppets that we had from their play kitchen with some Velcro into the beard. That's all we had. It was a great costume. I mean, you looked like Mr. Twit. Yeah, so you just gott to go as people who kind of dress fuck T. Hows their brand? Yeah. O upcycle generic costume. We had another year where Harvey wanted to go his talkock from the Phantom Tll booth. Great book. Dog costume that year. Yeah. But then the following year, when Tobbey didn't have a preference, we were like, right, you're Harry McLlerry and it was the same costume with have a clock. So there's always that. J use them again. And if you wanted him to use the clock, then he goes Flavor fllav because I there's a book with fllavor fllav in it Yeah. I mean, it's a bit galling that this thing that UNESCO founded ultimately benefits Jeff Bezos because that is where people's emergency costume shopping because Yes. abbsolutely. and also, you know It's supposed to be a world event. The point was to get everyone reading, not cranking out more shit. Dil I personally have like quite an open mind to like superheroes, some middle class parents have a real thing about like, don't come as a superhero to Wor Book Day because They're in books. It's a book. A graphic novel is a book. I think what's important is that the kid has read a comic book. and can say I'm dressed as the green goblin from this comic book. That's fine, I think It is a bit weird when they're like minions and stuff because that is just a Halloween costume. Where do you stand on people coming as characters from books, but the books are only really deliberate spin offs from TV shows and not really books in their own right Well, some of my favorite books when I was nine years old were Movie Tans ike I think I read the Gremlins movie Tan. And I genuinely enjoyed it My friend Don has been lending me the novelisations of Kracker. and those are surprisingly good. They got some really good writers. Talkking about slack costumes for just making people look dirty and lazy. That's a great costume for next year Cracker Yeah, Robb Coltrin'sracker. Yeah, just get him a blazer and some cigarettes. And kids love Kracker. I mean it does actually the whole event really underline how few children's authors have actually cut through in this readily identifiable visual way. It's literally Roll Dull characters, Harry Potter characters, Julia Donaldson characters, and Wh's Wally. That's it. All the others are the renegade ones that represent ten percent of what people turn up as and those, of course are the interesting. know, if a girl comes as Jane Eyre, that's actually like, oh, wow, okay, she's read a book. You know what I mean? A friend sent their kid as Alan Bennett this year, which absolutely thrilled me. That's good. Everybody else was dressed as Hiry McLlairary. I didn't say anything. Ellen and Ollie. Snd me this I don't want you to dance or kiss but, reveal your theories and take off your muzzle, ponder my query and solve this puzzle it's swell. Good golly You crazy kids Oh hellen and Ollie Answer me this Wishing you could be there live for the big game, soaking up the atmosphere of the crowd. Too often, life gets busy, or the price holds you back Priceeline is here to help you make it happen. With millions of deals on flights, hotels, and rental cars, you can go see the game live Don't just dream about the trip. book it with Priceline. Download the prriceline app or visit priceline. comot Actual prices may vary limited time offer Cit to the shot. Tempo, hold your finish. Golf is a mental game, but you can't focus if you're not comfortable. Lulu Lemon golf gear frees your mind and your swing, with fabrics that breathe, wick sweat and block UV. Streamline cuts clear distractions from your backswing and your follow through. So whether it's the first tee or the last hole, your mind stays where it matters. On your next great shot Dial in your game this summer with Lululemon Golf gear, available in stores and at lululemon. com Here's a question from Nigel in Austin, Texas who says, In a Barbara Pimm novel I'm reading. I love that a man in Texas is reading Barbara Pimm. G good for you, Nigel. Carry on. Set in England just after the Second World War One of her characters mentions Hurried whale So Helen answers me this was whale curry really a thing. Yep back then. Afraid so. Who sold whale meat, fishmongers or butchers And could a strict Catholic eat it on a Friday? I believe it was categorized as fish for Catholics so they could eat it for lent But there was another reason why the taxonomy of meat slash fish for whales was important During the war, meat was rattened. Fishing around Britain was much curtailed because it was far more dangerous because of German U boats The whaling industry for Britain was still very much a thing until the nineteen sixties and in the war whale products were really important. they used the glycerine for explosives, they used the fat in margarine and soap, they used the oil for machinery, like sewing machines. I love that. just can I say when I was reading Moby Dick, there were some footnotes around all the different things they could use blubber for. And I think it's one of my favourite things I've ever read. I just like, what? oil from their heads for candles Oil from their stomachs for cosmetics, lubricants for machinery, make a basket out of it. It's like how many bloody things can you get out of a whale? It's amazing. Yeah, corset pre plastics. they were using like whalle A whale bone, yeah, peticoats and all that. The leine was used for like umbrella spokes, It was used to make brushes, also used in corsetry, but the meat In Britain was not very popular because it is at best bland. It stinks whilst cooking it. it can be very tough. They would have to like soak it and then steam it and then soak it again and then douse it with as much flavor as possible. hence the curry. I was say because the only British way of cooking things in this era would have been boiling it to fuck, so it's gonna to stink out everything, isn't it? I think also if you roasted it, it would just be like inedible. Also rank. Super tough. Yeah. But whale meat was not rationed during World War two even then Bricks were like, no fucking gross. Wow. Even in the face of no bananas and all you can eat whale, they're like, no thans. Yeah, I'm just gonna eat brick dust So Britain had this huge surfit of whale meat that no one wanted to eat. It was canned, it was dehydrated. the canned stuff They were like, lookook, it's just like corned beef, but it's whale and we call it Hacen W H A C O N love of war food. Hakon, like bacon, but whale. Yeah, yeah yeah. But because the civilians wouldn't eat it, they tried to feed it to the army. And that's where the meatfish thing becomes important because in India, the British army had a lot of Muslims fighting for it And therefore, being vague about where meat had come from and how it had been killed did not go down well with them So the army were like, it' fish. It's fish. Yeah, it's fish. Nonetheless, the troops were like Fuck no Fuck, no Okay, here's a question from someone who would love a fondoo party again. A you can have one. Dreams can come true. Take some cheese and put it in a fondoo. The other day, my friend and I they say, were talking about my upcoming birthday and I told her about the time I was throwing my twelfth birthday party Cira two thousand four. And it was a meat fondu party Yes Meet Fobi Don't catch Gabrielle sking about those. So we. You cook cubes of raw meat in boiling oil. otherwise known as Fnd du Bourguignon. There is also like Fndu Chinoise, which is cooking the meat in broth, which is like hotpot. My friend's instant reaction to this twelfth birthday party meat fondue setup was that I was Bushy And as I couldn't afford hosting a party with a meat fondoo now, I can certainly see her point. I think having a cheese fondoo would be more expensive because you have to get quite expensive cheese for that. Whereas you can get shit meat and then just a leader of Sflower oil. But I've been pondering this, they continue, as I didn't necessarily grow up rich but more of a nineties to nghties middle class with a food interested mum. So Helen answers me this, Was I boojie or was it just the Naughties I don't really associate it necessarily with being bougie so much as kitch at that point. Depending where you are. Yes, exactly. It was already thirty years old since it had been trendy, wasn't it? Right It was like trendy In the seventies in Britain, like my parents had a wedding present fondy set that was like mustard coloured. They got married in nineteen seventy. That was like a real classic. But then if you're Swiss, it would have just been pretty normal food. I think they'd mention if they were Swiss. I think they probably would. and also meat fondu, I don't think, would be the fondu of choice in Switzerland. because in the nineteen thirties, fondu was declared Switzerland's national dish because of a campaign by the Swiss Cheese Union They had slogans like Fondu is good and creates a good mood. But the Union was quite cloudy and so it was able to fix the price of milk, it was able to declare which types of cheeses could be produced in Switzerland and which couldn't, it limited production. The country needed a significant reason to be cheesy so that the industry was protected. And they were like, well, liquid cheese Apay ski go for it. And so like for the rest of the twentieth century, Fondu was that big in Switzerland because of union shhenanigans in the thirties. But also Switzerland's a country that just relies so heavily on tourism, doesn't it I know it's a wealthy country, but in terms of like people populating its restaurants, mostly tourists, isn't it? And they're mostly there as you say in the winter. so I mean, there's a big profit margin on liquefied cheese. And it was a good cold weather food, not just because it warms you up in mountainous regions after being outside, but also because like The cheese and the bread can be produced at you know, months before and then you liqufy the cheese, you ret toast the bread and set to. So meat fondue then, is that more bougie or less bougie than cheese fondue? The reason why it originated supposedly was farm workers who were unable to leave the fields to go and have lunch would be able to cook me in the pot of boiling oil. I guess because like all you need is a stick to eat it off And the clean up is the boiling of the oil, like you're not soiling up. True, That sounds like a just so. does sound like made up sh. But it's of repeated. Also like A pan of boiled oil chucked into a field. That's quite damaging actually compared to other things you could finish eating and then throw away. Yeah, but not compared to a pan of liquid cheese. Sure, if you're just surviving on fondoo, then it is, yes less damaging than that. In terms of like having any kind of food based gastronomic twelfth birthday party whether that's spougie or not. I would say not because the twelfth birthday party it's a very specific point. It's interesting isn't it's the age of Bermitzva, isn't it? The twelfth thirteenth border. That's the age at which in so many cultures you become A grown up And even now I feel like for a lot of parents, probably the eleventh party is the last party they're going to fund because that's the last one at junior school. you're on your own kid You got a sel fund. betteret do a kickstter for your birthday. Certainly by fourteen's like, hereere's fifty ququid go to pizza hut with your mates, right? So I feel like for a lot of children, twelfth is the last party. The last party party. where their family have paid for it and invited everyone rather than leave me alone. So I feel like This party isn't bougie because although it sounds expensive because fondu, it is actually substantially cheaper than hiring a venue like you might do for a ninth or tenth birthday party. It's kind of l key compared to that So from that perspective, I think it isn't bougie. It's a stepping stone on the way to a more grown up birthday. I think also, let's be real, kids now have much easier access to sushi in many parts of the world. So what would have been considered very bougie when we were young. Y or just like inaccessible Exotic. I'd say like, when we were young basically impossible to obtain where we were In our early twenties would have been like still quite bougy now like incredibly ubiquitous. Sainsbur'. Yeah, right. petrol station. It's like Hus. I don't think Bespeaks bouginess now is a shorthand the way that it did twenty years ago. No, picnic staple now, isn't it? Whereas yes, twenty years ago meant I've been to Wa Row's. Yeah, and it is also cheap. It's a chickpea paste. Yes, yeah, sure That concept is more like about your fears, isn't it than the food stuff itself If you're listening to this and you had a particularly boogie birthday party as a child, if you can beat meat fondoo, please let us know what you did, preferably with photo evidence. Oh yeah, you want to see pictures of twelve year olds covered in boiling oil scars from their meat fondoo. No, I was thinking more like did anyone go to the opera in Black Tie A. Anyway, please send us questions for the next episode of Answer Me This and also For petty problems are video liveestream series about trivial query. Yes. So if you have something Unserious, market as petty problems and then sign up at patreon. com slash answer me this. To watch the petty problems, stream live or afterwards and all the back catalog as well. That's right. So if you're listening to this in the week of release, if you happen to be, then it is this Sunday at ten PM UK timee live that will be doing petty problems. twenty ninth of March. twenty ninth March. If you happen to listening to this before the twenty ninth of March, and you can get over to patreon dot com sot answer this before the twenty ninth of March You can join us live, you can interact with us, but you can watch them all back afterwards. So even if you miss it, it doesn't matter, you can watch it in the future. And then sign up to attend the next one be in May. All of the questions go to the same place, which is the contact details listed upon our website. Anw meelistpodcast. com. And in fact, worth mentioning whilst we're Talk about Patreon The overwhelming array of goodies that are available for you to stuff into your digital pockets there. An ad free feed of this show on Apple podcasts or podetcasts or other RSS places. O casts Other guasts where you can listen to all of our new episodes, yes, and our bonus bits which are just for subscribers. Yes, but also at our higher tiers, our entire back catalog since two thousand seven, including all our albums and app extras and retro episodes in chronological order. Patreonot com slash answers me this. And your money helps keep this show going for the rest of twenty twenty six. Yeah. we also have other things on the internet for you to peruse for free. Oll, what's been happening in the Mandverse? I've done an episode of The Modern Man this month called I Want My Kids Back It is about child removal. And in it, I meet a mum who had their children removed from their care because of addiction issues and domestic abuse And it's her story of how she fought to get her children back, yes, but actually more importantly, how mums and foster mums in that situation need more support And because we're a magazine show That episode also includes lighter items on voucher codes and pegging. Uful That's The modern man, MAWN wherever you get your podcast. Helen Hi. Well, I've been on a couple of bugles recently So you can listen to those the most recent on was with Harry Kondabolu. Sounds like you've been taking a lot of cocaine. You mean, you've been on the podcast the bugle twice recently? I've been on the podcast the Bugle and I've been taking zero cocaine as is my custom. It's like your vibe. And the illusionist is about to return from break. So you can get that at the illusionist. org and in the pod places. Martin. Well you may remember from last month that I have a new song called Daddy Really Cares, which is a sort of electro Banger