1. Well...
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2. good evening, good evening,
good evening,
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3. good evening, good evening,
and welcome to QI,
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4. which tonight is a
melange of M places.
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5. Joining me on my metropolitan
meander are,
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6. the M-inent Sue Perkins!
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7. The M-powered Sami Shah!
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8. The M-phatic David Mitchell!
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9. And... the frankly
M-barrassing Alan Davies.
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10. Their buzzers
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11. celebrate some of the most
magnificent Ms on the map.
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12. Sue goes...
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13. Sami goes...
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14. David goes...
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15. Yeah, the Bee Gees. And Alan goes...
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16. Oh, don't you like that?
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17. Don't you like that?
Oh, try again. Oh...
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18. You see.
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19. So, which of the following
M-places is made up?
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20. There they are.
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21. Messak Settafet.
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22. Er, The Mountains of Kong.
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23. Meedhupparuraa...
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24. Merv.
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25. I'm going to say Meedhupparuraa,
only because...
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26. it has 'made up',
literally, in its name.
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27. Failure! There's a logic there
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28. and you're new to QI
and I'd like to be merciful,
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29. but I'm not going to be.
All right, fair enough.
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30. But in a sense,
all names are made-up, aren't they?
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31. Welcome
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32. to the logically ruthless world
of David Mitchell!
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33. Not that you sound like that,
I'm sorry.
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34. But no, of course you're right,
they are. Yeah. You're right.
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35. But which one is not existing?
But we have...
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36. The Mountains of Kong
sounds like it's from fiction. Kong.
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37. That sounds totally made up.
Mountains of Kong?
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38. You're right. You're right. Though...
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39. It's not like something from
Flash Gordon, or something?
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40. No, it's earlier than that.
It was a cartographer
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41. who was a highly respected figure...
Mm.
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42. .. who was just imagining them.
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43. It was a chain of mountains all
the way across Africa,
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44. below the Sahara
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45. and before what you might call
'darkest Africa',
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46. sub-Saharan Africa,
as we'd now say.
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47. And this, right up to 1895,
this was in atlases.
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48. He was called James Rennell
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49. and he was a very respected figure.
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50. And he... Until someone...
Until he made it up.
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51. Until someone went
skiing in the Mountains of Kong.
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52. Well, the effect of it was that
nobody... Should be here somewhere.
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53. The effect of it was
that nobody dreamt
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54. or thought of passing this barrier
and going through
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55. to the rest of Africa. Yeah.
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56. They had obviously navigated
the coast,
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57. there was the slave routes,
which were all the way further down,
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58. but everyone thought from the
north you couldn't get through.
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59. Did he, what did he do,
spill something on the map and..?
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60. That's quite possible!
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61. Oh, bollocks, I've just...
I'll call it the Mountains of...
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62. .. Kong.
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63. But who, who gets to name, who gets
the honour of naming a thing?
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64. If you chance upon it,
can you call it..? Yeah.
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65. Kong Mountains, or Jimmy Hill, or...
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66. Maybe, in the case David Livingstone,
you'd call it Lake Victoria,
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67. after your dear queen
and all that sort of thing.
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68. Difficult to name it after
yourself, isn't it? It is.
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69. You have to name it
after someone and so,
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70. the thing to do, as an explorer,
would be to get there
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71. and then ask your assistant explorer
if they can think of a name.
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72. You know, while reminding them
how they got that job. Yes.
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73. But Meedhupparuraa
exists in the Maldives.
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74. That's an island in the Raa Atoll.
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75. Well, it won't exist for long, then.
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76. Because it's very low.
Yes, yes, absolutely, yes. Very low.
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77. A couple more coal-fired
power stations
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78. and it'll be Meedhupparuraa again.
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79. What about Messak Settafet?
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80. Fine tennis player.
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81. Is it in Egypt?
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82. Not actually in Egypt,
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83. but not so many million miles away.
Shropshire.
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84. It's in the Sahara,
is what I'm trying to say.
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85. In the Sahara. It's in the Sahara,
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86. and it is known as containing more
tools than any other place on earth.
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87. Apart from "insert city."
Apart from Made In Chelsea.
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88. You may say, "Oh, a lot of tools.
Well, that's not very interesting."
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89. But 75 artefacts per square metre,
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90. it's almost 200 million
per square mile.
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91. It's a staggering amount of man-made
objects. These things like hand axes?
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92. Yes. That sort of old tools.
Yeah, all those kinds of things.
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93. Over 100,00 years or so.
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94. Local sandstone was ideal.
Messak Settafet,
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95. is that Saharan language, whatever
it is, for Homebase, or...?
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96. It was the right kind of rock.
Clay Tools R Us.
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97. They'd bought a lot of flint
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98. the day before the strimmer
was invented. Yeah.
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99. According to Dr Robert Foley
of Cambridge University,
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100. the rock extracted from Africa
by humans to make tools
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101. over the last million years
would be enough to build
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102. three Great Pyramids of Giza
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103. for every square mile
of the entire continent.
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104. Which is one way of expressing
that there were a lot of them.
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105. There was a lot more Africa
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106. before early man
turned it into tools.
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107. Well, it's still there.
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108. It's still in Africa, it's just now
loose. No, most of it's in museums.
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109. Pyramids and pyramids are in museums
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110. and in a big heap
in Messak Settafet.
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111. Probably the Mountains of Kong
WERE there.
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112. They were just... They just made
tools out of them. Yeah.
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113. Very good indeed.
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114. So, Merv. Where's Merv?
Where was Merv? Where is Merv?
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115. Where could Merv be?
Usually fielding on the boundary.
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116. So you're talking about...
Merv Hughes.
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117. Merv Hughes, Merv the Swerve. Yeah.
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118. No, it's not that.
It genuinely was a place.
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119. Where's Merv? I don't know.
Well, it was a city.
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120. Merv was on the legendary Silk Road.
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121. OK. The great trading route.
Oh, all right. Yeah.
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122. So China and India. You mean in
China and India and Pakistan.
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123. Exactly. Through your... Yeah,
it's in my neck of the woods,
if you will. Yeah, exactly.
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124. Good old Merv, we used to go
there for chai and beverages.
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125. There's a guy there who makes
an amazing naan.
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126. Is it like Knutsford,
like a services?
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127. Naan, lovely, but surely chai
is disgusting.
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128. Chai is tea! Oh, chai's lovely.
It's hot, sweet milky.
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129. It's always sweet... It's only
your fault we have that!
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130. Have you ever asked... There was
no chai before the British came.
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131. "..I'll have some chai, please,
but without sugar."
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132. Why would you ask without sugar?
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133. That's genuinely an insult which is,
yeah, it's punishable. Uh-oh.
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134. I'd rather not get type 2 diabetes.
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135. Stephen, he's only been here ten
minutes and you've insulted him.
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136. If you can't commit to type 2
diabetes, then you shouldn't have
chai in the first place.
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137. I've learnt that, painfully.
Fair enough.
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138. Let's get back to Merv.
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139. It was arguably the largest
city in the world,
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140. had a population of 200,000 people.
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141. This is, we're going back from 1150s
to 1200, that sort of thing.
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142. A bit quieter now, though,
by the look of it. Well, yes.
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143. Just a man and a donkey. Ever since
they built the railway! Yep.
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144. Since they built the freeway.
He's sitting there like, "They'll
come back soon."
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145. That's what happened when
they built the bypass.
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146. The bottom fell out of
the market for green stuff.
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147. In 1221, they surrendered to the
Mongols, which was a big mistake.
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148. Didn't everyone surrender
to the Mongols around then?
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149. I would. I don't think surrendering
was the right word, though.
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150. They didn't have a choice in
the matter as such. Not really,
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151. and the result was they were all
massacred, every one of them killed.
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152. Disaster. Yeah. Except for that
person. The Mongols didn't understand
the basics, did they?
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153. Yeah, the Mongols were not kind
or polite. Yeah, bad Mongols!
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154. We might come to them later,
who knows?
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155. The Mountains of Kong aren't real,
but Meedhupparuraa is.
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156. Can you give me your best
Mummerset accent?
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157. "Mummerset."
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158. You're hoping for an, "ooh-aar."
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159. Yes, that's correct. That's right.
It's not difficult. Oh. Yeah.
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160. Another go. So that's like
a generic mumbling. Yeah.
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161. It's not even West Country,
is it, Mummerset?
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162. It's sort of like a default kind
of... it can be east and west or
anywhere. That's right, yes.
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163. You replace an S with a Z, like
"zider," all that sort of thing.
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164. F with a V - Vry, Stephen Vry.
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165. Right, so for example, "I haven't
seen Alan since Friday,"
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166. becomes, "Oi ain't zeen
that Alan since Vroiday."
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167. Why is it called Mummerset?
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168. Mummerset. What is a mummer? What
are mummers? Oh, a theatrical player.
A theatrical clown.
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169. Mummers are... Like a clown
or something. Actors.
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170. Players. Actors.
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171. And it's a word given to the generic
West Country accent
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172. that - most West Country people
would say - bad actors
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173. give to a clown, a fool...
On BBC radio.
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174. ..a rustic, any kind of figure like
that, in a drama or a film. Pirates.
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175. They say, "Ooh-aar,
you can't come here."
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176. Pirates are bit West Country,
aren't they? Yeah.
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177. "Aar. Aaaar."
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178. But I gather, Sami, there is
a generic Indian accent?
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179. Well, OK, there is a generic
Indian accent -
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180. "Talking like this
and everything's OK."
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181. But I realised recently, cos I was
doing a Pakistani character
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182. in one of my stand-up shows, where I
was talking about my relative,
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183. and I put on a generic
Indian accent, and I was like,
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184. "Am I being racist towards myself
at this point?"
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185. "How are you doing?"
And I think, but I don't
talk like that.
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186. So I don't know why I did that to
myself. That is fascinating. Yeah.
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187. Yeah, on the subject of
accents and so on,
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188. who was the first BBC newsreader
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189. to have what you might call a
regional accent? Do you know this?
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190. Uh... It was a Yorkshire accent,
as it goes.
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191. I don't know. I'm trying to
remember one. So from Yorkshire?
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192. It was during the Second World War.
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193. And the idea was, people thought -
the BBC and the government thought
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194. that a local accent would be harder
for a German impostor to put on.
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195. Because the newsreaders
had to say their name.
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196. So they'd say, "This is the six
o'clock news read by Alvar Lidell,"
or whatever.
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197. "Read by Wolfgang... Oh, oh!"
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198. Exactly. Got you! Got you! Ha, ha!
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199. And it was, "This is
the six o'clock news
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200. "read by Wilfred Pickles."
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201. Oh, Pickles. Yeah, Wilfred Pickles.
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202. Unfortunately the public reported
that while they may believe that it
was Wilfred Pickles,
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203. what they didn't believe
was a word he said.
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204. "Because he didn't
speak like this."
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205. "This was
a lot of fuss about nothing."
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206. "So we are winning the war in
the Atlantic."No, that's rubbish."
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207. That's how it went.
So actors, yeah, have this...
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208. You're an actor as well
as a comedian.
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209. I did one stage play
a while back, yeah.
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210. I believe it was Romeo And Juliet?
Yes. And naturally you played...
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211. I played Juliet, actually.
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212. No, it was... The point of the play
was to create awareness
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213. about homosexuality and about
AIDS awareness in Pakistan.
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214. So we did the play and the goal
was I would play Juliet
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215. and we'd have a man
playing Romeo as well.
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216. But we did one night and then we
got told not to do any more.
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217. When you say told not to do any
more, is that a euphemism for...
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218. It's not a, "No, please
don't do any more."
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219. It's not like that at all, no. No.
It's a, "Please don't do any more."
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220. Well, I mean, they don't ever have
to point it, because it's, um...
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221. Because they've got a massive sword.
Yeah, it's implied.
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222. I don't want to make hasty judgements
about Pakistan, I've never been,
but you've got the Taliban. Hello?
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223. Yeah, but other than them it's nice.
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224. I mean, how do you go back? Yeah,
but Stephen, the naans, the naans!
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225. The naans are amazing.
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226. Well, Mummerset - exactly,
it's mummers,
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227. actors and their generic
West Country accent.
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228. Now, while we're in the West Country,
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229. the highest point in Cornwall
is called Brown Willy.
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230. But can you name an M-word
for the part of the body
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231. that Brown Willy is named after?
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232. Hello. I say!
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233. Massive man tool. Massive man tool.
Massive man tool.
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234. Is it the middle? Midriff, you mean?
Is it the pectorals?
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235. Mid... midr... No, just the middle.
The middle, general middle.
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236. The middle of a person.
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237. Can I just say about that man, he's
spend so much time on his torso,
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238. and yet that hair. Yeah.
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239. And I say that with this,
but you know.
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240. The Brown in Brown Willy actually
comes from... A bit of the body
beginning with M...
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241. The mind. Ooooh. Oh, yeah.
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242. Aaah. Is that body or is it...?
Oh, I say. Well, that's interesting.
See what I did there?
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243. It comes from... An internal
organ beginning with M?
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244. The old Cornish word Bronn
is the Brown bit. OK.
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245. And that means breast.
Breast? Breast.
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246. Breast.
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247. Mammary glands.
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248. Yeah, exactly. Does it make you feel
more comforted to say it repeatedly?
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249. Mammaries, exactly. Breast, breast!
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250. So yeah, and Willy was originally
Wennili, meaning swallow.
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251. I mean the animal. The bird.
Right, sure.
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252. There are lots of places in the UK
named after mammaries.
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253. Can you name one?
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254. Um... Boob Town. Boob Town!
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255. No, can you name a real one?
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256. Oh, sorry. Great Tit-chfield.
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257. The Mountains of Boob.
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258. The Mountains of Boob.
Well...
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259. Press your buzzer.
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260. Manchester? Yes!
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261. Oh. It was Mam-chester originally.
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262. Mam as in mammary. Yes.
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263. And it's got "chest"
in it as well. Yeah!
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264. It's an incredibly
rudely named place.
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265. Full breasts, the mammaries
and the chest. Yeah.
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266. And there's Nippleton, as well,
isn't there? Yeah.
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267. It's from the Celtic Mam.
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268. And you've got Mam Tor in Derbyshire.
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269. Jugsford.
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270. Racksbury.
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271. Melonford.
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272. Great Titty. Bazookaville.
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273. And what about Titty Hill
in West Sussex? What about it?
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274. It exists, but it's not named
after breasts. No, of course.
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275. What's it named after? The other
tits. Sir Malcolm Titty.
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276. It's so silly, it's funny.
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277. His assistant named it when
they both discovered it.
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278. "What do you think we should
call this?"Er..."
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279. "I think we should name it
after you, Titty."Titty Hill."
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280. "You found it, Titty."
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281. "Well, we're not going to name it
after you, Big Dick."
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282. Silly Carry On lines. Oh, dear.
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283. It's actually named after, I think
you were struggling to say that,
what it was named after.
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284. Oh, the birds? The birds, the tits.
The blue tits. Blue tits.
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285. Or the great tits. Blue tits,
great tits, yeah. Birds.
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286. Brown Willy is the highest point
of Bodmin Moor. Of anyone's life.
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287. Anyway, how mad can a mango
make a man go?
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288. Do you see what I did?
There's a mango.
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289. This is a story you either know or
you don't, but it is actually
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290. genuinely a fascinating story, and
rather horrifically repellent, too.
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291. So where a mango made a man go mad?
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292. It made a whole nation go mad,
actually, this. Is there something
toxic about a mango?
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293. Not toxic. It made them go mad
in a fever of worship.
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294. Oh, so they fetishised the mango?
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295. They fetishised the man who
gave them the mango.
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296. They made a god of a mango-bringing
man? Virtually, yes. Right.
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297. Absolutely right. Was it Del Monte,
the man from Del Monte?
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298. That would have been relatively sane,
in a strange sort of way.
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299. To worship the man from Del Monte?
This was the largest nation on earth
in the 1960s. 1968, to be precise.
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300. China. China. China.
So who ruled China in 1968?
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301. Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong.
The hero of the people.
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302. He received a crate of
mangos from...
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303. The man from Del Monte!
The man from Del Monte.
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304. The man responsible was the Pakistani
Foreign Minister. There we go.
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305. Do you know this story? Oh! Yeah,
because the Pakistani mango is,
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306. no matter what the Indians say,
the best in the world. Yes.
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307. And the fact that I haven't had a
Pakistani mango in three years now
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308. is just a point of misery for me.
You really miss them?
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309. Oh, my God, they're amazing.
They really are.
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310. If you try and eat a mango,
usually they've been over-chilled
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311. in Britain, so they're fibrous and
that stone in the middle is too close
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312. to the flesh, and you try it with
your knife and it squirts over you.
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313. What should you do? Should you just
simply bury your head in it?
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314. There's no dignity. Right, so you...
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315. Mangos are like lobsters. You can't
look cool and eat a mango.
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316. Like, you decide,
"I'm eating the mango
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317. "OR I'm getting laid tonight."
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318. Those are the choices
you make in life.
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319. Well, obviously, then, the Pakistani
Foreign Minister in 1968 thought
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320. he was doing a really smart thing
by giving such a beautiful fruit,
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321. a crate of them to the leader of
the most populous nation on earth,
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322. Mao Zedong, and he instantly
re-gifted those mangos.
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323. This is where it gets weird.
Awkward. Yeah. He gave them to
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324. the factory workers' peace-keeping
squads, who called themselves
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325. The Worker Peasant Mao Zedong
Thought Propaganda Teams.
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326. Catchy.
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327. What's the big deal?
He didn't like them, re-gifted them.
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328. No story there.
The crate of mangos was split up
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329. and individual fruits
were sent to factories,
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330. where they were put on altars -
so yes, you were right, worshipped -
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331. preserved in formaldehyde,
sealed in wax,
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332. and in one case, boiled
in a huge pot of water,
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333. and one teaspoon went to each worker,
of the water.
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334. So they didn't eat the mango?
No. It gets weirder.
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335. There were mango... Just...
There were Mao mango...
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336. Lots of Ms here. Sacrilege! It is!
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337. There were Mao mango medallions.
Textiles with mango pictures on them.
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338. Hundreds more mango artefacts -
trays, mugs, fabric.
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339. The state even produced
Mango brand cigarettes.
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340. Despite all this, most people
in China, of course,
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341. had never seen a mango.
There was only one crate
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342. to go round a billion people.
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343. One man who remarked that
it was nothing special
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344. and looked just like a sweet potato
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345. was arrested as
a counter-revolutionary...
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346. As he should have been.
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347. .. put on - wait for it -
put on trial, found guilty,
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348. taken to the edge of town and shot.
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349. Sorry, sorry. Now, come on!
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350. I'm just saying! Sorry.
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351. Now, who gets best use out
of a man engine?
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352. A woman.
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353. Can't believe that hasn't gone off!
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354. Do you want to know what
the forfeit was? No.
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355. "You do, Stephen."
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356. Isn't that sick? I said,
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357. "No, no-one's going to say that!"
And you didn't.
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358. Yeah, we've moved beyond.
Yeah, exactly.
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359. Anyway, what do you get out of a man
engine? Is it invented by a Mr Man?
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360. Not a Mr Man, not like... Mr Men.
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361. Mr Strong or... Mr Inventor.
Roger Hargreaves. Yeah.
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362. Mr Brilliant Inventor. Mr Inventor.
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363. But someone whose surname was Man?
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364. No, it's nothing to do with that.
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365. What was the first engine?
Steam engines. Steam.
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366. There was the Newcomen engine.
The Newcomen engine, where was that?
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367. That was in the early 18th century,
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368. it was for pumping water
out of mines.
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369. Where were those mines? Cornwall.
Cornwall? Cornwall. Tin mines.
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370. Tin mines. Trevithick, his engine,
and Newcomen, as you rightly say.
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371. So, you've got to get men down the
mines to hammer away and get the tin.
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372. And there, you can see, there's a
ladder that goes a certain way down,
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373. but if you dig down, dig down, dig
down, dig down, and then you've
got a real problem.
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374. The men have got to get all the way
down to the bottom, all the way up to
the top, and they'll be knackered.
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375. You're not getting good productivity
out of them. So you need... A lift!
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376. Yeah, but there's no technology
for a lift. Oh, shit!
You need a man engine!
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377. So all you have is a wheel that
goes round, like that. Oh, yeah.
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378. That's what you have.
It's very cunning, look at that.
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379. Watch the men there going up.
That's like two weird ski lifts.
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380. I bet there were never
accidents doing that.
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381. Well, given how many there are
in coal mines...
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382. It's beautifully elegant, isn't it?
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383. And is that when they invented
the computer game as well?
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384. Well, that's to give you
an impression of how it works.
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385. It's actually rather elegant.
As you can see, the flywheel or
whatever you call it,
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386. the wheel which converts into this
downward and upward motion.
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387. And obviously if you reverse,
it'll get the men down.
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388. I could watch that for days.
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389. Yeah. I've actually gone into a
hypnotic trance now, have you?
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390. As you can see, this one is simply
run by water, it's not even
a steam engine.
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391. And then they get on
a conveyor belt at the top.
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392. Yes, you're right.
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393. It can't be, they hadn't invented
that. It must be an ice rink.
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394. These days, mines are... "Argh!"
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395. "Argh! Argh!"
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396. "Argh! Argh!"
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397. The Lemmings game.
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398. Now, what are the three manly games?
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399. Rugger, surely.
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400. Not rugby. Spin the bottle? Boxing.
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401. Boxing? Oh... No.
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402. David, David, David, David, David...
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403. Is it going to be Tiddlywinks
and... Oh!
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404. That is miraculous, I have to say.
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405. Greco-Roman wrestling.
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406. It's a form of wrestling.
It's not Greco-Roman -
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407. it's very much of its own country,
which begins with our... M?
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408. .. our guest letter, yes, exactly.
Mongolian wrestling.
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409. Mongolia is the right answer!
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410. Oh, I'm bouncing back from
the tiddlywinks fiasco.
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411. Yeah, the Mongolians have these
games in their biggest festival,
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412. which is Naadam.
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413. So, as you can see,
it's archery, it's horse racing
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414. and it's wrestling in tight pants.
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415. And that's what the Mongolians do.
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416. Those aren't pants, sorry.
Aren't they?
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417. They're underwear. Oh, yeah! We
have a linguistic issue here,
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418. you're right. I'm... Oh, sorry.
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419. Oh, so in England are underwear
pants?
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420. Yes. Yes. That explains
a lot of confusion I have.
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421. It's... What they're really wearing
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422. is some sort of cheerleader's
outfit. Yeah.
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423. It's a sort of crop top and tight
underpants and boots.
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424. This is confusing for me,
cos this is exactly what Mary Berry
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425. is wearing
in this season of Bake Off.
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426. And it's... She's got a soggy
bottom!
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427. In that outfit, everyone has a soggy
bottom. Well, that's true.
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428. Oh, there he is. Yeah. Ooh, hello.
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429. Did the man second back ever have
his breasts used
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430. to model a tor in,
or a mountain in, Cornwall?
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431. Because it...
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432. What is it with the clothes
and the hats,
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433. what are they doing? Look, this is
a culture long established
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434. that murdered all
the people of Merv.
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435. Yeah.
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436. They make fun of their predecessors.
Yeah...
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437. When they turned up in Merv,
and everyone went...
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438. We surrender and your clothes are
funny!
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439. In Mongolia, nothing's more manly
than wrestling another man
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440. in a pair of tiny underpants.
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441. But now it's time for the
earth-shattering round
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442. that we call General Ignorance.
Fingers on buzzers, if you please.
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443. In which country was Mozart born?
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444. Ooh. Mm.
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445. The countries were weird then, most
of the countries didn't exist yet.
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446. Places like you think it's always
been a country, like Germany
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447. and Italy, didn't exist then.
No, that's right.
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448. Was it the Mountains of Kong?
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449. Well, obviously... Was he born in
Salzburg?
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450. Yes! Well done. Good points.
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451. And was that like a republic?
It was indeed. It was a state.
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452. Yeah, it was a Serbian state.
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453. But Mozart hated it and he moved,
as soon as he could, to Vienna.
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454. Called himself German,
although there was no such country.
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455. In fact, he died
way before there was such a country.
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456. He didn't make Paul McCartney's
mistake of, you know...
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457. outliving his cool.
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458. No.
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459. He didn't. Yep. Very, very true.
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460. So, there you are.
Yes, Mozart was a Salzburger.
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461. Goethe, as it happens,
was a Frankfurter,
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462. Mendelssohn was a Hamburger,
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463. and the Brothers Grimm were Hessian.
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464. Yes, so they all came from different
lands. Oh. Mm.
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465. Now... Ooh, this is exciting! I've
got some glasses of water for you.
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466. Ooh! Yes, I know. Be very...
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467. .. very excited.
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468. Oh, there we go.
Here are yours, Alan and David.
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469. Now, before... Don't try them.
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470. Don't, for God... whatever you do,
drink any yet!
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471. Until you know what you're doing.
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472. Ah, there we are. There's A, B and C.
Can you see that?
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473. Well, A has got something in it.
Yeah.
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474. There's some weird detritus in it.
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475. Yeah, that's either
some very poor washing up...
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476. .. or that's... Dandruff.
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477. Well, I'll tell you what it is.
A is sea water. A is sea water. Oh.
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478. Oh, it'll kill you.
I'll tell you what B is.
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479. Fresh water, because there's
bubbles in it.
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480. It's, er, treated sewage.
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481. All right then. Ooh.
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482. That's why it's got bubbles in it!
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483. Yeah, are you sure they're bubbles
then? And C is ultrapure water.
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484. Right. Can I have C?
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485. Is that... That's your choice?
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486. Oh, no. Hey!
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487. But, to be fair, we don't know
whether Sue meant C as in C
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488. or sea as in sea.
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489. Ah, you little devil!
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490. But, yes, the point was to trap you
into choosing ultrapure water.
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491. Ultrapure water is too pure. Oh.
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492. The kidneys have a real problem here,
because we rely on electrolytes
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493. to power, energize our brains and the
heart and other bits of ourselves.
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494. And if your blood is drained
of all the particles,
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495. because the pure water is taking them
away, through osmosis,
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496. then you will die if you have too
much ultrapure water.
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497. I'm going to revise now.
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498. Would that amount of pure water kill
you? No, no! That's fine, no.
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499. So what is the best out of those
three?
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500. Well, what about sea water, what...?
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501. Well, sea water's got
a lot of salt in it.
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502. Yeah, the kidneys try
and get the salt out,
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503. and, in order to get the salt out,
they have to use water.
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504. So you, actually, the effect of
drinking sea water is to dehydrate.
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505. Yeah. Right.
So we're left with treated sewage.
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506. Well, it's been treated, I suppose
that's... It has been treated, yeah.
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507. But someone told me that water that
you drink from a tap in London
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508. has been through nine people
before it reaches the glass.
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509. Is that true? Yeah, it's not yet...
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510. No, it's not yet true at all. This is
a sort of urban myth, that we all
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511. like to think we're drinking... It's
been through cows and sheep as well.
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512. They're talking about it...
I'd like to know which nine people
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513. they were, wouldn't you? That is
also very important to know. Yeah.
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514. In Windhoek, which is
the capital of Namibia... Namibia.
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515. Yeah, exactly. And there, they have a
slightly salty water... Points!
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516. .. because 25% of it is treated
sewage,
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517. but only 25% percent.
But it's perfectly OK.
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518. There's no excuse not do what this
is, I believe,
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519. which is probably either
Orange Country or LA,
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520. which is that they use treated sewage
for golf courses
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521. and for irrigation and things like
that.
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522. And the treated sewage is getting
popular, actually, around the world,
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523. so that seems a helpful thing.
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524. But you ought to try. Why don't you
try... No, thanks!
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525. No, I won't let you try the sewage,
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526. try the ultrapure. Cos it's not
going to kill you, one sip,
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527. just see if it is actually
noticeably pure. All right.
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528. Hm.
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529. Oh, my kidneys!
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530. It's good. I've messed up on this.
You can, yeah.
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531. I would say it does taste like
water, but a little bit more boring.
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532. It's brilliant.
I don't know whether I'm...
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533. Maybe I'm just imposing that on it.
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534. Yeah, you might be... It's not got
that chlorine high note, has it?
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535. It does taste... I don't
expect a party in my mouth
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536. with water, but...
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537. So, drinking pure water can kill you.
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538. You're much better off draining
a glass of processed sewage.
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539. Good health to you all.
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540. And all that's left now are the
scores.
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541. Oh, my gracious goodness...
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542. Crash! heavenly me.
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543. In last place, I'm afraid...
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544. but she probably knows it,
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545. by the fact that I've used a
feminine pronoun...
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546. It's Sue Perkins!
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547. Fighting manfully into
third place,
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548. Alan Davies!
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549. Thank you very much.
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550. In second place, a magnificent
debut from Sami Shah!
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551. Which can only mean that our
clear winner, with minus four,
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552. is David Mitchell!
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553. And that's all from Sami,
Sue, David, Alan and me.
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554. Goodnight.
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