00:02
This is a Global Player original podcast.
00:08
This is LBC from Global, leading Britain's conversation. Mystery Hour with James O'Brien.
00:16
Oh, Mystery Hour. It's like getting into a warm bath sometimes, isn't it? Oh, no, a cool bath. Sorry. Remember, I've got air conditioning. Who's sitting there now anywhere else in this country thinking, oh, do you know what I'd like? I'd like a warm bath. It's like getting into a cool shower, isn't it? Or jumping into the sea at the moment. The lovely, soothing... Sounds of Mystery Hour keeping you company during the sweltering heatwave that I managed to forget about despite talking about it with Guy just a moment ago. This is Mystery Hour, your weekly opportunity to achieve the sort of satisfaction not available anywhere else on your radio.
00:52
We refresh parts that other radio programmes simply cannot reach and we do so together, always together.
00:59
I benefit from your knowledge and you very occasionally might benefit from mine, but most of all we benefit from each other's curiosity. Because some of the questions might be silly and some of them might be serious, but they will all be ineffably human.
01:15
Ineffably is one of those words I shouldn't use because I've never actually double-checked what it actually means. But it's such a lovely word, like cadence, that I just find myself slipping it into a conversation sometimes. And I need to double-check. Yes, ineffably human. It describes feelings, beauty or sadness that are too great to name. It means an extreme degree that cannot be described in words. I like that. I'm running with ineffably. Mystery Hour is an ineffably human endeavour.
01:42
Shall I tell you what it is? So someone rings in with a question, right? Well, lots of people, ideally. You, for example, might ring in with a question, a mystery, a riddle, a who, a why, a what, a where, a when, a whither, a whence, even the occasional wherefore. And somebody else rings in with an answer. There aren't really any rules. You're not allowed to look stuff up.
02:00
Because that would make a mockery of the whole exercise, wouldn't it? If you could just Google it.
02:06
You can share the fruits of your previous knowledge, if you like. So if you did happen to look it up a couple of years ago, because one of the kids asked you, Dad, why do we do... That's fine, but you can't look it up now. You can have... Anyway, you understand. I don't need to draw you a flipping diagram.
02:25
And that's it. My favourite contribution of the week will win an actual Mystery Hour game. The tin is proving very popular at the moment. So you can either have the tin, the travel edition of the Mystery Hour game, or you can have the original board game. And it is worth having both, to be honest with you, because they are very different things with completely different questions and answers included in each...
02:48
Each box, one metal box, one cardboard box. And you can find out the full terms and conditions for that competition, because it is technically a competition, even though it's just me saying, yeah, that was my favourite, give them a game. It's technically a competition. It abides by all regulatory bylaws. And you can find the full terms and conditions at lbc.co.uk. Some people think I made up the game. That it never actually exists. Some people still think Keith doesn't exist because you've never really heard his voice except when some strange, booming bass baritone bleeds out of my earphones.
03:19
Keith definitely exists. And the Mystery Hour game really exists. Both of them. I can prove it to you. You can go to mysteryhour.co.uk and find out all the things you need to know about the Mystery Hour games. Indeed, you can buy your own as well if you're not lucky enough to win one in the course of this afternoon's adventures. And I think that's pretty much it.
03:40
Isn't it? Is it? Is it? Isn't it? Isn't it?
03:44
Yeah, guaranteed belly laugh once in the course of the next 50 minutes or so.
03:49
Probably. They always let me know when I've delivered it, which is nice.
03:55
And I don't like motoring questions, but to be honest with you, as I get older, I become less strict about these things and more mellow in every way. Chris is in Swainby in North Yorkshire. Chris, question or answer?
04:06
Question, please, James. Carry on, Chris.
04:09
What would happen if you opened a can of Coke in space?
04:14
So what would happen if you had a pressurized container in the vacuum of space and you opened it? I just can't mentally conceptualize what the reaction would be. Would it be a big explosion? Would it be massively underwhelming?
04:27
Would you be able to get the can of Coke into space? So what you've got is a spaceman...
04:33
Yeah. Coming out of a spaceship in a space suit with a can of Coke in his pocket.
04:40
Yeah.
04:41
And he just cracks it. And he somehow manages, because it would be hard in a space suit to get the thing, to get the ring pull off a can of Coke, wouldn't it?
04:49
I imagine NASA can make a tool for that.
04:51
I was going to say, I mean, if anybody can, NASA can. So we don't need to get bogged down in the detail of it. So the spaceman...
05:00
can of coke in space on a spacewalk opens the can what happens what happens a can of coke could be it might be bigger pressurized containers but uh yeah no i can start with a can of coke because and well it could be absolutely nothing it could be impossible to get the lid off or it could explode like a bomb no idea no i know i love it i love it where did that question come from just out of interest
05:23
Honestly, I've got into Mystery Hour over the last couple of years, and I thought, what would I ask? And that was a question that popped up, and I've just been stewing on it for about a year now, and I can't break it.
05:32
Let's hope we get an answer. We might not, of course. That is the magic of Mystery Hour, is that you never know. We roll the dice together, but we don't know what... Numbers are likely to come up. What would happen? I like that. It's got a sort of nice simplicity to it, but then incredible complexity, quite possibly, involved in the answer. What would happen if you managed to open a can of Coke in space?
05:55
Russ is in Bangor. Russ, question or answer?
05:58
question carry on ross of the time actually but we can't mention it today because it's a certain day no no no no no no no no no no don't scare me like that carry on okay i'm not scaring you you are scaring me how do you know whether you're scaring me or not being scared is not in the eye of the beholder it's in the eye of the scared person go on dryers in bathrooms there we go that's safe okay so you know why we got to be careful what we say now uh
06:23
What's the most efficient way to dry your hands? Shake them or rub them together like you're washing your hands in thin air?
06:29
Both. You shake them before you put them under the hand dryer and then you rub them together. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:33
But I've watched people, some people are shaking them and some people are rubbing them. Not most people do a hybrid version of what you've just suggested.
06:40
So it's a rub or shake?
06:43
Some people rub and some people shake.
06:45
Well, it depends. Because we've kind of been confused.
06:50
Is this a question? I'm surprised you got on. I'm not being rude. It's a criticism of my colleagues, not of you. But is this a proper question? It's a proper question.
06:58
It's keeping me awake at night.
06:59
Is it?
07:00
It is.
07:01
Can't you just do a simple experiment?
07:04
Yes, but I can't get the timer going on my phone at the same time as the rub or the shake.
07:09
Also, it would look weird, wouldn't it?
07:10
It would look weird. If I got my phone out in a bathroom, I'd start looking like a member of a certain party.
07:15
Set the timer and doing all that sort of thing. All right. Hang on. Can I rephrase the question? Yeah, the most, go on, go on, yeah. What is the optimal way to use a hand dryer? The optimal, because I think, I don't like the binary nature of shake versus rub. What is the optimal way? Because during COVID, we were being taught how to wash our hands, weren't we? We were, we were.
07:37
go on and actually you asked me you said about the shaky thing i did learn about the shaky thing because i once said to somebody whoever invented hand towels has never used a single hand towel but then there's a ted talk really where a guy shows you how to dry your hands with one hand towel and it requires 12 shakes over a sink before you do it yeah
07:55
Well, when you think about it, of course it does, doesn't it?
07:58
Yeah, that's how you use one hand towel to dry your hands.
08:01
Because if you've got soggy hands, then you pick up the towel and it falls to pieces in your hands. All right, you're on. Yeah, what is the optimal... And someone might know this, because they might get taught it. The hand dryer engineers might get taught it. It'd be nice to know, wouldn't it? What is the optimal way to use a hand dryer? And what would happen if you opened a can of Coke in space?
08:22
Zenga is in Harlsdon. Zenga, question or answer?
08:26
Hello? 12.14 is the time you're listening to James O'Brien on LBC, where Mystery Hour is underway. Just to clarify one thing from the conversation with Guy Shrubsold a moment ago. I mean, it would be good to ban disposable barbecues. No one is suggesting otherwise. But it was a little disappointing to have a Cobra meeting. At the end of which, in the face of a, I mean, absolutely extraordinary climate crisis, all that emerged from the Cobra meeting was a suggestion that they might ban disposable barbecues.
09:02
So by all means, ban them. Great. No one is suggesting we shouldn't. I just think Guy and I were both a little bit taken aback by the apparent paucity of the policy pronouncements after such an important meeting. It's 12.15.
09:17
16 minutes after 12 is the time. You're listening to James O'Brien on LBC. I like this. Where's it gone? Was it Tim who plays a game about who would be most likely to get a Ray Liotta with each question? So on every question, they have a little debate about who'd be most likely to get the Ray Liotta. And obviously on the can of Coke in space question, you'd be hoping for Tim Peake to ring in. I don't know who would ring in on the Optima... Can't imagine anyone getting a Ray Liotta for telling us what the optimal way to use a hand dryer is, but stranger things have happened.
09:49
Let's give Zenga in Harlsdon another go, but only one more go, Zenga. Question or answer?
09:54
Oh, hello. Thanks very much. I have a question.
09:57
Yes.
09:58
I'd like to know why is it that inner city slang changes so rapidly, whereas posh slang always sort of stays the same? Because I live in the inner city area of London, and I hear there's local slang... changes all the time. So one minute people are saying famalam, next minute famalam is out and they're saying, you know, cuz or whatever.
10:18
Yes.
10:19
And it's impossible to keep up. Whereas posh slang, when you hear Jacob Rees-Mogg or Boris Johnson...
10:25
I don't know that Jacob Rees-Mogg deploys slang, does he?
10:28
Yeah, they do. They say old bean. They have the P.G. Woodhouse slang. Oh, I see. What do you mean? And they say good show, old bean. Or when they say goodbye, they say tinky-tonk. Pip, pip.
10:39
And if you dickens, the slang hasn't changed. They're still saying things like absolutely topping. So the slang is exactly the same.
10:47
I think the question is absolutely fascinating. I think that's a brilliant question. I mean, just to be a pedant, if I may.
10:56
I mean, it's not identical. So, you know, there's a lot of stuff in Woodhouse that I think Woodhouse actually made up himself. But they're still using it.
11:05
Even if he made it up, people are still saying Old Bean.
11:08
Old Bean is a perfect example of what you're describing. I mean, urban slang or inner city slang. Just moves a heck of a lot faster. Although, I suppose, you know, in the demotic, we would still say mate. I still say mate a lot. And mate is the equivalent to old bean. And it's not... Actually, a lot of my posh mates say mate all the time, mate.
11:29
They're always saying mate. So you're talking about posh slang staying the same.
11:33
Yes.
11:34
And street slang changing all the time.
11:36
Yes. I mean, people say...
11:39
or whatever, and then suddenly, you know, a month later.
11:44
Do you know what, Zynga?
11:45
It's old-fashioned.
11:47
Do you know what, Zynga? It's not just a great question. I'd go so far, Zynga, as to say it is actually a Zynga.
11:55
You've made my day.
11:57
You may well have made mine, depending on whether or not we get an answer. Zynga from Zynga. 19 minutes after 12 is the time. Why does posh slang stay the same while street slang evolves and changes in often fascinating but fast ways? I love that. Ian is in Stourbridge. Ian, question or answer? Question, please, James. Great to be able to talk to you.
12:18
Likewise.
12:20
How can toddlers...
12:22
Run so quickly once they escape your clutches and you find it really difficult to catch up with them.
12:30
I've got sort of three examples of this that have happened recently and it's just something that absolutely fascinates me. Go on.
12:40
The first one was...
12:43
my nephew escaping my clutches.
12:46
Yeah.
12:47
And that was some time ago.
12:49
He ran down an alley in an area that was unfamiliar to me.
12:54
Right.
12:54
And I really panicked.
12:55
So you got worried.
12:56
You got worried. You know, but I eventually caught him, but it took a good... I think I know why. ...20 yards.
13:04
Yeah, I think I know why.
13:06
But I've seen it again since... Go on. ...you know...
13:11
My friend's little boy, she lives on a main road.
13:15
He saw the garden gate open. Fortunately, the pavement's quite wide, so she managed to get to him before he caught the road, but it was really quite scary. And then the latest one was a friend up the gym. His little boy escaped it. And, I mean, I'm talking about fairly...
13:37
31, 32 maybe. A year old bloke who's really thick.
13:41
And it's just in that, over the first 10 to 15 yards, the toddler is enjoying an unexpected advantage.
13:49
Absolutely. And they've only got little feet and little legs.
13:53
But think about it, though.
13:56
I'm probably going to make an absolute fool of myself now.
14:02
Go on.
14:03
Again. I thought you should have said again. I left that one wide open for you, mate. Left it wide open. It's because their legs are short that they can get going quicker.
14:16
I'm going to use it using the medium of sound, all right? Because you can't see me at the moment. Yeah. So here's the toddler, all right?
14:28
And here's you chasing after them. Boom, boom, boom, boom. So obviously, as you pick up speed...
14:39
And they've got gravity on their side because, as Alan points out, they're not exactly running. It's more like they're falling. They're sort of falling forwards and getting their feet in front of them at a rate of knots. So they're going... And then you're behind and go... So you're bound to catch them up. And if it was over 100 yards, you'd beat them by a country mile. But over that initial ignition, that ignition point, the little legs are pumping away a lot faster than the long old legs.
15:07
Yeah, I get that. But as I say, I still find it, you know, that chap I just described in the gym was like, it was probably further than 10 yards and it took it, you know, it really took him the best of his strength to actually get there and get him before he was out through the doors and
15:24
I think it will be about acceleration versus speed. It's bound to be that. They can accelerate faster than we can because they're lighter or their legs are shorter or something. The acceleration will be faster, even though the speed they end up at is going to be considerably slower. The journey from inertia, from stillness to maximum speed, is going to be much shorter than it is for the bigger person. But I sense...
15:49
Would that be quicker off a starting block? Yeah, of course you would.
15:53
That's why we have starting blocks. It'd be weird, though, wouldn't it, if you were just sitting there on a starting block waiting for a toddler to run away and then, boom, you're off.
16:01
Leverage. I'm going to get an answer. I think I'm probably about 80% there on that one. Okay. But I'd wait for someone to provide the last 20, or indeed to completely dismantle my own attempts at answering that question. I like that. I like that. 03456060973, if you know the answer...
16:19
To Ian's question. You didn't see Henry Riley yesterday, did you, Ian, at all, knocking around town?
16:25
No, no, I'm recovering from a knee. I wouldn't be able to catch anybody at the moment. I'm recovering from a total knee replacement. I'm not out and about at the moment. Well, stay safe.
16:36
I wish you a speedy recovery. Henry was in Kiddy, but of course, if he caught the train, if he was getting the Birmingham train, he'd have gone through Stowerbridge. Jen is in Chiswick. Jen, question or answer? Question, James. Carry on, Jen. Can you wash your freckles off?
16:51
Well, don't you like them?
16:53
I miss them. I love them. I used to have a face full of them. Oh, your freckles.
16:57
I thought you were giving me some cosmetic advice there. I thought you were sitting and judging. Well, no, you know you can't wash your freckles off.
17:05
Well, where have mine gone then? I used to have a face full, and now I've got some just in my hairline, which is where I won't be taking makeup off my face for, like, the last 35 years.
17:17
Oh, so you think you might actually have been responsible for the freckle river? It's a genuine question. Yeah.
17:21
Yeah, I've just got a really bland face now that's freckle-free, and I miss them.
17:25
Oh, when did you notice that they were going, or did it just strike you one day that they'd gone?
17:30
Struck me about two years ago. Where have all my freckles gone? Yeah, I saw a childhood photo, and I was covered in them. Lovely little freckles.
17:39
Did you have them as an adult?
17:41
Hmm, I don't know.
17:43
I haven't kind of... Because it might be... Well, think about it. As your face got bigger...
17:49
the freckles got stretched until they became invisible.
17:53
No, that doesn't sound right.
17:54
It does. It happens with birthmarks sometimes. A little baby has a little birthmark, and then as their face expands, the birthmarks sort of become so stretched out that you can't see it anymore. That's obviously what's happened. What else could it be?
18:07
My face isn't that much bigger than it was when I was, say, 12.
18:11
No, it's not. It is. It's about half the size again. It's about 50% bigger than it was when you were 12, your face.
18:17
So then how do you explain the ones that have remained just below my hairline?
18:25
I'm not sure I can. Thank you. You're welcome. I thought I might. I just gave myself a little bit of space there to come out with that. But I have got nothing. Because that part of your face would have expanded just as much. Yes, it would. Otherwise, you'd look really weird, wouldn't you?
18:39
It's quite insulting, you talking about the size of my face. Well, it's no.
18:43
There's nothing wrong with having a big old face.
18:51
More room to smile. All the better to smile. It's turned into one big freckle, perhaps. They've joined together. I don't know. So where do all the freckles go? Thank you. Thank you. 26 minutes after 12 is the time. Not just Jen's freckles, of course, unless she is a freak of nature. But all the freckles that were once on a face that are no longer on a face.
19:11
And it could be that you've been using some sort of product that has... Because you can do... It's melanin, isn't it? So you can make them come up more. So presumably, maybe there is something that you've done over the years that might have made them go away. Andy's in Shrewsbury. Andy, question or answer?
19:28
Question, please, James. Carry on, Andy. Have you got any freckles?
19:32
Yeah, I have actually. I've managed to retain some of mine. Sadly, most of my hair's gone there.
19:37
Oh, yeah, swings and roundabouts.
19:40
Are you similarly freckled today to how you were when you were 12, or would you detect a change, do you think?
19:46
I notice them more in sunnier weather, actually.
19:49
Maybe you've got Jen's freckles then. Maybe they've kind of migrated from Chiswick to Shrewsbury. Go on then, what's your question?
19:57
So my question is, I travel all from literally Land's End to John O'Groats for work, and I've driven for many years, and I can't understand, why is it that the digital radio signal in cars and vans is so poor compared to the old FM signal? I don't know that we...
20:16
Are you sure this is... I mean, we like DAB Digital. It's our livelihood. I don't know that we should have accepted this question.
20:24
Yeah, I'll put you in space here.
20:26
Listen to the app. Get online and listen to the app. Is it worse, DAB Digital, than FM? Definitely. Is it?
20:32
It's definitely worse. And not only that, when it goes, it just goes. And you're left in limbo. Usually in the middle of a very important interview where you're just about to nail it home and I'm waiting for the answer. And there it goes. But on the old FM...
20:47
It's very annoying. And on the old FM system, FM used to automatically scan and find you a slightly better frequency. But DAB is either on or off. And the strange thing about it is that when I look at my mobile phone at those moments when it's gone off, I've got a very good internet signal. So why has it gone?
21:07
I bet Keith knows. Do you know, Keith, this one?
21:11
Kinda.
21:13
No, Keith doesn't know. I should know, really. Why would I know? I don't know anything about what goes on under the bonnet of this. I don't even know which way round my microphone goes. Keith has to keep telling me.
21:24
It's very frustrating. Yeah, I'm sorry to hear this. As an entire humanity, we've accepted a load of vehicles that we're all buying with something inside that doesn't work.
21:36
Yeah, you're on. Okay. I mean, I'm worried. I don't want to sound like I'm denigrating the technology that pays my mortgage. But it is fair to say that one is better than the other, and we don't know why. It's an odd thing as well to have replaced the superior medium with the inferior medium. But there will be reasons behind all of this, and we will find out what they are, Andy. 0345 6060 973 is the number that you need if you can answer this question. Or indeed, the question about the freckles, the question about how on earth can toddlers outrun adults for a bit when they're so small and slow?
22:13
Why does posh slang stay the same while street slang evolves and changes constantly? That's a brilliant question, actually, from Zenger.
22:22
What is the optimal way to use a hand dryer? That, possibly from Russ, is a less good question. I don't know, but, you know, horses for courses. And another contender for question of the week, Chris, is what would happen if you opened a can of Coke in space? 0345 6060 973. And here's Tim Humphrey with your headline.
22:45
It's 12.32. You're listening to James O'Brien on LBC, where Mystery Hour continues. What a dizzying array. What a pleasant potpourri of questions we have this week. We'll need to get some answers on the board soon, but not necessarily just yet. Simon is in Little Hampton. Simon, question or answer?
23:01
Oh, hi, James. I've got a question for you. Carry on.
23:04
So the direct question is, does Beethoven get PRS and all his era mates of the same era of music?
23:13
It's a good question that, but I think I know the answer. There's a time limit on copyright. So I know with books, you know when you're in the bookshop and some of the old classics are like 99p. There's a section where you can buy all the Dickens and all the Jane Austens for 99p. It's because they're out of copyright. So there's no royalties being paid. And I think Cliff Richard tried to challenge it, of all people. You know how my brain works. I've got Cliff Richard popping up now.
23:41
He's pretty close to Beethoven's age, I guess.
23:45
I thought you were going to say talent, then.
23:48
No. They're interchangeable, really, aren't they? Cliff Richard is the Beethoven de nos jours. I'm pretty sure that it's 50 years or something like that for music, and Cliff was understandably a bit cross that some of his early work was going to move out of copyright. Well, he was still in a position to... enjoy the benefits, which is the answer to your question. So no, the descendants of Beethoven and Mozart and even, I imagine, Nat King Cole don't get any royalties from their work.
24:15
It'd be interesting if there's a steward on that.
24:18
It's unlikely, isn't it?
24:20
Well...
24:22
as the family. Who's going to ring in on that one then? Who's the current Beethoven? Beethoven the 20th?
24:26
Yeah, John Beethoven. John Beethoven. He lives in Dagenham. He plays down at the dog and duck every Friday night.
24:36
Great, great, great, great, great granddad.
24:39
John Beethoven.
24:41
Yeah.
24:42
Yeah, if there's a Stuart's inquiry on this, I'll give you the money myself.
24:46
Otherwise, there'd be all sorts of rouse going on and who got that and who got this. So, a round of applause for me, I think. Thank you.
24:52
I looked it up.
24:54
Or I remember the Cliff Richard story, actually. But I also looked it up with books once. I can't remember why. Oh, I do remember why. I wondered if I could leave royalties to my children in the unlikely event of anyone still buying my books in the dim and distant future. And there is a time limit on books as well as on music. It is 12.35. Oh, and speaking of my writing efforts, I think the column that I've written for the iNewspaper today is... I think it's a really important point that I'm not hearing made in lots and lots of different places.
25:24
So if you get the chance to have a look at that, then do. Please do so. 12.35 is the time. Laurie is in Finsbury Park. Laurie, question or answer?
25:32
I've got an answer for the question about accents.
25:35
What, Zanga Zinga?
25:37
Fantastic. Go on.
25:40
So the question was, why do working class accents change? Not accent, slang.
25:46
Slang.
25:47
Oh, sorry. Yes, slang. That's even more precise. So my expertise is that one of my jobs is that...
25:57
i correct scripts for hollywood tv shows i can't tell you which ones but the dialogue will come in to me written by americans you've got a clicky phone line i'm gonna i'm gonna fix it because i really want to hear this and um i can't at the moment i don't know why your phone line is clicky it might have something to do with the question about why fm is better than dab for some people not for everybody because my inbox is now full of radio balls Apparently it's Dave Beethoven, James says, that plays down at the dog and duck in Dagenham, not John. But maybe John Beethoven must have been his dad.
26:27
I really want that call. But obviously, if the clickiness cannot be got rid of, then I can't really take it. Because if it annoys me, it annoys you. That's the principle I work on. Robert's in Oxford. Robert, question or answer?
26:38
It's a question, James.
26:39
Carry on, Robert.
26:40
Yeah, to continue the space theme from yesterday and the Coca-Cola, we were watching the stars last night, the shooting stars, and we saw a beautiful one. And I thought... What shootings?
26:52
No one told me about any shooting stars. You're supposed to be watching the eclipse. No, no, no.
26:56
It's a whole sort of, you know, it was a duo thing.
26:59
Was it linked? Were the shooting stars linked to the eclipse?
27:02
No, no. This is every year we go through some sort of asteroid belt.
27:05
All right.
27:06
Yeah, yeah. No one tells me, anyway. Yeah.
27:09
So there we were. And this beautiful shooting star, really bright. And I thought, how many people am I sharing this wish with? So how many people can see that shooting star? How far north and south? I guess east and west works less because then it gets dark in light. It's on the same axis, isn't it?
27:30
You're not going to be able to answer that. How many people can see the same shooting star?
27:35
No, no, no. Not people. What's the furthest location?
27:40
It was the Perseid meteor shower, wasn't it? I did know about that. I could get that memo. I probably pronounced it wrong. Is that what you're talking about?
27:46
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So will somebody in Scotland have seen that shooting star? Will somebody in... Norfolk. Yeah, Norfolk.
27:58
If they were looking up.
28:00
Yeah, I like it.
28:02
Yeah, no, I do like it. I mean, no is the short answer, isn't it? Because otherwise everyone would have seen it.
28:09
No, the answer to what?
28:11
I mean, a person in Scotland wouldn't have seen the one that you saw. I don't see it.
28:14
I don't know, because how high is it? Obviously, they must burn up at the same height. Yeah, so, you know...
28:24
I can't believe I said that out loud.
28:26
Everyone can see the moon as if that's a helpful conference.
28:28
Yeah, it was in front of the sun last night. It was, yeah. Everyone was looking at the moon last night.
28:32
So shooting stars or meteor showers? No, just the shooting star.
28:36
Who would see the same shooting star? But I think it was a meteor shower.
28:39
I think what you saw was a meteor shower.
28:42
No, no, it doesn't matter. Any night of the year, they must burn up at the same point. They must be just a bit more intense.
28:49
uh this time of year yeah i like it yeah yeah you're on i mean it is is uh i mean it's a good question i don't fully understand its parameters because i'm a bit slow on some subjects but i do so what i'm thinking is it depends how far it flies through the sky because you might see the beginning of its journey in one part of the country and the end of it in another part of the country and they've both seen it but they haven't seen what you saw They've just seen the same thing at different stages in its trajectory. There you go. I inserted a fancy word at the end to make it sound as though I know what I'm talking about.
29:21
Thank you, Robert. Let's go back to Laurie in Finsbury Park. So one of your jobs is to sort of make scripts authentic.
29:32
Yes, to make them sound... Somebody will send me in a script that's meant to be set in the modern day and I'll have to explain to them why they can't use Cockney rhyming slang.
29:45
So someone writes a script set in London and it's as if Dick Van Dyke has risen from the pages of Mary Poppins and you have to say, no, gore lummy, Eliza Doolittle. No one talks like that. The phone line's still not great, so give it to me quickly.
30:00
It's class. TLDR, it's class. It's immigration, working-class people, and there's waves and waves of immigration. Change versus constancy.
30:08
It's change versus constancy.
30:09
Yes, but also upper-class people, posh people, tend to have all these little codes and shibboleths. People learn them deliberately. Great word, shibboleth. Great word. Yeah, people learn them on purpose. If the line's good enough, this thing I learned recently is one of the theories for why posh people don't say they're R's sometimes, Like, you know, oh, terribly, terribly. One of the theories for this is that after the French Revolution, when posh French people were going over, there was an affectation among certain very posh people to stop saying R because it stands for revolution.
30:43
I thought you were going to say that the English people were trying to sound posh by aping the French who couldn't pronounce their R's very well.
30:50
No, it's even sillier.
30:51
Yeah, that's wonderful. I know you've told us, but tell us again, qualifications?
30:56
I work as a script consultant.
30:58
That's wonderful. A script consultant, as I would say. I work as a script consultant. That's a lovely answer to a lovely question. Have a round of applause, Laurie.
31:07
That is lovely. And it is, in a nutshell, constancy versus change. And also, as Laurie says, posh people kind of protecting... If you go back to one of them, was it one of the Mitford sisters who wrote a book with a academic from Birmingham University about you and non-you and it would. So if you used the word toilet, it meant that you were non-you. You were you were, you know, not posh. Posh people didn't. If you weren't posh, you didn't know that. You didn't know that saying toilet or settee instead of sofa was somehow a mark to posh people that you weren't posh enough.
31:42
It's ludicrous. It's insanely ludicrous, but it obviously matters to some people. Otherwise, Hyacinth Bouquet wouldn't have been such a funny character. And you get it with pronunciation as well. The shibboleth is such a lovely word. But, you know, some of the pronunciations of posh people's names are fairly ridiculous. The way that it's spelt and the way that it's pronounced are a million miles away. Beauchamp. as opposed to Beecham. So you see Beauchamp written down, which is French, I think, the beautiful field originally. So Beecham Square is spelt B-E-A-U-C-H-A-M-P. And that's not even the best example.
32:17
A best example has temporarily eluded me. So it's a code to denote membership to a tribe. And it is a timeless tribe, the posh. the posh tribe, whereas urban slang is also a code of membership, but it's a constantly changing tapestry of tribes with new arrivals bringing new words and people adopting them. And that is one of my favourites in a very long time as a combination of both question and answer. Tristan is in Stafford. Tristan, question or answer?
32:46
answer carry on it's answer to optimal way to use uh dry your hands in the hand dryer get in yes come on from the sublime to the ridiculous so for this is specifically for the blade ones because they're more efficient than the non-directional ones so that's your dyson and i believe your mitsubishi one so if you hold your hand out in front of you like a paper for rock paper scissors yeah if you then tilt your hand down 45 degrees yeah to vertical And then you pull your hand backwards towards you through the air blade.
33:20
It pushes the water down your fingers, off the tip of your fingers.
33:24
Oh, yeah.
33:24
Which is then why it goes, you often find you've got like a metal plate or a catch below it in the bathrooms. Yes.
33:32
And what about on an old school sort of manky?
33:34
On an old school one, you've got to kind of rub your hand, similar motion, but they're just, unfortunately, it's probably easier just to dry your hands on your jeans.
33:42
On your jeans, yeah. Qualifications?
33:45
I used to work in the motor design team at Dyson.
33:48
Really? And you worked on the hand dryer? Yeah.
33:51
I worked on, I did some modification for the, because they use the old vacuum motors in the early ones, so worked on those. That's pretty cool.
34:00
What are you doing now, if you don't mind me asking?
34:03
I work in defence now.
34:04
Really? So you've gone from hand dryers to guns?
34:07
Yeah, I did some scientific lab equipment in between, but yeah. That's amazing.
34:11
Have you managed to combine any of the technologies you've worked on? I mean, could you make a hand dryer that could kill people?
34:18
I don't think so. I mean, I'm colourblind, so I could wire it up wrong.
34:23
Yeah, be careful with that. On the James Bond game I've been playing a lot on the PlayStation, that's where it came from. It's not quite a hand dryer, but he can turn almost anything into an electrocuting device when the baddies come round the corner and lean on a fan or something. If James Bond has pressed the right button, the fan can kill him on the spot. So you're not alone, Tristan, you know.
34:47
fictional computer game characters are also working across the fields that you work across. That's a wonderful thing. Have a round of applause on me. Thank you. No, thank you.
34:58
How hilarious. 12 is coming up to quarter to one. I got time. Well, we need answers, really. I got time for another question or two, but we still need to know about the FM versus the DAB. The freckles question. Why do freckles fade? And why do some freckles not fade? How can a toddler outrun an adult at the beginning of the chase, as it were? Hand dryers we've done.
35:18
Slang we've done. And what would happen if you opened a can of Coke?
35:23
In space.
35:25
Because remember, in space, no one can hear you scream. Oh, and the shooting star, who can see it? How far and wide is it visible? Is the visibility of a shooting star? It's 12.45.
35:41
12.48 is the time. The can of Coke, the radio, the shooting star, the freckles, I think, are the questions still in need of answers. It'd be nice to get them all cleared up before home time. It is currently 12.48. You are listening to James O'Brien on LBC. Patrick's in Peckham. Patrick, question or answer?
36:00
Answer, James. Bring it on.
36:03
Well, can of Coke in space.
36:04
Yeah.
36:06
Inside a spaceship, completely different to outside of one.
36:09
Correct.
36:10
Gravity is the main issue there, not so much the pressure.
36:16
This is outside a spaceship, not inside.
36:18
So outside a spaceship, that can of Coke is likely to boil and then immediately freeze.
36:26
Really? You can't just say that.
36:29
I can. Well, I mean, you can, obviously, because you did. I believe that fact. But why? To boil in it, even in the can, wouldn't it?
36:37
I mean, I've got so many questions. As soon as you open it. Right. It would boil and then freeze. Yeah, because you've got a difference of pressure.
36:49
You're going into a vacuum.
36:51
Yeah.
36:52
Liquids tend to evaporate, freeze and evaporate eventually in a vacuum.
36:58
Do they?
36:58
Yeah. But initially, they start to boil. Because your boiling temperature of something sort of drops drastically in a vacuum as it does to sort of normal atmospheric pressures that we're used to.
37:17
Fair enough. So, I mean, it would go off like a rocket then, wouldn't it?
37:21
Not like an explosion, but it would certainly come out with force.
37:25
Yeah, I mean, it would fly away. It would go, you know, like a rocket. No, like a rocket is what I said. It would be literally like a little rocket. Something like that.
37:36
Something like that, yeah. Okay, qualifications?
37:40
I'm a scuba diver. A scuba diver?
37:43
Yeah, and I read up about this, oh, it must be 15 years ago.
37:48
It all started with what happens when you crack an egg underwater.
37:53
Really? What does happen when you crack an egg underwater?
37:56
It retains its shape. If you crack it carefully enough, you'll basically get that liquid egg. Floating around like in an egg shape, like a little egg. In its egg shape, yep. In its little bubble, so to say. Have you done it?
38:09
I haven't done it myself, no. How have you not done it?
38:11
When you found that out, how have you not done it? I'm going to do it in the bath later. My instructor did it. Really? In front of you?
38:18
In front of us. Wow.
38:21
Kneeling down on the sand, he demonstrated this to demonstrate sort of atmospheric pressure on the body and how it sort of keeps everything in position and
38:33
Wow.
38:34
Do you know, that last bit you said there, I was sitting here thinking, oh, it's another science thing I don't understand. And then I did suddenly understand what you were saying. It's not got that much to do with the Coke can, has it? The egg?
38:48
No, it isn't.
38:49
It's completely the opposite.
38:50
Yeah, exactly. So the boiling point drops to zero in a vacuum, which means the liquid would start boiling and then it would immediately freeze. What would it freeze into? Like candy floss almost.
39:03
I couldn't tell you. It's mostly sugar, isn't it? I would think it would just freeze into a...
39:10
so-called ice cube, a Coca-Cola ice cube.
39:12
No, it wouldn't though, would it? Because it'd be the bubbles and everything and it'd be all spreading around. It'd be the opposite of the egg. Like you said, it wouldn't be holding together in a can shape. It would be freezing and boiling at the same time. Oh man, I really want to see someone open a can of Coke in space. Do you think we'd get Elon Musk to get someone to do it? I'll ask him. Yeah, nice one. Have a round of applause in the meantime.
39:34
Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Pache. What a wonderful answer to a wonderful question. What a magnificent mystery hour all round. Yvonne is in Crosby. Yvonne, question or answer?
39:42
It's an answer.
39:43
Carry on, Yvonne.
39:44
So, the answer to the Freckles question? Oh, yes.
39:49
So basically, modern day moisturisers have SPF or sun protection factors in now. Yeah. And so obviously, continuous use of them protects your skin. Yeah. And freckles are actually sun damage. And the reason that...
40:03
They can't be sun damage because babies have them.
40:06
No, they're moles.
40:07
No, little young people, you know, little young people, like old people, but young. They have freckles. My kids had freckles when they were tiny. We never went anywhere hot. Actually, that's not true. We did. We went to Thailand.
40:19
You went outdoors, didn't you?
40:20
Yeah, only if they were naughty.
40:23
Okay, well... Go on.
40:27
Even in this country, we do get the odd occasional day of sunshine.
40:31
So it's melanin. So you're right. It's been brought up from below by the sun.
40:35
Yeah. And the reason that she's still got them in her hairline is because she's missing that area when she puts her moisturiser on because she doesn't want to get moisturiser in her hair roots.
40:46
So it is literally successful SPF activity from the moisturiser over a period of time, which means the freckles that came up during her childhood have gone down again.
40:56
Yeah, and she wouldn't have used moisturisers. Of course she wouldn't.
41:00
And it's all got SPF in it these days.
41:02
Exactly. What a great answer. Qualifications? I'm also missing my freckles for the same reason. Well, I never.
41:09
Who'd have thought that that would be it then? So people who are really, really freckly...
41:14
and don't want to be, if they slathered themselves in SPF 50 all the time, their freckles would go away?
41:21
Yeah, not their moles, because the moles are more permanent, but freckles, yes, they would definitely be significantly reduced.
41:27
Wow, that's fantastic. Have a round of applause on me, Yvonne.
41:30
Thank you.
41:31
No, thank you. Lovely stuff. And makes perfect sense with the hairline anomaly as well being brought into the equation. What a lovely answer.
41:39
Stephen's in Thetford. Stephen, question or answer? Answer, my friend. Carry on.
41:44
The little kiddies.
41:45
Yes.
41:46
Yeah, well, they've got a head start, haven't they?
41:48
Because I haven't even noticed they've gone. We're going to do bad jokes on Mystery Hour. They're going to be mine. I want a proper answer to the question. That's a proper answer. I'm a grunt. No, I know, but they don't. Even if you note the question was contingent upon the fact that you've noticed they've gone because they're running into the road. How can they win the first 10 yards or 20 yards of the race when they are obviously much slower than the adult?
42:11
Because I had my hip replaced 12 weeks ago.
42:13
No, this is...
42:14
Autumn, she calls me dump, so she's quick as, like, you would believe it.
42:18
I do believe it, but it's not, yeah. But this isn't the answer to the question, you silly man. I'm not going to... No, no, get knotted. Alex is in Plymouth. Alex, question or answer?
42:27
Hello, James. You all right? Long-term listener, long-term big fan. I just hope the line's all right. So, yes, it's an answer for the comet, for the asteroid.
42:37
Yes, all the shooting stuff.
42:39
Yes, so essentially, you're familiar with the Earth, the axis.
42:45
I am familiar with the Earth. I might sometimes seem like I'm not, but I promise I am.
42:51
The Earth's axis is slightly tilted, right? Correct, yeah. So essentially, the Perseid constellation... The galaxy is a galaxy, and it was at its highest point above our region at roughly 2.30 last night, the actual constellation. So that is why you can visibly see the comets going across up to 50 to 100 per hour. So say, for example, the chat was... You know, the chap was talking, he was in Scotland, and I'm down in the southwest, so it would have been slightly different timings because of the trajectory, like you said.
43:31
Yeah, yeah.
43:33
You did mention trajectory, so I think you were onto it.
43:35
No, it's a good word to use. It's a good word to use when you're talking about space.
43:40
I think you were onto it, James, with the trajectory, because essentially... You're nearly there. Essentially, where the constellation is...
43:48
Each constellation, if you look up like, for example, Orion, Pallades, but Perseids was directly above Britain in a direct, in a perfect time zone. That's why people, they were visible.
44:01
What about if I'm standing in a specific spot, how far out from that spot would everybody in that area be able to see what I can see? Do we know?
44:12
What do we think? It's almost like a bit of a paradox of the question, isn't it? Because you can only be in one place at once, can't you?
44:21
uh yeah that's also true unless unless you were speaking to somebody who was directly standing no no i was going to say i'm in several places at once you're in where are you you're in i know you are and people are listening to me in london people are listening to me in france i'm in loads of different places at the same time i know but that's that's the beauty of you isn't it joe have a round of applause this would be so lovely and for providing a good answer as well uh vanessa is in cruise hill vanessa question or answer
44:50
Answer, James.
44:51
Carry on.
44:52
It's a building on... Was it Steve from Thetford?
44:56
Yeah. We ignored him. Don't bring him back into the conversation. He was a self-appointed comedian. We've only got room for one of those.
45:08
He was partway there.
45:09
Okay.
45:10
It's in part, and this is only one of many reasons how children do this, men and women's eyes are different...
45:20
women actually... And the chat that raised this question highlighted three different examples where men allowed the children to get, or the children got a head start on men.
45:33
And this is to do with the peripheral vision that women have due to looking after children.
45:40
So a woman wouldn't have got away as quickly from a woman as they did from a man?
45:45
Yep, because men's eyes are...
45:49
for hunting and therefore their better vision is directly ahead. And this is being demonstrated apparently in road accidents and all sorts of other things as well as to do with children.
46:01
That's one of many, many different reasons why they get away. But also little legs. No, I'm sorry. No, come off it.
46:09
It's got to be part of the little legs theory. They just come out quicker because the little legs are pumping away at nine to the dozen.
46:16
I think you need to get yourself on a racing track and try it off the guns and actually see whether that theory really holds out.
46:23
Yeah, but you're completely ignoring the dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee. element of this theory as opposed to the thump thump thump so yeah so a woman so a child is less likely to escape from a woman than a man well have that sounds a bit and hang on a minute let me rephrase that i mean a toddler running away from grandma is likely to get less far than a toddler running away from granddad in the middle of a delightful game
46:47
And that's where it's correct. And this has been studied as well.
46:51
I love it.
46:52
Is that granddad won't even notice the child has disappeared. Wow.
46:58
I love this. And you're right to say there'll be other elements going on as well. But that's my favourite. And it gets you a round of applause. What a cracking old mystery hour that was. I'm going to give the ball game to Zenga.
47:08
I mean, in a way, we should give one to Laurie as well for the answer. And to be fair, I think she should have had one as well. But anyway, it's just Zenga. We're just giving one to Zenga. We've only got one. I'm not made of money. That's it for me for today. If you missed any of it, you know what to do. Global Player, LBC app, yada, yada, yada. You can listen to a range of podcasts, including James O'Brien Daily, the best bits from my LBC show every day.
47:31
Tom Salbrick with you at four. And Sheila Fogarty with you.
47:33
now was zenga the uh slang or the language in social groups really interesting very interesting in fact it was a zinger from zenga i was sitting outside listening and when you said oh that's the best one in ages i'd literally said out loud oh that's good yes yeah well good there you go if i can get get that out of sheila that's it my work here is done your work is done it literally is for the day anyway this has been a global player original production
