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Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed be

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Speaker 1: follow this and our Wide Ranger podcast now on iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: We are talking about, loosely the death of Gene Hackman

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Speaker 2: and his wife and one of his dogs. Very sad,

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Speaker 2: very mysterious, but shocking. Ellen, how are you this afternoon?

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Speaker 3: Very good? How are you guys?

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Speaker 4: God? Good? Thank you. So you've met Gene Hackman?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I've had more than a couple of beers with him.

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Speaker 4: To be honest, how did that come about? Ellen?

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Speaker 3: I was living in Saba Kotakinaballoo in Malaysia and I

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Speaker 3: had a very good American friend and we used to

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Speaker 3: take our kids down to the local shert and swimming

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Speaker 3: pool and have a couple of beers. So we're having

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Speaker 3: a couple of beers and this American guy comes up,

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Speaker 3: recognizing my friend's voice, fellow Americans, and can I join

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Speaker 3: you boys for a beer? Come on?

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Speaker 1: Wow?

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Speaker 3: Was they were shooting a movie? I was called back

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Speaker 3: twenty one. It was meant to be shot in the Philippines,

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Speaker 3: but because they were having a little wall with Marcross

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Speaker 3: at the Keno, they came over to Borne own shot it.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, for about a week Randy and me and

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Speaker 3: my wife and kids sat down and had beers with them.

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Speaker 5: Hell of a night sky, right And did he did

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Speaker 5: he have good did he have good stories?

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Speaker 4: Gene Heckman?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, oh yeah, my son was sitting on his knees

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Speaker 3: entertaining them. Yeah, jump and the pall with the kids.

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Speaker 3: And yeah, it was ago about four or five days

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Speaker 3: from memory, it was a long time ago, yeah, probably

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Speaker 3: four days. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Was he was he a good drinker? Did he like

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Speaker 2: his beer?

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Speaker 6: Hey?

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Speaker 3: Like his spear has got a lot of anchor and

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Speaker 3: tiger beer in Malaysia.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, And sorry I missed at the start Ellen about

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Speaker 5: what what what?

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Speaker 4: What year was this?

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Speaker 3: Uh or seventy of the late seven I'm quite sure

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Speaker 3: when we came back to New Zealand. So we've been

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Speaker 3: forty years ago.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, And and so Geene Heckman had some good downtime

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Speaker 5: on that on that movie shoot, didn't he if he

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Speaker 5: could be sitting.

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Speaker 3: It was a big problem with getting permission to shoot

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Speaker 3: the movie because I were using aircraft, right, which is

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Speaker 3: a known in Malaysia, And it took them a long time.

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Speaker 3: So he he was in the hotel for a couple

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Speaker 3: of weeks before they actually started shooting. I think the

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Speaker 3: mate I was leaving to come back to New Zealand

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Speaker 3: with my family. That I think my mate was a

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Speaker 3: bavinment or something in the Vietnam, these pubs that they had,

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Speaker 3: you know, in the movie Have You Got?

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Speaker 5: Can you remember any any any good gene Heckman story

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Speaker 5: from from your time with them?

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Speaker 3: No, that was the days before you took the cell

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Speaker 3: phone and selfies, and we never even thought to take

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Speaker 3: a sure getting. It was just a mate, you know,

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Speaker 3: just someone to have a deal with. We had never

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Speaker 3: even asking for an autograph, Randy and I because both

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Speaker 3: in southeas staged for many years, so we hadn't seen movies,

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Speaker 3: you know, European movies for many many years, so we

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Speaker 3: didn't even know who he was to be honest.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, wow, what a story.

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Speaker 4: I think. Thanks for sharing that, Allen. Thanks to you

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Speaker 4: col movie.

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Speaker 5: He would have been shooting around that time, would have

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Speaker 5: been just before he played Lex Luthor and Superman.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and then he got really massive at that point.

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Speaker 2: That was as big break was at least.

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Speaker 5: I mean he had been big. I mean the French

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Speaker 5: connection had been massive. He won an Academy Award ninety

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Speaker 5: seventy one, so it'd always been really big. But I mean,

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Speaker 5: the first Superman movie was just gigantic. It was just

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Speaker 5: a huge global everyone saw it movie in Herold and

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Speaker 5: the age of you know, superhero movies, well, the first

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Speaker 5: first run of superhero movies, so you know, he was

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Speaker 5: about to get pretty pretty goddamn well known after that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Mary could ask and known to you. Now you've

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Speaker 2: got an incredible connection to Gene Heckman.

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Speaker 6: Oh well, I may as well give you my proper name,

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Speaker 6: because I've just written a book and it is in

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Speaker 6: the book my name's My name is Penelope. Yes, I

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Speaker 6: was living in Europe in nineteen sixty nine and skiing

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Speaker 6: on Robert Redfoot's Downhill movie and Gene Hackman was on

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Speaker 6: the movie and he took out my girlfriend, Canebel and

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Speaker 6: he was a lovely guy. I mean, you know, we

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Speaker 6: spent a lot of time with him and with rob Redford.

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Speaker 6: So yeah, I may as well push my book.

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Speaker 4: Well, please, what's your book called, Penelope?

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Speaker 6: My book is called My Summer of sixty nine.

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Speaker 4: Summer of sixty nine.

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Speaker 6: After the movie, sorry, after the song, yeah, yeah, and

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Speaker 6: so Adam's song.

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Speaker 5: So when you say so, you're on downhill racist, So

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Speaker 5: you were you were sort of a stunt skier?

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Speaker 4: Were you a background skilled?

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Speaker 6: It wasn't so much of stunt we more did I

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Speaker 6: was actually going out with someone from the British ski team.

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Speaker 6: A lot of the time we were just what would

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Speaker 6: they call it, stamping the peace. We were making the

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Speaker 6: snow ready for the big races. Yeah. They had real,

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Speaker 6: real European racing stars there.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, skiing on the movie.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, no, it Robert Robert Redford looked great in a

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Speaker 5: ski suit, didn't he. He was He filled out a

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Speaker 5: ski suit nicely, good looking man and he did the date.

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Speaker 5: So going any details from the date.

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Speaker 6: With Oh no, it wasn't just the date. No, she

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Speaker 6: was seeing him while we were there. Yeah, and they

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Speaker 6: took a lot of stills on the movie, so I had.

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Speaker 6: I had a lovely flot of them sitting on a

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Speaker 6: sort of wagon or something there.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, now, amazing. What else is in your book from

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Speaker 4: the Summer of sixty nine, Penelope?

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Speaker 6: Oh well, you have to read it.

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Speaker 2: I'm just having a look at the bird.

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Speaker 4: It sounds salacious.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you've lived a life. I'll just read out the

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Speaker 2: top line of the description A memoir about a tumultuous

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Speaker 2: relationship in the late sixties in sitch was in a

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Speaker 2: lovely little Spanish coastal town. Wow, where the party never stops.

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Speaker 4: So is it is it? Is it? It's a it's

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Speaker 4: a biography, is it?

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Speaker 6: Yes? It is?

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Speaker 4: Okay, So and so was you in this, in this,

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Speaker 4: in this relationship? Yes? Who was that with? If you

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Speaker 4: don't mind me asking.

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Speaker 6: Oh gosh, he's long gone. And so you've got to

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Speaker 6: buy the book.

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Speaker 4: Okay, all right, your great said to your great sales.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely what I thought.

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Speaker 6: I wasn't going to come on A and I wasn't

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Speaker 6: going to give you my real name B. And then

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Speaker 6: I thought, no, spoil your book, you know.

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Speaker 4: Definitely what what what were movie parts?

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Speaker 5: Because I'm sure you're invited to the movie parties back

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Speaker 5: there in nineteen sixty nine for years?

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Speaker 4: What were those movie parties?

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Speaker 3: Like?

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I sent a postcard home to my parents saying

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Speaker 6: that I was sitting at dinner beside Natalie Wood. Yes,

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Speaker 6: nat was going out with I think he was. He

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Speaker 6: was someone on the movie to do with the movie anyway.

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Speaker 6: She was lovely, you know, they're lovely.

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Speaker 2: Lovely people, fantastic. So the book is called My Summer

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Speaker 2: of sixty nine by Penelope Gardner. I'm just going to

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Speaker 2: read what it sees on the cover, because again, very slacious.

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Speaker 2: What it doesn't mean to marry the most exciting, unpredictable

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Speaker 2: man you've ever met after only a few short weeks.

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Speaker 4: Wow?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, quite an.

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Speaker 6: I say I've probably missed most of the silacious cards up. Yeah,

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Speaker 6: so got children and grandchildren?

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Speaker 4: Okay, well, maybe you'd have another edition at some point.

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Speaker 5: But Henna, when you're hanging out with Natalie Woods, she

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Speaker 5: wasn't dating Robert Wagner at that point, was she?

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Speaker 1: No?

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Speaker 6: Yeah, because of course that man's name escapes me.

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Speaker 4: Richard Greeson, Grigson, Richard Gregson, anyway, doesn't matter. I'm trying

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Speaker 4: to remember.

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Speaker 5: But anyway, of course, the whole Natalie Wood situation with

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Speaker 5: Robert wagg ended up in that really bizarre thing with

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Speaker 5: Kristen Walker walking on the on the water, and then

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Speaker 5: she ended up dying, didn't she?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, okay, as I said, thank you so much, Penelope,

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Speaker 5: I'll look out for that book.

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Speaker 2: Fantastic. I mean, this is why I love talk back.

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Speaker 2: You know, you never know who's going to

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Speaker 1: Cool in for more from News Talk st B, listen

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Speaker 1: live on air or online, and keep our shows with

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