1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:19,759 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy Wilson. So Um. Recently, 4 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 1: Tracy sent me and I am and in some message 5 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,680 Speaker 1: and said, everything I'm working on is horrible and sad. 6 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 1: Please tell me you're picking something lighter. That's true story, 7 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:33,839 Speaker 1: And I had not finally decided on what I was 8 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: doing for this particular recording yet, but one of the 9 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: things on my list was a bit of relative hilarity 10 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:44,879 Speaker 1: and fairly harmless stuff called the Dreadnought Hoax. It sounds 11 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: like it could be ominous, but it's not. It's funny. 12 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: Uh yeah, So we're using this as a bit of 13 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,519 Speaker 1: lighter fair to balance all the dark stuff that's been 14 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: pretty common as of late. And really, the more I 15 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: read about this, and there are several articles that I 16 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: found that were written throughout the years on April Fool's 17 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: Day to kind of laude this particular man that we're 18 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: talking about, the spearheaded This is like the perfect patron 19 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: saint of April Fool's Day. Um, but I don't want 20 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: to wait a whole other year to do him. Because 21 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: he's funny so well, and it's so rare for our 22 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: show to actually fall directly on the day to you, 23 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: which always, I don't know, always makes me feel weird 24 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: doing a specifically April Fools episode when our episodes are 25 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: coming out on like the third and the fifth that 26 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:30,199 Speaker 1: week or something. Yeah, because so many listeners aren't necessarily 27 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: listening on the day of publish. It just is a 28 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,399 Speaker 1: little bit tricky. So anyway, we're getting tom Foolery in May. 29 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: We're talking about William Horace de Vere Cole and the 30 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 1: Dreadnought Hoax. To start this prank's story, we have to 31 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,040 Speaker 1: start out with the prankster Holly just mentioned who was 32 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:49,560 Speaker 1: at the head of it, because he's one of the 33 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 1: most infamous pranksters in history. Pranking people seemed like it 34 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: was his life's calling. Yeah, William Horace de Vert Cole, 35 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: as I said, who went by Horace, and usually he's 36 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: referred to anytime someone's writing about him, like even his 37 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 1: friends as just. Cole was born in Ireland on May five, 38 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: eighty one into a wealthy family. As a consequence, uh, 39 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: he is one of those children of wealth who did 40 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: not really have to take on a real profession, which 41 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 1: is probably why he had so much time for pranking. 42 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: His mother was Irish and his father was an officer 43 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: in the third Dragoon Guards, which was a British Army 44 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:29,240 Speaker 1: cavalry regiment. He attended Eaton as a boy, and while 45 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: he was there, about of diphtheria at the age of 46 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: ten permanently damaged his hearing, which left him very frustrated 47 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: as he struggled to hear his teachers. His hearing impairment 48 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: also kept him from joining the army, so he attended 49 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:47,360 Speaker 1: Cambridge instead of pursuing a military career as his father 50 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: had done. And while he had always been a practical 51 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 1: joker as a kid, his more low key like characteristics 52 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: really came into their own while he was at Cambridge, 53 00:02:57,520 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: and it was there that what would be considered the 54 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: predecessor prank to the Dreadnought Hoax was hatched. During his 55 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:08,359 Speaker 1: time at Cambridge, Cole and his close friend Adrian Stephen 56 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: decided to masquerade as royalty. At the time, the Sultan 57 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: of Zanzibar was in England on a tour, so Cole 58 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: decided that Steven should pose as the Sultan and that 59 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: he should play the part of the Sultan's uncle and translator, 60 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: and they would see who they could full. So he 61 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,960 Speaker 1: and his friend got themselves into costume and they telegrammed 62 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: the Cambridge Mayor's office that the Sultan was about to arrive. 63 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: So the Mayor's office quickly rallied to accommodate and properly 64 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: greet their noteworthy guest. When Cole and his friend arrived 65 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 1: at the Cambridge train station, the town clerk was waiting 66 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: for them. They were taken to a formal reception with 67 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: a mayor that was arranged in honor of the Sultan, 68 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: and then they were given a tour of the town. 69 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: They visited academic institutions and they were introduced to prominent 70 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: members of the community. Yeah, they were basically given tours 71 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 1: of the school they attended and had to pretend that 72 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:08,119 Speaker 1: it was all amazing and new to them. Uh. They 73 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:10,440 Speaker 1: almost ran into a little bit of trouble when a 74 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: woman who had been a missionary attempted to speak with 75 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:17,280 Speaker 1: the Sultan in his native language, which neither Cole nor 76 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,479 Speaker 1: Stephen knew, and they managed to dodge this well meaning 77 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:22,919 Speaker 1: lady by telling her that she should only address the 78 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 1: Sultan directly if her intention was to become part of 79 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: his harem, and that pretty quickly ended that conversation. I 80 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,600 Speaker 1: like how a lot of the success of several of 81 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: their pranks relies on like the lack of cultural literacy 82 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:43,200 Speaker 1: completely around them. So, after this long day of tours 83 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 1: and receptions and meet and greets, Cole and Stephen were 84 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: taken back to the train station, where they vanished into 85 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: the crowd of travelers. The mayor and his colleagues were 86 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:53,719 Speaker 1: none the wiser that they had spent their day being 87 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: duped by college students UH and he UH. Cole and 88 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:03,599 Speaker 1: Adrian Stephen with him played all manner of pranks throughout 89 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,279 Speaker 1: Cole's life on a variety of scales. So I put 90 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: together a list of a handful of them. Once he 91 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 1: threw a lavish party but only invited guests who had 92 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: the word bottom in their names, And that was something 93 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,039 Speaker 1: that none of them realized until they were actually there 94 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: and started introducing themselves. I'm just imagining that the introductions 95 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: themselves were also comical. And apparently he if he attended 96 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,719 Speaker 1: that party, I think he was incognito. He wasn't there 97 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: like as the host. He just kind of watched it 98 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 1: all uh in in anonymity. At another point, he challenged 99 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: a member of parliament to a foot race for fun, 100 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 1: and he even offered the man a head start, and 101 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: once that gentleman had started running, Cole started calling for 102 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,239 Speaker 1: the police, who stopped that man and found Cole's watch, 103 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: which had been planted on that poor unsuspecting politician, in 104 00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: his pocket. So that one is a little bit um mean. 105 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 1: I mean, it's more than a little bit mean, But 106 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:06,360 Speaker 1: some of his do take on a slightly um cruel 107 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: tone rather than just being funny. I also feel like 108 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 1: today that would be a much more dangerous prank. Yes, 109 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:20,640 Speaker 1: for sure. On another occasion, he purchased strategically selected seat 110 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:23,679 Speaker 1: theater seats for an event, and he gave those tickets 111 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:28,159 Speaker 1: to bald men, so from the balcony seats, audience members 112 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:32,920 Speaker 1: could clearly see that their heads spelled out an expletive. 113 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 1: That to me is one of those things that is 114 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: so um. It takes a lot of forethought on that 115 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: one to like figure out which seats you would have 116 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:48,120 Speaker 1: to purchase to spell out a dirty word. So he 117 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: gets points for ingenuity on that. He definitely was smart. 118 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 1: Uh And in another somewhat daring stunt. He disguised himself 119 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: as a workman and with several similarly attired friends. Some 120 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,039 Speaker 1: accounts indicate eight that these were not his friends, but 121 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: people who UH were actually workmen that he had duped 122 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:08,480 Speaker 1: into it, and other accounts suggest that he had basically 123 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: gone to a bar and found some inebriated men and 124 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: and said he was giving them work. The thing with 125 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 1: pranksters and the stories around them is that they get 126 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 1: told by a lot of different people and the details 127 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: get very shifty. But we do know that he UH 128 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: and a number of people disguised as workmen strolled onto 129 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: the street at Piccadilly Circus and set up barricades around 130 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: the heavily traffic junction. And then he and his fellow 131 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 1: pranksters then proceeded to dig up the street and a 132 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: policeman was rerouting cars around them, presuming that he and 133 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,720 Speaker 1: the rest of them were city workers. And after digging 134 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: a trench across the busy road, he and these other 135 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: people retreated, at least in the versions where it's his friends. 136 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: They were with him to a nearby hotel room that 137 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 1: had a view of Piccadilly Circus so they could watch 138 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: the chaos below as municipal workers sorted this confusing situation out. 139 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: This is the one where I hope they were all 140 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 1: his friends, because I don't like this prank very much 141 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 1: if it's like getting people who were just trying to 142 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: do their jobs in trouble right right. When Cole got 143 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: married in maybe us right, he had to keep the 144 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:19,440 Speaker 1: date of their wedding a secret. This was because he 145 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: had made someone else's wedding into a prank and he 146 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: was afraid that something was going to happen to try 147 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:28,680 Speaker 1: to get back at him for it. What he had 148 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: basically done was he stationed an array of young women 149 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 1: outside the church and had each of them fling themselves 150 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:39,400 Speaker 1: at the groom when he arrived, begging him not to 151 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: abandon her. Yeah, every woman was like, don't leave me eddie, 152 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: which if you were a nervous group on your wedding 153 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:53,320 Speaker 1: day or a nervous bride, could be both infuriating and 154 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:57,480 Speaker 1: very upsetting. I think I would be real mad. Yeah, 155 00:08:57,520 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: it would depend on the person. I think there's some 156 00:08:59,559 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 1: people that could get away with that with me, and 157 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:03,679 Speaker 1: others it could not. The timing of his wedding was 158 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: also perfect for Coal because it was right before April 159 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:09,680 Speaker 1: Fool's Day, which would come up in a moment why 160 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: that was interesting. The just married couple traveled to Venice 161 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: for their honeymoon, but even then Cole was focused on pranking. 162 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:20,440 Speaker 1: The night before April Fool's Day, he took leave of 163 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 1: his new wife and in cover of darkness, he got 164 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: a hold of a massive load of horse manure from 165 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: the mainland. He spent the night covering the Piazza San 166 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: Marco with it. The city did not have any horses, 167 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: but he basically created his own manure crisis as a joke, 168 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:38,720 Speaker 1: and so when dawn came, the residents of Venice were 169 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: left wondering how in the world all that horse manure 170 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: got into their city. Yeah. Yeah, it counts vary from 171 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: whether people thought like some sort of mad stampede of 172 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: horses had come through, or if they thought some weird 173 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: thing had happened where someone had accidentally tried to fertilize 174 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: the square. There's a lot of you know, figuring out uh. 175 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: And next up we are going to talk about Cole's 176 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:08,319 Speaker 1: friend group after they attended Cambridge, which was an unusually 177 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:11,600 Speaker 1: talented and prank prone group. But first we're gonna pause 178 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: and have a quick little sponsor break. In the second 179 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:22,000 Speaker 1: half of the first decade of the twentieth century, Cole 180 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: and Adrian Stephen, along with Clive and Vanessa Belle, Adrian's 181 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: sister Virginia, who would later be known as Virginia Wolf, 182 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:32,079 Speaker 1: painter Duncan Grant, and other writers and artists formed this 183 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:34,679 Speaker 1: social group, which eventually came to be known as the 184 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:38,719 Speaker 1: Bloomsbury Group or the Bloomsbury Set. The name Bloomsbury came 185 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 1: from the district that they frequented near London. Most of 186 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: the members of the Bloomsbury Group had been friends since 187 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,320 Speaker 1: their time at Cambridge, and many of them had also 188 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:51,960 Speaker 1: been members of a semi secret club at Cambridge called 189 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:56,079 Speaker 1: the Apostles. Truly unique in the story of the Bloomsbury 190 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:59,440 Speaker 1: Crew is how many members went on to become noteworthy figures. 191 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: And addition to those that we already mentioned, the m Forster, 192 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:07,359 Speaker 1: John Maynard, Keynes, uh and in even more loose connections 193 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:10,880 Speaker 1: t s Eliott, Bertrand Russell and all this Huxley were 194 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,680 Speaker 1: all linked to it over the course of its two 195 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,520 Speaker 1: plus decades. Yeah, it wasn't like they officially said, hey, 196 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 1: we're forming a group. It was just basically a social 197 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,320 Speaker 1: circle that happened to include some really amazing people. It 198 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:27,720 Speaker 1: was sort of a moniker applied to them, correct and 199 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:31,720 Speaker 1: this intellectual click routinely meant to socialize and discuss philosophy 200 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 1: and politics and art, etcetera. But they were unique in 201 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: some ways and that they were not precious about any 202 00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:40,360 Speaker 1: of it. They really maintained an attitude of irreverence when 203 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: they were discussing all these things, and that also made 204 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 1: them the perfect co conspirators for someone like Cole. Cole's 205 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: most famous prank involved a battleship, the Pride of the 206 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 1: British Navy. The British Navy had launched the launched this 207 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:57,440 Speaker 1: new battleship in nineteen o six and called it the 208 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: h M S. Dreadnought. You've probably heard of the name 209 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 1: Dreadnought before to refer to a class of ships. When 210 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,439 Speaker 1: I told my husband what Hollywood researching, he started talking 211 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:11,040 Speaker 1: about his many sci fi stories of his to read, 212 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:13,360 Speaker 1: where like, that's a commonly adopted name in the world 213 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,400 Speaker 1: of science fiction. Uh, that name for the class of 214 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: ships came from this six vessel, And that's because the 215 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: HMS Dreadnought was a technological marvel of the time. It 216 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:27,040 Speaker 1: was massive, a behemoth, and it was no joke when 217 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 1: it came to naval power. The Dreadnought was five hundred 218 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: and twenty six ft which is about a hundred and 219 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,200 Speaker 1: sixty meters long. It was crewed by eight hundred men, 220 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:39,400 Speaker 1: and it was powered via steam turbine, which was an 221 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: advancement over the steam pistons of earlier naval vessels, and 222 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:46,000 Speaker 1: that gave it a significant speed boost, allowing it to 223 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:48,480 Speaker 1: travel as fast as twenty one knots, which is about 224 00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 1: twenty four miles per hour. And while that may not 225 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:54,160 Speaker 1: sound especially speedy for a ship of that size, at 226 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:58,199 Speaker 1: that time, it was an absolute marvel. The dreadnoughts firepower 227 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:04,080 Speaker 1: was similarly groundbreaking. It was equipped with no close range guns. Instead, 228 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:07,680 Speaker 1: it had five twin turrets, each of which housed two 229 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,520 Speaker 1: twelve inch guns that's about thirty point five centimeters. There 230 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 1: were also five maximum machine guns, four torpedo tubes, and 231 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:21,280 Speaker 1: twenty four three inch guns seven point six centimeters. Yeah. Basically, 232 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:23,959 Speaker 1: it was a time when the Navy was shifting from 233 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:25,959 Speaker 1: the idea of having to get close to your enemy 234 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:28,840 Speaker 1: to basically saying no, we'll just hit them from a distance. 235 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:31,560 Speaker 1: It's fine, and they had incredible firepower to do it, 236 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:36,200 Speaker 1: and the HMS Dreadnoughts so advanced naval technology that those 237 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: advancements set the standard for more than three decades after 238 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 1: it uh was launched. It quickly doomed its predecessors to obsolescence, 239 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:47,120 Speaker 1: and it drew a lot of attention from the public 240 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:51,199 Speaker 1: as well as the military. While it's might was absolutely 241 00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:54,080 Speaker 1: uncontested as a marvel the world over, its high cost 242 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,599 Speaker 1: was a slightly more contentious issue in Great Britain. Additionally, 243 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,120 Speaker 1: Great Britain in Germany were in the middle of an 244 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:04,080 Speaker 1: arms race, So while the Dreadnought was a point of pride, 245 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:07,240 Speaker 1: the military was also keen on maintaining a level of 246 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 1: secrecy about its exact specifications and abilities. Yeah, they would 247 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:16,880 Speaker 1: certainly do uh sort of showcase events with it, but 248 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:18,960 Speaker 1: it wasn't like they were publishing what it really was 249 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 1: capable of, and a lot of people really wanted to 250 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:25,120 Speaker 1: find out. Uh. So a few years into the Dreadnoughts life, 251 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: Cole and his friends from the Bloomsbury Set decided that 252 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:30,800 Speaker 1: they would love to see this ship up close and personal, 253 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 1: and to accomplish this task, Cole and his cohorts launched 254 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: a prank very similar to the one that he and 255 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:41,240 Speaker 1: Adrian Stephen had pulled at Cambridge years before. Allegedly, a 256 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:44,240 Speaker 1: friend who was an officer on another ship, the HMS Hawk, 257 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:48,920 Speaker 1: had also egged Cole on in this plan. On February seventh, 258 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,920 Speaker 1: nineteen ten, twenty eight year old Cole led his friends 259 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 1: as they hatched their prank, which was incredibly brazen. This time, 260 00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: Cole sent a wire to the Admiralty with information that 261 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 1: the Emperor of Abyssinia was en route and wished to 262 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: see the fleet. This prank had been carefully planned to 263 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: give the Admiralty no time to verify this information. The 264 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:13,080 Speaker 1: wire was sent at three oh seven and said that 265 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:18,720 Speaker 1: the Abyssinians would arrive promptly at four twenty. The Emperor 266 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 1: and his quadra were played by Duncan Grant, Virginia Wolf, 267 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 1: who dressed in full beard to hide her feminine features, 268 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: Anthony Buxton, Guy Ridley and Adrian Stephen. Uh Those that 269 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 1: were playing the Abyssinians darkened their skin with makeup and 270 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:35,600 Speaker 1: assembled what they felt would pass for Abyssinian Garb. Some 271 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:38,120 Speaker 1: of the accounts I read suggested that they actually paid 272 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: an extremely high amount of money for Um, a theatrical 273 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: costume designer, to create these outfits for them, and that 274 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:49,960 Speaker 1: to sell the prank, Cole insisted that they actually use 275 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: real jewels on all of their accouterments rather than using paste. 276 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:00,520 Speaker 1: Cole introduced himself as Shalmandalay of the Foreign Office, who 277 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: was serving as escort to the foreign visitors. Andrean Stephen 278 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: was the quote translator. He looked up a handful of 279 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:11,520 Speaker 1: Swahili words and an effort to sound convincing if he 280 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 1: needed to, although apparently when push came to shove, he 281 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: forgot everything he had crammed and instead performed the role 282 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 1: by stream together odd snippets of Latin and Greek that 283 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:26,000 Speaker 1: he had learned while studying classical literature. Stephen would later 284 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:29,120 Speaker 1: write of his gibberish language quote, I was provided by 285 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: my education then with a fine repertory of nonsense, and 286 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: did not have to fall back entirely on my own invention. 287 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:38,360 Speaker 1: I had to take care that neither the Latin nor 288 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:40,960 Speaker 1: the Greek should be recognized. So I broke up the 289 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 1: words and so mispronounced them that probably they would have 290 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: escaped notice even of the best scholar. Apparently Buxton was 291 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:52,080 Speaker 1: extremely good at parenting the nonsense that Stephen came up with. 292 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,080 Speaker 1: He would reuse some of the made up phrases throughout 293 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:59,120 Speaker 1: the day to help cement this masquerade. Yes, so it 294 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 1: did start to say like a cohesive language to people 295 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:04,760 Speaker 1: that were maybe with them for long periods of time, 296 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:09,520 Speaker 1: but it was absolute nothingness. A full military greeting awaited 297 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:12,399 Speaker 1: them at Weymouth when they arrived, including Admiral Sir William 298 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 1: Wordsworth Fisher in full formal dress. The Emperor uh and 299 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: we use their quotes every time and his entourage were 300 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,000 Speaker 1: indeed invited aboard the Dreadnought for a tour, and there 301 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 1: was a live band to greet them, and African flags 302 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:30,600 Speaker 1: were flown along with the Union jack. The disguises tricked everyone, 303 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: even one of the Stephen's cousins. He was stationed aboard 304 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:39,840 Speaker 1: the Dreadnought. He did not recognize either Adrian or Virginia. Yeah, 305 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: he did not realize that his lady cousin was one 306 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:45,240 Speaker 1: of the men he was talking to. The group was 307 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:47,959 Speaker 1: also invited to lunch on the ship, but they declined. 308 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:51,560 Speaker 1: The pranksters were presumably afraid that they might give themselves 309 00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 1: away if they stayed too long, but the excuse that 310 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:56,760 Speaker 1: they gave at the time was one of cultural specificity. 311 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:00,000 Speaker 1: They claimed that the Royalty of Abyssinia could only eat 312 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:04,320 Speaker 1: specially prepared foods for religious reasons, and their other motivation 313 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,359 Speaker 1: for getting away before attempting a meal was their fear 314 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: that their fake beards were not going to hold up 315 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:12,000 Speaker 1: to the rigors of chewing and wiping that would be 316 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: required if they sat through a full lunch. I would 317 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:17,960 Speaker 1: also imagine that if you're not used to having a beard, 318 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:23,280 Speaker 1: eating without getting your food in your beard might be challenging. Yeah, 319 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: those beards are a trick. In the late afternoon, the 320 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: weather posed an additional danger to these pranksters. The wind 321 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:33,680 Speaker 1: started blowing and threatened to dislodge their fake facial hair. 322 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,399 Speaker 1: It also started drizzling, which was in danger of making 323 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: their makeup runs, so they made a hasty exit with 324 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,199 Speaker 1: the excuse that they had to get a train, and 325 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:46,760 Speaker 1: as they left, the navy band played the Zanzibar national anthem. 326 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:50,800 Speaker 1: After apologizing to the prank delegation that the Abyssinian anthem 327 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: could not be obtained in time. If you recall, Cole's 328 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:57,840 Speaker 1: earlier prank at Cambridge involved a claim of being from Zanzibar, 329 00:18:57,960 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: so there was an extra layer of humor to the 330 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,119 Speaker 1: particular choice, although the Navy certainly could not have known it. 331 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,119 Speaker 1: When the visit was concluded, the Navy arranged for a 332 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 1: carriage to carry what they believed was the Abyssinian entourage 333 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,000 Speaker 1: back to London. Even when they got on the train, 334 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:17,919 Speaker 1: Horace was still keeping up the act and demanded that 335 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,520 Speaker 1: the Princess of Abyssinia only be served by attendants wearing 336 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:25,800 Speaker 1: white gloves. So while the train staff ran to purchase 337 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,399 Speaker 1: said gloves, the rest of the train was delayed. And 338 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:32,160 Speaker 1: we're about to get into what happened after the dreadnought hoax, 339 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:34,160 Speaker 1: but first we're gonna pause and have a quick word 340 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:42,679 Speaker 1: from a sponsor. Horace. Cole later wrote about the hoax 341 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:46,520 Speaker 1: in a letter to a friend, quote it was glorious, 342 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 1: shriekingly funny. I nearly howled when introducing the four princes 343 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:52,679 Speaker 1: to the Admiral and then to the Captain, for I 344 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: made up their names in the train, but I forgot 345 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:57,600 Speaker 1: which was which, and I introduced them under various names, 346 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:00,439 Speaker 1: but it did not matter. I was so mused at 347 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:02,840 Speaker 1: just being myself in a tall hat. I had no 348 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:06,160 Speaker 1: disguise whatever and talked in an ordinary friendly way to everyone. 349 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: The others talked nonsense. We had all learned some Swahili. 350 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,520 Speaker 1: I said they were jolly savages, but that I didn't 351 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:15,320 Speaker 1: understand much of what they said. It began to ring 352 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:17,560 Speaker 1: slightly on the ship, and we only just got the 353 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: princes undercover in time. Another moment and their complexions would 354 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:25,119 Speaker 1: have been running. Are you amused? I am? Yesterday was 355 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:29,320 Speaker 1: a day worth the living. Exactly how this prank came 356 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:31,879 Speaker 1: to light is a little bit hazy. There are two 357 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:35,440 Speaker 1: primary accounts, and one an officer from the Dreadnought asked 358 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 1: if he could wear a metal that had been presented 359 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,320 Speaker 1: to him by the quote Emperor with his uniform, which 360 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:45,159 Speaker 1: unraveled the truth. But there's a high probability that Cole 361 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:49,080 Speaker 1: himself actually spread the word of the prank by contacting 362 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: the papers, complete with a provided photograph of the pranksters 363 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:57,159 Speaker 1: and costume. They had, in fact stopped into the Lafayette 364 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,320 Speaker 1: Studios to have their portrait made in full regale Leah 365 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:04,640 Speaker 1: before they got on the train. To Weymouth. Adrian Steven's 366 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:07,200 Speaker 1: own account claims that he had no idea who leaked 367 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: the story, as the entire group had agreed that they 368 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:11,919 Speaker 1: were not going to go public, but that once he 369 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: saw the photo of the papers, he just presumed it 370 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:19,919 Speaker 1: was coal. The Daily Mirror ran the story complete with 371 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,080 Speaker 1: the photo, recounting how the group of fake Abyssinians had 372 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:25,919 Speaker 1: used the words bunga bunga as part of their faux 373 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 1: language while they utterly duped the HMS dread knots High command. 374 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 1: Bunga bunga would go on to have a small life 375 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,640 Speaker 1: of its own. It appeared in songs and became sort 376 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: of a shorthand for teasing members of the Navy, as 377 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:45,960 Speaker 1: this whole incident became a massive embarrassment for them. Yeah, 378 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 1: I'm trying to imagine like a similar modern day thing 379 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: where like one of our most important military assets is 380 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,119 Speaker 1: kind of made into a laughing stock. You can imagine 381 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: the Navy would not be thrilled. Uh. And not long 382 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,359 Speaker 1: after this prank, the Emperor of Abyssinia did travel to London. 383 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:03,920 Speaker 1: This was within a few weeks of when they had 384 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,679 Speaker 1: done this, and he did ask to see the Navy's fleet, 385 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,359 Speaker 1: and he was, according to the account of Virginia Woolf, 386 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:12,920 Speaker 1: turned down. Because the Navy's policies on guest tours had 387 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:17,320 Speaker 1: been significantly tightened thanks to Cole and his coterie, there 388 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:19,679 Speaker 1: was very little in the way of repercussions for the 389 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,800 Speaker 1: Bloomsberry set, even though this. Even after this whole thing 390 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:27,040 Speaker 1: became public knowledge, the Navy allegedly wanted some sort of 391 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:29,680 Speaker 1: action taken against the group, but none of them were 392 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: ever formally charged with any crime. There are reports that 393 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,920 Speaker 1: either Cole, who openly admitted that the plan was his, 394 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:41,160 Speaker 1: or his collaborator Duncan Grant, was captured by several sailors 395 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: from the British Navy and caned as a form of 396 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: vigilante justice. But while there is some consistency in the 397 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:49,480 Speaker 1: caning portion, we're gonna talk about that in just a moment. 398 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:53,560 Speaker 1: Just who received it varies from account to account, but 399 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,960 Speaker 1: Stephen's writing states pretty plainly that while members of the 400 00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,359 Speaker 1: Navy did show up at Cole's house to get some 401 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:02,040 Speaker 1: sort of Jeff stice, Cole made a deal with them 402 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,679 Speaker 1: they could cane him if he could then came them back. 403 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:10,360 Speaker 1: So six ceremonial taps on the hind quarters were administered 404 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:14,440 Speaker 1: by each side, and that was the end of it. Yeah, 405 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:16,400 Speaker 1: it seems like in the end they all just kind 406 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: of had a bit of a laugh and could say, yes, 407 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:22,080 Speaker 1: we punished him without really punishing him. Stephen also wrote 408 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:24,160 Speaker 1: that he and Cole ran into one of the officers 409 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:27,120 Speaker 1: from the battleship in the street after the hoax quote 410 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:30,119 Speaker 1: one day, walking with Cole near the top of Sloane Street, 411 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:33,160 Speaker 1: I saw the Dreadnought captain and his wife. He saw 412 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: us too, and recognized us, and pretended at first to 413 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,359 Speaker 1: be horrified and then to call a policeman. After a 414 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:41,439 Speaker 1: second or two, though, he began to laugh and in 415 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,320 Speaker 1: fact took the whole affair in the best of good humors, 416 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:48,960 Speaker 1: Horace de Ver. Cole, despite having achieved what could easily 417 00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:52,160 Speaker 1: be the most famous prank of his career in Tomfoolery, 418 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,200 Speaker 1: continued this hobby for the rest of his life, including 419 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: some of those pranks we mentioned earlier in the episode. 420 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:02,880 Speaker 1: One of his later in life bits of jokery stemmed 421 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:05,680 Speaker 1: from the fact that he was often mistaken, particularly due 422 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:09,200 Speaker 1: to his white mustache. For Ramsay McDonald, the first Labor 423 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:12,840 Speaker 1: Party Prime Minister, and when Cole would realize that someone 424 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,040 Speaker 1: thought he was McDonald, he would launch into public speeches 425 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 1: vehemently opposing the position of the Labor Party, simply to 426 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:24,040 Speaker 1: enjoy the confusion it caused for everyone. Uh Not, everything 427 00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 1: was jolly throughout his life, though undoubtedly the wealth and 428 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,200 Speaker 1: station he was born to had protected him from serious 429 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:35,120 Speaker 1: consequences for all of his pranking, even though a lot 430 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 1: of his pranks were kind of jerk moves that came 431 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,119 Speaker 1: at the expense of other people, and his family was 432 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: not merely rich but also well connected. His sister Mary 433 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 1: of the politician Neville Chamberlain, he would eventually become Prime 434 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:54,240 Speaker 1: Minister of Great Britain. Yeah, there's definitely like a degree 435 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:57,399 Speaker 1: of privilege that protected him from ever having anybody really 436 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:02,560 Speaker 1: punish him eight or ten to reason Pavilion, it's a 437 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 1: wide degree for sure. Yeah. He um. You know, if 438 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:10,439 Speaker 1: somebody of a more middle class or lower class background 439 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 1: tried these same stones, I suspect it would not be 440 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:17,360 Speaker 1: greeted with the same guffaws and good humor. But unfortunately 441 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 1: Cole's fortune and disdain for propriety and his love of 442 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:24,240 Speaker 1: jokes could not protect him from the pitfalls of life. 443 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:27,199 Speaker 1: He actually lost that fortune in a real estate scheme, 444 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 1: and his wife, Mavis, whose own inheritance had also been 445 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:34,640 Speaker 1: lost due to her husband's very poor financial decisions, left 446 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 1: him not long after. Cole did eventually remarry, but that 447 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: marriage was not ideal. His second wife had a child 448 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 1: with another man while she was still married to Cole. 449 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,120 Speaker 1: Eventually he had to move to France, where he could 450 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,840 Speaker 1: manage with far less money than his life in London 451 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:54,920 Speaker 1: had required. Horace de Vere Cole died in Anfleur, France, 452 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,480 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty six, at the age of fifty five. 453 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 1: He was at that point destitute, having failed to regain 454 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,919 Speaker 1: his financial standing. And remember that this was going on 455 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,080 Speaker 1: in the late twenties and early thirties, so there were 456 00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:08,439 Speaker 1: some big financial things happening that would have made that 457 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:12,080 Speaker 1: very tricky. But so famed were his exploits that even 458 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,560 Speaker 1: though he died a popper, his many tricks were lauded 459 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,199 Speaker 1: in his obituaries as great achievements, and they were in 460 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: very big newspapers throughout both Europe and North America. That 461 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,399 Speaker 1: same year, Adrian Stevens published a brief memoir about his 462 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,160 Speaker 1: friendship with Cole and their tomfoolery, but it's mostly about 463 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:32,159 Speaker 1: the Dreadnought hoax. Yeah, he talks a lot about their 464 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:33,800 Speaker 1: time at Cambridge, but it's all sort of as a 465 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:36,440 Speaker 1: groundwork for this one big event that they pulled off. 466 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:40,720 Speaker 1: In modern mentions, Cole's exploits actually played a small part 467 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:44,240 Speaker 1: in uh Downton Abbey. In the fictional use of his handiwork, 468 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:49,120 Speaker 1: the Dowager Countess threatens to expose Chamberlain as an accomplice. 469 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:51,520 Speaker 1: In a number of Cole's pranks, there have also been 470 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 1: various like in the forties there was a comic written 471 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: about the Dreadnought hoax, and it's shown up in a 472 00:26:57,680 --> 00:26:59,520 Speaker 1: number of places, but the Downton Nabby one is the 473 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,439 Speaker 1: most re an't. Yeah, I feel like it's shown up 474 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:04,600 Speaker 1: in fiction that I'm I've read that I would be 475 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: hard pressed to tell you which specifically definitely has. I 476 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:12,879 Speaker 1: wonder if word of this ever got back to Abyssinia 477 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:18,800 Speaker 1: and how they felt about that, uh, because like we said, 478 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: like this whole thing really depended on like the stereotypes 479 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:29,639 Speaker 1: that they made up and also other people not knowing 480 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 1: ye well, and remember that both in Victorian and Edwardian time, 481 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,960 Speaker 1: there was this whole fascination with other cultures, but very 482 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,000 Speaker 1: little setting of information, so people would just be like, oh, really, 483 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 1: that's how it is fascinating, I love it, and they 484 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,719 Speaker 1: would never like do any deeper research. So there's no 485 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:58,200 Speaker 1: telling how much like how many people were completely misinformed 486 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: as a consequence of this that maybe or realized they 487 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:04,040 Speaker 1: had been pranked like that or the Zanzibar episode during 488 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,359 Speaker 1: the Cambridge thing like did you know people from Zanzibar 489 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:11,280 Speaker 1: blah blah? Yeah, did you know that you can only 490 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:18,200 Speaker 1: wear white gloves serving the right? Yeah, it's very very Um, 491 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:24,560 Speaker 1: it's weird that that part is very problematic, but um, 492 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,439 Speaker 1: but mostly it is. It is funny. He lived a 493 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:31,639 Speaker 1: life where he was very dedicated to amusing himself and others, 494 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:35,440 Speaker 1: sometimes at the expense of a third party. But at 495 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:39,200 Speaker 1: least for the most part, except maybe the part with 496 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:46,000 Speaker 1: the workers in the street that the targets, we're not 497 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:50,400 Speaker 1: people just generally trying to do their jobs. Yeah, and 498 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 1: nobody you know. Fortunately there was no violence, which makes 499 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,080 Speaker 1: this one a little bit easier than some of our 500 00:28:56,080 --> 00:29:00,880 Speaker 1: recent episodes. Uh So, if people were hurt, it was 501 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 1: at least not physically. Uh. I have listener mail that 502 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:09,920 Speaker 1: relates directly to my life. Yeah, it's from our listener Julia, 503 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:12,680 Speaker 1: and she says, Hi, guys, my sister and I both 504 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:14,960 Speaker 1: love your show. I like to listen while I'm painting. 505 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:16,640 Speaker 1: It makes the hours fly by, and it's a great 506 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: way to squeeze some extra learning into my day. The 507 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,760 Speaker 1: thirty eighth anniversary of the May eighth, nineteen eighty Mount St. 508 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,320 Speaker 1: Helen's eruption is coming up, and I'd love to hear 509 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,440 Speaker 1: your take on it. I recently moved to Perth, Western Australia, 510 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,000 Speaker 1: from Washington State and I am missing home. Plus my 511 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:32,800 Speaker 1: birthday is the day before the anniversary, so it would 512 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:35,240 Speaker 1: be extra special podcast for me. I grew up under 513 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:37,960 Speaker 1: the shadow of St. Helen's in Battleground, Washington, so it's 514 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,520 Speaker 1: close to my heart. Aside from the usual tropes you 515 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:44,080 Speaker 1: hear about the eruption, it is a fascinating geological site. St. 516 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:46,720 Speaker 1: Helen's also happens to be the most active volcano in 517 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,800 Speaker 1: the Cascade Range over the last four thousand years. There 518 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:52,760 Speaker 1: are some really cool connections with indigenous history there too. 519 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:56,520 Speaker 1: One of my history professors told us that Native people's 520 00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 1: avoided settling near St. Helen's because oral histories in folklore 521 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 1: warned that it had an angry spirit. On the other hand, 522 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,920 Speaker 1: nearby Mount Hood, one of the least active, was more 523 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 1: benign and therefore a safe place to live. Pretty interesting 524 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 1: and another reason to take oral testimony seriously, although please 525 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: fact check me anyway. Thanks for hearing me out. I 526 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:16,840 Speaker 1: know you get lots of suggestions, keep it up. Thanks 527 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:20,239 Speaker 1: for the fun and learning. I will never ever do 528 00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:25,200 Speaker 1: Mount St. Helen's, probably, which is not Sorry, Julia, I 529 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,280 Speaker 1: don't mean to shut you down. I literally watched that 530 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,400 Speaker 1: thing go off from the deck of my house as 531 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,600 Speaker 1: a kid, so one it would make me feel terribly 532 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: old to talk about it as a historical event. But 533 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 1: to uh, kind of what we've talked about recently, like 534 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:43,960 Speaker 1: with our move episode, we usually try to go a 535 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:48,920 Speaker 1: little further back than that for our history pieces. Um uh, 536 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:54,400 Speaker 1: not always, but usually, uh, you know, maybe when I'm 537 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:57,760 Speaker 1: in my seventies, I'll talk about St. Helen's as a 538 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:02,680 Speaker 1: historical event. I don't know. It was a very fascinating time, certainly, 539 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,440 Speaker 1: and my impressions of it are still quite strong, and 540 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:08,720 Speaker 1: I remember the various weird things about living there during 541 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: that time and ash all over everything we owned all 542 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 1: the time for months. Well. And that's also one of 543 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 1: the things that we talked about when we made an 544 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:20,680 Speaker 1: exception to our general rule in our our move bombing episode. 545 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: UM was how it's it's kind of weird sometimes when 546 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:26,040 Speaker 1: we do an episode that a lot of people are 547 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,080 Speaker 1: likely to have personal memories of, Like the tenor the 548 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:33,320 Speaker 1: tenor of our listener mail is very different from the 549 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:37,200 Speaker 1: rest of the time. Um, but that is one that like, 550 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:41,120 Speaker 1: I remember that happening and I left. I left. I 551 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:45,320 Speaker 1: lived on the other side of the continent, not in 552 00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:49,720 Speaker 1: a volcanically active place, um, but like I vividly remember 553 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,520 Speaker 1: footage on the news and all that kind of stuff, 554 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:58,280 Speaker 1: and uh and wondering, maybe worrying. Maybe I was just 555 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:01,400 Speaker 1: curious and kind of fascinated. There was a mountain near 556 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 1: us that had kind of volcanic volcanic shape. It's definitely 557 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,600 Speaker 1: not a volcano, but I would just be like, but 558 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:13,400 Speaker 1: but mom, what if it erupted. Yeah, that's pretty natural 559 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:15,960 Speaker 1: I think for a kid to do. Yeah. My big fear, 560 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:20,560 Speaker 1: because I was nine when it happened, was, um, what 561 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:26,920 Speaker 1: about the animals? Yeah, uh, which you know, it took 562 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:29,600 Speaker 1: a while for the mountain to sort of regain it's 563 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:31,720 Speaker 1: it's flora and fauna, and I'm sure it's different than 564 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:33,680 Speaker 1: it was before then. But anyway, so that's why we 565 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:36,760 Speaker 1: will probably never talk about it. Sorry to dash your hopes, um, 566 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: but one, I don't want to feel like I'm a 567 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:42,520 Speaker 1: million years old. And two, it's so close that so 568 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:46,400 Speaker 1: many people have a really strong memory of it, um 569 00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:49,880 Speaker 1: that it would just be a little weird. It's kind 570 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:54,360 Speaker 1: of like telling people what their memories are, which is yeah, yeah, yeah. 571 00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:56,040 Speaker 1: So if you want to write to us, you could 572 00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:58,280 Speaker 1: do so at History podcast at how stuff works dot com. 573 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,200 Speaker 1: We are also available across the spectrum of social media 574 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:05,120 Speaker 1: as at missed in History that includes Pinterest and Facebook 575 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 1: and Instagram and tumblr. Uh yeah, come and see us. 576 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:11,360 Speaker 1: And you can also visit our parents site, which is 577 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:14,360 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. Type in almost anything you're 578 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:16,280 Speaker 1: curious about into the search bar. There you're going to 579 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 1: get a wealth of information. You can visit me and 580 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,160 Speaker 1: Tracy at missed in history dot com, where we have 581 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,080 Speaker 1: all of our episodes ever that have happened since way 582 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,600 Speaker 1: before Tracy and I were working on the show as 583 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:29,960 Speaker 1: well as show notes. Now we have I think we've 584 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,160 Speaker 1: probably transitioned over enough that it's not a huge surprice 585 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:34,640 Speaker 1: to anyone. Our show notes and our show page are 586 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:37,880 Speaker 1: consolidated into one for one handy place to access everything. 587 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:40,280 Speaker 1: Uh and yeah, you should come and visit us there 588 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:42,560 Speaker 1: at Misston history dot com and at house to Works 589 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:49,840 Speaker 1: dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics. 590 00:33:50,080 --> 00:34:03,720 Speaker 1: Is it how stuff Works dot com.