Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Joseph Bell was born in
Speaker 1: eighteen thirty seven in the beautiful city of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Speaker 1: From the moment he took his first breath, he was
Speaker 1: part of something larger than himself. He had a destiny
Speaker 1: to fulfill, a purpose that seemed to be part of
Speaker 1: who he was. There was no other path for him.
Speaker 1: His great grandfather, Dr Benjamin Bell, is considered to be
Speaker 1: the first truly scientific surgeon in Scotland. In the late
Speaker 1: eighteenth century. You see, Edinburgh became one of the leading
Speaker 1: centers of medical education in Europe, and many think that
Speaker 1: this explosion of influence and progress would never have happened
Speaker 1: without doctor Bell. His illustrious career helped all of Europe
Speaker 1: move forward medically speaking. His son Joseph also became a surgeon,
Speaker 1: as did his son Benjamin, and it was that Benjamin,
Speaker 1: along with his wife Cecilia, who welcomed young Joseph into
Speaker 1: their lives. Obviously, the boy grew up to become a doctor.
Speaker 1: How could he not, being surrounded by so much of
Speaker 1: that world, And apparently he was amazing at it, probably
Speaker 1: the most talented physician the Bell dynasty had ever known.
Speaker 1: All of that brilliance was apparently on full display when
Speaker 1: Bell taught at the University of Edinburgh. His reputation as
Speaker 1: a diagnostician was practically legendary by the end of the
Speaker 1: nineteenth century. Bell believed that medical doctors could better serve
Speaker 1: their patients if they were more observant. As he said himself,
Speaker 1: he believed in the vast importance of little distinctions the
Speaker 1: endless significance of trifles. The trouble, according to Bell, was
Speaker 1: that people saw things without really observing. They needed to
Speaker 1: be able to look past the obvious and see the
Speaker 1: important details, and he proved this time after time in
Speaker 1: his lectures by bringing in strangers and telling the students
Speaker 1: all about the person's occupation, history, and medical needs, all
Speaker 1: before the person spoke a word, and he was almost
Speaker 1: always correct. Hundreds of students learned from Dr Bell over
Speaker 1: the years that he taught there at the university. Most
Speaker 1: of them went on to be physicians just like their professor,
Speaker 1: but a few of them went into other careers. In fact,
Speaker 1: a good number of authors came out of his classroom.
Speaker 1: James M. Barry was one of them. He would later
Speaker 1: go on to create the story of Peter Pan. Robert
Speaker 1: Louis Stevenson, author of many popular novels including Doctor Jekyll
Speaker 1: and Mr Hyde, was also among them. But it was
Speaker 1: another student who turned his memories of Dr Joseph Bell
Speaker 1: into the central character of a series of novels and
Speaker 1: short stories that he published for decades. They were wildly
Speaker 1: popular tales about a man with an amazing sense of
Speaker 1: observation and ability to see things that others ignored, and
Speaker 1: the true value of paying attention to all the little
Speaker 1: trifles and distinctions around him. Of course, the world would
Speaker 1: never know this character as the great Doctor Joseph Bell,
Speaker 1: because that's not the name this author used when he
Speaker 1: wrote about him. No, this author, Sir Arthur Ignacious Conan Doyle,
Speaker 1: made up an entirely fictional name for the character his
Speaker 1: medical professor had inspired, Sherlock Holmes. When the King arrived
Speaker 1: in the small town just a few miles from Milan, Italy,
Speaker 1: he was exhausted and hungry from his long day of travel.
Speaker 1: He had come there to oversee a sporting competition the
Speaker 1: following day and to present all of the awards to
Speaker 1: the winners. But first order of business was to find
Speaker 1: a meal and then get some rest. King Umberto the
Speaker 1: First was born in eighteen forty four and had been
Speaker 1: King of Italy for over twelve years when he arrived
Speaker 1: in town that day in July of nineteen hundred. Historians
Speaker 1: consider him to be a fairly unimpressive king, even after
Speaker 1: taking his prior military career into consideration. That's all right,
Speaker 1: though not every ruler can be extraordinary. Umberto and a
Speaker 1: friend located a small restaurant nearby and found a seat
Speaker 1: in the back. Honored to have the king in his restaurant,
Speaker 1: the owner himself came out to take their orders, which
Speaker 1: was when the conversation stopped. There was something familiar about
Speaker 1: the owner that caused the king to stare in astonishment.
Speaker 1: The two men were nearly identical in appearance, and both
Speaker 1: of them mentioned as much same face, same height, aim weight.
Speaker 1: The two of them could easily have passed as twins,
Speaker 1: so the king asked for more details. It turns out
Speaker 1: they both even shared the same birth date, right down
Speaker 1: to the year and each of them married a woman
Speaker 1: with the same name on the same date. The coincidences
Speaker 1: continued to pile up similar military careers, although with different ranks,
Speaker 1: and two separate occasions when both men were in the
Speaker 1: same promotional ceremony at the same time. The king was
Speaker 1: astounded and said as much. After the restaurant owner left
Speaker 1: to have the food prepared, the king told his friend
Speaker 1: that he would give this amazing stranger the gift of
Speaker 1: a royal position the following day and asked that the
Speaker 1: man be invited to the award ceremony, which he dutifully did,
Speaker 1: but the man never showed up. With the events of
Speaker 1: the day playing out around him, the king had taken
Speaker 1: a seat and asked his friend where the restaurant owner
Speaker 1: had gone. His friend was sad to inform him of
Speaker 1: the terrible news that the man had gone hunting that
Speaker 1: morning and been killed by at a bullet. The king's double,
Speaker 1: a man who had mirrored every significant moment of his
Speaker 1: own life and even looked just like him, was gone
Speaker 1: less than a day after meeting him. The king didn't
Speaker 1: have time to grieve, though. A moment after learning of
Speaker 1: the man's death, a number of gunshots rang out in
Speaker 1: the crowd around him, and the King toppled over the
Speaker 1: red blossom of a gunshot wound appearing on his clothing.
Speaker 1: They had shared everything, it seems, even death. I hope
Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World
Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Speaker 1: H