WEBVTT - Want to Get Away Week: Sealand

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<v Speaker 1>Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Zaren Elizabeth Saren be really quiet because I saw like

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<v Speaker 2>two security guards earlier.

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<v Speaker 3>I dropped so many tools in the basement. I saw

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<v Speaker 3>for sure they'd hear him. But it was just you

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<v Speaker 3>turning every time.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah it was me. Maybe I was, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>I think it was my reflection. I didn't see secret

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<v Speaker 2>that you. I got itror Cool, We go ahead record.

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<v Speaker 2>Have you ever been surrounded by chaos and just want

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<v Speaker 2>to get away?

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<v Speaker 3>Oh? Yeah, I've been to a family event.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, totally. So like I mean imagine, like maybe you're

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<v Speaker 2>sitting in an airport. Someone could be sitting in an

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<v Speaker 2>airport right now, Oh, totally packed in. Well, someone saves

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<v Speaker 2>six seats at the gate for family members. Yeah, you

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<v Speaker 2>probably don't exist, you know. And then like and because

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<v Speaker 2>you never see him come back, and like folks are

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<v Speaker 2>coffing with open mouths and water costs twelve dollars.

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<v Speaker 3>So you're like, oh god, I finished that place.

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<v Speaker 2>Maybe you're in stop and go traffic on the freeway

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<v Speaker 2>and you're watching the driver in front of you litter

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<v Speaker 2>and there's like a storm approaching from the west, and

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<v Speaker 2>your head hurts and some joker keeps trying to change

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<v Speaker 2>lanes like it's going to get them there anything.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, maybe I'm not a patient driver in holiday traffic.

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<v Speaker 2>No, maybe, no, you're not. Maybe you're looking at the

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<v Speaker 2>state of the world, kind of wanting to just opt

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<v Speaker 2>out of the crazy, avoid the news like I do,

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<v Speaker 2>dreading each new weird development, wondering if there's a drone

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<v Speaker 2>above you or the constellation O'Bryan, feeling like rules only

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<v Speaker 2>apply to you and no one else. You ever feel

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<v Speaker 2>like that? Oh yeah, maybe you're sitting at your job,

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<v Speaker 2>watching the clock, listening to like inane conversations in the

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<v Speaker 2>longest of the year long, chasing arbitrary deadlines, letting calls

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<v Speaker 2>go to voicemail, marveling to yourself at each indignity about

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<v Speaker 2>that you'll do for a dollar maybe maybe anyway, So

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<v Speaker 2>maybe you want to get away. Maybe you want to

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<v Speaker 2>go somewhere that's just your own. You ever want that,

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<v Speaker 2>your own private Idaho, your own private island. You don't

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<v Speaker 2>have to be Richard Branson to get your own.

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<v Speaker 3>Thank God, you can be. You don't want to do,

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<v Speaker 3>not want to be rich just the Choppersess, I don't

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<v Speaker 3>want to look in the mirror and see that smarmy

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<v Speaker 3>look looking back.

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<v Speaker 2>Apparently he owns his private island, and I guess he

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<v Speaker 2>bought it as like a joke, like someone wanted millions

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<v Speaker 2>for it ages ago, and he lowballed an offer and

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<v Speaker 2>they took it, and all of a sudden, okay island.

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<v Speaker 2>But like, yeah, he's so like Austin Powers. Anyway, Richard

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<v Speaker 2>Branson has an island. Did you know who else? Patty

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<v Speaker 2>Roy Bates. Oh yeah, he's a pirate radio empresario and

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<v Speaker 2>founder of the Nation of not Islam Sealandan p. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>so he and his family they claimed an old British

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<v Speaker 2>naval fort located off the shore of England. I told

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<v Speaker 2>you about this radio, the water and island. They called

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<v Speaker 2>this German sea Land. Yeah, the Germans showed up amazing.

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<v Speaker 2>So I thought about Sea Land recently because you were

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<v Speaker 2>part of a show called Zakistan. Oh yeah, yeah. It's

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<v Speaker 2>about a micronation, or like micronations in general. I love

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<v Speaker 2>how bonkers those are.

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<v Speaker 3>Totally. Ryan Murdock and Gabby Watson I talk all about

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<v Speaker 3>it and they go on to deep dive like they

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<v Speaker 3>go to micro con. It's great.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's so fascinating to me, and like there was

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<v Speaker 2>a time when it was easy to go and claim

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<v Speaker 2>someone else's land is yours, and like create a country

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<v Speaker 2>and do what you want.

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<v Speaker 3>Hundreds of years for ages, you.

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<v Speaker 2>Can't really do that anymore. You can buy you can

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<v Speaker 2>buy land in the US, but you don't own it completely.

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<v Speaker 2>It's on us soil exactly, I want my own soil,

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<v Speaker 2>for crying out.

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<v Speaker 3>We got to do, Marlon Brando, buy an island in

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<v Speaker 3>a place where you're like, people are like, we wish

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<v Speaker 3>we didn't sell them that island. It's too late.

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<v Speaker 2>Now we got the paperwork we could probably I don't

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<v Speaker 2>know this. The whole head orders is empty. And if

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<v Speaker 2>we go from desk to desk and collect like loose change.

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<v Speaker 3>Johnny Depp has an island. See if I say, we

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<v Speaker 3>get close to him, get him to sign some paperwork

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<v Speaker 3>over he's.

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<v Speaker 2>Not paying attention to But can we make it our own?

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<v Speaker 3>We're like you schmoothed an island out of Johnny Depp.

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<v Speaker 3>Everyone would love that.

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<v Speaker 2>I bet I go through and I lift up keyboards

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<v Speaker 2>and computers. Maybe someone's got like a bitcoin pass on.

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<v Speaker 3>The like we forgot about it.

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<v Speaker 2>I forgot okay, so let's do that. When we're done here.

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<v Speaker 2>There are some who pull off this. I want to

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<v Speaker 2>have my own land, sea lands one of them. So

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<v Speaker 2>for those who want to get away, those who crave

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<v Speaker 2>their own government pace structures, the blueprint sea land or seaaland.

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<v Speaker 2>And it wasn't without drama, remember the Germans, Germans, and

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<v Speaker 2>it wasn't without crime. But you know what, the good

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<v Speaker 2>stuff never is. So I present to you, Zarin, it's

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<v Speaker 2>a country, if we say so, the island nation of

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<v Speaker 2>sea lands. And by the way, I know they don't

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<v Speaker 2>make them anymore, but I would love to hold a

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<v Speaker 2>sealand passport.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh hell yeah, maybe just fakes them up. What do

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<v Speaker 3>they do with sue us?

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<v Speaker 2>Good point? Well, Zaren?

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<v Speaker 3>Oh hey, what's up, Elizabeth?

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<v Speaker 4>You know it's ridiculous, Oh girl, do I Okay, Sir

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<v Speaker 4>Hugh Beaver, So, Sir Beaver, he was the managing director

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<v Speaker 4>for Guinness Brewery. Okay, now this dude, Sir Beaver, he

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<v Speaker 4>noted down at the pub there was always these arguments

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<v Speaker 4>and they often came down to something that was an

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<v Speaker 4>easily verifiable fact, and he thought this was just ridiculous.

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<v Speaker 4>So he asked his employer to help him compile all

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<v Speaker 4>of the facts he could find into a book to

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<v Speaker 4>end bar fights. He wanted to bring peace to the pub.

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<v Speaker 4>That book was eventually called the Guinness Book of World Records.

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<v Speaker 4>Oh yeah, all right, so, and now it's basically to

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<v Speaker 4>become like this compendium of stud be human tricks. But

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<v Speaker 4>originally it was supposed to bring peace to the pub?

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<v Speaker 2>Did it for a while?

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<v Speaker 3>I don't know.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't say, well, it just issued challenges. Probably. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>that is ridiculous, ridiculous. You know what else is ridiculous?

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<v Speaker 2>But please don't taking over an abandoned seafort and making

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<v Speaker 2>it your own country. Ooh, can I get how to

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<v Speaker 2>on this ridiculously awesome? Yeah? This is Ridiculous Crime A

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<v Speaker 2>podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists, and cons. It's

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<v Speaker 2>always ninety nine percent murder free and one ridiculous. Today,

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<v Speaker 2>I'm going to tell you about an absolute outrageous caper.

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<v Speaker 2>Comes to us from a listener. Dustin Pyle recommended this one.

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<v Speaker 2>We're going to talk about stealing an island, and we're

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<v Speaker 2>going to talk about a rogue invented nation. So far

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<v Speaker 2>we're talking international intrigue. Okay, and it all begins with

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<v Speaker 2>pirate radio.

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<v Speaker 3>How am I not involved in this story?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, zaren, I know you like pirates, yes, and I

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<v Speaker 2>love radio and I know you like radio. What do

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<v Speaker 2>you think about pirate radio? Are? Now you already know this,

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<v Speaker 2>but I'm going to explain it to you again. I'm

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<v Speaker 2>going to a woman's plain please in a way.

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<v Speaker 3>It's like at last, so it crossed my legs.

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<v Speaker 2>Pirate radio stations are those that operate without a broadcast license.

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<v Speaker 2>You know that right, Well, now you do. Without a license,

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<v Speaker 2>stations have to camp out on unused frequencies and that's

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<v Speaker 2>called wave piracy. Yes, so in the UK, the piracy

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<v Speaker 2>part of the term was also a nod to the

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<v Speaker 2>fact that, up until the seventies a lot of these

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<v Speaker 2>people operated stations from ships at sea, marine platforms, that

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<v Speaker 2>sort of thing.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh, so it was literal.

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<v Speaker 2>So they're on these marine platforms. What do I mean

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<v Speaker 2>by that? Well, let me tell you disused naval forts.

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<v Speaker 4>That's a thing, disused naval forts in the sea. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 4>because sub platforms. Sure, okay, not really. During World War

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<v Speaker 4>Two the English built these things called Monsole forts, and

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<v Speaker 4>they were named after Guy or Ghee Monsel, who m

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<v Speaker 4>a U. N. S. E.

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<v Speaker 2>L L. So they build these things called monsole Forts.

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<v Speaker 2>They're in like the North Sea. When I say like

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<v Speaker 2>they're in the North Sea, I didn't need that qualifier.

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<v Speaker 2>And there were ways to defend the Thames Estuary from

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<v Speaker 2>Nazi attacks. Okay, so you know you don't want them

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<v Speaker 2>coming up and so.

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<v Speaker 3>Wait, you're going to get into the Thames from the

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<v Speaker 3>North Sea.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they're in part of it. Okay, they could just

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<v Speaker 2>like go up the Thames and crawl up the skirt of.

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<v Speaker 4>England just because quite how I pictured it.

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<v Speaker 3>But it's very effective, thank you, good good metaphor.

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<v Speaker 2>So these I'm just I like to paint visual pictures

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<v Speaker 2>and you did, girl, so a lot these monsole forts.

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<v Speaker 2>They look a lot like the at ats in Star Wars.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh okay, all terrained armored transports.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, like the big mechanical robot dinosaurs.

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<v Speaker 2>So here in Oakland, we absolutely love to say that

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<v Speaker 2>the container cranes at the Port of Oakland, which are

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<v Speaker 2>rad looking, were the inspiration for the at at.

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<v Speaker 3>Walkers, don't tell me that's not true.

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<v Speaker 2>People have been saying this for years. But one of

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<v Speaker 2>my favorite journalists, Peter hart Love at the San Francisco Chronicle,

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<v Speaker 2>oh lord, he was able to ask George Lucas himself, no,

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<v Speaker 2>in two thousand and eight, I'm not listening, and it

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<v Speaker 2>turns out the Oakland cranes had nothing to do. I'm

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<v Speaker 2>so sorry for where.

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<v Speaker 3>Is that true? That can't be true. He has said

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<v Speaker 3>that like Degoba is named after, but Diego Bay, he

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<v Speaker 3>took those cranes, he said, at least as far as

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<v Speaker 3>I was aware. He has said that the cranes were an.

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<v Speaker 2>Inspiration because he has no respect for Oakland.

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<v Speaker 3>No, I'm telling you.

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<v Speaker 2>But you know what, that's why we're this amazing underdog city.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, people who know no town.

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<v Speaker 3>So uh.

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<v Speaker 2>He said that the ad Ads were inspired by this

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<v Speaker 2>millange of structures and contraptions. Milange, I put that in there. Okay,

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<v Speaker 2>that's not a quote.

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<v Speaker 3>Didn't seem like very Lucas.

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<v Speaker 2>It's an amalgamation. So I think that Monsole forts uh

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<v Speaker 2>influenced the ad at design. That's where I'm going with this.

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<v Speaker 2>That when I looked at a picture there. So there

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<v Speaker 2>are two types of these forts. There are naval forts

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<v Speaker 2>and army forts, and they're both on water. But the

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<v Speaker 2>army forts are the ones that look like ad Ads,

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<v Speaker 2>not the naval ones just want to put that out there.

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<v Speaker 2>They're just like the army ones are like big boxes

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<v Speaker 2>on stillt legs.

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<v Speaker 3>Are these metal cement what are we talking metal?

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<v Speaker 2>A combination combob.

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<v Speaker 3>Do they look like it's more like say an oil

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<v Speaker 3>refinery out on the water. They look more like you know,

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<v Speaker 3>cement like James Bond sub base.

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<v Speaker 2>The naval forts look like a combination between oil refineries

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<v Speaker 2>and a Bond Villain base. And the army forts look

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<v Speaker 2>like at ads.

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<v Speaker 3>Okay, thank you, there you go.

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<v Speaker 2>They at at ones. The army ones they kind of

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<v Speaker 2>look like they're like loping off through the waves in

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<v Speaker 2>the distance when you see pictures. The naval ones are substantial.

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<v Speaker 2>They are biggins. So they have these huge, massive towers

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<v Speaker 2>that lift up out of the water and they have

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<v Speaker 2>this like cement pontoon at the bottom that gets sunk

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<v Speaker 2>down and holds it oh okay to the floor talking yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>and like the the structure isn't too dissimilar in shape

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<v Speaker 2>from the above deck on a naval destroyer, like the

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<v Speaker 2>top part of it that goes on top of the towers.

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<v Speaker 2>They resemble like we said, oil platforms. Those are also

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<v Speaker 2>found in the North Sea, but further up. So I'm

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<v Speaker 2>going to post a picture of these just so everyone

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<v Speaker 2>can get a good sense. But there were four monsole

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<v Speaker 2>naval forts that were built. Rough Sands was the name

0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:26.679
<v Speaker 2>of one. Sunkhead Okay, Tongue Sands and knock John.

0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:28.520
<v Speaker 3>What these names?

0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.040
<v Speaker 2>They just drew them out of a hat. I mean,

0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.480
<v Speaker 2>I suppose the head is like a sunkhead, is like

0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:38.720
<v Speaker 2>the head of the mouth of the river, beach head John.

0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:40.520
<v Speaker 3>But knock John, that's the one that jumps out.

0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:43.800
<v Speaker 2>So I mean the other ones involve sand. So sure.

0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.720
<v Speaker 2>So the forts, as I'm giving this docent tour, they

0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:50.360
<v Speaker 2>better hire me for this sort of stuff. The forts

0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:52.680
<v Speaker 2>have a concrete pontoon base.

0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:53.680
<v Speaker 3>Excellent.

0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.760
<v Speaker 2>The towers are sixty feet tall twenty four feet in diameter,

0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:02.520
<v Speaker 2>I said Biggins. Each tower has seven floors, so we've

0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:07.120
<v Speaker 2>established that. And that's where there's crew quarters, storage, operational

0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:12.840
<v Speaker 2>type things, generators, fresh water tanks. There's a landing jetty

0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:15.679
<v Speaker 2>called a Dolphin, and then there's like a crane to

0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:19.600
<v Speaker 2>pick up supplies. The big deck, like I said, kind

0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:22.800
<v Speaker 2>of sits on top of the towers. Total area including

0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:26.840
<v Speaker 2>the hollow towers ten thousand square feet. Damn yeah, and

0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:29.720
<v Speaker 2>the towers were initially built to house two hundred to

0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.199
<v Speaker 2>three hundred people. That's cramming them in there, though, I

0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:32.480
<v Speaker 2>got it.

0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:38.840
<v Speaker 3>Like submarine style, so humans into this silver too.

0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.920
<v Speaker 2>Like sardines. The four I want to tell you about

0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.600
<v Speaker 2>is rough Sands. Okay, we'll get to knock John in

0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.200
<v Speaker 2>a bit, but rough Sands, that's the one we're focusing

0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:52.160
<v Speaker 2>on today. That one was built to protect the town

0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:53.600
<v Speaker 2>of ipswich.

0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:55.960
<v Speaker 3>Ah ipswitch clams, yeah.

0:13:55.559 --> 0:14:00.439
<v Speaker 2>And flipping those ip switches. And it sits about six

0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:03.559
<v Speaker 2>nautical miles from the coast. To answer your previous question,

0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:04.360
<v Speaker 2>you can put your.

0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.240
<v Speaker 3>Hand down now, yes, thank you. My arm was hurting.

0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:10.600
<v Speaker 2>So rough Sands, six nautical miles from the coast, write

0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:14.360
<v Speaker 2>that down. Picking about everybody in the world, the fort

0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:17.640
<v Speaker 2>saw like legit action in World War Two. Well, I

0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:20.480
<v Speaker 2>think they all kind of got together, they banded together

0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.560
<v Speaker 2>and brought down a boat. But I can only find

0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.360
<v Speaker 2>that they took down one German boat. Was there that

0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:27.960
<v Speaker 2>their mere presence was threatening.

0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:32.040
<v Speaker 3>They were like scarecrows of the sea exactly.

0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.800
<v Speaker 2>So it gets abandoned in nineteen forty eight, but it

0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.520
<v Speaker 2>was nineteen sixty six that became a banner year for

0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:43.400
<v Speaker 2>rough Sands. Okay zaren, Yes, I want you to close

0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:49.840
<v Speaker 2>your eyes and I want you to picture it. Christmas

0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:54.320
<v Speaker 2>Eve nineteen sixty six. Two men, a father and son

0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:57.760
<v Speaker 2>sit in a dinghy in the North Sea, just off

0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:02.240
<v Speaker 2>the southeast coast of England. The sea is unusually calm.

0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.840
<v Speaker 2>One of them hums a song while the other pilots

0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:10.200
<v Speaker 2>the craft toward a large structure ahead rough Sands Naval Bass.

0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.520
<v Speaker 2>They reached the base, tie off on the tower and

0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:17.240
<v Speaker 2>climb the ladder toward the entry points. There are already

0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:19.840
<v Speaker 2>people on the base. Now, those are the good folks

0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:26.280
<v Speaker 2>at Radio Caroline. So Radio Caroline is a legit station now,

0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:30.680
<v Speaker 2>but it began life as a pirate radio frequency, and

0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:34.800
<v Speaker 2>they were really groundbreaking because they played continuous pop songs

0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.680
<v Speaker 2>all day, and the legal stations were like the state

0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.880
<v Speaker 2>run BBC ones, and so they had to play like

0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.640
<v Speaker 2>a mix of stuff to appeal to all of the public.

0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:49.520
<v Speaker 3>Playing like folk tunes and opera and we're just going

0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:50.200
<v Speaker 3>to play the.

0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:55.600
<v Speaker 2>Gardening shows and talk. And then they would also play

0:15:55.640 --> 0:16:00.280
<v Speaker 2>like kind of lame ripoffs of current music. It on

0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:08.000
<v Speaker 2>like the banjo exactly. Radio Caroline wanted to get loose

0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:12.080
<v Speaker 2>many and they wanted to count of that stuffy old programming.

0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:16.160
<v Speaker 2>They're like, loosen your ties, guys. They operated off of

0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.520
<v Speaker 2>ships just off the coast of England and they could

0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:20.800
<v Speaker 2>reach almost all of the UK and parts of the

0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:25.120
<v Speaker 2>Irish Republic damn there. And they were hit makers. They

0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.600
<v Speaker 2>would play things that got so much you know, uh,

0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:33.160
<v Speaker 2>so many listeners, so much listeners that you know, people

0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:34.920
<v Speaker 2>would you know, go out and buy the records.

0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.680
<v Speaker 3>And so they hit the charts. Because so now we're

0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:39.840
<v Speaker 3>the record companies and the artists trying to appeal to them.

0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:40.760
<v Speaker 3>Have they figured this out?

0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.400
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? And and the thing is they start getting all

0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:47.560
<v Speaker 2>this competition. So there are American interests they're funding like

0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:50.840
<v Speaker 2>stations off the coast, and because they know they can

0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:53.600
<v Speaker 2>drive sales, so more and more of these stations are

0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:57.160
<v Speaker 2>popping up and they're shaping the culture and the popular

0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:01.360
<v Speaker 2>music landscape. And they're also fighting over the nautical landscape.

0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:07.400
<v Speaker 2>So the stations realized that, like they they could have

0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:11.679
<v Speaker 2>fixed bases in the actual abandoned bases, and so they

0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.760
<v Speaker 2>started squatting them to take them over. But don't forget

0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.840
<v Speaker 2>there aren't many of them. Yeah, four four naval ones,

0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:22.440
<v Speaker 2>four army ones. Now this means that there's a number

0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:25.640
<v Speaker 2>of skirmishes and armed hijackings of the.

0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.040
<v Speaker 3>Courts between like rival pirates.

0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.679
<v Speaker 2>Yes, there's like literal piracy going on.

0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.720
<v Speaker 3>So they had like actual pirate vanguards landing and then

0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.119
<v Speaker 3>doing it getting into like fights and clashes. Now do

0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:37.880
<v Speaker 3>they have swords?

0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:39.240
<v Speaker 2>They have weaponry.

0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:41.680
<v Speaker 3>They have real weaponry. And now are they doing like gunfights?

0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:45.120
<v Speaker 3>Are like more like your clubs and sticks, a little.

0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.560
<v Speaker 2>Bit of everything. Okay, they did, So this is going

0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.160
<v Speaker 2>to bring us back to Christmas Eve nineteen sixty six.

0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.720
<v Speaker 2>Patty Roy Bates and his teenage son Michael, they're the

0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:58.520
<v Speaker 2>ones in the dinghy. Now, they had a pirate station

0:17:58.560 --> 0:17:59.800
<v Speaker 2>that they called Radio.

0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:01.280
<v Speaker 3>Essex Station two.

0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.160
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they said that they were the first twenty four

0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:07.760
<v Speaker 2>hour pirate radio station and they had already set up

0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.640
<v Speaker 2>on the abandoned knock John Ford. Okay, so they're out

0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:15.119
<v Speaker 2>at knock John. The problem was that knock John is

0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:19.040
<v Speaker 2>within three nautical miles of the coast. That means that

0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:23.120
<v Speaker 2>it's in British territorial waters. Now remember how far did

0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.479
<v Speaker 2>you write this down? How far away is rough Sands?

0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:31.200
<v Speaker 3>Four is four nautical miles. It's six six. I still

0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:33.560
<v Speaker 3>got my first guest notes guess.

0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:37.360
<v Speaker 2>Six nautical miles. So that meant that that was in

0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:42.639
<v Speaker 2>international waters, yes, knock John British territorial waters, and that

0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:46.440
<v Speaker 2>meant that the UK could shut it down and they

0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:50.840
<v Speaker 2>had the authority to do it. So the British government

0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:55.000
<v Speaker 2>has no authority over rough Sands. Roy and Michael. They

0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.320
<v Speaker 2>decide to set up shop there, so they're going to

0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:01.639
<v Speaker 2>move their operations from knock John to rough Sands. This

0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:08.080
<v Speaker 2>is like gibberish. That's okay. The only problem is that

0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:11.960
<v Speaker 2>Radio Caroline the previously mentioned they were already set up there.

0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:15.399
<v Speaker 2>They had they were using rough Sands as an outpost,

0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.840
<v Speaker 2>so they weren't broadcasting from there. These people it was

0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.320
<v Speaker 2>like a way station where they could have supplies dropped

0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:22.960
<v Speaker 2>off and then their boats could come and power.

0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.200
<v Speaker 4>Oh okay, just like a supply station.

0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.600
<v Speaker 2>Roy and Michael they get there. They scale the metal

0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:33.040
<v Speaker 2>ladder rungs, make it to the platform, same method by

0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:35.000
<v Speaker 2>the way that they took knock John. Because they had

0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:36.960
<v Speaker 2>to kick someone out of knock John to take it.

0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.760
<v Speaker 2>They take it by force. One of the Radio Caroline

0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:44.200
<v Speaker 2>dudes has a rifle for protection and uh, you know,

0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:47.280
<v Speaker 2>because the pirate radio wars are heaten up, but they're

0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:50.960
<v Speaker 2>no match for Roy and Michael. Now it's not clear

0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:54.399
<v Speaker 2>if Roy and Michael were armed as well, but the

0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:57.240
<v Speaker 2>two of them were able to corral the Caroline folks

0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:58.960
<v Speaker 2>and escort them back to dry Land.

0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:00.640
<v Speaker 3>Are these like hippies?

0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:03.080
<v Speaker 2>They kind of think that maybe they're. Yeah, they're like

0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:05.760
<v Speaker 2>in earth shoes, shaggy hair.

0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:07.600
<v Speaker 3>There's some long hairrison bergenstocks.

0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:10.560
<v Speaker 2>They're like, look, man, they lose their footing on the

0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:14.600
<v Speaker 2>deck because their foot comes out of the birkenstocks. Uh

0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:16.360
<v Speaker 2>you know, no cap on birkenstocks.

0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:18.639
<v Speaker 3>But no, you're wearing some right now on my hands.

0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.639
<v Speaker 2>And so they get them to dry Land. Roy eventually

0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.800
<v Speaker 2>brings his radio transmitter equipment to rough Sands, but he

0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:29.800
<v Speaker 2>winds up never broadcasting from there. Okay, so he takes

0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:32.800
<v Speaker 2>it by force and then it's like okay.

0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:34.919
<v Speaker 3>But also they're broadcasting twenty four hours. Do they have

0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:37.359
<v Speaker 3>like staff? Are they running this themselves?

0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:42.600
<v Speaker 2>It's the wife gotation. It's a family operation. Now, Radio Caroline.

0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:45.520
<v Speaker 2>They're not going to go quietly. They tried a bunch

0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:49.200
<v Speaker 2>of times to reclaim the fort no avail. Others tried

0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:53.000
<v Speaker 2>other you know, like invaders tried to come up the ladder.

0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:54.320
<v Speaker 2>They thought them off.

0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:58.040
<v Speaker 3>Hippie Sam Bellamy trying to not exactly.

0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:01.960
<v Speaker 2>The Bates clan just they were too hard boiled, and

0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:07.000
<v Speaker 2>they had firearms. They had Molotov cocktails that they would

0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:10.879
<v Speaker 2>use against invader. They had homemade projectiles.

0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:11.160
<v Speaker 3>Potato guns.

0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.440
<v Speaker 2>That's exactly what I was thinking when I read homemade projectiles,

0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:17.199
<v Speaker 2>and like, I started looking out the window wistfully and

0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:22.359
<v Speaker 2>imagining potato guns. I knew someone who they built a

0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:25.280
<v Speaker 2>potato gun and fired it out of their apartment window

0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:27.679
<v Speaker 2>at a punk house, and they used to fire it

0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:31.560
<v Speaker 2>at garbage trucks because they were They said, they were

0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:36.360
<v Speaker 2>slow moving and loosely affiliated with the government, and that's

0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:40.920
<v Speaker 2>why they targeted them. So they've got firearms, they got

0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:45.240
<v Speaker 2>Molotov cocktails, they got homemade projectiles. Baby, they got a dream.

0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:48.480
<v Speaker 2>And when we come back from this intrusive commercial break,

0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:50.800
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to tell you about this dream and all

0:21:50.840 --> 0:22:10.800
<v Speaker 2>of it's ridiculous glory.

0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:14.440
<v Speaker 3>He is Aaron, Oh hey, I'm still here.

0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:18.679
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Well, when we left off Patti Roy Bates and his.

0:22:18.640 --> 0:22:22.399
<v Speaker 3>Son Michael, Yeah, I'm taking notes.

0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:28.080
<v Speaker 2>They had hijacked a decommissioned naval outpost in the North Sea,

0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:32.600
<v Speaker 2>ostensibly to use for a pirate radio station base. Let's

0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:35.920
<v Speaker 2>come back to that in a bit. First, I want

0:22:35.960 --> 0:22:41.240
<v Speaker 2>to tell you about an investment opportunity. No, I want

0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:45.080
<v Speaker 2>to tell you about Roy Bates, a real character. You

0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:49.320
<v Speaker 2>know I love characters, So Patti Roy Bates born August

0:22:49.320 --> 0:22:52.480
<v Speaker 2>twenty ninth, nineteen twenty one. He was one of only

0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:55.760
<v Speaker 2>He was the only one of five siblings to survive

0:22:55.840 --> 0:23:01.119
<v Speaker 2>past early childhood rough stuff, tough. He leaves home to

0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:04.120
<v Speaker 2>go fight for the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War.

0:23:04.800 --> 0:23:09.760
<v Speaker 2>Good now, yep, he comes back. He's fifteen. Yeah, and

0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:12.000
<v Speaker 2>that was really crazy fighting.

0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:14.400
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, exactly, a lot of casualties.

0:23:14.760 --> 0:23:16.520
<v Speaker 2>So he comes back and he winds up fighting in

0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:21.960
<v Speaker 2>World War Two as well, goes to Italy, North Africa, Iraq, Syria.

0:23:22.520 --> 0:23:25.119
<v Speaker 2>He does the whole tour. He was a prisoner of

0:23:25.240 --> 0:23:30.840
<v Speaker 2>war twice. The second time his plane crashed on the

0:23:30.880 --> 0:23:34.919
<v Speaker 2>Isle of Rhodes and he was taken prisoner by Greek fascists,

0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:39.000
<v Speaker 2>but he was rescued from a firing squad by a

0:23:39.119 --> 0:23:43.520
<v Speaker 2>quote passing German officer. How does that work? That makes

0:23:43.720 --> 0:23:46.639
<v Speaker 2>no sense to me, Like why I would imagine that

0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:49.239
<v Speaker 2>the passing German officer would see a British soldier and

0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:52.520
<v Speaker 2>be like line him up. I don't know. So maybe

0:23:52.520 --> 0:23:55.120
<v Speaker 2>the guy had a change of heart anyway.

0:23:54.800 --> 0:23:55.680
<v Speaker 3>Maybe he look cute.

0:23:56.359 --> 0:24:00.680
<v Speaker 2>It could be he was smoking hot. The soldiers like, oh,

0:24:00.880 --> 0:24:06.320
<v Speaker 2>save that one from this once again, smoking hot, too pretty,

0:24:07.320 --> 0:24:12.120
<v Speaker 2>you're so pretty talk. He was wounded multiple times and

0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:16.520
<v Speaker 2>he survived malaria, sandfly fever, and frostbite.

0:24:16.600 --> 0:24:18.199
<v Speaker 3>Okay, I'm starting to see why he was winning the

0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:20.879
<v Speaker 3>Pirate Wars. Yeah, like pirate radio that nothing.

0:24:20.760 --> 0:24:24.520
<v Speaker 2>Is it hard boiled? So after the war he goes

0:24:24.720 --> 0:24:29.640
<v Speaker 2>and starts importing meat from the Irish Republic into Northern Ireland,

0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:34.960
<v Speaker 2>just general meats. And he also imports rubber from Malaysia.

0:24:35.080 --> 0:24:37.040
<v Speaker 3>So was he doing this like import export?

0:24:37.240 --> 0:24:40.680
<v Speaker 2>I think there are huge quotation marks around import exports.

0:24:40.800 --> 0:24:42.720
<v Speaker 2>He also ran a chain of butcher.

0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:45.440
<v Speaker 3>Shops, which we all know said cash business.

0:24:46.119 --> 0:24:52.240
<v Speaker 2>So in the early sixties he also fished for decorative seaweed.

0:24:53.119 --> 0:24:55.080
<v Speaker 2>I don't even know what that is. That he sold

0:24:55.119 --> 0:24:57.240
<v Speaker 2>to Floris in the US and Canada.

0:24:58.640 --> 0:25:01.320
<v Speaker 3>The decorative seaweed that we you'd love over here. You

0:25:01.359 --> 0:25:03.440
<v Speaker 3>know the other day I was going to get you

0:25:03.480 --> 0:25:06.160
<v Speaker 3>a Hey, it's Tuesday, here's some decorative seaweed to cheer

0:25:06.200 --> 0:25:08.080
<v Speaker 3>up your day. Yeah, couldn't find any because it was

0:25:08.080 --> 0:25:09.359
<v Speaker 3>sold out. That's how much we love it.

0:25:09.440 --> 0:25:11.280
<v Speaker 2>Well. So the other day I was like, I was

0:25:11.480 --> 0:25:14.280
<v Speaker 2>rollerblading in the park. And I say that because I

0:25:14.280 --> 0:25:18.200
<v Speaker 2>don't rollerblade, but I know someone who does and near

0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:21.560
<v Speaker 2>here he is, he's really close by right now. And

0:25:22.080 --> 0:25:25.240
<v Speaker 2>I saw you sitting at a park bench making a

0:25:25.280 --> 0:25:28.480
<v Speaker 2>wreath out of decorative seaweed, and you said you were

0:25:28.480 --> 0:25:30.600
<v Speaker 2>just gonna hang it on a stranger's door to brighten

0:25:30.640 --> 0:25:31.040
<v Speaker 2>their day.

0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:33.159
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's what I do every couple of two weeks.

0:25:33.240 --> 0:25:35.119
<v Speaker 2>Is that why you're covered in glitter? Because you're putting

0:25:35.160 --> 0:25:37.919
<v Speaker 2>glitter on the on the wreath. When I saw you, glitter.

0:25:37.720 --> 0:25:40.000
<v Speaker 3>Is kind of like you know, my it's my mark.

0:25:40.040 --> 0:25:41.560
<v Speaker 3>It's how you know it's from me. You're like, you

0:25:41.560 --> 0:25:43.240
<v Speaker 3>shake something, a bunch of glitter comes out. You're like the.

0:25:44.960 --> 0:25:49.160
<v Speaker 2>Zeren dust. So decorative seaweed, the stuff you have may

0:25:49.160 --> 0:25:51.359
<v Speaker 2>have come from old stock.

0:25:51.440 --> 0:25:53.160
<v Speaker 3>Then how are you going to get into the decorative

0:25:53.200 --> 0:25:55.840
<v Speaker 3>seeded let alone? Like I mean, I can see you're

0:25:55.840 --> 0:25:59.320
<v Speaker 3>like into the decorative business, but like decorative seaweed. Like, fine,

0:25:59.320 --> 0:26:01.760
<v Speaker 3>you got some like driftwood, you got some nice stones,

0:26:01.800 --> 0:26:04.919
<v Speaker 3>You're you're gathering stuff. I get it, the focusing on

0:26:05.000 --> 0:26:05.840
<v Speaker 3>decorative seaweed.

0:26:05.960 --> 0:26:07.960
<v Speaker 2>The problem I have is that when I think of seaweed,

0:26:08.000 --> 0:26:10.719
<v Speaker 2>I think of two things. I think of sushi, the

0:26:11.000 --> 0:26:13.920
<v Speaker 2>nori on the out side, right, and then I think

0:26:13.920 --> 0:26:15.560
<v Speaker 2>of California kelp beds.

0:26:15.720 --> 0:26:19.960
<v Speaker 4>Oh yeah, yeah, those like you can whip your little brother.

0:26:22.080 --> 0:26:24.840
<v Speaker 2>So and they smell terrible, oh the worst. So I

0:26:24.880 --> 0:26:26.919
<v Speaker 2>don't know what's going on seaweed. Is it really a

0:26:27.000 --> 0:26:28.240
<v Speaker 2>it's a pretty pungent thing.

0:26:28.400 --> 0:26:31.920
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, No, you can eat it though that stuff the yeah,

0:26:32.040 --> 0:26:33.640
<v Speaker 3>if you just really like salty.

0:26:33.760 --> 0:26:37.159
<v Speaker 2>Really salt efficient. So we've gotten off track here, but

0:26:37.440 --> 0:26:41.439
<v Speaker 2>you have to admit that harvesting decorative seaweed is a

0:26:41.440 --> 0:26:43.879
<v Speaker 2>pretty amazing gig for if you want to just like

0:26:43.920 --> 0:26:47.600
<v Speaker 2>be a character. And I think I'm going to add

0:26:47.600 --> 0:26:50.080
<v Speaker 2>that to my list of things I tell people I do.

0:26:50.440 --> 0:26:52.040
<v Speaker 3>I also trade in whale teeth.

0:26:52.280 --> 0:26:58.800
<v Speaker 2>And so Patty Roy bates Roy as he went by

0:26:59.359 --> 0:27:03.240
<v Speaker 2>in the early say he starts radio Essex Natural Fight

0:27:03.320 --> 0:27:06.199
<v Speaker 2>it's a natural evolution, and that brings us up to

0:27:06.320 --> 0:27:09.080
<v Speaker 2>rough Sands. So I told you he took control of

0:27:09.119 --> 0:27:11.959
<v Speaker 2>the fort, he set up his broadcast equipment, and then

0:27:12.080 --> 0:27:14.640
<v Speaker 2>was like, but that's because according to the New York

0:27:14.680 --> 0:27:20.320
<v Speaker 2>Times and I quote, the Marine Broadcasting Act of nineteen

0:27:20.400 --> 0:27:24.080
<v Speaker 2>sixty seven made it illegal for pirate radios, even those

0:27:24.160 --> 0:27:30.400
<v Speaker 2>outside territorial waters, to employ British citizens. Mister Bates promptly

0:27:30.440 --> 0:27:34.520
<v Speaker 2>declared independence, probably hoping to circumvent the strictures of the Act.

0:27:35.840 --> 0:27:37.720
<v Speaker 2>He's like, I'm in international waters.

0:27:38.000 --> 0:27:38.119
<v Speaker 1>Hm.

0:27:38.760 --> 0:27:40.399
<v Speaker 2>Too bad. So sad you can't get me.

0:27:40.560 --> 0:27:45.160
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, So he jokes, glue, whatever your citizen's been doing

0:27:45.160 --> 0:27:46.800
<v Speaker 3>is it bounces off me and sticks to you.

0:27:47.440 --> 0:27:49.840
<v Speaker 2>That sounds like a you problem this whole we don't

0:27:49.880 --> 0:27:57.439
<v Speaker 2>want citizens. So Roy jokes with his wife Joan that

0:27:57.680 --> 0:28:01.120
<v Speaker 2>now that he was unable to really broadcast, she basically

0:28:01.119 --> 0:28:02.520
<v Speaker 2>has her own private island.

0:28:04.040 --> 0:28:04.600
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

0:28:04.640 --> 0:28:06.800
<v Speaker 2>And so they go out to drinks with some pals

0:28:07.240 --> 0:28:10.200
<v Speaker 2>and they're telling their friends all about rough Sands. He's like, look,

0:28:10.560 --> 0:28:13.520
<v Speaker 2>I took over this fort. They're like, oh, Roy, you

0:28:13.920 --> 0:28:17.560
<v Speaker 2>not again. He's just like wearing a seaweed suit like

0:28:17.600 --> 0:28:22.040
<v Speaker 2>a gilly sea so he you know, he says, look,

0:28:22.040 --> 0:28:25.080
<v Speaker 2>I took it over and Joan was like, you know what,

0:28:25.160 --> 0:28:27.280
<v Speaker 2>it's a shame. It doesn't have a few palm trees,

0:28:27.280 --> 0:28:30.600
<v Speaker 2>a bit of sunshine in its own flag. That's a quote,

0:28:30.800 --> 0:28:37.160
<v Speaker 2>really yeah, but shimming shimmying her shoulders, it's a shame.

0:28:38.320 --> 0:28:41.440
<v Speaker 2>So one of the friends is like, hello, make it

0:28:41.480 --> 0:28:42.520
<v Speaker 2>an actual island.

0:28:42.760 --> 0:28:43.800
<v Speaker 3>Let's make it happen.

0:28:43.880 --> 0:28:46.240
<v Speaker 2>People, let's do this, and then they all high fived

0:28:46.280 --> 0:28:47.480
<v Speaker 2>and then skipped out into the street.

0:28:47.560 --> 0:28:48.640
<v Speaker 3>I have a sewing machine.

0:28:49.040 --> 0:28:52.080
<v Speaker 2>Roy goes right to his lawyers. Of course, a man

0:28:52.120 --> 0:28:57.880
<v Speaker 2>has lawyers. So for Jones's birthday, that's what I'm saying,

0:28:57.880 --> 0:29:00.280
<v Speaker 2>they're on retainer. He's like, all right, look, well no

0:29:00.320 --> 0:29:03.040
<v Speaker 2>it's not me this time, I have an island. They're like,

0:29:03.120 --> 0:29:05.560
<v Speaker 2>oh god, and then some of them have like dollar

0:29:05.640 --> 0:29:10.200
<v Speaker 2>signs in their eyes. Jones's birthday, September second, nineteen sixty seven,

0:29:11.080 --> 0:29:14.600
<v Speaker 2>Roy gives her a pretty stunning gift. He declared the

0:29:14.640 --> 0:29:18.160
<v Speaker 2>principality of Sea Land and was like, here's your island.

0:29:18.320 --> 0:29:22.280
<v Speaker 3>We are a country now, baby.

0:29:22.400 --> 0:29:26.280
<v Speaker 2>He comes up with a motto he Mary libertos Latin

0:29:26.320 --> 0:29:29.840
<v Speaker 2>from Latin four from the Sea Freedom.

0:29:29.640 --> 0:29:31.200
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, out of the sea freedom.

0:29:31.280 --> 0:29:34.360
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. He creates a flag. It's red, white and black.

0:29:35.120 --> 0:29:38.920
<v Speaker 2>There's a big triangle red at the top left corner.

0:29:38.960 --> 0:29:41.080
<v Speaker 2>I know there's a term for all the different parts

0:29:41.080 --> 0:29:43.080
<v Speaker 2>of the flag, but as you know, I play fast

0:29:43.160 --> 0:29:46.880
<v Speaker 2>and loose. There's a diagonal stripe of white across the center,

0:29:46.920 --> 0:29:48.800
<v Speaker 2>and then the rest is a black triangle on the

0:29:48.840 --> 0:29:51.320
<v Speaker 2>lower right. He made up a cool crest.

0:29:51.800 --> 0:29:54.280
<v Speaker 3>What's on the crest stuff? Stuff and things?

0:29:54.400 --> 0:29:54.600
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

0:29:54.680 --> 0:29:54.920
<v Speaker 3>Cool.

0:29:55.000 --> 0:29:58.760
<v Speaker 2>It's like there's like a tower and animals. I don't

0:29:58.800 --> 0:30:02.560
<v Speaker 2>remember Latin. I looked at him a mass cold. Then

0:30:02.640 --> 0:30:05.960
<v Speaker 2>I just forgot about it. He had money, a Sealand dollar,

0:30:06.360 --> 0:30:11.480
<v Speaker 2>which is equal to one US dollar seabucks. He gives

0:30:11.520 --> 0:30:14.200
<v Speaker 2>his wife a title, Princess Joan.

0:30:14.560 --> 0:30:16.240
<v Speaker 3>Wait does that make him the prince?

0:30:16.400 --> 0:30:19.960
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he's Prince Roy, Prince Roy Okay. And then they

0:30:19.960 --> 0:30:24.320
<v Speaker 2>pack up their kids, Prince Michael and Princess Penelope, and

0:30:24.360 --> 0:30:29.520
<v Speaker 2>they moved to Sealand like this long suffering family, Like,

0:30:29.680 --> 0:30:33.400
<v Speaker 2>load up the royal family, We're going to Seeland's.

0:30:32.720 --> 0:30:34.000
<v Speaker 3>Got a new bug in his bonnet.

0:30:35.160 --> 0:30:39.400
<v Speaker 2>So nineteen sixty seven, the UK military decides to destroy

0:30:39.440 --> 0:30:43.880
<v Speaker 2>the remaining towers, which were sitting in international waters, and

0:30:44.120 --> 0:30:48.560
<v Speaker 2>allegedly a crew on a Royal Navy tug boat called out,

0:30:48.800 --> 0:30:52.880
<v Speaker 2>you're next to the Royal family while they were built there.

0:30:53.680 --> 0:30:58.120
<v Speaker 2>In May of sixty eight, Royal Navy boat, a real

0:30:58.200 --> 0:31:02.560
<v Speaker 2>Royal Navy boat came with fifty feet of Sealand, and

0:31:02.760 --> 0:31:05.960
<v Speaker 2>apparently there are claims that they yelled obscenities at the

0:31:06.040 --> 0:31:11.600
<v Speaker 2>kids and that they made what's next, who thunk it?

0:31:12.000 --> 0:31:15.000
<v Speaker 2>And then they made obscene gestures at sixteen year old

0:31:15.000 --> 0:31:20.120
<v Speaker 2>Princess Penelope, who yeah, so what is Prince Michael? He

0:31:20.240 --> 0:31:22.760
<v Speaker 2>sees this, He's like, not on my watch, and he

0:31:22.800 --> 0:31:25.160
<v Speaker 2>fires warning shots at the vessel.

0:31:25.640 --> 0:31:31.560
<v Speaker 5>Yes, And then there's also another version of the story

0:31:31.600 --> 0:31:35.320
<v Speaker 5>where they say that workers were servicing in nearby Bowie

0:31:35.360 --> 0:31:38.800
<v Speaker 5>and that Michael fired warning shots to quote, remind these

0:31:38.840 --> 0:31:41.440
<v Speaker 5>workers of Seland's territorial sovereignty.

0:31:42.520 --> 0:31:43.440
<v Speaker 3>You can do that.

0:31:43.600 --> 0:31:46.720
<v Speaker 2>I am a sovereign citizen. That am I being detained?

0:31:47.480 --> 0:31:52.360
<v Speaker 2>So roy and Michael their UK citizens, They yeah, they're

0:31:52.360 --> 0:31:56.120
<v Speaker 2>subjects of the Crown. They did later become citizens of Sealand,

0:31:56.240 --> 0:32:01.360
<v Speaker 2>but they never renounced their British citizenship and in general

0:32:01.400 --> 0:32:03.400
<v Speaker 2>they are concerned with you know, the well being of

0:32:03.440 --> 0:32:08.280
<v Speaker 2>the UK. They're there all the time firing a weapon.

0:32:08.760 --> 0:32:12.840
<v Speaker 3>Did Seland have free health care.

0:32:13.000 --> 0:32:15.320
<v Speaker 2>Like a you know, a needle and thread or.

0:32:16.920 --> 0:32:17.240
<v Speaker 3>Michael.

0:32:19.600 --> 0:32:22.880
<v Speaker 2>If Michael isn't the one who shot you, you can't

0:32:22.880 --> 0:32:26.320
<v Speaker 2>fire a weapon at the UK Royal Navy. It's illegal.

0:32:26.520 --> 0:32:31.400
<v Speaker 2>So they the two, Prince Roy and Prince Michael. They

0:32:31.400 --> 0:32:34.800
<v Speaker 2>get called into British court under the Firearms Act. The

0:32:35.080 --> 0:32:38.560
<v Speaker 2>judge decided that the court did not have jurisdiction and

0:32:38.680 --> 0:32:42.040
<v Speaker 2>sent Roy and Michael. Princess Roy and Michael on their way.

0:32:42.760 --> 0:32:47.560
<v Speaker 2>They're released. Now Sealand considers that its first quote de

0:32:47.680 --> 0:32:52.440
<v Speaker 2>facto recognition. So they're saying, well, since you know, the

0:32:52.440 --> 0:32:54.840
<v Speaker 2>court said they didn't have jurisdiction, they're saying, we're a

0:32:54.880 --> 0:32:58.400
<v Speaker 2>real place. And that is the year that Sealand begins

0:32:58.480 --> 0:33:03.840
<v Speaker 2>issuing its own official passports. Now, in the late sixties,

0:33:04.120 --> 0:33:06.320
<v Speaker 2>they were causing the Royal Navy a lot of headaches

0:33:06.720 --> 0:33:11.040
<v Speaker 2>because Cuba's on everyone's mind. The Brits are afraid they're

0:33:11.040 --> 0:33:14.160
<v Speaker 2>going to have the same kind of situation happening. Naval

0:33:14.160 --> 0:33:15.120
<v Speaker 2>officers they come up with.

0:33:15.120 --> 0:33:17.560
<v Speaker 3>The Brits are worried that the Soviet Union is going

0:33:17.600 --> 0:33:19.960
<v Speaker 3>to give nuclear weapons to the land.

0:33:20.240 --> 0:33:22.800
<v Speaker 2>They're like, you know, put proper, get a little funky

0:33:22.800 --> 0:33:23.240
<v Speaker 2>over there.

0:33:23.640 --> 0:33:24.720
<v Speaker 3>They're going to go communists.

0:33:24.800 --> 0:33:26.920
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so you know what they're they plan. They're like,

0:33:26.960 --> 0:33:28.440
<v Speaker 2>you know what, let's just bomb them.

0:33:29.120 --> 0:33:29.640
<v Speaker 3>You're serious.

0:33:30.240 --> 0:33:31.520
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they come up with this plan, but then they

0:33:31.600 --> 0:33:36.080
<v Speaker 2>decide against it. Probably gonna lame idea. I mean, they

0:33:36.080 --> 0:33:39.680
<v Speaker 2>don't even have a radio station. So by the early

0:33:39.760 --> 0:33:43.840
<v Speaker 2>seventies there are fifty people living on Seaaland.

0:33:43.560 --> 0:33:44.520
<v Speaker 3>Was Michael getting busy?

0:33:45.600 --> 0:33:50.480
<v Speaker 2>No, a young lad. It's extended family bringing people over,

0:33:51.600 --> 0:33:57.000
<v Speaker 2>having children. That's what I thought, you pervert, It's just populating.

0:33:57.600 --> 0:33:59.000
<v Speaker 3>God not that way.

0:33:59.560 --> 0:34:02.720
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, yeah, they're just recruiting in a busy fashion,

0:34:02.920 --> 0:34:06.840
<v Speaker 2>extended family, friends, random workers, that kind of stuff. Enter

0:34:07.840 --> 0:34:14.799
<v Speaker 2>Alexander Achenbach. That's a serious name, Yeah, Alexander Achenbach. He

0:34:14.920 --> 0:34:20.040
<v Speaker 2>was a diamond dealer and general businessman in quotation marks.

0:34:20.480 --> 0:34:23.239
<v Speaker 3>He deal diamonds and you're a general businessman that just

0:34:23.239 --> 0:34:23.640
<v Speaker 3>says it.

0:34:23.600 --> 0:34:27.759
<v Speaker 2>All right there, it's delicious. He approaches Roy with an idea.

0:34:28.040 --> 0:34:29.280
<v Speaker 3>I bet it was a great idea.

0:34:29.480 --> 0:34:30.799
<v Speaker 2>He said, hey, baby.

0:34:31.520 --> 0:34:33.000
<v Speaker 3>You just want to come they down by myself.

0:34:34.840 --> 0:34:39.759
<v Speaker 2>Hey, sugar, let's expand and develop. What does he mean

0:34:39.760 --> 0:34:44.520
<v Speaker 2>by that? I want to know he envisioned like Omlas,

0:34:44.560 --> 0:34:47.800
<v Speaker 2>like utopia. And I say that because I am sure

0:34:47.840 --> 0:34:50.680
<v Speaker 2>that he accounted for a neglected child in a basement.

0:34:50.400 --> 0:34:52.640
<v Speaker 3>Somewhere part of the plan.

0:34:52.800 --> 0:34:54.640
<v Speaker 2>If you don't know what I'm talking about, read the

0:34:54.719 --> 0:34:57.960
<v Speaker 2>Ursula Lagwin story the ones who walked away from Omelas,

0:34:58.120 --> 0:35:01.600
<v Speaker 2>and then ruminate on who is is our society's child

0:35:01.600 --> 0:35:03.720
<v Speaker 2>in the basement. That's just a little fun.

0:35:04.239 --> 0:35:04.959
<v Speaker 3>Homework for y'all.

0:35:05.520 --> 0:35:12.120
<v Speaker 2>Anyway, Alex saw a bustling island nation had a vision. Yeah,

0:35:12.160 --> 0:35:16.560
<v Speaker 2>profits yeah, he's a forward thinker. He wanted a casino.

0:35:16.520 --> 0:35:19.200
<v Speaker 3>Naturally first, I mean, hello, I was going to guess

0:35:19.239 --> 0:35:19.680
<v Speaker 3>that it's the.

0:35:19.719 --> 0:35:23.920
<v Speaker 2>First plant that flag. He wanted a public commons with

0:35:24.040 --> 0:35:29.960
<v Speaker 2>like foliage so plants stuff. Yeah, there are these places

0:35:29.960 --> 0:35:32.520
<v Speaker 2>where people can walk and things are green. What I

0:35:32.560 --> 0:35:34.080
<v Speaker 2>don't know. It's a new concept.

0:35:34.160 --> 0:35:36.440
<v Speaker 3>It's a commons. It's in an area that you share.

0:35:36.520 --> 0:35:40.440
<v Speaker 2>You could park your rump on the bench a park park.

0:35:41.400 --> 0:35:44.360
<v Speaker 2>He wanted a duty free shop because I guess he

0:35:44.440 --> 0:35:50.040
<v Speaker 2>wanted to sell. He wanted booze, perfume and watches. He

0:35:50.160 --> 0:35:53.400
<v Speaker 2>wanted infrastructure. He wanted like a post office.

0:35:53.840 --> 0:35:56.080
<v Speaker 3>He wanted a bank, he settled down Ben Franklin.

0:35:57.200 --> 0:36:00.959
<v Speaker 2>He wanted lodging, he wanted apartments like a boarding house.

0:36:01.000 --> 0:36:03.200
<v Speaker 3>Hotels, oh, hotels, okay.

0:36:03.040 --> 0:36:09.040
<v Speaker 2>And wanted he wanted dining. He wanted entertainment. Okay. Yeah,

0:36:09.120 --> 0:36:14.960
<v Speaker 2>he also wanted an oil refinery. Now the platform is big,

0:36:15.040 --> 0:36:18.480
<v Speaker 2>but it's not that big exactly. He's like a kid.

0:36:18.920 --> 0:36:21.000
<v Speaker 2>I don't know what the kids are doing these days

0:36:21.000 --> 0:36:23.520
<v Speaker 2>with their online and the games in the in the

0:36:23.640 --> 0:36:26.600
<v Speaker 2>video games. But isn't there one where they build stuff

0:36:26.640 --> 0:36:29.680
<v Speaker 2>in like an alternate word Minecraft? Yeah, there it is.

0:36:30.239 --> 0:36:30.719
<v Speaker 2>I don't know.

0:36:31.239 --> 0:36:33.000
<v Speaker 3>He wanted to do Minecraft, I guess.

0:36:33.760 --> 0:36:35.600
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's where you build like virtual stuff.

0:36:35.680 --> 0:36:37.640
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, like there's like roadblocks and stuff.

0:36:37.840 --> 0:36:43.120
<v Speaker 2>I don't know. I'm like, look, it's either Solitaire or Tetris.

0:36:42.960 --> 0:36:47.040
<v Speaker 3>That's where you're at. Yeah, how's your Miss pac Man

0:36:47.080 --> 0:36:47.719
<v Speaker 3>score doing?

0:36:48.440 --> 0:36:52.960
<v Speaker 2>Or it's you know, Friends without the rue. So anyway,

0:36:53.160 --> 0:36:55.160
<v Speaker 2>he wants all this stuff and he's in his mind

0:36:55.200 --> 0:36:58.560
<v Speaker 2>building it out, and there's just no way this is possible.

0:36:58.840 --> 0:37:00.680
<v Speaker 2>But you know what, Prince Roy, he likes the cut

0:37:00.680 --> 0:37:05.200
<v Speaker 2>of this guy's jib, and so he names Achenbach. He

0:37:05.280 --> 0:37:09.080
<v Speaker 2>names him Foreign Minister of Sealand because he's a foreigner,

0:37:09.080 --> 0:37:11.319
<v Speaker 2>I guess. And then the two got to work to

0:37:11.440 --> 0:37:13.319
<v Speaker 2>drafting the Young Nations Constitution.

0:37:13.480 --> 0:37:15.800
<v Speaker 3>Oh, this is going to be a huge jig.

0:37:16.400 --> 0:37:22.800
<v Speaker 2>So Achenbach. He also wanted a lifetime appointment of prime Minister,

0:37:23.719 --> 0:37:26.439
<v Speaker 2>but Roy was like, you know, at chill out, cool out, dude,

0:37:26.480 --> 0:37:28.959
<v Speaker 2>let's just get this set up first, before you're getting

0:37:28.960 --> 0:37:29.479
<v Speaker 2>ahead of yourself.

0:37:29.520 --> 0:37:30.480
<v Speaker 3>Settled down, Cromwell.

0:37:31.040 --> 0:37:35.320
<v Speaker 2>Oh god. And so he becomes a citizen of Sealand

0:37:35.640 --> 0:37:39.759
<v Speaker 2>Achenbach does, and he tries to renounce his German citizenship,

0:37:39.760 --> 0:37:40.800
<v Speaker 2>but it doesn't work.

0:37:41.280 --> 0:37:42.200
<v Speaker 3>Like we won't let you go.

0:37:42.400 --> 0:37:45.000
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I just suddenly had a flash like what if

0:37:45.040 --> 0:37:50.800
<v Speaker 2>this is pronounced sealand sealand and I've been saying sealand No.

0:37:50.920 --> 0:37:53.239
<v Speaker 3>I think it could be either one, right, they could

0:37:53.280 --> 0:37:54.359
<v Speaker 3>be Sealand or sea Land.

0:37:54.440 --> 0:37:55.800
<v Speaker 2>We'll just say it seland ready.

0:37:55.600 --> 0:37:58.280
<v Speaker 3>Put the emphasis. He put the emphosis on a different salabo.

0:37:58.320 --> 0:37:59.760
<v Speaker 3>It totally changes how it sounds.

0:38:00.400 --> 0:38:03.239
<v Speaker 2>I just I've only been reading about it, and it's

0:38:03.239 --> 0:38:04.319
<v Speaker 2>just suddenly dawned on me.

0:38:04.920 --> 0:38:05.880
<v Speaker 3>You can say Zeland.

0:38:06.080 --> 0:38:11.080
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, whatever, My apologies if I'm not saying it right

0:38:11.120 --> 0:38:14.719
<v Speaker 2>that I don't need a disclaimer on every episode. I

0:38:14.760 --> 0:38:17.600
<v Speaker 2>am so sorry I will not be pronouncing this correctly.

0:38:19.080 --> 0:38:23.640
<v Speaker 2>So Auchenbach, he becomes a citizen of Sealand Zealand and

0:38:24.239 --> 0:38:27.479
<v Speaker 2>tries to renounce his German citizenship, but it doesn't work.

0:38:28.920 --> 0:38:30.439
<v Speaker 3>We've got you, You're German life.

0:38:30.520 --> 0:38:33.880
<v Speaker 2>The German court rules that quote the platform was not

0:38:34.040 --> 0:38:37.520
<v Speaker 2>part of the Earth's surface, that it was lacking in

0:38:37.600 --> 0:38:42.040
<v Speaker 2>community life, and that its minuscule territory did not constitute

0:38:42.080 --> 0:38:44.680
<v Speaker 2>a living space that was viable over the long term.

0:38:44.800 --> 0:38:47.799
<v Speaker 3>This is the most German decision ever. First of all,

0:38:47.800 --> 0:38:50.080
<v Speaker 3>it's not even attached to the surface of the US.

0:38:50.840 --> 0:38:52.239
<v Speaker 3>What are we doing here?

0:38:52.280 --> 0:38:57.720
<v Speaker 2>Like? No, big nope. Next, So Achenbach, he's displeased. He's

0:38:57.880 --> 0:38:59.960
<v Speaker 2>itching to get his plan in motion. There are room

0:39:00.200 --> 0:39:02.000
<v Speaker 2>is that maybe his plans weren't really on the up

0:39:02.040 --> 0:39:02.319
<v Speaker 2>and up.

0:39:02.920 --> 0:39:03.759
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, diamond trader.

0:39:03.840 --> 0:39:07.120
<v Speaker 2>Maybe maybe he's a different kind of general businessman. He's

0:39:07.160 --> 0:39:10.640
<v Speaker 2>the kind of businessman that you like, Karen ok So.

0:39:10.800 --> 0:39:14.000
<v Speaker 2>He gets into an argument about money with Prince Roy.

0:39:14.200 --> 0:39:18.320
<v Speaker 2>Always the money. Achenbach, dead set on his plan. Didn't

0:39:18.320 --> 0:39:20.560
<v Speaker 2>want anyone, even a prince, to get in his way.

0:39:21.200 --> 0:39:24.120
<v Speaker 2>I have a quick picture it for you, Sarin. August

0:39:24.560 --> 0:39:29.840
<v Speaker 2>nineteen seventy eight. The royal couple, Prince Roy and Princess Joan.

0:39:30.600 --> 0:39:33.840
<v Speaker 2>They're away from sealand sealand on a trip to the

0:39:33.880 --> 0:39:39.239
<v Speaker 2>mainland mainland. They're headed to Austria to meet up with

0:39:39.360 --> 0:39:43.560
<v Speaker 2>Achenbach to talk about the possible casino state business. Prince

0:39:43.600 --> 0:39:47.800
<v Speaker 2>Michael stayed home. He's out on the deck, probably sunning himself.

0:39:48.560 --> 0:39:51.239
<v Speaker 2>In the distance, he hears the sound of a helicopter.

0:39:53.120 --> 0:39:57.520
<v Speaker 2>He looks up to see one approaching sealand no one's

0:39:57.560 --> 0:40:00.640
<v Speaker 2>scheduled to arrive. Who's coming to this small island nation.

0:40:00.960 --> 0:40:03.920
<v Speaker 2>Is it a foreign dignitary, a celebrity looking for the

0:40:03.960 --> 0:40:08.400
<v Speaker 2>next exclusive altercation spot. Is it Alton John piloting his

0:40:08.440 --> 0:40:12.359
<v Speaker 2>own helicopter? Is it Harrison Ford? Doesn't he know how

0:40:12.360 --> 0:40:13.919
<v Speaker 2>to fly a helicopter or just a plane?

0:40:14.960 --> 0:40:16.440
<v Speaker 3>I don't know anything.

0:40:16.640 --> 0:40:21.800
<v Speaker 2>He pushes his earring as like an activation because the helicopter,

0:40:21.920 --> 0:40:25.840
<v Speaker 2>and then he gets a inspector gadget helicopter thing that

0:40:25.920 --> 0:40:29.320
<v Speaker 2>comes out of it. Is it a cracked local news

0:40:29.320 --> 0:40:32.480
<v Speaker 2>team for a traffic accident or a chase?

0:40:32.640 --> 0:40:33.919
<v Speaker 3>There's an investigative news team.

0:40:34.040 --> 0:40:35.840
<v Speaker 2>When we come back from this break, I'm gonna let

0:40:35.880 --> 0:40:37.960
<v Speaker 2>you know who it is on the way to sealand

0:40:38.080 --> 0:40:40.440
<v Speaker 2>cealant and why I.

0:40:40.480 --> 0:40:57.520
<v Speaker 3>Want you over here, pins and needles.

0:41:02.080 --> 0:41:05.359
<v Speaker 2>Okay, So before the break, we were with twenty five

0:41:05.440 --> 0:41:08.600
<v Speaker 2>year old Prince Michael as he ran around his sealand

0:41:08.680 --> 0:41:11.080
<v Speaker 2>sealand I'm just going to go with sealand from here on,

0:41:11.160 --> 0:41:14.080
<v Speaker 2>I'm putting the flag in that right to you, it

0:41:14.120 --> 0:41:18.040
<v Speaker 2>all feels right. Actually, nothing feels right right now. He's

0:41:18.120 --> 0:41:21.280
<v Speaker 2>running around alone, dressed like Tom Cruise and risky business

0:41:21.320 --> 0:41:24.200
<v Speaker 2>with only a broadcloth dressed shirt tidy white. He's an

0:41:24.200 --> 0:41:24.879
<v Speaker 2>athletic sock.

0:41:25.120 --> 0:41:28.360
<v Speaker 3>Okay, as you like it? Now? Is he armed it? Also?

0:41:28.400 --> 0:41:30.160
<v Speaker 3>Do you have a rifle? And the tidy whities and.

0:41:30.160 --> 0:41:34.200
<v Speaker 2>The Actually he's probably wearing like a heavy fisherman's sweater, imagine,

0:41:34.200 --> 0:41:37.719
<v Speaker 2>and like durable action slacks, captain's hat, or like.

0:41:37.719 --> 0:41:39.799
<v Speaker 3>A little beanie I don't know, one of those iris.

0:41:40.200 --> 0:41:42.759
<v Speaker 2>Everyone just imagine what you what makes you happiest. I

0:41:42.800 --> 0:41:45.720
<v Speaker 2>just want everyone to be happy. So whatever he's wearing,

0:41:45.880 --> 0:41:48.040
<v Speaker 2>he's on the deck of Sea Land. He hears the

0:41:48.040 --> 0:41:51.400
<v Speaker 2>approaching copter. He's not taking any chances, so as you

0:41:51.400 --> 0:41:54.720
<v Speaker 2>were wondering, Yes, he grabs a rifle and he prepares

0:41:54.800 --> 0:41:57.719
<v Speaker 2>for whomever is arriving. I know, Prince Michael, because you

0:41:57.760 --> 0:42:00.319
<v Speaker 2>figure if it's like, if it's a friendly then you

0:42:00.360 --> 0:42:03.640
<v Speaker 2>can do like a oh military salute. Yeah, and if.

0:42:03.480 --> 0:42:05.560
<v Speaker 3>It's they're coming to a protected area.

0:42:05.719 --> 0:42:09.080
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, it's thoughtful. So the copter hovers above and

0:42:09.239 --> 0:42:13.279
<v Speaker 2>three men repel down, two burly dutchmen and a guy

0:42:13.320 --> 0:42:13.840
<v Speaker 2>in a suit.

0:42:14.239 --> 0:42:16.320
<v Speaker 3>I was thinking it's gonna be British, says.

0:42:15.880 --> 0:42:17.720
<v Speaker 2>Now again with the clothing the man in the suit,

0:42:17.960 --> 0:42:19.920
<v Speaker 2>I don't know if he's actually wearing a suit or

0:42:20.040 --> 0:42:23.600
<v Speaker 2>is he dressed in like that tactical casual look like

0:42:23.640 --> 0:42:25.600
<v Speaker 2>a governor visiting a disaster site.

0:42:26.800 --> 0:42:28.919
<v Speaker 3>Could you be wearing one of those sands, a belt, suits.

0:42:28.719 --> 0:42:32.880
<v Speaker 2>A jumpsuit. Yeah, who knows? He's got like, I don't know,

0:42:33.040 --> 0:42:37.920
<v Speaker 2>polo shirt, windbreaker look of overall general discomfort. So he

0:42:37.960 --> 0:42:43.040
<v Speaker 2>introduces himself. Hello, I am gearnot Poots.

0:42:43.719 --> 0:42:45.720
<v Speaker 3>WHOA okay?

0:42:46.200 --> 0:42:49.120
<v Speaker 2>Who in the h E double hockey sticks? Is gear

0:42:49.239 --> 0:42:49.960
<v Speaker 2>not Poots?

0:42:50.200 --> 0:42:51.480
<v Speaker 3>That's what I'm wondering over here.

0:42:51.640 --> 0:42:55.919
<v Speaker 2>Thank me, I'm glad, I asked gear Nott Poots he's

0:42:56.120 --> 0:43:01.640
<v Speaker 2>Ackenbox lawyer. He gingerly which Prince Michael and asks them

0:43:01.680 --> 0:43:04.400
<v Speaker 2>to put down the weapon. He also hands the Prince

0:43:04.440 --> 0:43:07.719
<v Speaker 2>a telegram which states that they have permission from Roy

0:43:07.800 --> 0:43:09.759
<v Speaker 2>himself to come to Sealand.

0:43:09.680 --> 0:43:11.719
<v Speaker 3>Nineteen seventy eight telegram. Okay, yeah, is.

0:43:11.680 --> 0:43:15.439
<v Speaker 2>The telegram legit? Yeah, no, of course not. I don't

0:43:15.440 --> 0:43:19.840
<v Speaker 2>think it's forged. They go inside and talk. Now Michael's

0:43:19.840 --> 0:43:23.680
<v Speaker 2>a little suspicious. He agrees to go inside and then

0:43:23.680 --> 0:43:25.640
<v Speaker 2>they head into one of the rooms, you know, in

0:43:25.719 --> 0:43:31.120
<v Speaker 2>the platform. Michael, being a polite member of the Sealand aristocracy,

0:43:31.600 --> 0:43:34.279
<v Speaker 2>he offers the gentleman whiskey, you.

0:43:34.200 --> 0:43:35.920
<v Speaker 3>Know, as his tradition on Sealand.

0:43:36.600 --> 0:43:40.160
<v Speaker 2>It's the ceremonial whiskey. They thank him, they accept it.

0:43:40.440 --> 0:43:42.520
<v Speaker 3>The whiskey ceremony is a very serious thing.

0:43:42.719 --> 0:43:44.840
<v Speaker 2>There are so many steps to seventeen steps.

0:43:44.880 --> 0:43:46.080
<v Speaker 3>Not a lot of people know this.

0:43:46.560 --> 0:43:50.239
<v Speaker 2>So they're probably stoked that it's not tea Yeah, because

0:43:50.360 --> 0:43:51.759
<v Speaker 2>you know, it's what's now.

0:43:51.800 --> 0:43:53.839
<v Speaker 3>They know they're not in the UK anymore, you don't, Yeah,

0:43:53.880 --> 0:43:54.440
<v Speaker 3>that's true.

0:43:54.640 --> 0:43:57.600
<v Speaker 2>So Michael heads over to this little bar in the

0:43:57.680 --> 0:44:01.080
<v Speaker 2>room starts to pour the three men. They tiptoe like

0:44:01.160 --> 0:44:05.919
<v Speaker 2>little cartoon kitty cats towards the door. They slip out,

0:44:06.000 --> 0:44:08.360
<v Speaker 2>and then they lock poor Prince Michael in the tower.

0:44:09.880 --> 0:44:11.360
<v Speaker 3>How do they lock him in from outside?

0:44:11.480 --> 0:44:13.600
<v Speaker 2>Well, no, they're like they're in the room with him.

0:44:13.960 --> 0:44:16.759
<v Speaker 2>He turns around to pour the booze. They sneak out

0:44:16.760 --> 0:44:18.840
<v Speaker 2>of the room, slam the door, lock it.

0:44:18.880 --> 0:44:20.480
<v Speaker 3>The door is usually locked from the inside.

0:44:20.640 --> 0:44:24.360
<v Speaker 2>Well, I don't know, okay, maybe that was like a

0:44:24.400 --> 0:44:26.879
<v Speaker 2>punishment room and they had a dead bowlt on the outside.

0:44:26.760 --> 0:44:27.960
<v Speaker 3>The blockaded the door in.

0:44:28.000 --> 0:44:31.480
<v Speaker 2>They probably like tied off the handle and like you know,

0:44:31.640 --> 0:44:38.480
<v Speaker 2>or stuck the Well, Michael's banging on the door fruitlessly,

0:44:39.440 --> 0:44:42.279
<v Speaker 2>ack and bock. He obviously knew that Roy wouldn't be

0:44:42.360 --> 0:44:46.520
<v Speaker 2>there when he sent that helicopter to sea Land because

0:44:46.560 --> 0:44:48.920
<v Speaker 2>he's supposed to be meeting with them in Austria.

0:44:48.760 --> 0:44:50.560
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, this is a straight up pirate gank move.

0:44:50.680 --> 0:44:53.800
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and he stands Prince Roy up for the meeting.

0:44:53.840 --> 0:44:57.680
<v Speaker 2>He ghosts him and so Prince Roy starts to get

0:44:57.760 --> 0:45:01.560
<v Speaker 2>worried that there's this setup. Sealand didn't have a phone

0:45:01.760 --> 0:45:05.319
<v Speaker 2>or a working ship to shore radio. Who Yeah, So

0:45:05.480 --> 0:45:10.719
<v Speaker 2>Prince Roy called fishing captains in the area and yeah,

0:45:11.080 --> 0:45:14.600
<v Speaker 2>he was to run over. He's like hey, and they're like, oh,

0:45:14.640 --> 0:45:16.840
<v Speaker 2>what's up. He's like, I'm in Austria. Listen, quick question.

0:45:17.320 --> 0:45:20.640
<v Speaker 2>Can you swing by and see if everything's cool? At Seland,

0:45:21.480 --> 0:45:24.760
<v Speaker 2>like it's pronounced Zealand, He's like, whatever, it's my island.

0:45:24.840 --> 0:45:28.399
<v Speaker 2>Can you go check on Prince Mikey and so one

0:45:28.400 --> 0:45:30.320
<v Speaker 2>of the captains like, you know, I actually saw something.

0:45:30.360 --> 0:45:33.640
<v Speaker 2>I saw a helicopter hovering over and then landing. Roy

0:45:34.080 --> 0:45:39.160
<v Speaker 2>loses it freaks out. So back at sealand Celand, the

0:45:39.280 --> 0:45:42.520
<v Speaker 2>three men, they have Prince Michael locked in the room.

0:45:42.560 --> 0:45:44.160
<v Speaker 2>He's in the tower. He's trying to grow his hair

0:45:44.200 --> 0:45:47.600
<v Speaker 2>out as fast as he can to scale down Rapunzel Stu.

0:45:47.719 --> 0:45:50.440
<v Speaker 2>He was in there for four days, oh damn. And

0:45:50.440 --> 0:45:52.640
<v Speaker 2>then they let him go. They flagged down a passing

0:45:52.719 --> 0:45:54.640
<v Speaker 2>fishing boat and they just threw them on there, like

0:45:54.880 --> 0:45:55.319
<v Speaker 2>off you go.

0:45:56.000 --> 0:45:58.440
<v Speaker 3>There are fifty other people on this platform.

0:45:58.080 --> 0:46:02.480
<v Speaker 2>Right, No, at this point I think it kind of dwindle, yeah,

0:46:02.480 --> 0:46:04.520
<v Speaker 2>but I think there may be some people anyway. The

0:46:04.560 --> 0:46:07.680
<v Speaker 2>boat heads back to port in Holland, the fishing boat

0:46:07.719 --> 0:46:12.520
<v Speaker 2>with its royal cargo. Once in Holland, Prince Michael meets

0:46:12.560 --> 0:46:14.600
<v Speaker 2>up with Prince Roy and the two of them hatch

0:46:14.600 --> 0:46:18.840
<v Speaker 2>a plan. Prince Roy is pals with a helicopter pilot.

0:46:19.560 --> 0:46:23.080
<v Speaker 2>Roy is pals with everybody. He's got a guy he

0:46:23.160 --> 0:46:26.600
<v Speaker 2>knows a guy. But it's not just any helicopter pilot.

0:46:26.920 --> 0:46:31.320
<v Speaker 2>It's a guy who used to work on James Bond movies. Yeah,

0:46:31.360 --> 0:46:35.080
<v Speaker 2>so he's he's a pro. They say, can you take

0:46:35.160 --> 0:46:38.920
<v Speaker 2>us back to Sealand on a submarine? And he's like,

0:46:38.960 --> 0:46:40.880
<v Speaker 2>got Roger Moore in a cage in the back of

0:46:40.920 --> 0:46:44.359
<v Speaker 2>the helicopter. Uh. So they intend to take back what's

0:46:44.400 --> 0:46:49.560
<v Speaker 2>theirs with the help of the pilot. In the middle

0:46:49.600 --> 0:46:52.040
<v Speaker 2>of the night, they take the doors off of the

0:46:52.040 --> 0:46:55.520
<v Speaker 2>helicopter for easy repelling, and they make their way to

0:46:55.560 --> 0:46:58.640
<v Speaker 2>sealand Sealand under cover of darkness.

0:46:59.040 --> 0:47:00.360
<v Speaker 3>Like yeah.

0:47:00.480 --> 0:47:04.200
<v Speaker 2>When they arrive, the two princes wait, is that where

0:47:04.239 --> 0:47:07.920
<v Speaker 2>the spin Doctor's song comes from? We may never know

0:47:07.960 --> 0:47:09.719
<v Speaker 2>because I'm not going to even bother to look up

0:47:09.719 --> 0:47:15.640
<v Speaker 2>the lyrics. The two Princes descend one two Princes? Can

0:47:15.680 --> 0:47:18.440
<v Speaker 2>I also let you know that Prince Michael a total

0:47:18.640 --> 0:47:22.440
<v Speaker 2>badass out for revenge. He's toting a sowd off shotgun

0:47:23.120 --> 0:47:25.280
<v Speaker 2>at this point around anymore.

0:47:25.280 --> 0:47:26.920
<v Speaker 3>It's amazing because I got a room cleaner.

0:47:29.160 --> 0:47:31.840
<v Speaker 2>The two guys slide down the ropes and they land

0:47:31.880 --> 0:47:34.719
<v Speaker 2>on top of one of the buildings on the platform,

0:47:34.800 --> 0:47:37.759
<v Speaker 2>all of Auchenbox German goons like he's got a bunch

0:47:37.760 --> 0:47:40.319
<v Speaker 2>of dudes there. Now they're running around on deck like

0:47:40.320 --> 0:47:43.920
<v Speaker 2>they're in like an eighties militarized action movie. I'm kind

0:47:43.920 --> 0:47:48.640
<v Speaker 2>of imagining Commando Shortzenegger, which has one of the best

0:47:48.680 --> 0:47:52.600
<v Speaker 2>movie lines. Is I quoted all the time after seeing

0:47:52.640 --> 0:47:54.920
<v Speaker 2>it as a child, and there's it's great to have

0:47:54.960 --> 0:47:56.400
<v Speaker 2>a little kid saying this.

0:47:56.280 --> 0:47:57.920
<v Speaker 3>Is it the one that you promised you could kill

0:47:57.960 --> 0:47:58.360
<v Speaker 3>me last?

0:47:58.520 --> 0:48:02.480
<v Speaker 2>No, it's cutting a little girl's neck is like cutting

0:48:02.560 --> 0:48:03.240
<v Speaker 2>warm butter.

0:48:04.360 --> 0:48:07.440
<v Speaker 3>That would as a child all the time.

0:48:09.120 --> 0:48:12.719
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, that was real popular. So Prince Michael, he

0:48:12.880 --> 0:48:14.920
<v Speaker 2>jumps on the from the roof of the deck, he

0:48:15.040 --> 0:48:18.600
<v Speaker 2>jumps down to the platform. It's a pretty big jump. Now,

0:48:19.080 --> 0:48:20.960
<v Speaker 2>it's the kind of jump like if I did it,

0:48:21.160 --> 0:48:25.160
<v Speaker 2>my ankles would both shatter upon impact and blind the

0:48:25.200 --> 0:48:29.000
<v Speaker 2>goons in a shower of bone, flesh and blood. That's

0:48:29.000 --> 0:48:31.880
<v Speaker 2>why I would make like a really good and bad

0:48:32.000 --> 0:48:37.040
<v Speaker 2>soldier of fortune. Bad maneuvering skills, but good distractionary tactics.

0:48:36.680 --> 0:48:37.480
<v Speaker 3>And low pay.

0:48:38.920 --> 0:48:41.960
<v Speaker 2>I work for a load of no pay. Prince Michael

0:48:42.040 --> 0:48:45.239
<v Speaker 2>jumps off the roof without his ankles exploding, but the

0:48:45.320 --> 0:48:49.319
<v Speaker 2>sowd off does accidentally discharge when he jumps. This turns

0:48:49.360 --> 0:48:50.080
<v Speaker 2>out to be a good.

0:48:49.960 --> 0:48:52.799
<v Speaker 3>Thing though, shotgun hand on the pomp.

0:48:54.400 --> 0:48:58.400
<v Speaker 2>So no one gets shot. And it scared the poop

0:48:58.520 --> 0:49:01.200
<v Speaker 2>out of these goons. Like they hear a.

0:49:01.160 --> 0:49:02.879
<v Speaker 3>Shock that like this kid lands and.

0:49:02.840 --> 0:49:06.359
<v Speaker 2>It's like ah, they give up right away. They're like, oh,

0:49:06.440 --> 0:49:07.440
<v Speaker 2>we surrender.

0:49:08.120 --> 0:49:13.600
<v Speaker 3>Yeah wow. So losing to England and Americas earlier.

0:49:13.960 --> 0:49:17.520
<v Speaker 2>Look, you got got sixty six World Cup.

0:49:18.120 --> 0:49:21.239
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, couple them up, wreck them.

0:49:22.440 --> 0:49:25.560
<v Speaker 2>Garnet Poots, I like saying it like that, like a

0:49:25.560 --> 0:49:29.799
<v Speaker 2>total jacket and gar not. Poots and his goons were

0:49:29.840 --> 0:49:35.160
<v Speaker 2>held hostage by the princes. The royal family soon releases

0:49:35.200 --> 0:49:39.680
<v Speaker 2>the henchmen, but they keep Poots and Poots. See, he's

0:49:39.719 --> 0:49:44.480
<v Speaker 2>also a sea Land citizens, sealands citizens. He is charged

0:49:44.520 --> 0:49:48.000
<v Speaker 2>in the court of sealand they have a judge. Yeah,

0:49:48.120 --> 0:49:51.160
<v Speaker 2>they basically I don't know. I think I think Prince

0:49:51.400 --> 0:49:54.520
<v Speaker 2>Roy is the judge. They basically have the same laws

0:49:54.560 --> 0:49:57.640
<v Speaker 2>as the UK, but they allow guns. How they've explained it,

0:49:57.719 --> 0:50:00.000
<v Speaker 2>They've explained it that way.

0:50:00.600 --> 0:50:00.960
<v Speaker 3>Bullets.

0:50:01.000 --> 0:50:05.080
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So they charged Poots with treason and he's detained

0:50:05.200 --> 0:50:09.520
<v Speaker 2>sealand he's sentenced to life on the platform. They're like,

0:50:09.800 --> 0:50:12.680
<v Speaker 2>you have offended, you have offended us. You have to

0:50:12.680 --> 0:50:13.320
<v Speaker 2>live here forever.

0:50:13.360 --> 0:50:15.520
<v Speaker 3>Now we're gonna nail your foot to the like just.

0:50:15.680 --> 0:50:18.160
<v Speaker 2>At the fort. He has to life at the fort.

0:50:19.200 --> 0:50:21.719
<v Speaker 3>To stay here with us forever until you.

0:50:21.200 --> 0:50:25.160
<v Speaker 2>You've offended us. Now you have to live here. I

0:50:25.200 --> 0:50:29.239
<v Speaker 2>don't know why he wasn't exiled anyway. The German embassy

0:50:29.320 --> 0:50:32.400
<v Speaker 2>asked the British for help to get his release, and

0:50:33.000 --> 0:50:37.240
<v Speaker 2>the Brits are like seedlands outside of our jurisdiction international waters.

0:50:37.840 --> 0:50:42.160
<v Speaker 2>So the Germans they send send a diplomat from London

0:50:42.640 --> 0:50:49.160
<v Speaker 2>to negotiate the release of Gernot puts Now. Because of

0:50:49.200 --> 0:50:54.600
<v Speaker 2>this diplomatic envoy, right Seland considers that another de facto

0:50:54.680 --> 0:50:58.600
<v Speaker 2>recognition by Germany. But Germany's like, that's not what this means.

0:50:59.200 --> 0:51:02.000
<v Speaker 2>This is in essence, it's a hostage negotiation. But okay,

0:51:02.200 --> 0:51:02.600
<v Speaker 2>go off.

0:51:03.040 --> 0:51:05.560
<v Speaker 3>So nope, you recognized us. I saw in your eyes.

0:51:05.640 --> 0:51:08.200
<v Speaker 2>Here's the great part, though, According to an article in

0:51:08.200 --> 0:51:13.040
<v Speaker 2>the Atlantic Wote, a Dutch foreign affairs officer offered a

0:51:13.080 --> 0:51:16.319
<v Speaker 2>suggestion for solving the problem. Is there any chance of

0:51:16.360 --> 0:51:19.200
<v Speaker 2>a British patrol vessel passing by the fort and somehow

0:51:19.320 --> 0:51:24.040
<v Speaker 2>knocking it into the sea. You know, problem solved. It

0:51:24.120 --> 0:51:26.640
<v Speaker 2>kind of reminds me of when my dad he wanted

0:51:26.640 --> 0:51:29.040
<v Speaker 2>to tear down an old shed on his property, but

0:51:29.120 --> 0:51:32.680
<v Speaker 2>the whole place was within a historical district and he

0:51:32.680 --> 0:51:37.600
<v Speaker 2>would need special permission. He was uninterested in attaining obtaining

0:51:37.960 --> 0:51:43.000
<v Speaker 2>special permission, so he quote unquote accidentally drove his seventies

0:51:43.120 --> 0:51:46.239
<v Speaker 2>Chevy suburban into the shed and demolished it himself in

0:51:46.280 --> 0:51:48.480
<v Speaker 2>like forty five seconds. It was an accident.

0:51:49.440 --> 0:51:50.439
<v Speaker 3>What good nature did.

0:51:50.560 --> 0:51:52.759
<v Speaker 2>That's what the Dutch wanted the Brits to do, just

0:51:52.840 --> 0:51:55.160
<v Speaker 2>kind of. I mean, I respect that line of thinking. Sure,

0:51:55.960 --> 0:51:57.839
<v Speaker 2>I'm glad they didn't go through with that, though, because

0:51:57.880 --> 0:52:00.400
<v Speaker 2>I've grown very fond of sealand don't know if you

0:52:00.400 --> 0:52:05.200
<v Speaker 2>can tell so in sealand prison, Poots is clean in

0:52:05.200 --> 0:52:08.000
<v Speaker 2>the bathrooms. He's on coffee duty. He has to make

0:52:08.040 --> 0:52:11.759
<v Speaker 2>the coffee. He only spends two months in prison there

0:52:12.440 --> 0:52:15.040
<v Speaker 2>and he negotiates his own release. He's a lawyer.

0:52:15.520 --> 0:52:16.520
<v Speaker 3>Imagine words.

0:52:16.680 --> 0:52:20.120
<v Speaker 2>He was fined seventy five thousand Deutsche marks, which was

0:52:20.200 --> 0:52:24.480
<v Speaker 2>around like thirty seven grand, and he's granted a pardon.

0:52:24.920 --> 0:52:25.799
<v Speaker 3>Just to buy his way out.

0:52:25.840 --> 0:52:28.600
<v Speaker 2>He bought his way out. When he's released, Prince Roy

0:52:28.640 --> 0:52:33.760
<v Speaker 2>tells reporters we're friends now, and Poots later gets hired

0:52:33.800 --> 0:52:37.080
<v Speaker 2>by the family to represent them when they filed charges

0:52:37.080 --> 0:52:41.160
<v Speaker 2>against some Dutch invaders. So that is the power of

0:52:41.200 --> 0:52:47.000
<v Speaker 2>restorative justice. Everybody things even out over time for the

0:52:47.080 --> 0:52:49.120
<v Speaker 2>nation of Sealand, but there were still little bumps in

0:52:49.160 --> 0:52:53.279
<v Speaker 2>the road. In nineteen eighty seven, the UK extended its

0:52:53.360 --> 0:52:58.560
<v Speaker 2>territorial waters from three nautical miles to twelve nautical miles. Oh,

0:52:59.120 --> 0:53:02.719
<v Speaker 2>thereby put Sealand within its limits. What does Sealand do?

0:53:02.800 --> 0:53:06.280
<v Speaker 2>In response, they you know, they don't take anybody's guff.

0:53:06.920 --> 0:53:10.560
<v Speaker 2>They extended their own territorial waters from three nautical miles

0:53:10.600 --> 0:53:13.839
<v Speaker 2>to twelve nautical miles. I see you, I raise you

0:53:13.920 --> 0:53:18.200
<v Speaker 2>now they're six off shore, which means that like they'reaging.

0:53:20.320 --> 0:53:24.400
<v Speaker 2>So they also started issuing a passport around this time.

0:53:24.520 --> 0:53:28.719
<v Speaker 2>They issued around three hundred passports. They personally vetted every

0:53:28.760 --> 0:53:29.520
<v Speaker 2>single one.

0:53:29.440 --> 0:53:30.880
<v Speaker 3>Did anyone use them for travel.

0:53:31.000 --> 0:53:33.160
<v Speaker 2>Well, here's the thing. There were shady care I think

0:53:33.160 --> 0:53:36.200
<v Speaker 2>it was like a novelty thing. They have the coolest

0:53:36.239 --> 0:53:39.239
<v Speaker 2>website where you can go and buy titles like you

0:53:39.239 --> 0:53:43.280
<v Speaker 2>can become a baron or a baroness, and so they

0:53:43.440 --> 0:53:45.120
<v Speaker 2>you know, I suppose people had it just kind of

0:53:45.400 --> 0:53:47.960
<v Speaker 2>to kick around with. But there were shady characters selling

0:53:48.040 --> 0:53:56.560
<v Speaker 2>knockoff sealand passports. When Gianni Versace's murderer, Andrew Kunanan, when

0:53:56.560 --> 0:53:58.319
<v Speaker 2>he was on the run, he broke into a house

0:53:58.320 --> 0:54:01.560
<v Speaker 2>boat and took his own life. So that's a fact,

0:54:01.600 --> 0:54:05.279
<v Speaker 2>a historical fact. The owner of the boat was a

0:54:05.360 --> 0:54:09.239
<v Speaker 2>German Man who held a Sealand passport and allegedly had

0:54:09.239 --> 0:54:11.720
<v Speaker 2>a car with sealand Diplomatic plates.

0:54:13.280 --> 0:54:14.480
<v Speaker 3>Now that character.

0:54:14.400 --> 0:54:17.799
<v Speaker 2>Sealand the contacts. So the FBI contacts Sealand and they're like,

0:54:18.320 --> 0:54:21.279
<v Speaker 2>how is this all connected? And they said, I have

0:54:21.360 --> 0:54:23.960
<v Speaker 2>no idea what you're talking about. Everything was forged. So

0:54:24.000 --> 0:54:26.200
<v Speaker 2>that's when they start finding out there are all these

0:54:26.239 --> 0:54:30.600
<v Speaker 2>like fake seaaland diplomatic materials out there. There were Moroccan

0:54:30.760 --> 0:54:35.279
<v Speaker 2>hash smugglers and Russian armstealers who had fake Sealand passports

0:54:35.560 --> 0:54:36.200
<v Speaker 2>I see.

0:54:35.960 --> 0:54:38.360
<v Speaker 3>Your pirate war and I raised you at a Moroccan

0:54:38.440 --> 0:54:39.120
<v Speaker 3>hashed smuggler.

0:54:39.280 --> 0:54:44.040
<v Speaker 2>There were over four thousand phony passports sold at one

0:54:44.080 --> 0:54:48.800
<v Speaker 2>thousand pounds each to Hong Kong citizens before Britain seated

0:54:48.840 --> 0:54:53.440
<v Speaker 2>control of the territory to China in July ninety seven. Yes, wow,

0:54:53.800 --> 0:54:58.520
<v Speaker 2>so sealand in ninety seven stops issuing passports after this

0:54:58.600 --> 0:55:00.839
<v Speaker 2>fraud is revealed, and then and the hold was made

0:55:00.880 --> 0:55:02.400
<v Speaker 2>permanent after nine to eleven.

0:55:02.880 --> 0:55:04.319
<v Speaker 3>What did nine eleven have to do?

0:55:04.520 --> 0:55:04.680
<v Speaker 5>Well?

0:55:04.719 --> 0:55:07.279
<v Speaker 2>After the towers fell. A lot of things changed.

0:55:07.040 --> 0:55:08.320
<v Speaker 3>There after the towers.

0:55:08.480 --> 0:55:14.319
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so they still get thousands of passport applications. They

0:55:14.320 --> 0:55:18.080
<v Speaker 2>got thousands in twenty seventeen, after the UK voted yes

0:55:18.120 --> 0:55:21.480
<v Speaker 2>on Brexit and Trump won the presidency, they had like

0:55:21.520 --> 0:55:24.120
<v Speaker 2>American Yeah. So it's just like people are looking for

0:55:24.239 --> 0:55:28.480
<v Speaker 2>a for a paradise. In the early aughts, it was

0:55:28.520 --> 0:55:31.600
<v Speaker 2>going to become a server farm, but they didn't have

0:55:31.640 --> 0:55:33.480
<v Speaker 2>the electrical or cooling capacity.

0:55:33.440 --> 0:55:35.600
<v Speaker 3>I was imagining let's say, like solar or some kind

0:55:35.600 --> 0:55:37.960
<v Speaker 3>of geo water out there.

0:55:38.120 --> 0:55:41.360
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Yeah. In two thousand and seven, they announced that

0:55:41.440 --> 0:55:43.880
<v Speaker 2>they were looking for a buyer with an asking price

0:55:43.920 --> 0:55:46.600
<v Speaker 2>of around nine hundred and seventy seven million dollars.

0:55:46.840 --> 0:55:49.080
<v Speaker 3>Excuse me, I can buy like a couple of sports teams,

0:55:49.120 --> 0:55:51.520
<v Speaker 3>or I can buy sealand take your choice.

0:55:51.840 --> 0:55:53.840
<v Speaker 2>It was reported that they were in talks with the

0:55:53.880 --> 0:55:58.480
<v Speaker 2>website pirate Bay. Okay, but the company was only able

0:55:58.520 --> 0:56:00.279
<v Speaker 2>to raise twenty thousand dollars.

0:56:00.160 --> 0:56:02.799
<v Speaker 3>So sales, our marketing budget's a little tighty.

0:56:02.920 --> 0:56:05.239
<v Speaker 2>They're like, look, we can barter these people down.

0:56:05.320 --> 0:56:06.320
<v Speaker 3>Do you take NFTs?

0:56:07.320 --> 0:56:13.160
<v Speaker 2>Oh? Hold on. So in twenty ten, WikiLeaks allegedly reached

0:56:13.160 --> 0:56:16.120
<v Speaker 2>out to sealand they wanted asylum and a passport for

0:56:16.160 --> 0:56:20.840
<v Speaker 2>as songe Julian Assange sealand declined. They're like, that's some

0:56:20.880 --> 0:56:24.040
<v Speaker 2>messy business and I don't want Pam Anderson over here,

0:56:24.120 --> 0:56:27.239
<v Speaker 2>so do your thing. Twenty twelve, it was rumored that

0:56:27.280 --> 0:56:30.640
<v Speaker 2>Assange was in the process of moving the WikiLeaks servers

0:56:30.680 --> 0:56:34.600
<v Speaker 2>to sealand didn't happen. And then here's my end of

0:56:34.680 --> 0:56:36.120
<v Speaker 2>animal house montage for you.

0:56:36.280 --> 0:56:36.600
<v Speaker 3>Okay.

0:56:37.120 --> 0:56:40.080
<v Speaker 2>So Michael has been the acting head of State since

0:56:40.160 --> 0:56:43.840
<v Speaker 2>nineteen ninety nine, and Roy and Joan retired to Spain

0:56:43.960 --> 0:56:44.919
<v Speaker 2>in two thousand and six.

0:56:45.480 --> 0:56:48.759
<v Speaker 3>Very UK very if they retire guns, because would be

0:56:48.760 --> 0:56:49.319
<v Speaker 3>totally UK.

0:56:49.480 --> 0:56:54.560
<v Speaker 2>But with God, he's like a like a nautical hard man.

0:56:55.880 --> 0:56:59.520
<v Speaker 2>It's only possible to visit Sealand with an official invitation

0:56:59.560 --> 0:57:01.560
<v Speaker 2>from Prince Michael. You can't just show up.

0:57:02.480 --> 0:57:04.040
<v Speaker 3>What happens if you do, Like say you're on Green

0:57:04.040 --> 0:57:05.839
<v Speaker 3>Peace and you're like, hey, our boat's got a problem.

0:57:06.080 --> 0:57:08.279
<v Speaker 2>Like climbate, You're climbing up the ladder and he just

0:57:08.320 --> 0:57:10.799
<v Speaker 2>gives you a boot to the face. Oh you full

0:57:10.880 --> 0:57:15.520
<v Speaker 2>the splash. Roy passed away in twenty twelve at the

0:57:15.520 --> 0:57:19.600
<v Speaker 2>age of ninety one, and in an interview in the eighties,

0:57:20.160 --> 0:57:23.560
<v Speaker 2>Roy told reporters quote, I might die young or I

0:57:23.640 --> 0:57:28.200
<v Speaker 2>might die old, but I will never die of boredom. Que' man.

0:57:28.320 --> 0:57:29.320
<v Speaker 3>That's good. I like that.

0:57:29.720 --> 0:57:33.080
<v Speaker 2>He's awesome. Joan died in twenty sixteen, so not too

0:57:33.120 --> 0:57:36.720
<v Speaker 2>long after her husband. The Bates family now lives, goes

0:57:36.760 --> 0:57:43.440
<v Speaker 2>to school and works in Mainland England, England, England. However,

0:57:43.560 --> 0:57:47.240
<v Speaker 2>there's always at least one person on sealand Seaaland at

0:57:47.360 --> 0:57:51.560
<v Speaker 2>all times, usually a single caretaker or security guard. Now

0:57:51.880 --> 0:57:54.480
<v Speaker 2>the job has been handled for decades by a man

0:57:54.560 --> 0:57:57.680
<v Speaker 2>named Michael Barrington, who's an old family friend. He's a

0:57:57.800 --> 0:58:01.480
<v Speaker 2>dual sealand UK citizen. His official title is Head of

0:58:01.480 --> 0:58:05.360
<v Speaker 2>Homeland Security. Get out Yeah, And as of twenty twenty

0:58:05.440 --> 0:58:10.720
<v Speaker 2>Michael also owned a cockle fishing business. What no cockles

0:58:10.760 --> 0:58:14.360
<v Speaker 2>like cockle shells, which is really dangerous, isn't that where

0:58:14.360 --> 0:58:16.400
<v Speaker 2>people drown all the time? And the shorts because like the.

0:58:16.360 --> 0:58:18.960
<v Speaker 3>Tide goes out divers.

0:58:19.560 --> 0:58:22.960
<v Speaker 2>Oh I love abalonis. So Michael wears short shirts and

0:58:23.000 --> 0:58:28.120
<v Speaker 2>goes cockle fishing and he exports to Spain, so you

0:58:28.160 --> 0:58:31.720
<v Speaker 2>know he's carrying on the family legacy. As of August

0:58:31.760 --> 0:58:37.560
<v Speaker 2>twenty twenty one, zero COVID cases in Seaaland visitors need

0:58:37.600 --> 0:58:39.520
<v Speaker 2>to show proof of a negative test before they can

0:58:39.560 --> 0:58:44.000
<v Speaker 2>be pulled aboard, so keep that in mind. And of course,

0:58:44.280 --> 0:58:47.120
<v Speaker 2>as you brought up, it was also recently home to

0:58:47.200 --> 0:58:51.000
<v Speaker 2>a virtual showing of a joint painting and NFT exhibition

0:58:51.040 --> 0:58:53.640
<v Speaker 2>put on by Subby's by Subbies.

0:58:54.120 --> 0:58:54.840
<v Speaker 4>Oh wow.

0:58:55.080 --> 0:58:57.960
<v Speaker 2>Now to close us out, The UK's Foreign Office has

0:58:57.960 --> 0:59:02.720
<v Speaker 2>said that seland Quote cannot constitute a separate independent state

0:59:03.080 --> 0:59:05.560
<v Speaker 2>since it has none of the characteristics of a state,

0:59:06.040 --> 0:59:10.240
<v Speaker 2>including a land territory, a fixed population and the ability

0:59:10.280 --> 0:59:15.800
<v Speaker 2>to conduct international relations. Debates disagree they Michael once told

0:59:15.840 --> 0:59:19.280
<v Speaker 2>a BBC journalist, we have never asked for recognition, and

0:59:19.320 --> 0:59:22.200
<v Speaker 2>we've never felt the need to ask for recognition. You

0:59:22.280 --> 0:59:24.480
<v Speaker 2>don't have to have recognition to be a state. You

0:59:24.560 --> 0:59:28.120
<v Speaker 2>just have to fulfill the criteria of the Montevideo Convention,

0:59:28.680 --> 0:59:32.560
<v Speaker 2>which is population, territory, government, and the capacity to enter

0:59:32.600 --> 0:59:36.240
<v Speaker 2>into negotiation with other states. We can and we have

0:59:36.320 --> 0:59:39.439
<v Speaker 2>done all these things. We've had the German ambassador visit

0:59:39.520 --> 0:59:41.880
<v Speaker 2>us at one point to discuss something that was the

0:59:41.880 --> 0:59:45.400
<v Speaker 2>de facto recognition. We've had communication with the President of

0:59:45.480 --> 0:59:48.240
<v Speaker 2>France many years ago, but we have never asked for

0:59:48.320 --> 0:59:50.000
<v Speaker 2>recognition and we don't feel we need.

0:59:50.040 --> 0:59:55.280
<v Speaker 3>It's definitive. Listen, I agree with them. Yeah, you're a state.

0:59:55.320 --> 0:59:56.560
<v Speaker 3>If you say you're a state.

0:59:56.480 --> 0:59:59.920
<v Speaker 2>Exactly so they're the state born of a criminal takeover.

1:00:01.120 --> 1:00:03.000
<v Speaker 2>Gotta love it. What's your ridiculous takeaway?

1:00:03.560 --> 1:00:05.760
<v Speaker 3>Do not mess but Prince Roy.

1:00:06.080 --> 1:00:09.240
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Prince Roy is a legend, as is Prince Michael.

1:00:09.720 --> 1:00:12.000
<v Speaker 3>Prince Michael, but in my mind, he's a kind of

1:00:12.600 --> 1:00:14.960
<v Speaker 3>what is it, a chip off the old blocking He's

1:00:15.080 --> 1:00:18.960
<v Speaker 3>following your tradition, whereas it seems like Prince Roy it's

1:00:18.960 --> 1:00:20.720
<v Speaker 3>just weird calling him Prince like, like, why didn't he

1:00:20.760 --> 1:00:22.080
<v Speaker 3>make himself king or something else?

1:00:22.200 --> 1:00:24.480
<v Speaker 2>A humble He's a humble I'm talking.

1:00:24.200 --> 1:00:26.840
<v Speaker 3>About the man knows his place in the world. He

1:00:26.920 --> 1:00:28.680
<v Speaker 3>knows his station in life. He's like, I am not

1:00:28.720 --> 1:00:31.280
<v Speaker 3>a king. I'm but a lowly and humble prince, here

1:00:31.360 --> 1:00:34.400
<v Speaker 3>to lead my people and my regal family forward. But

1:00:34.640 --> 1:00:37.160
<v Speaker 3>I dig him. I find that like anybody wants to go.

1:00:37.520 --> 1:00:39.400
<v Speaker 3>So I'm getting the boat. We're gonna go take over this.

1:00:41.000 --> 1:00:44.320
<v Speaker 2>Again. He's a good character and I love that they

1:00:44.400 --> 1:00:47.480
<v Speaker 2>put the old fort to good use. That's recycling. And

1:00:47.560 --> 1:00:50.000
<v Speaker 2>my takeaway is a starting your own country isn't easy,

1:00:50.000 --> 1:00:50.840
<v Speaker 2>but it's super cool.

1:00:51.160 --> 1:00:52.920
<v Speaker 3>I want one of those castles that they have off

1:00:52.960 --> 1:00:54.640
<v Speaker 3>the coast of England. They're not like I guess they're

1:00:54.680 --> 1:00:59.360
<v Speaker 3>usually more like in lakes and stuff. You know, we'll

1:00:59.360 --> 1:01:01.800
<v Speaker 3>sell it as long as you'll pay for the staff

1:01:01.800 --> 1:01:02.959
<v Speaker 3>and get some tourism.

1:01:03.360 --> 1:01:08.040
<v Speaker 2>The lake isle at Indus free. Yes, I want to

1:01:08.080 --> 1:01:09.520
<v Speaker 2>become a baroness at.

1:01:09.400 --> 1:01:11.880
<v Speaker 3>Sealand Okay, you are now a baroness.

1:01:11.880 --> 1:01:15.840
<v Speaker 2>Thank you, You're welcome. That's it. You can find us

1:01:15.840 --> 1:01:19.240
<v Speaker 2>online at Ridiculous Crime on both Twitter and Instagram. If

1:01:19.280 --> 1:01:21.480
<v Speaker 2>you have a tip for us about a ridiculous crime.

1:01:22.200 --> 1:01:24.760
<v Speaker 2>If you want to confess to a ridiculous crime, email

1:01:24.840 --> 1:01:28.240
<v Speaker 2>us at Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com. Tune in

1:01:28.320 --> 1:01:36.760
<v Speaker 2>next time. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and

1:01:36.840 --> 1:01:40.200
<v Speaker 2>Zaren Burnett, produced and edited by His Royal Serene Highness,

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<v Speaker 2>Magistrate of Ridiculous Crime Island and All Dependencies, Dave Houston.

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<v Speaker 2>Research is by Ridiculous Crime Island Minister of Information Marissa Brown.

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<v Speaker 2>Bullen and Noel Brown.

1:02:03.600 --> 1:02:09.280
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1:02:10.320 --> 1:02:13.680
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