Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world
Speaker 1: is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an
Speaker 1: open book, all of these amazing tales are right there
Speaker 1: on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. In eighteen o seven, about a
Speaker 1: third of the way through the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark found
Speaker 1: itself in an interesting situation. It already controlled Norway, Greenland, Uteland, Slush,
Speaker 1: Big Holstein in Germany and Iceland. In addition, it commanded
Speaker 1: a formidable navy with three thousand members in its fleet,
Speaker 1: and that navy was preparing to defend itself against the French.
Speaker 1: The Danish army was already planning for a land attack
Speaker 1: from Napoleon's forces. The navy, however, was in a tougher spot.
Speaker 1: You see, the British needed access to the Baltic Sea.
Speaker 1: They were using it as a trade route. The Baltic
Speaker 1: was also home to the resources needed for building English warships,
Speaker 1: and up to then the Danes had been allowing the
Speaker 1: British safe passage through the Baltic, especially since their presence
Speaker 1: also benefited allies like Sweden and Russia against the French. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: there was a serious fear of France taking over Denmark
Speaker 1: now that Prussia had finally fallen. English Foreign secretary Charles
Speaker 1: Gray had secretly tried to build an alliance between Denmark, Britain,
Speaker 1: and Sweden against France for several years, but had failed
Speaker 1: to make progress. Meanwhile, France was sending its own people
Speaker 1: into Denmark to secure the country's armies against the British.
Speaker 1: There were even rumors that the Danish might go along
Speaker 1: with the French after all, fearing the loss of Denmark
Speaker 1: to Napoleon, who dozen English ships were sent in July
Speaker 1: of eighteen oh seven to Kantagat, a sea on the
Speaker 1: eastern Danish coast. Their mission was simply to watch for
Speaker 1: any aggression on the part of the Danish navy and
Speaker 1: intervene if necessary. Meanwhile, a British delegate had also slipped
Speaker 1: into Copenhagen to try and convince Denmark to hand over
Speaker 1: its navy to English control. As discussions carried on, Napoleon
Speaker 1: got his own affairs in order. He tried to convince Alexander,
Speaker 1: the First of Russia to join Denmark and Portugal in
Speaker 1: fighting against Britain. In other words, both the British and
Speaker 1: the French were playing tug of war with a neutral Denmark,
Speaker 1: who wouldn't choose to fight with either side. Expecting the worst,
Speaker 1: England chose to act first. By August of eighteen o seven,
Speaker 1: England had assembled around four hundred warships off the coast
Speaker 1: of Denmark, with roughly twenty five thousand troops awaiting orders.
Speaker 1: They attempted to negotiate a treaty with Denmark in return
Speaker 1: for its warships, and promised military support and even to
Speaker 1: return the ships once the war was over. The following day,
Speaker 1: Napoleon issued an ultimatum to Denmark go against England or
Speaker 1: prepare for an invasion. The Danish refused to choose, so
Speaker 1: the British ordered them to hand over their ships, and predictably,
Speaker 1: Denmark said no. What resulted was the Battle of Copenhagen,
Speaker 1: a conflict lasting from mid August until the beginning of
Speaker 1: September in eighteen o seven between England and Denmark. The
Speaker 1: British fired Congreve rockets at the city, the same kinds
Speaker 1: of rockets whose red glare would inspire Francis Scott Key
Speaker 1: to write The Star Spangled Banner seven years later. The
Speaker 1: rockets caused much of the city to burn, and countless
Speaker 1: buildings were reduced to ash and rubble. By the time
Speaker 1: the dust had settled, the British had lost several hundred men. Denmark,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, fared much worse. About two hundred
Speaker 1: civilians were killed, along with a few thousand Danish soldiers,
Speaker 1: and despite their best efforts, they were forced to surrender
Speaker 1: the entire Danish navy to the British. Now, warships that
Speaker 1: were still being constructed were destroyed, while the existing vessels
Speaker 1: were commandeered by the British and sailed away. The defeat
Speaker 1: severely crippled Denmark and wound up forcing them to join
Speaker 1: forces with France anyway. Although now without a navy to
Speaker 1: fix the situation, Crown Prince Frederick the sixth did everything
Speaker 1: he could to secure the materials necessary to rebuild his fleet.
Speaker 1: Every oak tree in Denmark was declared property of the Crown.
Speaker 1: He planted thousands of oak trees all over the country,
Speaker 1: knowing it took on average about two thousand oaks to
Speaker 1: make one ship. Although he knew the trees wouldn't be
Speaker 1: fully grown for some time. The Crown Prince probably didn't
Speaker 1: realize how much ship building would advance over the next
Speaker 1: two centuries. Navies went from using wood to steal, which
Speaker 1: meant that all those oak trees were no longer necessary. Still,
Speaker 1: that didn't stop Denmark from tracking their growth. Around two
Speaker 1: thousand seven, two centuries after the battle, Queen margret To
Speaker 1: the second, received a call from her Royal Forestry Commissioner
Speaker 1: with an important message. Her oak trees. They told her,
Speaker 1: We're finally ready. A six ft six inch man wouldn't
Speaker 1: find the cockpit of a British World War Two fighter
Speaker 1: jet a comforting place, but in this instance, the pilot
Speaker 1: had no trouble with being taller than the average human,
Speaker 1: let alone the average fighter pilots. He did, however, crash
Speaker 1: land in Libya, where he lived out his own action
Speaker 1: movie sequence, crawling away from a flaming jet with a
Speaker 1: fractured skull before the jets leaking fuel tank exploded, injuries
Speaker 1: that led the pilot to a new calling, espionage. It
Speaker 1: all began with a diplomatic post at the British Embassy
Speaker 1: in Washington, d C. In the after math of Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 1: There he took on the role of an assistant air
Speaker 1: at Tache. And while James Bond has infused our mind
Speaker 1: with romantic notions of being a spy, including luxury cars
Speaker 1: with machine guns built into the headlights, our spy started
Speaker 1: out in something a little less glamorous public relations, but
Speaker 1: the James Bond life would follow. Being tall, handsome and
Speaker 1: remarkably persuasive, he found his way into the finer things
Speaker 1: in spy work, cocktail parties, finger foods, and well women.
Speaker 1: Numerous friends noted that, like Double O seven himself, this
Speaker 1: spy like to socialize his way into the good graces
Speaker 1: of established women, from actresses and heiresses to powerful congress women.
Speaker 1: That isn't all he was doing, though. He also sweet
Speaker 1: talked himself into the inner circle of the most important
Speaker 1: Americans of the day, Harry Truman, for instance, and that
Speaker 1: powerhouse of an American family, the Roosevelt's. In fact, he
Speaker 1: spent at their family residence at Hyde Park, charming the
Speaker 1: socks off anyone he engaged in conversation. All the while
Speaker 1: he was sending notes and telegrams back to England detailing
Speaker 1: what the political climates in America looked like. And how
Speaker 1: that would affect British interests. Yes, in politics, friends spy
Speaker 1: on friends as much as they spy on their enemies.
Speaker 1: It's safe to say that working as a spy was
Speaker 1: a better fit for our hero than the pilot seat,
Speaker 1: although it took a crash to set him in a
Speaker 1: new direction. But in the end, even spying wasn't quite
Speaker 1: the right fit. Now he still had one more path
Speaker 1: yet to walk. If his time as a pilot was
Speaker 1: act one and Act two was his time as a spy,
Speaker 1: then we now have to turn our attention to Act three,
Speaker 1: since the life of this particular person fits nicely into
Speaker 1: that classic three act structure, and this final act was
Speaker 1: the one that would set him apart from all the rest,
Speaker 1: moving him from a notable historical figure to practically a
Speaker 1: household name. You see, our pilot turned spy eventually became
Speaker 1: a writer. Even as he danced his way through civilized
Speaker 1: American society, there was still time to scribble down his stories,
Speaker 1: and he began to publish articles. He would also all
Speaker 1: too appropriately write the screenplay for a film that had
Speaker 1: many parallels from his own life, an actual James Bond movie,
Speaker 1: But none of that cemented what would become the lasting
Speaker 1: legacy of this larger than life man because his big
Speaker 1: break as a writer came in nineteen sixty one, over
Speaker 1: a decade after his service in World War Two, and
Speaker 1: that big break was a children's book about a boy
Speaker 1: and an enormous piece of fruit. The success of this
Speaker 1: adventure story eventually turned into many more successes in the
Speaker 1: publishing world. Soon to follow were other now classics, like
Speaker 1: the story about a boy who earns a trip to
Speaker 1: the local chocolate factory, or another child's adventure with giants.
Speaker 1: Then all of them cemented this pilot turned spy turned
Speaker 1: writer as perhaps one of the greatest children's authors to
Speaker 1: have ever lived. In the end, he may have embodied
Speaker 1: the title of his James Bond screenplay You Only Live Twice,
Speaker 1: But if you ask me, he may have miscounted, because
Speaker 1: his was a life that was certainly lived thrice and
Speaker 1: his name rowled doll. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided
Speaker 1: tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting
Speaker 1: Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me
Speaker 1: Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works, I make
Speaker 1: another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
Speaker 1: book series, and television show and you can learn all
Speaker 1: about it over at the world of Lore dot com.
Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.