WEBVTT - Shonk This Way: The 1935 Croydon Aerodrome Robbery 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:02.720 Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:04.800 Elizabeth. 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:07.600 How you doing I'm great? 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:08.440 How are you great? 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.040 Oh wow, I'd love to hear this Tony the Tiger 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:12.760 energy from me. 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:13.200 Good. 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:18.439 I'm just going to surf off of your high because 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:20.239 you didn't ask what I'm also doing. Well, I've got 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:22.720 another question for you. Do you know what's ridiculous? 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:23.880 I do know it's ridiculous. 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:24.440 Prove it. 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.320 Tacos ridiculously good? You know I love talking. 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:29.720 You eat them almost any day you could. 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:31.680 I would. I would eat them every day if I could. 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:35.559 And Taco Bell not so bad, not terrible. I can 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:36.960 get a Taco Bell if need be. 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:39.600 Seven ingredients mixed up in all different ways exactly. 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:41.600 You just you go to the drive through. You're like, 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.159 I want to spend seven dollars, mess me up, and 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:49.360 then they'll just give you whatever combination. They have this thing, 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:51.200 the LOCOS program. 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:53.040 Locos Locos, I'll call. 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.440 It crazy, yeah, and it stands for loss or Celebration 0:00:56.560 --> 0:01:02.279 Outcome Support And it's the first noble emotional support taco program, 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:07.120 which I get with as well. It has to do 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:11.560 with World Cup. Yeah, so that you have to put 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:13.240 the app on your phone. I don't have that. 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:14.240 The Taco Bell app. 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:16.640 Yeah, there's a Taco Bell app and you can choose 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:20.880 either celebration mode if your team won, or support mode 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:25.840 if you're sad because they didn't do right. And so 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.440 the first time you do this, you get a free 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:32.800 taco with any purchase, and you know, then there's all 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.760 this junk on the app. It runs through July thirteenth, 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.880 all right, so the end. So you donaded the app though, no, 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:42.840 but you know so, I guess they don't want the 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:45.360 finals involved in this, Like that's just too. 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:47.880 Much yet right now. 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.000 In the US, like if you don't have the app, though, 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:52.760 you could have gone to LA or New York. They 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:56.120 had scream booths so you could yell into the void 0:01:56.240 --> 0:02:00.920 after a loss. I know they have some similar kind 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:05.640 of stuff in UK. Camden, London they had handing out 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:08.080 just free tacos because they're like, you guys need the 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:15.640 emotional support just for me you anyway. They also Australia, Canada, Brazil, Spain. 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:17.840 I love that they're like, let's go to Brazil. 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:19.880 And I have to say, I did not know that 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.600 Taco Bell was in Brazil, nor did I know that 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:23.400 it was in the UK. 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:25.600 Yeah, apparently, and. 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:27.120 It's called Taco Bell in both places. 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.560 Yeah, although it's called Taco Bell in the UK. 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:32.360 They like it, and you know, I don't know. 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:34.519 I don't think. I feel like I've seen one there, 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:36.680 but I don't. I didn't really pay attention. 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:39.079 To any joints looking for Nando's. 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:41.400 Yeah, or greg Is the Baker. 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:41.920 Yeah. 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.280 In the Scotland, Yeah, I know. Someone I knew when 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.480 I lived in Glasgow loved Burger King. Really there was 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.800 a Burger King across from this pub that we went to. 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:52.880 Yeah, I know that there's the Burger Ha McDonald's like 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.280 the big ones. It's no Taco Bell that made it over. 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:58.600 I don't know. Apparently we're everywhere. 0:02:58.040 --> 0:02:59.560 So I wonder if there's an Arby's. 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.960 Oh god, you know, I've never had Arby's igrets. 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:06.080 I told you I grew up vegetarian, so that to 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:08.079 me was like way past the bridge, too far. 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.440 Yeah, exactly exactly. But you know what, maybe here's what 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:13.720 I always say now, It's just it's not for me. 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:15.280 I know, you do say. 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:20.000 There are people congratulations, God bless, but I just kind 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:22.600 of want to get behind the idea of an emotional 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.040 support taco because sometimes that's what you need. 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:29.680 I get it, you know, I feel you. Well, that 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:30.440 is ridiculous. 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:34.040 It is ridiculous. I'll certify that one. So while we're 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:35.760 at it, Yeah, I've got one for you. 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:36.320 He is. 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:39.000 I saw a mention of this story and let me 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:42.120 just say, this one had me at hello, Oh yeah. 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:46.040 All I had to read was three words Croydon aerodrome heist. 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:48.880 Oh I like that, and I was like, oh, please 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:52.040 be murder free, Please be murder free. And I know 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.520 you know that struggle you finally looks like a great story. 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:55.240 Oh my gosh. 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:57.280 I start reading up on it and you're like, oh, 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.400 this one gets bloody damn. I know, I hate that, Elizabeth. 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.040 I have good news. We got ourselves a ridiculous crime. 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:21.640 Nice. 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:30.039 This is Ridiculous Crime A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:35.119 hes and cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:43.520 and one hundred percent ridiculous. Yeah, Elizabeth, this one has 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:45.960 so many things. It has all of the things the 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:49.200 things we love. It has cameos from real life gangsters 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:53.200 from the show Peaky Blinders. It has grizzled London taxi drivers, 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:57.920 has British aviation history. It has gold bull yon and 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:02.320 a busybody landlady. It's a classic British heist. Yes, and 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.000 as I said, one percent ridiculous. 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:05.160 Give it two many. 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:07.720 So what's the story. Well, let's get into it. As 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:10.640 they sat up top, It's called the Croydon Aerodrome Heist. 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.279 In case you didn't know it. As the official Sutton 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:18.800 Council website puts it, the Croydon Aerodrome was quote the 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:22.640 cradle of British civil aviation and London's chief airport for 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.280 twenty vital years between the World Wars. 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.560 Oh yes, that's fascinating time. 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:29.719 Yes, the time we love. 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.080 I thought you'd get into this, yes, So the Croydon 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.920 Aerodrome got it started in nineteen fifteen. At that time 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:37.400 it was the new home for the Royal Flying Corps 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:41.039 and then three years later, in nineteen eighteen, the National 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:45.680 Aircraft Factory Number one opened nearby. That airplane factory had 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.239 its own airfield, So now there were two airfields super 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:49.080 close to each other. 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:50.320 Did they kiss? 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:52.480 I was just about to say, you know what happens 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.839 when two airfields love each other very much? So the 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.920 Beddington and Wadden aerodromes. That's what they were known. They 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:04.520 eventually merged stright, yeah, and they become the Croydon Aerodrome. 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:09.200 Now this place, the Beddington Wadden aerodromes. Those airfields were 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:12.159 where the man who would become King George the six 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:15.840 earned his wings as a pilot in nineteen nineteen. Fly 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.919 on totally training missions there, like with the scarf, the 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:19.400 whole bit. 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:20.479 Oh it's so cute. 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:21.120 I gotta say. 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:23.279 If you're training the future king to fly at a 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.640 time when planes are still hell experimental. 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:27.800 Yeah, you gotta be mad nervous. 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:28.480 Oh totally. 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:30.680 Can you imagine teaching the future King to fly in 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:34.679 like some rickety ass shaking, shimming biplane. He's like, grab 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:36.400 that stick, you're. 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:42.960 No, where's the spare? Here the air the spare. 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:46.440 So in nineteen twenty that's when the two airfields eventually 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:49.599 merge and they become the official customs Airport of London 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:52.239 and the new airfield that's when it was officially named 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.479 Croydon because that was the closest. 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:55.040 Local town, right. 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:58.240 So this is the now the official birth of the 0:06:58.279 --> 0:06:59.760 Croydon Aerodrome. 0:06:59.320 --> 0:06:59.960 Nineteen twenty. 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:01.200 Welcome to the world. 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.600 A few years later in nineteen twenty four, the airlines 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:08.480 Imperial Airways made the Croydon Aerodrome its home airfield. So 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:10.520 now they have like their own airline, you know, it's like, oh, 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.880 we're a Delta hub. This is the Imperial Airways hub. 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:19.040 Imperial do you think Imperial Airways is they invented Imperial margin? 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:20.800 But yes, Margine and Butter, yes. 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:22.960 That is part of their Oay, just checking. 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:25.880 I'm glad you asked that's actually what they used to 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:27.840 grease the pistons in the engines. 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:30.880 Oh that's where it okay, I am so glad. I 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.960 asked that that was very relevant, pertinent and important. 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:39.200 Butter, so for things like the mail and parcels of freight, 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:41.880 that's where they would get pulled into because this is 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:44.480 the official customs house, right, so you have all the 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:48.120 international travel coming through their international transport. And for the 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:51.560 purposes of our story, this also meant gold bouyon would 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:52.440 be brought through here. 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:52.880 Nice. 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:55.720 This would all become important because, as the Guardian reported 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:59.080 and I quote, security was very lax and with only 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:01.200 one person on a night and nothing but a set 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.440 of keys keeping them from the strong room, it was 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.680 the perfect target. So they have all this gold bullion 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:08.480 on all this international freight, and they're like, oh, right, 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:13.520 we should get security guards, maybe a couple locks. So, 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:18.560 as the newspaper The Examiner from Loston, Tasmania reported at 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:21.400 the time in the nineteen thirties, this is because this 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:23.840 robbery took place in nineteen thirty five, on the date 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.200 of actually March fifth, nineteen thirty five. So a couple 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:31.560 days later, the newspaper The Examiner, which is down from Lonston, Tasmania, 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:33.240 all the way on the other side of the planet. Yeah, 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:34.920 they reported on this story because that's how big a 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:38.080 story it was. It was global news, right, this bouillon theft, 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:40.720 and they reported on the date of March fifth, nineteen 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.240 thirty five. That's the date of the robbery, so they're 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.040 reporting on events on that day. So the story I 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.480 found said, and I quote, boxes of coin and bullion 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.080 were collected in the afternoon and placed in the strong room, 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:54.560 the keys of which were handed to a clerk named Johnson. 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:57.280 Now that same story goes on to lay out the 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:00.520 particulars of what happened next to our my man john 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:03.480 and I quote Johnson was alone in the aerodrome at 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:05.800 night and having locked his office door, went to sleep 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:08.400 in accordance with his custom, with these strong room keys 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.079 in his pocket, until he was awakened by an alarm 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:13.920 at four fifteen am to attend to the arrival of 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.079 a German airliner. The door was still then locked and 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:18.440 the keys were in his pocket. 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:19.679 So all good, so far. 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:21.679 Wait you work the night shift and you go there 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:22.280 to go to sleep. 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:26.880 Yes, I'm talking about lack fun security. Now, those two 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:29.200 sets of keys, they are an important detail for what 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:34.040 occurs next. Because as Herbert roy Huggins, the station superintendent, 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:37.599 the mandit's in charge of this whole Croydon Aerodrome, explained 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.480 for the Boo Yawn room, the place where they're keeping 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.719 the gold, this secure facility. It had two doors. There 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:45.840 was an inner door and an outer door, and there 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:47.960 were separate keys for each door. So like a nuclear 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:50.000 sub you got to have the two keys. In this case, 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:51.480 you got to have the two keys to get through 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.640 one door then the next door, and one of those 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:56.959 sets of keys was still safely secured in his pocket. 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.240 So he's like, okay, we're good. I got I got 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:01.360 the keys. I know we had run a lax ship, 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.280 but I got the keys. So later on that same night, 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.880 March fifth, my man Herbert Roy Huggins, he locked his 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.000 set of keys in his desk drawer. He took the 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.880 key to his desk home with him. All good, so far, right, 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.480 So we have the Johnson, he's taking care of the 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:18.480 German airliner, the superintendent. He took the other set of keys. 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:20.240 Herby Huggins home with him. Yeah. 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:22.720 So he awakes the next morning and when he arrives 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:24.840 back at work at five am, just a little bit 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.800 after Johnson went to deal with the German airliner, he 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:30.360 unlocks his desk and his set of keys were still 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.040 right where he left him, so their security protocols were 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.520 still engaged. Now the other airfield officials they arrive a 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:40.960 couple hours later at around seven am, and that is 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.400 when it's discovered that the doors to the strong room 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.199 where the gold bully on his store, they were unlocked. 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:50.800 Un Dunne, could this be Saren? 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:52.720 How could this be Johnson? 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:54.160 No, Huggins. 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:56.400 It wasn't Johnson and it wasn't Huggins, but it was 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:57.400 certainly curious. 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:58.880 Wait, Herbie Huggins was in the clear. 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:00.920 Yeah, if they're both in the because you know he 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:03.960 was you know away from the aerodrome, he comes back, 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:08.240 or so he claims. Now, what was far more curious 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:09.720 for those who were wondering where. 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:10.120 The gold is? 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.800 Yes, the fact that the gold bullion was gone, like gone, gone, 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:17.400 gone gone, Yeah, nothing was there. And we're talking twenty 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:20.760 thousand pounds sterling worth of gold coins like British pounds 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:23.600 not yet eight pounds, right, and it hit it up 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:26.760 and disappeared. Now, so the superintendent and the others sorted 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:30.200 air officials at this point because they had their whole 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:34.319 security protocol in place. Yeah, they are shocked, stun flabbergasted. 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:36.480 I mean I think they would say gobsmacked a those. 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:38.000 Yeah, they would totally say that how. 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.640 Could this have happened? And more importantly, where the hell 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:41.320 is the gold? 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.360 Right now? Before you ask, I did calculate what all 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:45.720 that gold would be well, thank you. 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:47.000 In my head, I was like. 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:50.480 Yeah, twenty thousand pounds in nineteen thirty five. Yeah, so 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:52.360 I had to do a double conversion, right. 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:55.360 So zaren I've been there right, No, it's not easy. 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:58.200 So I did the inflation calculator first, So twenty thousand 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:01.360 pounds in nineteen thirty five would be worth one point 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:05.400 two six', five so one point two million pounds. 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:07.520 Today, Okay, now if you do the conversion on this. 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:09.920 One point twenty sixty five one call it one point? 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:11.720 Three sure that one point? 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:14.480 Three why not one point? Three and if you do 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:18.240 the conversion to dollars for that one point three million, 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:22.719 pounds that converts to one, million six hundred ninety one, 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:26.240 thousand seven hundred and FORTY us dollars or one point 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.920 seven million dollars for. You, wow that of a score 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:34.400 for whomever had stolen, yeah. Ghosts and this would become 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:37.319 a real challenge for the police because when they arrived 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.400 there are no obvious clues as to who pulled off 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.839 this epic gold, heist and the security protocol had been. 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:45.880 ENGAGED i mean they, like you took the keys home 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.520 and there's. Key, Yes johnson was here dealing with The german. 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:50.200 Airliners we got witnesses. 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:52.120 For where he was and, Snoozing, yeah and. 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.240 Snoozing so it's either either he was asleep or he 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:57.120 was going struck in Zy. Deutsch so at this point 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.400 this gold, heist it leads to this swarm of police 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:02.920 From london who raced out to The Croyd narodrome to, 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.000 investigate AND i WISH i could not find, this BUT 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.719 i don't know if the flying squad was called out 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:08.880 to the. 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:12.640 Airfield, right let's just, see let's just. Imagine it makes 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:12.880 some more. 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:14.920 Fun you, know who's going to check me on? 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:15.080 That? 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:18.280 Right AND i mean it's an. Airfield why would they 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:19.480 not have the flying squad? 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:21.960 There and if we don't have any written record of, 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:24.240 it it's because it was a top secret. Mission there you, 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:25.000 go so they were. 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:26.720 THERE i like where your head's. Are thank you. 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:29.200 Too now at this, Point i'm going to tell you 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:29.920 another little. 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:31.840 Secret do. It it's time for us to take a. 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.960 Break so let's listen to some ads and when we're, 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:37.400 back we will meet the men who pulled off this, 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.120 mysterious staggering gold heist back in two and. 0:13:41.160 --> 0:14:02.040 Two and we're, Back. 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:05.080 Elizabeth, heyo you ready to meet the gang Of british 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:06.559 hard men who pulled off This buoleon? 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:06.880 Heigh? 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:08.600 YES i was born? Ready? Good? 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:11.720 Good, No, FIRST i have a question for. You you 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:13.839 Know i'm always filled with. Questions you ask such good. 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:17.760 ONES i try to keep. UP i know you've been To. London, 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.280 yes have you ever taken a handsome cab while you 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:25.040 were there handsome, cab black cab of. Course, yeah AND 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:27.360 i also think But i'm not, certain SO i have 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:30.080 to ask do you know about the test that The 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:31.680 london black cab drivers have to? 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:36.560 Take, yes it's crazy that you have to memorize every single. Street, 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:37.800 yeah it's know. 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:39.600 Everything it is absolutely. 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:41.520 Nuts and by the, way WHEN i say black cab, 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:43.080 DRIVER i don't mean the drivers are. 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:44.960 BLACK i mean the taxi cab is. 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:45.800 Itself. 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.920 Yeah just picture one of those throwback looking handsome. Cabs 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.120 it's you, know they're all, black nag puck pop pop, 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:52.000 pop drive around. 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:55.440 Kind of rattle, Though, yeah and you. 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.160 Get the cool like face each other back. Seats, yeah 0:14:58.200 --> 0:14:58.960 those taxis are. 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:00.600 AMAZING i love you know. 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:02.600 ME i always take. CABS i don't Use uber for 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:04.120 any of that. Stuff and over, THERE i don't. 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.320 Know, NO i would never do that over. THERE i 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:08.440 always take. Taxis and the thing is, too is That 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:11.880 i've found that when you're there and because they know absolutely, 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:15.440 everything there are fonts of knowledge of stuff to, do 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:17.920 like Completely one TIME i was in a taxi In 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:20.720 london AND i said, like, okay you know they're all 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:23.400 like the big heavy hitter museums that everyone goes to 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:26.600 bend to all of. Them what's a museum or like 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:29.640 a site that people don't know about that you would. 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.720 Recommend he's like, Automatically he's, like you got to go 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:35.000 to the Medical museum AND i can't remember off the 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:36.640 top of my head what it was, called but like 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:39.880 it was you loved it incredible AND i never in 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.400 a million years, ago but it was. Fascinating, yeah there's 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:47.320 an amateur. Taxidermist but it's like they can recommend all 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:49.040 sorts of stuff because they see. 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:50.000 Everything oh, yeah. 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:51.920 Totally they got me through all the coolest gardens and. 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:53.680 Stuff i'd be, LIKE i have a, have you, know 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:55.160 half of a day to. SPEND i want to go 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:56.920 to a. Garden they're, like all, right, MATE i know good. 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:57.360 Ones yeah. 0:15:57.400 --> 0:15:59.240 Exactly so that's HOW i found all about like you, 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.320 Know kensington And gardens and all these other smaller, ones 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.040 like they had these Like tuckaway gardens nobody knew. ABOUT 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:05.880 i was, like oh. 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.520 Hell, yeah, yeah it's. Amazing so that. 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.520 Test it's called The knowledge, yeah WHICH i just love 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:13.520 that as a. Name, yeah it's like it sounds like 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:15.640 it's like almost, medieval like it's the sum of what 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:17.480 every alchemist knows is the. 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:19.480 Knowledge do you possess the knowledge? 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:22.000 Exactly so the knowledge it started one hundred and sixty 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.880 one years, ago way back in eighteen sixty. Five, so 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:26.720 as you pointed, out a beast of a, test it 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:29.000 takes on average three to four years to pass. 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:29.880 It, yeah it's. 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:33.680 Basically like passing the bar here In america because and you, 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:36.120 know as you, noted you're required to know pretty much 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:38.160 all Of. London to pass this. Test you have to 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:40.960 memorize twenty five thousand. Streets, yeah you have to know 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.080 twenty thousand major attractions In, London so you got to 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:48.200 know all the railway, stations the, hospitals, hotels, parks major tourist, 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:51.240 spots just absolutely. Everything and then this off the beaten 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.880 path stuff as. Well, yeah AND i wanted to put 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:55.680 this a little bit in. Perspective how much that is 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.240 forty five thousand things that they have to. Know the 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:02.160 Average american only note they only, knows but knows forty 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:05.240 two thousand. Words so they who did word to the 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.320 location in. Street the knowledge is like learning a whole 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:09.440 language of physical. 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:12.199 Destinations, well that's why you get in. 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:14.760 There they're never using as they call it over THEIR, Satnav, 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:19.639 no NO. Gps it's like and it's because they're not 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:23.160 relying on things like. That they have this intimate knowledge 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:24.320 of the. Streets they know. 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:27.360 They look at, them they look at the, screen. 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:29.600 But they're also it's like they'll know what really isn't 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:30.440 the best way to get. 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:33.080 Somewhere, oh they know the fastest, way they know the prettiest. 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:35.359 Way they know like the, oath we got. Construction, here 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:35.679 here's an. 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:36.120 Alternate. 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:36.960 Exactly it's. 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:40.760 Incredible and by the, way this test the, knowledge what 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:44.200 it requires of them actually changes their. Brains really, yeah 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:46.840 this is backed up by. Science researchers have determined that 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:49.080 the brain of A london cab driver who's passed the, 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:52.160 knowledge it changes to the point that it impacts their. 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:54.919 Memories like often they will find that once they pass the, 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.479 knowledge they're able to suddenly remember like all of their, 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.600 kids school teachers' names and everything that they if it's 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:03.119 like their wife has an, appointment they remember the, doctor 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:06.600 the street they can. Remember just have like a sponge 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:08.040 for a. Brain, yeah it's. 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:11.520