1 00:00:15,370 --> 00:00:28,410 Speaker 1: Pushkin. One late summer day in nineteen sixty three, thousands 2 00:00:28,570 --> 00:00:32,130 Speaker 1: upon thousands of people gathered on the Mall in Washington, 3 00:00:32,210 --> 00:00:36,610 Speaker 1: d C. They had come to America's capital for jobs 4 00:00:36,970 --> 00:00:40,970 Speaker 1: and freedom, to show the Kennedy administration that civil rights 5 00:00:41,090 --> 00:00:45,690 Speaker 1: legislation must be pushed through Congress, and to hear the 6 00:00:45,770 --> 00:00:51,290 Speaker 1: Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior speak. The official program 7 00:00:51,290 --> 00:00:54,330 Speaker 1: had been long and packed with speeches, but a quarter 8 00:00:54,410 --> 00:00:57,610 Speaker 1: of a million people defied the heat as they waited. 9 00:00:58,250 --> 00:01:02,010 Speaker 1: The crowd stretched back from the Lincoln Memorial, packing the 10 00:01:02,090 --> 00:01:05,930 Speaker 1: sides of the famous reflecting pool, swirling around the base 11 00:01:05,970 --> 00:01:09,930 Speaker 1: of the Washington Monument, and extending towards be in transigent 12 00:01:10,090 --> 00:01:16,010 Speaker 1: capital itself. The Mall usually dwarfs anything on a human scale. 13 00:01:16,850 --> 00:01:22,890 Speaker 1: Not that afternoon. The gospel singer Mahalia Jackson sang, I've 14 00:01:22,930 --> 00:01:28,290 Speaker 1: been buked and I've been scorned. Anticipation was building. All 15 00:01:28,450 --> 00:01:33,930 Speaker 1: three television networks switched to live coverage. Doctor King stepped 16 00:01:34,250 --> 00:01:38,570 Speaker 1: forward to speak to address not only the sweltering crowd, 17 00:01:38,930 --> 00:01:42,330 Speaker 1: but a national audience he had never had before and 18 00:01:42,530 --> 00:01:46,130 Speaker 1: might never have again. Doctor King had spent the night 19 00:01:46,250 --> 00:01:49,650 Speaker 1: laboring on his speech with a few trusted aids, weighing 20 00:01:49,850 --> 00:01:53,410 Speaker 1: every word of what he would say. For a few minutes, 21 00:01:53,530 --> 00:01:57,130 Speaker 1: the nation, even the world, would be focused on those 22 00:01:57,170 --> 00:02:01,290 Speaker 1: words from the Lincoln Memorial steps. Doctor King knew that 23 00:02:01,410 --> 00:02:07,330 Speaker 1: those words had to be perfect. But now let's leave 24 00:02:07,410 --> 00:02:11,690 Speaker 1: this iconic scene behind us and travel across time and 25 00:02:11,850 --> 00:02:16,850 Speaker 1: across the Atlantic. Twenty eight years later, a very different 26 00:02:16,890 --> 00:02:20,530 Speaker 1: man would give a very different speech in front of 27 00:02:20,530 --> 00:02:26,290 Speaker 1: a very different audience. This man's name was Gerald Ratner, 28 00:02:26,970 --> 00:02:30,370 Speaker 1: and he didn't have a dream. He had a nightmare. 29 00:02:31,410 --> 00:02:58,450 Speaker 1: I'm Tim Harford, and you're listening to cautionary tales. Gerald 30 00:02:58,530 --> 00:03:02,770 Speaker 1: Ratner's speech, to be clear, wasn't about civil rights. It 31 00:03:02,810 --> 00:03:06,570 Speaker 1: was about selling cheap jewelry. It became iconic because it 32 00:03:06,610 --> 00:03:10,530 Speaker 1: didn't go well. And as you've probably figured out by now, 33 00:03:11,170 --> 00:03:15,010 Speaker 1: I'm fascinated by things that didn't go well. But I'll 34 00:03:15,090 --> 00:03:18,970 Speaker 1: let you into a secret. I'm also fascinated by the 35 00:03:19,170 --> 00:03:22,810 Speaker 1: art of public speaking. I love doing it and i 36 00:03:22,890 --> 00:03:26,610 Speaker 1: love studying it. Public speaking is such a strange thing, 37 00:03:26,850 --> 00:03:31,330 Speaker 1: as natural as talking and yet wrenchingly difficult. And how 38 00:03:31,330 --> 00:03:34,890 Speaker 1: it was approached by these two men, Gerald Ratner and 39 00:03:35,010 --> 00:03:38,930 Speaker 1: Martin Luther King, And what happened to them could teach 40 00:03:39,010 --> 00:03:43,450 Speaker 1: us a lot. Doctor King and mister Ratner are a 41 00:03:43,530 --> 00:03:47,970 Speaker 1: study in contrasts. Martin Luther King took the high road 42 00:03:48,050 --> 00:03:53,050 Speaker 1: through education, earning a doctorate in theology. Gerald Ratner took 43 00:03:53,090 --> 00:03:56,490 Speaker 1: the low road. Ratner was born in London in nineteen 44 00:03:56,570 --> 00:03:59,970 Speaker 1: forty nine and expelled from school at the age of thirteen. 45 00:04:00,570 --> 00:04:03,810 Speaker 1: When he was fifteen, he joined the family business, a 46 00:04:03,930 --> 00:04:08,330 Speaker 1: group of six jewelry shops. Ratna worked behind the counter 47 00:04:08,450 --> 00:04:11,210 Speaker 1: for ten years years but noticed that he didn't have 48 00:04:11,250 --> 00:04:14,810 Speaker 1: many customers his age or younger. Those people had no 49 00:04:14,930 --> 00:04:18,530 Speaker 1: interest in gold and diamond rings. They were spending plenty 50 00:04:18,530 --> 00:04:22,090 Speaker 1: of money on clothes and music. Shopping malls were busy, 51 00:04:22,810 --> 00:04:27,290 Speaker 1: jewelers were not. They were dusty and intimidating. Nothing had 52 00:04:27,330 --> 00:04:30,010 Speaker 1: a price tag for doors would be locked behind you 53 00:04:30,050 --> 00:04:34,890 Speaker 1: when you entered. Young Gerald soon had a management role 54 00:04:35,010 --> 00:04:39,570 Speaker 1: and steered the family business towards more informal shops, selling 55 00:04:39,610 --> 00:04:42,170 Speaker 1: products that would appeal to young shoppers on a budget. 56 00:04:42,690 --> 00:04:45,890 Speaker 1: It was a canny move. By the age of thirty five, 57 00:04:46,530 --> 00:04:51,330 Speaker 1: Ratner was a millionaire. He began a series of ambitious takeovers. 58 00:04:51,730 --> 00:04:55,010 Speaker 1: By the age of forty, he was running fifteen hundred 59 00:04:55,090 --> 00:04:58,210 Speaker 1: stores in the UK and a thousand in the US. 60 00:04:59,010 --> 00:05:03,730 Speaker 1: His brands included k Watches of Switzerland and Ratner's itself. 61 00:05:04,490 --> 00:05:09,290 Speaker 1: Gerald Ratner had built the largest jewelry group on the planet, 62 00:05:10,050 --> 00:05:13,850 Speaker 1: and then he destroyed it in a matter of seconds. 63 00:05:19,330 --> 00:05:23,330 Speaker 1: Gerald Ratner had been asked to address the Institute of Directors, 64 00:05:23,730 --> 00:05:28,050 Speaker 1: a prestigious audience of six thousand British business leaders. The 65 00:05:28,170 --> 00:05:32,570 Speaker 1: venue was the Royal Albert Hall, fast and trimmed with 66 00:05:32,690 --> 00:05:38,810 Speaker 1: gold and red velvet, perhaps the grandest auditorium in London. Understandably, 67 00:05:39,170 --> 00:05:43,330 Speaker 1: Ratner started his speech looking nervous. He was a self 68 00:05:43,450 --> 00:05:47,210 Speaker 1: made man, a school dropout who now stood in front 69 00:05:47,250 --> 00:05:51,570 Speaker 1: of business royalty, and in fact, there were actual royalty 70 00:05:51,650 --> 00:05:56,130 Speaker 1: in the audience too. Ratner was rich and successful, to 71 00:05:56,170 --> 00:06:00,370 Speaker 1: be sure, but did he fit in? Three minutes after 72 00:06:00,450 --> 00:06:06,330 Speaker 1: starting his speech, he finds his theme mocking his own products. 73 00:06:06,690 --> 00:06:09,290 Speaker 1: We've got this imitation book that you lay on your 74 00:06:09,330 --> 00:06:14,770 Speaker 1: coffee table. Pages don't actually open, but they're beautiful, curled 75 00:06:14,890 --> 00:06:18,610 Speaker 1: up corners with imitation antique dust. I know it's you 76 00:06:18,730 --> 00:06:22,210 Speaker 1: might say it's not in the best possible taste, but 77 00:06:22,330 --> 00:06:24,530 Speaker 1: we sold a quarter of a million of them last year. 78 00:06:25,210 --> 00:06:30,530 Speaker 1: The audience love it, They laugh, they clap. Ratner looks braver. 79 00:06:31,370 --> 00:06:35,610 Speaker 1: We also do this nice cherry to cancer. It's cut 80 00:06:35,650 --> 00:06:39,850 Speaker 1: glass and it comes complete with six glasses on a 81 00:06:39,930 --> 00:06:43,610 Speaker 1: silver plated tray that your butler could bring you in 82 00:06:43,690 --> 00:06:46,570 Speaker 1: and serve your drinks on. Oh you're too funny, Gerald. 83 00:06:47,010 --> 00:06:49,570 Speaker 1: Some of the people in the audience would have employed butler's. 84 00:06:49,770 --> 00:06:53,450 Speaker 1: But Ratner's customers certainly couldn't afford one any more than 85 00:06:53,450 --> 00:06:57,250 Speaker 1: they could afford a genuine antique book, a decanter in 86 00:06:57,330 --> 00:07:01,810 Speaker 1: a silver tray for your butler. Nice one, and it's 87 00:07:01,850 --> 00:07:06,730 Speaker 1: really only cost four pounds ninety five pence. That's about 88 00:07:06,730 --> 00:07:10,570 Speaker 1: twelve dollars in today's money. People say to me, how 89 00:07:10,610 --> 00:07:14,090 Speaker 1: can you sell this for such a low price? I say, 90 00:07:14,170 --> 00:07:21,050 Speaker 1: because it's total crests more after more applause. Ratners killing 91 00:07:21,090 --> 00:07:25,730 Speaker 1: it on stage. He's also just killed his own business empire. 92 00:07:26,530 --> 00:07:28,970 Speaker 1: He didn't realize it at the time. The speech had 93 00:07:28,970 --> 00:07:31,330 Speaker 1: gone down very well with the audience in the Royal 94 00:07:31,370 --> 00:07:35,570 Speaker 1: Albert Hall, but the newspaper reporters in the room smelled 95 00:07:35,610 --> 00:07:39,250 Speaker 1: a story. The jokes that had played so brilliantly on 96 00:07:39,290 --> 00:07:42,530 Speaker 1: the day did not go down so well when served 97 00:07:42,610 --> 00:07:45,770 Speaker 1: up cold on the front page of the morning papers. 98 00:07:46,450 --> 00:07:48,930 Speaker 1: At the time, the UK was in the middle of 99 00:07:48,970 --> 00:07:53,330 Speaker 1: a recession. Ordinary people didn't take kindly to a multi 100 00:07:53,370 --> 00:07:57,570 Speaker 1: millionaire standing in front of his fellow one percenters and 101 00:07:57,770 --> 00:08:01,810 Speaker 1: mocking his own customers for their crass taste. And who 102 00:08:01,850 --> 00:08:04,650 Speaker 1: would buy an engagement ring from a company whose own 103 00:08:04,730 --> 00:08:11,010 Speaker 1: boss had declared their products were crap? Say ebbed. Ratner's 104 00:08:11,010 --> 00:08:14,850 Speaker 1: group shares fell nearly ninety percent between the speech in 105 00:08:14,930 --> 00:08:21,410 Speaker 1: April and Christmas. Ratner was sacked from his own company. Inevitably, 106 00:08:21,850 --> 00:08:26,090 Speaker 1: they changed the company name. Ratner's was a toxic brand, 107 00:08:26,610 --> 00:08:34,610 Speaker 1: forever tarnished to this day. In the UK, doing a 108 00:08:34,770 --> 00:08:39,290 Speaker 1: Ratner is part of the language, universally understood as committing 109 00:08:39,290 --> 00:08:45,530 Speaker 1: a humiliating career ending gaff. Ratner's name became its own 110 00:08:45,810 --> 00:08:52,650 Speaker 1: one word cautionary tale. The lesson seems obvious enough if 111 00:08:52,690 --> 00:08:57,930 Speaker 1: everyone's watching, choose your words with care, don't wing it. 112 00:08:59,130 --> 00:09:04,130 Speaker 1: But what if that lesson has the story completely backwards 113 00:09:12,690 --> 00:09:16,770 Speaker 1: In retrospect, the Reverend Doctor King had been preparing his 114 00:09:16,890 --> 00:09:19,410 Speaker 1: whole life to give the speech from the steps of 115 00:09:19,410 --> 00:09:23,890 Speaker 1: the Lincoln Memorial. His memory had always been prodigious. At 116 00:09:23,890 --> 00:09:26,930 Speaker 1: the age of five, he was learning Bible passages by heart. 117 00:09:27,370 --> 00:09:29,890 Speaker 1: He told his parents that when he grew up, he 118 00:09:29,930 --> 00:09:33,730 Speaker 1: was going to get some big words. So he did. 119 00:09:34,330 --> 00:09:37,410 Speaker 1: Martin's father was a preacher, and the boy took to 120 00:09:37,450 --> 00:09:40,930 Speaker 1: the craft of speech making early. At the age of fourteen, 121 00:09:41,290 --> 00:09:44,250 Speaker 1: Martin traveled across Georgia on a bus to compete in 122 00:09:44,290 --> 00:09:48,210 Speaker 1: a public speaking contest. On the way home to Atlanta, 123 00:09:48,850 --> 00:09:54,290 Speaker 1: things went sour, very sour. King and his friend were 124 00:09:54,330 --> 00:09:57,890 Speaker 1: sitting near the front of the bus with their teacher, 125 00:09:58,210 --> 00:10:01,810 Speaker 1: Sarah Grace Bradley. At a busy stop, a rush of 126 00:10:01,850 --> 00:10:06,250 Speaker 1: white passengers got on, and the bus driver, also white, 127 00:10:06,410 --> 00:10:09,010 Speaker 1: ordered King and his friend to give up their seat. 128 00:10:10,130 --> 00:10:13,490 Speaker 1: You boys moving, get yourself to the back of the bus. 129 00:10:13,970 --> 00:10:18,130 Speaker 1: There was a pause. Doctor King later said we didn't 130 00:10:18,170 --> 00:10:21,810 Speaker 1: move quickly enough to suit him, so he began cursing hers. 131 00:10:22,570 --> 00:10:26,250 Speaker 1: The driver was now hurling every racist slur you can 132 00:10:26,290 --> 00:10:32,530 Speaker 1: imagine and threatening to call the police. Martin, please do 133 00:10:32,610 --> 00:10:35,050 Speaker 1: what he says. So we walked to the back of 134 00:10:35,050 --> 00:10:37,650 Speaker 1: the bus and I had to stand all the way 135 00:10:37,690 --> 00:10:42,210 Speaker 1: to Atlanta. It was dark outside for ninety miles. There 136 00:10:42,290 --> 00:10:44,930 Speaker 1: was nothing to look at but the seats on the 137 00:10:44,970 --> 00:10:49,490 Speaker 1: bus filled with white people. It was late at night, 138 00:10:49,530 --> 00:10:52,770 Speaker 1: and I was tired, but that wasn't the point. It 139 00:10:52,890 --> 00:10:58,610 Speaker 1: was the humiliation. Martin, remember, was just fourteen years old. 140 00:10:59,810 --> 00:11:02,330 Speaker 1: That night will never leave my memory. It was the 141 00:11:02,450 --> 00:11:07,010 Speaker 1: angriest I've ever been in my life. Suddenly I realized, 142 00:11:07,090 --> 00:11:13,850 Speaker 1: you don't count. You're nobody. But Martin Luther King Junior 143 00:11:14,210 --> 00:11:18,970 Speaker 1: wasn't destined to be nobody for long. And the journey 144 00:11:19,050 --> 00:11:23,050 Speaker 1: on the way to being not just somebody, but somebody 145 00:11:23,050 --> 00:11:28,050 Speaker 1: who made his mark on history arguably began not with 146 00:11:28,210 --> 00:11:33,450 Speaker 1: that unforgettable humiliation, but with the triumphant day that had 147 00:11:33,450 --> 00:11:44,650 Speaker 1: preceded it. The long and infuriating bus journey of Martin 148 00:11:44,730 --> 00:11:47,490 Speaker 1: Luther King Junior had been on the way home from 149 00:11:47,490 --> 00:11:51,610 Speaker 1: a public speaking competition. Martin had won a prize at 150 00:11:51,610 --> 00:11:55,890 Speaker 1: the contest, delivering his speech titled The Negro and the 151 00:11:55,970 --> 00:12:01,530 Speaker 1: Constitution entirely from memory. My heart throbs anew in the 152 00:12:01,610 --> 00:12:05,170 Speaker 1: hope that, inspired by the example of Lincoln, imbued with 153 00:12:05,210 --> 00:12:08,490 Speaker 1: the spirit of Christ, they will cast down the last 154 00:12:08,610 --> 00:12:13,490 Speaker 1: barrier to a perfect freedom. That speech showed off the 155 00:12:13,490 --> 00:12:20,890 Speaker 1: teenage King's approach. He would research draft redraft, memorize, finally 156 00:12:21,410 --> 00:12:26,770 Speaker 1: deliver with passion. King used the same principles three years later, 157 00:12:27,330 --> 00:12:30,410 Speaker 1: preaching for the first time in a small meeting room 158 00:12:30,530 --> 00:12:35,090 Speaker 1: at his father's church. He was spectacular. The crowds kept 159 00:12:35,090 --> 00:12:38,610 Speaker 1: coming until young Martin had to move to the main auditorium. 160 00:12:39,130 --> 00:12:42,490 Speaker 1: Martin won an oratory prize in college. He used to 161 00:12:42,530 --> 00:12:46,610 Speaker 1: practice imagined court testimony in front of a mirror, dreaming 162 00:12:46,770 --> 00:12:50,730 Speaker 1: of becoming a lawyer. Instead, he applied for a job 163 00:12:50,770 --> 00:12:55,170 Speaker 1: as a minister at a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. 164 00:12:55,330 --> 00:12:58,170 Speaker 1: As part of his application, he had to give a sermon, 165 00:12:58,490 --> 00:13:02,810 Speaker 1: and of course, he used something meticulously crafted, a sermon 166 00:13:02,930 --> 00:13:08,170 Speaker 1: he had preached several times before practice don't just make 167 00:13:08,210 --> 00:13:12,090 Speaker 1: it up as you go along. Once he secured that job, 168 00:13:12,250 --> 00:13:16,210 Speaker 1: he stuck to that winning formula. King's responsibilities as a 169 00:13:16,250 --> 00:13:19,330 Speaker 1: minister had to be fulfilled while he was still finishing 170 00:13:19,370 --> 00:13:23,130 Speaker 1: his doctorate in theology, so he rose at half past 171 00:13:23,170 --> 00:13:27,650 Speaker 1: five each morning, made coffee, shaved his stubborn bristles into 172 00:13:27,690 --> 00:13:31,090 Speaker 1: a neat mustache, then worked on his doctorate for three 173 00:13:31,250 --> 00:13:34,890 Speaker 1: hours before his pregnant wife, Coretta, woke to join him 174 00:13:34,890 --> 00:13:40,490 Speaker 1: for breakfast. All the while King lavished enormous effort on 175 00:13:40,610 --> 00:13:45,250 Speaker 1: his sermons. He would begin drafting on Tuesday and continued 176 00:13:45,290 --> 00:13:48,770 Speaker 1: to research and draft throughout the week, drawing ideas from 177 00:13:48,810 --> 00:13:54,530 Speaker 1: Plato Aquinas Freud Candy. As Sunday approached, he would write 178 00:13:54,530 --> 00:13:57,690 Speaker 1: it all out on yellow lined paper and commit it 179 00:13:57,850 --> 00:14:00,490 Speaker 1: to memory, just as he had done at the age 180 00:14:00,530 --> 00:14:04,410 Speaker 1: of fourteen. He would bring the script to church with him, 181 00:14:04,450 --> 00:14:07,610 Speaker 1: but as he ascended to the pulpit, he would leave 182 00:14:07,650 --> 00:14:10,490 Speaker 1: it in his chair and speak without notes for half 183 00:14:10,530 --> 00:14:15,090 Speaker 1: an hour or more. He was fantastic, people said. The 184 00:14:15,210 --> 00:14:19,250 Speaker 1: congregation adored him and the way he spoke with style 185 00:14:19,490 --> 00:14:23,970 Speaker 1: about matters of substance, and to achieve this mastery, the 186 00:14:24,090 --> 00:14:30,250 Speaker 1: young Reverend King spent fifteen hours or more crafting each sermon. 187 00:14:31,570 --> 00:14:35,130 Speaker 1: Martin Luther King was one of the greatest speechmakers to 188 00:14:35,250 --> 00:14:39,050 Speaker 1: grace the English language, and at first it might seem 189 00:14:39,170 --> 00:14:43,730 Speaker 1: obvious why, as well as being educated and prodigiously talented, 190 00:14:44,010 --> 00:14:49,010 Speaker 1: he ensured that every syllable of his oratory was meticulously prepared. 191 00:14:50,370 --> 00:14:56,010 Speaker 1: Gerald Ratner could have learned from doctor King's example, couldn't he, Well, 192 00:14:56,810 --> 00:15:04,650 Speaker 1: the truth is way more interesting than that, So why 193 00:15:04,730 --> 00:15:08,650 Speaker 1: would a public speaker set aside the script or memorized 194 00:15:08,730 --> 00:15:13,210 Speaker 1: remark and speak off the cuff, I asked Charles Limb. 195 00:15:13,610 --> 00:15:18,330 Speaker 1: He's a neuroscientist, a surgeon, a jazz saxophonist, and one 196 00:15:18,370 --> 00:15:22,330 Speaker 1: of very few people who's actually studied the improvising brain. 197 00:15:25,250 --> 00:15:30,050 Speaker 1: Limb researches people as they improvise inside brain scanners called 198 00:15:30,370 --> 00:15:34,570 Speaker 1: fm our eye machines. Imagine sliding on your back so 199 00:15:34,650 --> 00:15:38,090 Speaker 1: that your head is surrounded by a giant, white plastic 200 00:15:38,210 --> 00:15:42,250 Speaker 1: donut with the feel of a vintage iPod. The scanner 201 00:15:42,330 --> 00:15:46,770 Speaker 1: is generating powerful magnetic fields to illuminate the contrast between 202 00:15:47,010 --> 00:15:50,490 Speaker 1: oxygen rich blood flowing to different areas of your brain 203 00:15:50,890 --> 00:15:55,210 Speaker 1: and the oxygen depleted blood flowing away. Again, your head 204 00:15:55,530 --> 00:15:59,930 Speaker 1: is held perfectly still. If you're a hip hop artist, 205 00:16:00,050 --> 00:16:02,530 Speaker 1: you then have to spit some rhymes in response to 206 00:16:02,650 --> 00:16:05,610 Speaker 1: random words. If you're a jazz musician, you have to 207 00:16:05,650 --> 00:16:08,650 Speaker 1: tap out riffs on a plastic keyboard lying across your 208 00:16:08,730 --> 00:16:13,090 Speaker 1: knee and no metal, Otherwise the magnetic field would rip 209 00:16:13,170 --> 00:16:16,330 Speaker 1: the keyboard apart and pull the shrapnel into the scanner 210 00:16:16,490 --> 00:16:22,890 Speaker 1: with your head. It's a tough gig. Through these experiments, 211 00:16:23,610 --> 00:16:27,490 Speaker 1: Limb and other neuroscientists have been discovering hints of what 212 00:16:27,770 --> 00:16:32,170 Speaker 1: goes on in an improvising brain. There's a distinctive pattern 213 00:16:32,210 --> 00:16:35,170 Speaker 1: in the prefrontal cortex, which seems to be the seat 214 00:16:35,210 --> 00:16:39,650 Speaker 1: of consciousness, memory, morality, humor, and even the sense of self. 215 00:16:40,850 --> 00:16:44,930 Speaker 1: But the pattern isn't that the prefrontal cortex is lighting 216 00:16:45,050 --> 00:16:49,650 Speaker 1: up during improvisation. On the contrary, broad areas of it 217 00:16:50,210 --> 00:16:54,010 Speaker 1: shutting down the dorsolateral areas either side of the top 218 00:16:54,050 --> 00:16:57,650 Speaker 1: of your forehead and the lateral orbital areas behind your eyes. 219 00:16:58,610 --> 00:17:04,690 Speaker 1: Improvisers are escaping their internal restraints. They're letting go. Most 220 00:17:04,730 --> 00:17:07,290 Speaker 1: of us go through our days holding back our mental 221 00:17:07,370 --> 00:17:11,250 Speaker 1: impulses to swear or la shout. All this requires a 222 00:17:11,290 --> 00:17:14,690 Speaker 1: degree of self control, so that filtering is a good thing. 223 00:17:16,450 --> 00:17:18,890 Speaker 1: That you could have too much of a good thing, 224 00:17:19,210 --> 00:17:23,770 Speaker 1: says Charles Limb. Too much filtering can squash our creativity. 225 00:17:24,490 --> 00:17:29,010 Speaker 1: Improvisers shut down their inner critics and allow new ideas 226 00:17:29,010 --> 00:17:33,570 Speaker 1: to flow out. The improvising brain is disinhibited, although not 227 00:17:33,650 --> 00:17:37,650 Speaker 1: so crudely as the drunk brain. That is why improvisers 228 00:17:37,690 --> 00:17:42,770 Speaker 1: can produce flashes of pure brilliance. It's also why improvisation 229 00:17:43,410 --> 00:17:52,410 Speaker 1: feels so risky. A script can seem protective, like a 230 00:17:52,450 --> 00:17:56,330 Speaker 1: bulletproof vest, but sometimes it's more like a strait jacket. 231 00:17:57,250 --> 00:18:01,570 Speaker 1: Improvising unleashes creativity. It feels fresh and honest and personal. 232 00:18:02,010 --> 00:18:07,490 Speaker 1: Above all, it turns a monologue into a dialogue. Miles Davis, 233 00:18:07,530 --> 00:18:12,210 Speaker 1: the legendary jazz trumpeter, talked about improvisation as the freedom 234 00:18:12,330 --> 00:18:17,130 Speaker 1: and space to hear things. That's a fascinating turn of phrase. 235 00:18:17,530 --> 00:18:20,330 Speaker 1: Not the freedom and space to play things or to 236 00:18:20,450 --> 00:18:24,690 Speaker 1: do things, but to hear things, to be more open 237 00:18:24,770 --> 00:18:27,490 Speaker 1: to the sound of your own instrument, the sound of 238 00:18:27,530 --> 00:18:30,930 Speaker 1: the group, And that matters for more than just music 239 00:18:31,050 --> 00:18:35,650 Speaker 1: or rhetoric, because we're scared of improvising, and we're not 240 00:18:35,730 --> 00:18:39,810 Speaker 1: just afraid to improvise on stage, we're also becoming afraid 241 00:18:39,890 --> 00:18:45,490 Speaker 1: to improvise face to face. The sociologist Sherry Turkle has 242 00:18:45,530 --> 00:18:49,890 Speaker 1: been interviewing young people about their communications through smartphone apps. 243 00:18:50,370 --> 00:18:53,250 Speaker 1: It wasn't just because the apps were convenient or addictive, 244 00:18:53,370 --> 00:18:57,490 Speaker 1: although they could be both. Texting is attractive because traditional 245 00:18:57,530 --> 00:19:02,490 Speaker 1: conversations feel scary. I'll tell you what's wrong with conversation. 246 00:19:02,930 --> 00:19:06,570 Speaker 1: One high school senior told Sherry Turkle it takes place 247 00:19:06,610 --> 00:19:09,450 Speaker 1: in real time, and you can't control what you're going 248 00:19:09,490 --> 00:19:14,690 Speaker 1: to say to see. This student is so used to 249 00:19:14,690 --> 00:19:18,410 Speaker 1: being able to proof freed every message that he's become 250 00:19:18,490 --> 00:19:24,490 Speaker 1: scared of simply talking and seeing what happens. But then 251 00:19:25,050 --> 00:19:29,090 Speaker 1: perhaps he's right to be scared. We should ask Gerald Ratner. 252 00:19:30,530 --> 00:19:34,250 Speaker 1: Gerald Ratna learned to laugh at himself a long time ago, 253 00:19:35,090 --> 00:19:38,690 Speaker 1: but he rejects the idea that somehow his mistake all 254 00:19:38,770 --> 00:19:41,890 Speaker 1: worked out for the best. People ask me if I'm 255 00:19:41,930 --> 00:19:45,050 Speaker 1: glad I said what I said? They're ridiculous. How could 256 00:19:45,050 --> 00:19:50,690 Speaker 1: I be grateful? I lost everything? Ratna plunged into depression. 257 00:19:51,090 --> 00:19:54,490 Speaker 1: He has bounced back in some ways. He had some success, 258 00:19:54,530 --> 00:19:56,770 Speaker 1: setting up a chain of health clubs and even an 259 00:19:56,810 --> 00:20:00,610 Speaker 1: online jewelry business. But the truth is that there was 260 00:20:00,730 --> 00:20:04,290 Speaker 1: nothing he could do, no success that he could achieve 261 00:20:04,850 --> 00:20:08,690 Speaker 1: that would ever be as famous as his gaff. The 262 00:20:09,410 --> 00:20:13,130 Speaker 1: for a good joke destroyed his business, and it nearly 263 00:20:13,170 --> 00:20:16,250 Speaker 1: destroyed him. Who would want to risk the fate of 264 00:20:16,370 --> 00:20:19,690 Speaker 1: Gerald Ratner when they could follow the meticulous example of 265 00:20:19,690 --> 00:20:23,210 Speaker 1: the young Martin Luther King. It seems obvious that when 266 00:20:23,290 --> 00:20:26,610 Speaker 1: speaking in public, we should prepare as diligently, as King 267 00:20:26,650 --> 00:20:30,930 Speaker 1: did when he drafted and memorized his sermons. But the 268 00:20:31,010 --> 00:20:35,250 Speaker 1: truth about Gerald Ratner's impromptu remark about his products being 269 00:20:35,530 --> 00:20:42,810 Speaker 1: total crap is this. It wasn't impromptu. He chose those 270 00:20:42,850 --> 00:20:46,410 Speaker 1: words with care after circulating drafts of the speech to 271 00:20:46,410 --> 00:20:50,690 Speaker 1: get comments. He'd used the total crap joke before without 272 00:20:50,770 --> 00:20:54,130 Speaker 1: running into problems, and as he prepared to deliver the 273 00:20:54,130 --> 00:20:58,010 Speaker 1: speech on a larger stage, he sought advice. His wife 274 00:20:58,050 --> 00:21:01,330 Speaker 1: told him to be careful, but others, including a friend 275 00:21:01,370 --> 00:21:03,970 Speaker 1: who was one of the most influential figures in the 276 00:21:04,010 --> 00:21:07,890 Speaker 1: advertising industry, encouraged him to tell even more daring jokes. 277 00:21:08,570 --> 00:21:11,690 Speaker 1: They thought Ratna would sound self deprecating and that his 278 00:21:11,730 --> 00:21:15,010 Speaker 1: audience would love the gags, which was true. Those in 279 00:21:15,050 --> 00:21:17,610 Speaker 1: the hall that day did love it. But in the 280 00:21:17,650 --> 00:21:22,050 Speaker 1: newspapers the next morning, Ratner simply sounded like a millionaire 281 00:21:22,370 --> 00:21:32,090 Speaker 1: mocking his struggling customers. When I listened back to Ratner's speech, 282 00:21:32,690 --> 00:21:35,650 Speaker 1: I don't hear the mockery at all. I hear something else. 283 00:21:36,170 --> 00:21:40,530 Speaker 1: Immediately after saying his own products were crap, Ratner says 284 00:21:41,210 --> 00:21:44,810 Speaker 1: our Ratner's shots will never win any awards for design 285 00:21:45,650 --> 00:21:48,130 Speaker 1: they're not in the best possible taste. I admit that. 286 00:21:48,650 --> 00:21:50,730 Speaker 1: In fact, some people say they can't even see the 287 00:21:50,810 --> 00:21:54,210 Speaker 1: jewelry for all the banners and posters smothering the shot windows. 288 00:21:54,890 --> 00:21:58,690 Speaker 1: There's a different tone. Suddenly, there's a note of defiance, 289 00:21:59,130 --> 00:22:04,250 Speaker 1: even anger. So it's interesting that these shots that everyone 290 00:22:04,290 --> 00:22:08,010 Speaker 1: has a good laugh about take more money per square 291 00:22:08,050 --> 00:22:12,770 Speaker 1: foot than any other retailer in Europe. The hall is hush, now, 292 00:22:13,810 --> 00:22:20,050 Speaker 1: nobody's laughing. Why, because we give the customer what they want. 293 00:22:21,930 --> 00:22:27,850 Speaker 1: Gerald Ratner wasn't laughing at his customers. He identified with them. 294 00:22:27,890 --> 00:22:30,970 Speaker 1: He thought the business royalty in the hall were laughing 295 00:22:30,970 --> 00:22:36,090 Speaker 1: at his customers and his business ideas and him. This 296 00:22:36,850 --> 00:22:40,170 Speaker 1: was his response, You laugh at us, he was saying, 297 00:22:40,770 --> 00:22:44,290 Speaker 1: but my customers are happy and I'm rich, So who's 298 00:22:44,370 --> 00:22:50,330 Speaker 1: laughing now. Ratner's downfall wasn't caused by a lack of preparation, 299 00:22:50,970 --> 00:22:55,010 Speaker 1: but by a lack of judgment. Ratna did exactly what 300 00:22:55,050 --> 00:22:58,570 Speaker 1: he planned to do. He had simply failed to foresee 301 00:22:58,610 --> 00:23:05,410 Speaker 1: the consequences. Improvisation was not to blame. Improvising does expose 302 00:23:05,490 --> 00:23:10,050 Speaker 1: us to new and different risks, but even careful preparation 303 00:23:10,610 --> 00:23:28,290 Speaker 1: cannot remove Risks entirely. In December nineteen fifty five, Rosa 304 00:23:28,370 --> 00:23:31,690 Speaker 1: Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her seat 305 00:23:31,730 --> 00:23:35,330 Speaker 1: on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama to a white man. 306 00:23:36,330 --> 00:23:39,810 Speaker 1: As a local church leader with a reputation as an orator, 307 00:23:40,490 --> 00:23:44,410 Speaker 1: Martin Luther King was asked to organize a boycott of 308 00:23:44,450 --> 00:23:52,330 Speaker 1: Montgomery's buses. He hesitated. He was exhausted. His newborn baby daughter, Joki, 309 00:23:52,570 --> 00:23:56,530 Speaker 1: wouldn't stop crying in the night. King asked for time 310 00:23:56,570 --> 00:23:59,490 Speaker 1: to mull over the idea of a bus boycott, but 311 00:23:59,610 --> 00:24:04,010 Speaker 1: an influential local activist ed Nixon would have no delays. 312 00:24:04,610 --> 00:24:07,330 Speaker 1: You ain't got much time to think, said Nixon. You're 313 00:24:07,370 --> 00:24:10,730 Speaker 1: in the chair from now on. So it was that 314 00:24:10,850 --> 00:24:16,330 Speaker 1: King found himself bounced into leading the Montgomery Improvement Association. 315 00:24:17,050 --> 00:24:19,570 Speaker 1: He had to give an inaugural speech, and he had 316 00:24:19,570 --> 00:24:23,010 Speaker 1: to give it immediately. Rosa Parks was news, the bus 317 00:24:23,010 --> 00:24:27,490 Speaker 1: boycott was news. There wasn't time to spend days redrafting 318 00:24:27,610 --> 00:24:31,930 Speaker 1: or consulting the sayings of Plato or Gandy. Doctor King 319 00:24:32,050 --> 00:24:34,650 Speaker 1: arrived home from the meeting with Edy, Nixon and the 320 00:24:34,650 --> 00:24:37,930 Speaker 1: activists at half past six. He had to head to 321 00:24:37,930 --> 00:24:41,890 Speaker 1: the speech venue Holt Street Church at ten to seven. 322 00:24:42,370 --> 00:24:45,730 Speaker 1: I had only twenty minutes to prepare the most decisive 323 00:24:45,810 --> 00:24:51,290 Speaker 1: speech of my life. I became possessed by fear. King 324 00:24:51,490 --> 00:24:55,170 Speaker 1: knew that newspaper men would be there, perhaps even television crews. 325 00:24:55,370 --> 00:24:59,130 Speaker 1: And yet just as the stakes were highest, the habit 326 00:24:59,170 --> 00:25:02,250 Speaker 1: of meticulous preparation that had served him so well all 327 00:25:02,330 --> 00:25:07,730 Speaker 1: his life was useless. He couldn't research, draft, redraft, and memorized. 328 00:25:07,850 --> 00:25:12,290 Speaker 1: He had no time. King looked at his watch. Already 329 00:25:12,410 --> 00:25:16,130 Speaker 1: five minutes had ticked away while he fretted. Every Sunday 330 00:25:16,130 --> 00:25:19,490 Speaker 1: he delivered a sermon based on fifteen hours of hard work. 331 00:25:19,890 --> 00:25:22,610 Speaker 1: Now he was about to deliver the most important speech 332 00:25:22,650 --> 00:25:26,610 Speaker 1: of his life, and he had just fifteen minutes. He 333 00:25:26,730 --> 00:25:30,570 Speaker 1: sketched a couple of thoughts with his hand shaking, pondering 334 00:25:30,570 --> 00:25:34,530 Speaker 1: the delicate balance he had to strike between militancy and moderation, 335 00:25:35,130 --> 00:25:39,090 Speaker 1: and he prayed that was all the preparation he could 336 00:25:39,130 --> 00:25:48,570 Speaker 1: spare before driving to the Holt Street Church. Ten thousand 337 00:25:48,610 --> 00:25:52,530 Speaker 1: people stood outside, unable to cram themselves in, listening to 338 00:25:52,570 --> 00:25:55,530 Speaker 1: the proceedings via a loud speaker on the roof. For 339 00:25:55,690 --> 00:26:00,010 Speaker 1: Montgomery police were therein force, so were the television cameras 340 00:26:00,290 --> 00:26:03,770 Speaker 1: pointing at the pulpit as King stepped up and began 341 00:26:03,810 --> 00:26:08,930 Speaker 1: to speak. My friends were here this evening for serious business. 342 00:26:10,050 --> 00:26:14,050 Speaker 1: The speech is brilliantly described in Taylor Branch, his biography 343 00:26:14,090 --> 00:26:18,850 Speaker 1: of King. Instead of the usual careful script, lovingly prepared 344 00:26:18,890 --> 00:26:23,330 Speaker 1: and committed to memory, King was groping his way towards 345 00:26:23,370 --> 00:26:27,450 Speaker 1: the right words. I think I speak with legal authority, 346 00:26:27,530 --> 00:26:29,770 Speaker 1: not that I have any legal authority, but I think 347 00:26:29,770 --> 00:26:32,570 Speaker 1: I speak with legal authority behind me. That the law, 348 00:26:33,050 --> 00:26:36,650 Speaker 1: the ordinance, the city ordinance, has never been totally clarified. 349 00:26:37,850 --> 00:26:41,170 Speaker 1: He had never in his life delivered a sermon with 350 00:26:41,250 --> 00:26:45,610 Speaker 1: a line as weak and confused as that one. Fifteen 351 00:26:45,690 --> 00:26:50,650 Speaker 1: hours of preparation always ironed out every wrinkle. But King 352 00:26:50,890 --> 00:26:55,570 Speaker 1: was finding something more valuable than time to prepare. In 353 00:26:55,650 --> 00:27:00,370 Speaker 1: Miles Davis's phrase, the freedom and space to hear things. 354 00:27:01,050 --> 00:27:04,970 Speaker 1: As he spoke, King listened to the crowd, feeling out 355 00:27:05,010 --> 00:27:09,330 Speaker 1: their response. Speaking in the moment. His early sentences were 356 00:27:09,330 --> 00:27:14,290 Speaker 1: experiments grasping for a theme, exploring how each sounded and 357 00:27:14,450 --> 00:27:18,490 Speaker 1: how the crowd responded. Each phrase shaped. The phrase that 358 00:27:18,570 --> 00:27:22,530 Speaker 1: followed his speech was not a solo. It was a 359 00:27:22,610 --> 00:27:28,610 Speaker 1: duet with his audience. After a cautious opening, King talked 360 00:27:28,650 --> 00:27:33,010 Speaker 1: of Rosa Parks, of her character and Christian commitment, and 361 00:27:33,130 --> 00:27:38,010 Speaker 1: just because she refused to get up, she was arrested. 362 00:27:38,330 --> 00:27:42,570 Speaker 1: The crowd murmured their assent. After a pause for breath, 363 00:27:43,050 --> 00:27:46,890 Speaker 1: King changed direction. You know, my friends, there comes a 364 00:27:47,010 --> 00:27:50,970 Speaker 1: time when people get tired of being trampled over by 365 00:27:51,010 --> 00:27:56,370 Speaker 1: the iron feet of a pressure. And suddenly the avalanche began. 366 00:27:56,970 --> 00:28:00,330 Speaker 1: A few yells of support became a roar of approval 367 00:28:00,450 --> 00:28:04,050 Speaker 1: and anger. The spirit of the crowd was self sustaining, 368 00:28:04,170 --> 00:28:07,930 Speaker 1: a torrent of emotion and sound, which grew stronger. Just 369 00:28:08,050 --> 00:28:11,410 Speaker 1: when it seemed the sound must fade further, waves crashed 370 00:28:11,450 --> 00:28:16,530 Speaker 1: in from the thousands of voices outside. The cheering was everywhere. 371 00:28:17,410 --> 00:28:20,610 Speaker 1: Then King spoke up again. With the help of the crowd, 372 00:28:21,050 --> 00:28:24,330 Speaker 1: he found his theme. There comes a time when people 373 00:28:24,370 --> 00:28:27,330 Speaker 1: get tired of getting pushed out of the glittering sunlight 374 00:28:27,370 --> 00:28:31,570 Speaker 1: of life's jula and left standing amidst the piercing chill 375 00:28:31,650 --> 00:28:36,970 Speaker 1: of an Alpine November, amid the sound of feet thundering 376 00:28:37,010 --> 00:28:40,730 Speaker 1: on the church's wooden floorboards, King was forced to pause. 377 00:28:42,210 --> 00:28:47,290 Speaker 1: As with any extemporaneous performance, Kings was imperfect, with some 378 00:28:47,370 --> 00:28:52,650 Speaker 1: meandering lines and a limp conclusion. Despite all that, these 379 00:28:52,850 --> 00:28:57,250 Speaker 1: improvised remarks were easily the finest speech that King had 380 00:28:57,330 --> 00:29:00,450 Speaker 1: yet given. People who had seen him speak many times 381 00:29:00,610 --> 00:29:05,890 Speaker 1: were astonished. He spoke with so much force. Nobody, said 382 00:29:05,930 --> 00:29:10,650 Speaker 1: one witness, nobody dreamed of marks In Luther King being 383 00:29:10,770 --> 00:29:16,450 Speaker 1: that sort of man under these conditions. King himself, one suspects, 384 00:29:16,530 --> 00:29:19,930 Speaker 1: had not truly understood what he could unleash once he 385 00:29:20,010 --> 00:29:23,530 Speaker 1: let himself go. He didn't want to improvise the speech, 386 00:29:23,850 --> 00:29:27,770 Speaker 1: preferred the script for when the situation gave him no alternative. 387 00:29:28,170 --> 00:29:31,570 Speaker 1: He came to understand what older preachers had told him, 388 00:29:32,130 --> 00:29:39,130 Speaker 1: open your mouth and God will speak for you. Seven 389 00:29:39,250 --> 00:29:42,690 Speaker 1: and a half years later, in nineteen sixty three, he 390 00:29:42,770 --> 00:29:45,810 Speaker 1: found himself faced with speaking to a quarter of a 391 00:29:45,890 --> 00:29:49,450 Speaker 1: million people who'd marched on Washington d C. He knew 392 00:29:49,490 --> 00:29:53,570 Speaker 1: he'd be live on every national television network. This speech 393 00:29:53,810 --> 00:29:57,370 Speaker 1: demanded the preparation of old It was too important to 394 00:29:57,410 --> 00:30:00,930 Speaker 1: be left to chance. Doctor King and his aids had 395 00:30:00,970 --> 00:30:08,410 Speaker 1: prepared a typewritten script, unpromisingly titled Normals Never Again. King's 396 00:30:08,450 --> 00:30:11,770 Speaker 1: team was trying to navigate complex waters with the text 397 00:30:11,810 --> 00:30:15,370 Speaker 1: of this address. King needed to reach out to white allies, 398 00:30:15,690 --> 00:30:18,690 Speaker 1: to rebut the hardline approach of Malcolm X and others, 399 00:30:19,010 --> 00:30:23,130 Speaker 1: and to respond to President Kennedy's Civil Rights Bill. Was 400 00:30:23,170 --> 00:30:27,250 Speaker 1: the bill to be criticized as inadequate or welcomed as progress. 401 00:30:27,530 --> 00:30:31,850 Speaker 1: There was much politicking behind the scenes, and each speaker 402 00:30:31,890 --> 00:30:35,450 Speaker 1: had been allotted only seven minutes. There was no exception 403 00:30:35,570 --> 00:30:40,170 Speaker 1: for Martin Luther King. All of these constraints called for 404 00:30:40,290 --> 00:30:44,690 Speaker 1: precise drafting. He knew that he would be speaking with 405 00:30:44,770 --> 00:30:49,170 Speaker 1: a vast statue of Abraham Lincoln behind him, a hundred 406 00:30:49,250 --> 00:30:54,770 Speaker 1: years after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had declared the enslaved people 407 00:30:54,930 --> 00:31:00,450 Speaker 1: of the United States to be free. So King decided 408 00:31:00,490 --> 00:31:04,250 Speaker 1: to open with an artful echo of Lincoln's Great Gettysburg 409 00:31:04,250 --> 00:31:08,570 Speaker 1: Address and referred to the Emancipation Proclamation as a promissory 410 00:31:08,650 --> 00:31:14,650 Speaker 1: note on which America had defaulted. As a script normal 411 00:31:14,730 --> 00:31:19,570 Speaker 1: syne never again was over formal and flawed. Parts of 412 00:31:19,570 --> 00:31:25,130 Speaker 1: it read like poetry. Others were clumsy legal ease. As 413 00:31:25,290 --> 00:31:28,930 Speaker 1: King read out the speech, it did not stir the soul, 414 00:31:29,570 --> 00:31:33,810 Speaker 1: but then toward the end came a biblical flourish. And 415 00:31:34,010 --> 00:31:38,730 Speaker 1: we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, 416 00:31:38,730 --> 00:31:43,690 Speaker 1: and righteousness like a mighty stream. And as King said 417 00:31:43,690 --> 00:31:48,410 Speaker 1: those words, approving cheers rippled up and down them all. 418 00:31:49,690 --> 00:31:53,970 Speaker 1: Then King looked down at his script. The next line 419 00:31:54,090 --> 00:31:58,170 Speaker 1: was pretentious and limp. He couldn't bring himself to say 420 00:31:58,170 --> 00:32:03,690 Speaker 1: the words, and so instead he started to improvise, telling 421 00:32:03,690 --> 00:32:08,090 Speaker 1: the crowd go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama. 422 00:32:08,410 --> 00:32:13,090 Speaker 1: Behind him stood his friends and colleagues. They knew that 423 00:32:13,290 --> 00:32:16,810 Speaker 1: King had stepped away from the script, and at the 424 00:32:16,930 --> 00:32:21,930 Speaker 1: moment of maximum danger and maximum opportunity, the climax of 425 00:32:22,010 --> 00:32:26,530 Speaker 1: his speech, he was looking for something to say, something 426 00:32:26,570 --> 00:32:29,130 Speaker 1: that would touch the people there at the mall and 427 00:32:29,690 --> 00:32:34,970 Speaker 1: watching across the country. Hellaa that the dream lying, yelled 428 00:32:34,970 --> 00:32:38,450 Speaker 1: the singer Mahalia Jackson. It was a reference to something 429 00:32:38,490 --> 00:32:42,010 Speaker 1: doctor King had been preaching of late to church congregations, 430 00:32:42,530 --> 00:32:45,610 Speaker 1: a dream of a brighter future in which whites and 431 00:32:45,690 --> 00:32:49,930 Speaker 1: blacks lived in harmony. And as he stood, facing the 432 00:32:50,010 --> 00:32:55,170 Speaker 1: television cameras and the vast expectant crowd looking for inspiration, 433 00:32:55,810 --> 00:33:00,010 Speaker 1: Martin Luther King heard Mahalia Jackson, and he began to 434 00:33:00,010 --> 00:33:04,130 Speaker 1: create on the fly, one of the most famous speeches 435 00:33:04,290 --> 00:33:07,890 Speaker 1: of the century about how he had a dream, a 436 00:33:08,050 --> 00:33:11,370 Speaker 1: dream that America would live up to the words all 437 00:33:11,570 --> 00:33:15,370 Speaker 1: Men are Created Equal, A dream of an oasis of 438 00:33:15,570 --> 00:33:20,450 Speaker 1: freedom and justice. A dream that little black boys and 439 00:33:20,530 --> 00:33:23,410 Speaker 1: black girls would be able to join hands with little 440 00:33:23,450 --> 00:33:33,130 Speaker 1: white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. Normalcy 441 00:33:33,450 --> 00:33:38,970 Speaker 1: never again was forgotten. The conclusion to the speech that 442 00:33:39,130 --> 00:33:44,250 Speaker 1: shook the twentieth century wasn't in the script. The best 443 00:33:44,290 --> 00:33:56,490 Speaker 1: things usually aren't. Key sources for this episode include Taylor 444 00:33:56,530 --> 00:34:01,610 Speaker 1: Branch's book Parting the Waters, Martin Luther King Junior's autobiography, 445 00:34:01,930 --> 00:34:05,810 Speaker 1: and my own book MESSI The Power of Disorder to 446 00:34:05,810 --> 00:34:09,690 Speaker 1: Transform Our Lives. For a full list of references, see 447 00:34:09,770 --> 00:34:15,410 Speaker 1: Tim Harford dot com. Cautionary Tales is written by me 448 00:34:15,690 --> 00:34:19,410 Speaker 1: Tim Harford with Andrew Wright. It's produced by Ryan Dilley 449 00:34:19,490 --> 00:34:23,250 Speaker 1: and Marilyn Rust. The sound design and original music is 450 00:34:23,250 --> 00:34:27,290 Speaker 1: the work of Pascal Wise. Julia Bartin edited the scripts. 451 00:34:28,090 --> 00:34:32,210 Speaker 1: Starring in this series of Cautionary Tales Helena Bonham Carter, 452 00:34:32,450 --> 00:34:38,290 Speaker 1: and Jeffrey Wright, alongside Nazzar Elderazzi, Ed Gochen, Melanie Gutterridge, 453 00:34:38,770 --> 00:34:45,530 Speaker 1: Rachel Hanshaw, copenaholbrook Smith, Greg Lockett, Miss Siamunroe and Rufus Wright. 454 00:34:46,330 --> 00:34:48,970 Speaker 1: This show wouldn't have been possible without the work of 455 00:34:49,050 --> 00:34:54,410 Speaker 1: mil LaBelle, Jacob Weisberg, Heather Fane, John Schnarz, Carlie mcgliory, 456 00:34:55,010 --> 00:35:00,210 Speaker 1: Eric Sandler, Emily Rostick, Maggie Taylor and Yellow Lakhan and 457 00:35:00,370 --> 00:35:06,410 Speaker 1: Maya Kanig. Cautionary Tales is a production of Pushkin Industries. 458 00:35:06,970 --> 00:35:10,970 Speaker 1: If you like the show, please remember rate, share, and 459 00:35:11,250 --> 00:35:11,650 Speaker 1: review