Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Not every job is glamorous. The person who
Speaker 1: cleans the horse stables or mops the floor at a
Speaker 1: football stadium doesn't win any awards. They aren't lauded for
Speaker 1: their efforts despite their necessity. Some jobs are thankless, even
Speaker 1: though without them things would get pretty bad, and it's
Speaker 1: been that way for a very long time. Some jobs
Speaker 1: during the sixteenth century seemed less than desirable. Certain individuals
Speaker 1: were tasked with helping kings and queens in intimate and
Speaker 1: unpleasant ways. Queens often had women of the bedchamber who
Speaker 1: would assist them in daily duties like getting dressed or
Speaker 1: drawing a bath. A lady of the bedchamber would also
Speaker 1: act as a confidant and a personal assistant. Kings had
Speaker 1: a similar arrangement with someone entitled the groom of the stool,
Speaker 1: like a woman of the bedchamber. The Groom of the
Speaker 1: Stool would help the king wash up and put on
Speaker 1: his clothes, but he also had another duty which involved
Speaker 1: helping him onto his throne. And you're not thinking of
Speaker 1: the right throne at this moment. When a king had
Speaker 1: to use the bathroom, he relied on his Groom of
Speaker 1: the Stool to assist him. This very important person would
Speaker 1: prep the king's toilets, which was a velvet padded box
Speaker 1: with a hole in the top. Inside the box for
Speaker 1: two pewter chamber pots, while outside a length of fabric
Speaker 1: for cleanup was also provided. This royal stool could be
Speaker 1: carried anywhere for those times when the king had to
Speaker 1: shed his clothes quickly and do his business. King Henry
Speaker 1: the seventh even created a special room known as the
Speaker 1: Privy Chamber for when he had to go. Only grooms
Speaker 1: were allowed to go in there with him. But the
Speaker 1: Groom of the Stool wasn't just responsible for being the
Speaker 1: king's bathroom caddie. His um duties also consisted of things
Speaker 1: like watching what the king ate and when anticipating he
Speaker 1: might have to go next, oh and controlling who had
Speaker 1: access to him at any time. On top of all,
Speaker 1: of that, the groom assisted the king with getting dressed
Speaker 1: and undressed each day, but perhaps his most important function
Speaker 1: was as a sounding board for when the King was
Speaker 1: at his most vulnerable, like when he was using his
Speaker 1: portable commode. You see, the groom of the stool served
Speaker 1: as the king's personal secretary during bathroom time, which made
Speaker 1: him very popular with lower members of the court. They
Speaker 1: would pass on their questions and concerns to him so
Speaker 1: that he could ask the King. Given that the groom
Speaker 1: had his captive audience squatting nearby, he was a personal
Speaker 1: assistant and chief of staff all in one. However, if
Speaker 1: you think the job was a bad gig, you'd be wrong.
Speaker 1: The groom had the power to influence the King's opinion
Speaker 1: on almost any subject. With a few words, a person
Speaker 1: could have their life changed for better or for worse.
Speaker 1: So it was a good idea to always be on
Speaker 1: the groom's good side. King Henry the Eight's groom, Sir
Speaker 1: Anthony Denny, held the King's stamp, which acted as an
Speaker 1: official signature. Denny had the power to approve any documents
Speaker 1: on behalf of the King and King Henry the Seventh
Speaker 1: entrusted his groom to carry out what was considered fiscal
Speaker 1: terrorism on the local gentry made up of wealthy farmers, knights,
Speaker 1: and their heirs. In order for the court to bring
Speaker 1: in more money, they came up with numerous laws and
Speaker 1: taxes to siphon money away from the workers and into
Speaker 1: the king's pockets, all of which was orchestrated by the
Speaker 1: king's personal treasurer, the groom. Grooms were also keenly aware
Speaker 1: of the political dealings going on within the court. Though
Speaker 1: they almost never attended official meetings, the us really heard
Speaker 1: things later on when the king was regaling them well
Speaker 1: seated upon his stool. In some cases, the role of
Speaker 1: groom was performed by a whole entourage who would sit
Speaker 1: with the king while he went to the bathroom. It
Speaker 1: was rare for a king to ever be alone even
Speaker 1: while he slept. Personal attendants often stayed in the same
Speaker 1: bedroom as the king in case he needed anything during
Speaker 1: the night. To be a groom of the stool was
Speaker 1: a great honor. Groom positions were coveted by many, and
Speaker 1: for good reason. They allowed unfettered access to the king
Speaker 1: at almost all times, and all they had to do
Speaker 1: was make sure the king could do his business, both
Speaker 1: official and otherwise, safely and securely, and that doesn't sound
Speaker 1: like a crappy job at all. In eighteen fifty nine,
Speaker 1: English poet Edward fitz Gerald translated astronomer and poet Omar
Speaker 1: Khayam's poems and published them as a collection. At first,
Speaker 1: the book didn't farewell commercially, but by eighteen seventy two
Speaker 1: the poems became so successful in the United States that
Speaker 1: there were clubs dedicated to the Persian poets. Most of
Speaker 1: Kayam's works were quatrains, a stanza of four lines with
Speaker 1: alternating rhymes. He believed that fate was an unstoppable force
Speaker 1: and nothing could change it. Many of his poems centered
Speaker 1: around death, or at least hinted at it. So beloved
Speaker 1: were the poets versus that renowned English bookbinder Francis sang Gorski,
Speaker 1: decided to make the most expensive and elaborate book ever made.
Speaker 1: That was no small feat, since back in the late
Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, book binding was an art form. Pages were
Speaker 1: often gilded, using a light coating of gold along the edges.
Speaker 1: While earlier books had been bound in paper over stiff boards,
Speaker 1: Other books were bound in cloth and leather. The more
Speaker 1: prominent books were leather bound and used gold tooling on
Speaker 1: the covers and spines. San Gorski covered the pages in
Speaker 1: the finest leather died in royal green. The cover included
Speaker 1: a thousand jewels, including rubies, turquoise, and garnets. All six
Speaker 1: hundred pages were made from gold. He spared no expense.
Speaker 1: He had the front stamped with a gilded Greek bazuki,
Speaker 1: an instrument similar to a mandolin. On the back, there
Speaker 1: were gilded images of three peacocks, and apparently that was
Speaker 1: what doomed the book. You see, many European cultures consider
Speaker 1: peacock's bad luck. In the thirteenth century, for example, invaders
Speaker 1: often wore the bird's magnificent plumes. Others believe that keeping
Speaker 1: a peacock feather in the house would bring you bad luck,
Speaker 1: and then there's the superstition that bad luck comes in threes.
Speaker 1: The ornately appointed book became known as the Great Omar,
Speaker 1: and it took Sangorsky two years to complete it. Once finished,
Speaker 1: he put it on a ship bound for New York City,
Speaker 1: where the book might find the most influential buyer. But
Speaker 1: US customs wanted and a nor miss customs fee, so
Speaker 1: san Gorsky had the book returned to England. Unfortunately, a
Speaker 1: coal strike there brought the economy to a standstill, and
Speaker 1: few wanted to purchase such an expensive item. Disheartened, he
Speaker 1: placed the book up for auction, where it is sold
Speaker 1: for less than half his target price. The new owner
Speaker 1: was proud of his bargain, and like san Gorsky, he
Speaker 1: tried to send it to New York City. For whatever reason,
Speaker 1: though he wasn't able to secure voyage on a cargo ship,
Speaker 1: but was delighted to send it aboard a first class
Speaker 1: luxury liner on its maiden voyage. You can see where
Speaker 1: this is going, right, That's right. The book set sail
Speaker 1: to America on the Titanic. Whatever is left of the
Speaker 1: book is still somewhere beneath the North Atlantic Ocean. A
Speaker 1: second tragedy struck not long after the Titanic's fateful journey, though.
Speaker 1: Although san Gorsky couldn't swim, he at some point in
Speaker 1: his life jumped into a river to save a drowning woman,
Speaker 1: only to drown as well. After that, there were whispers
Speaker 1: that the book had cursed him. Sandor Sky's partner, George
Speaker 1: Sutcliffe scoffed at such a rumor and set out to
Speaker 1: create a second version of the book. While not as
Speaker 1: elaborate as the first, it was still an expensive and
Speaker 1: ornately decorated book. Surely the new owner would be delighted
Speaker 1: to have such a beautiful piece of work. That wasn't
Speaker 1: to be, though, When World War Two erupted. Sutcliffe had
Speaker 1: the book placed into a London bank vault for safekeeping,
Speaker 1: and that's when the Germans dropped bombs all over the city.
Speaker 1: The bank, the vault, and the book were all destroyed.
Speaker 1: Shortly afterwards, Sutcliffe suffered a stroke and passed away. He
Speaker 1: had left the firm to Stanley Bray, his nephew, who
Speaker 1: decided to make his own version of the book. His
Speaker 1: effort took decades and was finally completed in nineteen nine.
Speaker 1: Five years later he also died. The book never made
Speaker 1: it to auction, and instead was donated to the British Library,
Speaker 1: where it resides today. Bray was asked shortly before his
Speaker 1: death if he was superstitious or believed in fate. He
Speaker 1: replied that he wasn't a believer, though admitted that the
Speaker 1: peacock might be a symbol of disaster. That was his story,
Speaker 1: and like fate, he was bound to it. I hope
Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World
Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.