1 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff on Josh And 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:09,879 Speaker 1: there's Chuck and this is short Stuff and this is 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: a hoax edition which we're starting to slowly assemble into 4 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: a short stuffed suite. The year eighteen ten, the month November, 5 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:24,440 Speaker 1: the day possibly unknown, right, and on this particular day, 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: if we zoom over to London and then zoom in 7 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: a little more into a wealthy section of London, and 8 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: then even further into a place called Berners Street, We're 9 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: we're going to find a twenty two year old a 10 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 1: guy who I would have liked to have been friends with, 11 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:44,279 Speaker 1: named Theodore Hook. He was a bomb of aunt. He 12 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: was known to be mischievous, incredibly intelligent, very charming kind 13 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: of guy. Um, the kind of person who would just 14 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: show up on a stranger's doorstep and start talking to 15 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: them and in the hopes that he would be invited 16 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: to dinner just to see if he could do it. Um. 17 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 1: Just a neat guy all around. And he's walking down 18 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: the street with a friend of his name, Samuel Beasley, Right, 19 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:07,960 Speaker 1: that's right, Uh, in this bon vivant which I'm not 20 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: even sure what that is. What does that mean? It's 21 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:11,839 Speaker 1: somebody who likes the good life. They like the party. 22 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:15,479 Speaker 1: They don't want to work. They they just wanna have fun. 23 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: Oh like us kind of I think we work a 24 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: little too much for that. But yes, my daughter one 25 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 1: of her favorite songs as girls just want to have fun. 26 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: And she looked at Emily one day and said, I 27 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: feel sorry for boys. They just don't want to have fun. 28 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 1: And it made me realize she had the name wrong. 29 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,679 Speaker 1: She I guess she thought it was just girls want 30 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:43,360 Speaker 1: to have fire. Girls, that's hilarious. It's like boys have 31 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 1: fun too. Uh. So they were walking down the street 32 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: that day in November of eighteen ten, these two boys 33 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: and the bon vivant cook, uh pointing to a house 34 00:01:55,680 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: which was Burner Street, fifty four Burners Street, and said, hey, 35 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: I'll wager within a week I can make that house 36 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: that I've talked about alis in London, and Beasley said, 37 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: you're on. I'm sure. So they had they had a bet. 38 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 1: I'm sure listeners are like, well, that was dead on. 39 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: That was purposely bad. Everybody, My exits are usually much better. 40 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: Yet they are agreed, but we'll give you a pass 41 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:28,679 Speaker 1: because of that. Too bad. They're not German, right, m hmm. Yeah. 42 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 1: So Beasley said, you're on. I don't know why you 43 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 1: would even make that bet. It's such a preposterous bet 44 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: that I can't possibly lose. So we took that bet. 45 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: And a week later, about seven and them in the 46 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: morning at fifty Burnard Street. Uh, the date was November. 47 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: We have the date, yeah, but we didn't know when 48 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 1: they were walking down the street. It was some time 49 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: about a week earlier. I'm gonna say November three. Sure, 50 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 1: let's go with that. So this is November ten, and um, 51 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 1: a chimney sweep shows up at fifty four Burner Street 52 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:00,080 Speaker 1: and knocks on the door and says, I'm here to 53 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:04,519 Speaker 1: clean Mrs Tottenham's um chimney and the the servant who 54 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: answered the door, because Mrs Tottenham was a fabulously wealthy widow, 55 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: um and the servants would be the ones answering the door, 56 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: said that we don't need a chimney sweep, but your 57 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: your mistaken please go away shut the door. And that 58 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:22,399 Speaker 1: was that, right, that's right. Another different chimney sweep would 59 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: show up, and then another, and then they kind of 60 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:28,800 Speaker 1: kept coming and it was a rush of chimney sweeps. 61 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: And you might think, you know, that's probably a pretty 62 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: good joke, much like the prank today where you might 63 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: order a pizza to someone's house. Apparently, just calling like 64 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: a chimney sweep or some other service to a house 65 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: was a joke of the day, and the servants thought, oh, 66 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 1: that's very funny. Uh, that's great. But that was not 67 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: the end of it, and that is not why people 68 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: still tell this story two years later. So perhaps we 69 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: should take a break a little early, because that's a 70 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: great cliffhanger and tell you what happened next. Okay, Chuck, 71 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 1: So it's time to unhang off of the cliff. And 72 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: like you said, we would not be talking about this 73 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: hoax if it had just been a handful of chimney 74 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:34,479 Speaker 1: sweeps that showed up that day. But those chimney sweeps 75 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,280 Speaker 1: were just a little trickle that were foreshadowing of the 76 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: deluge to come. And as the morning started to begin 77 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: in Earnest, tons and tons and tons of people showed up, 78 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: all of whom had been um summoned toft Burner Street 79 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: within the last month or so on this particular day 80 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: November to carry out some sort of business or another, 81 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: and the sheer volume of how how many people were 82 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:05,159 Speaker 1: tricked into showing up. Is why we're still talking about 83 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:08,159 Speaker 1: this hoax two hundred years later. Yeah, it's at this 84 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: point I wish we could hire that fast talking guy 85 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:15,080 Speaker 1: from the TV commercials in the eighties. Just read through these, 86 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: but uh, I'll do something. Why don't you just follow 87 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 1: in after? Alright, So here's who came by the house 88 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: that day. Uh, male midwives, tooth pullers, miniature painters, artists, auctioneers, grocers, 89 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 1: textile merchants, horse drawn taxis, morning coaches, poultry sellers, an 90 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:37,840 Speaker 1: undertaker with a coffin made to measure six men. It's 91 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 1: a six men bearing an organ that could be very anything. 92 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:47,640 Speaker 1: Wine porters, barbers with wigs, and you can take over opticians, uh, 93 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:56,480 Speaker 1: coal wagons, upholsterers, pianos, linen, jewelry, people bearing furniture, doctors, attorneys. 94 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: Apparently at five PM, a whole bunch of servants showed 95 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:01,720 Speaker 1: up because they were told that there was a job 96 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:07,160 Speaker 1: to fill, and fifty different bakers showed up with raspberry 97 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:11,040 Speaker 1: tarts between them. That is just the joke. Yes, that's 98 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:13,599 Speaker 1: just a sampling of who was there, so you can 99 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:17,720 Speaker 1: guess in very short order. The streets Burner Street in particular, 100 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 1: but also streets around it became completely thronged with not 101 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:25,720 Speaker 1: just like taxis and carts of coal and like all 102 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 1: of the trades people showing up, but also gawkers who 103 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: came out to say, like what is going on? And 104 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:33,360 Speaker 1: so the police arrived pretty quickly and had to shut 105 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 1: the whole street down. That's right. This prank even got 106 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:42,279 Speaker 1: the mayor involved. Lord Mayor London got a note that 107 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,279 Speaker 1: said that and again Mrs Tottenham was, you know, a 108 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:48,280 Speaker 1: woman of means, and I feel like somebody that um 109 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:51,279 Speaker 1: would have had some sort of political influence. But uh, 110 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:54,119 Speaker 1: there was a note supposedly from Mrs Tottenham that said 111 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,839 Speaker 1: she was summoned to appear before him, but she was 112 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 1: confined to her room by sickness and requested that the 113 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:04,119 Speaker 1: Mayor come to her house, which he did. And also 114 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,080 Speaker 1: not just the mayor was roped into this, the Archbishop 115 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: of Canterbury showed up, the Governor of the Bank of England, 116 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 1: the chairman of the East India Company, and the Duke 117 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: of York all duped along with all of those scores 118 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:19,520 Speaker 1: and scores of tradespeople showing up at fifty four Burners 119 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: Street on November, so you can imagine like this was 120 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: a pretty big deal. The police were finally able to 121 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: disperse the crowd um by evening maybe by night, and 122 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 1: um the next day Samuel Beasley knew for sure that 123 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: he had lost that bet. That's right. Uh, newspapers were 124 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: reporting it all over England. Um, there were annual registers 125 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:47,200 Speaker 1: that said it was one of the notable events of 126 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 1: London for the whole year for ten. It is still 127 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: talked about today as part of British lore and pop culture. 128 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 1: And you know, of course they wanted to find out 129 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 1: who did this, but officially they never found out that 130 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: it was Theodore Hook. Didn't that right? Yeah it was, yeah, 131 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 1: but it was. It's widely assumed then and now that 132 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:10,080 Speaker 1: it was Theodore Hook. And he, I mean, he was 133 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: the kind of person who would do this. But also 134 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,400 Speaker 1: he wrote a semi autobiographical novel about twenty five years 135 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: after it was called Gilbert Gurney, and in it one 136 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:22,120 Speaker 1: of the characters says, I'm I'm the one I did it. 137 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: I pulled off the Berner Street hoax and then rattles 138 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: off some of like the greatest hits. So people are like, yes, 139 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 1: obviously it was Theodore Hook, but he was never like 140 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: prosecuted or anything like that because no one could ever 141 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: prove he did it. Yeah, and this is the part 142 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: that really impressed me was I thought, when I had 143 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: read the initial review of this that, uh, you know, 144 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:47,520 Speaker 1: if he says that a week later, it's game on. 145 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:49,680 Speaker 1: Like that's a lot of work to get that many people. 146 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:54,240 Speaker 1: It was a long con. Apparently he had uh little 147 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 1: Minians working for him, and they wrote up to four 148 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:04,040 Speaker 1: thousand letters in weeks who knows, maybe even months leading 149 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: up to this. So he had this thing planned out 150 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: all along, and you know, purposely brought his friend by 151 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: that house once everything was in place and said, hey, 152 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: I bet you a guinea that I can get make 153 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:19,760 Speaker 1: this house and most talked about house. So it was 154 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: all pre planned, which makes it even better, it really does. 155 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: And then, um, Hook wasn't really picking on Mrs Tottenham 156 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: for any particular reason. Uh. Most people say that he 157 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: had no acquaintance with or whatsoever, that she was a 158 00:09:31,679 --> 00:09:34,960 Speaker 1: random victim. Uh. And so this prank went down in history. 159 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,199 Speaker 1: I mean like people are still again talking about it 160 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 1: two d years later. We're talking about it two hundred 161 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: years later. Um. But there's a there's a twist to 162 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 1: this whole thing to Chuck, isn't there. Yeah. The twist 163 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,360 Speaker 1: is that, and I I'm not sure I buy this, 164 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:51,199 Speaker 1: is that it may not have actually even happened, and 165 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:56,440 Speaker 1: that the real hoax was that Theodore Hook made all 166 00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:00,079 Speaker 1: this stuff up. And it's not like a newspaper b 167 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:03,640 Speaker 1: reporter from reporters from all over England descended upon this 168 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:07,080 Speaker 1: to witness this with their own eyes. They heard reports 169 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,360 Speaker 1: of this and wrote about it. So it was a 170 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:11,200 Speaker 1: hoax on a hoax and it never really happened to 171 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:13,520 Speaker 1: begin with. Yeah, there's some historians who believe that the 172 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: hoax of a hoax, which however happened, if it happened 173 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:20,560 Speaker 1: the way that it supposedly did as reported in the papers, awesome, 174 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 1: if he managed to pull the same thing off without 175 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:27,640 Speaker 1: actually doing it, I think that might be even more awesome, Chuck, 176 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,319 Speaker 1: I'm fox Smoulder here. I want to believe so bad. Okay, 177 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 1: but you just do that because there's no reason not to, 178 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:37,200 Speaker 1: all right, Okay, Chuck said, Okay, everybody that means short 179 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:43,000 Speaker 1: stuff is out. Stuff you should know is a production 180 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,959 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts, My Heart Radio 181 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever 182 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.