Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
Speaker 1: 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. It's a nightly ritual for pretty much everyone.
Speaker 1: Check your phone or your alarm clock to make sure
Speaker 1: that it's set to wake you up in time for
Speaker 1: you to make it to school or work. After all,
Speaker 1: we have places to be in thanks to do right.
Speaker 1: But what about the world before alarm clocks, in places
Speaker 1: where roosters weren't exactly cocka doodle doing their job to
Speaker 1: wake us up with the sun. How did everyone make
Speaker 1: it to work on time back then? Well, the answer
Speaker 1: to that question lies with a long forgotten occupation and
Speaker 1: with one of the biggest names in that field, generally speaking.
Speaker 1: To be the muse of someone's picture book, you had
Speaker 1: to have done something pretty noteworthy, something perhaps inspiring or educational,
Speaker 1: or unlike anything anyone else had done before. And for
Speaker 1: the most part, you could say all of those things
Speaker 1: about Mary Smith, a Londoner who did something pretty remarkable.
Speaker 1: Between nineteen o one and nineteen eighteen. Mary was a
Speaker 1: knocker upper whose job description can probably be inferred from
Speaker 1: the title. Generally, they would go door to door throughout London,
Speaker 1: making sure people were up in time for work, sort
Speaker 1: of like a living alarm clock, and each knocker upper
Speaker 1: had their own territory a lot like a paper boy
Speaker 1: would today. Mary Smith, however, was something of an innovator.
Speaker 1: You see, knocker uppers used to well knock on doors
Speaker 1: in the morning, but the populace complained that morning door
Speaker 1: knocks were just too frightening to startling. It bothered the kids,
Speaker 1: they said, so the knocker uppers looked for new ways
Speaker 1: to do their job. Some used a long stick, often
Speaker 1: ten to fifteen feet long. Rather than rap on the door,
Speaker 1: the knocker upper would use that long pole to tap
Speaker 1: on the bedroom window of the person inside, because apparently
Speaker 1: a tap on the second floor bedroom window is a
Speaker 1: lot less frightening than a knock at the front door.
Speaker 1: But Mary Smith did something else, something that sounds further
Speaker 1: fun actually. Instead of knocking on doors or tapping on
Speaker 1: windows with long sticks, Mary Smith used something with a
Speaker 1: much farther reach a pea shooter. So much like the
Speaker 1: kids in lunch rooms firing spit loads with the straw,
Speaker 1: Mary would fire hardened peas at the windows of those
Speaker 1: she was hired awake. It's the stuff of picture books,
Speaker 1: the story of Mary Smith who goes about her territory
Speaker 1: in East London waking customers who paid her roughly sixpence
Speaker 1: a week, earning her keep one p at a time.
Speaker 1: And if you want to know just how important knock
Speaker 1: her upping was at the time, consider that Robert Paul,
Speaker 1: the man who was one the first to discover Jack
Speaker 1: the rippers first victim, on reporting his findings to the police,
Speaker 1: was told that it should in no way interfere with
Speaker 1: Roberts knocker upper duties. After all, what is the most
Speaker 1: notorious killer in the world Compared to the fears of
Speaker 1: missing work. As time often does, this particular profession faded away.
Speaker 1: By the nineteen forties and fifties. There were very few
Speaker 1: knocker uppers left in London as electricity spread along with
Speaker 1: more affordable alarm clocks. A century old profession had walked
Speaker 1: its final steps, tapped its last windows, and fired its
Speaker 1: last piece. Despite being passed down from generation to generation.
Speaker 1: There just wasn't any need for them anymore. But Mary
Speaker 1: Smith's legacy lived on for a while. She made such
Speaker 1: an impact with her profession that her daughter followed in
Speaker 1: her footsteps, literally and figuratively. Her daughter, also named Mary,
Speaker 1: would be one of the last knocker uppers in London.
Speaker 1: So the next time your alarm buzzes or your favorite
Speaker 1: song wakes you, just imagine it could be the sound
Speaker 1: of tapping or the ricochein of a pe shot by
Speaker 1: a kindly old woman standing outside on the streets near
Speaker 1: your home. You know, easy peas. The military isn't for everyone.
Speaker 1: The United States Marine Corps even says so much in
Speaker 1: their recruiting slogan they are the few the proud. But
Speaker 1: war changes people. The danger, that sense that one's life
Speaker 1: could end in a split second brings something out in
Speaker 1: a soldier. In April of ninety two, a number of
Speaker 1: Polish soldiers had just been released from Soviet prison camps.
Speaker 1: They were traveling through Iran on their way to Alexandria, Egypt,
Speaker 1: where they would board ships back to Europe to assist
Speaker 1: the Allies. It was during this journey when they met
Speaker 1: a young Iranian boy and his friend. The soldiers would
Speaker 1: have passed them by, but one of the civilians traveling
Speaker 1: with them saw something special in the boy's friend. She
Speaker 1: thought it best to bring him along, asking one of
Speaker 1: the lieutenants to help her secure passage for him. No
Speaker 1: one knew his name, though, and it appeared as though
Speaker 1: his mother had been killed, so the troops named him Voytech,
Speaker 1: meaning joyous soldier or happy warrior. But Votech wouldn't eat
Speaker 1: at first, probably from the stress of losing his mom
Speaker 1: and now joining up with a bunch of strangers, but
Speaker 1: they managed to get him to drink condensed milk from
Speaker 1: an old vodka bottle. Over time, they spoiled him, treating
Speaker 1: him like one of their own children, perhaps out of
Speaker 1: a deep seated longing for the children they had or
Speaker 1: lost back home. It didn't take long, however, for Voytech
Speaker 1: to become one of the guys. When offered a cigarette,
Speaker 1: he would take a drag. They also gave him beer,
Speaker 1: and he would drink it all and then stare down
Speaker 1: at the opening of the bottle looking for more. The
Speaker 1: soldiers didn't only feed him garbage, though, he ate fruits, honey, marmalade,
Speaker 1: and syrups as well, and in the morning they'd give
Speaker 1: him coffee, which he very much enjoyed. At night, he
Speaker 1: would snuggle up with the soldiers to keep warm, and
Speaker 1: during the day they'd play and wrestle together to pass
Speaker 1: the time. Votech quickly assimilated to military life and wanted
Speaker 1: to do everything his older friends were doing. As he grew,
Speaker 1: he would stand tall and salute them. He even learned
Speaker 1: how to turn on the communal showers, although that got
Speaker 1: him in trouble because they were rationing water at the time.
Speaker 1: After reaching Egypt, the men traveled to Italy to fight
Speaker 1: alongside the British. There was just one problem though. Votech
Speaker 1: wasn't allowed to go with them as he wasn't a soldier.
Speaker 1: Unwilling to let him go, they drafted him into the
Speaker 1: Polish Army, where he became an official member of the
Speaker 1: twenty second Artillery Supply Company. Private Voitech had his own
Speaker 1: serial number and rank, as well as a paybook in
Speaker 1: which he could document his rate of pay and other
Speaker 1: important details during his time in the military, and he
Speaker 1: quickly proved himself to be an essential asset to the war,
Speaker 1: demonstrating his utility at the Battle of Monte Casino. In
Speaker 1: four he was only a few years old, but he
Speaker 1: had ballooned to a whopping two hundred pounds. At his size,
Speaker 1: he was able to carry crates of artillery shells weighing
Speaker 1: a hundred pounds each. In fact, he was so strong
Speaker 1: he could lift ammo boxes that normally required three or
Speaker 1: four men to handle, moving them with ease to wherever
Speaker 1: they needed to go, and his service during Monte Casino
Speaker 1: helped him achieve the rank of corporal. He was a
Speaker 1: hero to his fellow soldiers and everyone back in Poland,
Speaker 1: so much so that the twenty second Artillery Support Company
Speaker 1: changed their insignia to an image of Voitech carrying an
Speaker 1: AMMO shell Sadly, he passed away in nineteen sixty three,
Speaker 1: but he was honored with statues all over Poland, as
Speaker 1: well as in Scotland, where he was stationed briefly. But
Speaker 1: if you visit the statues expecting to see the metal
Speaker 1: effigy of a large war ravaged child, you'd be mistaken.
Speaker 1: Voitech wasn't a person, you see. He was a bear.
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television
Speaker 1: show and you can learn all about it over at
Speaker 1: the World of Lore dot com. And until next time,
Speaker 1: stay curious. Ye