Speaker 1: Glascope.
Speaker 2: You're listening to part time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
Speaker 2: and iHeartRadio. Guess what, Well, what's that mango? So if
Speaker 2: it weren't for a nineteenth century Scottish scientist, my career
Speaker 2: right now would be completely different.
Speaker 1: And what do you mean by that?
Speaker 2: Well, this particular invention is something you hear mentioned at
Speaker 2: the beginning of all the podcasts I work on these days. Oh,
Speaker 2: like Kaleidoscope, right, that's right, it's the name of the
Speaker 2: podcast network I co founded. And it turns out that
Speaker 2: the kalidoscope was invented by a guy named David Brewster.
Speaker 2: He was born in the southern Uplands of Scotland and
Speaker 2: attended the University of Edinburgh. He actually became a minister
Speaker 2: at first, but his lifelong passion for science, particularly the
Speaker 2: science of light, inspired him to study optics, and in
Speaker 2: eighteen fourteen, while doing an experiment that involved bouncing light
Speaker 2: between plates of glass, he noticed that if the glass
Speaker 2: was placed at specific angles, it actually created the striking
Speaker 2: symmetrical patterns, and he decided to see if he could
Speaker 2: recreate this effect in different way, so he tried again,
Speaker 2: this time beaming all this polarized light across gold and
Speaker 2: silver plates, and the result was this stunning, colorful array.
Speaker 2: So he set out to create, in his words, a
Speaker 2: new optical instrument for creating and exhibiting beautiful forms.
Speaker 3: So, if I'm understanding this right, this is really my
Speaker 3: favorite kind of invention because it sounds like he's not
Speaker 3: trying to invent something practical, like he just thought these
Speaker 3: light patterns were pretty, Is that right exactly?
Speaker 2: And after a few months of tinkering, he actually built
Speaker 2: a proto kaleidoscope, and the device had angled mirrors with
Speaker 2: colored glass fastened around them to cast all these reflections.
Speaker 2: And the first people to view it were members of
Speaker 2: the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and they loved it. But
Speaker 2: Brewster wasn't done. His final stroke of genius was making
Speaker 2: the colored glass pieces rotate in order to create all
Speaker 2: these different shapes and patterns, you know, like the kalidoscopes
Speaker 2: we know today. But while the instrument itself might have
Speaker 2: been a novelty, the principles behind it were actually really advanced.
Speaker 2: So in eighteen fifty eight, Brewster wrote a book about
Speaker 2: the science of kalidoscopes, summarizing what he'd learned in the
Speaker 2: process of making his invention, everything from like the geometry
Speaker 2: of kaleidoscopic forms to the physics of light, and in
Speaker 2: chapter sixteen he made a reference to a compound known
Speaker 2: as ido quinine sulfate, the crystals of which he said
Speaker 2: were remarkably good at polarizing light. Almost seventy years later,
Speaker 2: a Harvard student named Edwin h. Land would read this
Speaker 2: and get the idea for a new kind of polarizing
Speaker 2: filter that could be used for photography, and he called
Speaker 2: it polaroid.
Speaker 3: It's amazing, and they think it all began with the
Speaker 3: minister who just kind of liked pretty colors.
Speaker 2: Yeah I know, I mean the idea of this toy
Speaker 2: turning into a camera, it was just like stunning. But
Speaker 2: more specifically, it all began in Scotland. And today we're
Speaker 2: discovering nine surprising facts about the northernmost country in the UK,
Speaker 2: from a once in a lifetime fossil fine to the
Speaker 2: shocking truth behind bagpipes. So why don't we dive in?
Speaker 1: Heay their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius.
Speaker 3: I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my
Speaker 3: good friend mengeshat Ticatter and over there in the booth
Speaker 3: all tuckered out. I'm having walked five hundred miles and
Speaker 3: that's not it, and then five hundred more. That's our
Speaker 3: palent producer, Dylan Thing and his dedication. He never ceases
Speaker 3: to amaze.
Speaker 2: It is incredible. You walked to Daton, Ohio and back
Speaker 2: again just so we could make a ten second reference
Speaker 2: to the proclaivers bitch. I love, Thank you Dylan for
Speaker 2: getting us into this Scottish spirit.
Speaker 3: All right, well, speaking of impressive physical feats, mango my
Speaker 3: first fact is also a new item on my bucket list.
Speaker 3: So I want to bag some Monros.
Speaker 2: Is that legal?
Speaker 3: Not only is it legal, it's actually encourage mango. So
Speaker 3: in Monroe is any mountain in Scotland that's over three
Speaker 3: thousand feet tall? And I was curious how many of
Speaker 3: these there were. There are two hundred and eighty two
Speaker 3: Monros in total, and if you make it to the
Speaker 3: top of one, you've bagged it.
Speaker 1: That's what they say.
Speaker 3: Now you may be thinking that a Monroe is a
Speaker 3: scientific term or a word derived from Gaelic, but actually
Speaker 3: their name for Sir Hugh Monroe, who surveyed and catalog them.
Speaker 3: This was way back in eighteen ninety one.
Speaker 2: Now, first of all, I love this terminology. Bagging a
Speaker 2: Monroe is ridiculous, a great term. It is ridiculous. But
Speaker 2: but did this guy just wake up with day decide
Speaker 2: to make like like a huge list of mountains.
Speaker 3: No, it was actually an assignment. He was asked to
Speaker 3: do it by the editor of the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal,
Speaker 3: and mountain climbing and hillwalking were and of course still
Speaker 3: are popular past times in Scotland, and that's, of course
Speaker 3: thanks to the country's rugged terrain. So Monroe had co
Speaker 3: founded the club a few years earlier, so he was
Speaker 3: clearly qualified for this. But he had something else going
Speaker 3: for him. According to a biography written by the Monroe Society,
Speaker 3: he was known as a compulsive note taker and quote
Speaker 3: he flung himself with enthusiasm into everything he undertook. So
Speaker 3: it seems like a super interesting guy. But although he
Speaker 3: worked tirelessly to catalog them all, Monroe didn't bag all
Speaker 3: the Monroes himself. He actually sadly died of pneumonia in
Speaker 3: nineteen nineteen with only three mountains left on his climbing list.
Speaker 1: It's just such a bummer.
Speaker 3: That is really tragic, I know, and it means that
Speaker 3: he doesn't qualify as a completer. That's the official term
Speaker 3: for people who reach the top of every single Monroe,
Speaker 3: and that's a lot like that is a lot of climbing,
Speaker 3: a lot of walking, and so doing so gains you
Speaker 3: membership into the Monroe Society, which says there are just
Speaker 3: over seventy six hundred registered completers. And I'd like to
Speaker 3: think that Sir Hugh would be especially proud of Jamie Errens,
Speaker 3: who holds the fastest record from Monroe, completing in a
Speaker 3: single self propelled round, meaning she didn't use any form
Speaker 3: of motorized transportation. She bagged the whole list in thirty
Speaker 3: one days, ten hours, and twenty seven minutes, traveling on foot,
Speaker 3: by bike, and by sea kayak to reach them all. Now,
Speaker 3: out of the I can match Jamie's record or even
Speaker 3: come closed. But one of these days I'd love to
Speaker 3: go to Scotland and put at least one Monroe in
Speaker 3: my back.
Speaker 2: I don't want to overdo it one. It feels like
Speaker 2: that's impressive enough. Yeah, you gotta do it for Sir Hugh.
Speaker 2: I love it. Also, that's incredible. Jja's that really sunning.
Speaker 2: Have you been to Scotland before?
Speaker 1: I have not.
Speaker 3: It's definitely on the list of places I want to
Speaker 3: get to and you know the coming years, how about you.
Speaker 2: We went with my family. My dad organized a trip,
Speaker 2: which you know, my mom does most of organizing, and
Speaker 2: so this was a very poorly organized trip and we
Speaker 2: went to a farmhouse and there are all these generations
Speaker 2: of family and we basically saw none of Scotland. No
Speaker 2: one could get coordinated and everyone wanted to do their
Speaker 2: own thing.
Speaker 1: It's but a nice farmhouse, I hope, so beautiful.
Speaker 2: I mean, like the land was beautiful. Everyone was so nice.
Speaker 2: I really want to go back to Scotland, but I've
Speaker 2: been once. I haven't really seen it, so okay, So
Speaker 2: back to this. In nineteen eighty four, a Scottish paleontologist
Speaker 2: named stan Wood made a remarkable discovery in this old
Speaker 2: limestone quarry and this is in West Lothian. Would by
Speaker 2: the way, it wasn't a trained scientist. He actually never
Speaker 2: finished a school and worked at a shipyard and then for
Speaker 2: an insurance company. But he became this like really respected
Speaker 2: diy fossil collector and in fact he eventually amasked such
Speaker 2: impressive finds that the Royal Museum in Scotland began buying
Speaker 2: them from him, all of which led to this faithful
Speaker 2: day in the quarry would actually uncovered the fossil that
Speaker 2: would turn out to be the oldest known tetrapod, which,
Speaker 2: you know, I didn't know what a tetrapod is. It's
Speaker 2: a class of animals that emerge from the water and
Speaker 2: involved into familiar things like you know, mammals or amphibians.
Speaker 2: And the creature he discovered was about like seven inches long.
Speaker 2: It had four stumpy legs and a lizard like tail,
Speaker 2: so he nicknamed it Lizzie the Lizard, even though scientists
Speaker 2: have since pointed out it's a not really lizard, you know,
Speaker 2: in fact that they don't really know what it is.
Speaker 2: The best guest seems to be some kind of ancient
Speaker 2: relative of the salamander. But even though everyone referred to
Speaker 2: Lizzie as she, we also don't know whether the critter
Speaker 2: was a female.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's funny how you can take a fossil which
Speaker 3: is really just a rock, right, and the minute you
Speaker 3: give it a name, you start to think of it
Speaker 3: as this cute creature.
Speaker 1: But I don't know.
Speaker 3: It just always amuses me. But but anyway, how old
Speaker 3: is Lizzi?
Speaker 1: Exactly?
Speaker 2: Well, based on the ages of the rocks in which
Speaker 2: she was found, everyone's best guess was that Lizzie was
Speaker 2: around three hundred and thirty one million years old, Right,
Speaker 2: it's pretty old. But last year, a University of Texas
Speaker 2: PhD student and his name is Hector Garza, he decided
Speaker 2: to get more specific, and so he used this technique
Speaker 2: called radiometric dating, and Garza found that Lizzie is actually
Speaker 2: three hundred and forty six million years old, which is
Speaker 2: a huge deal because that means she lived during Romer's Gap.
Speaker 2: Roamers Gap is this mysterious gap in the fossil record
Speaker 2: that runs from about three hundred and forty five to
Speaker 2: three hundred and sixty million years ago, And so when
Speaker 2: you home in on Lizzie's true age, it actually gives
Speaker 2: scientists this better understanding of when vertebrates emerged from the
Speaker 2: water and went on the land, and it also gives
Speaker 2: them a clue about what might have prompted that huge change.
Speaker 3: All right, well, my next fact is also about an animal,
Speaker 3: and it may be less scientifically important, but I dare
Speaker 3: say it is cuter than a fossil. I'm talking about
Speaker 3: the Scottish Terrier, or as it's often known.
Speaker 1: The Scotti.
Speaker 2: Oh like Toto and the Wizard of Oz right well,
Speaker 2: actually pretty close.
Speaker 3: So the dog who played Toto in the old Judy
Speaker 3: Garland movie was actually a Cairn Terrier. But I'm glad
Speaker 3: you did bring that up, because there are several terrier
Speaker 3: breeds that originated in Scotland, including the Cairn, the Sky,
Speaker 3: the Dandie Denmont which definitely sounds like it's in Scotland,
Speaker 3: and the West Highland White, but none have captured the
Speaker 3: public imagination quite like the Scotti, which has become a
Speaker 3: symbol of its native country.
Speaker 2: I mean it is the one. They call it Scottish terrier.
Speaker 3: It's true, that's a fair point. But although the Scotti
Speaker 3: is an icon now, it's got a pretty humble origin.
Speaker 3: So historians believe the breed originated with dogs brought over
Speaker 3: from Europe by the early Celts, and then by the
Speaker 3: fourteenth century it was common for farmers in the Scottish
Speaker 3: Islands to have these short legged dogs that they used
Speaker 3: to hunt rats and foxes and sort of other vermin.
Speaker 3: But these folks were pretty busy with day to day survival,
Speaker 3: so they didn't spend much time writing down the descriptions
Speaker 3: of dogs or determining if this dog counted as a
Speaker 3: different breed from that dog.
Speaker 2: Sure, I mean, all they cared about was was this
Speaker 2: dog catching a rat? Right?
Speaker 1: One hundred percent?
Speaker 3: And you know it actually wasn't until the eighteen hundreds
Speaker 3: that the Scottish terrier became widely known as this unique
Speaker 3: type different from other terriers in Scotland. It was sometimes
Speaker 3: referred to as an Aberdeen terrier, so one theory is
Speaker 3: that the breed emerged from the Highlands via the city
Speaker 3: of Aberdeen, which is to the east and any rate.
Speaker 3: People began compiling these proper breed records in the eighteen
Speaker 3: hundreds and eventually they held dog shows, which further popularized
Speaker 3: the idea of distinct breeds with these desirable traits. Back then,
Speaker 3: sleek hunting dogs or tiny fluffy toys were all the rage.
Speaker 3: The Scotti, with its wiry code and muscular chests, just
Speaker 3: wasn't that appealing at that time, and that all changed
Speaker 3: in the twentieth century. Scotti clubs and breeders started popping
Speaker 3: up across Scotland. And across the US actually for that matter,
Speaker 3: and this former farmhand became known as a wonderful family pet.
Speaker 3: Now it's because of their person They've been described as
Speaker 3: almost human like in their intelligence and their incredible loyalty.
Speaker 3: In fact, Scotty's were so beloved that they were actually
Speaker 3: immortalized as a game piece in Monopoly. You remember this, right, yeah,
Speaker 3: of course? Yeah, and then of course famous owners like
Speaker 3: Fdr Dwight, the Eisenhower and Humphrey Bogart.
Speaker 2: Wow, yeah, I know. I mean when you are next
Speaker 2: to a top hat and a thimble, I feel like
Speaker 2: that's when you know you've made it.
Speaker 1: It's a big deal. Like it's a big deal.
Speaker 2: Yeah all right, Well we have to take a quick break,
Speaker 2: but when we come back, I'll tell you what it
Speaker 2: takes to make a Tardan of your own. Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to a very Scottish part time genius. If
Speaker 2: you're enjoying this episode, please share it with friend or
Speaker 2: leave us a nice review and rating. It helps us out. Okay, well,
Speaker 2: I want you to close your eyes and imagine a
Speaker 2: kilt your eyes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2: What does it look like?
Speaker 3: Okay, it's long pleated I think made of wool, and
Speaker 3: of course it's plaid.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not bad, but technically you can open your eyes.
Speaker 2: But technically speaking, the pattern most of US Americans call
Speaker 2: plaid is tartan. In Scotland, the word plaid refers to
Speaker 2: a piece of tartan fabric used as a blanket or
Speaker 2: worn over the shoulder. But right now we're just talking tartan.
Speaker 2: So Scottish tartan has a long storied history. In the
Speaker 2: eighteenth century, these patterns became popular as military uniforms, and
Speaker 2: many clans or families adopted signature tartans of their own.
Speaker 2: But the patterns used in Scotland goes back even further.
Speaker 2: In the nineteen eighties, a scrap of wool tartan fabric
Speaker 2: was found in a peat bog in glen Afric, and
Speaker 2: radiocarbon dating suggested it was made in the fourteenth century,
Speaker 2: and although it was stained by pete, the die analysis
Speaker 2: showed that its true colors included green and brown stripes
Speaker 2: on yellow and red backgrounds. And so I know about
Speaker 2: the glen Affric tartan because I actually looked it up
Speaker 2: on the Scottish Registry of Tartans, and I didn't realize
Speaker 2: this existed before, but it's this incredible database that the
Speaker 2: country is collected. It's the Official Database of Tartan Designs
Speaker 2: and it was established by Parliament in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 2: It contains thousands of searchable tartan patterns.
Speaker 3: So how does this actually work? Like, can anybody register
Speaker 3: a tartan?
Speaker 2: Yeah, anyone can, but there are three conditions. So first,
Speaker 2: that has to meet the government's definition of a tartan,
Speaker 2: which is quote, a design which is capable of being
Speaker 2: woven consisting of two or more alternating colored stripes which
Speaker 2: combine vertically and horizontally to form a repeated checkered pattern. Right,
Speaker 2: so it just kind of has that plaid like feel. Second,
Speaker 2: it has to be unique. It can't be the same
Speaker 2: as any other registered tartan. And finally, there has to
Speaker 2: be a clear link between the person registering the tartan
Speaker 2: and the proposed tartan name. Right, So anyone can do it.
Speaker 2: Lots of people have, and even corporations, schools, nonprofits have
Speaker 2: gotten into this game. I've spent maybe too much time
Speaker 2: browsing the register, but I found that there are official
Speaker 2: tartans for the University of Delaware, the Canadian Police College,
Speaker 2: British Airways, Hello Kitty, the New York Jets, and my favorite,
Speaker 2: a tartan created by an Ohio man to raise money
Speaker 2: for cats with cancer.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's why.
Speaker 2: If you're curious, that pattern is ten black and blue
Speaker 2: to mimic the coat and eyes of his late companion JD.
Speaker 2: The Siamese cat.
Speaker 3: Oh that's kind of sweet. But actually, now that you
Speaker 3: say this, are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely I want a part time genius tartan.
Speaker 3: I don't even know what we would do with it,
Speaker 3: but it just seems like such an amazing thing to have.
Speaker 3: I would just in fact, I think I need two
Speaker 3: of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I mean if Hello Kitty got one, I
Speaker 2: feel like we should.
Speaker 1: That's a that's a fair point, all right.
Speaker 3: My next fact involves another symbol of Scotland, but there's
Speaker 3: no registry for this one. That's because it's a mythical creature.
Speaker 3: And this is, of course the unicorn.
Speaker 2: You know, I noticed that when I was doing my research.
Speaker 2: There's a unicorn on the Scottish coat of arms, but
Speaker 2: I'm not exactly sure why that's true.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, unicorns are obviously great. We need to
Speaker 3: stop for a moment just to acknowledge.
Speaker 2: That unicorns twenty seconds of silence to just think about
Speaker 2: how great they are.
Speaker 3: Recognize the unicorn. But also it has to do with history.
Speaker 3: So in Celtic mythology, unicorns symbolized strength, purity and of
Speaker 3: course innocence, and in art and in legends, unicorns are
Speaker 3: depicted as independent and difficult to capture, and that's probably
Speaker 3: why in the twelfth century, King William the First added
Speaker 3: a unicorn to the Scottish Royal coat of arms. Now,
Speaker 3: as the years rolled on, unicorn legends grew in the
Speaker 3: Middle Ages, people believe that only a king could capture one.
Speaker 3: So it's no surprise that in the early fourteen hundreds
Speaker 3: Scotland's King James the Second kept the unicorn symbolism going
Speaker 3: and from then on the Scottish throne and the unicorns
Speaker 3: were inextricably linked. Now the country's next kings, these were
Speaker 3: James's three, four and five super original. They went unicorn crazy,
Speaker 3: putting the reachers on coins, seals, other emblems, and eventually
Speaker 3: the Scottish Royal coat of arms included a shield supported
Speaker 3: by not one, but two unicorns who were draped in
Speaker 3: gold chains at least until the Union of Crowns in
Speaker 3: sixteen oh three. That's when King James the sixth became
Speaker 3: the King of England and Ireland as well as Scotland,
Speaker 3: and at that time one of the unicorns was replaced
Speaker 3: by a lion to represent England, of course, so today
Speaker 3: you'll find unicorn imagery all over Scotland, and every April ninth,
Speaker 3: Scott's along with the rest of the world, celebrate a
Speaker 3: National Unicorn Day, which is coming up soon.
Speaker 2: So funny. If I was looking for a unicorn or
Speaker 2: a lion, I feel like the last two places I
Speaker 2: would go are Scotland, and that's probably fair. So while
Speaker 2: we're on the subject of sty wait, I got to.
Speaker 1: Ask you, where where do you think you would go
Speaker 1: to look for a unicorn? Exactly?
Speaker 2: It's a good question.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I feel I think maybe there are parts of Scott's
Speaker 2: got than like the Islis Sky or something that you
Speaker 2: might go to.
Speaker 1: But I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know where unicorn's natural habitats should be, but
Speaker 2: I'm not sure of Scotland's fair. So while we're on
Speaker 2: the subject of Scottish heritage, let's turn our attention to language.
Speaker 2: After English, the most widely spoken language in Scotland is Scots.
Speaker 2: In fact, across the UK more people speak Scots than
Speaker 2: Welsh or Gaelic. You may know some yourself, like if
Speaker 2: you've ever called a small child a we baarn, that's Scots.
Speaker 2: Or if you've ever sung all leanth sign that is
Speaker 2: also Scots.
Speaker 3: You know, I have sung all lanth sign, but I've
Speaker 3: never thought about what those words actually mean.
Speaker 1: Right, You learned something like this as a kid.
Speaker 3: You just kind of go along with it and you
Speaker 3: just keep saying and don't really think about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, or you just like mumble along to the lyrics
Speaker 2: as other people are singing it on New exactly. Apparently
Speaker 2: it's Scott's for the good old days.
Speaker 1: Of course it even sounds like old.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the old and the old, right. But you know,
Speaker 2: that's one challenge. The Scots language is actually face because
Speaker 2: modern Scots share some similarity and overlap with English, and
Speaker 2: a lot of people even in Scotland don't recognize that
Speaker 2: it is a language. It's often referred to as a
Speaker 2: dialect of English, and in a twenty ten survey of
Speaker 2: Scottish adults, sixty four percent of the people agreed with
Speaker 2: the statement I don't really think scots is a language,
Speaker 2: it's more of a way of speaking. And while most
Speaker 2: respondents felt Scott's was an important part of national identity,
Speaker 2: twenty six percent of people equated it with slang, saying
Speaker 2: it doesn't sound nice or proper. Now. I actually read
Speaker 2: a study from twenty twenty two that looked at perceptions
Speaker 2: of language, and it concluded that people are more likely
Speaker 2: to consider a language legitimate if it's unrelated to other languages,
Speaker 2: if it's written, and if it's spoken widely, as opposed
Speaker 2: to in a limited geographic area. You know, Scotts only
Speaker 2: passes one of those tests.
Speaker 1: Oh it's so interesting and also admittedly kind of sad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, I mean it's funny, right, Like, if
Speaker 2: you think about it, there's so many similarities between like
Speaker 2: French and Italian, or Spanish and Portuguese. Right, there are
Speaker 2: plenty words that are mutually intelligible, but no one would
Speaker 2: suggest that they aren't distinct languages.
Speaker 1: So their efforts to encourage the use of Scott's.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there are. It's part of Scotland's national curriculum and
Speaker 2: in twenty fifteen, the Scottish government released a Scots Language
Speaker 2: Policy in which it pledged to promote the use of Scots.
Speaker 2: The Scottish Book Trust has also done a lot to
Speaker 2: support Scott's language, education and literature, and speaking of which,
Speaker 2: there's a growing number of modern Scottish authors writing in Scots.
Speaker 2: That includes Irvine Welsh, who you might remember from Trainspotting,
Speaker 2: but also James Kellman, Emma Gray, Alan Bassett and a
Speaker 2: whole lot more.
Speaker 3: Actually, yeah, I was rapidly trying to look up how
Speaker 3: to say that's great news in Scots and I didn't
Speaker 3: quite get there.
Speaker 1: So I'll just say that's great news.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure everyone i'll understand.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 3: So for my last fact, I'm going to tell you
Speaker 3: about the googa hunters of Nests.
Speaker 2: First year bagn Monrose and now you're hunting gougas.
Speaker 3: This is the best. This has been my favorite. This
Speaker 3: is fantastic. Now I'm not hunting googas. In fact, no
Speaker 3: one does, except for ten men from Ness. It's this
Speaker 3: remote community and the northernmost tip of the Isle of
Speaker 3: Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Now, in recent years the
Speaker 3: population of nests has dwindled to about thirteen hundred as
Speaker 3: young people leave to find jobs elsewhere. Now, meanwhile, some
Speaker 3: urban newcomers have moved in looking for a less hectic lifestyle.
Speaker 3: That means the social fabric is changing pretty quickly and
Speaker 3: locals are trying to preserve their traditions. Now, the most
Speaker 3: famous tradition in Ness.
Speaker 1: Is the annual Googa hunting.
Speaker 3: Googa is a Gaelic word referring to a juvenile seabird
Speaker 3: called a ganet. In every August, ten men from Nests
Speaker 3: sail a rough stretch of the Northern Atlantic to a
Speaker 3: tiny uninhabited island. There they haul their gear up steep
Speaker 3: cliffs and set up camp and these ancient stone huts.
Speaker 3: And no one knows for sure how old these huts are,
Speaker 3: but the Ness men have hunted google on this island
Speaker 3: since the fifteen hundreds and maybe even earlier than that.
Speaker 2: You know, I didn't realize it was still legal to
Speaker 2: hunt these sort of like wild sea birds.
Speaker 3: It's actually not, but in this case, UK law makes
Speaker 3: an exception for the googa hunt because of its cultural
Speaker 3: significance here. And you know, the hunt hasn't changed much
Speaker 3: over the years. The men don't use guns or traps. Instead,
Speaker 3: they use these long poles to grab the googas by
Speaker 3: the necks, and then they use rocks to deliver a
Speaker 3: blow to the head, killing the birds almost instantly. Now
Speaker 3: the carcasses are cleaned, they're salted, they're stacked along these
Speaker 3: cliffs until it's time to sail back, and so when
Speaker 3: the hunters arrive home, they're greeted at the docks by
Speaker 3: friends and family. They're all eager to claim their share
Speaker 3: of the spoils. Googa is actually a local delicacy, boiled
Speaker 3: and then served with potatoes and a glass of milk. It's,
Speaker 3: of course in acquired taste, and it sounds sort of
Speaker 3: weird to think about all this combination here, but one
Speaker 3: report I read described it as a cross between rotten
Speaker 3: leather and fishy beef.
Speaker 1: So once you hear that, you're like.
Speaker 3: I'm all in on this, but definitely totally, But fans
Speaker 3: say it's closer to to like salted mackerel.
Speaker 1: Either way.
Speaker 3: The days of google feast on nests maybe coming to
Speaker 3: a close. So after an outbreak of avian flu, the
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two hunt was canceled, and last year Scotland's
Speaker 3: Conservation Agency reduced the harvest from two thousand birds to
Speaker 3: five hundred. But the biggest threat is actually political. Opponents
Speaker 3: of the hunt say it's cruel and barbaric, and a
Speaker 3: petition calling for its end was sent to Parliament with
Speaker 3: eighty five thousand signatures, So a lot of people behind this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's always that tension right between tradition
Speaker 2: and what feels barbaric, like killing birds with rocks feels
Speaker 2: a little awful.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, that's true. But you know, as supporters have
Speaker 3: pointed out, the reality of factory farm poultry isn't great either, right,
Speaker 3: and things like feazen and partridge shooting have been popular
Speaker 3: past times for the UK's upper class for century. But
Speaker 3: it's a real concern, as is the matter of conservation.
Speaker 2: So where does this stand today?
Speaker 3: Well, as of this recording, this is still TBD. The
Speaker 3: petition remains open but won't be considered until after the
Speaker 3: Scottish Parliament election in May.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm curious to see what happens. Well, it is
Speaker 2: time for our final fact well, and I thought we'd
Speaker 2: kick it off with some music, So I'm going to
Speaker 2: have you take a listen here.
Speaker 1: Oh man, that's great.
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm standing on a Scottish more, you know,
Speaker 3: with the wind and my hair, you know, pretending I
Speaker 3: have hair this wind in there.
Speaker 1: Like I think I can remember what that feels like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well you should not, because what you just heard
Speaker 2: was a clip from a Slovak folklore fest. Well the
Speaker 2: instrument was a guide or Slovak bagpipe.
Speaker 3: You know you wait until the end of this episode
Speaker 3: to tell me that bagpipes aren't Scottish.
Speaker 2: We always save the most surprising for last, right, But
Speaker 2: it's true. Bagpipes are a truly global instrument. You'll hear
Speaker 2: them across Europe, North Africa, parts of Asia, the Balkans,
Speaker 2: even the Middle East. It is hard to pinpoint exactly
Speaker 2: when and where they were invented, but the idea of
Speaker 2: attaching a bag or a reservoir of air to a
Speaker 2: set of pipes goes back to ancient times. In fact,
Speaker 2: archaeologists in Turkey found a Bronze Age carving of what
Speaker 2: appears to be an early bagpipe. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks,
Speaker 2: and Romans had bagpipes as well, and as the Roman
Speaker 2: Empire expanded, bagpipes followed, which is how they came to Britain.
Speaker 2: Now along the way the instrument evolved. They added drones,
Speaker 2: which are those pipes at the top that hold a
Speaker 2: single tone, and also chants, which allow pipers to play
Speaker 2: melodies by opening our closing holes. The first confirmed reference
Speaker 2: to Scottish bagpipes, however, dates back to thirteen ninety six,
Speaker 2: and this is from an account of a clan battle
Speaker 2: which mentions the presence of war pipes. And for the
Speaker 2: next several centuries, bagpipes played a huge role in Scottish warfare.
Speaker 2: They're not the easiest instrument to march into battle with,
Speaker 2: but they are definitely loud, so they are ideal for
Speaker 2: signaling troops forward, raising morale and frankly intimidating opponents. By
Speaker 2: the late sixteenth centuries, Scotland had created the bagpipe most
Speaker 2: of us know today the Great Highland bagpipe. It's got
Speaker 2: two tenor drones, one bass drone and a chanter. Great
Speaker 2: Highland pipers actually accompany British troops on the front lines
Speaker 2: of World War One and World War Two? Do you
Speaker 2: know that?
Speaker 3: Whoa Can you imagine just like standing there in a
Speaker 3: trench playing a bagpipe while these bullets are flying all
Speaker 3: around you so strong sometimes like the parts of war,
Speaker 3: like this are just so bizarre.
Speaker 2: It is insane to imagine. And it's actually estimated that
Speaker 2: about one thousand pipers died in World War One, and
Speaker 2: part way through World War I to the frontline, piping
Speaker 2: was banned to reduce these fatalities. But there's actually a
Speaker 2: famous story about one exception. So during D Day, a
Speaker 2: Scottish commander named Simon Fraser asked his piper, Bill Millen,
Speaker 2: to play as the troops charged onto the beach, and
Speaker 2: Millan pointed out that the War Office had forbade this
Speaker 2: kind of thing, to which Fraser replied, that's the English
Speaker 2: War Office. You and I are both Scottish and that
Speaker 2: does not apply. So Millan marched along the beach playing
Speaker 2: his pipes under a hail of German fire, and both
Speaker 2: he and Fraser lived to tell the tale. Is that incredible?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that definitely is an incredible story. And for that, Mango,
Speaker 3: and for all the time you spent digging through the
Speaker 3: official Tartan register, I decided at that moment, right then,
Speaker 3: right here, you deserve today's trophy.
Speaker 2: Well I will take it. I don't know if you
Speaker 2: knew this, but on my tennis team in high school,
Speaker 2: one of our best players used to play the bagpipes
Speaker 2: and would play them during practice and warm ups to
Speaker 2: annoy other teams.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's actually pretty great.
Speaker 3: One of those one of those instruments that sounds amazing
Speaker 3: from like a football field.
Speaker 1: The way and you get a little.
Speaker 3: Closer, You're like, that's a little that's a little close.
Speaker 3: But I do have to say I'm a little disappointed
Speaker 3: we haven't heard a real Scottish bagpipe.
Speaker 2: You know, I had a feeling you might say that,
Speaker 2: so I came prepared. Here you go. That is the
Speaker 2: Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Annual performance held outside Edinburgh Castle.
Speaker 1: That's amazing.
Speaker 3: What a great way to close out the episode. You know,
Speaker 3: maybe one day we can go see it in person
Speaker 3: wearing the Part Time Genius tartan.
Speaker 1: I can see it now.
Speaker 2: I'd love that. But before we go, remember to follow
Speaker 2: us on Instagram and Blue Sky. We're at Part Time Genius.
Speaker 2: If you have a question or idea for the show,
Speaker 2: please write us an email at High Geniuses at gmail
Speaker 2: dot com. That's Hi, Geniuses at gmail dot com. We
Speaker 2: always love hearing from you. Now. We'll be back with
Speaker 2: another new episode next week. But in the meantime from Will, Dylan, Gabe, Mary,
Speaker 2: and myself. Thank you so much for listening. Part Time
Speaker 2: Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. It is
Speaker 2: hosted by my good pal Will Pearson, who I've known
Speaker 2: for almost three decades now. That is insane to me.
Speaker 2: I'm the other co host, Mangeshatikular aka Mango. Our producer
Speaker 2: is Mary Phillips Sandy. She's actually a super producer. I'm
Speaker 2: going to fix that in post. Our writer is Gabe Lucyer,
Speaker 2: who I've also known for like a decade at this point,
Speaker 2: maybe more. Dylan Fagan is in the booth. He is
Speaker 2: always dressed up, always cheering us on, and always ready
Speaker 2: to hit record and then mix the show after he
Speaker 2: does a great job. I also want to shout out
Speaker 2: the executive producers from iHeart my good pals Katrina and
Speaker 2: Norvel and Ali Perry. We have social media support from
Speaker 2: Calypso rallis if you like our videos, that is all
Speaker 2: Calypso's handiwork. For more podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or tune in wherever you
Speaker 2: listen to your favorite shows. That's it from us here
Speaker 2: at part time Genius, thank you so much for listening.