1 00:00:15,410 --> 00:00:29,970 Speaker 1: Pushkin. The wind is fierce, no doubt about it. It's 2 00:00:30,010 --> 00:00:34,050 Speaker 1: the strongest gale that John Watt can remember, and he's 3 00:00:34,090 --> 00:00:38,330 Speaker 1: been working for the North British Railway since eighteen sixty seven, 4 00:00:38,810 --> 00:00:42,690 Speaker 1: for full twelve years. It's a good night to be 5 00:00:42,890 --> 00:00:46,970 Speaker 1: safely sheltered in the railway signal cabin, sharing a mug 6 00:00:47,010 --> 00:00:52,890 Speaker 1: of tea with a friend, signalman Thomas Barkley. As what 7 00:00:53,290 --> 00:00:56,050 Speaker 1: and Berkley sit their tea and look out of the 8 00:00:56,090 --> 00:00:59,410 Speaker 1: window into the darkness, it can see the faint line 9 00:00:59,410 --> 00:01:03,810 Speaker 1: of lamps all along the new railway bridge, running almost 10 00:01:03,970 --> 00:01:07,970 Speaker 1: two miles across the wide River Tay to the city 11 00:01:08,010 --> 00:01:12,210 Speaker 1: of Dundee. Every now and then the clouds gust apart 12 00:01:12,730 --> 00:01:16,410 Speaker 1: and the full moon picks out the high girders of 13 00:01:16,490 --> 00:01:23,130 Speaker 1: the longest bridge in the world. A few minutes after 14 00:01:23,290 --> 00:01:27,650 Speaker 1: seven o'clock comes the signal from the south the northbound 15 00:01:27,650 --> 00:01:32,650 Speaker 1: train is approaching. Thomas Barkley steps out of the cabin 16 00:01:33,090 --> 00:01:37,370 Speaker 1: into the wind and waits. As the train approaches, the 17 00:01:37,490 --> 00:01:41,250 Speaker 1: sparks from the wheels visible in the dark. He greets 18 00:01:41,290 --> 00:01:44,210 Speaker 1: the crew with a smile, handing over the batton that 19 00:01:44,330 --> 00:01:48,210 Speaker 1: gives permission for a train to cross the bridge. The 20 00:01:48,250 --> 00:01:51,970 Speaker 1: train is moving at walking pace. He sees a child 21 00:01:52,170 --> 00:01:54,810 Speaker 1: peer out of the window of a carriage as it passes. 22 00:01:58,610 --> 00:02:03,490 Speaker 1: Then as the train puffs off over the long, high 23 00:02:03,690 --> 00:02:07,370 Speaker 1: iron span, Thomas goes back to his friend in the 24 00:02:07,410 --> 00:02:09,930 Speaker 1: shelter of the cabin and says a message to the 25 00:02:09,970 --> 00:02:14,610 Speaker 1: signal box over on the other side of the river, tay. 26 00:02:15,490 --> 00:02:20,370 Speaker 1: The signal bell rings three times in response, and still 27 00:02:21,010 --> 00:02:27,490 Speaker 1: the wind howls. Thomas turns back to his mug of tea. 28 00:02:28,250 --> 00:02:31,370 Speaker 1: But John, what is gazing out of the window at 29 00:02:31,370 --> 00:02:35,610 Speaker 1: the bridge. There's something wrong with the train, he says. 30 00:02:36,810 --> 00:02:40,650 Speaker 1: Thomas Barkley thinks he's imagining it, but John knows what 31 00:02:40,770 --> 00:02:45,650 Speaker 1: He's seen. Three red tail lamps fading into the distance 32 00:02:45,690 --> 00:02:49,410 Speaker 1: over the bridge, and then a series of flashes, three 33 00:02:49,490 --> 00:02:57,090 Speaker 1: small and one big. Then darkness, No tail lamps. The 34 00:02:57,130 --> 00:03:03,690 Speaker 1: train's gone over, Thomas, he says. Thomas Barkley still isn't convinced. 35 00:03:05,090 --> 00:03:08,690 Speaker 1: Surely the train has just disappeared from view after cresting 36 00:03:08,730 --> 00:03:12,050 Speaker 1: the high point to the bridge. Surely they'll see her 37 00:03:12,090 --> 00:03:18,890 Speaker 1: again soon, but they don't. Thomas tries calling the signal 38 00:03:18,890 --> 00:03:23,610 Speaker 1: box on the other side of the bridge. Nothing they 39 00:03:23,690 --> 00:03:28,170 Speaker 1: go outside, briefly venture onto the bridge, and then retreat 40 00:03:28,370 --> 00:03:31,210 Speaker 1: as the wind threatens to tear them off the girders 41 00:03:31,210 --> 00:03:37,090 Speaker 1: and into the waters below. The clouds part again, and 42 00:03:37,170 --> 00:03:42,050 Speaker 1: the full moon reveals the scene. A thousand yards of 43 00:03:42,130 --> 00:03:46,890 Speaker 1: the bridge are gone, the high girders of the central spans, 44 00:03:47,930 --> 00:03:52,730 Speaker 1: the iron peers that had supported them also gone, and 45 00:03:52,810 --> 00:03:57,090 Speaker 1: of course the train has gone too, and every one 46 00:03:57,170 --> 00:04:03,250 Speaker 1: of its passengers. It's a catastrophe. But this is not 47 00:04:03,410 --> 00:04:07,810 Speaker 1: a story about a fatal bridge collapse. It's a story 48 00:04:08,330 --> 00:04:13,250 Speaker 1: about a poet. I'm Tim Harford, and you're listening to 49 00:04:13,490 --> 00:04:42,770 Speaker 1: cautionary tales. Beautiful railway bridge of the silvery tay Alas. 50 00:04:42,810 --> 00:04:46,250 Speaker 1: I'm very sorry to say that ninety lives have been 51 00:04:46,290 --> 00:04:50,530 Speaker 1: taken away on the last Sabbath day of eighteen seventy nine, 52 00:04:51,250 --> 00:04:56,570 Speaker 1: which will be remembered for a very long time. Thus 53 00:04:56,610 --> 00:05:01,690 Speaker 1: begins a poem titled the tay Bridge Disaster. It is 54 00:05:01,730 --> 00:05:07,130 Speaker 1: widely regarded as the worst poem ever written, and its author, 55 00:05:07,530 --> 00:05:13,570 Speaker 1: William McGonagall, is widely regarded as the worst poet. I'll 56 00:05:13,570 --> 00:05:16,810 Speaker 1: spare you the full poem, but here's a central verse. 57 00:05:18,050 --> 00:05:21,730 Speaker 1: So the train moved slowly along the Bridge of Tay 58 00:05:22,450 --> 00:05:25,930 Speaker 1: until it was about midway. Then the central girders, with 59 00:05:26,010 --> 00:05:26,970 Speaker 1: a crash. 60 00:05:26,730 --> 00:05:30,650 Speaker 2: Gave way, and down went the train and passengers into 61 00:05:30,690 --> 00:05:35,770 Speaker 2: the tea. The storm fiend did loadly bree because ninety 62 00:05:35,970 --> 00:05:39,370 Speaker 2: lives had been taken away on the last Sabbath day 63 00:05:39,450 --> 00:05:43,170 Speaker 2: of eighteen seventy nine, which will be remembered for a 64 00:05:43,370 --> 00:05:44,370 Speaker 2: very long time. 65 00:05:47,210 --> 00:05:50,130 Speaker 1: When I was just a boy, I saw an illustration 66 00:05:50,330 --> 00:05:54,010 Speaker 1: of the Tay Bridge catastrophe in a children's picture book. 67 00:05:55,010 --> 00:05:57,570 Speaker 1: It stayed with me. I can still see it in 68 00:05:57,570 --> 00:06:02,290 Speaker 1: my mind. The bridge seems so horribly high and thin 69 00:06:02,970 --> 00:06:06,050 Speaker 1: as it collapses into the storm. The train is just 70 00:06:06,370 --> 00:06:14,330 Speaker 1: steaming off into thin air. It's awful. And then I 71 00:06:14,530 --> 00:06:20,450 Speaker 1: encountered William mcgonagall's truly terrible poem, and it stuck with 72 00:06:20,570 --> 00:06:24,570 Speaker 1: me just as vividly, or should I say, it has 73 00:06:24,650 --> 00:06:29,130 Speaker 1: been remembered for a very long time. Here's the end 74 00:06:29,170 --> 00:06:33,410 Speaker 1: of the poem. 75 00:06:31,570 --> 00:06:35,690 Speaker 2: Oh ill fated bridge of the silvery Tey. I must 76 00:06:35,810 --> 00:06:40,050 Speaker 2: now conclude my lay by telling the world fearlessly, without 77 00:06:40,090 --> 00:06:43,890 Speaker 2: the least dismay, that your central girders would not have 78 00:06:44,010 --> 00:06:48,330 Speaker 2: given way. At least many sensible men do say had 79 00:06:48,330 --> 00:06:52,610 Speaker 2: they been supported on each side with buttresses. At least 80 00:06:52,610 --> 00:06:57,130 Speaker 2: many sensible men confesses. For the stronger we our houses 81 00:06:57,170 --> 00:07:01,370 Speaker 2: do build, the less chance we have of being killed. 82 00:07:05,010 --> 00:07:11,490 Speaker 1: It's awful. I'm obst yest with William McGonagall. I have 83 00:07:11,730 --> 00:07:16,010 Speaker 1: so many questions. Who was this man? What does he 84 00:07:16,130 --> 00:07:20,370 Speaker 1: teach us about art? And above all, how does a 85 00:07:20,490 --> 00:07:26,210 Speaker 1: poem get to be this bad? I have several biographies 86 00:07:26,250 --> 00:07:29,010 Speaker 1: of the poet McGonagall in front of me. One of 87 00:07:29,050 --> 00:07:32,650 Speaker 1: them says he was born in eighteen twenty five. Another 88 00:07:32,690 --> 00:07:36,570 Speaker 1: says he was born in eighteen thirty, and both were 89 00:07:36,610 --> 00:07:43,090 Speaker 1: written by William McGonagall himself. William mcgonagall's parents were Irish, 90 00:07:43,410 --> 00:07:46,090 Speaker 1: but he was born in Edinburgh and went to school 91 00:07:46,170 --> 00:07:50,410 Speaker 1: in South Ronaldsay, one of the Orkney islands, remote even 92 00:07:50,450 --> 00:07:55,690 Speaker 1: by the standards of Scotland. William's education was interrupted by, 93 00:07:55,930 --> 00:08:00,610 Speaker 1: of all things, an encounter with his teacher's beloved pet tortoise. 94 00:08:02,330 --> 00:08:06,010 Speaker 1: William was fascinated by the creature, but when he picked 95 00:08:06,010 --> 00:08:08,850 Speaker 1: it up to fully admire the beauty of its shell, 96 00:08:09,650 --> 00:08:15,530 Speaker 1: the unfortunate animal voided its bowels on his hands. In disgust, 97 00:08:15,770 --> 00:08:18,930 Speaker 1: the boy hurled the tortoise to the ground, nearly killing it, 98 00:08:19,530 --> 00:08:25,730 Speaker 1: and mcgonagall's teacher, enraged, started thrashing his face with a cane. 99 00:08:28,370 --> 00:08:34,290 Speaker 1: All very distressing. William's father complained to the local magistrate. 100 00:08:35,050 --> 00:08:38,970 Speaker 1: The magistrate threatened to disbar a teacher, and the practical 101 00:08:38,970 --> 00:08:42,450 Speaker 1: outcome was that the teacher lived in fear of ever 102 00:08:42,570 --> 00:08:48,050 Speaker 1: upsetting William again, who skipped school with impunity. That was 103 00:08:48,090 --> 00:08:51,650 Speaker 1: the story McGonagall would tell, and his point was clear. 104 00:08:52,370 --> 00:08:56,970 Speaker 1: William McGonagall was much like William Shakespeare. He had learned 105 00:08:57,090 --> 00:09:02,250 Speaker 1: more from nature than he learned at school. McGonagall adored 106 00:09:02,330 --> 00:09:06,890 Speaker 1: his namesake, William Shakespeare. He read and re read Macbeth, 107 00:09:07,410 --> 00:09:10,050 Speaker 1: Richard the Third, Hamler and a Fellow. 108 00:09:11,810 --> 00:09:16,250 Speaker 2: I gave myself no rest until I obtained complete mastery 109 00:09:16,450 --> 00:09:19,290 Speaker 2: over the above four characters. 110 00:09:20,970 --> 00:09:24,730 Speaker 1: Mcgonagall's family moved to Dundee, where both he and his 111 00:09:24,890 --> 00:09:30,170 Speaker 1: father worked as weavers. William would give impromptu performances of 112 00:09:30,210 --> 00:09:34,650 Speaker 1: Shakespeare to his shopmates. He says they were quite delighted, 113 00:09:35,010 --> 00:09:37,850 Speaker 1: and perhaps they were since they were willing to pay 114 00:09:37,970 --> 00:09:43,090 Speaker 1: good money to support his theatrical ambitions. William McGonagall was 115 00:09:43,130 --> 00:09:47,530 Speaker 1: to play the title role in Macbeth, just as long 116 00:09:47,570 --> 00:09:50,170 Speaker 1: as he paid one pound to the theater owner for 117 00:09:50,210 --> 00:09:53,930 Speaker 1: the privilege, about one hundred dollars in today's money. His 118 00:09:54,090 --> 00:09:58,650 Speaker 1: colleagues all contributed, and nobody can say they didn't get 119 00:09:58,690 --> 00:10:04,450 Speaker 1: their money's worth. McGonagall couldn't afford a costume of his own, 120 00:10:04,850 --> 00:10:08,730 Speaker 1: so borrowed a few items from friends and colleagues, and 121 00:10:08,810 --> 00:10:13,690 Speaker 1: took the stage dressed less like the ambitious nobleman Macbeth 122 00:10:14,210 --> 00:10:19,690 Speaker 1: and more like a highland beggar. The play traditionally ends 123 00:10:19,730 --> 00:10:24,130 Speaker 1: with a climactic fight in which Macbeth is slain by Macduff. 124 00:10:25,210 --> 00:10:30,730 Speaker 1: This concept proved two pedestrian for McGonagall. One witness described 125 00:10:30,770 --> 00:10:35,730 Speaker 1: the result an immortal scene in more ways than one. 126 00:10:36,570 --> 00:10:39,610 Speaker 3: McGonagall had evidently made up his mind to astonish the 127 00:10:39,730 --> 00:10:44,250 Speaker 3: gods at his performance, for instead of dying when run 128 00:10:44,290 --> 00:10:47,530 Speaker 3: through the body by the sword of Macduff, he maintained 129 00:10:47,530 --> 00:10:51,050 Speaker 3: his feet and flourished his weapon about the ears of 130 00:10:51,050 --> 00:10:54,210 Speaker 3: his adversary, in such a way that there was for 131 00:10:54,370 --> 00:10:58,130 Speaker 3: some time an apparent probability of the performance ending in 132 00:10:58,330 --> 00:10:59,290 Speaker 3: real tragedy. 133 00:11:02,570 --> 00:11:03,970 Speaker 1: McGonagall saw it differently. 134 00:11:04,970 --> 00:11:09,890 Speaker 2: The actor who was playing Macduff against my Macbeth tried 135 00:11:09,930 --> 00:11:12,170 Speaker 2: to spoil me in the combat by telling me to 136 00:11:12,210 --> 00:11:15,530 Speaker 2: cut it short. I continue the combat until he were 137 00:11:15,570 --> 00:11:19,210 Speaker 2: fairly exhausted, and until there was one old gentleman in 138 00:11:19,250 --> 00:11:24,530 Speaker 2: the audience cried out, well done, McGonagall walk into him, 139 00:11:24,570 --> 00:11:26,610 Speaker 2: and so I did until he was in a great 140 00:11:26,730 --> 00:11:31,050 Speaker 2: rage and stamped his foot and cried out, fool, why 141 00:11:31,090 --> 00:11:32,050 Speaker 2: don't you fall? 142 00:11:34,890 --> 00:11:40,290 Speaker 1: With Macduff audibly urging mcgonagall's Macbeth to go down, and 143 00:11:40,370 --> 00:11:45,930 Speaker 1: Macbeth ignoring him over and over again. Macduff, enraged, wrapped 144 00:11:46,010 --> 00:11:48,570 Speaker 1: Macbeth over his knuckles with the flat of the blade, 145 00:11:49,090 --> 00:11:53,290 Speaker 1: forcing him to drop his own sword. McGonagall was now 146 00:11:53,490 --> 00:11:57,970 Speaker 1: unarmed but undaunted, and he dodged around and around Macduff, 147 00:11:58,210 --> 00:12:00,810 Speaker 1: looking for all the world as though he now planned 148 00:12:00,850 --> 00:12:06,050 Speaker 1: to wrestle for it. The macduff actor, disgusted at the tomfoolery, 149 00:12:06,730 --> 00:12:09,770 Speaker 1: tossed his own sword aside, and chuck charged in to 150 00:12:10,010 --> 00:12:15,610 Speaker 1: tackle McGonagall. The sublime tragedy of Macbeth came to an 151 00:12:15,690 --> 00:12:19,810 Speaker 1: undignified end with a title character swept off his feet 152 00:12:20,250 --> 00:12:26,890 Speaker 1: and deposited on his backside. The audience were ecstatical. They 153 00:12:26,970 --> 00:12:30,290 Speaker 1: bellowed for McGonagall to be brought forward to receive a 154 00:12:30,410 --> 00:12:37,690 Speaker 1: standing ovation. What a shame that mcgonagall's artistic sensitivities were 155 00:12:37,690 --> 00:12:41,090 Speaker 1: not put to full time use. He continued to work 156 00:12:41,130 --> 00:12:46,170 Speaker 1: as a weaver for decades. Not to worry. Good things 157 00:12:46,330 --> 00:12:51,490 Speaker 1: come to those who wait. He would eventually emulate William Shakespeare, 158 00:12:51,610 --> 00:12:57,130 Speaker 1: the man he so admired. William McGonagall would become a 159 00:12:57,170 --> 00:13:10,610 Speaker 1: poet cautionary tales will be back after the break. McGonagall 160 00:13:10,690 --> 00:13:13,370 Speaker 1: was about fifty when it became clear to him that 161 00:13:13,450 --> 00:13:17,890 Speaker 1: there was no future in weaving. Machine looms had taken over. 162 00:13:18,530 --> 00:13:22,690 Speaker 2: I couldn't make a living from it. But I may say, 163 00:13:23,210 --> 00:13:26,810 Speaker 2: Dame Fortune has been very kind to me by endowing 164 00:13:26,810 --> 00:13:31,370 Speaker 2: me with the genius of poetry. I remember how I 165 00:13:31,410 --> 00:13:35,290 Speaker 2: felt when I received the spirit of poetry. 166 00:13:37,290 --> 00:13:41,770 Speaker 1: It was June eighteen seventy seven. McGonagall was lamenting that 167 00:13:41,810 --> 00:13:44,330 Speaker 1: he couldn't get away to the Highlands for a holiday. 168 00:13:45,210 --> 00:13:49,330 Speaker 2: All of a sudden, my body got inflamed, and instantly 169 00:13:49,410 --> 00:13:53,050 Speaker 2: I was seized with a strong desire to write poetry, 170 00:13:53,450 --> 00:13:56,530 Speaker 2: so strong in fact, that in imagination I thought I 171 00:13:56,610 --> 00:14:01,850 Speaker 2: heard a voice crying in my ears right right, I 172 00:14:01,930 --> 00:14:04,330 Speaker 2: wondered what could be the matter with me, and I 173 00:14:04,370 --> 00:14:07,290 Speaker 2: began to walk backwards and forwards in a great fit 174 00:14:07,370 --> 00:14:11,450 Speaker 2: of excitement, saying to myself, I know nothing about poetry, 175 00:14:11,930 --> 00:14:15,170 Speaker 2: but still the voice kept ringing in my ears right 176 00:14:16,050 --> 00:14:20,370 Speaker 2: right until at last, being overcome with a desire to 177 00:14:20,410 --> 00:14:24,570 Speaker 2: write poetry, I found paper, pen and ink, and in 178 00:14:24,650 --> 00:14:28,210 Speaker 2: a state of frenzy, sat me down to think what 179 00:14:28,370 --> 00:14:33,170 Speaker 2: would be my first subject for a poem. 180 00:14:33,250 --> 00:14:38,010 Speaker 1: That subject was the Reverend George Gilfillan, a local preacher. 181 00:14:38,130 --> 00:14:43,290 Speaker 1: McGonagall wished to praise. The poem stirringly concludes. 182 00:14:43,450 --> 00:14:47,450 Speaker 2: My blessing on his noble form and on his lofty heed. 183 00:14:48,250 --> 00:14:52,050 Speaker 2: May all good angels guard him while living, and hereafter 184 00:14:52,450 --> 00:14:53,210 Speaker 2: when he's deed. 185 00:14:54,330 --> 00:14:58,450 Speaker 1: McGonagall sent the poem to the Dundee Weekly News, which 186 00:14:58,530 --> 00:15:03,370 Speaker 1: took the unwise step of printing it. Thus encouraged, he 187 00:15:03,450 --> 00:15:06,770 Speaker 1: sent a second poem, Bonnie Dundee. 188 00:15:07,810 --> 00:15:11,770 Speaker 2: Oh, Bonnie Dunde, I will sing in thy praise a 189 00:15:11,850 --> 00:15:16,010 Speaker 2: few but true simple lays regarding some of your beauties 190 00:15:16,050 --> 00:15:19,570 Speaker 2: of the present day, And virtually speaking, there's none can 191 00:15:19,610 --> 00:15:25,210 Speaker 2: then gainsay for superfine goods. There's none can excel from Inverness. 192 00:15:25,250 --> 00:15:29,330 Speaker 2: To Clarkenwell and your tramways, I must confess that they 193 00:15:29,370 --> 00:15:33,210 Speaker 2: have proved a complete success, which I am right glad 194 00:15:33,250 --> 00:15:38,410 Speaker 2: to see, and a very great improvement to Bonnie Dundee. 195 00:15:39,810 --> 00:15:43,690 Speaker 1: There is more, but alas the Weekly News declined to 196 00:15:43,770 --> 00:15:48,250 Speaker 1: print what it described as a so called poem, at 197 00:15:48,250 --> 00:15:52,010 Speaker 1: which point McGonagall sent them a letter threatening to stop 198 00:15:52,130 --> 00:15:56,410 Speaker 1: sending any more poems. The Weekly News dryly explained to 199 00:15:56,490 --> 00:16:00,730 Speaker 1: its readers that we can only express the fervent hope 200 00:16:01,170 --> 00:16:07,530 Speaker 1: that he may put into execution this artful threat. In 201 00:16:07,570 --> 00:16:11,250 Speaker 1: the summer of eighteen seventy, McGonagall had been a poet 202 00:16:11,290 --> 00:16:14,330 Speaker 1: for just a year when he received a letter from 203 00:16:14,490 --> 00:16:20,130 Speaker 1: Queen Victoria's private secretary, Sir Thomas Biddulf, informing him that 204 00:16:20,210 --> 00:16:24,130 Speaker 1: Her Majesty would like to become a patron of his poems. 205 00:16:25,090 --> 00:16:28,490 Speaker 1: McGonagall seems not to have registered any surprise at this 206 00:16:28,650 --> 00:16:31,850 Speaker 1: sudden honor, but he was inspired to make the fifty 207 00:16:31,970 --> 00:16:36,250 Speaker 1: nine mile journey from Dundee to Queen Victoria's residence at 208 00:16:36,290 --> 00:16:39,410 Speaker 1: Balmoral so that he could recite his verse for her. 209 00:16:40,690 --> 00:16:43,690 Speaker 1: For an unemployed weaver, there was no way to reach 210 00:16:43,770 --> 00:16:48,570 Speaker 1: Balmorrale except to walk. The journey took three days, during 211 00:16:48,610 --> 00:16:52,290 Speaker 1: which time McGonagall was fared and sheltered by shepherds who 212 00:16:52,370 --> 00:16:56,050 Speaker 1: took pity on him. He recorded some of his journey 213 00:16:56,170 --> 00:16:58,570 Speaker 1: in poetry, notably. 214 00:16:58,850 --> 00:17:02,130 Speaker 2: On the Spittle of Glen Shee, which is most dismal 215 00:17:02,210 --> 00:17:05,810 Speaker 2: for to see, with its bleak and rugged mountains, and 216 00:17:06,010 --> 00:17:11,210 Speaker 2: clear crystal spouting fountains with their misty form, and thousands 217 00:17:11,250 --> 00:17:15,290 Speaker 2: of sheep there together doth Room. 218 00:17:15,850 --> 00:17:19,610 Speaker 1: He was drenched by hours of rain, and threatened by 219 00:17:19,610 --> 00:17:24,450 Speaker 1: the roaring and flashing of a thunderstorm overhead. That was undaunted, 220 00:17:24,930 --> 00:17:27,930 Speaker 1: having told his friends back in Dundee that on his 221 00:17:28,010 --> 00:17:31,730 Speaker 1: way to see Her Majesty and balmorl he would pass 222 00:17:31,770 --> 00:17:37,770 Speaker 1: through fire and water rather than retreat. Finally, mid afternoon 223 00:17:37,810 --> 00:17:41,570 Speaker 1: on the third day, McGonagall reached Her Majesty's residence at 224 00:17:41,570 --> 00:17:46,170 Speaker 1: Balmoral Castle. He was intercepted by the constable at Balmoral's 225 00:17:46,250 --> 00:17:52,170 Speaker 1: Gatehouse Lodge, who presumably observed mcgonagall's collar length wave of hair, 226 00:17:52,730 --> 00:17:57,090 Speaker 1: his drenched, patched up clothes, and his dirty boots, and 227 00:17:57,170 --> 00:18:00,810 Speaker 1: did not think to himself, here comes a future poet. 228 00:18:00,890 --> 00:18:05,930 Speaker 2: Laureate I showed him Her Majesty's Royal letter of patronage 229 00:18:05,930 --> 00:18:09,570 Speaker 2: for my poetic abilities, and he read it and said 230 00:18:09,570 --> 00:18:11,210 Speaker 2: it was not her majesty's letter. 231 00:18:12,970 --> 00:18:17,410 Speaker 1: Someone had played a cruel trick, but McGonagall insisted that 232 00:18:17,490 --> 00:18:20,730 Speaker 1: the letter was genuine. The Constable took it away for 233 00:18:20,770 --> 00:18:23,650 Speaker 1: a while before returning to announce. 234 00:18:23,850 --> 00:18:26,330 Speaker 3: Well, I've been up at the castle over here letter, 235 00:18:26,690 --> 00:18:28,810 Speaker 3: and the answer I got for you is the can 236 00:18:28,810 --> 00:18:29,730 Speaker 3: he be bothered with you? 237 00:18:30,450 --> 00:18:34,570 Speaker 1: McGonagall showed the Constable a copy of his poems, including 238 00:18:34,570 --> 00:18:38,770 Speaker 1: the claim that McGonagall was poet to her majesty. The 239 00:18:38,850 --> 00:18:40,450 Speaker 1: Constable objected. 240 00:18:40,930 --> 00:18:44,450 Speaker 3: You are not poet to her majesty. Tennyson's the real 241 00:18:44,490 --> 00:18:45,570 Speaker 3: poet to her majesty. 242 00:18:47,530 --> 00:18:54,850 Speaker 1: Ah, Yes, Alfred Lord Tennyson, the actual poet laureate. How inconvenient. 243 00:18:56,250 --> 00:19:00,490 Speaker 1: In writing The Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred Lord 244 00:19:00,490 --> 00:19:04,770 Speaker 1: Tennyson performed a rare feat. He created a poem that 245 00:19:04,970 --> 00:19:08,530 Speaker 1: is as famous as the disaster. It describes. 246 00:19:09,650 --> 00:19:12,570 Speaker 4: Canon to the right of them, Canon to the left 247 00:19:12,610 --> 00:19:16,410 Speaker 4: of them, Cannon in front of them, bolleyed and thundered, 248 00:19:16,930 --> 00:19:20,930 Speaker 4: stormed at with shot and shell. Boldly they rode and 249 00:19:21,210 --> 00:19:25,650 Speaker 4: well into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell. 250 00:19:26,010 --> 00:19:31,570 Speaker 4: Rode the six hundred. 251 00:19:34,290 --> 00:19:38,970 Speaker 1: William McGonagall never got close to succeeding Tennyson as poet laureate, 252 00:19:39,770 --> 00:19:45,730 Speaker 1: yet his poem The tay Bridge Disaster matches Tennyson's achievement. 253 00:19:47,170 --> 00:19:51,810 Speaker 1: I mean, Tennyson was good, but he was no William McGonagall. 254 00:19:52,690 --> 00:19:56,730 Speaker 1: But I digress. The constable suggested that McGonagall demonstrate his 255 00:19:56,850 --> 00:20:02,330 Speaker 1: skills by reciting some poetry at the castle gate. No, sir, 256 00:20:02,970 --> 00:20:07,050 Speaker 1: said McGonagall. He wasn't some wandering charlatan. He was the 257 00:20:07,050 --> 00:20:07,770 Speaker 1: real thing. 258 00:20:08,370 --> 00:20:10,170 Speaker 2: Take me in to one of the rooms on the 259 00:20:10,210 --> 00:20:13,890 Speaker 2: lodge and pay me for it, and I will give 260 00:20:13,930 --> 00:20:15,250 Speaker 2: you a recital. 261 00:20:16,010 --> 00:20:20,170 Speaker 1: The constable didn't oblige, but he gave McGonagall some advice. 262 00:20:21,010 --> 00:20:24,650 Speaker 1: Unless you want to be arrested, go home and don't 263 00:20:24,770 --> 00:20:30,130 Speaker 1: think of returning to Balmorrel. McGonagall duly began the three 264 00:20:30,250 --> 00:20:34,210 Speaker 1: day walk home to Dundee. When he got back, he 265 00:20:34,290 --> 00:20:37,970 Speaker 1: wrote up his adventures, sent them to the newspapers, and 266 00:20:38,010 --> 00:20:42,410 Speaker 1: before long was being mocked up and down the British isles. 267 00:20:43,250 --> 00:20:47,730 Speaker 1: As a headline in the Evening Telegraph put it extraordinary 268 00:20:47,890 --> 00:20:53,970 Speaker 1: freak of a Dundee poet, William McGonagall at balmorrel genius 269 00:20:54,210 --> 00:21:02,970 Speaker 1: still unrecognized. When a cruel prank wastes a week of 270 00:21:03,010 --> 00:21:06,370 Speaker 1: your life, dashes your hopes, and leads you to being 271 00:21:06,530 --> 00:21:12,170 Speaker 1: mocked in the national press, what can you do? The answer, 272 00:21:13,050 --> 00:21:19,130 Speaker 1: pick yourself up and try again. McGonagall noted that Tennyson 273 00:21:19,290 --> 00:21:22,690 Speaker 1: was famous for his war poetry, so he decided to 274 00:21:22,810 --> 00:21:27,370 Speaker 1: dabble in war poems too. They are not very good. 275 00:21:28,410 --> 00:21:30,410 Speaker 1: The Battle of Cresse begins. 276 00:21:30,850 --> 00:21:33,570 Speaker 2: To us on the twenty sixth of August the sun 277 00:21:33,730 --> 00:21:37,010 Speaker 2: was burning hot in the year of thirteen forty six, 278 00:21:37,330 --> 00:21:39,370 Speaker 2: which will never be forgot. 279 00:21:39,730 --> 00:21:43,610 Speaker 1: And ends with the classic McGonagall move of cramming some 280 00:21:43,770 --> 00:21:46,570 Speaker 1: extra syllables in free of charge. 281 00:21:47,770 --> 00:21:51,010 Speaker 2: And the king's heart was filled with great delight, and 282 00:21:51,090 --> 00:21:54,530 Speaker 2: he thanked Jack for capturing the Bohemian standard during the fight. 283 00:21:56,770 --> 00:22:00,690 Speaker 1: But McGonagall was soon encouraged to receive a lucrative job 284 00:22:00,730 --> 00:22:06,410 Speaker 1: offer from the famous playwright and theater impresario Dion Busico. 285 00:22:07,170 --> 00:22:11,610 Speaker 1: Busico's letter invited him to a fine dinner, but as 286 00:22:11,690 --> 00:22:16,130 Speaker 1: McGonagall tells the story, he arrived to find several men 287 00:22:16,210 --> 00:22:20,770 Speaker 1: awaiting him, barely suppressing giggles as McGonagall was served a 288 00:22:20,930 --> 00:22:28,930 Speaker 1: cheap sandwich. McGonagall had been pranked again, although when Busico 289 00:22:29,050 --> 00:22:32,410 Speaker 1: heard about the joke, he sent McGonagall a sympathetic letter 290 00:22:32,730 --> 00:22:36,610 Speaker 1: and five pounds, enough money for McGonagall to visit London. 291 00:22:38,650 --> 00:22:41,210 Speaker 1: He had hoped to meet with one or two of 292 00:22:41,290 --> 00:22:45,610 Speaker 1: London's most celebrated actors, but had no more luck there 293 00:22:45,970 --> 00:22:52,010 Speaker 1: than at Balmoral. Later, McGonagall ventured to New York, a 294 00:22:52,010 --> 00:22:54,610 Speaker 1: city he honored indistinctive style. 295 00:22:55,850 --> 00:22:59,450 Speaker 2: As for Brooklyn Bridge, it's a very great height and 296 00:22:59,490 --> 00:23:03,490 Speaker 2: fills the stranger's heart with wonder at first sight, and 297 00:23:03,570 --> 00:23:06,930 Speaker 2: with all its loftiness, I venture to say it cannot 298 00:23:06,970 --> 00:23:09,330 Speaker 2: surpass the new railway bridge of the Silver. 299 00:23:11,930 --> 00:23:15,410 Speaker 1: William McGonagall did not succeed in selling his poems in 300 00:23:15,530 --> 00:23:20,650 Speaker 1: New York, so returned to Scotland. He was cheered to 301 00:23:20,690 --> 00:23:24,850 Speaker 1: receive a letter from the poet Laureate of Burma, writing 302 00:23:24,970 --> 00:23:30,570 Speaker 1: on behalf of Burma's King t Boor, making McGonagall Topaz 303 00:23:30,690 --> 00:23:37,370 Speaker 1: McGonagall Knight of the White Elephant of Burma. McGonagall accepted 304 00:23:37,370 --> 00:23:41,810 Speaker 1: the honor and wore his medal a silver elephant, with pride. 305 00:23:42,850 --> 00:23:46,410 Speaker 1: If he ever feared that this letter was as fraudulent 306 00:23:46,450 --> 00:23:53,450 Speaker 1: as the others, he shared no doubts. McGonagall spent his 307 00:23:53,690 --> 00:23:59,210 Speaker 1: final years giving public performances in Perth, Glasgow and Edinburgh, 308 00:23:59,370 --> 00:24:01,970 Speaker 1: where the main attraction appeared to be the opportunity to 309 00:24:02,130 --> 00:24:08,250 Speaker 1: hurl abuse and worse at the aspiring poet laureate. McGonagall 310 00:24:08,290 --> 00:24:12,130 Speaker 1: would dash about the stage, excitedly enacting the action as 311 00:24:12,130 --> 00:24:15,810 Speaker 1: he gave dramatic recitals of his war poems, clad in 312 00:24:15,850 --> 00:24:20,490 Speaker 1: a kilt and brandishing a claym or with perilous enthusiasm. 313 00:24:20,970 --> 00:24:24,250 Speaker 1: More useful was his small round shield with which he 314 00:24:24,250 --> 00:24:31,850 Speaker 1: could parry incoming eggs and cabbages. William McGonagall died in 315 00:24:31,930 --> 00:24:35,490 Speaker 1: poverty on the twenty ninth of September nineteen oh two. 316 00:24:36,130 --> 00:24:41,330 Speaker 1: He was seventy two years old or seventy seven. He 317 00:24:41,450 --> 00:24:45,330 Speaker 1: was buried in a pauper's grave, having practiced the art 318 00:24:45,410 --> 00:24:49,650 Speaker 1: of poetry for twenty five years, and having been mocked 319 00:24:49,690 --> 00:24:55,410 Speaker 1: for every one of them. The death certificate misspells his name. 320 00:24:56,890 --> 00:25:00,410 Speaker 1: Emil Zola died on the same day, as it happens. 321 00:25:01,250 --> 00:25:08,650 Speaker 1: Zola a fine writer, he was no William McGonagall. Cautionary 322 00:25:08,690 --> 00:25:22,010 Speaker 1: tale will return after the break the poetry critics argue 323 00:25:22,010 --> 00:25:25,490 Speaker 1: that McGonagall has an important lesson to teach us. He 324 00:25:25,770 --> 00:25:30,970 Speaker 1: is the perfect example of how not to write poetry. 325 00:25:31,530 --> 00:25:34,050 Speaker 1: If you must read him, be sure to do the 326 00:25:34,130 --> 00:25:40,290 Speaker 1: opposite of whatever he does. Joseph Salamy, an award winning poet, complains, 327 00:25:41,090 --> 00:25:44,010 Speaker 1: I know far too many persons who share some of 328 00:25:44,090 --> 00:25:47,530 Speaker 1: mcgonagall's faults. Can we at least resolve that we will 329 00:25:47,570 --> 00:25:51,610 Speaker 1: not commit the poetic crimes that McGonagall committed. Can we 330 00:25:51,730 --> 00:25:57,010 Speaker 1: stop with the humdrum plainness, the vapid statement, the dull diction, 331 00:25:57,290 --> 00:26:02,610 Speaker 1: the crappy meter, the tedious length, the triviality, the commonplace thoughts, 332 00:26:02,690 --> 00:26:07,850 Speaker 1: and the cliche perceptions. Dr Gerard Carruthers, an expert in 333 00:26:07,970 --> 00:26:13,010 Speaker 1: Scottish literature, agrees there is something rather cruel about us 334 00:26:13,010 --> 00:26:18,690 Speaker 1: still reprinting and republishing McGonagall. He told the BBC it's 335 00:26:18,810 --> 00:26:21,770 Speaker 1: time for us to close the book on McGonagall once 336 00:26:21,810 --> 00:26:27,690 Speaker 1: and for all. But that feels so narrow minded. I 337 00:26:27,810 --> 00:26:31,010 Speaker 1: draw a different lesson. We shouldn't complain about a man 338 00:26:31,090 --> 00:26:35,290 Speaker 1: who wrote bad poetry. We should celebrate a man who 339 00:26:35,330 --> 00:26:38,810 Speaker 1: wrote poetry. Of course, the poems are bad, but most 340 00:26:38,810 --> 00:26:43,850 Speaker 1: poems are bad. Most acts of human creativity are fairly incompetent. 341 00:26:44,330 --> 00:26:46,770 Speaker 1: Most of us can't write novels, not that anyone else 342 00:26:46,810 --> 00:26:49,410 Speaker 1: would pay to read. Most of us can't draw or 343 00:26:49,490 --> 00:26:51,890 Speaker 1: paint anything that anyone else would pay to look at. 344 00:26:52,330 --> 00:26:55,250 Speaker 1: Most of us can't act. We can't sing, We can't dance. 345 00:26:55,810 --> 00:27:02,210 Speaker 1: Who cares dance and sing? Anyway? I think we're prone 346 00:27:02,250 --> 00:27:05,890 Speaker 1: to making a sad mistake. When we think about creative acts. 347 00:27:06,450 --> 00:27:11,250 Speaker 1: We instinctively set the benchmarkt and obses high level. We've 348 00:27:11,250 --> 00:27:14,770 Speaker 1: been spoiled, perhaps because of the touch of a button. 349 00:27:15,170 --> 00:27:18,490 Speaker 1: We can listen to Glenn Gould playing Johann Sebastian Bach. 350 00:27:19,090 --> 00:27:23,130 Speaker 1: We can watch Ian McKellen and Judy Dench performing Shakespeare. 351 00:27:23,490 --> 00:27:25,770 Speaker 1: We can read a novel by Austin, or watch a 352 00:27:25,770 --> 00:27:29,450 Speaker 1: film by Coppola, or gaze at an interior by Vermere. 353 00:27:31,250 --> 00:27:35,370 Speaker 1: Not only has modern technology made these wonders possible, but 354 00:27:35,490 --> 00:27:41,610 Speaker 1: modern technology also makes more humdrum creative acts economically worthless. 355 00:27:42,410 --> 00:27:45,210 Speaker 1: Nobody is going to pay me to perform bark or 356 00:27:45,410 --> 00:27:48,730 Speaker 1: paint a watercolor. But I still play the piano from 357 00:27:48,770 --> 00:27:51,210 Speaker 1: time to time, and very occasionally I pick up a 358 00:27:51,250 --> 00:27:54,410 Speaker 1: pencil and a sketch book. It doesn't matter if there's 359 00:27:54,450 --> 00:27:58,890 Speaker 1: no economic value in the result. There's personal value for 360 00:27:59,050 --> 00:28:03,890 Speaker 1: me in the process of trying to express myself. That 361 00:28:03,970 --> 00:28:07,570 Speaker 1: might seem obvious, but it's easy to forget. In debates 362 00:28:07,610 --> 00:28:11,570 Speaker 1: about the rise of genera AI, people worry about the 363 00:28:11,610 --> 00:28:16,290 Speaker 1: death of human creativity. But I don't think generative AI 364 00:28:16,490 --> 00:28:19,250 Speaker 1: is more of a threat to human creativity than the 365 00:28:19,290 --> 00:28:23,730 Speaker 1: camera or the record player. It changes the economics, to 366 00:28:23,810 --> 00:28:27,850 Speaker 1: be sure, McGonagall lost his job as a weaver because 367 00:28:27,890 --> 00:28:30,730 Speaker 1: of machine looms, so he would have understood all about 368 00:28:30,850 --> 00:28:35,930 Speaker 1: losing work to a machine. But while a new technology 369 00:28:36,090 --> 00:28:39,690 Speaker 1: changes who might be paid for creative work, and what 370 00:28:39,850 --> 00:28:42,410 Speaker 1: sort of creative work they might be paid for, and 371 00:28:42,490 --> 00:28:45,170 Speaker 1: how much they might be paid for it, it doesn't 372 00:28:45,210 --> 00:28:49,250 Speaker 1: make creative work impossible. All of us are free to 373 00:28:49,330 --> 00:28:52,370 Speaker 1: sit down in front of a piano or an easel 374 00:28:52,970 --> 00:28:56,450 Speaker 1: and try to create something beautiful. And while it's nice 375 00:28:56,490 --> 00:29:03,250 Speaker 1: to succeed, it's more important to try. As we grow 376 00:29:03,370 --> 00:29:07,810 Speaker 1: from children into adults, we often express our creativity less. 377 00:29:08,730 --> 00:29:12,090 Speaker 1: It might be because we're afraid of failure, which is 378 00:29:12,130 --> 00:29:16,130 Speaker 1: another thing to admire about McGonagall. He wasn't afraid of 379 00:29:16,210 --> 00:29:20,530 Speaker 1: creative failure. In fact, he wouldn't recognize creative failure if 380 00:29:20,530 --> 00:29:23,490 Speaker 1: it hurled an egg at him. That's one way to 381 00:29:23,490 --> 00:29:27,050 Speaker 1: look at McGonagall anyway, as a man who was always 382 00:29:27,090 --> 00:29:32,810 Speaker 1: willing to express his inner creativity. But that's not actually 383 00:29:32,850 --> 00:29:36,890 Speaker 1: the way I see him. I don't think William McGonagall 384 00:29:37,010 --> 00:29:41,370 Speaker 1: was admirable because he gave poetry a try. I think 385 00:29:42,250 --> 00:29:49,690 Speaker 1: he was a genius. You've perhaps heard the story about 386 00:29:49,730 --> 00:29:53,130 Speaker 1: the man who goes to a doctor. He feels depressed. 387 00:29:54,010 --> 00:29:58,610 Speaker 1: The world seems so frightening and bleak. Don't worry, says 388 00:29:58,610 --> 00:30:02,890 Speaker 1: the doctor. The great clown Pagaiaci is in town tonight. 389 00:30:03,170 --> 00:30:06,490 Speaker 1: Go and see him perform. That'll cheer you up. The 390 00:30:06,530 --> 00:30:15,850 Speaker 1: man starts to sob I am Pagliacci. It's a story 391 00:30:15,890 --> 00:30:21,130 Speaker 1: that's been retold and remixed countless times. So here's another remix. 392 00:30:21,850 --> 00:30:27,650 Speaker 1: What if William McGonagall isn't the pompous, talentless, sad victim 393 00:30:27,690 --> 00:30:31,570 Speaker 1: of bullies that he seems to be. What if William 394 00:30:31,650 --> 00:30:36,890 Speaker 1: McGonagall is the most brilliant clown who ever lived? And 395 00:30:36,930 --> 00:30:41,090 Speaker 1: what if, unlike Palliaci, whose despair became clear when he 396 00:30:41,130 --> 00:30:46,090 Speaker 1: took off the mask, McGonagall never removed his mask, because 397 00:30:46,170 --> 00:30:50,330 Speaker 1: underneath it he was the one laughing harder than anyone. 398 00:30:54,250 --> 00:30:57,770 Speaker 1: Think back to that appearance as Macbeth, in which McGonagall 399 00:30:57,890 --> 00:31:00,890 Speaker 1: refused to lie down and die and wrestled with the 400 00:31:00,930 --> 00:31:05,770 Speaker 1: infuriated actor playing McDuff. It's hard to think of a 401 00:31:05,850 --> 00:31:10,050 Speaker 1: funnier scene in the history of theater. Was it really 402 00:31:10,130 --> 00:31:14,730 Speaker 1: just mcgonagall's arrogance and stupidity, or did he know full 403 00:31:14,810 --> 00:31:19,290 Speaker 1: well that he was putting on a show. When the 404 00:31:19,330 --> 00:31:23,690 Speaker 1: reviewer said that McGonagall had decided to astonish the gods, 405 00:31:24,250 --> 00:31:28,650 Speaker 1: he wasn't referring to some pagan pantheon. The gods is 406 00:31:28,850 --> 00:31:33,410 Speaker 1: theater speak for the cheap seats. McGonagall was playing to 407 00:31:33,490 --> 00:31:38,370 Speaker 1: the crowd, and specifically to the poorest theater goers. Of all, 408 00:31:39,170 --> 00:31:42,850 Speaker 1: his friends from the workshop had all contributed to get 409 00:31:42,930 --> 00:31:46,450 Speaker 1: him on stage in the first place, and they loved 410 00:31:46,450 --> 00:31:51,770 Speaker 1: what they saw. McGonagall certainly gave you a show. And 411 00:31:51,850 --> 00:31:55,490 Speaker 1: once you read mcgonagall's poetry not as an exhibit of 412 00:31:55,730 --> 00:32:01,090 Speaker 1: utter incompetence, but as a deliberate, sly joke, you quickly 413 00:32:01,130 --> 00:32:05,730 Speaker 1: detect hints of mischief. A one poem an ode to 414 00:32:05,770 --> 00:32:07,130 Speaker 1: the moon begins. 415 00:32:08,010 --> 00:32:12,730 Speaker 2: Beautiful Moon, thy silvery light, Thou seemest most charming to 416 00:32:12,810 --> 00:32:15,730 Speaker 2: my sight. As I gaze upon thee and the sky 417 00:32:15,850 --> 00:32:21,050 Speaker 2: is so high, A tear of joy does moisten mine eye. 418 00:32:21,290 --> 00:32:26,210 Speaker 1: Just the usual clumsy cliche. No mcgonagall's winking at us. 419 00:32:26,770 --> 00:32:30,210 Speaker 1: He knows what we do in the dark. The next 420 00:32:30,290 --> 00:32:34,050 Speaker 1: verses celebrate the way that the moon provides light for 421 00:32:34,130 --> 00:32:37,850 Speaker 1: the fox to steal a goose from the farmyard and 422 00:32:37,930 --> 00:32:40,010 Speaker 1: the poacher to set his snares. 423 00:32:40,890 --> 00:32:45,730 Speaker 2: And beautiful Moon with thy silvery light, the cheerest the 424 00:32:45,850 --> 00:32:49,610 Speaker 2: lovers in the night as they walk through the shady 425 00:32:49,690 --> 00:32:54,410 Speaker 2: groves alone, making love to each other before they go home. 426 00:32:55,490 --> 00:32:59,690 Speaker 1: Really, we're going to believe that William McGonagall was only 427 00:32:59,970 --> 00:33:05,130 Speaker 1: accidentally funny. McGonagall is best known today for his poem 428 00:33:05,250 --> 00:33:09,970 Speaker 1: about the Tay Bridge disaster, but in an early he 429 00:33:10,050 --> 00:33:13,290 Speaker 1: also describes the Tay Bridge when it was first. 430 00:33:12,930 --> 00:33:18,530 Speaker 2: Built, beautiful railway bridge of the silvery Tay, the longest 431 00:33:18,610 --> 00:33:21,690 Speaker 2: of the present day that has ever crossed over a 432 00:33:21,770 --> 00:33:26,090 Speaker 2: tidal river stream, most gigantic to be seen near by 433 00:33:26,170 --> 00:33:28,410 Speaker 2: Dundee and the Magdalen Green. 434 00:33:30,610 --> 00:33:34,010 Speaker 1: At nearly two miles in length. It was an engineering miracle, 435 00:33:34,530 --> 00:33:39,410 Speaker 1: but McGonagall was a Dundee local, and like any local, 436 00:33:39,810 --> 00:33:42,170 Speaker 1: he would have known that the high girders of the 437 00:33:42,250 --> 00:33:49,610 Speaker 1: central bridge had already been blown down once during construction. Otherwise, 438 00:33:50,490 --> 00:33:51,930 Speaker 1: why on earth include this. 439 00:33:52,010 --> 00:33:57,770 Speaker 2: Verse beautiful railway bridge of the Silvery Tay. I hope 440 00:33:57,770 --> 00:34:01,450 Speaker 2: that God will protect all passengers by night and by day, 441 00:34:02,090 --> 00:34:05,370 Speaker 2: and that no accident will befall them while crossing the 442 00:34:05,450 --> 00:34:08,450 Speaker 2: bridge of the Silvery Tay, for that would be most 443 00:34:08,490 --> 00:34:12,730 Speaker 2: awful to be seen nearby Dundee and the Magdalen Green. 444 00:34:15,130 --> 00:34:18,330 Speaker 1: This isn't the work of an idiot. It's the work 445 00:34:18,370 --> 00:34:23,810 Speaker 1: of an old school medieval fool, a court jester using 446 00:34:23,890 --> 00:34:29,730 Speaker 1: humor to speak truth to power. Two years later, the 447 00:34:29,770 --> 00:34:34,650 Speaker 1: bridge was down and dozens of people were dead. After 448 00:34:34,690 --> 00:34:38,090 Speaker 1: a disaster at a shipyard which killed thirty eight people, 449 00:34:38,410 --> 00:34:42,290 Speaker 1: McGonagall composed a long lament, including praise. 450 00:34:42,010 --> 00:34:45,570 Speaker 2: For one thousand pounds from the directors of the Thames 451 00:34:45,610 --> 00:34:49,850 Speaker 2: Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, which I hope will help to 452 00:34:49,930 --> 00:34:53,210 Speaker 2: fill the bereaved one's hearts with glee. 453 00:34:53,410 --> 00:34:59,090 Speaker 1: Idiot or court jester, you be the judge. As for 454 00:34:59,170 --> 00:35:04,130 Speaker 1: those prank letters from Queen Victoria's secretary, from dion Musico, 455 00:35:04,450 --> 00:35:08,690 Speaker 1: from the King of Burma. Maybe they were hoaxes on McGonagall. 456 00:35:09,410 --> 00:35:13,050 Speaker 1: Maybe there were hoaxes by McGonagall on the rest of us. 457 00:35:13,850 --> 00:35:20,490 Speaker 1: They certainly helped to shape the legend. For a man 458 00:35:20,650 --> 00:35:25,410 Speaker 1: almost universally viewed as a failure, McGonagall knew how to 459 00:35:25,490 --> 00:35:29,690 Speaker 1: draw a crowd. When a statue of Scotland's greatest poet, 460 00:35:29,970 --> 00:35:35,130 Speaker 1: Robert Burns, was unveiled in Dundee, McGonagall was kept away 461 00:35:35,170 --> 00:35:39,170 Speaker 1: from the occasion by police to avoid a disturbance of 462 00:35:39,210 --> 00:35:44,490 Speaker 1: the peace. His Dundee performances so often ended in a 463 00:35:44,570 --> 00:35:48,450 Speaker 1: near riot that he was eventually banned from giving any 464 00:35:48,490 --> 00:35:53,290 Speaker 1: more recitals in the town. No wonder he died in poverty. 465 00:35:54,010 --> 00:35:58,130 Speaker 1: He'd been making fifteen shillings a night, the equivalent of 466 00:35:58,170 --> 00:36:02,610 Speaker 1: a week's wages for an ordinary laborer. Not so bad 467 00:36:02,730 --> 00:36:05,250 Speaker 1: for a man who lost his trade because of the 468 00:36:05,290 --> 00:36:09,850 Speaker 1: March of the machines. His downfall wasn't because his poems 469 00:36:09,890 --> 00:36:14,250 Speaker 1: were terrible. It was because his clowning performances were too 470 00:36:14,650 --> 00:36:19,170 Speaker 1: riotously successful to be allowed to continue. He died in 471 00:36:19,210 --> 00:36:23,050 Speaker 1: poverty not because he was bad, but because he was 472 00:36:23,210 --> 00:36:29,010 Speaker 1: just too good. We'll never know what William McGonagall was 473 00:36:29,090 --> 00:36:31,930 Speaker 1: really thinking as he took to the stage each night. 474 00:36:32,850 --> 00:36:35,810 Speaker 1: Was he oblivious, as he seems to be, a man 475 00:36:35,890 --> 00:36:40,450 Speaker 1: with skin so thick that neither insults nor insights ever 476 00:36:40,490 --> 00:36:44,690 Speaker 1: got through. Or was he far more tragic than the 477 00:36:44,690 --> 00:36:48,810 Speaker 1: mythic figure of Peachi the clown, proud of his poems 478 00:36:48,810 --> 00:36:53,770 Speaker 1: but knowingly subjecting himself to nightly humiliation because there was 479 00:36:53,810 --> 00:36:57,610 Speaker 1: no other way to put food on the table. Or 480 00:36:57,690 --> 00:37:01,970 Speaker 1: was the whole thing a comic master stroke. Did he 481 00:37:02,090 --> 00:37:05,050 Speaker 1: never take off the mask? Or did he never put 482 00:37:05,090 --> 00:37:11,530 Speaker 1: it on in the first place. But while we can't 483 00:37:11,610 --> 00:37:16,130 Speaker 1: read his mind, we can read his poems, and they've 484 00:37:16,170 --> 00:37:24,210 Speaker 1: brought pleasure to countless people. A few years ago an 485 00:37:24,410 --> 00:37:27,610 Speaker 1: Edinburgh auction house put up for sale a collection of 486 00:37:27,930 --> 00:37:33,050 Speaker 1: first editions of Harry Potter books, signed by the author JK. Rowling, 487 00:37:33,490 --> 00:37:38,570 Speaker 1: who it turns out, named Professor Minerva McGonagall in honor 488 00:37:38,610 --> 00:37:42,210 Speaker 1: of the man she described as the worst poet in 489 00:37:42,330 --> 00:37:46,730 Speaker 1: British history. The books went for a handsome enough price, 490 00:37:46,770 --> 00:37:51,530 Speaker 1: I suppose, but in the same auction a rather higher 491 00:37:51,570 --> 00:37:56,730 Speaker 1: sum was paid for a different literary gem thirty five 492 00:37:56,850 --> 00:38:01,410 Speaker 1: poems by William McGonagall, some of them signed by the 493 00:38:01,410 --> 00:38:08,490 Speaker 1: great Man himself JK. Rowling. If Commercial's success is the 494 00:38:08,530 --> 00:38:11,530 Speaker 1: mark of a g artist, then she's one of the best. 495 00:38:12,530 --> 00:38:17,690 Speaker 1: But she's now William mcgonagan. He will be remembered for 496 00:38:17,730 --> 00:38:38,090 Speaker 1: a very long time. For a full list of our sources, 497 00:38:38,490 --> 00:38:44,490 Speaker 1: see the show notes at Timharford dot com. Cautionary Tales 498 00:38:44,570 --> 00:38:48,050 Speaker 1: is written by me Tim Harford, with Andrew Wright, Alice Fines, 499 00:38:48,290 --> 00:38:52,730 Speaker 1: and Ryan Dilly. It's produced by Georgia Mills and Marilyn Rust. 500 00:38:52,930 --> 00:38:55,650 Speaker 1: The sound design and original music are the work of 501 00:38:55,730 --> 00:38:59,850 Speaker 1: Pascal Wise. Additional sound design is by Carlos san Juan 502 00:39:00,090 --> 00:39:04,130 Speaker 1: at Brain Audio. Bend A d Afhaffrey edited the scripts. 503 00:39:04,970 --> 00:39:08,730 Speaker 1: The show features the voice talents of Genevieve Gaunt, Melanie 504 00:39:08,730 --> 00:39:15,490 Speaker 1: Gutrie Stella Harford, Oliver Hembrough, Sarah jupp As, Saimonroe, Jamal Westman, 505 00:39:15,730 --> 00:39:19,290 Speaker 1: and Rufus Wright. The show also wouldn't have been possible 506 00:39:19,330 --> 00:39:23,050 Speaker 1: without the work of Jacob Weisberg, Greta Cohene, Sarah Nix, 507 00:39:23,370 --> 00:39:28,330 Speaker 1: Eric Sandler, Carrie Brody, Christina Sullivan, Kira Posey, and Owen Miller. 508 00:39:29,250 --> 00:39:33,650 Speaker 1: Cautionary Tales is a production of Pushkin Industries. It's recorded 509 00:39:33,650 --> 00:39:37,690 Speaker 1: at Wardoor Studios in London by Noria Barr and Lucy Rowe. 510 00:39:38,330 --> 00:39:41,170 Speaker 1: If you like the show, please remember to share, rate 511 00:39:41,410 --> 00:39:43,570 Speaker 1: and review. It really makes a difference to us and 512 00:39:43,610 --> 00:39:46,250 Speaker 1: if you want to hear the show ad free, sign 513 00:39:46,330 --> 00:39:48,930 Speaker 1: up to Pushkin Plus on the show page on Apple 514 00:39:48,970 --> 00:40:11,770 Speaker 1: Podcasts or at pushkin dot Fm, slash plus