Strange Song Stories and City Names

Al and Marty share stories behind famous songs: Split Enz’s “Six Months in a Leaky Boat”,  allegedly pulled from UK radio during the Falklands War; Mart adds trivia about migrating on the SS Canberra, later used as a Falklands hospital ship. They discuss alleged inspirations and feuds including Taylor Swift/Katy Perry, “Uptown Girl,” “Black Velvet,” Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes,” Toto’s “Rosanna,” Pink’s “So What,” Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line,” Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know,” multiple songs about Courtney Love, Clapton’s songs about Pattie Boyd, Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” Elvis’ “Heartbreak Hotel,” Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” 

They cover origins of English town-name suffixes (Saxon, Viking, Roman), outline the Hearst media empire and Patty Hearst’s kidnapping/conviction/pardon, and end with a Pulp Fiction fact: DeVito’s company helped finance it, and Vincent/Jules nod to Twins.

If you have a fun fact you’d like us to share, send us an email to: funfactsandsidetracks@gmail.com or leave us a comment online at our social pages on Facebook or Instagram Thanks for listening and never be afraid to get sidetracked.

The boring disclaimer: We do try to double-check all of the facts we talk about. If something isn’t quite correct, we humbly apologise. Credit to our many sources including, A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs, Tim from Kicking Harold, Mental Floss, Wikipedia and so many more.

Transcript

Speaker 0:01

Hi folks, welcome to the podcast. A quick apology before we start. We did have a little microphone issue in recording this one, so we've tried to fix it as best we could. Mart's still hilarious as always, and hopefully there's some fun facts there to get your teeth into as well. So, on with the show. Thanks. Hey folks, and welcome to Fun Facts and Sidetracks. Yes. Here we are again. Here we are. How are you, mark? I'm good. How are you, Anne? Good mate. Great. So, so what, good feedback to the first episode. Was it? Yes. I thought it was. Yeah, I wrote a letter. Did you? Oh, you are the one then. Okay. In that case, thanks for your feedback. So lots of good stuff today. Let's rip in mate. Yeah. Okay. Okay, so first up, talking about music, music's a good thing to start. Yeah. It is always a good thing. And this time, talking about the story behind some famous songs. Mm-hmm. There are some songs that I think most people kind of know. Oh yeah. That was. You know, a diss song to somebody else or what have you. Yeah. But there are some songs that, there's a bit of a interesting story behind them. So the first one is Six Months in a Leaky Boat, Split Enz. That's a good song. It's a great song. Yeah. I love that bit in it. It's, it's very maritime, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And you know, there's a, a fair clue what that song's about. When you consider that Tim Finn who wrote it and sang it, in the last verse he sings, shipwrecked Love can be cruel, don't be fooled by her kind. Mm-hmm. Uh, he was going through a pretty messy divorce and, well, he's never talked about it. Uh, his brother, Neil Finn kind of said, oh, it's about breakup of a relationship. Yeah. But while that song was incredibly popular in Australia and in New Zealand, it was, you know, top 10. It was voted the fifth Best New Zealand song ever. Yeah. 2001. In the early eighties, the Falklands War was on That's right. The English media didn't want to hear songs about leaky boats, and they thought it was a veiled criticism of the war With Argentina, Oh. So pretty well it was removed from radio playlists in the UK. Wow. Yeah. You got an interesting fact and a sidetrack. No, tell me. Well, it's interesting for me is that the Falklands war, the ships, and talking about ships, the ship that we came out on the SS Canberra. Yeah. As a 10 pound palm had two funnels. Mm-hmm. Used to be on all the postcards of Sydney. Mm-hmm. Sydney Harbour Bridge, and always in the background was SS Canberra. Yeah. It was built specifically to bring 10 pound poms out. Yeah. That's how many they were bringing out. Yeah. Okay. And I was lucky to be one of them. Yeah. Um, getting back to the ship, it was used as the medical ship in the Falklands, so they had their battleships. Wow. And they took that along as a floating hospital? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. And it was a new ship when we came out. It was, we were on the second voyage, the first voyage. And the second voyage was ours. Yeah. So it was a troop ship during the Falkland's War? Yes, it was a medical ship. Okay, so that was a interesting bit of trivia. Yeah, thanks for that. Sorry. No, it's The world's got a know, but now the world has to know, yeah, it was very interesting, wasn't it? There was a, you know, plenty of information there. That's about me. Yeah. Your favourite topic. Yeah. Um, I'm sure you're just as fascinated with Taylor Swift. Oh, definitely. And Katy Perry and, yeah. Yeah. But for those at home who care about such things, yeah. Bad blood. Taylor Swift was written all about Katie Perry, who apparently, tried to book a bunch of people out from under her when she was on tour. Wow. Um, so that was a diss track and Katy Perry in response wrote Swish Swish. Which was, an anti-bullying response. And then eventually they kind of teamed up and wrote, you need to calm down. Oh dear Taylor. Um, had Katy appear on it. So I think I'd rather see a cat fight. Yeah, me too. I tell you what though, disc tracks are awesome and we'll do a whole segment on that in another episode because I've found some terrific stuff on that. Cool. But history of songs, let's move on. An uptown girl Billy job. Oh yeah. I always thought that she'd been living in an uptown world. It was a bad old, the model Elle McPherson. Apparently so. Oh, was it? Yeah. There you go. Really? Yeah, well, yeah, apparently it was about Elle McPherson, who he was dating at the time, and then later on it was about Christie Brinkley. Yeah. But that would, you probably couldn't afford her in the clip, so he got the other one. Yeah, mate. And then he married her. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. Interesting though. Black Velvet by Alana Miles is all about Elvis. I mean, that's probably not too hard a stretch to Oh, okay. Yeah. Work that one out. Um, here's one for you. Rosanna Arquette. Inspired In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel. Okay. Awesome song. As well as Toto's Rosanna, ah, Rosanna, which is pretty clear what that one's about, I guess. Rosanna. Rosanna Ross, tell you what, she, she inspired quite a lot of people to write very nice things about her. Those, yeah. There you go. Uh, let's see. So what By Pink, that was her response to, being cheesed off with her husband. So I guess I just lost my husband. I don't know where he went. I don't think she does that one anymore now that they've made up. Yeah. Yeah. I walked the line by Johnny Cash. Oh, Johnny Cash. The man in black Man in black. That's well, apparently, yeah. This one was a declaration of Fidelity to his wife, his first wife, Vivian. And he said I was kind of prodding myself to play it straight. Johnny. Yeah, he apparently said so. Uh, I think Johnny probably. It was a bit of a naughty lad. Oh, he is. Definitely. He was the man in black. Exactly. Now here's one that I think everyone who probably, you know, is of a particular vintage Yeah. Knows you are so vain by Yeah. Carly Simon. Yeah. A great song and it's an awesome song and it's kind of accepted that it's all about Warren Beatty. Yeah. That's never been, confirmed. Probably never needs to be right. Yeah. But the fun thing is that, on the internet you can find a version of it where they've removed Carly Simon's voice. Mm-hmm. And it's Mick Jagger doing the backing vocals. And it's so good because he is got this really broad English accent. He's going, you are so vain. But it's great. They turned it right down. But he was doing backing vocals or he he did the backing vocals. Yes. Okay. So that was a bit of a, you know, feather in her cap. Well, didn't Warren Beatty Stuff up at the Grammys or something. Once I saw him up on stage and he, he announced someone else's winning something dope. And like from a man who went from. You know, idol. Yeah. To complete Like loser. I gotta admit, I thought, Hmm. Good. Yeah. Well, she doesn't speak all that fondly of him in that song. When, when you break down those lyrics, you go, wow. You know? Yeah. He likes walking into a boat. You're aware you should be all the time when you're not. Yeah. You're with the wife of a close friend. Yeah. Yeah. Says a lot. Anyway. Go Warren. You ought to know by Alanis Morissette. Yeah. Okay. So on that whole album? Yeah. Jacob Little Pill. I think most of those songs, it's fair to say, are chocolate block full of the angry pills. Yeah. She wasn't happy. Yeah. Great album. I think it's, here's a sidetrack. Mm-hmm. It sold 33 million albums. It's actually the top 15th bestselling album of all time. Really. Jagged little pill. Yeah. Wow. In terms of sales. But do you remember a show called Full House? Yeah. Terrible, right? Yeah. With the little twins, the Olsen twins and yeah. You know, well, uncle Joey on that. This guy called Dave Coulier. Yeah. And he pretty well said that. He'd been going out with her. Oh, okay. And he recognized the lyric. I hate to bug you in the middle of dinner. Yeah. Because he remembered, she phoned him when he was at home and he said, oh, you know, can I call you back? We're having dinner right now. Yeah. She wasn't all that thrilled. So, yeah, Uncle Joey. Okay. Is what, popular Uncle Joey belief is. Yeah. Some other good ones. Courtney Love mm-hmm. Of whole. Yeah. And, former wife of Kurt Cobain. Yep. There's quite a lot of songs written about her. Yeah. It's why, well, it's fair to say that not everyone looks on her favourably. Mm. So Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters and obviously Yeah. Good old Dave. He wrote, I'll stick around, about her. Mm. Yeah. Uh, yeah, there's a lot of songs about Courtney. Um, Dave Grohl also wrote, stacked Actors. Holla Back Girl by Gwen Stefani, apparently is in response to something that, Courtney Love said about her being a cheerleader. A professional widow by Tori Amos, coattails of a dead man by Primus. There's a whole bunch of these things that a lot of them, there's contention about whether it's specifically about her or just about Hollywood fakeness. yeah. I didn't realize that. yeah, There's a whole sub genre just of, songs Dissing Courtney Love Holy dooly. Yeah, if we go back a little bit, Pattie Boyd, who was the love interest of George Harrison and Eric Clapton. Yeah. Back in the day. Layla. Yeah. Well, so Eric Clapton, wrote Layla after somebody gave him A book called The Story of Layla And Majn oon, A Persian story about unrequited love from the 12th Century. But his unrequited love was indeed Pattie Boyd. I thought his name was Layla. He got me on your knees. Layla. Exactly. He got me please. Layla. So he wrote that about her. He wrote Wonderful Tonight about Pattie Boyd. Yeah. And of course George wrote something Wow. About Patty Boyd. Something. That's amazing, isn't it? Yeah. And apparently I need you and for you, blue. So, wow. Um, Pattie Boyd, she must have been some, the muse for a lot of people. Mm. Yeah, I think there's a lot of dope smoked back then too. I think there was in the air Tonight night, night, night night. Um, there's all sorts of urban legends about this, but apparently Phil Collins told, uh, Jimmy Fallon in an interview that it's about his divorce from Andrea Bertorelli in 1980. So, wow. Yeah. So, you know, I know what you did and I. I saw it with my own two eyes and all this stuff. Not great. I don't think he was the perfect person either, to be honest. No prob probably not. He could feel it in the air tonight. No, no, no. Maybe, um, Heartbreak Hotel. Mm-hmm. The story behind that song, I mean, obviously Popular Eyes by the King Elvis. Yeah. El vis Presley. Um, but it was written by two people Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden. Durden found the inspiration in a newspaper article about a man who committed suicide and the suicide note read I Walk A Lonely Street. Wow. And out of that he, oh, walk a lonely street. Yeah. What lyrics? At the, in, in, um, Heartbreak Hotel since my baby left me. Wow. I think it's, I found a new place to dwell. It is still street called. Oh, very good. Tell. Well, I long been, give me some long there. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. There you go. Uh, what else have we got? Oh, sweet. Sweet. Caroline, you're a Diamond man. Yeah. No. Well, not really. I think probably now when he was a big hit in the seventies, I didn't. Yeah, it was too much of a funky disco man back then. Well, you were too. You were. Yeah, I was falling off. I was falling off my shoes, which are being used as oil rigs in the South Sea floating around there. You did rock a platform for you back then, didn't you? Yeah. Oh yeah. And a flare, I dunno how I got into those jeans. Uh, go. Sorry. No, no, no. Well, he So Sweet Caroline, obviously now it's been murdered by everyone. Yeah. but back then he wrote this after he was struck by the, uh, innocence of a little girl that he saw in a magazine photo. Mm-hmm. While he was on tour, it was a little girl riding on a pony. That little girl was Caroline Kennedy. Ah, yeah. Which apparently he was able to tell her about this when he played at her 50th birthday party in 2007. Wow. How good is that? Yeah. Well, how interesting is that? Yeah, it is so good. You so good. So good. Apparently at his house, if you say so. Good. You have to say it twice. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were to see that movie, right? Yeah. It was a terrific movie. You gotta see it. Yeah. I wasn't, yeah, I didn't think it was gonna be great, but yeah, it was good movie. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it's a true story. Didn't you go and see that and was it. What, uh, you saw something too in a row. You saw that and you saw the bloody Nuremberg. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. No, no. Tell a lie. We saw the Nuremberg. Lynn was so depressed. I took her to see a Anaconda with Jack Black. Oh wow. And it was quite funny. Another true story. Yeah, true story. Oh, deadly true. Yeah. You should see the stake and it's real. I have a movie at home called Piranhaconda which is a, a cross between a piranha and a anaconda. Yeah, I bet that's real. It's good. It's so good. Anyway, other songs with the story behind the song. So the Mother and Child Reunion. Paul Simon. Yes. The egg. Egg and chicken. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. So didn't he have chicken and eggs or something? Yeah, it was on a, a menu that you could have, a chicken and egg ah, meal and it's called The Mother and Child Reunion. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was something like that. It's pretty dark on behalf of the Yeah, I don't know the, whoever created that menu, but anyway. Love Eggs, mate. Oh, yeah. Let's see. Nirvana, smells like Teen Spirit. Yeah. Yep. So that was, inspired by, a antiperspirant spray. Really? It was called Teen Spirit. Yeah. So, oh, okay. That's, that's why they'd walk into a room and people would say, oh, it smells like Teen Spirit. Yeah. Fun fact on this one. Yeah. So when they started working on that song, it was a lot quicker. Mm-hmm. And it was only when they slowed it down a bit. That it kind of became, got magical. Yeah. This magic isn't that funny, but it's apparently Cobain has been quoted as saying it was inspired by more than a feeling by Boston. Ah. More than a feeling. But yeah, that guitar riff, when you put them side by side, you go, oh yeah, I can see that. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah. How'd you get away with that then? Well, it's not pitching it. Yeah. But George Harrison got sort of done for. My sweet Lord. Yeah, I think, and I don't see any resemblance. I think Nirvana were too cool for school and, no one wanted to stop that train. That was, yeah. It was really fine. Yeah. It's a shame when they tour it with the Violent Fems. It was fantastic. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. How'd it go? It was great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And was it like tough gig for the violent fem though? Yeah. two different crowds. Fe Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But how, how were Nirvana? They were great. Yeah. It was loud. It was, wow. It was, you know, it was that. Wow. That's a classic to see them. Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was a good concert, but it was. Um, very different to what people hear on the radio now. Oh yeah, it was, why is that? It was, it was so raw. Ah. And you know, like they had Bleach and Yeah. Nevermind had sort just come out and that, but it was, it was pretty full on. Yeah, that's great. Did you ever think they're tour again? Only in our dreams. Oh dear. Hey, here's one for you. 'cause you are a big Ray Charles fan. Yeah. Big Ray. What did I say? Tell me what I see. Yeah, tell me what I see. So Ray and the band were playing. And had to fill a certain amount of time. Yes. That had, I heard this, no more songs. Yeah. So he started this impromptu thing where he had to fill 12 minutes. Yeah. And he said to the, it was with an orchestra actually. Yeah. And he said to them. I'm gonna fiddle around y'all. Just follow me. Yeah. I'll, I'll show that. I, and it linted into the microphone. Went, I, I saw that. So like, it's a classic call and response song, right? Yeah, yeah. Don't me What I say. Tell me what I say. Yeah. How good is that? Yeah. Big Ray, I, now here's a fun fact. Yeah. I think when that came out on vinyl as, as a single, because it was so long. It was on both sides, so you had to turn the record over and it would just keep going. How cool. Oh dear. And some music or file will correct me on that, but that's the story I've heard, so I'll run with it moment. No, I believe that. Yeah, there you go. I believe that. That's great. That's story behind what I say. Yeah. Some others, if we go back further in time, things like, as time goes by. Yeah. So obviously made famous in Casablanca. Yeah. You must remember this exactly. Well, that song had been used by, someone in, it was written in 1931 for a Broadway play. Yeah. But then it made its way into Casablanca in 1942. I think his name was Dooley Wilson or something. The piano player. Yeah, exactly. Who He was the drummer. He was a drummer. Yeah. Dooley Wilson. So he sang, but the piano playing was faked to match. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So mates sitting there, playing, but it was faked. It was being played off camera. Oh, whack by a guy called, he toured around just for that song. Yeah, he probably would to. So he was faking it the whole time? Uh, yeah. Yeah. But he did his own singing. There was probably a guy inside the piano, one of those big uprights, but he was. Sweating. Where are we going next? Could I just come out? No. Staying there. We're on to it. I, we'll let you know when you can come out, but I'm hungry. Yeah. So there you go. Dear idea. Look, how did I remember Dooley Wilson? Yeah. Yeah. It was the drama. What is that with me? I just remember stuff you shouldn't have to remember. No, you do. It's good. Let's see. White Christmas. Yeah. This is a pretty sad one. Bing, Bing Crosby. Yeah, yeah. Well it was written by Irving Berlin. Yeah. And it was actually written, in 1937. Yeah. He was writing this because it was based on the separation of holidays. Yeah. So, he was unable to accompany his wife. On their annual visit to their child's grave. So they had infant son who died on Christmas day, ah, in 1928. So he kind of tapped into that personal pain writing. Um, you know, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, and you know, wow. Like when you listen to that song and you know that that's what inspired him to write it, you just go, oh man, it's the saddest song ever. Well, yeah. That's also like the Eric Clapton thing. Yeah. Well you know my name. Oh, Tears in Heaven. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, exactly. There's a story. And another Christmas song Actually have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Mm-hmm. Which has been covered by everyone from Sinatra to Boole the Boob. Yeah. Boobs the best I think. Eh, maybe. Um, but the, the original lyrics Yeah. Said have yourself a merry little Christmas. It may be your last, next year. We may all be living in the past. Ooh, that's a bit depressing. It's a little bit, and it was written for, Judy Garland to sing in Meet Me in St. Louis, and she actually said, this is the gloomiest song ever. If I sing that. People will think I'm a monster, you know? Yeah. And so they rewrote it and then Sinatra recorded it and he wanted it to be made even more jolly. 'cause he had a Christmas album called Yeah. A Jolly Christmas. So for the Sinatra version, yeah. They rewrote it and instead of saying from now on we'll have to muddle through somehow how it became it hanger shining star upon the highest. Oh, because it was for an album of his called A Jolly Christmas, so he wanted it to sound more jolly. Wow. So there you go. There's been changes in these songs along the way. Geez, I didn't realize that was such a depressing song. I'm never gonna listen to it again. I know. Anyway, so there's, there's the story behind a few. Wow, that's really interesting. Yeah. There's some beauties there. Yeah. The funny thing is that some songs, the movie studio executives Yeah. Hated and said, I don't wanna include that in there. Yeah. And it's only because other people said, no, this will be a hit. And they said, well, it's up to you. But if I had my way, I wouldn't put it in. A good example of that is Moon River in, breakfast certificates. Yeah. Yeah. They wanted to kill that. And Audrey Hepburn said, no, there's no way you're gonna do that. Yeah. And apparently it was called Blue River initially. Wow. And they changed it to Moon River. Do you know it was wider than a mile. Apparently that's, thanks for that fun fact. And he's gonna cross, cross you in style. Well, there you go. Yeah. Geez. You'd have to be, yeah. After a previous screening of the film, a Paramount studio executive reportedly said. I love the picture, fellas, but that effing song has got to go Whoa. To which, Audrey Hepburn said, over My Dead Body, the song stays. Wow. One at Oscar ranks as number four on the, a FI list of, you know, greatest songs ever written. Yeah. I hate it personally, but do you? Yeah, I do. Wow. I used to play it all the time with the Crest and Paul Kelly covers it, and I love Kelly, but I, eh, anyway. Mate, you gotta get with the groove opinion of what's happening to you. Oh man. What if Nirvana did it? I'm, I'm hating songs from 1961. What's going on? Moon River, one that mile. Yes. Crossing you in style. If the Sunny boys had covered Moon River, I would've been going to a wowing solo. Yeah. We'll see. It's not too late. No. Okay, I'm gonna do it. We can jump down to your band room now and have a crack record it. Alright. So there's some background for you on Yeah. That's awesome stuff. Yeah. Good fun. All right, Mart. Change of pace. Okay. Where are we going now? We're going to Jo, the Old England. Oh, good. Back to, well, the old former 6-year-old. Yeah. Allied governor. You're gonna give us a, you know, medley need something other brown, a medley of songs from Oliver or something. Can I have more? So, yeah. Um, pretty interesting to look at how the names of cities and towns came about in Jolly Old England. Okay. And it actually kind of dates back to whether they were settled by the Romans, the bloody Romans. What did they, because the aqueduct. Well, apart from that, Sanitation. Well, yeah. Okay. And education. Well, apart from, Apologies for that. Um, little diversion into the Life of Brian there. Anyway, it's pretty interesting because you can trace through the name whether the, town or the city was settled by the Romans. The Romans, the Romans. Bring him in. What was his name? Wa Woger His name was Biggest Dickus. I have a great friend and mother who called him Biggest Dickus. Oh God. We'll do the whole movie if we're not careful. Yeah. Okay so, you can tell whether the city or the town was settled by the Romans. Yeah. What have they ever done for us? We would've, sorry. Yeah. The, the Saxons Yeah. Or the Vikings or whatever they've done for us. Well, we like their boats and their Yeah. Well that's, that's interesting how, yeah, because, you know, everyone's gone there. Well, let me explain. So, if you're talking about the Anglo-Saxons, God, that would've been a hard place to be, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? What? So think about all the names that end in Ham. Oh, yeah. And you are from Tottenham, right? Yeah. So Tottenham, Nottingham, Durham, Birmingham full of all these towns. So I'm a Saxon. Well, sort of your, your hometown was settled by the Saxons. Yeah, well they, a lot of people hung out in that, their areas, they didn't really leave their areas. That's why the accent changes so much within a few Ks. Yeah, right. You know, it could be from, I'm from South London. Yeah. To, you know, hello. I'm from South. I dunno. Any others? 'cause I never went out of this. You know what I'm saying? I know what you're saying. It just, yeah. They were very territorial within their own towns. Well, apparently, um, back in the day, those towns were most commonly related to agricultural communities. Ah, and homes and family settlements. Yeah. And we're talking like from the fifth to the 11th century. Yeah. So. They probably had time to work on their, accents. Yeah, yeah. So to TON, so Luton, Southampton, Brighton. Yeah. All of those, Preston, you know, they're all, farm land or estates and their fortified. Yeah. Right. So they were, they were from who? They were from the, that was Saxons as well. They were Axon. Well, they're Anglo-Saxon. They're Anglo-Saxon. But then you've got the Viking settlement. Okay. And they tend to end in By or Thorp. Ah, that's very, very, so you look at like Darby and Grimsby and Whitby. Yeah. And, and you know, Scunthorpe and, you know, Maplethorpe and Wow. And, those towns, uh, really they're outlying farmsteads or hamlets. Yeah. And that, so that's common, especially in like Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and that sort of thing. Okay. Um, and they reflect Viking settlements in England. So, it was a big clue as to which race conquered and settled and stayed, that sort of thing. Wow. So by means village or farmstead. Yeah. And thought means like a secondary settlement or a hamlet. Yeah. But the same applies with things like weight, you know, or. Toft or Kirk, you know, a place where the church, these things. And then you've got the womans from the first to the fifth century. Yeah. And, they left Britain earlier, so their Anglo-Saxons off and attach their own suffixes to. Existing Roman sites. Yeah. But so with the Romans you have things like Castro, which is the word for Fort. Yeah. So Castro kind of extends into Castle Chester or ceister and that sort of stuff. So you got Manchester, Doncaster, wow. Leicester, Winchester, Gloucester, all those sort of things. Yeah. Yeah. And then got Ford. So, which is like an ancient river crossing. So you've got Oxford and Stratford, upon Avon. Yeah, Bradford and Guilford and you know, and then you've got, street, which refers to paved roads. Funnily enough. Wow. Yeah. So there's all these, and then there's wich, which is, derived from dairy farming and stuff. So you've got Chiswick and Ipswich and that sort of thing. Wow. So, yeah, pretty cool. 'cause you can look at a map of England and go, yeah, this is, this is so that was populated by the Yeah, and the timing of them changes obviously because, you know, the Vikings were the eighth to the 11th century man. Could you imagine living back then? They reckon the Vikings used to attack early in the morning or. Late at night. Mm-hmm. By surprise. Right. And just come in and just carve people up. You'd be nervous. You'd be a nervous sleeper. Oh God. I don't think I'd sleep in the town. I'd find a nice little spot Under A sign that said, yeah, I'll run for help. Viking's welcome. Yeah. Well they would've been cold. No wonder. Lifespan was only about like 30 years old or something. Yeah. It should be a tough life. Oh. Yeah. So anyway, that's how it goes. Kind from the first century through to, you know, it's incredible. The 11th century or something. Pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It's all good stuff. Well, that's interesting stuff out. Yeah. It's good fun. Mm-hmm. Alright, mark. Now last week we talked about the Heinz Company. Mm-hmm. Which is good, and all the people involved in that. Yeah. Let's have a quick look at the Hearst family now. They're the media people, aren't they? They sure are. Yeah. And it all started with George Hurst, who was hugely into gold, silver, and copper mines. Yeah, but the Hearst Empire really kicked off when his son, William Randolph Hearst went into newspapers. They weren't into cars, were they the Hearse? No, sorry. Dad joke. Awesome. No, I think they owned a lot of cars. Yeah. Yeah. No, William Randolph Hearst is the guy that Citizen Kane was based off. Oh, okay. Yeah. The Orson Wells film. And I reckon a lot of shows these days about succession and about family empires. Yeah. This is the, um, blueprint. Yes. The blueprint for, okay. Absolutely. So that's pretty crazy. I mean, this guy was only 23 when he put his name on the masthead for the San Francisco examiner as proprietor. But things really hotted up. Once he moved to New York. So he opened the, New York Morning Herald and that was in direct competition to the World Newspaper, which was run by Joseph Pulitzer. competition between those two was just insane. William Randolph Hurst would hire all of Pulitzer staff from underneath him. They'd compete in terms of how sensational the headlines could be in their newspapers. Um, eventually there was also an evening journal and, and an evening world issue. And again, they just fought tooth and nail. These guys, they dropped the prices of their newspapers. They'd hire staff from each other. And the headlines just became more and more sensational. It was all about scandal, and selling papers and lots of them. Wow. I I bet, I bet you they wouldn't recognize the, the newspapers now. Well, I, I don't think the truth was something they had to worry about so much. It was all about sensational headlines. Wow. Like, I just, so maybe they would recognize. No, but I mean, like the newspaper industry is going out the window there. Oh, totally. Yeah. I don't think you'd wanna be buying into newspapers these days. No. Like the West End News. They don't deliver it anymore. Well, case in point. But interestingly, this guy was a, he was an absolute gun when it came to managing businesses and being ruthless. Okay? So that he could just gees up the competition, the world and the world newspaper, I suppose. One little fun sidetrack on this. Mm-hmm. You know, in the, major league baseball in America. Yes. When we talk about the World Series. Yeah. And the winners sort of carry on about, oh, we're the greatest team in the world, and all that sort of thing. Well, for a long time it was actually believed that the World Series was named after the World newspaper, but apparently that's just an urban myth. The truth is that at the time it was only really North America and Canada that were playing professional baseball, so they considered themselves to be the world champions 'cause they were the champions of where it was being played. Even now they still say it and obviously things have moved on a fair bit since then. But anyway, in the 1920s, they actually owned 28 newspapers. Yeah. Across the nation. Um, and they were pioneers. They used colour printing. They used wire syndication, first colour comic section. Wow. They're running, comic strips and things, all across the place making movie stars. Out of the comic strips that he was running. Blondie was one of the ones that was in his, syndication, so, over the next a hundred odd years, it's been a procession of, acquiring media in all sorts of forms from, magazines, hugely into magazines, hugely into, television, acquiring TV stations well, how old? He would've been quite old then. He Died in 1951. Had five sons, so they were all involved in the business. So you can imagine just what an empire it was. You know, it just grew from strength to strength. Yeah. Of course, Hearst newspapers continued and they. Arranged the first, um, cultural exchange between the US and Russia. Yeah. And there was all sorts of things that happened since the sixties. You know, Harper's Bazaar became the first women's fashion mag to feature a man on the cover. Steve McQueen. Yeah. They very early on bought a whole bunch of magazines that are all. Household names now, like Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping. Wow. Harpers Bizarre and all of those things. Yeah. Did a big deal with Oprah Winfrey at the turn of the century. Yeah. And created what's considered to be one of the, most successful magazines. Magazines with Harpo one of the things they've done really successfully, has been to be involved with ESPN. So they were shareholders in not only NBA coverage, but they became the first network to televise all four major sports in the us Wow. The NFL, the NHL, the Major League baseball and yeah, the NBA. And now they're into healthcare and all sorts of things. So, been an amazing success story and, continues. Wow. Yeah. It just, they just know what to do. Don't they like these people? Yeah. To make money. I think they're entrepreneurs, mark, and they're. Ruthless and they're fearless, but they, it's like they, um, they find their energy there. It's like Absolutely. It's their whole reason. It's the thrill of the chase. Yeah, yeah. Is to just get everything they can. They want everything. Yeah. Um, in 1974, there was a really big incident when Patty Hurst, who was William Randolph Hurst's granddaughter, aired to the hears. Fortune. Okay. One of them, was kidnapped by, terrorists Yeah. And held for ransom The Symbionese Liberation Army, stole her and it's all a bit strange, at some point she. Didn't want to leave. She wanted to remain with the criminals. Yeah. but she ended up being on the run. There were a whole bunch of people that were killed in a, a bank hole up. Mm-hmm. she entered the Hibernia Bank with some others with a machine gun, and it was actually kind of televised live on tv. What's the reason would she do that when she comes from a family of billionaires? I don't know, It was always claimed that she was coerced and brainwashed, but apparently that's the story Yeah. So she was arrested in 1975. Found guilty in 1976. And sentenced to seven or eight years in prison. Um, president Jimmy Carter commuted that, in 1979 and then Bill Clinton gave her a full pardon wow. Mm-hmm. Geez, I didn't know that. That's, uh, that's incredible. She must have had, she, you know how some people get, they get kidnapped and there's that whole thing where they become sympathetic to the personal Yeah. Stock home syndrome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There you go. That's terrific story. Yeah. So that's the Hearst family. Yeah. That's, that's amazing. Wasn't an amazing family. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, Al, have we got another fun fact? You always have something. There is always one last fun fact, Mart. Yes, it's something good. And this one is about one of our favourite movies. Yeah. Pulp Fiction. Yeah. Okay. All right. I love Pulp Fiction, and this is a connection between Danny DeVito and Pulp Fiction. Danny DeVito, because Danny DeVito was a massive fan of Tarantino's. Probably still is. And he actually wanted to get involved when Tarantino was creating Reservoir Dogs. Oh, right. Didn't, however, his production company helped to finance Pulp Fiction. Really? He did. Yeah. And as a bit of a nod of the head to him for his support, the two main characters you think about Pulp Fiction. Yeah. Were their names Vincent. And Jules. Okay. And Vincent. And Jules is from. Twins, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely it is. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger characters. Okay. Uh, Vincent and Jules. So, well that's nice, isn't it? So the guys from Twins, uh, name checked in Pulp Fiction. I love all that stuff. I think that's really amazing. You know Tarantino Yeah. Class Act. Yeah, he's cool. DeVito actually helped to get the whole thing kind of financed, um, through a script that they said was unfilmable. Wow. Yeah. Like, it'd be interesting to see what Danny DeVito saw in it. You know, like these movies are so out there, aren't they? They are. They're great movies. I love every one of them. Yeah. He's obviously got a good eye for a script. Yeah, yeah. And a story. Wow. So there you go. That's uh, that's a great, the last fun fact. Fact, fun fact. Yes. Alright. Okay. There we go. That's probably another episode. It's been real fun. Alright, love it. See you next week folks. And as always, if you want to get in touch with us via the socials or fun facts and sidetracks@gmail.com and we'll see you next time. We will see you.