159: It's raining lemons

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What does Mrs.

Crunch have that Mr.

Crunch does not?

The answer to that at the end of the show.

My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral.

Welcome to the Lateral Cafe.

We're out of quinoa and oat milk, but I can do you trivia porridge, a factoid sandwich, or an omelet that's as eggy as this introduction.

Thank you.

I appreciate the laugh, and so does our producer who wrote the script.

Let's see if our guests today are full of beans.

They are the team from Lunchbox Envy.

We start with Jack Chambers.

Welcome to the show.

Hello, thank you for having me.

Tell us a bit about Lunchbox Envy.

So it's the QI approach to food.

It's a podcast that comes out weekly and every week we come up with all this sort of interesting historical stories and scientific

backstory behind a different ingredient or foodstuff.

And we have a lot of fun making it.

We each bring a lunchbox and we sort of compete to find the best one and meanwhile, you know, tell the world all about it.

So I should ask to our next player here, Manuel Henriel, also in front of the microphone, who's winning at the moment?

Oh, oh, I mean, in terms of bringing tasty food,

definitely Rosie.

There is no question.

Jack and I bring in some pretty disgusting foods to try.

I'm proud, but you wouldn't want to eat them.

So I think Rosie at the moment.

Rosie is a professional chef, right?

Yes, she is fantastic and a food stylist, and she's got wealths of knowledge about like the science and nitty-gritty behind like how cooking actually works.

So so much fun.

Well, the third member of our panel today is is the producer of the show, Alex Bell.

Welcome.

Hi, Tom.

From a production side of things, like, do you have to manage like food styling here?

Like, what, what, what's it like working for this?

Oh, fortunately, I don't really have to do the styling because Rosie does that and she's so great.

She knows everything about how to make ice cream that doesn't melt because she's worked in advertising.

And, you know, you have to put ice cream on the table for three days and make it look exactly the same.

So she's very good at cheese pull and sandwich construction and stuff like that.

But I occasionally pitch in and help make some of the lunch boxes, and I invariably make absolutely disgusting things that I don't have to eat, which is brilliant.

Well, very best of luck to all three of you on the show.

Dave, put a quick plug in.

Where can people find you?

We're on everywhere, wherever you get your podcasts from, and we're also coming to PBC Sounds pretty soon.

Well, very best of luck to all of you.

It's time to pull up a plastic chair, wipe down the menu, and see what's cooking with question one.

Let's go.

Thank you to Chris Dixon for this question.

In Pennsylvania, why do thousands of bears suddenly appear when a biscuit goes into a basket?

I'll say that again.

In Pennsylvania, why do thousands of bears suddenly appear when a biscuit goes into a basket?

Is Pennsylvania the state where basketball was invented?

I'm just,

these sort of connections jump into my head.

The only thing I know about what you think this is something to do with basketball is that.

Well, no,

that's quite a good connection.

Because the only thing I know about basketball is that

when they invented invented it, it was 30 years before anyone had the idea of putting the hole in the bottom of the net.

So every single time someone scored a basket, they'd have to get a ladder and fish it out and stop the game.

Yeah.

It sounds like I would go for something along the lines of like, what is it?

As you say, a fish in a basket.

A biscuit in a basket.

Biscuit.

Sorry, a biscuit in a basket.

So I'm

kind of thinking it's some kind of like.

I don't know.

I think maybe I was trying to go, what kind of biscuits do they have in America?

And I know they have goldfish, like they're kind of like a snack but I was thinking oh maybe it's like some kind of like a baiting thing where they you like it they're they're tempting the bears in a national park somewhere now the American definition of biscuit is different to the British one is an American biscuit or in a British biscuit get onto that later but how much American biscuit knowledge do you all have I mean they're like scones aren't they yeah they're kind of like buttermilk scones a little little different to the recipe more more savory and salty, but yes.

Okay.

Because they call cook, like what we would call a biscuit, they often call a cookie.

Right, I think.

Yeah, right, yeah.

So are we not...

I'm trying to think which of these words are metaphorical.

Because it's the right way to approach this question, yes.

Because the biscuit is the little code that the president carries for the nuclear codes.

Oh, that's good.

So that was the other way placed my lateral thinking.

Maybe a bear

is slang for a nuclear missile.

So it's like, we're just talking about World War III.

Oh, but bears, aren't birds also like a sporty thing?

Like, is there a sports team called the Bears?

The Bears, Chicago Bears, I think.

Yeah.

What do they do?

Football, maybe?

They're also like, as speaking as someone from the gay community, they're also like

a big hairy man.

Yes, that goes along with the Oshkosh Otters and the Tennessee Twinks.

There we go.

I had that joke in my head and I was like, somewhere starting with, oh, somewhere starting with O.

Oregon was the obvious answer.

Somebody went with Ashkosh for some reason.

You are circling around sport and you've gone to that twice.

So I think it is fair to tell you that, yes, this is a sport question.

And did you say 10,000 or 100,000?

Thousands of bears suddenly appear when a biscuit goes into a basket.

It is not basketball, though.

Interesting.

I mean, I guess, like, because it could be, I mean, it could be netballed or anything, but maybe because thousands of bears appear, it's something to do with a fan base.

So, like, if this is, I don't know, like, they, oh, is it something like you've got a loaded crowd of people in an arena, and then they all do something like they, like, open their jackets, and they're all wearing, like, their logo of the team whenever they, they, like, you know, the team scores a basket, but not basketball.

It's very close.

Again, I feel like throwing open clothing there.

Tattoos, tattoos, they've all got tattoos.

Not quite right with the throwing open of clothing.

And again, not sure quite where your head's going during this episode,

but you are definitely along the right lines.

Like this is...

Well, you'd all stand up, right?

Like if someone scores a goal or something.

Yes.

You said score a goal.

That's right.

The basket is the goal.

What might the biscuit be?

If you can work that out, you'll have the sport as well.

Is it, I mean, I'm going to say, like, is it ice hockey?

Because they have a puck.

Yes, it is.

Yes.

Okay.

There we go.

That's both biscuit shapes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The puck is biscuit shaped.

So when the biscuit goes in the basket, when the puck goes in the goal, the fans do something.

You've got nearly all the elements.

Thousands of bears.

I have one more guess is that the pictures are printed on the seats, so they appear because everyone stands up to cheer.

And the seats flip up.

That's very good.

Thank you.

Oh, lovely guess.

It's not right.

Is it Bear B-A-R-E?

Like, going back to that.

I don't know.

You can give me the team name.

It's the Hershey Bears of Pennsylvania.

Oh, well, Hershey is the town.

We talked about this in the podcast.

Hershey's was the town that was founded for Hershey's, right?

Yep.

Okay.

And these days is mostly visited for the theme park there.

I really want to go.

Sounds amazing.

It's not like Winnie One Claire, I'm sure.

No, the roller coaster's safer at Hershey Park.

Yeah, yeah.

So are they all holding something?

Is it fashion?

Is it intentional?

Do they intentionally appear?

Yes, it's intentional.

Yes, they're holding something.

But

is it as simple as having like a small stuffed mascot?

Like

a fancy challenge, yeah.

Yeah.

Cool.

There is, you know what, we've we've got through this i'm gonna ask one other thing

they've brought all these stuff toys and toys of all sorts okay why might they suddenly appear on that first goal what might be the point of that do they throw them into the rings yes they do

yes i remember this from something i think i've seen footage of it it's mad yes every year the hershey bears of pennsylvania hold a special event and when the first goal is scored by the home team most of the fans will take out a stuffed toy and throw it onto the rink.

There's one key thing missing there.

Why?

What's the point of that?

Because that's just going to disrupt the game.

Yeah, of course.

I was thinking about the cleanup operation.

It'd be about 15 minutes at least.

It's got to happen very quickly.

And where do they go afterwards?

Oh, do they go to charity?

Yes.

Spot on Jackson

Promotion.

In 2025, they set a new record of 102,343 toys.

That's eight toys for every person in the stand.

A seat, yeah.

It's gonna stay.

That puts a lot of pressure on the team, though, like, because if you don't score, you lose the seat.

And all the orphans go without their Christmas presents.

That's so changing.

So, yes, this is the Hershey Bears of Pennsylvania, who every year hold a promotion where in the first home goal, the fans throw toys on the ice rink for charity.

Amazing.

Oh, that's so sweet.

I remember reading about

some sort of college football team where they all throw toast onto the field.

It's not donated, but it is

a similar tradition.

Again, it started out some sort of random rumor that went around that, like, I don't know, or maybe they had their opposition on toast or something and that just became a thing.

And now they have to like have, you know, professional cleanup teams to

because they don't want to ban it because it's America land of the free.

Each of our guests has brought a question in.

We will start, I think, with Alex.

What have you got for us?

Sure, okay.

This question has been sent in by Isaiah.

Two motorcyclists are eating outside a cafe.

Mike looks down and gently mocks Keith for his chicken strips.

What does this tell you about Keith?

I'll read that one more time.

Two motorcyclists are eating outside a cafe.

Mike looks down and gently mocks Keith for his chicken strips.

What does this tell you about Keith?

Okay, this sounds like a body part.

Vegan?

Is he being like meat-shaming?

Meat shaming.

No, I think it's relevant to the cyclists, surely.

So chicken strips.

Is it a specific body part that cyclists have?

I mean, they're humans.

They've got the same body parts as me, but...

What do chicken strips look like?

They're breaded.

Yeah, we are assuming that these are chicken strips he's eating.

And this is...

We've locked in on the metagame here, which is identify the metaphor in the question.

Well, it's lateral, pleasing the name.

Maybe it's a bike part.

Yeah, okay.

So I think I'll say the chicken strips aren't edible.

Okay.

Wish my uncle was here.

He's a bike mechanic.

He was actually the man who built the racing wheelchairs for the Olympians.

Oh, wow.

And he's got like a number, like multiple gold medals to his name.

I think he's retired now, but he still sort of fixes people's bikes for fun, which is quite sweet.

But he would definitely know.

The speed of those is incredible.

I remember watching the London Marathon and seeing them go by.

Just the sheer speed.

Yeah, it's terrifying.

Yeah, it's amazing.

I wonder if they have...

Sorry, I'm going on a tangent here.

But I wonder if, like, Formula One, they have to slow down for the corners.

Oh, yeah.

Because runners don't have to do that in a marathon.

No, exactly.

And I guess maybe you can lean, but you can't lean too far because you're not on two wheels.

But I don't know if racing wheelchairs have chicken strips.

Maybe think about where Mike could be looking.

Yeah, he said looking down.

That is relevant.

And I think he's literally looking down.

He's not just looking down on.

As in looking down his nose.

Or maybe he is.

The question is, what does that tell us about Keith, right?

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Something has happened to Keith or his bike that hasn't happened to Mike and he's getting mocked for it.

And it looks like a chicken strip.

And what?

You're on the

right.

This is the right track.

Okay, good.

I know a lot of cyclists shave their legs and then a lot of other cyclists claim that it makes no difference.

Is it anything to do with that?

Again,

back to the bare skin.

I'd say Tom is closer.

Tom is on the

closer right track.

Chicken strips.

Oh, is it like

you give it a notch in your bed frame?

It's like every time you get get a speeding ticket, you put a little chicken strip in your exhaust pipe or something.

Scratch one out.

Maybe not.

Is it something on the frame?

Like,

I don't know.

People stick all sorts of stuff to their bikes if they're like bike packing.

Oh, this is to show my knowledge of bikes.

I need to ride more.

So I guess having chicken strips is unimpressive.

Is that right?

Yeah, Mike is mocking Keith for the chicken strips.

Okay.

So maybe it's like,

without getting too violent, maybe he's got some sort of friction burns on his leg.

Okay,

again, you're kind of, you're circling a little bit closer.

Okay.

If you're thinking about like marks.

Oh, is it to do with lycra?

Is it about wearing lycra that's too tight?

No, but I kind of really, I like that answer.

In that scenario, what are the chicken strips?

It's just like the sort of marks you get when you take them off.

Because it stops for coffee, right?

Yeah, but I don't think they take all their lycra off when they have when they come to the cafe.

I don't think that's allowed.

Is it like when you know you're going really fast and you get hit by bugs or something on the way?

Okay, it's definitely speed is definitely a part of it.

Okay.

So again, you're inching a little bit closer there.

The mud getting kicked up or something like that causing...

Because that'll be roughly the right colour, like red and chicken strips are brown, mud's brown.

Or I'm thinking like chicken is brown

and that looks muddy okay i'm gonna say the chicken strips look more like loops than strips loops loops yeah

as in circles yes to the speed and circular has he not put his letters on correctly and they're little stones that have like making marks i never that wouldn't make loops would it they are strips but they're circular strips oh Oh, now, there's two ways that could be.

That could be circular, like someone has drawn a zero on the leg, or it could be circular around the leg.

Oh, yeah.

Also, you're fixating on legs, and it's not necessarily zero legs.

Okay.

He looks down and mocks Keith for his chicken strips.

So maybe it's feet.

It's got to be feet and shoe buttons.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, it's on the tires.

Yes.

Correct.

Oh, there are things that make you go faster.

that are called chicken strips.

And he's like...

No, it's a little thing you put through the tire that goes click, click, click, click, click, click, click click, click, click.

I would definitely mock Mike for that.

I would say it's the opposite, but related to speed.

Huh.

Oh, is it well, in track cycling, they often like put a they block out all the spokes for aerodynamics.

No, it's not that.

This is a mockery that is most commonly directed at sports bike riders.

Huh.

Something to do with logging your speed in Strava.

Okay, okay,

I'm going to give you one more clue.

Think about how riders take corners, especially in like Moto GP.

Oh,

is it um are they sort of like stabilizers that keep you from hitting the corner?

No, no, it's got to be a different definition of chicken.

It's not they look like chicken strips,

it's a cowardly definition of chicken.

There we go.

Yes, yes.

Amazing.

What

are those going to be?

So it's to help them take corners more safely.

Not necessarily, no.

It does tell you something about Keith's driving style, though.

More conservative.

Let's not say cowardly.

He's more conservative.

Okay.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

He's not getting as low in the corners.

Yes.

So what does that tell you about his driving style?

Oh, is it that he's not worn off the tread from the tires from when he's

amazing.

Okay.

Yes.

I can see exactly these sort of macho bikers who like assess the tyres and like, well, the inside, well, you know, further up the tire wall is, you know, fresh from when you bought them and therefore you're not taking the corners fast enough.

Oh, exactly that.

So Mike has noticed that only the middle of the tires are worn.

So the outsides aren't, which is, they sort of, they're like a different colour because he doesn't take the corners as quickly and he's afraid to lean in.

So chicken strips.

Chicken strips.

That's such a clever word.

I know.

What a healthy relationship those two have.

What did I say?

Cyclists are so mean.

They look silly and like her and they're mean.

this is motorbike to be.

This is motorbike.

Yeah,

this is motorbikes.

And as bikers are a huge segment of our listening

family, so thanks so much for alienating them.

We're massive in the hardcore biking community.

Yeah, I don't know how far you lean into corners when you're on your road bike, but

I'm going to assess your chicken strips tonight.

I am so excited for the spa day.

Candles lit, music on, hot tub warm and ready.

And then my chronic hives come back.

Again, in the middle of my spa day, what a wet blanket looks like another spell of itchy red skin.

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Thank you to Annibal Cuisine for this next question.

To find some Swiss cheese, Steve and Alex used to have to travel for a minimum of 12,500 kilometers.

Why did they have to travel so far?

I'll say that again.

To find some Swiss cheese, Steve and Alex used to have to travel for a minimum of 12,500 kilometers.

Why did they have to travel so far?

So the number 12,500

strikes me, if I'm...

I can't remember now if it's miles or kilometers, but I think the Earth's circumference is 24,000 of either of them, kilometers or miles.

So that would be halfway around the earth that would be halfway around the world yeah

maybe they are just really really picky and like they have a really one preferred shop i was thinking more that like because you said a minimum i was thinking there's something geographical there so for example they live in a really remote island and you can like you have to go to the mainland to get it but like you say that's such a long distance that i can't really imagine there not being this close shop

i i think it might be 24 000 miles in which case 12 and a half thousand kilometers kilometers would be less than half the way around the world.

The Earth's circumference is about 40,000 kilometres.

Okay, yeah, it's 25,000 miles.

Or is it Swiss cheese in literal has to be from Switzerland cheese?

Oh, yeah, we've been doing the cheese research, haven't we?

The cheese search.

Yeah, cheese search.

I'm sorry.

Or breeze search.

That's better.

That's better.

It might not be, that might be the metaphorical bit.

So like Swiss cheese, I feel like Swiss cheese could be a nickname for something, again, because that sounds like something that's got loads of holes in.

Yes.

I feel like I've heard of something before that's called Swiss cheese as a nickname.

I can't think what it was.

I'll be honest, if you could remember it, that would probably help you a lot with this question.

Okay.

So wait, 12,500 kilometers.

Could it be upwards?

Is it going to be in space?

Oh, okay.

Because I think it's 100 kilometers until you're officially in space, so that's quite far into space.

This won't be right, but I do know that on the moon, they have these

devices that they put up there during the Apollo missions, which are basically reflective plates that look like split cheese.

They've got loads of holes in, and they're designed specifically to shoot a laser all the way from the Earth to the moon, and it will bounce back again.

And they can measure exactly like to the sort of centimeter, how far away the moon is.

And that's how they realize that the moon is actually slowly drifting away from us.

But I think that's more than 1200.

So, it's not, it's definitely not cheese.

We're not talking about cheese, right?

Something holy.

They used to travel to get this, and

now they don't have to, which suggests that either they've moved or the supply of the thing has moved.

So, as in, they used to be made in one place and now it's made somewhere else, or they just moved closer to it, or it's not available anymore.

Oh,

Is it some sort of lethally toxic refrigerant that we've found because it's making a hole in the SS?

Yeah.

Are we in arts here?

Could it actually just be very, very vaguely?

The cheese didn't appear when the distance was small.

So, is it something that is generated as a result of them traveling?

Generated.

It's definitely the right word here.

Very much like a chicken strip.

Generated.

well that makes me think of power um

is it the smell is it no thinking about journeys and smells i know it smells like oh it smells like cheese oh or maybe like visual something holy ah yes visual definitely okay visual traveling holds

and i can tell you the swiss cheese was caused by a glitch I feel it's something like it's something like insulation that like gets eaten away by like I

I feel like I have this right in the back of my brain somewhere.

If the things your brain's coming out with are insulation, gotta be honest with you.

Not that.

Not that.

Sorry.

You've just redone your house, haven't you, Alex?

Like, I was again, I was thinking of like space shuttles and like the insulation padding around and then like, you know, how they used to have problems with cuckoos going inside and stuff like that.

So that's what I was thinking of.

But

Steve and Alex are quite famous.

And there is going to be a subset of our audience who have been screaming this since the question came out.

Their first names for McQueen is famous McQueens, but they're in very different rights.

Very different industries, yeah.

Steve and Alex.

Maybe they're

astronauts.

Alex, you probably know all the men who've been on space.

There are two astronauts.

They're not the twins, are they?

I don't think they are.

No, remember Glitch.

Oh, yes, glitch.

Oh,

computers.

So Steve Jobs and

Alex.

I know.

We're getting closer now, though.

Okay.

Maybe they're going to be able to do that.

This is a computer thing.

Yeah.

It's like pre-iPhone, I imagine.

It's going to be like...

Is it like about microprocessing and things?

Not really.

Like, why would they travel 12,500 kilometers?

Is it about gaming?

Yes.

Yes, it is.

Are these Americans who used to travel to Japan to play like Pac-Man or something?

Steve and Alex are the default characters in something that I suspect none of you play.

Are they the first names of like Mario and like his brother?

No, Mario's name.

I don't know.

Maybe I'm like, wait a second.

Maybe that's just a surname.

You will all know of this game.

Is it like a fighting game?

Oh,

no.

No.

No, it's not.

Because you don't have to travel 12,500 kilometers in a fighting game.

Oh, it's within the game.

It's Minecraft.

It's Minecraft.

Yes, it is.

My cousin would have got this.

My sort of 15 years younger cousin.

So this is a glitch that appears when you travel in the game.

Yes.

Yes, I reckon this could be to do with like powers of two.

Because isn't

maybe I'm going up the wrong tree, but like Pac-Man, you got to level 257 and it just really, it's sort of because it was 16-bit or something?

Yeah.

I don't really know that.

Yeah, you're right, Jack.

The numbers get too large, or at least they used to.

It's been fixed since.

Once you get too many blocks away,

the terrain generation system just kind of breaks.

So, why might it be called Swiss cheese?

Uh, presumably, it looks like it's full of holes, it is full of holes, that's absolutely right.

Uh, Swiss cheese happens when Steve, Alex, or any other Minecraft player get more than 12,500 kilometers from the center of the world, or at least it did until they fixed it.

Manu, whenever you're ready, it's your question.

All right, this question has been sent in by Boulia.

On the 15th of April, 1923, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia was braced for confused horses and accidents, which didn't materialize.

Instead, 1923 became known as the Year of Free Beef.

Why?

Wow, there's a lot to unpack there.

Yeah, okay, I'm going to read it again.

So on the 15th of April 1923, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia was braced for confused horses and accidents, which didn't materialize.

Instead, 1923 became known as the Year of Free Beef.

Why?

I am going to risk sticking my flag in the ground here and say I think I know this one, or at least I've worked it out and got some sort of vague memory.

So, Alex, Jack, it's over to you.

Okay, so

firstly, 15th of April, my wife's birthday, presumably nothing to do with it.

But that sort of jumped out at me straight away.

I'm going to rule it out.

Wasn't 1923 the year of the

Tunguska explosion?

Oh, classic.

Yeah, of course.

Who could forget?

What is the Tunguska explosion?

There was some sort of meteorite that came into Earth.

Oh, okay.

Well, not meteorite.

I think it has to land.

Oh, no, it's about the atmosphere.

Anyway, some sort of extraterrestrial object came into the Earth's atmosphere and exploded.

And

maybe that was 1913.

Anyway, it was around that time.

But that sent me down the idea that, yeah,

a meteorite would, that was predicted, might spook some horses.

Yeah, but it's a bit early to be predicting

each of the day.

My direction for some of it, because I don't think I can explain the first bit, sounded a bit like, you know, when countries

like switch the direction that vehicles are going on the road and like and so they have a day and then at midnight everyone has to start driving on the right instead of the left and there's loads of confusion they have to change over that's what i was thinking

That's what I was thinking, but it doesn't explain the rest of it, the year of free beef or anything like that.

It might do if you take beef to mean aggressiveness.

Oh, complex.

So interesting.

I agree with you on the first half.

And I know it looks like that's right.

Alex, you are so on the right track.

Like, doing so well.

It was the day they changed to driving on the right.

So why did all the cows die?

That's what I want to like.

Why were there free beef everywhere?

Is the question.

So that's our the second part of the question.

So could that be, I mean, I suspect it's not.

Well, okay, it's either something to do with lots of cows dying or like some sort of weird legal loophole that meant that beef was, you know, much cheaper than it was.

Were the two are the two things related, Manu, or was this just coincidentally something totally different happened to all cows?

No, they are absolutely related.

Must be.

Were the cows used to vehicles being on one side of the road?

So they walked the wrong way.

So they learned.

And a lot of cows got hit by cars.

That's pretty, that's pretty bang on, I'd say.

So in who's letting cows cross the road unaccompanied?

So it's oxen that were driving carts.

So basically

they could not be trained to drive on the right side of the road.

Like other animals could, people could, but the oxen couldn't.

So what do you do with oxen that can't be retrained?

Wow.

And thus the price of bees looted them.

Amazing.

Not amazing for the oxen, but.

So they thought the horses were going to have an issue with it, but actually, it was ox.

So then horses became the dominant vehicle species.

Is that right?

Yeah, interesting.

At least in Nova Scotia for that, yeah.

And were they switching sides of the road or were they just establishing a side of the road to drive on for once?

No, they were

switching sides of the road.

So they used to drive, yeah, on the right and then.

Oh, no, they used to drive on the left and then they switched in 1923.

But the oxen, I guess, what the ones who had grown up their whole lives driving once I couldn't be retrained, but they did understand to drive on the one side.

Yeah, but I think they just couldn't make that switch.

Can't teach an old dog.

Wow.

That's interesting.

You can't teach an old ox on a new side of the road.

Thank you to Stina for this next question.

In 1911, why did crowds gather to see a few lemons rain down on the Norwegian town of Trondheim?

I'll say that that again.

In 1911, why did crowds gather to see a few lemons rain down on the Norwegian town of Trondheim?

Was it because they switched sides of the road and a lemon truck crashed and then bike those went everywhere?

No, I think the lemons is a sort of not too literal meaning here.

I think because Trondheim and 1911

and just Norway generally, I'm thinking maybe this is one of the early,

it's the wrong year for a Winter Olympics, but maybe a sort of world championship ski jump or something.

Oh, interesting.

I was thinking like experimental flight, because when was the like, oh, yeah, like and you know, a lemon being something that doesn't work.

I wonder if, you know, there's one of those like crazy like flight flight expos where people were trying to demonstrate their ideas of planes, where there's all like pedal-powered things.

Sorry, was it multiple lemons, or did you specify hundreds or dozens?

A few.

My brain went immediately to, you know, when like

storms pick up loads of sea animals and then rain them down somewhere else?

I was like, maybe there's a fish called a lemon, but if it's a few, I don't think that fits.

Alex, I'm going to fly up Flight Expo there.

I think.

Yeah,

that's a fair summary of what's going on here.

It was a flight demonstration.

A flight demonstration.

I mean,

when was the plane invented?

I suppose

hot air balloons are another option for

people gather to see hot air balloons.

And I feel like that was the sort of around the world in 80 days era.

Or the extension of hot air balloon, the Zeppelin.

I think

because it's before Hindenburg, and I think

I don't know how true this is, but like Zeppelins and airplanes were on a pretty similar trajectory in it.

And it was one of those sliding doors moments.

Sorry, this is a bit euphemistic to call the Hindenburg a lemon jack.

I feel like

I this predates the hindenburg by 25 years or so but like i reckon the early zeppelins might have been and if they were yellow coloured they would look like lemons but they fell to the do you say they fell to the ground or they a few lemons rained down rained down okay because that's quite poetic that could be i mean that could be land i'll give you that this was a plane okay okay um the plane had been invented by the wright brothers about eight years earlier yeah okay and people gathered so they knew this was going to happen yeah it was a flight demonstration did someone throw out Sherbet Lemons from their airplane?

Because I'm pretty sure, was it...

When was the Sherbet Lemon inventor on TV?

We'll say that for the Sherbet Lemon podcast.

It was reminding me, speaking of the podcast, of the cow that they took up.

I was going to say, I was thinking about that.

Can you remember the story, Manny?

I can't remember when.

Yeah, so it was,

I think it was later than this, but yeah, it was someone that was throwing milk out of an aeroplane to advertise the first cow in the air.

Yeah.

They were live milking her.

Hello, yeah.

And then they'd drop it in parachutes.

I think that was in America, wasn't it?

I reckon lemons would have been pretty scarce in, if it is literal lemons,

it is literal lemons.

I'll tell you that.

Alex, early on, you were trying to find the metaphor in this question.

There's not one.

There are literal lemons being dropped on Trondheim.

Wow.

They should call this literal, not lateral.

So why would they be doing it?

I guess they're pretty scarce.

You don't find them in Norway, do you?

Also, like Netflix had them invented then, so you could literally get people to come and look at anything.

Yeah, like it was a stunt.

It was a stunt.

It was a flight demonstration.

This was a Swedish aviation pioneer, but he is demonstrating something that would become

very important a few years later.

Parachute.

That's a good one.

I was going to say

the concept of bombing.

The concept of bombing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's crazy.

That's crazy.

Absolutely right.

No way.

What a whimsical way to do that.

Yeah, this is Baron Sederstrom, a Swedish aviation pioneer who demonstrated a way to bomb enemy territories by taking some lemons and throwing them down at the town.

Now,

you may have noticed something in that description I just gave.

Why did some people find that stunt a bit insensitive?

Is it because lemons are expensive?

I mean, especially in in Norway in 1911, I don't think they were 10 a penny.

Swedish aviation pioneer.

Oh, and he's doing it in Norway.

Did they have some beef?

Was it the year of free beef between Norway and Sweden?

Well, in 1905 was kind of a year of beef between Norway and Sweden because that's when they dissolved the union.

Okay.

So it was only six years after that that a Swedish aviation pioneer flies over Trondheim, demonstrates his plane and chucks some lemons at them.

I suppose that could go like you either goes in someone's eye or they're eating alfresco and they're having to fix.

They're like, oh, perfect.

And they just get like some free seasoning.

And then the salt and pepper planes come over.

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Jack, your question whenever you're ready.

This question has been sent in by Sebastian Cuttlefish.

Great name.

A forge in Herefordshire, England runs events for families to experience blacksmithing.

Why does the forge require a supply of lollipops?

And why are they not given to children?

I'll read that again.

A forge in Herefordshire, England runs events for families to experience blacksmithing.

Why does a forge require a supply of lollipops and why are they not given to children?

I remember something about police giving out lollipops.

And again,

not for people to enjoy the lollipops, or it is for people to enjoy the lollipops, but if you give them out to like nightclub people, revelers, whatever they're called, normal, normal, I go, I know normal people go, I'll go coming.

When they leave the club, absolutely go to watch.

When you leave a nightclub, you don't want people to be noisy on residential streets, and it's not very easy to tell drunk people to shut up.

So police would hand out lollipops and they'd put the lollipops in their mouths and suck them and not talk.

And so it would keep them quiet.

So it was like a sideways solution to a problem that had actually nothing to do with the lollipops.

You're kind of on the right lines.

It's not about keeping them silent, though.

Is it stopping, keeping their tongues in their mouths so they don't get get caught in the blacksmithing equipment?

That would be pretty loose there.

How do you get your tongue caught up?

That's an anvil and a hammer.

Yeah,

I've watched a lot of cartoons growing up.

I feel that's why I would.

Is it to stop them breathing out their mouths?

No, good thinking.

I mean, what I will say is they don't give them out to everyone.

Or is it like if you've injured yourself?

Oh, God, are they doing like dentistry?

Because that's the other time you get a lollipop.

Oh, they like do free tooth removal.

Do you know what a forge does?

Sorry, I shouldn't mock the guests, but in this question, you

bet.

I reckon they could knock some teeth out if they wanted.

Does three sun go on your nightclub social abilities, on your knowledge of forges, and your knowledge of dentistry?

I apologize.

Just invite you to go in the room.

I think Alex is thinking of like a dual business where you've got like a forge on one side and then a dentist on the other.

I mean, I've no information on whether there's a dentist, but that's a red herring.

So.

Okay, but injuries.

Yes, you do not went to get a lollipop if you can help it.

The event is open to adults and children, so why would you not give them to children?

Because the children aren't allowed to do what the adults are allowed to do.

Like, for example, use the blacksmith equipment.

It's like a live demo.

I think in some cases they are both allowed to participate.

So would what would they be doing here what were the different things that you can make out of a forgery i mean swords surely is one yeah i looked to the website that there are sword making courses

maybe like suits of armor that's quite common i wouldn't go down that route i think

what's unique about lollipops that for instance isn't common like you could

in some universes give them chocolate bars but they wouldn't work in this case oh the heat would melt the chocolate bar in the forge lollipops wouldn't melt not necessarily in the forge.

Yeah, they're quite hard as well, lollipops.

So like you could

crack them.

And I don't know.

Whereas obviously the chocolate bar would just splatter.

Is lollipops a metaphor?

We haven't checked if lollipops is a metaphor.

We didn't do the metaphor check.

Luckily, there's no metaphor.

Like everything's literal.

They are literal lollipops.

And they're not the frozen type.

I don't know what you would call that.

That's a lollipop.

Yeah, but they're not like a freeze pop or something like that.

they are they've been they're being given to people to suck correct see now i'm thinking that alex was right with this whole dental injury or mouth injury thing oh you've come around to my dental theory now you actually

lick in the forge yes

uh a burn's involved

involved yes you're on the right side

if you burn yourself you get a lollip you do and why would you

to get saliva is it is it is it a medical connection it's not just so you feel better and don't sue the forgery

It's like if you burn your mouth or something, it's good to suck a lollipop.

I'd say it's wider than burning your mouth.

Although, in fact, I think if you burnt your mouth, that would be the time they wouldn't prescribe a lollipop because you're making it worse.

So, again, why would you not give them chocolate?

Because that would help soothe their mind and help them not sue you.

Yeah, it would do the same thing.

But like you say, chocolate melts, so that was an issue.

Which means it doesn't last as long.

So lollipops last a long time.

Okay, fine.

Right.

So it

but why do you need them to suck a lollipop for a long time if they've been burnt?

That's my question to you.

This show is really hard.

Also,

lollipops are hands-free.

Exactly.

They burnt their hands.

Yeah, I think you're going down the wrong line.

You're almost there.

They do take a long time.

And in fact, they take a specific amount of time.

Oh.

Oh, is it when you're like holding your hand under the thing and then you have to suck the lollipop for that amount of time?

That's exactly it.

So

when you burn, there's a small possibility, but if you burn yourself, the burn is treated by putting it in cold running water for about 20 minutes.

So the injured party is given the lollipop to suck so that they can stay there for 20 minutes and they don't have to like look at a camera on their phone.

Oh, I did not

cool my hand for long enough when I got burned in a forge once.

That's a very specific thing.

I did like two minutes.

I can't believe you have first-hand experience with this scenario and you didn't bring that up.

Yeah, no, no.

That could have helped.

No one gave me a lollipop.

Also,

I swear I read something about that's like not how you should treat burns as category like don't put it under cold water.

Oh, well, take it up with this forging arrow for you.

We're gonna find them.

That sounds like the kind of slightly questionable medical advice we do on QI.

Where we're like, actually, this is a misconception of myself.

Put it back in the fire.

It'll heal the faster.

Literally, fight, fire, wave, fire.

Homeopathic burn recovery.

Got it.

Take a tiny bit of fire and then dilute it until there's no fire.

That genuinely is probably how homeopathic burn medication is going to work.

But you haven't fully answered the question, why would you not give it to children?

There's a different treatment for children, but hospital.

That would be the responsible thing to do is get an actual doctor to take a look at their burns.

I think that comes later, yeah.

Is Is it they take too long to suck the lollipop or like

because of their tiny mouths?

Yeah, they're just the smallest.

Stupid children.

Sort of.

I think, how can I push you towards this?

What is it about children and lollipops that is?

Oh, they don't, they tend not to.

Well, in my experience, whenever I give my goddamn lollipops, they will suck them for two minutes and then throw them, forget them, get them stuck on someone else.

But have you grown out of a love of lollipops as you've become an adult?

Yes.

Because that's why they don't offer them to children, is that children would accidentally deliberately burn themselves so they could get lollipops.

Yeah.

Funny.

Yeah.

If you tell them, if you show them, here's lollipops, they're for burns victims, then you know children.

They'll stick their hand in the fire.

That's hardcore.

I would want to be friends with that child.

Just like looking the blacksmith dead in the eye with their hand in the flame, they're like, give me a lollipop.

Burning both hands so they get two.

which brings us to the question at the start of the show.

Thank you to Zilland for sending this one in.

What does Mrs.

Crunch have that Mr.

Crunch does not?

Any guesses from our panel before I give the audience the answer?

Is this like Mr.

Potato Head?

Uh, some sort of failed hazard

an active sex life, she's taken a lover, and then her marriage is broken down.

So, the Mrs.

Hazan.

Oh, um, is it um, because I think think of Captain Crunch, the cereal.

So, well, he has, obviously, like a like, he has a title, a command title.

He's in the army.

But I don't know what she is.

Oh, but isn't he missing a leg?

So she might have her leg.

Anyway, that's not Mr.

and Miss.

I don't think there is anything.

Yeah, there's Captain Crunch.

Yeah, there's not Mrs.

Crunch.

Are we in the realms of food?

You are in the realm of food.

It's a fairly well-known pair.

There's the Crunchy.

Snap, crackle, and pop.

Well, you think there's an extended family tree.

Snap, crackle, and pop, Miss.

Mr.

Mrs.

Crunch.

Oh, what are there two of?

Is it something like a Twix?

Are they known as Mr.

and Mrs.

Crunch?

Mr.

and Mrs.

Crunch are not English.

Oh, so this is a foreign version of something we'll recognise.

I wouldn't put those words in exactly that order.

But yes.

Well, I think Mrs.

Pac-Man has a bow.

Is it something really superficial like that?

I mean,

sort of, yes.

Oh, oh, I've got it.

Is it French?

Yes, it is.

Okay, it's croque monsieur and croque madame.

Yes, it is, Monsieur.

Mrs.

Crunch has an egg.

Correct.

Yes.

That's so good.

The croque madame is Mrs.

Crunch, which has a sunnyside egg on top, compared to a croque monsieur, which does not.

Thank you very much to all of our players.

Let's find out where can people find you, what's going on in your lives and work.

We will start with Manu.

Yep, so you can find us wherever you listen to your podcast.

It's called Lunchbox Envy.

And yeah, so like I said, today I've been looking at cheese.

If you're interested in cheese, this is the place for you.

And also

main foods, all of your foods.

Jack, what other episodes do you have?

Well, we've got ones on pastries, pizza.

I think we did a peanuts episode, an olives episode.

And you guys recorded the microwaves episode the other day.

We did.

Looking forward to hearing that one.

And Alex, what sort of stuff do you have coming up?

Yeah, as many as I was doing, cheese.

We've got,

well, we're going to do sweets.

We're definitely going to do something for Christmas.

We've got apples coming up.

We're also going on BBC Sounds as well.

So you'll be able to get us, you'll listen to us literally anywhere, all podcast platforms.

And if you want to know more about this show, you can do that at lateralcast.com where you can also send in your own ideas for questions.

We are at lateralcast basically everywhere, and there are regular video highlights at youtube.com/slash lateralcast and full video episodes on Spotify.

Thank you very much to Alex Bell.

Thank you.

Jack Chambers.

Thank you very much.

And Manu Onrio.

Oh, thank you.

I've been Tom Scott, and that's been Lateral.