James O'Brien's Mystery Hour

00:02 This is a Global Player original podcast. 00:08 This is LBC from Global. Leading Britain's conversation. Mystery Hour with James O'Brien. 00:17 It is four minutes after 12 and you are listening to James O'Brien on LBC. Listen, Miss Jan next. 00:26 I'm as excited as you are to hear Liz truss in our news bulletins. But, I mean, she's essentially a welfare claimant, isn't she? Herself. 00:35 the amount of income she gets by dint of having been prime minister for 10 minutes is obscene. 00:41 I think Kemi Badenow should introduce a law that bans her from spending any of it on wine or gambling, but I suspect that day might be a far, far off. Keith's crossed now. I've upset everyone. I haven't actually. I've only upset Keith. Keith hates nothing more than anything from the news agenda bleeding in to the final hour of Thursday's programme, because the final hour of Thursday's programme is mystery hour. I nearly said pure, but that now has quite unpleasant connotations after the last two hours, doesn't it? 01:14 So what is Mystery Hour? 01:16 Mystery Hour is your weekly opportunity to achieve the sort of satisfaction not ordinarily available anywhere else on your radio. Someone rings in with a question, quite possibly you, and somebody else rings in with an answer, also quite possibly you. Although you need rather more qualifications to provide an answer than you do to provide a question. And the question can be anything. It can be a who, a why, a what, a where, a when, a wither, even the occasional wherefore, not to mention whence. 01:43 Any other interrogative pronouns spring to mind? 01:47 And the subject matter is equally unspecified. It can be something quite tricky, scientific. Someone will need a real degree of expertise to answer or indeed a real degree in expertise. to answer that, while others may just be something that you saw yesterday and thought, what the heck is that all about? And why have I never wondered before? That's the way that it goes. 0345 6060 973 is the number that you need. And then when you've heard somebody else ask a question, and you think to yourself, I know the answer to this, then you also are required to ring in and share your answer. 02:23 There are two rules. The first is that you can't look anything up, obviously. I don't even know why I mention this anymore. When we started about 49 years ago, there was just a very occasional moment where you could tell someone had looked it up on Wikipedia. Now, I get that. It's exciting to be on the radio. I didn't used to get it. I was a bit dismissive. 02:43 But don't, please. Don't cheat, because it makes a mockery of the entire exercise. It really does. Just wait until there's a question that you do know the answer to, and then you can get on the radio. Or a little harder to get on with a question than it is with an answer, but still worth trying. Your patience will be rewarded. A judicious use of redial, I used to say every Thursday at about this time. So that's rule number one. I don't think I can remember rule number two. What was it? Something about roads, cars, motoring. I don't like motoring questions, but that's changing. 03:13 Hey, guess what happened to my column in the paper yesterday? So I told you it was about Jim Ratcliffe, who is a part owner of Manchester United. And they stuck it in the sports bit. Later in the day, after it had gone sort of semi-viral online, the iPaper sports desk put it out as one of their own with a hashtag Jim Ratcliffe. So I've made the sports desk now. I've made the sports pages, lads. And that prompted many of you to respond by pointing out I'll probably be doing motoring. I'll probably be doing motoring journalism. Would you read my motoring journalism? 03:45 If they gave me a car to drive, like to try, would you? I was given a car once. Do you know this story, Keith? 03:52 I was given a car once by Vauxhall. 03:55 I was just waxing lyrical on the radio about how nice the Vauxhall Zafira looked. 04:01 I don't have a petrol head gene. That's why we don't do motoring questions. But I really like it. The kids were young, and it just looked like the perfect car. I never really wanted an SUV. The bars in the front are too high and all of that malarkey. But a Vauxhall Zafira, it was called. 04:16 And it just looked like the perfect car to go on holiday in with the kids in England. So they sent me one. The press office got in touch. 04:25 Why is Eleanor asking me to keep saying Vauxhall Zafira? Am I pronouncing it wrong? Or are you just laughing at the prosaic nature of the car, the free car I got lent by? Well, it gets worse. 04:39 I know I could have asked for something a bit fancier, but I'm not lying when I say I haven't got the petrol gene. I really wanted a Vauxhall Zafira to go on holiday. And we were heading down to Devon in it, and they lent us one. They got in touch. I didn't ask. They got in touch. 04:55 And I took it home, parked outside my house and it got nicked. Like literally that day. 05:01 I don't think it was even in the house overnight. My sister came round and I said, oh, you'll see the Zafira outside. And she said, there's no Zafira outside. 05:09 I just looked out the window and it had gone. The car, they'd nicked it. I had to phone the press office and I didn't know them. I didn't have a relationship with them. I didn't have history. I had to phone them up and say, I'm really sorry, that car you lent me for free for a week to go on holiday to Devon in, it's been stolen. Luckily, we hadn't packed it up, which we would have done if we were better organised. So I don't know how they stole it, Keith. I honestly don't know. 05:38 Do I know? It's a while since I've told this story. I think we were bringing stuff into the house and we might have left the key on the little bit on top of the radiator. Yeah. When you come in, do you know what I mean? Like the little shelf above the right and they might have just crept into the house and nicked the key. Anyway, they nicked it. That was the beginning and the end of my motoring journalism experience. I essentially got given a Vauxhall's affair and I gave it away by accident to the local ne'er-do-well. 06:08 That's the end of today's motoring corner. Should we get Mystery Hour? No, quick bit of business. Board game, board game, boardy, boardy, board game. My favourite contribution of the day will receive a Mystery Hour game. Either the board game or... 06:23 The travel edition, it's in a tin. Full terms and conditions are at lbc.co.uk. And if you want to buy a game, and why wouldn't you, then you can go to mysteryhour.co.uk. There are currently two phone lines free. 06:36 I'm going to read. I think Cam speaks for everybody when they write, this is so partridge. I love you, James. Please don't ever change. 06:44 I've got you, Cam. I've got you. 06:47 James is in Thaden Boys. James, question or answer? 06:51 I've got an answer, James. 06:54 Go on, man. No, I've always wanted to say that. I've always wanted to say that. I'm so sorry. 06:59 But no, seriously. I am a first-time caller. Long-time listener. Long-time listener. But I'm curious, right? I've been building golf courses all my life and doing this. I've always worn jeans, denim, and all that. And on the right-hand side pocket, there's a little pocket. 07:15 Yeah. 07:16 Yeah? 07:17 Yeah. 07:17 What was it actually meant to design for? Because with waistcoats, you've got your pocket, which is your chains or your watches. But on the jeans or the denim, whatever you want to call them, there's a little pocket on the right-hand one. Just wondered what it was actually meant for. 07:33 I'm going to have a crack drawing on my experience in menswear, although I never sold any denim when I was working at Aquascutum of Regent Street. 07:41 Go on, then. I've just got the word change pocket stuck in my head somewhere. Bear with... 07:47 what did i just say bear with thank you um your main pocket is is cloth it's linen right it's you know you're when you when you turn your jeans inside out the main pocket is is cloth yeah yeah so if you've got i mean either keys or change in your cloth pocket you're going to punch a hole in it Whereas in your little pocket, because it's denim all the way round, denim on denim, as it were, you can keep your keys or your change in there, and it is never going to punch a hole in your pocket. 08:25 Yeah, but would you wear a chain around your waist? No, not a chain. 08:28 You've got a belt? 08:30 Yeah, no, change. 08:32 Oh, change, sorry. Change, yeah, yeah. 08:34 No, it's all right, because the chain, you're right. The fob pocket would go on a waistcoat, but I think it's where you keep either change, loose change, or keys in a way that ensures that they won't make a hole in your pocket. 08:50 Yeah, fair enough. 08:52 Some people think it's for a condom, but I think that's unlikely. 08:55 Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, I do. I wasn't sure if it was from, like, because denim comes from, like, the Texas, and that is a rodeo thing, or you put a coin in there or something like that. I think it would be that. 09:05 I'm going to leave it on the board, because there'll be someone who probably knows a bit better. I mean, when you said, it said on the screen that you worked in denim, I thought that that was your, I thought you worked in denim. I didn't realise you just worked in denim. Like, I work in trousers, but I don't work in, 09:19 trousers i work in trousers most days yeah no they're just hard wearing and i'm always on my knees oh well you and me both what um what is the golf hang on before you go you say you design golf courses yeah that's a fun job isn't it it can be and i also redesign them and rebuild them so like reshape them reshape them okay so if you So from a par three, we'll take it to par four and that sort of stuff. 09:48 Nice work. I like that, especially in the summer months. James, lovely question and indeed answer. 03456060973, the little pocket on your jeans. Definitive only, remember. That's why I ask for people's qualifications. I've always thought it was for this. That's fine. I'll do that. You provide the definitive answers, please. Luke's in edgeware. Luke, question or answer? 10:09 Hello, Luke. It is a question, please, James. Carry on. 10:13 Why do people say ow when they are initially hurt? 10:17 So I'm just going to have a quick word with Keith, Luke. Talk among yourself. Have we done this before? I don't remember ever doing this before. I love it when that happens. So, yes. Ow! Ow! 10:28 You stub your toe and it's ow. 10:30 Keith's offered to come in and punch me in order to test this theory, but I think I can do a fairly good impression of someone who's just been, ow! Does it happen in all cultures? You know how in some cultures they nod their head for no and shake their head for yes. Does everybody, regardless of language or geography, does everyone go, ow! 10:49 I have no idea. No, nor do I. 10:52 I like it. We will find out. Why do we say ow? Does everyone say ow? Why is it ow? Is it learned behaviour? Or is it a reflex? If you never met another human being and you got hurt, would you go ow? Even if you couldn't speak any English language at all? 12.15 is the time. Two lovely questions on the board and there's only more to come. 11:14 12.16 is the time. I like this from Dan James. If you like a Vauxhall Zafira, then please look up a Fiat Multipla. And if you like that, then never do motoring journalism again. I think we're pretty safe, mate. Well played. Colin's in Corby. Colin, question or answer? 11:31 Hello, James. It's a question, please. Carry on, Colin in Corby. 11:35 Right. As you know, we have control of most of our muscles, don't we, in our body? Yes. 11:40 Yes. 11:41 Why is it that when we chew food, our tongue seems to go in autopilot? In other words, we don't think about what we're doing with our tongue. It seems to go around, push food around all on its own without us even thinking about it. 11:56 Why is that? 11:59 That's a nice wry chuckle at the end there, Colin. Well, I mean, do I understand the question? I mean, what else is it going to do? 12:08 Well, no, but it does it without thinking. We're not actually consciously moving our tongue around. But what else is it going to do? 12:15 Your mouth is full of food, man. It's got to go somewhere. 12:18 I know, but is it the brain that is controlling the tongue? Because the tongue moves around, sloshing the food around. When we're not thinking about it, are we? You know what I'm saying? 12:31 Well, I mean, I understand what the words mean. I want you to imagine a cement mixer. 12:36 Oh, yes. 12:37 Have you got that in mind now? 12:40 Yeah, very similar, yes. 12:41 Okay, now put a spade in the cement mixer, okay? Okay. 12:47 Yeah. And now let go of the spade. Let go of the spade. 12:50 No. What's happened? What's happened? No, no, no. You can't say no. It's stationary, isn't it? Look, think of it my way, right? We're chewing a sandwich. We're walking along the road. Hang on. 13:03 I just want to do a quick chat. I just want to ask how many people are now doing this? How many people are now chewing, even though they've got meat? Well, I am. I am, Colin. I am. 13:12 Right, you're chewing a sandwich and walking along. 13:14 Oh, no, no, you can't be walking along. My mum hates that. 13:17 Absolutely hates eating in public. You're standing at a bus stop. All right, then. 13:22 I'm still in public. You're in a cafe. 13:24 Okay, I'm in a cafe, right? Yeah, chewing a sandwich. I'm sitting on the chair, chewing a sandwich. I'm reading the paper. Is that allowed? 13:32 Yes. 13:34 My tongue is... moving around my mouth, pushing food from side to side without me thinking about it happening. 13:43 I don't know that it is. 13:45 I think it is. Well, yeah, but it just is. 13:49 Yeah, but so the brain is... No, because if you engaged your brain, you would be able to make your tongue do something else. So your tongue is just a... 13:58 It's a victim of... 13:59 It's thinking on its own, you're saying. No, of course it's not thinking on its own. 14:03 It's moving as a consequence of the chewing. 14:06 But it knows where the pieces of food are to move them around. Well, it's a mouth, isn't it? They're hardly hiding. Oh, OK. Well, you know... So, hang on. In a sentence, what's the question? In a sentence, what's the question? The question is, how does the tongue... know how to move around the mouth without us telling it. Like we would an arm, lift an arm or move a leg. 14:30 It's a long old sentence, Colin. 14:32 Oh, OK. We'll skip that one and go on to the next call then. There we go. 14:38 How does the tongue know? How does the tongue know stuff? 03456060973. Thank you, Colin. Remember, as I bid farewell to Colin in Corby, then there is a phone line free for you. And there it goes. Jonathan's in Tower Hill. Jonathan, question or answer? 14:52 It's a question. 14:53 Carry on. 14:54 When you find a dead fly in the bathroom, what is it actually died of? Because there's water there, there's probably enough bacteria there for it to live on. Just wondering, has it just bashed its head on the mirror too many times? It's something I've wondered for about 60 years. Never found an answer. 15:10 It would just be old age, wouldn't it? 15:13 I don't know, because it wasn't there the day before. 15:15 That's how age works. It's a day older. That last day was the straw that broke the fly's back. 15:24 I thought flies had probably more longevity than that. 15:28 But you thought how long it's been alive when you find it dead in your bathroom. It could have been alive for 100 years. You only notice it when it's dead. 15:37 Well... I think it will be a form of old age. I mean, is it specific to bathrooms or do you mean any dead fly? 15:46 No, because you tend to use pesticides possibly elsewhere in your house, but not necessarily in your bathroom. 15:51 But a fly has died of natural causes, as far as we can tell. 15:57 If you say so, I'm not 100% sure about that. 16:00 So you think it might be, it could be deodorant, it could have got caught in a deodorant spray when you were doing your armpits? 16:07 Don't think so. What then? What would be an unnatural cause of a fly's death? You're going with knocked itself out on the mirror. 16:16 Possibly. I don't know, because they do tend to kind of whiz around themselves. 16:21 So what do flies mostly dial? I like that question. What do flies mostly dial? What's the most common cause of death for a housefly? 16:29 That'll do. 16:30 I love it. 21 minutes after 12 is the time. And Tom is in Gdansk. Tom, question or answer? 16:37 Hi, James. Question. Carry on. 16:40 Um... 16:41 Why didn't all mammals, including humans, evolve like koalas and kangaroos to have a pouch for the baby? 16:50 No evolutionary benefit. 16:53 But they look so cosy and warm and safe. 16:57 Yeah, no, but there's no evolutionary benefit. 17:00 It's to do with gestation periods as well, isn't it? I don't know. Yeah, I think it is. I mean, these questions aren't really questions. Because do you know what fascinates me? Why are our teeth so rubbish? 17:14 What teeth? Teeth. Why haven't we evolved better mouth action? Oh, we're going back to Colin and Corby's question now, aren't we? But teeth by now, you shouldn't get rotten teeth and toothache and teeth falling out. They should be like made of metal or something. 17:29 Yeah, that's true. Yeah, you see? I don't mind my teeth. Well, you're very lucky. I don't mind my teeth much, but, you know, I'm a bit wary of pork scratchings at this point in my life. There's a few things I probably won't do with my teeth that I would have done as a younger man. Your teeth, they perish and they fail. 17:47 So why haven't we evolved better teeth? 17:49 That's true. Yeah, and you're asking, why aren't we all marsupials? 17:54 They're not mammals, they're marsupials. 17:57 But they do look good, don't they? Yes, I would like a pouch to crawl into at the end of the day, but it would need to be a very big marsupial for me to fit in its pouch, wouldn't it? 18:08 They're like a baby pocket. 18:09 They're perfect. I don't know when they learn to get out of the pouch and sort of roam on their own, but why not? Because we're not marsupials, is the technical biological answer. But we're mammals. Yeah, but they're not. 18:26 No, they are. No, they are. Yeah, they are mammals. They are mammals. They are. No, I know they are. I just said that. 18:32 I don't know. 18:32 Is the question not why do they have pouches? Isn't that the question? 18:37 Yeah, okay. Why do they have pouches? 18:40 Why do marsupials have pouches? 18:42 03456060973. Thank you, Tom. Can I read this one? 18:52 I don't know. Can I read that? Can I say all the words in that message or not? There's one in the middle of it that's a little bit blasphemous. Are we OK? 18:59 This is from Chris. Jeez, who's filtering these callers? How does your tongue know what to do? Question mark, exclamation mark. Christ on a bike, writes Chris, speaking for many. Aaron is in Rochester. Aaron, question or answer? 19:15 It's a question, James. 19:16 Carry on, Aaron. 19:18 Why is the face we pull when we've smelt something really bad one of the highest compliments you can play a musician? 19:28 Oh, like a wince almost. 19:30 Like a wince. Like you've gone... And even, to be honest, even verbally, you can say, what a disgusting line. And it's actually a compliment. There's something about hearing something, a musician improvising, when it's an awesome phrase, and you just want to pull a face like... 19:45 I'm doing it now for the benefit of people watching later on YouTube. 19:48 I'm a musician, and I do it, but I can't explain it. 19:52 Is it concentration? Are we trying to concentrate even harder... 19:57 on the thing that we love. 20:01 Well, it feels like a reaction. 20:03 I just did it again. Like, ooh. Ooh, I just did it again. It's like, yeah, you kind of wince when you hear it. 20:09 It's not quite the same as a nasty. So a nasty smell for me would be this. 20:14 And then a lovely bit of music would be... 20:17 It's a slightly... My mouth is doing different things, but my face is clenching. 20:21 Hmm. 20:23 There's something going on there. 20:24 My tongue's doing whatever it wants. It's got a mind of its own. 20:28 But if you isolate that face on its own, it looks like a face that's not approving of something. 20:34 Bass face, they call it. They call it bass face in some musical circles, I'm told, by Sam. I probably should have checked that. No, it is bass, bass face, bass face. What? Yeah, okay. So why do we pull the same face at the bass that we do a nasty smell? 20:55 Yeah, or some kind of rejection. And I think it's not just exclusive to musicians. There's possibly other areas of the creative arts that it happens to. 21:07 I'm sure people do it listening to this. 21:10 Isn't that funny? I've never done it. 21:12 I've never done it. 21:15 As a musician, I've pulled it myself all the time. 21:18 And there's even memes about it. Yeah, well, that's what I mean. 21:23 It's Bass Face. Most of the memes are about bass players, but not all of them, obviously. 21:28 And then the other one is called Stank Face. Did you know that? So why is Bass Face and Stank Face the same face? We didn't even have two new phrases. You didn't know either of these phrases, did you, Aaron? I didn't, actually. Nor did I. Bass Face, Stank Face. 21:41 Why is Bass Face the same face as Stank Face? 21:44 We pull all sorts of contorted faces when we're trying to play the music as a bass. But when we hear it, I mean, as a musician myself, I still pull that face. I can't explain it. I've got no idea. Concentrate. 21:57 It's something to do with concentrating. But why would the stank face be the same as the bass face? What do you play? I play piano, mainly. Okay. And you do the face when you're playing the piano? 22:07 Not when I play, but when I listen. 22:09 Not when you're listening, but not when you're playing. 22:10 No, and it's more to do with listening to an improvised phrase. 22:15 But that's what floats your boat, isn't it? 22:17 When I'm listening. 22:18 Yeah. 22:19 Yeah. 22:20 Are you sure you're not doing it when you're playing? How would you know? How have you checked? 22:25 I don't. I bet you do. Maybe a little. Maybe a little. I mean, I play, I certainly have a concentration face. 22:32 Yeah, but that's not the same as bass face. 22:35 It's not the same face as you pull when you hear something. 22:38 No, that's basically. Or maybe that's concentration. Anyway, I think the parameters of the question have been well established now during the course of this conversation, Aaron. I'll put it on the board. 03456060973. So we've got the... I can't read my own... I'm writing the jeans pocket. 22:56 Ow! The tongue. 23:00 I can't read that one. The pouch and the face. What's that one there? The fly. Yeah, it does say fly. How can I write the word fly in a way that I can't read it? It's only three letters. 23:11 Robert is in Saltburn by the Sea. Robert, question or answer? Afternoon, James. There's a question. Carry on. 23:19 Right. Has British Sign Language been around long enough to start developing regional accents? So, would someone in Cornwall... converse with someone from the Outer Hebrides, converse with them and say, well, where's your accent from? Because there are little nuances that have come in. 23:34 I think it does. I mean, I'll need someone else to answer it. I know that you have dialects. 23:40 Which would make sense, because if you're in an area of the country where... I mean, the great one is always the bread roll, isn't it? 23:47 So, you know, it's called a balm, or it's called a cob, or it's called a roll, or it's called a... So I do know that it recognises dialect. So, yeah, I think the answer is yes, but I'm not really qualified to go... 24:01 local words isn't it but in in the actual british sign language teaching yes could you identify someone from another region of the uk by their signing i think the answer is yes but i've got absolutely nothing to back it up except a vague memory of a previous mystery hour all right so it's on the board i like the i like questions about sign language and why do you think those of us um with with full hearing are so interested by sign language 24:27 I don't know. I genuinely don't know. I was looking at someone at a bus stop signing and just thought, you know, if he was talking to someone else in the UK, because I know there's American sign language and British sign language, but has it developed? And why would it develop regional accents? I get verbally, but... 24:45 Yeah, me too. I'm 90% sure that you do get regional accents, but I can't remember how to prove it. So someone else will have to do the heavy lifting on that one. Nice one, Robert. 03456060973, if you can answer any of these. Amelia Cox has your headline. 25:03 33 minutes after 12 bass faces is the listener not the bass player i've not i've not heard the phrase before i was quite a big raver back in the day but it's when the bass kicks in when the bass drops um on a tune and it wouldn't just have to be dance music would it it could be on absolutely anything um but when the bass comes in your face goes bass equals face you go like whoa That is what Aaron was talking about. But as he pointed out, it's the same face pretty much as when you're disgusted by something. Why? What's going on there? Both involuntary reactions, maybe. 25:34 We just didn't realize it. I like that question, but I will be slightly surprised if we get an answer. And that applies to quite a few so far this week. But you never know, do you? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Speaking of raving, don't worry, I'm not going off on another tangent. Well, I am, but not for as long as the last one. It's really sad when you look at the racism that's on the rise and the sort of flash mob fascists and all that kind of stuff and the brown shorts. 25:59 So if they're round about my age or younger or five years older, then they'd have been there for rave. That little window when we actually did all love each other. 26:09 And somehow they've managed to bend themselves into vessels of hatred and rejection instead of the great summer of love in 88 when everybody loved everybody. Anyway, just an observation. So I've joined one of those sites. I told you my Facebook was wholesome where you just get pictures of ravers. Good Lord, we looked a state, didn't we? And I'm still addicted to trying to see if I can find myself in the background of any of the Hacienda shots or the overnight, the big raves in Delamere Forest and places like that, or at Maximus at Love Ranch in Leicester Square. 26:43 A couple of times I thought that's me, but there's no way I can be sure. I look like everybody else did then. I even had a ponytail. Anyway, enough of that. Back to Mystery Hour. Molly's in Dublin. Molly, question or answer? 26:54 Question, James. 26:56 Carry on. 26:56 So... You go to bed, you're sound asleep, and then you need to get up for the bathroom. 27:02 Yeah. 27:03 How does your brain know to wake up the body to go to the toilet when you're sound asleep? 27:11 Your bladder tells it. 27:14 But how can your bladder tell your brain when your brain's switched off that you need to... Are you related to Colin? 27:20 Are you related to Colin and Corby? Are you sure? You're from the Irish branch of the family. Yes. 27:27 I went to bed last night, sound asleep. Six times I had to get up and I didn't lose a dribble. 27:33 Oh, Lord above. 27:35 We didn't need that little detail, did we, Molly? Honestly. 27:39 Because your bladder, I mean, the discomfort in your bladder wakes you up. Well, yeah, but OK, if I poked you with a stick, that would wake you up as well, wouldn't it? 27:51 No, not me. Oh, yeah, but don't stop splitting hairs, woman. 27:55 All right, I poked you with a needle. That would wake you up, wouldn't it? No. All right, if I slapped you around the face with an old kipper, that would wake you up, wouldn't it? 28:05 Probably smell of the kipper would more wake you up. 28:07 So how does your brain... Okay, then the smell of the kipper would wake you up. So how does your brain know that there's a smelly kipper under your nose? 28:17 The discomfort wakes you up. So the same reason why the sunlight might wake you up, or a poke in the ribs if you're snoring might wake you up, or discomfort in the bladder area might wake you up. No. 28:30 I'm not buying it. Well, it's just true. 28:32 It's not even up for grabs, this one. 28:34 Keith, round of applause. 28:36 I've got a bladder and a brain. 28:41 Which makes one of us You're very welcome. Not a dribble, honestly. You want me to leave it on the table? Eleanor's making an executive. Since when are you allowed to make an executive? I invented this game. My word is law. I am Mystery Hour God. 28:58 All right, we'll leave it on the board. 29:00 I'm obviously right. What else is it going to be? Your bladder is uncomfortable. It wakes you up in the same way that if you rolled over onto a brick or a pebble or something like that. All right, no round of applause for me. Molly, take care. Thank you for being a good sport. Tina's in Dover. Tina, question or answer? 29:15 Answer, please, James. 29:16 Carry on, Tina. 29:18 Firstly, long-term fan, and I just wish I could speak as eloquently and passionately about everything you talk about as you do. Oh, bless you. Thank you. 29:26 It's just Keith, you know. He says it all in my ear, and I just parrot it out. Is he? Yeah, it's all Keith. I need something like that. I'm just the looks. He's the Serrano de Bergerac. I'm the handsome young suitor. He's whispering it all in my ear, Tina. 29:39 My son will be laughing his socks off if he listens to this at work because he always says that there's a hierarchy in our family where it's the dog... And then my hero worship of you. And then my husband and the children under me. 29:51 Oh, I'm honoured. I'm honoured. 29:53 Thank you. I probably am different. Anyway, answer is for the sign language question. Oh, yes. 30:01 BSL is a language that's embraced in the UK and sign language is not necessarily embraced all around the world. But in the UK, BSL is now the fourth recognised language in the UK. And there are huge variations within areas. Just like if we're speaking English, we have variations in our accents, different words that we use. So they could be a language difference in that a hand sign is different. 30:31 Wow. 30:32 Or it could be just a very slight change in a hand movement can make a difference. So numbers can be different, signs for food perhaps, all sorts of stuff can be very different. 30:45 And that is like an accent as well as different words and different gestures for different words. There is something like an accent, like a sort of digital flourish as it were. 30:55 yeah it's almost like it's like your deaf cultural accent your cultural identity so a different religious faith with deaf people and it might have different signs or a different a different uh cultural minority or a different race or a different faith or even uh young people who are deaf might make up their own signs for their own young stuff like young people make up language that they know that their parents aren't going to be able to recognize things. 31:25 And slang, slang, in that sense, bits of slang. 31:27 Oh, absolutely, yeah, slang's involved as well. 31:30 What are your qualifications? 31:33 So I'm qualified to British Sign Language Level 3, of which there are six levels, and I work for the Royal Association for the Deaf. So I'm a support worker in the community with deaf people, and it's wonderful. 31:47 Yeah, well, so are you. That's a great thing to do. How did you get into that, if you don't mind me asking? 31:53 I always loved learning languages, even at school. What do you mean, even at school? 31:59 You mean especially at school? 32:00 That's where it starts, usually. 32:04 Yeah, I had the opportunity to travel a lot. 32:06 Right. 32:07 And then about eight or nine years ago, I just saw something with a taster session of it and thought, this looks interesting. 32:17 And I was hooked, and it made me make a complete career change into it. Wonderful. It's the best thing I've ever done. 32:24 Apart from the kids, Tina. 32:25 Apart from the kids, yeah. 32:26 Thank you, yeah, and the dog. And the dog. Final question. Can you tell, if you watch someone else doing sign language, would someone, maybe you, maybe someone else, be able to say, oh, you're from Cornwall? 32:38 yes i mean possibly not myself because i'm not qualified to such a high level but certainly if you were a real top level or interpreter level then you'd be able to definitely wonderful stuff have um have a round of applause tina and thank you for the kind words as well lovely stuff 12 41 is the time scott's in chester scott question or answer 33:00 It's a question, James. Can I just start as well by saying I absolutely love you, mate? What's going on here? Is there a bit of a... I grew up in a very right-wing house. My dad calls Farage Sir Nigel. He's not your biggest fan, but I am your biggest fan. I'm sure he'd love hearing me saying I absolutely love you. 33:23 I love you too, mate. Where are we? What's the question? 33:26 You can ask whatever you want now. I'm not going to take the mickey out of it in 100 years, am I? You've absolutely done me. Go on, fill your booth. 33:32 I love that. So I've already got the board game as well, so you don't need to put me in the list. It's just about electricity. So I'm from a mechanical engineering background, and I know that you can run everything on 110 volt. America runs everything on 110 volt. Why do we do everything on 240 volt? Why is it more than double if Every appliance you've got can run on 110. Why do we do it at 240? It just seems unnecessarily high. 34:01 Well, I mean, I've never... I understand what you're saying because I can count. 34:07 I didn't know any of that. I didn't know that this country was a sort of outlier when it comes to the... 34:12 I think Europe is also... Mainland Europe, I think, is 240 as well. So it's not just us. 34:18 But, I mean, so in engineering, in this country, we do everything on 110 volt. 34:23 But if it's domestic, it's 240? 34:26 Yeah. Well, that's fascinating. Yeah, so, but all of our equipment we use is all 110 volt. 34:32 And in all the years you've been doing it, no one's ever been able to tell you why? 34:36 I've asked multiple electricians. I thought you might have done. I mean, these are sparkies from the Wirral, so, I mean, you know, you 34:42 I don't know if anyone would know it. It'd be a sparky from the world. All right, you're on. Why is our standard voltage 240 when we could run everything for 110? Or when Americans are bringing it all in for 110? Well, even a kettle, even an American kettle. American kettles are a bit rubbish, aren't they? 35:02 I think, yeah, I don't know if it's... I think I've done it. 35:05 I think I've bloody solved it. It's kettles. Yeah. 35:07 It's all down to the kettles, yeah. 35:09 No, I mean it. It's all down to the kettles. You can't get a decent cup of tea in the States. They've all got coffee. 35:13 You can't get anything decent in the States. 35:16 You sound like your dad now, Scott. Be careful. 35:18 No, sorry. I do like going there. I've been many times. I'm very lucky. 35:22 All right, you're on. So what is it? 35:25 Why is everything 240 volts in this country and 110 in the States? That is technical. I like it. Scott, thank you for the kind words, mate. Stay safe. 35:34 Nick's in Haywood's Heath. Nick, question or answer? 35:36 I'm in Plumpton now. I was in Hayward Seeds, but we've moved to Plumpton. 35:40 Hang on, excuse me a second. Can we amend the records, please? Where are you now? 35:45 Plumpton. 35:46 Plumpton? Plumpton, with a P. Plumpton with a P, like Trumpton, but with a P. Can we amend the records, please? Nick, is your name still Nick? My name is still Nick. Right, he's still Nick, but he's in Plumpton. All right, can we make sure that that... Yeah, thank you. Carry on, Nick, in Plumpton. Definitely not Hayward's Heath. Perish the sword. Blimey Hayward's Heath. That's old news. Carry on, Nick. What's your answer? 36:10 It's an answer about the pocket on the pair of jeans. Yes. 36:14 So there's a lot of discussion back and forth within people who collect denim and denim heads and stuff about what that pocket was actually originally for. And the idea of it being a coin pocket is a fairly new kind of idea. For a long time, it was referred to as a watch pocket. Yes. For keeping a pocket watch in. 36:36 Before the wristwatch became commonplace, you'd have some sort of timepiece in your pocket. Even if you were a cowboy, you still needed to tell the time. So if you weren't wearing a waistcoat, you'd stick it in your jeans. 36:46 But as jeans were originally made for people that worked down mines... 36:53 The jeans started being made by Levi's in the 1870s and other brands kind of around that time for mine workers. And those mine workers probably wouldn't have been able to afford a pocket watch. So it's believed that it was actually used to carry either matches or flint for lighting the lanterns that they used when they were down the mine shafts. 37:17 So history doesn't actually provide us with a definitive answer. 37:21 No. But the best bet, the wisest theory is that it would be... And then you wouldn't keep them in the main body of the pocket because they'd be much harder to find. Yeah. 37:34 Well, a lot of the original records for Levi's were destroyed in the... I think it was the 1901 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco. Are you serious? Where a lot of the original Levi's documents got... 37:47 burnt down and destroyed um some of the things were kept but um most of their early records were destroyed so a lot of those things sort of prior to that time you know we don't know about so sort of it's more guesswork really no it's incredible what are your qualifications i i worked at levi's for about six seven years and i actually wrote a book about um all the elements on denim and all the stories that they tell from the back pocket and stitching the salvage red light the salvage line that all the different labels and hang tags you literally wrote the book yeah i wrote a book on it denim branded denim branded yeah jeans wears evolving design details that's it yeah we got to travel around the states myself and my wife we went to visit all the archives of levi's wrangler and lee and we got to um shoot photographs of all the archive pieces and we put together a book on sort of all the stories behind 38:48 the historical elements that is so cool is your wife jenny is jenny your wife jenny yeah jenny's my wife he's listening listening now in the kitchen well i should give her her full title then because the book is called denim branded jeans where's evolving design details and it is by nick williams with jenny corpus did i pronounce that correctly Yep. I'm going to give you a Ray Liotta, mate, because, I mean, you wrote the book. It's incredible. Have you been sitting there waiting for this moment? 39:13 I have. I have. I've been listening to Mystery Hour, waiting for a question on anything to do with denim to come up, and I heard it today, so I got straight on the... Here it is. 39:23 Absolutely beautiful. 39:24 I'm Ray Liotta, and you're listening to James O'Brien on LBC. 39:29 If you build it, they will come. 39:34 You have to share it with Jenny, Nick, obviously. All right. Nice one. All right. Cheers to you too. That's perfect. Absolutely perfect. 39:43 Ten, two, one is the time. Why do we say ow? Why do we say ouch when we hurt ourselves? How does the tongue know what to do when we're eating? 39:52 What's the most common cause of death for a fly? 39:55 Why do marsupials have pouches? 39:59 Why do we pull a face when we're listening to bass or a bit of lovely music that's the same face as when we encounter a bad smell? 40:07 Uh... 40:09 the bladder how does our how does how do we get woken up in time to go to the toilet and why do we why are we all 240 volt in this country when they're 110 in the states that'll do colin's in liverpool colin question or answer it's an answer james carry on colin it's the electricity question this is an easy one um so let me just let me try and explain this basically so if you want to boil let's take a kettle if you want to boil um a liter of water 40:36 you have to put a certain amount of energy into that water to get it hot. So that's the power that you need to put into it. Now, power is generated by electricity and it's a combination of the voltage and the current. So power equals voltage times current. So to get a kilowatt of power, you have to have a certain voltage and a certain current. Now, In the US, traditionally, they've chosen to go with 110 volts, which means that you would need, what's that, about 5 amps to get a kilowatt. 41:12 Now, most of the rest of the world has gone with 220 volts, which means that you only need 2.5 amps. So the lower voltage means you need a higher current. 41:26 Now, the issue with the higher current is... 41:30 Current is what makes wiring hot. So if you run a long extension lead, you'll sometimes feel the wiring gets a little bit warm because you're pulling a lot of current through it. So in the US, you're more likely to have wiring that runs hot because you've got to have twice as much current. 41:48 So cheaper, but less safe. 41:50 Not cheaper. It's not cheaper. 41:52 I thought there'd be less metal in it. 41:54 No. You need thicker wiring, generally. 42:00 Thicker wiring for the American one, so more expensive and less safe. 42:04 Yes, and the danger is that's why the US tends to have quite a lot of house wires because wiring runs hot. But there's a trade-off, and the reason that the Americans chose the 110, I think, and I'm not actually sure about this, but 110 volts doesn't electrocute you. If you touch 110 volts, you'll get a mild buzz, but it won't shock you, but 220 does. So it's a trade-off. So we have wiring that's less likely to catch fire, but it's more likely to shock us. 42:35 But we would get a nasty shock if the circumstances... That's beautifully done. Qualifications? 42:41 All sorts of things. I spoke to you about AR a couple of weeks ago. I'm an electronic engineer by trade. 42:46 Well played, Colin. Have a round of applause on me. Lovely stuff. 42:49 Thank you. 42:50 Very nicely done as well. Dev's in Hillingdon. Dev, question or answer? 42:53 I've got an answer for you, James. 42:54 Come on then, Dev. 42:56 So I'm going to tackle the tongue question because that's a really simple question on the face of it, but it's really complicated. 43:05 So basically, when you're born, you've got certain reflexes which are vital to life, such as breathing, such as swallowing and suckling, for example. Now, all these movements require, all these functions require the coordinated action of lots and lots of different muscles. And if you think about it, if a baby is born suckling milk, if it doesn't swallow properly, then first of all, if it doesn't manipulate the milk in its mouth properly and then push it back into its throat, all in a coordinated way, the milk will end up in its lungs, it'll get pneumonia and die. 43:40 Wow. Of course, now you say it like that, it is sort of learned, not unlearned. 43:46 Yeah, so some of these things are programmed in you when you're born. So you've got lots of reflexes that connect your tongue, your epiglottis, your trachea, your esophagus, all to the brain stem. which means that the tongue sort of knows what to do when it receives a stimulus. 44:05 Oh, wow. 44:06 So it's like when you tap your patella tag and your knee kicks. 44:09 Your knee goes, yeah. 44:10 So you get a whole sequence of activities that happen which are programmed into your brain. 44:15 So in a way, you might as well have asked, Colin might as well have asked about how we get food into our... So epistalsis is the thing that takes the food into our tummy, right? 44:27 Yeah, yes. 44:27 And that's the same thing. That's like an involuntary muscle contraction. 44:32 It's voluntary. So the top bit, when you can move your mouth, your tongue around, for example, so speaking, for example, and chewing, you can do that voluntarily, but there are involuntary actions that are also programmed in. 44:45 Oh, you're joking me. It was a brilliant question. 44:47 And when you swallow, then the activities, your epiglossus, your trachea, The peristaltic wave down your esophagus and all that stuff is pre-programmed. So you've got no control over that. 44:59 That's just fantastic. 45:01 So there's two things going on. One is that these things are programmed into your brain. And secondly, some of these things are vital to life. As I said, if you can't swallow... That's it. 45:11 So it's an evolutionary. If you didn't have that, you wouldn't survive. 45:15 It's a well-played Colin. It's a much better question than any of us realised. What are your... And also, get lost, that person who wrote in saying it sounds like it's a full moon, all the questions are rubbish. Shows what you know. Qualifications, Dev? 45:26 So I've got a degree in physiology, but I'm also a surgeon. 45:31 Well, let us detain you no longer. You haven't got anyone. We didn't step out of the theatre for this, did you? 45:36 Yeah, well, I need to just wash my hands, so that's all right. 45:39 Round of applause for Dan. What a great answer. Of course, when you say it like that, that's brilliantly expressed, brilliantly. Philip's in Goff's Oak. Philip, question or answer? It's an answer, James. Go on, mate. 45:49 Kind of going on from what the last one was talking about, different kinds of nerves and systems. It's about the bladder. 45:56 Oh, yes. 45:56 So why do you wake up? The bladder is basically a ball which is a bit muscular. And inside the walls of that bag are nerves, which work on the assumption that when the stretch gets to a certain point, it can hold no more. So it has to evacuate the bladder. So during the day, you're aware of that because you think, oh, I need to go to the toilet, this, that, and the other. During the night, the autonomous nervous system, which is what he works in the background, will look at the bladder and go, this is getting full up. 46:27 We now need to come out of sleep. and evacuate the bladder and again it's a learned response what kids learn to hold on to their their wee when you're teaching them of course they do because they'd wet the bed otherwise so we learn to recognize exactly yes exactly and then you learn to recognize that feeling and it and it wakes you up Yeah, and that's why you do it. 46:49 So I was kind of right, but Eleanor was right to leave it on the board because we've now got a much more interesting answer than me just talking about discomfort. You've gone all scientific on us, haven't you? 46:59 That's it, yeah. 47:00 Qualifications? 47:01 A BSc in human biology. 47:03 That'll do nicely. A round of applause for Philip. Thank you. Thank you all. Sweezing one more. Hester's in Bristol. Hester, question or answer? 47:10 Answer. 47:10 You're going to have to be quick. I do apologise. 47:12 I know, I realise. 47:13 Carry on. 47:14 Okay, right. It's about the making a weird face when you like the bass. How low can you go? Well, I'm a kind of musician. And for years, I wondered about why on earth we have, like, physiological responses to the sounds. Like, you get goosebumps. 47:32 That's right. I cried once. I was at a concert. Tears pouring down my face. Yeah, it was extraordinary. 47:37 I do it all the time. Yeah. But anyway, so I was thinking about this thing. And I remembered a book that I found, which answered all my questions a few years back. And unfortunately, I can't remember the author. It was called Your Brain on Music. 47:53 Okay. Okay. 47:54 And I would recommend it to anyone who's even remotely interested in this because it's absolutely fantastic. But anyway, basically, there are certain sounds which we can create as music which have a sort of universal response. A physiological response. 48:10 So in a way, all three of these questions are linked. The one about bladders, the one about tongues and the one about music. 48:17 Yes, indeed. They're involuntary reactions to certain... 48:22 This is one of my favourite mystery hour moments of all time. We've got a Ray Liotta for the denim, for the jeans, and then we've had three questions, outwardly either varying degrees of ridiculous and having nothing to do with each other, but they all speak to the same biological phenomena. 48:36 Do you think that's worthy of a board game? 48:38 Oh, yeah. Go on, then. Well, hang on. Let me have a think. No, I have to go. Oh, well, have a round of applause in the meantime. Thank you. Thank you. No, lovely answer. Who gets the board game this week? Can someone else decide? 48:51 Oh, OK. 48:54 Yeah, all right. We'll give it to Hester because she seems so nice. And she asked, and now everyone else is going to ask, and next week will be a disaster. If you missed any of today's show, you can listen back on our free Global Player app or the LBC app, where you can also stay up to date with all the latest news, videos, and opinions. Podcast galore as well, including this show, Every Day, a little edited version of it, James O'Brien Daily. Download the official LBC app for free from your app store now. This is from Karen. Today's LBC is very strange. Liz Truss with her aggressive praying and Nick asking her what that looks like. And now you putting a kipper under someone's nose. 49:24 The bar is high, Sheila. 49:26 Well, I heard both of those moments and I do feel the pressure. Let's just say that. 49:32 This has been a Global Player original production.