WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:17.720 The number two is unluckier than number 13. 00:17.720 --> 00:20.280 Parental pride breaks up a peck at line. 00:20.280 --> 00:22.720 The thunder of machinery starts a great industry. 00:22.720 --> 00:25.620 Yes, ladies and gentlemen, those facts are all true. 00:25.620 --> 00:29.080 And this is Lindsay McHarry saying that my cohorts and I shall be back in just one minute 00:29.080 --> 00:30.080 and a half to prove them. 01:59.080 --> 02:06.280 You know, there's a great deal of superstition that centers around the number 13. 02:06.280 --> 02:10.200 It's supposed to be unlucky and in deference to some person's dread of it, hotels have 02:10.200 --> 02:14.400 no 13th floor, no rooms ending in the number 13. 02:14.400 --> 02:18.200 Some people will not sit down at a dinner table at which there are 13 guests present. 02:18.200 --> 02:22.800 In Hollywood, some of the studios, there are no sound stages number 13. 02:22.800 --> 02:24.360 Can you imagine that? 02:24.360 --> 02:29.120 But we said that number two is far more unlucky than number 13 and it is. 02:29.120 --> 02:34.120 However, in tarotology or fortune telling by cards, the number two by some authorities 02:34.120 --> 02:37.760 is supposed to mean happiness, sunshine and so forth. 02:37.760 --> 02:41.760 But to the rulers bearing the number two, it certainly doesn't have that meaning. 02:41.760 --> 02:46.800 For royalty, number two is doubly dangerous and we may add to the old saying, uneasy lies 02:46.800 --> 02:52.040 the head that wears a crown by adding, and uneasy is the ruler who is the second of his 02:52.040 --> 02:53.040 name. 02:53.040 --> 02:54.040 The proof? 02:54.040 --> 02:55.240 Listen to this. 02:55.240 --> 03:00.720 Some strange, even weird aura of doom surrounds the number two when it is applied to a ruler, 03:00.720 --> 03:01.960 be he king or emperor. 03:01.960 --> 03:04.360 For listen. 03:04.360 --> 03:05.960 Nicholas II of Russia. 03:05.960 --> 03:11.880 Shot down with his family at a Katerinburg, Russia, July 16, 1918. 03:11.880 --> 03:13.200 William II of Germany. 03:13.200 --> 03:17.360 Abdicated 1918 at the close of the World War. 03:17.360 --> 03:18.720 James II of England. 03:18.720 --> 03:23.360 Died in exile September 17, 1701. 03:23.360 --> 03:25.480 Mancisco II of Sicily. 03:25.480 --> 03:29.800 Died in exile December 27, 1894. 03:29.800 --> 03:31.160 Charles II of France. 03:31.160 --> 03:38.760 Deposed date 87 A.D. Died in poverty in exile January 18, AD 888. 03:38.760 --> 03:40.440 Alexander II of Russia. 03:40.440 --> 03:45.120 Murdered by near-less bombs March 13, 1881. 03:45.120 --> 03:46.440 Richard II of England. 03:46.440 --> 03:49.040 Abdicated September 30, 1399. 03:49.040 --> 03:53.240 Died in prison February 1400. 03:53.240 --> 03:55.960 And so runs the list, but it isn't finished. 03:55.960 --> 04:00.640 The following rulers were either murdered, abdicated their thrones, or were deposed by 04:00.640 --> 04:01.640 force. 04:01.640 --> 04:02.640 Charles II of Anjou. 04:02.640 --> 04:03.640 Frederick II of Germany. 04:03.640 --> 04:04.640 William II of England. 04:04.640 --> 04:05.840 Manuel II of Portugal. 04:05.840 --> 04:06.960 John II of France. 04:06.960 --> 04:07.960 Peter II of Russia. 04:07.960 --> 04:08.960 Harold II of England. 04:08.960 --> 04:10.440 France II of Germany. 04:10.440 --> 04:11.680 Edward II of England. 04:11.680 --> 04:15.880 Ethelrod II of England. 04:15.880 --> 04:17.160 And there is the list. 04:17.160 --> 04:21.760 The fatal number two carried those crowned heads to either violent death or loss of country 04:21.760 --> 04:22.760 and throne. 04:22.760 --> 04:25.080 Can you imagine that? 04:25.080 --> 04:28.440 Well here's a neat little bit of philology, meaning the study of language. 04:28.440 --> 04:33.280 In the late 1860s in San Francisco there lived a gang of what we'd call today hoodlums. 04:33.280 --> 04:37.240 They wore spring-bottom trousers taken from early Spanish styles for men, double-breasted 04:37.240 --> 04:39.760 coats and broad brimmed black hats. 04:39.760 --> 04:44.000 Their leader was a bully named Bill Hood, and Hood and his gang became such a scourge 04:44.000 --> 04:49.000 in the community that local police came to call them, yes, the word is, hoodlums. 04:49.000 --> 04:52.120 H-O-O-D-L-U-M-S. 04:52.120 --> 04:55.760 And of course from the name of the leader, Hood, H-O-O-D. 04:55.760 --> 04:58.080 Can you imagine that? 04:58.080 --> 05:00.480 Well monkey see, monkey do. 05:00.480 --> 05:04.720 I'll bet there isn't a parent in the country who hasn't said that to daughters or sons. 05:04.720 --> 05:06.660 Well here's a case, a very funny one. 05:06.660 --> 05:11.720 It seems that in Chatham, Ontario on February 18, 1937, a group of workmen were picketing 05:11.720 --> 05:13.880 a building which was being dismantled. 05:13.880 --> 05:17.080 A group of boys, curious, edged closer. 05:17.080 --> 05:19.200 Finally one of them got up enough nerve to ask, 05:19.200 --> 05:23.480 Say mister, I uh, me and my pals here, we'd like to carry those banners for a while. 05:23.480 --> 05:26.000 Go away son, it's a business. 05:26.000 --> 05:28.320 Oh please mister, we want to have a parade. 05:28.320 --> 05:29.800 No listen, no listen. 05:29.800 --> 05:32.600 Hey, let the kids carry them for a while, I'm tired. 05:32.600 --> 05:36.720 Sure, you can sit down and rest and me and my friends will carry them, we want to. 05:36.720 --> 05:37.720 Huh? 05:37.720 --> 05:40.000 All right, here, take this one. 05:40.000 --> 05:41.720 Get your buddies to take the other one. 05:41.720 --> 05:42.720 You bet. 05:42.720 --> 05:48.560 Hey Billy, Ed, Tommy, hey Smiley, we're gonna get to carry the banners for a while. 05:48.560 --> 05:51.920 We can have a parade. 05:51.920 --> 05:54.320 And carry the picketing banners they did. 05:54.320 --> 05:58.400 Crowdily they marched up and down, their small shoulders carrying the burdens willingly, 05:58.400 --> 06:00.200 in fun, but soon, 06:00.200 --> 06:01.200 Sure, I was telling you. 06:01.200 --> 06:03.800 Hey wait a minute, isn't that your kid over there in front of that building? 06:03.800 --> 06:04.800 Yeah. 06:04.800 --> 06:05.800 Huh? 06:05.800 --> 06:06.800 Where? 06:06.800 --> 06:07.800 There, carrying that banner. 06:07.800 --> 06:08.800 Hey, it looks like those kids are picketing that building. 06:08.800 --> 06:12.760 Oh good grief, look at that banner, holy smoke, listen, I gotta get that away from the kid 06:12.760 --> 06:18.520 before my wife hears about it and those other kids, you go ahead, we'll catch up with you. 06:18.520 --> 06:23.200 Well, maybe that isn't so funny, but it does get funny when we learn what the banners the 06:23.200 --> 06:25.280 boys were carrying had painted on them. 06:25.280 --> 06:31.040 In big letters, huge enough for all to read were the words, we want food. 06:31.040 --> 06:33.100 Can you imagine that? 06:33.100 --> 06:36.360 You remember, of course, that when Christopher Columbus first landed on the island of Guanahani 06:36.360 --> 06:41.020 in the West Indies, and named this land San Salvador in commemoration of his miraculous 06:41.020 --> 06:44.840 preservation throughout the long voyage from Spain, he believed that he had found a new 06:44.840 --> 06:49.320 route to India, that this chain of islands really belonged to Eastern Asia, a belief 06:49.320 --> 06:51.960 which he carried with him to his death 14 years later. 06:51.960 --> 06:56.280 Well, here's a man whose memory carries with it the same sort of explorative error, Simon 06:56.280 --> 06:57.600 Fraser. 06:57.600 --> 07:02.160 Fraser was born an American colonial in Bennington, Vermont about 1776. 07:02.160 --> 07:05.960 When he was only 16 years old, he became a fur trader with the Northwest Company, and 07:05.960 --> 07:08.960 at the age of 26 became a partner. 07:08.960 --> 07:12.840 Not contented with the trapping facilities in Eastern Canada, Fraser explored the region 07:12.840 --> 07:17.120 beyond the Rocky Mountains and opened this vast territory for his company. 07:17.120 --> 07:21.560 As he blazed through this unmapped, unknown country, he came upon a rushing river, coursing 07:21.560 --> 07:24.800 its wild way through the series of deep gorges. 07:24.800 --> 07:28.400 At first he thought he had discovered a new river, never before seen by the eyes of any 07:28.400 --> 07:29.520 white man. 07:29.520 --> 07:33.240 But upon consulting his charts, he decided he had come upon a portion of the Columbia 07:33.240 --> 07:36.240 River, already discovered years ago. 07:36.240 --> 07:40.820 When he returned to civilization, the British government decided that Simon Fraser had actually 07:40.820 --> 07:44.800 made the discovery of a new river, and the Crown offered him a knighthood. 07:44.800 --> 07:49.640 But believing his river was the Columbia, Fraser turned down the honor and died at the 07:49.640 --> 07:55.120 age of 82, still refusing to realize that he had actually discovered the now famous 07:55.120 --> 07:56.120 Fraser River. 07:56.120 --> 07:58.160 Can you imagine that? 07:58.160 --> 07:59.880 Sweet are the uses of adversity. 07:59.880 --> 08:03.420 Of course everyone knows that quotation from Shakespeare, but here's a story of a man who 08:03.420 --> 08:05.240 put it to practical use. 08:05.240 --> 08:09.600 It was more than 25 years ago that a young man walked to his usual place in the factory 08:09.600 --> 08:11.200 where he was employed. 08:11.200 --> 08:13.160 In his hand he carried a rubber mat. 08:13.160 --> 08:16.320 Very carefully he put it down on the floor and then stood on it. 08:16.320 --> 08:19.840 Of course his fellow workers weren't going to let this seeming bit of odd behavior go 08:19.840 --> 08:22.360 unheeded, and one of them asked the young man, 08:22.360 --> 08:24.360 Hey, what's the big idea? 08:24.360 --> 08:26.240 Going high hat on us? 08:26.240 --> 08:27.240 What do you mean high hat? 08:27.240 --> 08:28.240 Standing on a rubber mat. 08:28.240 --> 08:29.240 Afraid of catching cold or something? 08:29.240 --> 08:30.240 Not at all Ed. 08:30.240 --> 08:36.160 I just got tired of having this machinery jar the daylights out of me. 08:36.160 --> 08:39.160 This rubber mat I'm standing on takes out some of the shock. 08:39.160 --> 08:42.160 Here, here, let me try it. 08:42.160 --> 08:43.160 Sure, go ahead. 08:43.160 --> 08:44.160 Well I'll be... 08:44.160 --> 08:45.160 Now, that's something all right. 08:45.160 --> 08:57.680 By golly it does help a lot, like standing on a soft cushion. 08:57.680 --> 09:00.360 For several days the young man stood on his rubber mat. 09:00.360 --> 09:03.080 Then the word spread around that someone stole the mat. 09:03.080 --> 09:04.840 But that didn't stop the young fellow. 09:04.840 --> 09:06.840 When he came to work another day... 09:06.840 --> 09:11.120 What's the matter kid, get tired of bringing mats for other people to hook? 09:11.120 --> 09:13.920 Nope, I got rubber mats now that nobody can steal. 09:13.920 --> 09:17.200 You crazy, you ain't got no rubber mat there. 09:17.200 --> 09:18.200 Yes I have Ed. 09:18.200 --> 09:20.880 Here, take a look at the heels of my shoes. 09:20.880 --> 09:21.880 See? 09:21.880 --> 09:28.520 Say, ain't you the one nailing pieces of rubber to the heels of your shoes. 09:28.520 --> 09:30.600 Nobody can steal them from you. 09:30.600 --> 09:32.600 I'll say they can't Ed. 09:32.600 --> 09:35.600 What's the matter? 09:35.600 --> 09:39.280 Nothing, nothing, just thinking. 09:39.280 --> 09:42.320 That's all. 09:42.320 --> 09:44.960 And what did the young man think about? 09:44.960 --> 09:46.240 Rubber heels. 09:46.240 --> 09:50.360 His name was O'Sullivan and today his firm is one of the largest manufacturers of rubber 09:50.360 --> 09:52.000 heels in the world. 09:52.000 --> 09:54.160 Can you imagine that? 09:54.160 --> 09:56.800 What national flag do you suppose is the oldest in the world? 09:56.800 --> 10:02.240 No, it isn't the flag of Japan or Great Britain, certainly not Germany, Italy, nor France. 10:02.240 --> 10:03.800 It's the flag of Denmark. 10:03.800 --> 10:08.280 The simple cross of the Danish flag was selected as the national emblem more than seven centuries 10:08.280 --> 10:11.040 ago in the year 1219. 10:11.040 --> 10:12.480 Can you imagine that? 10:12.480 --> 10:14.640 And now what flag do you think is the next oldest? 10:14.640 --> 10:16.180 Well, all right, we'll tell you. 10:16.180 --> 10:21.800 It's the Stars and Stripes of the United States, which was adopted on June 14, 1777. 10:21.800 --> 10:26.520 The British national flag, the Union Jack, was adopted in 1801, the year of the Union 10:26.520 --> 10:28.280 of Great Britain and Ireland. 10:28.280 --> 10:32.600 And that Union gives the Union Jack its name. 10:32.600 --> 10:36.720 Comes now the time for another lesson in musical oddities, or rather comes now the time for 10:36.720 --> 10:41.480 you to test your wits and see if you can detect the traces of a popular song of a few years 10:41.480 --> 10:46.960 back in one of the classic arias from Wagner's musical drama, Tannhäuser. 10:46.960 --> 10:51.520 First we're going to have the orchestra run off a few bars to an evening star, which Wolfram 10:51.520 --> 10:52.520 sings in Tannhäuser. 10:52.520 --> 10:53.520 You ready? 10:53.520 --> 10:58.320 All right, sharpen up your wits and try to catch part of the popular melody. 10:58.320 --> 11:12.600 Did you get it? 11:12.600 --> 11:14.160 Watch, you're not going to give up. 11:14.160 --> 11:16.000 All right, here's the popular number. 11:16.000 --> 11:17.000 It's Sweethearts. 11:17.000 --> 11:19.800 Listen to it and you'll note the similarity. 11:19.800 --> 11:25.720 And no pun intended there. 11:25.720 --> 11:37.960 Listen to it and you'll note the same song. 11:37.960 --> 11:47.300 Listen to it now. 12:47.300 --> 12:56.820 And with that we turn you over to your own station announcer and say to you, this is 12:56.820 --> 13:20.660 Lindsay McCarrie saying goodbye now.