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 I'm not saying I'd forgotten it was Mystery Hour. I'm just saying that I had failed to point out in the programme so far that Mystery Hour was on the horizon. And here it is, as if by magic. It's a bit late, so it'll be even less than an hour. It's never a full hour. I don't know why we call it, well, we call it Mystery Hour because Mystery 54 minutes just sounds stupid. If you don't know what this is, you're in for a bit of a treat. I would say that, wouldn't I? But I genuinely believe that it's true. Very different from the other 14 hours of the week that we could potentially... 00:50 spend together 16 if you uh listen to the full disclosure podcast and um and and funny you know i try and bring a little bit of light and shade into every conversation that we have but with mystery hour it's it's actually guaranteed uh what is it it's pretty straightforward someone rings in with a question and then someone else rings in with an answer but somewhere between those two quite quite normal sounding phenomena magic happens Not quite magic, but you know what I mean. 01:17 A better word than phenomena? I was searching for a word. Prosaic was the word I was looking for. Prosaic phenomena. Somewhere between those very prosaic moments, events, happenings, the magic will happen. 01:30 And that's it. Someone rings in with a who, a why, a what, a where, a wherefore, a whither, a whence. And someone else rings in with the answer. The only rule really is you're not allowed to look stuff up. Obviously, you can't look stuff up because that would make a mockery of the whole practice. 01:44 And my favorite contribution of the week will win a Mystery Hour game. A Mystery Hour game. 01:52 And there are two types of game. There is the original board game, which comes in a box and is full-sized box shape, size, box, box size. And there is the new travel game, which is a completely different game, entirely different questions, and even slightly different playing rules. And that one comes in a tin. You can win either, you choose, by submitting my favourite contribution of the week. The full terms and conditions for that, because it's a proper competition, like what you would have on a proper show. Although, obviously, if this was music radio, I'd be giving away a million pounds, rather than a rather brilliant game in a tin. 02:26 Or a box. Remember, you can choose. The full terms and conditions are available at lbc.co.uk. If you'd like to see the game on a screen, you can go to mysteryhour.co.uk, where there is also, coincidentally, an opportunity to buy either or both. Box, tin, tin, box. Several boxes, several tins. Ten tins, one box. Your choice. I could do the market still, couldn't I, with my eyes shut? 02:47 That's it, I think. We'll crack on, shall we? Eight minutes after 12. I've done the terms and conditions. I've done it all. I've done the housework. I've done the homework. I've done the thing. I've done the that. I've done the other. Let's crack on. The only thing I didn't do was remind you that Mystery Hour was coming up, which sometimes means... 03:03 that when 12 o'clock tolls, and indeed when Simon Marks was here, it meant we didn't take any calls for the last quarter of the 11 o'clock hour. That sometimes means that the switchboard is a little bit slow to get going. 03:17 But not today. 03:19 Far from it, in fact. But don't be downcast if you can't get through immediately. You must keep trying. That's the secret. That is the secret. Peter is in Ryslip. Peter, question or answer? It's a question, James. Carry on, Peter. 03:33 Right. On TV, there's a program called Digging for Britain. 03:37 Oh, yes. 03:38 Where archaeologists dig up ancient Roman buildings and what have you. 03:43 And my question is, how do the builders end up being buried in the first place? 03:49 Yeah, I mean, it's a question that must have occurred to a lot of people, isn't it? It has, because they grow up digging up buildings. 04:00 I think I know. 04:02 I don't know that you're going to accept my answer, but I'm going to share it with you anyway. So the first thing that has to happen before a building can get buried is that it has to be abandoned. 04:17 Yes. So once a building is abandoned, several things can happen that never happen or are rarely or are unlikely to happen in an unabandoned building, right? 04:30 Now, the first, oddly, is that they never get cleaned, which means that the dust begins to build up. 04:39 The second is that things like trees can grow right through the middle of them and essentially reduce them to rubble. So we're not actually, and even as I think an enthusiastic watcher of digging for Britain, I think you would agree they never actually dig up an intact building with a roof still on it or anything like that. 05:00 No, not with a roof on, no. The roof would bore the first things together, I would think. Yeah, exactly, because of wear and tear and often trees growing right through the middle of it. That's actually maybe not quite as common as I'm claiming. But the whole point is it becomes a ruin. And then I think, and this is where I begin to lose a little bit of my confidence, I think that worms play quite a big part. 05:26 In bricks? 05:28 No, not in the bricks, but the worms, every time they come to the surface, the worm... 05:35 kind of raises the soil level a bit. That would make sense. 05:39 And coupled with meteorological factors like, you know, silt and dust and things being blown around, and because there is something there, there's a structure there, it doesn't just blow onto the next field, it gets stuck until the next thing you know, the bit of brickwork that's left has been successfully buttressed, it's a good word, buttressed by dirt and dust, And the next stage after being buttressed is being buried. 06:10 I told you you weren't going to buy it, but I think I'm right. No, I don't think I do buy it. We need a director's cut of digging for Britain, don't we? Because they presume too much, Peter. They presume too much when they dig stuff up. They should be doing at least one episode of series telling us how the stuff ends up buried. Well, I think so. There's too much assumed knowledge in my answer, which is why I'm not going to give myself a round of applause. But I think two things. I think that worms and the weather will be quite a big part of the correct answer. 06:40 And also, I think that buttress is a precursor to burial. 06:46 It's also a lovely word. I'm going to introduce that to the program more often. Peter, great question. Thank you very much indeed. 12 minutes after 12 is the time. You know when you get older and your enthusiasms change and things like that? If I had the brain I've got now when I was 18 years old, archaeology would have been really attractive to me. 07:03 What an amazing thing to do. I could really have got into that. I'm obsessed with disused railways, as you know. I've joined all the Facebook groups. I think I've got the patience for archaeology. I think I have. Maybe not. We'll never know now. Tom's in Wellington in Somerset. Tom, question or answer? 07:19 Hello, James. Question. Carry on. Of all the things I think I'd speak to you about one day, this is definitely not one of them. Good man. I've got a question about pigs. 07:27 Oh, yes. 07:28 So I would like to know when and why, as a country, did we decide that pigs are the breakfast animal? 07:35 So we eat bacon, we eat sausages, we eat black pudding, all comes from pigs. We don't eat beef, we don't eat chicken, we don't eat lamb. Other countries do, but we don't. We decided it was pigs. I just want to know why. 07:44 How did this question first occur to you? 07:48 it just did i don't know it's brilliant it's absolutely brilliant for ages and i've asked a few friends of mine that are chefs and they've kind of looked it up and i said i don't want to know i'm going to wait now so they had they found an answer did they you think yeah but i refused to uh i refused to one of my strangest experiences on social media back in the days um when twitter wasn't a racist sewer but it still had moments of epic madness i I can't even remember what the context was, but I did a quick search on breakfast items. 08:19 I think David Frost was going off to conduct a negotiation and the Daily Telegraph wrote with a straight face that he'd had a patriotic breakfast. 08:27 And I remember thinking, oh, Lord, we're absolutely doomed. My late father's old paper is writing with a straight face about some half-witted negotiator who's only got the job because he disappeared halfway up Boris Johnson's fundament. He's off to conduct negotiations with a crack squad of actual experts and we're sending David Frost. But don't worry, he had a patriotic breakfast. 08:51 So I spent... 08:53 Well, that's what I did. I spent a few seconds googling each breakfast item and worked out one of them came from ancient Samaria, one of them came from ancient Egypt. The first people to cure pork were probably, I don't know, Babylonians or something. And they all went nuts. They went absolutely boggled. I think even James Cleverley got involved and wrote something like, you're better than this. And I thought, I'm googling breakfast items, James Cleverley. Do you not know me at all? I'm better than... Anyway, I digress. 09:23 The answer might be there. It might not have been us that decided it, but you still want to know who it was and why. So why is the pig the king of breakfast products? Yeah. Even a black pudding is pig's blood. It is. Yeah, yeah. 09:36 How bizarre. I mean, eggs don't count. It comes from a chicken, but we don't eat the chicken. We just eat the eggs. 09:40 Yeah, you're right. You're right. How bizarre. Pretty much all the most classic items, certainly all the meat-based items at breakfast, all come from the pig. Why is that? Yeah. Perfect. Absolutely brilliant question. Two absolute corkers, actually, so far today. And it's only 12.15pm. 09:58 This is LBC Mystery Hour with James O'Brien. Call 0345 6060 973. 10:06 It is 12.17 and you are listening to James O'Brien on LBC. 10:12 Bacon, sausages, black pudding, anything else? I mean, there are obviously other things on your breakfast plate that are not part of a pig or haven't been processed from a pig. But generally speaking, the only meat you're going to find is pig. Why? And how do buildings get buried from a sort of archaeological perspective? What is the process by which something that stands tall and proud One moment is six feet under the next. 10:39 Lani is in Peckham. Lani, question or answer? 10:42 Hey, Lani. 10:44 Oh, I see what you've done there. Very clever. I can guess what your question is. 10:48 There you go, James. You've got the question then. 10:50 Thank you very much. When people come on the radio and they're saying hello to the presenter, why do they say their own name? 10:56 Yep, that's the question, James. And it only happens on the radio. You never call your cousin and say, hey, Lani, or hi, James, instead of saying their name. 11:04 Well, I mean, you're obviously a pretty cool customer because you've come on and done quite a clever joke, really, that has a little bit of subs. So you're clearly quite confident. But if you were nervous, like really nervous, and I said, hello, Lani, you'd go, oh, hello, Lani. Do you see? I think it's just nerves, isn't it? 11:27 I think so, but you do meet some people sometimes when you're nervous. Like, let's say if you're going for an interview, you're nervous, but you're not going to call the interviewer by their name, would you? 11:35 Are you sure? 11:36 Yeah, well, I've never done that, but I've done that on the radio. The first time I rang Nick, Nick Abbott, I called him by my name. And he said, no, you're Lani, I'm Nick. But I've been to interviews, so I'm very nervous. But I don't call the interviewer by my name. 11:52 Yeah, I think you're right. But I mean, would you do that? It depends on the context as well. I mean, literally, you're waiting outside. You're really, really nervous. They open the door and they go, hello, Lani. And you go, oh, hello, Lani. I think it could happen at an interview. 12:09 You don't have the guillotine in the way that you do here. You're on the radio. You're on hold. I don't know what you hear. What do you hear when you're on hold? 12:17 Everything else which everyone else is saying. What, me? Yeah, you can hear the other person, yeah. 12:22 I suppose I should have been able to work that out, particularly after 22 years in the job. But anyway, every day is a school day. So you're listening to this and you're getting a little bit nervous and you know what your name is and you know what my name is and then you come on around and go, hello. I think, I mean, yeah, all right. I think it could happen in other contexts, but... If we want an answer that's more sophisticated than nerves, then we're going to have to either find proof that it happens in other contexts or come up with something that's radio-specific, aren't we? 12:50 Yeah, that's correct, James. 12:51 You're expecting me to say your name, aren't you, when you come on? So that name is in your head, maybe, in a way that it wouldn't be an interview. I love it, though. I like it. And well played. I think that's the first time the question has been included in the joke that the caller made when he came on the radio. So well done, James. 13:09 No, not you. 13:13 It's 20 minutes after 12. 13:16 I'm here all week, I'm here all week. 20 minutes after 12. 0345 6060973 is the number you need. Daniel is in Exeter. Daniel, question or answer? 13:26 Hi there, James. I'm going to continue with the niche questions this week. I was in Norway a couple of weeks ago. I travelled on a couple of trains. 13:36 On board the train before we got to stations, it was telling us how many metres above sea level each station is. 13:46 And the next stop will be Kidderminstat, which is 463 feet above sea level. 13:54 So, for instance, Lilliestrom, I can tell you, is 109 metres above sea level. 13:59 I knew that. 13:59 And I have a photo of that, and I posted it on Blue Sky because I figured that nobody would believe me if I said Norwegian trains displayed how many metres above sea level each station is. 14:12 So it's on a sign... 14:15 But they don't... You know at the end of each carriage, there's a digital display. 14:21 Oh, it comes up on the digital display. So it's on the digital version of the tannoy. 14:24 Yeah. Yeah. 14:28 That's a brilliant question. 14:31 What I like about this is that everyone's trying to work it out. 14:35 And to add to this, I'm a railway journalist. I have no idea why this information is useful for passengers. 14:42 If I had my time again, I'd either be an archaeologist or a railway journalist, I think. 14:48 Do you follow all the disused railway websites and stuff like that? How excited do you get when you go to the three bridges in Hanwell? Have you been there? 14:58 Yeah, I mean, I've done some rare track. I've gone to a recycling centre outside Newport on a rail tour. 15:06 I love all this. Have you been to the one at Ealing? Have you been to that electric one yet at West Ealing? 15:12 Not yet, but you should join the... If you're interested in disused railways or rare track and things like this... I'm mad for them. And this is not an advert, you should join the Branchline Society. 15:23 Is that what it's called? 15:25 Yeah. 15:25 You're on, I will. This is how I keep my algorithms wholesome as well. This is the content I'm here for. I love that. Is it, do you think, skiing? 15:36 I don't know. I don't know, because I was not very far outside of Oslo, so it's not particularly mountainous bits of Norway. 15:45 Does it give you an indication of how likely it is to be snowing? It doesn't, really, does it? No. 15:52 How far you are from the fjords? I can't think of any reason why passengers would want to know how many metres above sea level the next station is. 16:00 Maybe it's just in the spirit of mystery hour, and it's just a choice bit of information for people to enjoy. 16:07 I have no idea, but I'd like to know, please, James, if you could find out. 16:12 It's an absolute corker. Why on earth do they display the sea level of stations or towns on the Norwegian railway network? Thank you. I like that one a lot. It is 12.23. Cheers, Daniel. Marie is in Brixton. Marie, question or answer? 16:30 Question. Carry on. 16:32 Hi, James. 16:33 Hello, Marie. 16:34 So my question is, why is it that when you're looking for something and it's right in front of you, you can't see it. Why does your brain not see it or your eyesight doesn't see it? 16:45 I know this. It's because you're a man. 16:52 At least that's how it works in our house. I don't know what it's like in yours, but in our house, as the only man in the house, I seem to be the only person who suffers from this particular condition. 17:01 Well, I'm a woman. Oh, rats. Flipping heck, I'm getting bad at this. 17:05 Well, I'm wondering if it's to do with age because I don't know. It just happened to me just now. I'm looking for my glass. Well, not my glasses, but a glass that had tea in it. Couldn't see it. And it was on the mantel, you know, on the kitchen counter. Couldn't see it for the life of me. You've looked through it, don't you? I left and came back and was like, oh, there it is. 17:24 And there's no one in the house playing tricks on you? 17:27 No one in the house. And it's like, is it an age thing or does our brain just... 17:31 You know, you hear the saying that you can't see the wood for the tree. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just wondering if there was a medical term or is it just... No, I like it. 17:40 Do you think it's happening to you more as you age? I think so, yeah. Do you ever go into the kitchen and forget what you went in for? 17:51 All the time? 17:52 Yeah. That's not a male thing. I like this question because I think I was always like this. I think I was like this as a kid. I think my mum used to get as frustrated with me as my wife does now. 18:02 You just walk into a room and go, no, don't see it. Don't see that. 18:06 I'm more of a, I look at individual things, like it's not that, it's not that. Oh, you actually work your way through it and you still miss it. 18:13 So you go candlestick, potpourri, scented candle. Yeah. Oh, and then somehow you've missed the, oh, I quite like that, because that moves it probably into the realms of psychology, doesn't it? 18:25 Maybe. 18:25 We shall find out. Why can you not see things that are right under your nose? 0345 6060 973 is the number that you need. Is it the tree forest paradox or has Alex just made that up? I don't know. Scott's in Clydebank. Scott, question or answer? That's a question, James. Carry on. 18:44 So why does fresh air make you feel more tired? 18:48 does it actually make you feel more tired? So if I spend the day in the park with my kids or in the garden, you're fine. You come in, you home, you have a good night's sleep. But if we go to the seaside for the day, we spend the day having a picnic on the beach, you always have a better sleep. 19:03 Why is that? 19:04 Yeah. So it's either going to be something to do with the oxygen levels or something to do with the exertion that you're not really noticing at the time because you're in unfamiliar surroundings. 19:17 Yeah, I thought of the exertion part, yes, of it. But when we'll have a picnic on the beach and we'll have a walk along the beach with us at home, we'll take the dogs for a walk. So you haven't done much. 19:26 If you had a step counter, we can be fairly confident that they're going to be coming in at more or less the same level. 19:33 Yeah, pull up a chair. 19:39 I think I might know. 19:41 Chair is pulled. Right. You know when you go on a journey to somewhere new? Okay. And it feels longer getting there than it does coming back? 19:50 Yeah. 19:52 Happened to me the other day and I walked up the canal further. I went to a different bit to where I normally go. And I thought, well, I better go back now. And I got back 10 minutes before I needed to because it felt, do you know what I mean? You know what I mean. Yeah, yeah. 20:05 I think that is because processing new information takes a mental toll on us. 20:12 Or no, it involves a mental or a psychic exertion that we do not have when we're sitting in highly, highly familiar surroundings. It may even involve part of the answer to Marie's question, this about why we can't see things that are right under our noses. If you're in very familiar surroundings, I think part of your brain goes into autopilot. 20:32 And that is not taxing. It saves mental energy, right? 20:37 And then when you go to... 20:39 unfamiliar areas like the park even if you go there quite a lot i bet it doesn't happen as much if you go there every day but unfamiliar areas your brain is working to process new information and that actually makes you tired that actually does involve exertion which is why you're more tired at the end of the day so james has been in touch to say i live by the sea and i have rubbish sleep but that actually proves my point because of course that's his normal he's not processing any new information when he's at home because it's where he lives by the sea whereas you and me our brains would be going oh look at that seagull oh wow look at that lovely little island over there i've never noticed that before perhaps i'll have an ice cream and and therefore we become tired That's good, isn't it? 21:23 That's good, isn't it? I think that's pretty good. 21:28 I'm not going to take a round of applause, though. I'm going to leave it on the board. Why does... Would it happen if we were at a museum? I think it would, you know. 21:38 I think if you went around a museum, Scott, you'd be a bit more tired at the end of the day than you would if you were just wandering around your house. 21:45 No? No. 21:49 I thought I'd offended you. It's coming up to half past 12. Why were you suggesting I'm not the sort of man that goes to a museum on a regular basis? 21:58 That's one of the best answers I've given in a long while. Do you know what? I might give myself the game this week. If that turns out, that's a cracker, isn't it? You're processing new information so you get a bit tired. It'll probably turn out to have something to do with ions or something or ozone or the fact that you're breathing more. I don't know. It is coming up to half past 12. Amelia Cox has your headlines. 22:20 Mystery Hour on LBC with James O'Brien. 22:25 It is 12.33 and you are listening to James O'Brien on LBC. James, you're sounding a bit old talking about disused railways. No offence, says Sasha. 22:37 I am. But I'll tell you how old I felt yesterday. This is unbelievable. I don't think this has probably happened to many people. So someone's arranging a reunion for my school, right? For my house at my school. 22:51 And I was looking at it. 22:54 And it puts the date on that you left. So the house begins, say, with an F. And the year you left is afterwards. So it would say, James O'Brien, F90. You know, that's the house you were in and you left in the year 1990. So I'm looking at it and I'm thinking, that can't be right. And I even get my pen out and I start doing a little calculation. Because it says... 23:19 joe blogs f21 and i thought if he left school in 1921 then he was 18 in 1921 then he must be 124 now or 34 even he can't have left school in that must be a typo there's no way if he was 19 if he was 18 in 1921 he How old is he now? So he's 104 plus 18, right? He's 122 years old. 23:52 I said to Eleanor, Eleanor, come here, there's a bloke at my... Oh, just before she came over to my desk, I realised that he'd left school in 2021. That's old, Sasha. That's old. Having an enthusiasm for disused railways, that's not old. I was like, I could have had that when I was a kid. But, yeah, seeing the figure 21 and just presuming it's not recognised. Anyway, I digress. Paul's in High Wycombe. Paul, question or answer? 24:18 Hi, James. Question. 24:20 Carry on. 24:21 So I'd like to know whether TV quiz shows edit the answers from the contestants, because you always seem to get a lot longer to answer than the contestants on telly, which makes you sound and seem smart when you shout the answer out. Not on all shows. Not on all shows. A good one's House of Games. 24:46 I knew you were going to say House of Games on the picture smash round. 24:50 Yeah. 24:50 Yeah, absolutely that. You sit there and you think, sometimes they get it really quickly and sometimes it's really obvious what it is and it takes them ages. 25:01 So do they insert pauses? 25:05 I mean, probably they do. Who's going to know? I wonder if Richard's listening at the moment. Richard won't ring in because every time I see him, I ask him, why have I never been on House of Games? I'd be brilliant at it. I could do those picture smashes with my eyes shut. Well, obviously not literally with my eyes shut. That would be truly impossible. But why do you think? Do you think they might be doing it to draw you in, to make you enjoy the experience more because you sometimes beat the contestants? 25:29 I think that's exactly it. 25:31 Could be, couldn't it? Or it might just be an edit. They might just, you know, the game has finished before they've run out of time. No, that wouldn't be it, would it? Because they'd just stick another round on the end. Is it only on Richard Osman's House of Games that this happens? Because I think for me, that's the only time it happens. Be honest with me. 25:47 Yeah, it's the one I've noticed the most. 25:51 Because it doesn't happen on Mastermind, does it? 25:54 No, no, no, but that's times. 25:56 All right, it doesn't happen on University Challenge. 25:59 no i thought i saw like a little note about your question i thought you were going to ask why it's so much easier to do it when you're sitting at home than it is when you're on the telly and then i was going to draw on my experiences on university challenge when i had some sort of minor panic and and didn't answer anything whereas at home i'd be shouting out answers like it was going out of fashion and yet on mastermind i was absolutely golden i was flying Answer Smash, it's called, isn't it? Not Picture Smash. 26:26 Answer Smash, yeah. 26:28 I mean, you're going to have to work on the programme, aren't you, to tell us that? It's going to have to be someone who can tell us categorically that, yeah, they do insert pauses on Answer Smash. 26:37 Or they don't. I love that. Nice one. You and me both on that one. 12.37 is the time. Thank you, Paul. I mean, I'll leave it as a generic TV quiz show question, but we all know we're talking about the Answer Smash on Richard Osman's House of Games. Do they insert pauses before some of the answers? Because there's four of them. And you're sitting there going, it's... 26:57 I now need to think of something like, Colin knows. Think of an answer to the answer smash. So you've got a picture and a person. So, Andrew Murray Mint. You'll be going, it's Andrew Murray Mint. It's Andy Murray Mint. How can you not know that it's Andy Murray Mint? And then, because there's four of them not getting it, you begin to think, I've had exactly the same experience as Paul, watching television, watching that programme, but I don't think I've ever had it with any other quiz. 27:22 James is in Manchester. James, question or answer? 27:25 It's question, James. 27:26 Carry on. 27:28 So I've got a cherry tree in my front garden next to a pine tree. And the pine tree is about 12 years old and the cherry tree is about six years old, which I planted. Never bought cherries. 27:40 It will. It's been a nightmare year. This was a terrible year for fruit. But you'll get cherries. I barely got a damson off mine, but you'll get cherries. Hang in there. 27:48 I've not had anything off it for six years. Yeah, but it takes a while. 27:51 They take a while to bed in. 27:52 Yeah, true. But the pine tree has kind of receded where the cherry tree is exploding. So I was wondering if there's like a hierarchy of trees. I've got a beech in front of that cherry tree. Oh, that's very fancy. 28:09 Oh, a beech tree. 28:11 Yeah, and it's struggling a conifer. And both of them are fighting for space, like the branches are intertwined. But with the pine tree, it's kind of receded where it's allowed the cherry tree to dominate, even though it's half its ageing. 28:22 So we're thinking that the cherry tree might be getting all the water, I suppose. 28:27 Could be. I can't think what else. 28:29 Or all the light. I mean, it's an evergreen, isn't it? Yeah. The pine tree. 28:34 And I've just noticed we've got another tree. I don't know what the other tree is, but it's straddling next door's garden. And they've got some kind of pine. And it stopped growing. The pine stopped growing where this power tree is. entering the garden. So I was wondering if there's like some kind of hierarchy of... Of trees. 28:51 Well, it would involve... It can't be anything other than access to water and or light, can it? So depending on how deep the roots go or something like that, the cherry tree's getting all the water and it doesn't get... Well, listen to me flipping... 29:05 Terry Nutkins. I mean, I've got no idea, have I? But I'm just thinking those are the things that determine tree growth. So if you introduce a cherry tree and the pine tree starts suffering, then the cherry tree must be getting stuff that the pine tree wants. And the only stuff that trees want generally would be carbon dioxide. That's going to not change. Water or light. So it's probably water. 29:27 Possibly. But the only thing is, I've got... 29:29 This is like Radio 4, this is. This is like Gardener's Question. This is like Gardener's Question time. You should have come on. You should have gone, it's James from the Cholton Cum Hardy Allotment Society. 29:40 But I've got a cherry tree in a pot in the back garden, and that has had loads of cherries, but it's kept really small. 29:45 Oh, no, we really are turning it into gardener's question time now. I'll get you an answer about the pine tree. I don't know why your cherry tree isn't fruiting. Maybe the pine tree is still getting enough to actually keep the cherry tree from fruition. There you go. That's today's lesson. That's where the word fruition comes from. I'd never noticed that before. 30:03 Bearing fruit. Fruition. No, you see? No, just me? All right. Thank you, James. Steve's in Chichester. Steve, question or answer? Answer, James. Carry on, Steve. 30:15 It's the answer to why buried remains are buried. 30:20 Yes. 30:21 Yeah, and the answer is there are about a dozen or more answers, and it really does depend on the country you're in. But the Alice Roberts programme talked about digging in Britain, so I'll just confine this to Britain. Yeah. 30:39 There are two major causes. 30:41 Worms and weather. Worms and weather. 30:43 Worms and weather, yeah, that's it. Give yourself a tin. 30:47 Are you laughing at me or with me, Steve? 30:52 I'm with you, of course. 30:55 It's not worms and weather, is it? 30:58 No, it is, but it's what's generally called natural deposition, which means all sorts of different things like wind or flooding. Flooding can deposit plants and vegetation can do it. Worms can do it. 31:18 Even educated fleas do it. 31:20 Yeah. 31:23 But in the second major one in this country at least is just human humankind really if there's one building people tend to knock them down and build another one over the top of it of course that that It dislodges the ground levels, especially in modern times, of course. But natural disasters are another. I mean, Pompeii is a good example that everybody knows of about that, but that's not in Britain, of course. 31:56 So there are lots and lots of reasons there. 32:00 Qualifications? 32:02 I've got a Master's in Archaeological Science, and I'm a retired archaeological geophysicist. 32:09 Does that mean you scan what's underground? 32:12 It does. It means I map out what's there underneath the ground using scientific instruments. 32:18 How amazing. 32:21 And I had to give it up because my career was in ruins. 32:26 When you were at university, did you stay in a hall of residence or did you have to find your own digs? 32:33 I'll use that one. 32:35 You can have that one for nothing. 32:39 One thing that does intrigue me a little is that, because it touched on this with the questioner, with Peter, presumably it has to kind of become a ruin before it gets buried. So the walls have to fall down almost always before it will be brought down. So I suppose what I want to know is that the tallest building you found underground in your career Because I don't think there would be any, or many. 33:09 Well, yes, but not in this country. The tallest one was... 33:15 Many tens of metres high, which were city walls in Turkmenistan. Wow. 33:20 Really? But they still got buried via the same processes, but they were proper high. 33:26 Well, of course, it's very much desert and mud. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 33:29 It flies around. What a fascinating job. 33:32 It's very different to the UK. Brilliant answer. But I've got a little one for you, if you may. Yeah, please. 33:39 Yeah. 33:40 I used to be a guy that somewhere called Fishbourne Roman Palace, which is the largest Roman building north of the Alps. 33:48 And one day I got a question from a little schoolboy saying, Please, sir, why did the Romans live underground? 34:02 LAUGHTER That is a perfectly logical question, isn't it? I love that. Beautiful. Have a round of applause, Steve. Lovely. A very, very lovely answer to that. A really good question, actually. 34:14 12.45 is the time. 34:16 Mystery Hour on LBC with James O'Brien. Call 0345 6060 973. 34:25 12.48 is the time. Mystery Hour continues. Let's get some answers up very briefly. Let me run through the ones that still need them. Why is the pig the source of almost all breakfast meat? 34:36 Why in Norway do they display the level above sea level, the figure above sea level that every railway station is? 34:44 Why, when you are looking for something that is right under your nose, can you sometimes not see it? Why do you get more tired when you are, well, either out in fresh air or in unfamiliar places, or possibly both? Do they insert pauses on TV quiz shows, brackets, Richard Osman's House of Games, before the answer is provided? And do trees fight for water? So is James's pine tree struggling because he planted a cherry tree very nearby? to it i've got what was lani's question oh yeah why do we why do people ringing radio stations say their own name when they are when they get on air and are saying hello to the presenter so instead of saying hello james they might say hello someone called lani might say hello lani sean's in stone in staffordshire sean question or question or answer it's an answer please go on mate To the game show question. 35:35 Now, I can only speak to my own experience, so not for the House of Games thing, but I was on Catchphrase many years ago. 35:43 Roy Walker or Stephen? Is it Stephen Mulhern these days? He seems to do everything. Is it Stephen? 35:48 No, it was Roy Walker, and it's one that you've probably seen. Actually, it comes up on YouTube and Facebook all the time, the Snake Charmer episode, if you've ever seen it. 35:56 Yes, it was easily misconstrued. 35:59 Yes. 36:01 There was no edits in that at all. When we finally sat around as a family to watch it, all of the pauses were actually excruciating as they were, and the answers that were answered quickly were answered quickly too. So I can only answer for that, but it looked like it was pretty much dead on. There were no inserted pregnant pauses on that particular show. 36:21 I mean, you're kind of viral celebrity then, aren't you? 36:25 Oh, yeah. I can't walk down the street. LAUGHTER No, but you know what I mean. That is one of the... I mean, something happened on this programme years ago when we were doing a quiz and one of the questions was how many kings have been called Henry and this lovely lady rang in and she went, oh, James. She said, well, I know there was Henry V and I know there was Henry VIII. She said, is it three? And that's like your clip. Whenever someone has been in books, whenever there's a round-up of comedy quiz answers, that always makes the grade. 36:56 And your appearance on... 36:59 on Catchphrase does as well. Were you the contestant that was looking at that? Yes. It's all of you, isn't it? Yeah, of course. Oh, that's sensational. There it is. I'm looking at it now. You're a big lad, Sean, aren't you? 37:10 Not as much anymore. Not as much anymore. No, I didn't mean wide. I meant tall. Or was the lady next to you just quite... Oh, no. That's terrible. She was quite short. Contest. Absolutely terrible, that one. 37:20 And you get an amazing round of applause. 37:23 Thank you very much. That's sensational. And I can't say much else about that clip, really. But I think you've got enough information there. Thank you, Sean. Mike's in Cradley. Cradley Heath. Listen to that. You know where I grew up, Mike? Yes, I know where you grew up. I've called you before. I thought so. You know, they've put a phonetic spelling of Cradley on the screen in case I forget how to spell it, in case I don't know how to say it. 37:45 It's just ridiculous, isn't it? 37:48 Oh, dear. K-R-A-Y-D-L-E-E for Cradley, Cradley. People keep saying Cradley. I know they do. Well, obviously, I work with a bunch of Southerners, so that's what they thought I was going to say. Question or answer, Mike? It's an answer to the meat question. Love it. 38:03 Right, what it was, in the 13th century, people did have tons of meat on their breakfast. Kings liked to show off their meaty breakfast before going out for a hunt or before war. 38:15 Ah, yes. Sign of wealth. A sign of wealth. 38:17 Yes, exactly. And a sign of showing off. But it wasn't until the 19th century when a General Montgomery, sort of unofficially the first influencer, said that for his breakfast he would like a pork sausage, bacon, eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms. Black pudding was not part of the original full Monty, which is where he gets his name from. 38:39 I didn't know that. Wow. Yeah. 38:42 And that is where it caught on from that moment on, was the full Monty or the full English. Yeah. And they've messed about subsequently with beans and mushrooms and stuff. 38:52 Yeah, and thrown the black pudding in because it tastes the same as the sausage and the bacon, so the tastes go well together. 38:58 It's the pork sausage and the bacon. It all goes back to General Montgomery. 39:02 Yeah, the first ever person. And his soldiers called it the full Monty in honour of him. 39:07 I love that. I know the answer to the next question, because you've told me before, haven't you? But what are your qualifications? 39:13 I actually run a YouTube channel on this, and it was only a few weeks ago, so it was my 150th video, and I put it on there as the history. 39:22 Because you do a history of food YouTube channel. 39:24 I do indeed. 39:25 What's it called? 39:26 Boston British Fittal. 39:29 Boston... I mean, if anyone was under any doubts about whether or not you came from the black country, I think they've just been absolutely eradicated everywhere. Boston British Fittal. And you can find also... Do you know something I've noticed recently? Oh, go on. The pork scratching is making a comeback. 39:46 Oh, Scrossel. Yes. I mean, my local shops have all got proper pork scratching as well. There was a period when they went through sort of fancy ones. 39:56 But you're old school, because they quite often come from Cradley. Is there a factory near you? 40:00 Not that I'm aware of, but I do know areas like Blackheath and Cradley still do some old-fashioned black country dishes. 40:07 Yes. 40:08 Yeah, they do grapeas and bacon... You can get bread, pudding, all that sort of stuff. 40:15 Bread pudding's delicious, isn't it? Faggots, they're all there. Faggots as well. Had those at the Black Country Museum on a little boat ride once. 40:23 Right, Mike, Boston British Fiddle, round of applause. 40:26 Thank you. 40:27 Thank you. I never knew that about the breakfasts. Rory's in Horsham. Rory, question or answer? 40:32 Answer to the competing trees. That was the name of my... No, carry on, Rory. 40:38 So, you know, when you go for a walk... Oh, we'll try it. 40:42 Hang on. Phone line's gone funny. Not your fault. Liz is on the... Well, the Bridge of Weir. I say you're on the Bridge of Weir. You're in the Bridge of Weir. 40:50 James, I am, and I'm a big fan. 40:51 Right, you're very kind. Question or answer? 40:54 The answer to the train question, James. 40:57 Yes. 40:58 Yes, so I've been on that train that gives the above sea level... 41:04 all the time so it comes from bergen to oslo it's a fabulous train journey last seven or eight hours you should do it it's fantastic but it goes over the mountains yes and who doesn't want to know how high up you are when you're traveling over the mountains If you travel on another train into Oslo, it's not going to tell you how far above sea level you are. Is it not? No. But if you travel from Bergen to Oslo, you go up over the mountains. It might be the Kellymark Mountains, but I might be wrong on that. 41:37 And it's where all the cabins are and where all the snow is. So you can be up in the snow, in the mountains, on the train. 41:44 So it's just helpful. It's just interesting information. 41:48 I think it's just interesting information. I'll check with my son-in-law to make sure I'm correct. 41:54 I'm going to give you a round of applause either way, Liz. That's lovely, isn't it? 41:57 Thank you. 41:58 Because, I mean, to be fair, if we were to deploy... And either Occam's razor or Sherlock Holmes' famous mantra that you eliminate the impossible, whatever you are left. I mean, it's hard to think what other reason there could be except just a sort of, here's some interesting information for you. 42:12 Yeah, exactly. Exactly. 42:14 You're 140 feet in the air, metres, metres in the air. 42:17 Love it. If you go up a mountain, you want to know how far up you are, don't you? 42:22 You certainly do. Well, most people do, I imagine. I love that. Nice one. I'd like to go to Norway one day. Oh, you must. 42:29 I'm going there in a couple of weeks. 42:31 It's a great place. Is your son-in-law a fan of AHA, do you know? 42:36 He is. I thought he might be. One of my favourite bands. So there, what a small world. Thank you, Liz. Back to Rory and Horsham, or Horry and Rorsham, if you prefer. 42:46 The trees, the trees, the trees. Yeah, can you hear me OK now? 42:49 That's great, mate. Carry on. 42:50 OK, cool. So if you ever notice how some trees, grass grows around the trunk of the tree on the floor, but other trees, there's nothing. And that is because, as well as the water, the carbon dioxide and the light... The trees have to extract minerals from the earth, and every tree has a symbiotic relationship with a certain fungus that's under the ground that helps it to do that, basically. And the different fungi, sometimes they kill off other plants around them. So it could be that the cherry tree is killing, or the fungus that's working with the cherry tree is slowly killing the other tree. 43:24 And also, the fact that they're competing at all might explain why it hasn't fruited. 43:30 Yes, exactly. It's very stressful. That's what I mean. The plants around us are fighting for their lives the whole time. 43:36 And so there's no way that a pine tree and a cherry tree would have occurred naturally, probably. 43:42 Yeah, could be the case as well. 43:44 Because he's planted the cherry tree recently. Is there a word for that? Isn't there a tree when they circle around a tree that other trees can live in? Anyway, it doesn't matter. What are your qualifications? 43:56 I can't do that. I studied biology at university with a lot of plant biology thrown in. 44:01 That's lovely. The tree of knowledge, Rory. The tree of knowledge. Or the knowledge of trees in your case. Have a round of applause on me. I love that answer. Actually, I didn't know that about the symbiotic fungi. No, it wasn't. Leo is in Caterham. Leo, question or answer? 44:16 Answer, James. Carry on, Leo. 44:19 So, this is for the why do we miss things that are right under our nose. Yes. 44:23 So, 44:25 It's a thing called inattentive blindness. Is it? So it's the exact same reason why you actually don't see your nose, in that your brain sort of filters out any any information that's predictable or unnecessary for you to know because otherwise there would be so many things your brain was trying to process at once yeah that it wouldn't be able to deal with it now the reason why you sometimes it sometimes misfires and you can't find the thing that you're looking for is is sort of along that same process so um It's really common in people as they get older, particularly females going through the menopause with brain fog or in people with ADHD, inattentive or combined type. 45:14 It's basically a dysregulation in that. What a brilliant answer. What are your qualifications? So I'm a student paramedic, but I've got ADHD. So I've fallen down a lot of ADHD research rabbit holes whilst procrastinating my education. 45:32 While putting off your paramedic studies. 45:35 I love it. That's great. And good luck with the studies, Leo. Round of applause. Thank you. Thank you. And a very close second place, Leo, there for the game. But I'm going to give it to Stephen Chichester, the retired geophysicist. 45:48 Because I just thought that was a lovely answer and really detailed. And he threw in that little joke from the schoolboy as well about the Romans living underground. So it is all there. Oh, hello. 45:58 I think he's just answered a question as to why, for about a year and a half, I could not find the key to a car. 46:07 And yet when I found it, it was in exactly the place where I always put keys. And I looked and looked and looked for this key and could, with a massive fob attached to it, couldn't find it. 46:19 Menopause brain. Which means I owe Mrs O'Brien an apology. 46:22 Yes, you do, always. 46:23 Well, generally, that's a sort of figure. Just one massive one, I think. It's a state of being, because whenever I can't find something... Can you blame her? No. The first thing she says is, have you looked in the place? So I say, I can't find my keys. And she'll say, have you looked in the keypot? And I'll go, oh, no, I haven't looked in the keypot for my keys. Of course I haven't. That's why I'm asking... But there is obviously... a strong chance at that well mine were in the key part mine were in the if you miss 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 you can listen to a range of podcasts including James O'Brien Daily best bits of this show every day in a nice sort of hour long digest so do download the official LBC app for free from your app store now coming up at four on LBC it's Tom Swarbrick but now it's time for Keela Fogarty 47:09 Key loss folk. Key loss folk, yes. Thank you, James. 47:12 Hang on.