098 Firecracker Trivia

Bob Smith 0:00
We know the Chinese invented fireworks. But what did Italians contribute to our fourth of July celebrations?

Marcia Smith 0:07
I’m thinking pizza what are the only two animal species that wage war on their own kind

Bob Smith 0:14
answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith

Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down steer clear of crazy. Take a side road to sanity and get some perspective on life. Marcia, the Fourth of July always gives me different perspective on life because of our independence celebrations. It’s great to reread all the things about how this country began. We know we celebrate the Fourth of July with fireworks the Chinese invented fireworks. What did the Italians contribute to our celebration?

Marcia Smith 1:07
Oh, geez. I don’t know flags. What do we how do we celebrate? We celebrate with food, good food, Italian sausage for the barbecues. I haven’t a clue.

Bob Smith 1:17
Those are probably all legitimate things to suggest. Yeah, but they’re not what I’m looking for.

Marcia Smith 1:22
Okay, tell

Bob Smith 1:23
me. Well, the Chinese invented fireworks. The Italians figured out how to color fireworks.

Marcia Smith 1:29
Oh, really? Yeah. Just white fireworks before the Italian pretty

Bob Smith 1:33
much white or yellow, you know, fire colored fireworks. Now that’s the prevailing story on the web. It was the Italian chemists in the 1830s who mixed metallic ingredients with fireworks and got brilliant colors. Now full disclosure, I did find one source on the web that credits the Chinese with colored fireworks in the 1300s. But apparently they weren’t known in Europe. Most sources say Italians added the color. In the 1830s Italian scientists took a chlorinated powder and added strontium for red, barium for green, copper for blue, and sodium for yellow. So they had to take metal powders and create the colors.

Marcia Smith 2:12
I wonder if that’s why blue is the most expensive because it’s copper. I think it’s one of

Bob Smith 2:16
the hardest ones to do. Yeah, they also added potassium chlorate, which made the colors brighter, and the Italians have became Italians hold a fireworks competition every year in Rome. And teams from all over the world compete to see who can put on the best firework show. So the competition last six days two shows every night for three of those days. So the next time you see one of those colorful displays in the sky, you can thank the Italians for adding color to fireworks. I will I will I hope you do.

Marcia Smith 2:47
Okay Bob, some animals, you know, they fight amongst each other over a girl like lions, they’ll fight but there are only two animal species who actually wage war on their own kind.

Bob Smith 3:00
I would think ants because I’ve seen that happen with different ant colonies. Have you seen that? I’ve seen that. I’ve seen their little flags and their little tanks and their aircraft and the flying ants come in. It’s just an amazing thing. Okay, I have no I was always under the impression that ants waged war on each other.

Marcia Smith 3:19
Ah, that Yeah. On their own kind. Absolutely. Yeah. Have you ever actually seen them wage war on each other? Not really. Okay. Is that one of the answers? It’s one of the two. And

Bob Smith 3:28
the other one would be flies or bees? Monkeys?

Marcia Smith 3:32
Well, now you’re getting closer as human beings.

Bob Smith 3:35
No human beings never fight each other. They’ve never waged war. Isn’t that funny how you don’t think of beings as animals? Yeah.

Marcia Smith 3:43
And they are of course, animals and ants. Think about it, Bob. Wow.

Bob Smith 3:47
That’s a pretty good trick. Question is you say, You’re tricking me.

Marcia Smith 3:51
Well, it’s true. Okay. All right. What do you got?

Bob Smith 3:54
I got some more fireworks things here. So I’m celebrating. So we told you that the Chinese invented fireworks. The Italians are the people who learned how to color them. So guess where America gets most of its fireworks today?

Marcia Smith 4:06
though? Don’t they still get it from? China? Yes.

Bob Smith 4:10
Yes. Things have come full circle. Yes. The United States imports $320 million worth of fireworks a year and 96% of them. Approximately 304 million come from China. 2000 years China has been the center of fireworks.

Marcia Smith 4:25
And I read they’re selling out this year. What are the states that they import the most fireworks what states

Bob Smith 4:30
Oone is in the center of the country? Okay,

Marcia Smith 4:33
I would say like Montana. No, no. Okay. Wisconsin. No, Illinois?

Bob Smith 4:40
No.

Marcia Smith 4:40
Tell me.

Bob Smith 4:42
Okay. Missouri imports the most okay. $51 million dollars worth a year. Mississippi was next with 42 point 3 million Ohio is the third importing into 30 million. And after that comes South Carolina, Texas, California and Florida. A lot of it’s in warmer states which is interest? Yeah, you’d think, well, it’s hot enough here. Why do we need fireworks? Yeah, it’s a cultural thing I think in which state imports the least at the idea?

Marcia Smith 5:08
Hold on, let me think Alaska.

Bob Smith 5:11
No it’s one of the New England states where you know, freedom was born, Rhode Island. They imported just $22,629 of fireworks in the most recent figures. Okay. All right. It’s like a grocery bill for it. You know? Yeah. For some.

Marcia Smith 5:28
You know that human beings Bob have a water content of over 60% We’ve discussed that before. But can you name the creature with the highest percentage of water in their bodies?

Bob Smith 5:41
Jellyfish?

Marcia Smith 5:43
That’s right, isn’t it?

Bob Smith 5:44
I assumed it was something under the sea.

Marcia Smith 5:46
Yes, it is. They’re made up of 95.4% water. That’s a lot of water. Despite their name, jellyfish is not a fish. They are an animal with no back bones. In other words, that new vertebrae,

Bob Smith 6:00
and it’s just sort of a membrane. Basically it let’s get tentacles.

Marcia Smith 6:03
It’s got a brain inside of its middle somewhere, I guess. Oh, and there’s so creepy whenever remember, we saw a movie the other night and the guy got tangled up with one sack. Yeah. Oh, they are vicious. Yes. Very, very painful. But anyway, that’s the one with the most water content. In case you were wondering.

Bob Smith 6:24
Well, the Independence Day celebration, noise usually centers around music to a certain extent some guests get to music questions hear from the rock day. So this rock group got its name from a pseudonym, a false name that Paul McCartney used to use to check into hotels. What’s the group? Their name comes from the name he used?

Marcia Smith 6:44
Oh, ah, ah.

Bob Smith 6:48
There was a punk group. Born of a punk group. Tell me the Ramones. Oh, really? Yeah. Because Paul Ramon or Paul Romano. That was an early stage name used by Paul McCartney Ramon. That’s funny. Paul Roman was the pseudonym. He used to check into hotels during the heydays of Beatlemania. That’s funny. All right. Here’s another one. The Beach Boys considered calling themselves this thinking the name the name of a clothing company might get them some free promotional shirts. What name did the Beach Boys consider before they settled on their name?

Marcia Smith 7:19
How? Let me see back then. If you didn’t know

Bob Smith 7:23
this, you’ll laugh at this one. I do

Marcia Smith 7:24
not know it and I’ll just take a stab then. Sporty clothing. I don’t know where they’re going to call them selves, the Adidas boys or something? No, that’s long before then long before then it’s not necessarily sporty clothing. Oh, no. Something a Brooks Brothers.

Bob Smith 7:43
Sort of along those lines. Not quite that much.

Marcia Smith 7:45
Okay, tell me.

Bob Smith 7:49
The Pendleton’s

Marcia Smith 7:45
Love Pendletons.

Bob Smith 7:49
I know. It’s one of your favorite brands. And I thought that was so funny that they thought well, let’s call ourselves the Pendle they get free clothes. But you know, it doesn’t fit the Beach Boys. I mean, the Beach Boys are on the sea. For God’s sake. Help.

Marcia Smith 8:01
Those are warm, woolly clothes. Not for California boys. Give me a break.

Bob Smith 8:06
I thought that was funny.

Marcia Smith 8:08
All right, I got another water question. See question. Okay. When the cod fish we like cod, lays its eggs, Bob. Usually about five of them survived to birth. So how many do you think the female cod lays?

Bob Smith 8:26
How many? Yeah. Like

Marcia Smith 8:28
I said, Give me a ballpark. On how many do you think she lays to get five little swimmers off?

Bob Smith 8:34
Usually it’s like 1000s. Yeah. And you have a you know, a few of them survive. And then that’s it. So I don’t know. I’ll say 1000. Yeah, did 1000 eggs?

Marcia Smith 8:43
Yeah, that’s what I I would have said well, here’s why I put that in there because cod lay between four and 5 million eggs at a time. Oh my goodness. If all the eggs spawned by all the female cod in one season survived. They would fill the oceans from seabed to surface.

Bob Smith 9:02
Wow, that’s amazing

Marcia Smith 9:05
sea bed – from sea bed to sea beds.

Bob Smith 9:08
The surfaces that means from the bottom of the the top? Oh my goodness.

Marcia Smith 9:12
Ah, yeah. If they all if they all survived. So five out of 5 million.

Bob Smith 9:17
5 million every time that they lay eggs. . Or produce eggs.

Marcia Smith 9:22
Yeah. And only five survive. I have no idea how that happens. That how those five survived? I don’t either.

Bob Smith 9:30
One of those mysteries of nature. Oh, you

Marcia Smith 9:32
want another one? Okay, how many houses would one giant sequoia or redwood build? All

Bob Smith 9:39
that’s a good one. Those are huge trees. How many? How many houses? Well, is it a handful? Or is it something like 20 or 30? I’ll say 20.

Marcia Smith 9:51
The tree can grow to you know 300 feet in height and can be 25 feet in diameter. And the answer is they can build the average giant at Redwood can build about 60 average size houses

Bob Smith 10:03
My goodness 60 houses – wood houses too, right? That probably is the framing as well as the – That’s amazing

Marcia Smith 10:09
60 houses Well that’s why they were very solid. Like crazy in the beginning. Like crazy.

Bob Smith 10:14
You’re right. You’re right. I’ve got some fun fireworks facts from Popular Mechanics of all places. Okay, yeah, a few years back they did a story on this. So when was the first firecracker they take it back to 200 BC, really when bamboo thrown on a fire in China exploded as the air expanded inside the reeds and rudimentary gunpowder and firecrackers were born. People used the original firecrackers to scare away evil spirits make sense? And then about 800 years later, and 600 to 900 A D. In the Song Dynasty fireworks were exploded at many festivals and common people could purchase fireworks from market vendors that long ago. Wow. over 1000 years ago, and next Chinese began making weapons from powerful fireworks packing powder rocks and metal into containers. They made bombs that was kind of the beginning of real Modern Warfare from celebration

Marcia Smith 11:11
to destruction. Yeah, hey, we

Bob Smith 11:13
could use this to enjoy to scare or to kill. Yeah,

Marcia Smith 11:16
good time. All right. This is a question for Bob Smith. All right. Do you like company history? Okay. Before the Korean War. What was the electronics giant Samsung known for before

Bob Smith 11:31
the Korean War? Yeah. Yes, it is fascinating. All these companies did different things. Were they fishing company, a fisherman fishing company or something like

Marcia Smith 11:40
that? Well, they they were known for selling dry fish and noodles. Samson founder oh gosh. Lee Bong Toole started his trading company with $27 cash in 1938. And he began diversifying his offerings until 1960 When he began selling electronics. Wow.

Bob Smith 12:03
Now notice it’s a trading company. Remember, we did a thing on the Shell Oil Company because a trading company’s

Marcia Smith 12:10
Guys did noodles and fish. They sold it. That’s the grocery store. And that’s how Samsung started and that he had the same name and $27. And well, from that to what he is today.

Bob Smith 12:22
Amazing during the Great Depression, which hit Japan and Korea as well. 3819 38 Correct. Amazing. Yeah, one of the biggest electronics companies today. Well, we have Samsung phones. You and I have Samsung TV. Samsung, we have Samsung underwear. No, no, no, we don’t have that. Okay, well, continuing with our firecracker or fireworks theme. I have some more independence day kind of questions here. How did fireworks get to Europe? We know they started in China. So how did they get to Europe? Where did they come from? Who brought them back? Or who brought them to Europe,

Marcia Smith 12:56
Who brought them to Europe?

Bob Smith 12:58
1295 was the year Marco Polo. Marco Polo. Marco Polo was a great explorer. He returned from China bringing with him porcelain, jewels, spices, and fireworks brought them all back to Italy. And then what Founding Fathers suggested we use fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of

Marcia Smith 13:18
July. Well, I’ll go well, doesn’t sound like George. Let’s go with Tom Jefferson.

Bob Smith 13:24
No, it was John Adams. Yes. And he actually suggested I think it was July 2 – I forget what the date was. That was the first day things were signed. But the fourth was when the document came back with him almost everybody’s signature starting on the fourth. So that’s what they settled on the Fourth of July.

Marcia Smith 13:42
Now John seems more – he was more stoic and subdued than those guys. That’s

Bob Smith 13:47
amazing, right? Yeah. Because he has kind of a reputation as being Yeah. irritated.

Marcia Smith 13:52
He hated Paris too much going on.

Bob Smith 13:55
All right. All right.

Marcia Smith 13:57
Now this you’ve probably been wondering a lot. Okay. Since we’ve been working out in the garden. You know what a slug is, don’t you?

Bob Smith 14:03
Are you talking about me again? You call me that?

Marcia Smith 14:06
You did. So a slug is little things in the ground that do things? I’ll bet you’re wondering how many teeth does the average slug have?

Bob Smith 14:15
You know, I’ve been wondering how many teeth does the average slug have?

Marcia Smith 14:19
I have the answer. I want to take a guess. First.

Bob Smith 14:21
I’ll bet it’s huge. It’s like those. Remember we did the thing on the grub bugs that inspired the chainsaws. Remember that? Yeah. So I will say that the slug probably has 95 teeth. Well,

Marcia Smith 14:35
this will surprise and amaze and amuse you. Okay. 27,000

Bob Smith 14:42
Holy cow 27,000 to help them

Marcia Smith 14:45
eat their food. I mean, how tiny must they be there that and who counted them? Yeah, that’s the question. He’s charming creatures travel at point 007 miles per hour and they can stretch to a 11 times their length. They’re basically a snail without shells. So just something to think about tonight when you’re trying to get to sleep.

Bob Smith 15:10
So they can go 11 times their normal length, but what are their what’s their normal length of a slug?

Marcia Smith 15:15
In North America, slugs can average up to 10 inches long.

Bob Smith 15:19
Wow. So 11 times that.

Marcia Smith 15:21
Yeah, that would be 110 inches. Wow. That’s a long slog. I would faint if I pulled that out of the garden.

Bob Smith 15:28
That’s twice the almost twice the distance from pitcher’s mound, the batter’s box. That’s amazing. Wow. Yeah. That’s a long slog. What is this Marcia, oh, God, slimy thing. It’s so long, Marcia’s animal question.

Marcia Smith 15:43
Got a million.

Bob Smith 15:44
Yeah, apparently. All right. Let’s take a break. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith. We’ll be back in just a moment. Okay, back on the off ramp with followed Marcia Smith trivia. And Marsha. I’m going to give you one more question or a couple more actually. On fourth Fourth of July Independence Day fireworks. Okay. Okay. So here in the United States, the last fireworks display in an Independence Day celebration is often the American flag or something like that. Right. Fireworks that looked like an American flag. What was the end of the first fireworks on Independence Day? 1777. What was what did they first Independence Day celebration in 1770.

Marcia Smith 16:30
So it wasn’t a flag. It was some other symbol. Yeah. Okay. Let me think back then cow Lee, what would it be? What would it be?

Bob Smith 16:38
Its symbolic. Its represents something that would be something like London’s –

Marcia Smith 16:42
Was it something like our military hat? Or you know what the answer is now? 13 rockets.

Bob Smith 16:52
Oh, that’s nice. Yeah, the first Independence Day celebration in Philadelphia in 1777 began and ended with 13 rockets, one for each American colony. So that was the significance. That probably is the tradition that led us to doing the flag at the end. And here’s it here’s an eyewitness description of what that day was like from the Virginia Gazette. “The evening was closed with the ringing of bells. And at night, there was a grand exhibition of fireworks, which began and concluded with 13 rockets on the commons. And the city was beautifully illuminated. Everything was conducted with the greatest order and decorum. And the face of joy and gladness was universal. Thus, May the Fourth of July, that glorious and ever memorable day be celebrated through America by the sons of freedom from age to age, till time shall be no more,” that was from the Virginia Gazette of July 18 1777. Very poetic. I don’t know if it’s the same, but there is a Virginia Gazette. That’s still publishing, it’s online today. Okay. 100 plus years later, it is yeah.

Marcia Smith 17:56
Okay, Bob, we have grand-cats, don’t we? Yes, we do. We have what four great grand-cats, two children, four grand-cats. Okay. So here’s an interesting factoid. And it’s a study that shows that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building, it has about a 30% less chance of surviving, then if it fell off a 20 story building. Really, why say why? Why, Bob? Why,

Bob Smith 18:27
why, Bob? Why, yeah, if the seven storey building they have what chance to 30%

Marcia Smith 18:31
Less chance than then if they fell off a 20 story building.

Bob Smith 18:42
Well, they didn’t have enough time to land on their feet. Well, that’s not too far. Right. Yeah. I mean, they were flipping and they just didn’t have enough time. Apparently,

Marcia Smith 18:44
It takes a cat about eight floors to realize exactly what’s happening. And then it relaxes and autocorrects. Well, no kidding. Yeah. It corrects and how it lands and everything. Imagine that.

Bob Smith 18:59
Well, what was the study to do that we dropped 25 Cats off of buildings.

Marcia Smith 19:03
I know. Isn’t that bizarre? It is. It’s weird. Yep. But they want it takes them a while to say, Oh, wow, this isn’t good. I’m falling. I got to do something about that. So keep that in mind.

Bob Smith 19:17
Okay, I’ve got a question for you. Not football season, but I got a football question. All right. Okay. What famous food packaging did Cornell University’s red and white football uniforms Inspire? Right and white? Very, they were very striking red and white football uniforms. And they inspired food packaging of a famous company that still uses it today.

Marcia Smith 19:41
Gosh, I’m just drawing a blank Wonder Bread is what not red and white. Is it? That’s a bunch of different colors actually. Yeah. Specifically, I can’t think tell me.

Bob Smith 19:50
Campbell’s soup. Oh, really? Yeah, they introduced soup in a can. Yeah. 1897 a can with orange and blue labels. But a year later, Campbell executive Herberton Williams was attending a Cornell University football game and he was so impressed by their bold red and white uniforms. He convinced Campbell’s to adopt those colors too. Now, there’s one more thing on the soup candidate you have remember that little medallion in the middle of the camp? Yeah. Okay, where does that come from? In 1900 Campbell’s Soup won a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exposition well that’s the metal. Yeah, it was a World’s Fair metal so that was incorporated to the company’s logo along with the red and white colors from Cornell University just I’ve kind of fun Food Facts About

Marcia Smith 20:32
Milken year award.

Bob Smith 20:35
Yeah, I got this super word.

Marcia Smith 20:39
125 years ago just put it on every cat shows the quality. Oh, what’s Pabst Blue Ribbon beer that was that’s 18 something exactly the same kind of thing.

Bob Smith 20:49
Alright, gold medal flour. Those were all awards. They won, those companies won years ago? Well, not hundreds. But

Marcia Smith 20:55
200. Yes. All right. When I guess Bob, how much in pounds? How much space dust and other debris falls on the Earth every day?

Bob Smith 21:05
Whoa. pounds of space to breathe every day. So it’s probably mostly dust has nothing to do with satellites. Crashing Chinese satellites crashing to the earth.

Marcia Smith 21:17
Hmm, this is mostly space stuff.

Bob Smith 21:19
Is it in hundreds of pounds? Maybe 1000s of pounds? Me be okay. I don’t know. Let’s let’s say let’s say a ton. So that’s good all over the earth in one day. Yeah, it’s a ton of space dust. Yes,

Marcia Smith 21:33
it is about 2000 pounds, according to scientists, every day, or in an average year. 40,000 metric tons.

Bob Smith 21:42
So 2000 pounds of space debris, and mostly dust. Mostly dust in a day. Yeah,

Marcia Smith 21:49
it’s the Earth. Yeah. Can I do find one here? Okay. while in office who did President Nixon and wife Pat tried to match make with their daughter Trisha.

Bob Smith 21:59
They tried to match Trisha with somebody? Yeah. A famous person. Yeah. Would it be a famous musician? No. Okay, I’m gonna give you some categories. Athlete. No, scientist, no, another politician. No. Author,

Marcia Smith 22:13
no actor. No. Okay. Who 23 year old Prince Charles. All No kidding. Yeah, he was to be quite a catch the Nixons’ thought, and they would deliberately leave Charlie and Trish alone in rooms together at the White House so they could get better acquainted. And it didn’t work. Didn’t work. One of them was not too thrilled with the other wasn’t that fascinating? Yeah, they thought that would be a good match royalty and the Nixon Well, of course, yeah.

Bob Smith 22:41
I’m sure that every parent wants vanity there. That makes sense. It’s fun.

Marcia Smith 22:45
I thought that was amusing. Okay,

Bob Smith 22:47
You remember a couple of weeks ago, we did a thing and you told me what the were you asked me what the six official languages of the United Nations were you remember that? I didn’t I gotcha. Yes. Now I’m going to ask you about the most spoken languages in the world. I’ve got a list of 20 of them. What’s number one? And how many people speak it? Well, let’s say that last part again, what’s number one of the 20 most spoken languages in the world? And how many people speak it?

Marcia Smith 23:16
What’s number one? Yes,

Bob Smith 23:17
the language.

Marcia Smith 23:20
Ah, jeez. Well, it’s not English. Yes, it is. It’s English.

Bob Smith 23:27
Okay. You got it. Right Marsh. Sees Yes. English. 1.3 5 billion people speak in can speak. Yeah. What’s the second language? Second most popular language most spoken language in the world? We just spoke about them at the beginning of the show. At the beginning of the show, we mentioned that Chinese you’re gonna say Italian? Yes, you’re right. Here it is Chinese. Well, they’re Chinese. Mandarin Chinese and 1.1 2 billion people speak Chinese. Now. In the language itself. It’s known as Putin qua. What does that mean? Common speech? Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. And Mandarin actually comes from a Portuguese word Mandarin, which Portuguese explorers used to describe Chinese officials in the 16th century. So we got English, Chinese, Mandarin Chinese. What’s the third and fourth? Most kill me hear spoken languages in the world? Yeah.

Marcia Smith 24:26
Japanese and Russian. Hindi. Hindi. Yes. Yes.

Bob Smith 24:30
So think of India think of these big concepts. And then Spanish. Hindi 600 million people speaking …  And then the fifth language is Standard Arabic, and 274 million people. What’s the distinct difference Arabic has over all those other six languages? The United Nations languages? I don’t know. It’s the only one written from right to left. All the other languages are written from left to right. Really?

Marcia Smith 24:57
Yeah. Curious. Yeah. Huh, okay, before I finish up here with amusing last words, we always love that category. Remember that? Let me just ask one more question. What was a major communication advantage the Allies had over the Japanese in World War Two?

Bob Smith 25:16
Well, I know there was one communication advantage, which was Navajo. That’s it. It’s the Navajo language. That’s it. They couldn’t crack it. Because that was used as a code by Americans to keep the Japanese from listening in and knowing what we were doing.

Marcia Smith 25:30
That’s right. The Navajo came through 100%. And nobody knew the Navajo language. So that was that whoever thought of that I never did figure out who thought of doing that. Was that a great thing? Yes. And we cracked Japanese coded messages early in the war very early. Yeah. And apparently they never figured it out. Right.

Bob Smith 25:49
Before you get to your famous last word I have what country with the biggest New Year’s Eve fireworks in world history. Germany know the United Arab Emirates a 2200 pound fireworks. Good Lord. They launched it from a 15,000 pound mortar cannon. So it’s quite a big, quite a big thing. That’s considered the biggest explosive of fireworks in the history of the world.

Marcia Smith 26:14
I’ll be done. Okay,

Bob Smith 26:15
and you have some closing remarks

Marcia Smith 26:17
I do is for our famous last words from famous people. “That was a great game of golf.”

Bob Smith 26:23
That was Bing Crosby. Yeah. So “that was a great game of golf fellas.” And then he dropped dead on the golf course.

Marcia Smith 26:30
Did we never use that before.

Bob Smith 26:32
We may have mentioned it before. I remember when Bing Crosby died and that was how it ended.

Marcia Smith 26:37
Yes,y eah. And Dorothy Parker,

Bob Smith 26:39
oh, famous Dorothy Parker. Clever writers.

Marcia Smith 26:43
Her last words were excuse my dust. This is sad. This is from Leonardo DaVinci. I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.

Bob Smith 26:58
There’s a perfectionist, oh, my God, about yourself. He did

Marcia Smith 27:02
probably more than almost any human being I can think up. And this going back to royalty. Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli asked if he wanted to see Queen Victoria on his deathbed. And he said better not. She would only ask me to take a message to Albert.

Bob Smith 27:23
Her husband. This is a British prime minister. Of course. Yeah. Back in that day.

Marcia Smith 27:30
Yes. She was a fanatic after Albert died about him. And she is funny.

Bob Smith 27:34
I saw a query on a on a website the other day saying was Queen Victoria fascinated by sex or something, you know? And the answer was, well, she

Marcia Smith 27:45
had a lot of children. She loved Albert to peices.

Bob Smith 27:49
They did apparently have a great love. Yeah. quite fascinating. And

Marcia Smith 27:52
for one that was arranged. They lucked out. Yeah. They loved each other dearly. Well,

Bob Smith 27:57
that’s it for today. Pardon our dust. Hope you’ve enjoyed our show. Bob, I’m not ready to Oh, not that. Okay. Okay. We want to remind you that if you’d like to send us a question for us to stump the other person with you can go to our website, the off rep dot show and go to contact us and then give us the question the answer where you got it and where are you from?

Marcia Smith 28:19
Okay, say goodnight, Gracie.

Bob Smith 28:21
So that’s it for today. I’m Bob Smith.

Marcia Smith 28:23
I’m Marcia Smith. Join us again next

Bob Smith 28:25
time when we return with more trivia on the off ramp.

The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai