Introduction

Art, entertainment, sports; these forms of expression are among humanity’s greatest prides, and yet none of it comes easily: Artists are blasted for their work, Journalists’ integrity scrutinized, athletes under pressure to perform. Values are repeatedly tested. But the following spectacles — from a tanked Broadway show to racy portraiture to an epic baseball scandal — also remind thinkers, creators, and performers that, sometimes, disaster is just part of the process.

Welcome to Shocking Events That Made History series. This is your host Danny and this is episode 3 from the series, in which we will talk about cultural breakdowns.

Audio Episode

Episode Transcript

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Art, entertainment sports. These forms of expression are among humanity’s greatest prides. And yet none of it comes easily. Artists are blasted for their work, journalists integrity scrutinized, athletes under pressure to perform. Values are repeatedly tested. But the following spectacles from a tank Broadway show to racy portraiture to an epic baseball scandal also remind thinkers, creators and performers that sometimes disaster is just part of the process. Welcome to shocking events that made history series. This is your host Danny and this is episode three from the series in which we will talk about cultural breakdowns

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in this episode, we will talk about Twain ripping Austen and other literary slams. We will talk about Dostoyevsky’s near death inspiration, a belay Berserk for the ages, the Beatles best footnote, Broadway’s bombing his bomb. The Boston Museum keeper at painters proved awakening how gossip sells When Kelly cashes in on Reagan. We will talk about the fact checking after the fact we will talk about a short history of plagiarism. The Hitler diary hoax the greatest show and Barnum’s unbelievable entertainment, we will talk about trashing the waves on the Jerry Springer show the blunder full World of Disney, we will talk about reality TV and everyday celebrities. We will talk about photo bombs baseball’s foul record Lance Armstrong’s losing day Suriname’s Olympic screw up, we will talk about Connor losing on the court and off. And finally, we will talk about betting on the Black Sox in the 1919 World Series. There’s a lot to talk about in today’s episode, but I can promise you one thing, every single one of these shocking events will be as shocking, interesting and entertaining as ever. Let me remind you that you can find the transcript of this episode on my website English plus podcast.com. There is a link in the show notes that will take you there. And while you’re on the website take a little more time to explore the diversity of content that I publish daily on the website, I bet you will find something to your liking from the daily short reads to the custom post for the episode, the vocabulary building and brain fitness books, the online courses, the daily English plus bytes, the audio and video series, and much more. Also, if you’d like to have access to patron only content that I also post on the website and on my Patreon page, there’s a link in the show notes that will take you to my Patreon page where you can support the show and me as a content creator to help the show go on. And by doing that you will unlock all the patron only benefits, learn think, enjoy and never stop learning with English plus podcast. And now without further ado, let’s start with the third episode in our series shocking events that made history.

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So our very first event has to do with literature and criticism. And we will talk about Twain ripping Austen and some other literary slams in literature. The harshest critics of writers have often been other writers, some of the world’s most celebrated have been unsparing and unsparing of the poison pen. In a letter dated September the 13th 1898. For example, Mark Twain eviscerated Jane Austen. He said, I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books Madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader and therefore, I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice. I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shinbone. Wow. That’s harsh criticism. I mean, you don’t hear some harsh criticism like that every day. That comes from a famous writer talking about another famous writer. That’s not all. There are other literary slams. And that happened to Twain himself. Twain was on the receiving end several decades later, when William Faulkner wrote of him. And here I quote William Faulkner, he said, a hack writer who would not have been considered fourth rate in Europe, who tricked out a few of the old proven surefire literary skeletons with sufficient local color to intrigue the superficial and the lazy. Wow. That’s also so harsh. And then Ernest Hemingway slammed Faulkner himself. Hemingway said about Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? And Hemingway got his from

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Vladimir Nabokov, the author of Lolita, Nabokov said about Hemingway as to Hemingway. I read him for the first time in the early 40s. Something about bells, bowls and bowls and loathe it. Well, you know, that happens all the time. Maybe today, they’ve come a little bit more diplomatic, and they don’t criticize each other that harshly, but trust me behind closed doors, they all do it. Anyway, that was our first shocking event for today. And that has to do with Twain, ripping Austen and other people ripping Twain and other people ripping the people who are ripping Twain and so on. And now we will stay in the realm of literature and talk about another giant but this time, it’s not about criticism. It is about a very close call that happened to field or Dostoevsky that’s coming next. Don’t go away.

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On November the 16th 1849, Theodore Dostoevsky and a group of fellow intellectuals were condemned to the firing squad for their participation in activities considered subversive to Russia. More than a month later, the censured were taken to the execution site in St. Petersburg, and Dostoevsky wrote about that, he said, the horrible, immeasurably horrible minutes of awaiting death began. It was cold, so terribly cold, they removed not only our coats, but our jackets, and it was minus 20 degrees as Dostoevsky and the others stood shivering. The men of the first group were tied to steaks and hoods were placed over their heads. And here, Dostoevsky recalled we were taken in threes. I was in the second group, I had no more than a minute left to live. But just as the firing squad raised their rifles and took aim, a reprieve came from the Tsar. It was only after being returned to his prison cell that Dostoevsky came to embrace the joy of having his life restored, even though he now faced four years of hard labor in Siberia, followed by a forced induction into the army, he was alive and Russian literature would be richer for it with crime and punishment and other future classics yet to be written. So that was about Dostoyevsky’s near death inspiration. Next we’re going to talk about a belay Berserk for the ages that’s coming next don’t go away. I’ll be right back.

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Plenty of rock shows have erupted into riots, but ballet most of the audience arrived at Paris’s they are to the shows it is a on May the 29th 1913 expecting the usual state program something like Swan Lake. Instead, they got Igor Stravinsky’s unconventional The Rite of Spring, booing began almost from the very first notes as the strange dissonances and rhythms culminated disapproval, devolved into brawls between those who appreciated the composer’s avant garde approach and those who did not. And here Pierre monto, who was the orchestral conductor recalled, everything available was tossed in our direction. Critics were as divided as the audience. Henry quit out of Lithia, who called the work a laborious and pure riled barbarity. Gustavo Leonor, on the other hand, noted in the leading theatrical magazine como aidea, that the disturbances while deplorable, were merely a rowdy debate, whether they thought it was cacophonous, or climactic, the public or at least the music world, eventually came around to the piece, which is now recognized as a great creative leap. So that was about a belabor Zurich for the ages. And here we were talking about Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. And now let’s move on a little bit forward and talk about the Beatles, The Beatles best footnote that’s coming next, so don’t go away.

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After years of playing small dingy clubs and disheartening rejections from major record labels, The Beatles were poised to burst into musical history by the summer of 1962. Bought on August the 16th of that year, they fire drummer Pete Best from their soon to be legendary quartet. It was a strictly professional decision. Paul McCartney later said, if he wasn’t up to the mark, then there was no other choice. Best had shared the Beatles struggle to succeed, but some observers thought he was never really one of them. He was aloof from the build popping good time antics of the others. The subsequent success of the

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band proved almost unbearably painful to best. But in the end, he became philosophical. He told a reporter in 2007 that he felt lucky to have been spared the stresses of fame. Ringo Starr instead filled out the famous for some and assumed that burden. So that was about the Beatles best footnote. And from there, we will move to Broadway and talk about Broadway’s bommies bomb. That’s coming next. Don’t go away.

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On February the 22nd 1983, Arthur big nose moose murders, a mystery farce in two acts opened on Broadway. It closed the very same night, a legendary bomb that The New York Times described just a few years ago as the standard of awfulness against which all Broadway flops are judged. The critics were brilliant in their savagery W. CBS said, if your name is Arthur Bicknell, change it. Associated Press said I will not identify the cast pending notification of next of kin. The New Yorker said it would insult the intelligence of an audience consisting entirely of amoebas and variety went on saying there are bad plays terrible plays and plays like moose murders. Clive Barnes of the New York Post did at least commend actress Eve Arden for having the sense to leave the play before it opened. Holland Taylor, however, had the misfortune of replacing her there were things that I put my foot down about and change. She told the New York Times, but there were things I could not change like the play. Was it really that bad? Ask the playwright who recalled his friends and family as well as the casts slinking out of a party at Sardi’s restaurant on opening night. The simple answer is yes. So that was Broadway’s bomb use bomb ever and from Broadway we will move all the way to Boston Museum and we will talk about the Boston Museum caper. That’s coming next don’t go away.

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It was bad when the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911. But after two years spent in a trunk where the thief had stashed it, Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic lady was returned to her rightful place in the Paris Museum, there have been no such happy endings yet for the priceless paintings and other works of art snatched from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the largest theft of private property in American history. Shortly after midnight on March the 18th 1992. Thieves disguised as Boston police officers showed up at the museum and speaking through the intercom system claimed to be responding to a disturbance habitually stone security guard buzzed them right in having successfully breached the first line of defense. The thieves disabled the second when they confronted the guard pretended to recognize him on an old arrest warrant and told him to step away from the desk. He obeyed without ever thinking to ring the silent alarm. Now there was no stopping the intruders. After binding the guard and his partner and handcuffing them to a basement pipe. The pair began their rampage through the museum’s treasure filled rooms, ripping works by Rembrandt Vermeer money and Duga right off their frames. They also swiped a magnificent Chinese vase and a final from the top of a pole support for a Napoleonic silk flag. Though the FBI has followed a number of promising leads the great works with a total value of $500 million haven’t been seen since. Think of how bored they get. That’s what John Updike the novelist wrote in a poem about the stolen paintings stacked in the warehouse somewhere, say in Mattapan. Gazing at the back of the butcher paper they are wrapped in instead of at the wrapped glad faces of those who love art. Authorities spent years trying to identify the criminals involved in the heist. At one point, the FBI said it had identified the thieves. Later it postulated that both were dead and that the art may have circulated through organized crime circles based in the New England and the Mid Atlantic states. The saga continued in 1215 when newly released surveillance videos from the night of the crime elicited a tip from someone claiming to know the name of a shadowy figure entering the museum. The search continues while the empty

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frames that once held masterpieces hang in their original display places at the museum. poignant reminders of the waning hope that they’ll be returned. So that was about the Boston Museum caper heist Almighty that happened there and staying in art. Let’s talk about a painter’s Rude Awakening, which is coming next. Don’t go away. I’ll be right back.

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Although he is now considered one of the greatest American portrait painters, no one paid much attention to the artist Thomas Aikens in 1886. They were too consumed by Eakins, the unconventional art instructor, the one who dared expose his students, both male and female to nude models in a rigidly repressed era, when even the bare ankle of a woman was considered scandalous as director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Aikens had long courted trouble but never more so than in early 1886. When he removed the loin cloth of a male model to demonstrate to a class of women. The exact motion of the pelvis hauled before the Academy’s board of directors and grilled relentlessly about his teaching methods. The thing was a nightmare. He later said Eakins was forced to resign on February the 13th 1886. The majority of his students protested the firing, but to no avail. The loss of his prestigious position was a devastating blow, particularly since he had yet to impress anyone as an artist. There would be no recognition of his brilliance until decades after he died when his studies of the human form in paintings and in photographs finally earned him overdue acclaim. So that was about this painters prude awakening, which happened a long time after he died. And this is not strange when we talk about painters. Many painters, many artists were not appreciated when they were alive, or were not appreciated enough when they were alive. And that happened only after they died, which is a shame. It’s not a shame for us, because now we can enjoy their works, but it’s a shame for them. It’s a shame not to appreciate one’s work in his or her lifetime. Anyway, that was shocking. And that’s why I included it in our series shocking events that made history and our next shocking event has to do with writing. When Kelly cashes in on Reagan. That’s coming next. Don’t go away.

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On April 8 1991, celebrity biographer Katie Kelly and her publisher Simon and Schuster released a 603 page mauling of former First Lady Nancy Reagan among kiddies, more salacious revelations a dalliance with Frank Sinatra, Mommy Dearest likes thrashings of her daughter and Betty backbiting back Ronald Reagan’s Vice President George HW Bush, get his morsels proved irresistible to the press, including PBS has usually stayed MacNeil Lehrer news hour and the New York Times which published excerpts on the front page, the Reagan’s were not pleased Nancy and I are truly upset and angry over the total dishonesty of Kitty Kelly and her book. And that’s what Ronnie wrote to Richard Nixon, who had sent a message of sympathy other friends and associates, including some that Kelly listed as sources sent their condolences and public denouncements of the book followed. And later Lou cannon, who is the author of President Reagan, the role of a lifetime told Entertainment Weekly, he said, and I quote here I am listed in the acknowledgments as a contributor, but she never talked to me Never. Kelly swatted away some of the aggrieved sources by gleefully producing their taped interviews. Others she simply ignored. What did she care? She had a massive bestseller and $3 million plus royalty audience. So if you don’t think gossip sells think again, because it does. And that is shocking, of course. But it is getting worse and worse every day, people like gossip, it doesn’t matter if the gossip is true. And they don’t even care about following the sources and doing something that is very important, but nobody cares about anymore. And that is fact checking. You don’t care about that. As long as the story is juicy. So unfortunately, the mood is like just give me a juicy story. And I don’t care if the story is true, but don’t give me a true story. That is not exciting enough. That is not juicy enough. Give me the juicy details and you can add whatever you like, just make it as interesting as exciting as possible. But people remember this is not fiction. We’re talking about the

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his biography it is supposed to be true. But anyway, that was about how gossip sells and how Kelly cashes in on Reagan, another shocking event that made history and next we’re going to talk about Dewey defeating Truman that tribunals front page fail. That’s coming next don’t go away.

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As the 1948 presidential election crept closer incumbent Harry S Truman’s prospects for reelection look dim, a divided Democratic Party and languishing popularity meant he would have to campaign hard for a shot at a second term. New York governor and Republican nominee Thomas Dewey, who had lost only narrowly to Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1944 election was heavily favored. Despite Truman’s energetic stomping amid October Gallup Poll put Dewey in the lead on Election Day, November the second 1948 Paul’s still predicted a Dewey victory as midnight neared, the Chicago Daily Tribune team understaffed because of a printer strike moved on a headline despite bending East Coast tallies, Dewey defeats Truman was inked across 150,000 Plus papers. The first editions were already being dispersed when the upset was verified. Later passing a St. Louis newsstand President Elect Truman would stop for a photo with the erroneous headline grinning at the publishers gaff or perhaps his own unlikely triumph. Soap. Do you think that was shocking enough to qualify for our series shocking events that made history I guess so. And next, we’re going to talk about something similar. We’re going to talk about shattered reputations. We’re going to talk about fact checking after the fact that’s coming next don’t go away.

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Sabrina early was appalled when it was discovered that fellow journalists Stephen glass had fabricated a number of the prominent stories he wrote for The New Republic early called Glass a sociopathic creep in a 2004 review of shattered glass, a film detailing the young journalist deceptions a decade later, when glass was denied a law license. Despite declaring himself a changed man, she mocked his efforts to regain public trust. Later that year on November the 19th 2014, Rolling Stone published eardley’s Astonishing account of the sexual assault of a young woman at the University of Virginia by a group of fraternity brothers and the school administration’s tepid response. The peace was an immediate sensation, a call to arms against the culture of abuse that infected America’s universities. It was also a sham, the details of which could not be substantiated under scrutiny, rolling store retracted the entire story. So that’s what happens when you fact check after the fact. And if that’s not shocking enough for you, let’s talk about a short history of plagiarism, which is coming next. Don’t go away. I’ll be right back.

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When historian Doris Kearns Goodwin accused author Jomon Guinness in 1993, of lifting passages from her best selling book, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys and American saga, she did not know her outrage would come back to haunt her. It turned out that the Fitzgerald’s and the Kennedys wasn’t entirely Goodwin’s work to begin with. On January the 18th 2000, to the Weekly Standard pointed out numerous places where Goodwin had used the words of other authors. Goodwin then made more of a mess of her reputation as she struggled to redeem it. Her euphemistic description of her acts of plagiarism as borrowing as well as her continued excuse of faulty note taking further inflamed her critics. The Weekly Standard summarize the situation by using Goodwin’s own indictment of Maginnis and here I quote, There is nothing wrong with an author building on material from a previous book, as long as you credit the source. I just don’t understand why that wasn’t done. These were Goodwin’s words, but unfortunately, she was saying that about Maginnis while she did it herself without crediting the sources that she used dope. That is called plagiarism, ladies and gentleman, and that is shocking enough to be included in our series shocking events that made history and next we’re going to talk about the Hitler diary hoax, so don’t go away. I’ll be right back.

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In 1983, the German magazine

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In stern announced that it had acquired the personal diary of Adolf Hitler, a set of some 60 volumes spanning from 1932 to 1945, for which the company paid millions skeptics vocalized their doubt immediately, Hitler biographer Verner Macer told Reuters it smacks of pure sensationalism. Unfazed, stern published a special issue heralding the diaries and held a press conference to crow about it. But instead of the expected hose Oz, the editors feel the pointed questions about the diaries authenticity. The crowning blow came on May the sixth 1983 when the German Federal archives declared the diaries to be a crude forgery, stern had been duped and by an artist whose hasty handiwork gave itself away by the very postwar paper on which it was manufacture dope. That was the Hitler diary hoax and that definitely earns a place in our series, shocking events that made history and next we’re going to talk about something completely different. We’re going to talk about the greatest show Barnum’s unbelievable entertainment. That’s coming next. Don’t go away. I’ll be right back.

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Joyce health had already served PT Barnum quite well as the shamans first sideshow attraction, posing for amazed audiences across the Northwest as the 161 year old mammy who had nursed the infant George Washington. So when the nearly blind almost completely paralyzed, has died. Barnum saw an opportunity to further exploit the woman he had touted as one of the world’s greatest curiosities by staging a public autopsy of her on February the 25th 1836 at New York City saloon. More than 1000 people all paying 50 cents a ticket gathered to watch the gory spectacle. The surgeon Dr. David L. Rogers concluded that at a mere 80 years old, has had been a fraud. Barnum, however, was undeterred by the exposure of what the New York Sun called one of the most precious humbugs that ever was imposed upon a credulous community, he wallowed in the free publicity that the media frenzy generated, and even feted suggesting to one editor. That test was actually alive and well living in Connecticut. Six years later, Barnum gave the public another blatant hoax, a Fiji Mermaid that he claimed a Japanese fisherman had discovered the mermaid consisted of a fishtail and a monkey’s head. Barnum defended the exhibits authenticity in news articles that stirred crowds in New York and as far away as Charleston, South Carolina. Around that time, Barnum was introduced to a four year old boy named Charles Sherwood Stratton, who stood 25 inches high and weighed 15 pounds. So known as Tom Thumb for his enduring tiny stature, he began touring the world, enacting characters as varied as Hercules and Napoleon. Eventually, Barnum built what he called the greatest show on earth. At its peak, the spectacle employed more than 1000 people used five rings and was transported in 28 rail cars. The business man’s final words before his death on April the seventh 1891 were reputedly to ask what the circus receipts were at Madison Square Garden that day, his obituary had already been printed as arranged so that he could read it for himself in the evening sun. So that was about the greatest show. And that was about Barnum, I know some of you watch the movie. And I have to say the movie is nice, and you just love what Gene Hackman did to the character and how he showed it to the world. But guys, you just have to know that not everything you see in Hollywood movies, no matter how entertaining it might be. It doesn’t have to be true, or at least not entirely true. I’m not saying that PT Barnum was not an innovator, but you will have to see the other side that we usually don’t see in movies. But anyway, that was the greatest show and Barnum’s unbelievable entertainment, and next we’re going to talk about trashing the airwaves on the Jerry Springer show that’s coming next. Don’t go away. I’ll be right back.

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In ancient Rome, audiences got their kicks at the Coliseum by watching gladiators slaughter one another. The modern equivalent for such grotesque entertainment is perhaps the Jerry Springer show where nothing is too crass when it comes to stalking human emotion for ratings. Few could have predicted the show’s meteoric rise when it debuted on September the

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At a 1991 Initially it garnered tepid rating as a discussion platform on such high minded topics as homelessness and gun control. But when it went for more sensationalized tabloid content, it ushered in a new era of daytime talk TV by 1998. Springer was getting more viewers than the opera Winfrey Show in many cities, with millions tuning in to ogle the basis human exploitation. A couple of choice episodes included. I slept with 251 men in 10 hours, and here I quote, of course, and I’m pregnant by my brother, Springer’s spawn copycats, but none outlived the gold standard in trashiness, which has been likened to an undying cockroach after more than 25 seasons. In a 2002 National Enquirer interview, Springer defended the programming, which TV guide named the worst show in television history. He said, No one says we should take the news off the air because some of it is shocking. Well, I know that some of you might remember the show. Some of you might even have liked the show. But that was definitely one of the shocking events that earns its place in our series shocking events that made history and that was trashing the airwaves with the Jerry Springer show. And moving from the Jerry Springer show to the world of Disney the blunder of a world of Disney that’s coming next, don’t go away.

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There was very little magic to be found on July the 17th 1955. When Disneyland made its official debut, 15,000 guests had been invited to the opening ceremonies that day, but because of a glut of counterfeit tickets nearly twice as many showed up, inundating the park and creating massive traffic jams. The hordes quickly gobbled up all the available food and with their sheer mass nearly capsized the Mark Twain riverboat, a plumber’s strike had forced Disney to make a choice between working bathrooms or running water fountains. Thus toilets flushed but the lack of drinking water left people parched in the blistering 101 degree heat so scorching water the temperatures that the recently paved Main Street became a gurgling tar mess that sucked off shoes rides failed. Certainly guards intimidated guests, and a gas leak forced the closure of fantasy land. A lesser man might have been crushed by such a dismal day. But with all the pluck of Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney forged ahead by that September, Disneyland greeted its own millions guests and went on to become the grandfather of an international empire of theme parks. But the beginning was not wonderful. As I told you. It was the blunder for a world of Disneyland but that was at the beginning, but nobody can deny that it is a magical world today. Anyway, that day especially was shocking enough to qualify for our series. And next we’re going to talk about reality TV and everyday celebrities. Don’t go away. Wait for me, I’ll be right back.

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There was a time when fame was born of at least a whisper of accomplishment. But then along came reality television to prove earned renown obsolete. Instead, the right mix of false eyelashes and Cat Fights could launch anyone into stardom. Early to the airwaves was the Real Housewives of Orange County, a chronicle of the excesses and boredom of affluent housewives. The first episode debuted on March the 21st 2006. And it has since spawned successful spin off series. In upscale communities across the nation, the Kardashians put a family twist on the model when Keeping Up With The Kardashians premiered in 2007. And here I quote from what came in a New York Times review that year, the show is a window into a family that seems to understand itself only in terms of its collective opportunism. In 2009, Vanity Fair bitterly summed up the trend. And here I quote, The influence of reality TV has been insidious, pervasive, it has ruined television, and by ruining television, it has ruined America. Well, some of you might be big fans of reality TV, and I’m not saying all reality TV is bad. But when reality TV doesn’t give you anything useful, doesn’t tell you it doesn’t add anything to your information in any way. I don’t know how good that can be, except for killing your time. But anyway, that’s my opinion. And for those of you who love these shows, well, no offense, that’s just my opinion, but I’m just saying that this in my opinion qualifies to be one of the

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shocking events that made history and next we’re going to talk about photo bombs don’t go away. I’ll be right back

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in the midst of a war that ultimately claimed the lives of more than 58,000 American soldiers and shattered 10s of 1000s more actress Jane Fonda paid a friendly visit to an enemy camp in Hanoi. On July the 15th 1972 found out cheerfully posed for a picture straddling North Vietnamese and thai craft gun. Americans were appalled by what many perceived as treason and found out was derisively dubbed Hanoi Jane years later, she confessed in an interview and she said, I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an anti craft gun, which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes. It hurts so many soldiers it galvanized such hostility, it was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. On September the 13th 1988, presidential hopeful Michael Dukakis inadvertently orchestrated his own photo fiasco. Attempting to bolster his image is tough on defense, he had himself photographed riding a tank outside of General Dynamics plant in Michigan, the effort backfired mightily. The Goofy thumbs up and grin he gave from beneath his oversized helmet garnered national ridicule. So these are photo bombs one with found another with bookcase and next let’s move to the world of sports in our for politics, writers and artists. Let’s move to the world of sports. And we’ll talk about baseball’s fouled record next, so don’t go away. I’ll be right back.

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Although many were disappointed that it was Roger Maris, not Mickey Mantle who surpassed Babe Ruth in single season homeruns. At least Mariss performance was considered clean. Not so far Mark McGuire, who broke Mariss record on September the eighth 1998. While he later admitted he was taking steroids. In years following players continued to break home run records and their reputations between 1998 and 2009 10 players reached the career milestone 500 Home run mark the largest increase in baseball history. Of those six Barry Bonds Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Manny Ramirez Raphael palmiero And Gary Sheffield were linked to performance enhancing drugs. A drug testing policy was implemented in 2003. And regulations have grown increasingly strict in recent years. But the doping problem persists in baseball and in other sports. Unfortunately, that was shocking enough, right? I know you like some of these stars, and I like them too. But this is not the point. We’re talking about honesty here, right? But anyway, that was baseball foul record. And next we’re going to talk about Lance Armstrong’s losing day, so don’t go away. I’ll be right back.

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There was one less hero in the world on October the 22nd 2012, when super cyclist Lance Armstrong was officially stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, the first of which he won in 1999, just three years after being diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain. For years, Armstrong was dogged by accusations that he used performance enhancing drugs, a charge he repeatedly denied as He parlayed his cycling success into lucrative endorsement deals a successful Cancer Foundation and near universal acclaim for his courage and tenacity. Eventually, though, the United States anti doping Agency issued a damning 2002 page report detailing pervasive drug use by Armstrong and his teammates. Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling, said Pat McQuaid president of the International Cycling Union. And here I continue what McQuaid said and he said he deserves to be forgotten in cycling. In some ways the prophecy was fulfilled. Armstrong celebrity now involves public apologies and lawsuits, including one in which readers of his autobiography has requested a refund for the tall tales. So that was about Lance Armstrong’s losing day. What’s coming next is Suriname’s Olympic screw up that’s coming next don’t go away. I’ll be right back.

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Sick fried Wim is is was the first athlete from tiny Suriname to go to the Olympics. September The second 1960 could have been one of the greatest days of his life.

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But he never got to the starting line of the 800 meter race in Rome. He showed up for the qualifying race only to discover that it had already ended. Word quickly spread that desires had overslept, and he returned to Suriname in disgrace. redemption for his is came only two weeks before his death at age 70. In 2005, learning that he was terminally ill the Suriname Olympic Committee decided to re examine what happened on race day decades before. It turned out that as I as hadn’t overslept, the Secretary General of the Suriname committee gave him the wrong start time the events in Rome caused a wound in my father’s soul that never healed. That’s what his son Werner said. The Olympic Committee’s be elated atonement came in the form of a letter of apology and a plaque honoring him for being serene amps first Olympian and setting the stage for Suriname to participate in almost every Summer Olympics in the years following most important the revelation restored his dignity. The younger is is told the Australian Associated Press in 2005 I think it was enough for him to finally have peace. So that was Suriname’s Olympic screw up. And we still have two shocking events for today’s episode, so don’t go anywhere. We’re going to talk about Connors losing on the court and off and we’re going to talk about the 1919 World Series. That’s coming next. Don’t go away. I’ll be right back.

41:34
Before they met on court in the Wimbledon finals, Jimmy Connors sued Arthur Ashe in court for libel, Conor sought millions in damages because of ashes public accusation that his refusal to play in the annual Davis Cup tournaments for the United States team was seemingly unpatriotic. It was merely the latest in a series of lawsuits that the petulant Connors had filed against ash and the various tennis Association’s of which he was part. The Rivals faced off on July the fifth 1975 When the audacious Asch walked out on central court wearing his Davis Cup jacket with USAA emblazoned across his chest. According to an irate Connors ash then proceeded to beat Connors 61615664 becoming the first black man to ever win a title at Wimbledon that Connors own manager Bill reordan had bet against him in the finals just added to the torrent of personal insults that day, and here I quote, can you believe it, and he didn’t even share his winnings the cheapskate not long after Connor has dropped his manager and the lawsuits. So obviously Connors lost on the court and off the court. And that leaves me with one last shocking event for today’s episode. I know there were a lot of events for today, but trust me, there weren’t too many more, but I just chose those because I think they’re interesting, and you would want to know about them. And now for the very last shocking event in today’s episode, and that is betting on the Black Sox, the World Series sells out that’s coming next don’t go away.

43:19
People were whispering the fix was in, but there was scant evidence of it leading into game eight of the infamous 1919 World Series. Eight dirty players from the Chicago White Sox were rumored to be throwing the nine game series for a fee from underworld gambling interests. But the Sox had won games three, six and seven against the Cincinnati Reds, leading to speculation that some of the so called Black Sox either had a conscience or weren’t being paid as promised, with the Reds ahead just for the three Arnold Rothstein reputed kingpin of the whole illicit operation wanted his players to get in line immediately. A dark character whom eight man out author alien as an author, described as a man schooled in the finer arts of persuasion, was enlisted to convince Sox pitcher Claude lefty Williams that the health of his family depended on his performance the next day. Whether or not Williams took the mysterious enforcer at his word remains a matter of conjecture, even a century later, but the undisputable fact is that on October the ninth 1990 in Chicago last game eight and with it the series, adding an indelible stain on to America’s favorite pastime. And with that infamous 1919 World Series, we come to the end of today’s episode, we talked about shocking events, and we talked about many shocking events. So if you skip any of those events, please just go back and listen to all of them because all of them are very interesting and they’ve all earned their rightful place in today’s episode from our

45:00
Are series shocking events that made history don’t forget that you can find the transcript of this episode on the website, the link in the show notes will take you there. And while you’re there, you can check the other things that you can find on my website English plus podcast.com. Not only about the podcast episodes, but there are a lot of other things you can explore and find something that you will like and I bet you will like some of the things I put on my website. And also you can support the show and support me as a content creator to keep the show going on. And with that, we come to the end of today’s episode. This is your host Danny, thank you very much for listening to another episode from English plus podcast. I will see you next time.

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<a href="https://englishpluspodcast.com/author/dannyballanowner/" target="_self">Danny Ballan</a>

Danny Ballan

Author

Danny is a podcaster, teacher, and writer. He worked in educational technology for over a decade. He creates daily podcasts, online courses, educational videos, educational games, and he also writes poetry, novels and music.

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