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. 00:16 It's 12.06 and Mystery Hour is upon us. Thank the Lord. I've got a couple of things that I need to do before that, though, because I appreciate that sometimes it's funny when I forget to tell you things that I've promised to tell you. Sometimes it's actually just really annoying. It was nuts yesterday how many people said, I thought it was just me. with the fruit flies, the preponderance of fruit flies. There is a massive surge because of the unusually warm weather later in the year. So it's not just you that's got a problem with fruit flies. And I have got a solution to the problem which I will share with you shortly. 00:48 But first, let me just tell you a little bit about Mystery Hour. If you've not previously enjoyed this part of the week, it's really easy. It's surprisingly fun. People ring in with questions and then other people ring in to answer them. You can ask pretty much anything you want. We try to avoid repetition, but only really half-heartedly. And we don't generally like motoring questions, although even that rule has kind of gone by the wayside in recent years. And when I say years, I mean years, because this has been going for as long as, I mean, flip it, I don't know how long it's been going for. 01:20 15 years, is it? A very, very long time. More than 15 years, possibly. 01:25 And it is so successful and so popular that it has spawned its own games, off-air games, like literal board games that you can buy or win. You can win one by making my favourite contribution of the day. You can buy one by going to mysteryhour.co.uk. And when I say games plural, I mean it. There's a board game and then there is a travel game. It's in a tin. 01:48 And they're both brilliant. But don't take my word for it. Go and have a look for yourself. Full terms and conditions for the competition are at lbc.co.uk. What sort of questions work? Anything you want, really? Who? Why? In fact, I know for a fact that I don't need to do... Because someone is going to... There'll be someone out there. We'll just get it out of the way early. George is in Coventry. George, question or answer? I've got a question, please, James. Carry on, mate. 02:14 Yeah, I've been having quite a few problems with fruit flies lately. 02:18 Yeah, that's a bit rogue. I bet you weren't expecting it. 02:21 It suddenly occurred to me then that we better do this first because I'm not suggesting for a minute that your course of action over the last five minutes has been predictable, George, but otherwise the whole switchboard is going to fill up with people asking the same question, isn't it? 02:33 Well, I'm glad I got in there first. 02:35 No, you did indeed. And you can find it on YouTube, but I've done a few over the last couple of years, last couple of summers. It also, I don't know if you've got a hoarder in your house, I like to keep empty jam jars for two reasons. Reason number one is if you buy a big bag of spice, I mean like the stuff you make curry with. I'm not taking drugs or anything like that. You buy a big bag of spice. 02:59 Where are you going to keep it? I'm trying to cut down on plastics because of microplastics. You've kept your jam jars. You've got a sealable glass jar with a nice metal lid. You put your spices where you bought a load of cumin powder or you bought a load of ground coriander. You want it to keep pungent. So I keep jam jars. Drives Mrs. O'Brien nuts. And then the other reason why I keep jam jars is because you never know. Do you? You never know. That's the thing, you see. You never know when you might need a jam jar. 03:27 And it turns out that a jam jar is just what you need to make a flute fry. 03:32 A flute fry. A fruit fly trap. So here's what you do. You get a hammer and a little nail. 03:38 And you get the metal lid of the jam jar and you punch as many holes in it as you want, as many as possible, really. It's a little bit time consuming. You've got to be a little bit careful. You don't want massive holes, but you must puncture the metal to the point where you can blow through it. So you then get the best vinegar to use. And I know it's not the cheapest. I presume any vinegar will do. 04:01 But you then put as much in the jam jar as you fancy, as much as you can, really. If it's a smaller jam jar, you want it to be quite near the top of apple cider vinegar and a quick squirt of washing up liquid. I used the fairy that is under the sink as opposed to the environmentally friendly stuff that we're supposed to use, which is on top of the sink. So a quick squirt of the fairy. Apple cider vinegar, screw the lid back on and then leave it in the vicinity of wherever the fruit flies are congregating, which is most likely to be near a fruit bowl or near a bin. 04:34 OK, and make as many as you want. I don't know how big your kitchen is, but, you know, you can probably get if they're two or three or four of them. It depends how many jam jars you've got. 04:45 And they work. And you can tell that they work. This is the gross bit, if you're having your lunch. You can tell that they work because you give it a little shake later and there's loads of little black bits floating around inside it. And that, George, is how you make a fruit fly trap. 04:58 Good answer. 04:59 Thank you very much. I think I'll give myself a round of applause. I think you should as well. Lovely stuff. Thank you, George. Is it Ray Liotta territory? I've never had a Ray Liotta, have I? But I can't. I mean, that's ridiculous. I didn't come up with it myself. 05:10 Thank you, George. I think we're up and running. So if you've got a question that needs an answer and it doesn't involve fruit flies, 03456060973 is the number that you need. And be careful not to punch holes in your kitchen table when you're doing that. I did have a sort of... Do you ever do this? Do you ever imagine something going wrong and then go through in your head how you'd actually explain it to your husband or wife? So I was punching the holes in the top of the... 05:40 Jam jar lid. And I'd done it on the table. I did it on the table and it was fine. I put a newspaper underneath. But then I thought, I actually went through in my head how I would explain to Mrs. O'Brien that I'd done it on the worktop. We've got a kind of marble overhang. 05:55 And if I'd done it on that and it had snapped off, if I'd snapped off the marble... 06:00 And tried to glue it back on. I don't know why my brain does that to me sometimes. It hasn't even happened. And I'm going through how I would cover it up if it did happen. And then explain myself to my wife if my cover-up hadn't been entirely successful. So don't do it on anything that is likely to be damaged by the simple practice of nailing hammering holes in the top of a jam jar lid. It's not the only thing I've got off YouTube in the last few years. 06:28 If you don't follow me on Blue Sky, you're not going to believe what I did at my mum's house at the weekend. This is proper criminal mastermind stuff. And if I remember, I'll share it with you before home time. But first, Neil is in Saltburn. Neil, question or answer? It's a question, James. Carry on. 06:44 I've thought about this for a while and it seems a bit of a silly question and an obvious answer, but why do we like a nice view? 06:53 It's not a silly question at all. Well, thank you. What do you think the obvious answer is? 06:58 Well, I thought about the evolutionary side of things, that we're looking for predators or resources. 07:05 So the more we can see, the more confident we can be that there's not any sort of lions coming towards us. 07:12 Yeah, but then again, people like a view of the Grand Canyon where they can see for miles. 07:18 We don't like heights. A lot of people don't like heights. And in a way, that's a similar thing. The higher up you are, the safer you should be. yeah i love that yeah big skies for me actually oddly talking about lockdown in the last hour halfway through the first lockdown i've realized how much i was missing the the skies in norfolk because we went to norfolk a lot before the lockdowns and something about the london view out of your window or your garden or even the park it's constricted isn't it it's always constricted and then when i get to the big sky in norfolk something inside me shifts something moves inside me 07:52 Well, I read a book by Robert Winston. Oh, yes. And I can't remember it exactly, but they showed schoolchildren lots of views of forests and lakes and mountains and the African savannah. And the majority, I think about eight, picked the African savannah. 08:09 Really? 08:10 Yeah. Now... 08:12 He was saying it could be, you know, from an evolutionary point of view. I thought they might have just been watching The Lion King, but it's certainly food for thought. 08:21 Yes, it really is. What does it do to us? Yeah. What does it do to us? I love that question. You're on. I like it a lot. Not stupid. Oh, thank you. No, thank you. Perfect Mystery Hour Fair. Why do we respond? Why do we love beautiful views? And not just the mad ones, you know, like the Grand Canyon, but also sometimes you just come around the corner in the countryside. I was on the train. I've been on the train up and down to Kidderminster a lot lately. And sometimes as you're going through the Cotswolds, you just get a window full and it could be an oil painting. 08:53 And it changes something inside you. But why does it? 08:57 Why does it? 0345 6060 973. We've done the fruit fly question. Now we can do the views. And, of course, after this, we can do whatever question it is that you want to get on the board. And there are currently two phone lines free. So don't hang about. 0345 6060 973. It's 12.15. Mystery Hour on LBC with James O'Brien. 09:22 17 minutes after 12 is the time um lots of people sharing their own little fruit fly um insights as well and trust me mine's the best but of course you could use cling film over the top of the jar you could do it in a glass you could use a slice of lime and a mushroom apparently to attract them in but if you want them to be eradicated then you need to and they can't just come in have a little sip and then swim off again fly off again um you need to do it my way 17 minutes after 12 the other thing no i've done too much of that let's do this instead nigel's in lansing nigel question or answer 09:53 Hi, James. Good afternoon. Hello, mate. In the store holidays, I took my grandson, Jude, to an aquarium in Hastings. Oh, very nice. I love an aquarium, and, you know, he's very into his knowledge and everything. Big fan of Mystery Hour. Oh, good man. Hi, Jude. 10:10 Hi, Jude. Hey, Jude. 10:13 Carry on. I'll see what you've done there. We were in the aquarium. It's one of those ones with the big tunnel, you know, which you can go in the tunnel through the big tank. 10:21 I didn't know there was one in Hastings. 10:23 Oh, yeah, it's pretty good. Not the best one I've ever been to, Denver, Colorado, but anyway. Oh, nice. In Hastings, you go in this big tunnel, there's all the big fish, the rays, the sharks and what have you, and the question is, why don't the big fish eat the little fish? 10:39 Yeah. 10:41 You'd think they're... It's like... It's dreamland for them. It's like a buffet, isn't it? Oh, yeah. 10:46 Everything's there. It's like Yo Sushi. Yeah. From the conveyor belt, except they're still alive. Well, I mean... 10:55 Could it be because they're quite well fed? 10:59 So they're not hungry. 11:02 It could be that, but... 11:08 I mean, I'm trying to think. Isn't there one thing that eats even if it's full? But most... 11:12 creatures that would be me yeah you and me both actually um i mean aquariums are really managed environments aren't they really carefully looked after so the big fish are never hungry and that's why they don't eat i mean it probably happens occasionally i mean it'd be quite exciting wouldn't it if you just did actually witness a proper nature red in tooth and claw moment and one of the big fish it's gone 11:37 I think the keepers go in in the morning and hoping that there's, you know, a quick count, a quick, quick audit, a fish audit. Anyway, Jude would like to know the answer. So if you can... 11:47 I will. I shall put it on the board. But if I'm right, Jude, then I will be taking half of the round of applause on this. And the simple reason would be because they're not hungry. But we like that, Nigel. And we like that, Jude. Take care. And thank you. This is a good aquarium in Birmingham as well, actually. 20 minutes after 12 is the time. 12:03 Why does humans respond so powerfully to beautiful views? And why don't all the big fish in Aquaria... Is it aquaria or aquariums? Anyway, why don't all the big fish eat all the little fish? Paul is in Haddington in Scotland. Paul, question or answer? 12:20 Question, James. 12:20 Carry on. 12:22 Last night, we lit a few candles over dinner. 12:27 Special occasion, or are you just saving on electricity? 12:31 Myself and the wife having a romantic dinner. 12:34 And I lit the wick on the candles and the liquid used to flame. 12:40 The wick produced a flame. And I was wondering, why does the rest of the wax not go on fire since it's combustible? 12:47 Well, it's not combustible. 12:48 If you take the wax off a candle, the used candle, and put it into a fire, it'll go on fire. It'll produce a bright flame. But when you light a candle, it's only the wick that produces the flame and not the rest of the wax. 13:00 Yeah, I mean, if you throw it in a fire, it will create a flame. But that's not the same as if you can't light it. 13:07 Well, there's a flame right above a combustible material. Yeah, but you can't light. 13:12 So if you take the wick out of a candle, you will never be able to light that candle. 13:19 Why is that? 13:20 Well, because it's not combustible. 13:22 It would catch at a higher temperature than a wick or a match could ever achieve, i.e. when you throw it into a raging fire. 13:31 That's true of most things, isn't it? 13:34 Yes. 13:36 So I think it's got a higher ignition point. 13:40 Hasn't it? 13:41 Okay. 13:42 This is one of those moments where I think something's really obvious. I say it with my full chest, and then just as I get to the end of it, I start thinking, maybe he's got a point that I'm completely missing. But I like my wickless candle point. If I take the wick out of a candle, you're never going to be able to light it. I mean, you could probably light it off a nuclear explosion, but you're never going to be able to light it off a match or a lighter, are you? 14:05 Yeah, true. 14:07 So that's it. And you can put a match to diesel and it won't catch fire, but obviously it has an ignition point, otherwise we wouldn't be able to power cars with it. 14:17 Okay, I will accept that. 14:18 Thank you very much. I mean, I wasn't looking for another round of applause here, but I think I deserve one. It's a good job I didn't take Jude's on the fish question. Thank you very much. 22 minutes after 12. Speaking of candles, hands up if you put the heating on yesterday for the first time. Don't give me all this malarkey about, oh, we've got a thermostat. It comes on automatically. Why do you have to make a decision about whether to turn it on or not? I don't know why. I just do. All right? Mrs. O'Brien was out, which probably played a part in the procedures. And I just see it's flipping cold. It's very parky. I'm going to just turn the heating on, make sure everything's all right. 14:51 You know, just hands up. Who else turned the heating on yesterday for the first time this year? 14:56 Really? Well, that's extraordinary. Simone is in Surrey Quays. Simone, question or answer? 15:01 Question. 15:02 Carry on. 15:04 How do birds know that I've put out the seed for them? 15:10 So I put out seed, yeah, randomly, now and again. Well, more than now and again, but I do it. 15:18 So there's no birds around, and all of a sudden I put out seed, and five minutes later there's 40 birds. 15:24 They turn up? 15:25 Yeah. How does he know? 15:27 I think it's on Twitter. 15:30 Yeah, I think that's how it works. Well, you know, they sing, don't they? Because I do this as well. I mean, have you started putting them out again now? Are you putting seeds out again now? Because someone told me you're supposed to take summer off. You don't need to do it over the summer, and it can actually be quite unhealthy in the summer to be feeding the birds. 15:48 I put it out yesterday. 15:49 So good for you. Did you turn the heating on? 15:51 Yes, actually, I did. First time, was it, yesterday? Yeah. Boom! Look at this. This is magic radio, this is. This is why we win none of the awards. What do you think happens? The birds tell each other, don't they? 16:08 I have lots of trees around, so I was thinking they're spying on me or something. 16:12 They're flying around the place, and they see one bird. Sometimes they don't come immediately. Sometimes it takes a while, but you've got enough hungry birds around, and one of them is singing, eating and singing, or even just see it. They see it. 16:28 do they have massive eyes or what? It's like, you know what I mean? How do they see it from such a distance? 16:34 They fly nearby. They don't have massive eyes. They just fly nearby. I'm flying around. I'm flying over your garden. 16:40 And I think I might just check because there's some there sometimes. There isn't any there. Oh, hello. Here's some. 16:45 And then all the other birds come piling in. 16:47 Right. 16:47 Okay, that makes sense. Another round of it. I'm going to leave this one on the board, I think, Simone. I think you possibly deserve a slightly more sophisticated answer. Okay. Yes, please. 16:57 All right. How do birds know that Simone, or indeed anybody else, we can't make it specific to Simone, that Simone has put bird seed out? Because they won't go anywhere near the bird feeder, and then when there's feed in it, it will fill up. 25 minutes after 12 minutes. 17:12 is the time extraordinary number of people who turn the heating on for the first time yesterday and only one misery guts going oh you're a millionaire you don't need to worry about heating bills just it's a bit of fun Kathleen it's just a bit of fun obviously I make no bones about the fact that I'm comfortably off but asking whether you've turned the heating on is not really an opportunity to start indulging in ludicrous class war Harry's in Dartford Harry question or answer question please carry on Harry 17:43 Why do we go nose blind? 17:44 What are you talking about? 17:48 So, if me and my girlfriend go shopping for quite a while, so she's quite a shopper, so when we go into Lush, you can smell it first when you get the initial hit of all the scents. 17:59 Yeah. 18:00 But then after a while, because by the time she's finished, we've smelt the whole shop, you can no longer smell it. 18:06 Oh, yeah. Well, because if you worked there, you would, I mean, obviously get used to it. 18:12 Get used to it is probably the answer. But what's actually going on? Because it should, if you know, it's probably your brain. So your nose is still smelling it, but your brain is sort of going, yeah, all right, I've got that now. Calm down. 18:25 You don't need to keep sending that message to the brain that this is a beautiful smell of watermelon or some such. 18:32 okay that's interesting well i mean i'm not giving myself a round of applause for that but i mean lush is a perfect example because you can spell it from three streets away exactly yeah beautiful shop though we had mark constantine one of the co-founders on full disclosure this year and he it's a really good episode of full disclosure but he brought some freebies in for us and i took them home and we hadn't been in lush since the girls were young and they used to love the bath bombs But my goodness me. 18:59 Are you sure that's not yourself? 19:00 No, I don't. I'm a shower man all day long. Oh, nice. Yeah, nice and quick. Girls love the bath bombs. But I took some of the grown-up stuff home. It's magnificent gear, isn't it? The lush gear. Yeah. The creams and the ungents and the shampoos. His first thing, he started off in... 19:19 making hair products like literally in a sort of home laboratory and now he makes his own perfume it's a fascinating business Lush one of my absolute favourites on the high street and that question of why do I mean it happens at the other end of the spectrum doesn't it sometimes does your girlfriend never walk into the kitchen and go flipping heck what have you been doing in here and you can't smell anything yeah stinky fish that's what it is stinky stinky fish and we won't even talk about the other room but yeah okay so what's going on there when you when your nose stops smelling apparently your nose stops smelling even though if someone fresh arrived in exactly the same place they'd go flipping hey that smells good or indeed bad harry take care luke is in sheffield luke question or answer it's an answer james carry on um it's in relation to your aquarium question yes um this one's for jude 20:08 Yeah, you're absolutely right. The reason is that they're incredibly well fed. And they're also really lazy. So they don't expel the energy to go and get the food when they know the food's coming. There's literally no point in doing it. 20:18 So they've got a sort of psychological complacency in place. We don't need to chase that little fish over there because something happens every day. They just open this hole over there and loads of food comes in. 20:30 Exactly. And people think they don't learn, but they know like keepers, they know when they're going to get fed and stuff like that. So they're pretty intelligent. 20:35 So yeah, that's what happens. Qualifications? 20:38 I've written a dissertation for the National Marine Aquarium on predatory species. 20:42 Wow. So there are predatory species in the aquaria. 20:46 Oh, absolutely. 20:47 But they don't eat because they're not hungry. No, that's essentially it. What is the plural of aquarium? Aquariae? You don't know. You've done a flippin' dissertation on it, Luke. What nonsense were you writing about if it wasn't a question of plurals? 21:01 I wrote one aquarium. I didn't need to use the plural of aquarium. 21:04 Oh, clever clogs. Yeah, all right. That's why you got the qualifications and I haven't. Aquaria. Aquaria, I reckon. Aquaria. Okay, we can look at that. Anyway, you get yourself a round of applause. Lovely stuff. Thank you. No, thank you. There it is, Jude. They're full, mate. So what you need to do if you want to see some carnage in an aquarium... You have to slip, and you can tell Grandad this. Was it Grandad Nigel? It was, wasn't it? You can tell Grandad just to slip a few quid to the aquarium worker and say, don't feed the fish on Friday. 21:36 I'm bringing my grandson Jude in on Saturday. And if they don't feed, no, this is a terrible thing to suggest. What on earth am I talking about? I'm going to cause a scandal. 21:45 A Hastings Aquarium becomes a bloodbath and traumatised children have been carried out by their devoted grandpa. 21:52 Can we rewind that and pretend it never happened? It's half past twelve and Dominic Ellis has your headlines. 22:00 Mystery Hour with James O'Brien. This is LBC. 22:05 12.33 is the time. Why do humans respond emotionally to beautiful views? We've done that one. We've done that one. How do birds know that you've filled up your bird feeders? I think that's pretty obvious. And what happens in your brain when you stop smelling stuff? Harry called it nose blindness, which is not a phrase I've heard before, but it does the job. Carl is in Hemel Hempstead. Carl, question or answer? Question. Carry on. 22:33 Why is the number three used all the time when you go... Give me a second. I'm going to try and explain what I mean. Good. 22:41 Because it would be really confusing if we didn't use it. You'd go straight from two to four and you wouldn't be able to keep care of this. 22:48 No, but you go ready, steady, go. Yeah. Yeah? Yeah. And then you go one, two, three, go. 22:54 Yeah. 22:56 Is that it? Is that all you've got? That's all I've got. It was a really poor question, but I thought I'd get on and try. 23:04 One, two, three. One, two, three, four. Yeah, but why not go on two? 23:12 Why not go on four? 23:12 Well, musicians would know that, but we're going for ready, steady, go is probably a better answer. On your marks, get set, go. 23:19 Yeah, why three? Why is it always three? 23:22 It's chicken and egg, isn't it? Because it could be because of how races start. So you get, they worked out, you get down on your hands and knees and then you push off to get the best, fastest start. So that's in three. Ready? Down on your hands and knees. Get set. Up on your top leg. Go! Boom! 23:37 Yeah, but why not on two? What? Why not on two? Because it's three things. 23:43 Yeah, but why does it have to be three things? 23:45 Well, this is why I mean it's chicken and egg, because it might come from racing. It might come from sprinting. So one, two, three, ready, steady, go. 23:55 Yeah, I think this question is living proof I should get out more. 23:59 Are you asking why three is the magic number? Correct. Why is three the magic number? 24:06 Yeah, Y Street, the magic number. 24:08 All right. I'll tell you what, I've done our soul ringing. I'll give them the money myself. Nice one, Carl. Why do we do it in threes? The things that we do in threes. 24:17 I mean, the animals came in two by two, so it's not all about the threes, is it? But ready, steady, go. One, two, three. 24:24 Boom. Yeah, you'd do a surprise for someone. It'd be one, two, three. On three. One, two, three. 24:30 Michelle's in County Durham. Michelle, question or answer? 24:33 Hello, it's a question, Jim. 24:34 Hello, Michelle. 24:36 Hello. The question is, so I like table salt, just normal run-of-the-mill table salt. And my partner likes rock salt or sea salt. And I just wanted to know, is there any nutritional value in the difference of them? I mean, I don't like it because it's crunchy. It's just too big and crunchy. 24:54 You can put it in a grinder. 24:56 Well, that's extra time, isn't it, in effort? But I'm just thinking, is he getting something better from it than I'm getting, you know, the cheapy old table salt? 25:03 Yes, he is. I know this. 25:05 I actually do know this. I love cooking. And I've signed up to the New York Times website. 25:12 And they often specify, in American recipes, kosher salt. 25:17 And I thought, well, I can't get... Does that have to be blessed by a rabbi or something? How am I going to get kosher salt for a... cooking a meal in in brentford and so i've done a bit of research i'm delighted to tell you and it's the same as what your partner likes it's it's it's like you know epsom salt or mineral salt or rock salt or sea salt and the salt you prefer has got a combination of things in it that would include iodine and i think caking agent to stop it from caking there you go there's a clue in the title so so yes his is healthier than yours 25:53 It's better, right. Okay, then I guess he wins. He does. Am I taking that as a definite answer? What do you mean? 25:58 How much more qualification? I mean, that sounded so persuasive and convincing, didn't it? 26:03 It did, actually. 26:04 But you're also wrong. I mean, it doesn't taste as nice. It's just a texture thing for you, is it? 26:10 It probably is. It's just a bit too big and crunchy. I'll maybe grind it in the future then. 26:15 Well, I mean, I recommend it. On chips, though, you probably just want malt vinegar. You don't want any of these fancy schmancy vinegars. In fact, what you want is the chip shop condiment that's not even vinegar if you want it to be completely. But on chips, you probably just want some sacks of table salt, don't you? Other table salts are available. But you don't want to be crunching sea salt on your chips. 26:37 That's right. Yeah, yeah. 26:39 But you're doing your roast potatoes. Yeah, you've opened up. All right, a round of applause for me, please, Robin. Thank you. Roast potatoes, you wouldn't be putting table salt on your roast potatoes for the final sort of 10, 20 minutes. But a lovely bit of rock salt. What's it called? What's it called? Epsom salt? What's it got a name on the box? Epsom salt, not table salt, not mineral salt. It's got a special name on it. Rock salt? Is it rock salt? Anyway, there you go. Brad's in pool. Brad, question or answer? 27:08 Answer please James. 27:09 Carry on Brad. 27:11 I'm afraid I don't know the question. That's all right. But I heard you rattling on about candles. What do you mean rattling on? 27:20 That's outrageous. You know, Keith's on holiday at the moment in the United States. Yeah, show some respect, Brad. Keith sent a picture from his American adventure of a Waffle House to me yesterday. You know the American chain of Waffle Houses? He sent me a picture of a branch of Waffle House with the caption, thinking of you. 27:38 Brilliant. And then you come on and accuse me of rattling on. That's outrageous. Go on. What was I rattling on about this time? 27:44 Right. The wick in a candle is definitely combustible. It's just a bit of string. But I'm going to blow your mind a little bit. Solids and liquids do not burn. 27:55 Ah. Only gases can burn. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's only once everything's been heated up to reach its gaseous phase. 28:03 that it will burn, including things like petrol, which your producer... 28:06 So it's the gas that's burning, not the liquid. It might look like the liquid's burning, but it's actually the gas in the very close proximity of the liquid because it's just literally sublimated. 28:17 If you look really carefully at a candle wick, you'll see that the flame doesn't actually touch it. 28:22 So what's burning there, the gas from the wax or the gas from the wick? 28:27 The gas, it's wax gas passing up the wick and then fuming off from the top of the wick. 28:34 Why does the wick go down then? Because it's just a bit of string. 28:39 Yeah, but it burns. Yeah, it does. But it's solid. 28:44 Yeah, but it's being heated up at the point of the slain front. So the wick is becoming a gas as well. Got it. 28:52 yeah um you can see it even on even on log fires you can see that the flame doesn't touch the wood there's a slight gap and then of course if you throw the whole thing onto the fire and it burns it's because it's reached a high enough temperature for the for the wax to turn into gas and it's the gas that's actually burning yeah the wax gas is coming off every part of the candle at that time so it goes off like a fire cracker and the great experiment with kids is to get a candle and put a fork 29:21 on the wick and you can lift the flame away from it oh yeah of course you can use a fork to lift the flame up because you're you're just removing the flame from the gas it's like a little magic trick for the kids yeah they love it qualifications I'm a fire engineer of 20 years. That'll do nicely. 29:38 Round of applause for Brad, please. Thank you very much. Less of the rattling on next time, mate. Same go to you. Shabs is in Bracknell. Shabs, question or answer? 29:51 Question, please, James. Carry on. 29:54 So this question comes by way of my wife, and she's too nervous to ask you because she loves you so much. Oh, bless her. And I'm sure it's probably been asked before because it sounds like quite a basic question. But the question is... What have bees got to do with sewing and spelling? 30:11 I knew this. It's gone. You know when you know something, but you know you're not going to be able to dread. 30:15 You know what, James? I had so much confidence that you would know this answer. 30:18 I'm so sorry. What's your wife's name? Manny. I'm more sorry to Manny, because she's probably got more faith in me than you have. I'm more sorry to Manny, but give me one second. Sure. A bee, a spelling bee. 30:32 I know it's in there somewhere. It's in there, so I think we may have done it before. I play Spelling Bee every day on the New York Times website. Yeah. 30:42 It's not going to happen. Why are they called bees? 30:44 Yeah, I tried doing the sounds of a bee and trying to get to it, but I just can't figure it out. 30:49 Spelling Bee, a bee, a bee, a bee. There's nothing there. They've got nothing there. No. All right, well, someone's going to know the answer to that. It's quite an American thing, isn't it? 30:59 Yeah, it is. 30:59 But it's over here. All right. Nice one. Love to manage, Abs. All right. Thank you. Thank you. 12.42 is the time. I don't know why I'm going on about Epsom. It's not Epsom. It's Maldon salt I'm thinking of. Maldon salt. Epsom salt. Do you know what? I get my Epsom salt in TK Maxx and chuck it in the bath. That's what it's for. So the girls like it. So I buy it in TK Maxx and stick it in the bathroom. But Malden salt, that's what I was thinking about. That's your kind of the best salt. Although I have to say that sometimes when we're in the Peloponnese, we harvest our own sea salt. 31:32 Did you know that, Tristram? We do. We harvest our own sea salt. 31:37 I got a couple of phone lines free. 0345 6060973 is the number you need. Sam's in Amersham. Sam, question or answer? 31:44 Good afternoon, James. I've got an answer for you. 31:46 Let's do it. 31:48 So it's about the views and why do we enjoy an open view? 31:52 Yes. 31:53 So your questioner was right in the sense that it is something that comes from our ancient lives when we used to be cave people. Really? And we enjoyed having that prospect that open view across the landscape, being able to see possible game for hunting, being able to see possible threats from wild animals or other peoples who might come to attack us. But it's part of the prospect refuge theory, which we use in garden design as a way of thinking about how do we find a space that is comfortable for us to sit in. 32:29 So if you think about a cave, you've got something protective around the back of you, and that means that you're not going to be attacked from the rear of in surprise yeah so we like to position seating areas for example with something structural behind us so we feel comfortable and cozy but with an open view to the front but a view of what why is a view of a beautiful valley more more pleasing to us than the view of a car park Well, we like to be able to see what's coming. So an open view rather than an enclosed view. 33:01 So it doesn't matter what it is, whether it's fields or beaches or skies. I mean, the bigger it is and the more open it is, the more pleasing it is. 33:09 The bigger the better. If you've got an enclosed view, you could have predators coming out of jungle, for example, that might attack you. So if you can't see what's around the corner, it's intriguing, but it's also potentially dangerous. 33:20 And heights? I suppose heights because we can fall from them, so that's why we're frightened of heights. 33:25 Yeah, so if you think about that cave, it's cosy and safe because it's protected from certain angles, but you've got that overhead prospect if you're looking out from a height across the savannah. 33:36 I like this. 33:37 But a height that is unprotected might make you feel scared. 33:41 Why do we like views? Because they're big, really. The bigger the view, the more it appeals to us, especially if we've got something solid behind us. 33:48 Yeah, so the prospect refuge theory is quite a key thing you learn when you're studying spatial design and thinking about where to place things in a garden or a landscape setting. 33:59 That's nice. I think you've given us a clue, but what are your qualifications? 34:02 Well, as you know, I'm a qualified, accredited and multi-award winning garden designer. 34:07 Qualified, accredited and multi-award winning garden designer, including several Mystery Hour rounds of applause. 34:17 Did I ask you this last time? What did I ask you last time? 34:21 I know we talked about Brussels sprouts last time. 34:23 No, it's not that. How do you rescue a fern? What should I do with my ferns? 34:27 Yes, we talked about tree ferns and watering them from the top. 34:30 That was it. I've been doing that, but one of them's still not looking very healthy. 34:34 Oh, there are specialist feeds. 34:37 I'm going to get a specialist feed. I'm going to do that. The other one looks incredible. It could model if there was a call for ferns that are models, which of course there isn't. But the other ones, they're looking very manky. Thank you, Sam. It's 12.46. 34:53 mystery hour on lbc with james o'brien call 0345 6060 973 12 49 is the time um and questions still need answers uh including nose blindness one two three why do we do things in threes spelling bees and and bird seed and probably some others as well pete's in hove pete question or answers 35:16 Hi, James. How are you? 35:17 I'm good, mate. What have you got? 35:18 Good. Yeah, good. Question. It's not motoring, I promise. Kind of. All right. I travel up from Hove up to Surrey once a week, maybe once every couple of weeks on the M23, M25. 35:27 No, that's motoring. That's motoring. 35:29 No, no. Why are you telling me then? 35:30 Why are you telling me then? 35:31 Well... 35:34 And when I travel up, you hardly see any cars broken down going to work, and I hardly see any cars coming back to work. I've been trying to ring you since March, April, when we had loads of rain. On this particular day in April, it absolutely poured the rain going up, and I saw six or seven vehicles broken down with flat tyres. 35:51 You couldn't tell whether they'd got flat tyres or not. You could not. 35:54 In that March, you were going slow, 30, 40 miles an hour. And you could see on the offside or the near side, they had flat tyres. You couldn't see the offside. Did my day's work. Did my day's work. Came back. Again, six or seven vehicles, flat tyres. 36:07 Is your theory based on a single day? 36:10 And it was pouring with rain. Yeah, but it is based on one day. I've not been up and down when it's been pouring with rain again. 36:16 So that is the question. Why do cars get more flat tyres when it rains on one day? 36:21 No, on any given day. 36:22 But you've only seen it on one day. 36:24 Well, I've not driven up, but it's with pouring rain. Exactly. 36:26 You've got one day. I mean, it could be something specific to that day. They could have been, or the breakdown trucks could have been off on that day. 36:33 On both sides of the road. Yes. Seven, eight hours later, coming back, I saw a dozen plus vehicles with flat tyres. Why do pouring rain cause flat tyres? 36:43 Simple question. 36:43 It's not a simple question, though. 36:46 A, it's motoring. 36:47 It's motoring. 36:48 I know you don't like motoring. 36:49 And B, I think it's actually important to establish the parameters of this question, and I don't think you've got enough research to arrive at the conclusion that the question is predicated upon. 37:01 Well, I only got the research of that one day. Exactly. That's a fact. Twelve vehicles. Twelve vehicles plus flat tyres in the pouring rain. 37:08 But one swallow does not a summer make, does it? 37:12 Well, there we go. You can't just say it's summer. I haven't seen it since on hot summer days and dry. 37:17 All right. Is it? I mean, it could have been. The reason why I'm interested in the day, the only day, because it could have been a shed load. 37:27 Could have been a nail delivery. 37:30 Or a drawing pin delivery. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Drawing pins get blown away. Of course it does. The drawing pins get picked up by the rain and they swash over to the other side of the carriageway. 37:42 If that's the answer, that's the answer. 37:44 But we will never know. 37:44 Potholes? Potholes? We need a tyre expert to tell us. 37:48 Correlation is not causation, of course. 37:51 We need a tyre expert to tell us the answer. 37:53 Why do cars get more flat tyres when it's raining? 37:56 Pouring rain. 37:58 According to Pete. All right, mate. Nice one. 38:00 Well played. Steve's in Portsmouth. Steve, question or answer? 38:04 Answer, mate. 38:04 Let's do it. 38:07 It's the birds. 38:08 Oh, yes. 38:09 It's not as simple as you think of them seeing it. Birds are... A very intelligent species. They know the environment. Believe it or not, they can detect food. They can see it. They can smell it. Smell it. And they can hear it. 38:25 They'll see the feeder from a distance. They'll come flying in. They'll hear the sound of you tipping the seed in. And they'll smell the seed itself. And on top of that, they literally learn about us. Our behaviours. They know a certain time of day. you will come out and put food in. So they'll hang around and say, oh, there's our person, time for food. 38:49 And they'll hear you filling the feeder. 38:52 And so all of these things are triggers, triggers in their little bird brains that tell them there is food on the way. And do they tell each other as well? 39:01 Nine times out of ten, it's because they're a flock one. They normally put a spotter in. 39:06 Yeah, okay. 39:07 You'll have, say for sparrows, they'll have a spotter in three or four gardens. 39:12 The first time he spots the food, he'll come flying back, get the rest of the flock, and they'll all descend on where the feeder is. 39:18 Oh, how lovely. 39:20 And they actually train us. 39:23 They'll actually come outside and hang around in the trees and make a load of noise because they think, you normally feed us at eight o'clock, but he hasn't fed us yet, so why haven't he fed us? 39:33 Like the cats do. 39:34 Yeah. 39:35 Isn't it? I love that. I'm going to fill up my feeders this weekend, I think, Steve. 39:39 I'll tell you what, mate. If you start feeding them out with an empty garden, give it half an hour and they'll be loads up. 39:44 Well, it's been empty all summer. The only problem is I bought some special feeders, actually, to keep the parakeets out because the parakeets come in like... Yeah, they're in the parks. 39:54 They're in the parks. 39:55 It took me ages to get the goldfinch this last spring, but they came in the end. All right, I'm on. Qualifications? 40:03 I've got a degree in biology and a PhD in microbiology. 40:06 Well, there you go. Round of applause for Steve. Dr. Steve, in fact, to you. There we go. Thank you. George is in Coventry. George, question or answer? 40:14 I've got an answer this time, please, James. Let's do it, George. 40:17 Yes, an answer to why we go nose blind. 40:20 Oh, yes. 40:21 That's the thing, is it? He didn't just make it up? Harry didn't just make it up? No, he didn't make it up. 40:25 It is a thing. So it's something called sensory adaptation, and it's an evolutionary thing. But basically, think about how many different stimuli we have to all of our senses all the time. If we were constantly aware of all of them, we'd be overwhelmed. 40:40 Yes. 40:40 So you can't feel your clothes on you, for example, all the time. Because it's unnecessary information. So our brains have just developed the ability to filter out. 40:49 And speaking of brains, neurons, neurodivergent people often do struggle to cope with things like their clothes or having a label in the back of a jacket or something like that. 40:59 Exactly. But generally speaking, it's not necessary to be aware of these things all the time. So we just filter them out. 41:04 So the brain is essentially telling the nose to stop shouting. Yeah, pretty much. Love it. Qualifications? 41:10 so two i'm a final year medical student and i'm quite interested in neurology but i also funnily enough once upon a time watched a very interesting youtube video on a channel called v source oh yeah where it tried to answer the question of it's a silly question but it was why can't we constantly smell our own noses why aren't we smelling the inside of our own noses all the time it's right up our street isn't it i'm amazed no one's ever done that and it's the same answer Same answer. It's not relevant information, so you filter it out. 41:35 Otherwise, it would drive you mad. You will know the brain. I mean, it's extraordinary what the brain is. It is. Even little things like that. 41:43 But the brain takes a lot of energy, and it can't be wasting energy on unnecessary things. 41:48 Love it. Love it, love it, love it. Have a round of applause, George. Thank you very much. 41:53 Julius is in Bethnal Green. Julius, question or answer? 41:56 Answer, please, James. 41:57 Carry on, Julius. 41:59 It's to do with why... 42:02 You get punches in the rain. 42:03 You don't, do you? 42:06 You're much more likely to get punches in the rain because in industry, when they cut rubber, they use water to lubricate the blade. 42:15 Right. 42:15 Because it's a perfect lubricant. 42:17 Yeah. 42:19 So when it's raining, the other thing is that the glass, one of the other things, the glass then sticks to the tyre more easily, so it goes round and round and gets dribbled. It's only through the tyre, but the water lubricates the puncture, letting it be pushed through the tyre. 42:38 So a little bit of glass on the road is going to stick to the tyre when it's wet. 42:42 Yes. 42:43 And also, the water is going to lubricate the glass chipping's passage through the rubber. 42:50 Yes, and the third thing is that when it's not raining and you see glass on the road, it glitters and you avoid it. 42:59 And when it is raining, it gets... 43:00 The whole road glitches and you can't see the glass. 43:03 I mean, the last bit, I think, is the least relevant of the three. 43:07 You think so, but as a cyclist, it's very relevant. So you notice it when you're on a bicycle and you steer clear of the glass. 43:17 So, I mean, between you and me, Julius, I think I owe Pete an apology. 43:24 I'm sorry, I didn't catch what Pete said. 43:26 He asked the question and I kind of told him he was daft. 43:30 No, no, it's definitely a thing. 43:32 Right, well, I'm sorry, Pete. And thank you, Julius. Qualifications? 43:37 Bicycle mechanic and just very experienced cyclist. 43:41 That'll do nicely. Round of applause. Go on, Wiles. What was the other thing? 43:47 I was just very... 43:50 Hanson? 43:50 I think about things and the way they happen. 43:52 Thoughtful, thoughtful. You're a very thoughtful man. Very thoughtful. You're in good company, Julius. 43:57 Thank you very much. Thank you very much. 12.50, just squeeze in one more. Chris is in hold. Chris, question or answer? 44:03 Answer for the tyre question. The tyre question? Yeah, about the punctures. All right. 44:09 So it's an addition to that. So when it rains, especially on the motorway, this sounds like a motoring question, though, doesn't it? 44:15 That's why I shouldn't have apologised to Pete, actually. I'll take that back. Pete, forget it, mate. I'm not sorry at all. Carry on. 44:22 So when it rains, most roads, especially in the UK, cambered towards the left-hand side of the road. 44:28 so when it rains any debris that builds up on the road will naturally get washed across the road so you're going to have more light so that adds to julius's theory the more likely to be bits of glass getting washed onto the road during the raining and then so pete was right but it is a motoring question it is a motoring question really yeah yeah all right qualifications 12 years as a roadside there patrol for the air oh nice one have a round of applause cheers thank you is it a rain question or a motoring question 44:57 I think it's a motoring question. 44:58 Yeah, and you work for the AA. I can't argue with you, can I? You're a very nice man. It is 12.59, and that is it from me for today. Apologies to anybody still waiting for answers or to get questions on, but guess what? We'll be back next week at 12. Oh, who gets the thing? Who gets the prize? Carl. 45:20 Carl, one, two, three, Carl, because he didn't get an answer and he made me smile. If you missed any of today's show, you can listen back on our free Global Player app or the LBC app, where you can also stay up to date with all the latest news videos and opinions. You can listen to a range of podcasts, including James O'Brien Daily, the best bits from my LBC show every day. Download the official LBC app for free from your app store now. Coming up at four on LBC, it's Tom Sawbrick. But any critiques today? Anything else? None at all, no, no. Okay, but now it's time for Sheila Fagarty. Thank you. 45:45 This has been a Global Player original production.