The Man Who Ate Everything

Summary

Podcast Summary: After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
Episode: "The Man Who Ate Everything"
Hosts: Anthony Delaney & Dr. Kat Byers (guest)
Release Date: March 30, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the bizarre and macabre history behind Tarar, an infamous Frenchman from the late 18th century known for his insatiable appetite and apparent ability to eat nearly anything—including live animals, inanimate objects, and possibly human flesh. Joined by historian Dr. Kat Byers, host Anthony Delaney investigates how much of Tarar’s story is fact, how much is legend, and explores the medical, social, and cultural implications of his condition.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Introduction to Tarar (01:05–07:14)

• Who Was Tarar?
  • Possibly a nickname; real name unconfirmed.
  • Born near Lyon around 1772.
  • Known for consuming extreme (and often horrifying) things: snakes, cats, gold watches, and more.
  • Described as “an incomparable eater.”
  • Physical appearance: average build, unusually soft hair, prone to excessive sweating.
• Context: Host Anthony welcomes frequent guest Dr. Kat Byers, referencing her “grizzly” history specialties (cannibalism, morgues, etc.).
• Memorable Moment: Kat jokes about being the show's most recurring guest—“I'm just waiting in the corridor all the time because you let me in” (02:59).

2. Early Life & Appetite Mythology (07:14–12:10)

• Tarar as a Boy
  • Outwardly healthy, but increasingly ravenous.
  • Reportedly ate up to a quarter of a cow daily as a teenager—though Anthony and Kat doubt this “biography as myth-making.”
  • Ultimately, his appetite became a burden, leading to rumors of homelessness.
• Life as a Street Performer
  • Tarar joined traveling street fair performers, making a living by shocking onlookers with his eating feats: apples, pebbles, corks—anything available.
  • Notably, he was of average size, not a “giant”—contrary to expectations for someone labeled a glutton.

3. Medicalization & Military Service (12:10–15:05)

• Entry to Medical Records
  • Hospitalized multiple times after eating dangerous items; Parisian doctors intrigued, baffled.
  • Eats due to what’s later termed “polyphagia”—pathological hunger.
• Military Involvement
  • During the French Revolution, drafted into the army; even quadruple rations weren't enough.
  • Collapsed from exhaustion and hunger; became a “medical curiosity” under observation.

4. Tarar under the Microscope: The Appetite Examined (15:05–19:30)

• Experiments by Doctors
  • Doctors prepare a meal “for 15 German laborers”—Tarar eats it all, then naps (16:18).
  • More shockingly, is given live animals (cats, snakes, etc.) to consume—he obliges.
    • Anthony (reading Dr. Percy’s account): “Holding the animal alive by the neck… tore its belly with his teeth, sucked the blood and soon left nothing but the skeleton..." (18:09).
• Polyphagia Explained (15:19–15:30)
  • Kat notes the term originates in relation to Tarar, referring to insatiable hunger; later speculated to have physiological (possibly thyroid, neural) roots.

5. Spy Missions & Escalation (19:30–24:44)

• Unusual Role: Spy
  • The army saw potential: Tarar was made to swallow a box containing secret documents to smuggle through enemy lines, meant to be retrieved upon excretion.
  • The plan failed; Tarar’s odor, constant hunger, and inability to speak German got him caught. After harsh treatment and a failed mission, he was sent back to France.

6. Descent into the Grotesque (24:44–27:23)

• Medical Experimentation & Marginalization
  • Doctors try remedies: laudanum, “loads of hard-boiled eggs,” tea—nothing works.
  • Tarar sneaks out to butcher shops, is found eating bodies in hospital morgues, and is implicated (without proof) when a baby disappears from the hospital. This leads to his final expulsion.
• Pathos Amid the Horror
  • Anthony: “This poor man actually must have been feeling pretty bloody sh*t about himself…he keeps returning to these hospital institutions. And it’s like, that’s kind of sad” (24:44).

7. Contextualizing Tarar: Other “Great Eaters” (27:23–30:47)

• Analogous Cases
  • Kat references other “great eaters” of the era, e.g. Charles Domery (“ate 174 cats in a year”) and Jacques De Feliz (“nearly died swallowing a large eel”).
  • Implication: While extreme, Tarar was not unique.

8. The End of the Line: Death & Autopsy (31:17–39:37)

• Final Years & Death
  • Tarar reappears in Versailles in 1798, dying of advanced tuberculosis.
  • Swallows a fork; claims it’s stuck, but the true cause is likely his illness and years of abuse to his body.
  • Autopsy findings:
    • Enormous, distorted esophagus and stomach allowing him to swallow large objects.
    • Anthony: “You could fit a cylinder that’s like a foot round down there…” (37:36).
    • No fork found; “It probably just came out with everything else at some point” (38:47).
  • Terrible smell; extreme diarrhea near death—highlighting the grotesquery and suffering in his last days.

9. Fact vs. Myth? (41:24–43:19)

• Historical Reliability
  • Dr. Percy’s testimony (army surgeon, Arc de Triomphe honoree) is considered credible, even if some claims seem outlandish.
  • Kat: “There’s no reason for Percy...to make this story up. Like, he has a full career” (42:34).
  • Broader context: extreme eating persists, from Michael Lotito (who ate a Cessna plane in the 20th c.) to modern “professional regurgitators.”

10. The Human Angle & Modern Echoes (43:44–45:38)

• Contemporary Compassion
  • Discussion of how someone with Tarar’s condition might be perceived and treated today.
  • Historical comparisons to other ostracized medical curiosities (e.g., Joseph Merrick—the Elephant Man).
  • Kat: “They did do a fair amount of investigation over many years trying to figure out what was wrong with her, and not just so that they could wait around and autopsy him…” (40:26).
• Pop Culture Legacy
  • Recent novel “Glutton” by A.K. Blakemore is based on Tarar’s life.
  • Michael Lotito, “the man who ate a plane,” even ate his Guinness World Records award.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Tarar’s fame: “Every time that the brilliant Dr. Kat Byers appears on After Dark, people just lose their minds because she brings the grizzly…” — Anthony Delaney (01:37)
• On show structure: “Our producer has structured this episode as if it were a meal. And that’s fitting…” — Anthony Delaney (03:57)
• On the legend: “He was an incomparable eater. Snakes, sheep, medical implements, gold watches, cats…by the end, it was said he even ate human beings and drank the blood of others.” — Anthony Delaney (01:05)
• On spectacle and marginalization: “It’s this very uncomfortable othering of different types of bodies. And we see it in these fairs all the time.” — Anthony (10:09)
• On extreme acts: “He tore [the cat’s] belly with his teeth, sucked the blood and soon left nothing but the skeleton. Half an hour later, he rejected the fur in the manner of carnivores and birds of prey.” — Dr. Percy, quoted by Anthony (18:09)
• On sorrow: “This poor man actually must have been feeling pretty bloody sh*t about himself at this moment in time...” — Anthony (24:44)
• On medical curiosity: “Let’s really test this out. Let’s see what this guy can do.” — Kat (16:03)
• On myth and reality: “There’s no reason for Percy, an Army surgeon… to make this story up. Like, he has a full career.” — Kat (42:34)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Tarar’s background / introduction: 01:05–07:14
• Mythical early appetite: 07:14–12:10
• Medicalization & military: 12:10–15:05
• Appetite experiments (cats, dogs, etc.): 15:05–19:30
• Military spy endeavor: 19:30–24:44
• Morgue incidents & missing child: 24:44–27:23
• Similar cases in history: 27:23–30:47
• Decline, death, & autopsy: 31:17–39:37
• Myth or reality analysis: 41:24–43:19
• Reflection & pop culture legacy: 43:44–45:38

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Tone & Style

• Conversational, humorous, irreverently macabre.
• Hosts frequently joke about their own lack of medical expertise (“There are two doctors in this room and we are not medical doctors…this is showing our limitations of the digestive system…” – Anthony, 19:54).
• Empathetic towards the profound suffering underlying Tarar’s grotesque legend.

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Further Reading/Viewing

• Glutton by A.K. Blakemore (novel inspired by Tarar)
• Stories about Michael Lotito (the “man who ate a plane”)
• Extreme Eaters and professional regurgitators (e.g., Stevie Starr)

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Summary written for listeners seeking key insights, historical context, striking details, and the human story behind the legend of Tarar.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

I am going to trace the observation of a polyphage I knew in whom were found united all types of taste, all degrees of gluttony, and who, passionate for blood for for raw meat and flesh of animals, accommodated himself, if necessary, to any other fodder, provided he could engorge himself. This is an account left to us about a man named Tarar. Or at least we think that's his name, possibly his nickname. What we do know is that he was an incomparable eater. Snakes, sheep, medical implements, gold watchers, cats. By the end, it was said he even ate human beings and drank the blood of others. To find out the real history behind the myth, we're joined by Dr. Cat Byers on this episode of After Dark. Hello and welcome to After Dark. I am Anthony and as you know, Maddie is currently on maternity leave. But while she's away, we are keeping you full. Oh, that's very pertinent. For today's episode of the grizzliest parts of history and today I am joined by one of our all time favorite guests. And we know she's one of yours too, because we see the numbers when they come in. Every time that the brilliant Dr. Cat Byers appears on After Dark, people just lose their minds because she brings the grizzly every single. It says in my notes this is your sixth time on the show. That has to be. Nobody else has been on six times.

[C]

That's a bit much, isn't it?

[A]

It's like me, Maddie, You.

[C]

Yeah, I'm just waiting in the corridor all the time because you let me in. I was gonna say to Let me in the show. Not die, but also.

[A]

I mean, one or the other, whichever happens first.

[C]

Sure. You know, I'll take my chances.

[A]

Previous episodes, if you haven't listened to them before, and you should, because cats are some of my favorite episodes are the Paris Morgue. Ugh. We're gonna just touch on that in a second. The Legend of Sawney Bean. What? Remind me, what's that one again?

[C]

God, that's about Cannibal.

[A]

Ah. Okay. There's gonna be a bit of a pattern here.

[C]

My interests are coming out.

[A]

New York's dark morgue's dark secrets again. Incredible. The body in the trunk. And New York's wildest murder. Wait, which one was the duck?

[C]

New York's wildest murder.

[A]

What was that duck called again?

[C]

Julia.

[A]

I still get messages about Julia.

[C]

Do you? No. I'm glad that her leg.

[A]

People send me pictures of ducks now because of you, so.

[C]

But, like, I think this would have been Julia's.

[A]

No, it's like cartoon ducks.

[C]

Murder solving cartoons.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

I still maintain she needs her own procedural.

[A]

Well, you know, and listen, I've been in them. There's no reason why she couldn't do it. I saw my. My French dubbed version of Harry Wilde the other day, and that was a bit of a trip. I don't think he said. Actually, whoever he was, he's very good. Whoever. Right. Today we are talking about a really, really random history that I actually hadn't heard of before. And now I'm sorry that I have, but it's. Freddie, our producer, has structured this episode as if it were a meal. And that's fitting because the last time I saw you was in far more glamorous surroundings than what we're about to talk about today. We were in Paris.

[C]

We were.

[A]

Well, where you live. Not to dox you or anything, but, you know. And we went to a restaurant and Kat, myself and Shane were going, and Kat texted me before, and she was like, don't worry if you arrive before me. And the guy is really r. He just doesn't like tourists. I was like, oh, my God, I'm gonna, like, really upset at French. But it was delicious. And we had a very, very lovely night.

[C]

And also it was so authentic. And that's why, because I was like, look, we're gonna get a real experience. Just be aware.

[A]

But he was lovely. He wasn't unpleasant at all.

[C]

He didn't. You know, you came across very natural in the neighborhood.

[A]

Shane, don't talk, because he has no French. I have a little bit and we're just like. And then just let Kat do all the real hard stuff. So we're gonna have another little meal today, and it's going to be far less glamorous than that one was. But before we head into that, few books that I am as excited about in the. The coming months and, well, just almost a year now as your forthcoming book, and we're still a little bit out,

[C]

we're a little bit away, but just

[A]

give us a little taste of what that's going to look and feel like in almost a year's time.

[C]

So it's called Morgue Clues in the name. And it is because there were 12 slabs in the morgue in the display room. You can go back and listen to the podcast to get the slab. It's the story of 12 different people who ended up in the morgue and kind of tracing their journeys and through that, it's essentially a panoramic history of France and Paris in the 19th century and all these different things, whether it's like the birth of photography and suicide and addiction and the sort of courtesan Demi Mondaine world all through these 12 people, 12 slabs.

[A]

I mean, this is After Dark. Nobody's gonna be not interested in that. And we're in France for this history as well.

[C]

A bit earlier than my usual bit earlier.

[A]

This is more in my time period, but we're meld.

[C]

Melding here.

[A]

It's absolutely fine. Now, I'm gonna ask you this because I genuinely don't know, and I think a lot of our listeners won't know, but we're dealing with a man called, we think Tarar. Now, I'm gonna let you do the proper thing. There you go. She knows what she's doing. There is a world in which that's not his name. Question mark.

[C]

Yeah. So the records we have of him are minimal, but we do have some. So we will get into, you know, the source material a bit later on. Well, what we know about him from his early days, we think he was born in 1772, so before the revolution. Francis the Monarchy born near Lyon, which is. Oh, it's the city that the body ended up in in a previous story. All, again, it all blends over these

[A]

things together with body references. I just want to point that out.

[C]

Trying the murder threads together. And that isn't a dig at Leon. There's not really a murder association necessarily with it. We don't know much about his upbringing, but he looked, you know, he was normal size. This is relevant.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

He's Kind of just your average boy. Yes, pretty average boy. Average height, apparently had unusually soft hair. Oh, you know, so he had a little feature, quite sweaty. That will also come up a bit later.

[A]

Isn't it really interesting the things that people. Because obviously I would imagine. Now tell me if I'm wrong, but I would imagine that this description of his earlier life comes later, once he's reached an element of fame. So it's interesting to see how they put these narrative ties in. So we have what matters later on. Yeah, we have a swe. Soft haired Leonese man. Is Leonese a word?

[C]

Lyonese.

[A]

Yeah, fine. And he is pootling around and he's from a pretty working class family. Right. Or he's even.

[C]

We assume.

[A]

We assume. And there's a rumor that he's even homeless at some points.

[C]

Yeah. So basically, as the story goes, he is, you know, living with his family. We don't know anything about his parents, but supposedly he's living in the countryside with his family and he starts to develop quite a big appetite. And it gets to the point where he is eating. I think it's a quarter of a cow a day.

[A]

Wait, as a teenager?

[C]

Yeah, when he's like. Yeah, as a teen.

[A]

A quarter of a cow a day cooked. We assume.

[C]

We assume. But again, again, based on what's coming.

[A]

That's what I'm asking. Yeah.

[C]

Eating. I mean, just full stop, the cow's going in there and I think one way or another. And yeah, after a while, obviously his parents are like, we can't keep funding this two coat a week habits.

[A]

I mean, cows are exp.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Like now we will touch on this throughout this episode. There are points at which we don't know if some of this biography is myth making. Right. Because cows are so expensive, often one cow will be the family's commodity, depending on how poor they are. So if we're saying that he's having two cows a week in 1770s in Leon, we're saying that the family must be somewhat comfortable enough to be even able to initially afford that.

[C]

Yeah. Or, you know, maybe he's feeling the access to the cows is not being. Also, you know, I can imagine that the cow habit doesn't go on for that long before he gets kicked out. I don't know if it's necessarily like we funded this, your cows for two years now. We just can't. We're putting our foot down.

[A]

Got a cow habit. Jesus Christ.

[C]

So basically, as the story goes, the cow situation becomes untenable.

[A]

As it would.

[C]

As it Would the eating situation in general and he leaves the family home or gets kicked out and then he goes and is kind of foraging, is semi homeless and ends up joining kind of traveling street fair performer people with this appetite. So obviously you know, there's a coal tradition is maybe the wrong words. You know, these kind of street fairs of people doing miraculous acts. And sometimes they'll be even in the modern day someone who's a big, big eater.

[A]

Yes, well, I mean you see it on YouTube and stuff, don't you? Or on those like Discovery Channel programs or whatever it is where it's like man versus and it's often man versus actually in terms of gender thing. And what's, what's interesting about this is that at the end of the 18th century we have this idea of what bodies should look like really coming to the fore. And we have this idea of grotesquery being attached to bigger bodies and being attached to the idea of fatness. And they are looking at this in as a way of moralizing. And so therefore I can, in the context of the time, of course I'm talking about here. Now I can see where this link is coming between appetite, bigness, spectacle. It's this, it's this very uncomfortable othering of different types of bodies. And we see it in these fairs all the time. Right. Like any kind of bodily difference is put on display and mocked and ridiculed, but also that kind of schadenfreude thing of going. Well, but it's not me though.

[C]

Yeah, and I think that is absolutely often an issue with these fears. In his case he's just sort of ordinary looking. So he's like an even more extreme in the sense that it's like he's this sort of skinny lady.

[A]

Oh, he's not big yet.

[C]

No, no. I mean he's never big.

[A]

He's always never big.

[C]

He does get, you know, pretty bloated after he's had like a chunky meal. But no, he's an average lad and he's also of average intelligence, average capabilities. There's no suggestion apparently it's quite apathetic but there's no suggestion that there's anything, anything apparently wrong. Yeah, very big mouth. And that will also come up later, but.

[A]

Oh, so it's not a weight, it's a visual weight thing.

[C]

It's just a regular, regular sweaty, soft haired lad cruising the streets eating corks.

[A]

Okay, well I was gonna say until you got to that point, that could easily have described me when I was 16. So this here's a description of what he was doing.

[C]

You're mostly normal size, actually, Right?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, it's true. Now I have quite a big mout.

[C]

No, no.

[A]

Anyway, look, okay, we don't need to get into it. In a few minutes, he would eat a basket of apples. Another day, if there were no generous dupes in the crowd willing to buy him the apples, he would swallow pebbles, corks, and everything that was presented to him. So this is what his act.

[C]

It's trade.

[A]

But it is worth bearing in mind, I think. Am I right in saying that this act is happening sometimes in more formal settings, but sometimes just on the side of the street? Cause they're street performers.

[C]

Yeah. I mean, again, we don't have a huge amount of information from this period, but also, it is an act, but he is actually eating everything. So it's not like a regurgitation, because we'll get into this later. But there is, like, a whole history of professional regurgitation I have discovered. But, no, he's eating it and he's keeping it down like he's hungry. He's a hungry, hungry lad.

[A]

Is he? Is that. Is that what seemed to be behind all of this? That he is hungry?

[C]

He's incredibly hungry.

[A]

I mean, again, describing me in so many ways, there comes a point where, and it's worth saying that these accounts that we have of him, most of them come from a guy called Dr. Percy. So we know at some point this becomes medicalized. Now, he frequently ends up in the Parisian hospital, the Hotel Dieu.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Talk to me about why he ends up there, what that means for his archive and what they make of him when he arrives there. Do we know?

[C]

Well, I mean, they're pretty baffled by his case. Although, as we will also discover later, he's not the only man with a hungry, hungry appetite. Yeah. So in the hospital, this is the first time. Time that we assume that he enters into medical records. So when we got this information about him being a normal lad back in the day, and all these kind of things that we have from his beginnings, it's because they start writing things down. But, yeah, so he, I think, eats some stuff that he shouldn't, gets in the hospital, people bring him there, and then he goes in and out. So he's kind of starting to become a medical curiosity, and they're trying to figure out what to do with him. And then. But, you know, he's in and out. He doesn't get kept there, as I remember. And then the revolution comes.

[A]

Yeah, I was gonna say this is on the horizon. Now because yes, we're pre revolution in terms of when he's born, but like in terms of his coming of age, he's gonna be arriving in the 1780s very, very quickly. So we're here now. He's registered on the medical thingy here and there because he's eaten shit that he shouldn't be eating. Revolution arrives, he will be expected to partake in some capacity.

[C]

Well, he joins the army. He joins the army because he's kind of like, you know, the seeking people. Obviously the revolution comes and France is then just at war with everybody. And he gets his normal rations. Being hungry man that he is, he starts trading extra tasks for rations, tries to get other people's rations. They up them, they give him more and more. They give him four times the usual rations, but it's still not enough. And he ends up sort of starving and exhausted, collapses and they take him to a military hospital where he ends up under observation. And this is when they start really trying to figure out what is going on with Tarrar's hunger.

[A]

Okay, so we've had, let's say that that's our entree now that we've had that kind of like introduction into his life. So now it feels like we're going on to the main course. We have Terrar in places and involved in activities that are going to leave more of a paper trail now. Somewhat more of a paper trail.

[C]

Observation. I feel like he's now being observed.

[A]

Yes. And so we have this, and it's discovered or certain doctors, and this comes a bit later, say that he is suffering from a thing called polyphagia.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Am I saying that correctly?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

What is it?

[C]

I'm pretty sure this term, like they use the term for the first time with him.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[C]

And it's to do with this kind of insatiable appetite.

[A]

Just about appetite.

[C]

Yeah. And I think later on they start to try and figure out, and that's like after his lifetime, if it's a thyroid issue or if it's like an amygdala. Personally have much medical knowledge, so I don't really know how any of that. But there are some interesting things that come up later when they have a chance to really delve into his physicality.

[A]

And by later you mean autopsy when they are.

[C]

When they come open. Yeah. Spoiler alert. He does die at some point.

[A]

Yeah, spoiler.

[C]

He's not still here.

[A]

He may die. So he's having these encounters. Are they disgusted by him at this point or are they intrigued by him?

[C]

I mean, we can't know. Probably a bit of both. I mean, they're definitely. I get an impression of being quite excited and intrigued by him. So they're like, this is. Let's really test this out. Let's see what this guy can do. They set up a meal that would normally feed 15 German laborers, specifically.

[A]

That is so specific. German laborers of all ages.

[C]

Apparently, they're hungrier. And then loads of, you know, meat pies and various things. Eats the entire thing and then falls asleep. Which to me, feels very realistic for thinking about things in this. Some of it. Yeah, exactly. Some of it feels a bit out there. They give him a live cat. It's one of those that also.

[A]

That's a theme. We think that's true.

[C]

Yeah, I think that's true.

[A]

They give him a live cat, and he consumes it without. You don't know. You weren't there.

[C]

I think he pulls out a bar. You know, there's some kittens, there's some puppies. There's lizards, there's an eel.

[A]

I think we might sneak.

[C]

Apparently, quite a big appetite for snakes.

[A]

Now, hold on. I have some things here. Oh, God. So this is later, but this is looking back at this moment in time when Percy says, I will not give here the disgusting account of the other means this filthy polyphage uses to saturate himself before going on to give an account of all the things. And we are glad that he did. Okay, buckle in, guys. This is. This is pretty gruesome. Dogs and cats fled at his sight drama as if they guessed the fate he prepared for them. He would be able to drink four bowls of curdled milk, Two enormous platters of dough. I mean, I'm a fan of dough. I don't know. How enormous were these platters? His cheekbones. Oh, my God. This is what you were talking about. His cheekbones and eyes became glowing red. Oh, my God. He went to digest in a remote corner. That's freaky to me.

[C]

I don't know. That just sounds like when you've had a really big meal and you need to go and have a little sit down.

[A]

No. Or does he not mean, I'm going to do a poo in the corner?

[C]

I don't think. I think he would just say that. He's a doctor.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Because we do that also. Well, not to give a lot of future hinting, but, you know, the digestion of tarao will come up because it's quite a complicated digestion system. But I also. The red eyes. I'm like, you've just exaggerated that, yeah, sure.

[A]

I mean, unless they were saying like, you know, when you like, rub your eyes or something, you can't believe the

[C]

sight of all this dough.

[A]

I love dough so much. Oh, my God. Here's another these accounts. So this is how he ate the cat. Holding the animal alive by the neck. Oh, no, please. If you love your cats. Yeah. Holding the animal alive by the neck and paws. Jesus tore its belly with his teeth, sucked the blood and soon left nothing but the skeleton. Half an hour later, he rejected the fur in the manner of carnivores and birds of prey. I hear.

[C]

Yeah, it's like kind of coughing it up is what I'm imagining. Like a furball, essentially.

[A]

That is really bloody. We have heard some disturbing shit on Ashradar.

[C]

It's gonna get worse. Yeah, that's honestly only the beginning of it. But the military obviously are like, this is. What can we do with this guy?

[A]

This is so funny. Okay, go on.

[C]

They were like, what can we do with him? With his special, special skill, cat eating skills. And they were like, oh, you know what we could do is we could get him to eat a box that's got some documents in it. And if he was searched, they wouldn't know that he had these secret documents in it, a box. And then obviously at some point the box will, you know, come out again. And then the documents have passed safely through the enemy land. So they're like, he can be a spy. They did a test, made him meet a box and documents in it. Documents came out, they were still readable.

[A]

Wait, the documents come out? Did the box come out? You don't know?

[C]

Everything came out.

[A]

Everything came out. Which end?

[C]

Where do you think it came out?

[A]

Well, he's regurgitating further.

[C]

No, no, no, it's coming out. It's coming out the normal way.

[A]

How does a box come out? You don't know?

[C]

And again, you know, I'm imagining it's quite a slim box. Documents aren't that big.

[A]

No, true.

[C]

I'm assuming they're rolled up. Doesn't have to be the biggest box in the world, but anyway, it must

[A]

be like his stomach is not working. That is just a straight through pipe.

[C]

Well, the digestive juices, I mean, who.

[A]

Can I just comment that we are both two doctors, but there's two doctors in this room and we are not medical doctors. And this is showing our limitations of the digestive system. And I'm here for it, okay?

[C]

Unless you want to analyze the social, cultural impact of a dead body in Paris up till 1914 I cannot help you with your medical doctor.

[A]

Any questions about gays? Anyone? I can help you there.

[C]

In the Georgian period.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, really. Specifically,

[B]

The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports right now. The NBA is heating up, March Madness is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment. You've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I can follow the teams I care about, get real time, scores, breaking news and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment.

[A]

Ever wondered what it feels like to be a gladiator facing a roaring crowd and potential death in the Coliseum? Find out on the Ancients podcast from history. Hit twice a week. Join me, Tristan Hughes, as I hear a exciting new research about people living thousands of years ago, from the Babylonians to the Celts to the Romans, and visit the ancient sites which reveal who and just how amazing our distant ancestors were. That's the Ancients from history Hit. Okay, so he pooped out a box.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

That's a sentence I thought I'd never say.

[C]

Yep, this is gonna work. We'll make him a spy.

[A]

He's now a spy.

[C]

Except. Okay, so they're like, let's do this. And they dress him up as a German peasant and sent him up. So, like Prussian. He's in like the Prussian war area.

[A]

Well, no. Yes. France. France is very much involved there at that period of time. We have the Chevalier Dion trying to negotiate all Cassique French gays.

[C]

Yeah, because I just said war area. So clearly war. Not really my area of expertise. Anyway, they dress him up, he goes across into this. Yeah, Prussian occupied area. Problem is he's not. I mean, he's not the smartest guy in the world. He also doesn't speak a word of German. So it becomes quite obvious quickly that. And he smells quite powerful and he's quite sweaty and, you know, so everyone is like, who is this smelly, non German speaking man? This seems a little bit suspicious.

[A]

Starving. Constantly starving.

[C]

Yeah. He gets arrested.

[A]

He gets arrested just for kind of being suspicious.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

In the context of what's going on. The tensions. Political tensions. Sure, yeah.

[C]

So the locals are like, we're not really sure what's up with this silent, sweaty peasant. No, well, sure, we'd all be.

[A]

That's a lot of suspicious adjectives there.

[C]

Concerning qualities.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So then he gets arrested and they realize that he is potentially a soldier. I think they beat him up, he confesses, and then they lock him to a toilet and they just wait.

[A]

This is one of these things with history where you're like, how did they know that he possibly had some kind of message? Oh, he told them in Solomon's legs.

[C]

They like kind of interrogated him. And then he was like, this fight ever, by the way, first mission. Well, they suspected this might happen, as in the French did. So he's locked to his toilet. Eventually the box comes out. God forbid, the poor Prussian soldier that had to just wait by for this thing. They open up the box and the document. Tarrard had been told it was a very top secret document and obviously told his captors this. In reality, it was more of a test document. So they opened it and it wasn't even important because they were sort of just seeing if it worked. And then he got in a lot of trouble. They beat him up, nearly executed him, but then they didn't. And then they just kind of kicked him back out again.

[A]

And he goes back to France.

[C]

Then at this point, he goes back to France and then he ends up going back to the military hospital. He's like, I can't do this. Please figure out where this appetite has come from.

[A]

It is so over the top and it is so dramatic. But just something that struck me there, and it's probably worth sitting on it just for a second. And we have no answers to this. We can't. No. They weren't even interested in this at the time. But this poor man actually must have been feeling pretty bloody shit about himself at this moment in time. He clearly has some kind of medical disorder that is being viewed as an oddity. And he's being pushed around left, right and center. He's getting beaten up, he's starving, God love him, stinks to the high heavens. And the reason I'm saying that is because he keeps returning to these hospital institutions. And it's like, that's kind of sad. Cause it's like, give me help. I need some kind of help. And everyone's like, I will send you off to Prussia with a box in Uranus. And then just see what happens. Is that gonn? Yeah, grand. Like, it's. It is sad, isn't it?

[C]

It's not. It's not a great time to. To be him. And he is probably just really hungry all the time and you know, it's not. I can imagine he has a limited social life and.

[A]

Yeah, well, they're sending them all over

[C]

the shop, so I think it is. It's a very. It's a sad story in that side of things. You know, he's got this really difficult condition and he's a medical curiosity, but I do feel like the medical system is trying to help him. Like I think someone with that condition could really have just gone down the permanently street fair.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

Kind of freak of nature.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Route. And he is in these military hospitals which are often as well, very good. Yes, hospitals. And he goes back into the military hospital and they're really trying to find a cure now. They try laudanum pills, they try loads of hard boiled eggs. Some reason.

[A]

God, it must have been so far. Tea.

[C]

Oh my God, the smell. I mean the smell. Unbearable. Yeah, yeah, sorry, yeah, I don't even want to think about that, to be honest. But then he really can't be contained. Starts sneaking out at night to butcher's shops and then he gets caught in the hospital morgue.

[A]

Oh, wait, yeah, dead people. Yeah, eating them. Eating them. Oh, Holy Moses. Oh my God, it's grim.

[C]

So that's where we start going. And then a baby goes missing.

[A]

Oh, no.

[C]

In the hospital, there's never any proof that it was him. And I, you know, I'm a tarot truther. I don't think he did it, but obviously suspicious falls on him and he is chased away from the hospital at that point.

[A]

Oh, look, I have some more of. Of Percy's things here. He says that he will go to the slaughterhouse and remote places to dispute with dogs and wolves for their vi. Oh, as in like to fight with dogs for their food, not necessarily to eat them. Okay. And then it says, yeah, he would drink the blood of patients who had been bled at the hospitals that he was in. So that's interesting too, right. Because it's sustenance, if you want to look at it like that. But it's not necessarily eating now we're drinking, so it's consuming is what he. And it seems to really be that organs or meaty. Exactly, yeah. Blood.

[C]

Big meaty.

[A]

Yeah. Carnivore type type thing.

[C]

Yeah. Big protein eater.

[A]

Yeah, well, sure, look, I'm sure he's lifting loads of. And so he's driven out because of this thing. Okay, now listen, how true is this cap? Because it seems remarkable and it seems like there would be more documentary evidence if all of these things were happening. You know, this child disappearing, that really puts a spin on things. Seems like there's invention here. How much of it is invented?

[C]

So it does seem too fantastical. To be real. But the Dr. Percy was an incredibly well respected army surgeon. So he was the guy that kind of wrote up the story of what happened originally. And he wrote it up about five years or so after when he says Tara died. So it was also very recent. It's not like one of those things where he wrote up the story and was like, you know, decades and decades later. And we also, weirdly, from this period, have a couple of other people that seem to have had the same eating problem.

[A]

Go on, talk to me about them then. So this gives a bit of contextual evidence.

[C]

Yeah. So I used to be, you know,

[A]

where are you going with this?

[C]

I was gonna say I was starving all the time. I used to. Yeah. I don't go down there. I used to be a Tara skeptic.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And I think I went far enough down the rabbit hole that now I'm a Tara truth there.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Because I read about this guy called Charles Domery.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Who? Another Frenchman, Prussian, from modern day Poland, but did end up within the Prussian army and then like left it and ends up joining the French army because the Prussians weren't giving him enough food. He apparently once ate 174 cats in a year.

[A]

Why is everyone needing cats?

[C]

I mean, I guess they're very accessible. Like you're saying about the cows and the, you know, difficulty getting hold of a cow. And the cats are just around, aren't they? Unfortunately. And also, was it like one every other day? Anyway, we have the records of him because he was on a French. His naval ship. He ate the severed leg of a crew member. So that was noted down. And then the boat.

[A]

Oh, yeah, it would be like, yeah, write that down.

[C]

Yeah, you would be like a bit of a problem with this guy Charles. Then the boat was captured by the British army. They ended up in Liverpool. And then he was like, brought in, I guess by like the medical. Like the military medical authorities. And it was all written down there. And there was testimony from the other soldiers.

[A]

Did you man. That he ate the leg of Liv.

[C]

Was he? Yeah, I think it was like there was something wrong with it. And he cut it off. I don't think it was still attached to him at that point.

[A]

I think. No, I got that cat. Thanks very much. No, it was. It's one of those things because you're like, well, what if he had like gangrene or something? And this guy's. And I'm sure it's not because it was probably some kind of an accident that he had on board the Ship or whatever it's not gonna be, but like, still you're gonna eat somebody's dirty toes.

[C]

No, but if you're at the point of eating a leg, I don't know how discerning you're being about the quality of it.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Going all the way.

[A]

You're absolutely right.

[C]

So we had that guy and then actually it was another guy. So it's weird enough that was around the same time as Tarrar. He also was very sweaty and was, quote, tall and pleasant, normal looking. Like, seemed, just seemed again like a sort of your average guy. Apart from the cannibalism, there was also a guy called Jacques de Feliz, another Frenchman. He was the one who nearly died swallowing a large eel around a similar period. He was a quarryman full time, but then his sideshow was that he was basically like a. A, Like a sideshow attraction.

[A]

Yeah. No, you'd need a sideshow if you're a quarryman just to do an eels. Why not?

[C]

Yeah, nuts, pipes, flowers, eels, a watch, a necklace. And yeah, he was alive, you know, for a pretty long time and there was a lot of witnesses to that guy.

[A]

Yeah. I do want to know what it is about eels specifically that nearly kill you, that cats don't quite long.

[C]

I get stuck. I feel like you maybe would think that you could eat it in one go.

[A]

I wouldn't, but surely one might if

[C]

you were a man with a very large mouth and a very descended esophagus. Yeah, I think that's probably it. But they did. There was a fondness for the eel. No bones, no fur to cough up at the end.

[A]

She always brings the most disgusting cheek

[C]

when she comes to this podcast.

[A]

By the way, producer Freddie has labelled this section of the story the fromage le fromage, the cheese course. So there you go. Think about that as you're. Think about that the next time you're having a cheese course. Okay, now that we've talked about this idea of some things are true, some things are not. There is some narrative, but at the same time there's contextual evidence for Tarar's story as well as other people that we're encountering here. Let's get to the end of his story. This is what producer Freddie has called the dessert.

[C]

Pat, chocolate mousse at the end.

[A]

God, don't talk about chocolate mousse. It brings up too many images. So he's forced out of hospital. So we're in 1793 now. Only does a bit of a disappearing act until 1798 and then he appears in Versailles. He's all over the place.

[C]

Yeah. So basically after the whole child accusation, he gets basically chased out the hospital for good reason. Although again, I don't think he did it. I'm just going to defend him there.

[A]

Where the hell did the child go though? You don't know?

[C]

We don't know.

[A]

No, no, no.

[C]

I don't want to look too closely because I'm going to defend him in this area. Don't want to slander. I've slandered his name enough. I don't want to slander anymore for that. So he disappears for a bit and then comes back to a hospital. Four years later, the doctor finds him again. He's ended up at hospital in Versailles. He's got very advanced tuberculosis. Actually, at this point he's not in a great state. He also tells the doctor that he swallowed, I think, a silver fork and that it's stuck inside him. And so this also is the point when the doctor is now like again making these notes following his case, trying to figure out what's wrong with that. But he's also really dying at this point.

[A]

Yeah, well, he swallowed a fork. But if that's the case and he swallowed a fork, we're back to this thing of like metallic metal. Y like there's something being. He's being drawn into that kind of bloody metal meat thing.

[C]

It could be an iron deficiency.

[A]

Iron deficiency. I've solved it. Thanks very much, guys. Next time on After Dark, other medical mysteries.

[C]

Look at Lizzie. Really could be a doctor.

[A]

Maybe I am a real doctor.

[C]

But also I will say on the metal deficiency, I don't think this is why he does it, but there is a modern day great eater in France.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Or at least in the 20th century called Michael Lotito. And he ate an entire Cessna plane over the course of two years in pieces. But yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

I've never made that noise before in my life. I don't know what I just made that noise. Apologies to the audio crew.

[C]

Was eating pipes and, and nuts and bolts and stuff. So maybe there's an. Yeah, maybe there's something about the metal that's got a taste for it.

[A]

Jesus wept. Okay, so he goes to the doctor, he goes to Percy. Now. Now we're with Percy, we're back in. Percy, we're with. We're at hospital in Versailles.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And he says, come here to me, Percy. I've eaten a fork.

[C]

Yeah, I think he's. Well, he's dying of tuberculosis.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Saying to Percy, I think the problem is the fork. And pretty sure Percy's like, I think tuberculosis and everything you've eaten for the last two decades of your life is the problem. So at that point, he's kind of just slowly. Not that slowly dying, and they're kind of just waiting for him to die so they can autopsy and see what happens. I mean, I think they're taking care of him, but I think at this point, they're not gonna cure him, and they're just sort of waiting to see what happens.

[A]

You have talked about this idea that he sweated a lot. And at this point now, Percy records that you could not come within 20 paces because the smell was so bad. If you're eating, if it's the morning, put down your toast or your. Your Marmite on toast, because apparently he had diarrhea of an. Diarrhea of an insupportable fetidness. Holy moly.

[C]

That's a lot of words that shouldn't be put together in a sentence.

[A]

No, it's true. And he dies a couple of months later. Now. Okay, so what I want to come to now is this, the autopsy. Because what's starting to become very clear is that this medical community that has been surrounding him because he keeps reporting himself for help. And again, that's the really sad part of this. He keeps showing up for help, and it just doesn't really happen because, you know, to be fair to the medical people, they don't know what's going on.

[C]

And they do. I mean, they gave him that whole meal for 15 German laborers like they were trying.

[A]

They did defeat the guy. I love the way that's your God. They gave him a huge meal that one time years before.

[C]

A wee nap. It should have all been over by then.

[D]

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[B]

The bleacher Report app is your destination for sports right now. The NBA is heating up. March Madness is here and MLB is almost back. Every day, every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I can follow the teams I care about, get real time, scores, breaking news and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment.

[A]

So he dies and by the way, he's only what, 20 something at this point?

[C]

Yeah, he's 26.

[A]

They think like he leaves home at about 16. So this is a 10 year period of this getting worse and worse and worse. But we get to the point where he's probably his most valuable dead.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Because then you can really investigate. So what happens post death.

[C]

So they managed to do an autopsy. I think it was probably a pretty difficult experience for everyone involved. And they find, imagine the smell. It's like putrid pus filled, as the description goes. They find that he has an abnormally large esophagus.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And that he can open his mouth so wide and it's so like the esophagus is so wide itself that you can like see all the way down into his stomach. And apparently you can fit a cylinder that's like a foot round.

[A]

Yeah, we're not mathematicians.

[C]

Yeah, Big things, big cylinder. Yeah, you can fit it down there. They didn't find a fork though. But they were like, he's like. He has the capacity to eat like really big. Like eels.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

Live canaries like cats and dogs and everything. So you can actually physically get them in him. And obviously over time you develop probably those skills.

[A]

Skills. Put that on your cv.

[C]

And also like his stomach has the ability to distend. Like professional eaters have. Fitting so much for that.

[A]

I think this is where I got the idea initially that he was a bigger man because there is this reporting of swelling. Right. But it's. But it then retracts again. So it is just a stomach that is growing to accommodate and then slipping back into position. So.

[C]

But also getting quite wrinkly though. I think there's.

[A]

Right, okay. Because it keeps growing and falling, growing

[C]

and falling like good fear.

[A]

And so there is a kind of a physiological reason that they see during the autopsy that isn't it interesting, though, that they don't find the fork? Because I believe him. If he says he ate a fork, why would he lie about it? He's nothing to lie about. He's eating worse things than a fork.

[C]

Yeah. I mean, it probably just came out with everything else at some point.

[A]

He didn't even notice it. That says a lot of it. Didn't even notice a fork passing.

[C]

You can imagine what else was in there.

[A]

It's also one of those things that if he was alive today, he would be on some kind of a medical documentary where they just do loads of X rays on his body, just on what they find in there. Like, how did that tennis ball get up there?

[C]

Kind of a thing, you know, super sized, super skinny.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

Or like, you know, Britain's Got Talent, depending on which way he was going with it.

[A]

The final judgment that Percy passes on to Rar is he ends his report with this, saying he had a disease that degrades the one affected by it and makes him descend to the rank of animals. The dehumanizing is problematic for us today, isn't it? But they would never have seen it like that in the 18th century. They just would have been. They would have thought two things. They would have thought grotesque, and then they also would have thought, here's an opportunity to learn.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you think that's fair?

[C]

I think they would have. And I do think, again, the medical treatment he got and the attention he got would have been very different today. But I do appreciate that he did get quite a lot of medical attention and care for the period and that he wasn't in a position where someone was just farming him out as an attraction.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So I think considering that he had this condition, he sort of got quite a lot of the. Apart aside from the whole army situation, he did sort of get, like, quite a lot of support that he would have been able to get for the time.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, yes. It's like, you know, like, obviously it's

[C]

not great by modern standards.

[A]

Yeah, of course.

[C]

I think he was somebody that was just like. People weren't like, throwing rocks at him in the street. There were doctors like Percy, who, despite his slightly judgmental comments, was also trying

[A]

to find a cure to do something.

[C]

They did do a fair amount of investigation over many years trying to figure out what was wrong with her, and not just so that they could wait around and autopsy him, but rather because they were like, like, fascinated by the Condition and probably did feel quite sorry for him. Yeah, I think he probably did have people. Yeah, sure. That he did elicit some pity and some sympathy.

[A]

Yeah, I think you're right. Because generally speaking, like, if you. Okay, you need to fast forward 100 years for this. But, like, if you think about the treatment that Joseph Merrick, also known as the Elephant man, and we have an episode on him as well, if you think about the treatment that he endured both medically and socially, although at the end he does find a place, it's certainly worse than this. And I mean, I know he has, like, a visual difference, so it's a visual, physical difference. So that also separates him out. But I understand what you mean about there does seem to be something here where they're trying to do something for him, but it's just not. They just don't have the capability or the knowledge at this particular moment in time.

[C]

I think even today that's still working.

[A]

This would stump people today, I'm sure. Write in if you're a medical doctor and would have been stumped by the.

[C]

Tell us if you know more about what's going on here. But it's also really interesting because in terms of the being real or being more of a myth.

[A]

Yeah, go on, Talk about. Because that was going to be my next question as a way to kind of end this up. Where are we with that? Like, what do you think?

[C]

Well, there's a lot of mythical qualities, both in the extremity of it all and in. It feels like something you would tell your kids if they were misbehaving. Like, Tara's gonna come and get you

[A]

kind of thing, and we'll eat you.

[C]

Yeah, he'll come and eat you. And also, I don't know if you know the Shel Silverstein poem Hungry Mungry?

[A]

No.

[C]

It's about a guy who eats his house and then his family and then.

[A]

Wait.

[C]

So my mom used to read this to me. I'm pretty sure this is where all. You know, it all clicked in for me because I loved that poem as a kid. But so it makes me think of that as something that, you know, feels really fantastical. But not only do we have the medical testimony, there's no reason for Percy, an Army surgeon, his name is on the Arc de Triomphe, to make this story up. Like, he has a full career. Yeah, he's like. And he's not spending. His career isn't made because he has this kind of, like, sideshow guy, which is a weird side thing that he observes he's good. He seems, you know, legit.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

He's much more of a medical doctor than you or I.

[A]

Well, speak for yourself. I think I've just solved this whole mystery, but yeah, sure.

[C]

Great. And also because of the fact that our man who ate a Cessna plane, we do have some incredible eaters in the modern day. So I went down a rabbit hole of looking at professional regurgitators today in today's world. Yeah, yeah. So they weren't keeping it down, they were, you know, bringing it back up again deliberately. I found a guy called Stevie Starr in Scotland who supposedly can swallow an unsolved Rubik's Cube and regurgitate its souls.

[A]

Oh, no, isn't that great? I can't even do. Can you do them?

[C]

I can't do them any way, never mind inside my stomach with my digestive juices.

[A]

No, that's just not true. I don't care, Stevie. Fair play to you, but it's not true.

[C]

I think it might be an illusion.

[A]

Yeah, something's happening, but it's not that.

[C]

But there's a lot, you know, there's a long history into the present day of people who can eat swords, eat light bulbs, billiard balls, you see that

[A]

on magicy show type things. Come here to me. Do you ever, you know when you are watching in your rabbit hole thingy, when you're watching these extreme Eaters, do you ever watch them and go by specific you?

[C]

I don't watch that many of them, thank you very much.

[A]

You know when you're not writing a book and you're only ever watching YouTube for extreme eaters, do you ever think when they put down the plate of food in front of somebody, do you ever go, I'm pretty sure I could eat that 100% all the time. I'm like, I'm sure I could eat that.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I've never tried.

[C]

Freddie sent me one the other day and I watched it and it was a full, like cooked breakfast and I was very hungry at the time. I was watching it, being like I could do at least a bit of that. Quite a lot of it. Sometimes I'm like, you could eat at least all of those hash browns.

[A]

How extreme is this really? If you get me at the right

[C]

time and I've got long enough. Enough as well.

[A]

Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

I know the speed is like part of the competition.

[A]

I know. Well, for some. Some it is, some it isn't. You know, they're always going into like diners in the south of America and like eating these amazing things and I'm like, that looks delicious. I'll have two.

[C]

Yeah. What would be your food of choice?

[A]

Oh, pizza. Every time.

[C]

Really?

[A]

That's my death row.

[C]

Oh. And that's quite, like, you know, quite hard to eat a lot of pizza.

[A]

It's quite car say that. I'd say I could give it a good old go.

[C]

Yeah. Pivot. If the whole history thing doesn't work out. If we go with big pizza, would that match? I think it's normal size.

[A]

But others disagree. From what you've heard in the history circles, like, God, actually, I've got a really big mouth.

[C]

I wonder how big his esophagus is.

[A]

Jesus. Right, okay, we'll leave that there. Oh, by the way, you mentioned this and I didn't realize it was by AK Blake Moore before we go, but Glutton, the fiction work, is based on this. Yes, I'm gonna read this because I love AK Blake Moore.

[C]

It's really, really good. I enjoyed it a lot. So it came out, I think, a couple years ago.

[A]

Yeah, I've seen it. I just didn't realize.

[C]

Yeah, fantastic cover. And I was already, you know, a Tara truth though, at this point. So I was like, I'm glad he's getting the attention he deserves. Also, I just want to make the point. I've just remembered Michael Letito, a plane eating man, got an award from the Guinness Book of Records. So he ate the award.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[C]

So poetic. Oh, my gosh.

[A]

Good man.

[C]

Like exactly what you do, Hewitt. A big old professional eater.

[A]

And as we've discovered, I might well be at some future iteration. Right, listen, I need to get this person out of here because she disgusts me more and more each time that she arrives. What time is it? No, not quite lunch yet, thankfully. If you've enjoyed this episode, please leave us a five star review wherever you get your podcasts. Did you know that we are also on YouTube? So if you are only listening on podcast platforms, go over to our YouTube channel and you can subscribe and watch us there. You can find me at Antony Delaney History on socials. Where can they find you?

[C]

Kat Eymorg Girl.

[A]

Heymorg Girl. Which is as dastardly as it sounds. And Kat's book is coming out in early 2027. As I say, it is one of the ones I am most looking forward to. I'm so, so excited by it. So we cannot wait for that one. And obviously we're going to have you back a million times between now and then and before I go. I should mention another book that I'm really excited about. This is Maddie's book of course, Hoax, which is coming out on the 7th of May. And I will be chatting to Maddie on the at Conway hall about the new book and all things Hoax. So if you would like to come along to that, please do. There will be a link in the show notes if you have any ideas for God. There's a lot of notes in the ceiling, isn't there? I've got parish notes. I feel like a parish priest. That's not the first time I said that. If you have any ideas for future episodes then please get in [e-mail] Sometimes I forget that, but not today. Listen, I've rambled enough. Thank you very much for listening for watching. Thank you to Kat as ever. I'm already excited for the next episode, whatever that might be.

[C]

Always happy to be here and until

[A]

next time, happy listening. Goodbye.

[B]

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[C]

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