Loading summary
Transcript157 lines
- [00:02]
A
I'm Mary Beard.
- [00:03]
B
And I'm Charlotte Higgins.
- [00:04]
A
Welcome to Exploring the Odyssey.
- [00:09]
B
This is a book club where we really drill down into some of the most exciting bits of Homer's epic poem. Whether it's your first time or whether
- [00:17]
A
you're taking another stab at it, we'll
- [00:19]
B
be here to share our debates, our questions and our insights. It's just one of the most remarkable things in the poem.
- [00:25]
A
This is a story that captures the
- [00:27]
B
imagination and you kind of go, ugh.
- [00:29]
A
It's quite a lot of the consumption of human flesh in this part of the Odyssey.
- [00:33]
B
This is a super good bit, absolutely knockout.
- [00:37]
A
We'll give you some background information that you might need to get the most out of the poem.
- [00:42]
B
It's going to be serious reading, but
- [00:44]
A
with a lot of jokes, a lot of fun and quite a few laughs along the way.
- [00:48]
B
So put the kettle on or pour
- [00:50]
A
yourself a large glass of wine and
- [00:53]
B
read along with us.
- [00:54]
A
To join, go to exploringtheodysy.com watch or listen wherever you get your podcasts. On 13 August, in a British parliamentary by election, Nigel Farage, the leader of the right wing Reform Party, faces more than 30 other candidates in an effort to hold his parliamentary seat. One of those candidates will be seen only with a rubbish bin or a trash can, if you're in the usa, on his head.
- [01:29]
B
Farage resigned from Parliament to contest allegations about breaking parliamentary financial rules, which he denies. He was, he said, going back to the electorate to sort out the matter democratically through the vote of the people of Clacton.
- [01:46]
A
None of the major parties were going to play along with this, but up steps, Count Bin Face. Bin on head. Yes, we mean that literally to take him on.
- [01:59]
B
And so did a bunch of other candidates. So we'll let you know about those in our show notes.
- [02:04]
A
But it's Bin Face who has captured the British imagination and the Italian and the French.
- [02:11]
B
Le Comte a tete de poupelle is my preferred means of referring to Bin Face, like the French.
- [02:18]
A
But what on earth is it all about? Is it just a bit of British silliness or is there a bigger point here?
- [02:27]
B
And does the fact that Kirk Binface was trained as a classicist have anything to do with it? Is this about popular democracy in a very classical tradition of taking the ruling class down a peg or two?
- [02:41]
A
We've had a great array of crypto classicists on the podcast and today we're delighted to have Bin Face, the most crypto of them all here in a bonus by election special. This is instant Classics the podcast that uncovers the ancient stories still shaping the world today. I'm Mary Beard.
- [03:06]
B
And I'm Charlotte Higgins. Each week we dive into the myths, the dramas and the characters of the classical world to discover what they still mean to us. Now this week, how classical is Count Bin Face?
- [03:29]
C
Chronic migraine is 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more. Botox Onobotulinum toxin A prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they start. It's not for those with 14 or fewer headache days a month. It prevents on average eight to nine headache days a month versus six to seven for placebo.
- [03:47]
D
Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions including als, Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis or Lambert Eaton syndrome, and medications including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects.
- [04:23]
C
Why wait? Ask your doctor. Visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-844botox to learn more.
- [04:30]
B
Welcome, Count. I don't know if that is the correct form of address, your Honour.
- [04:36]
E
My lord, it's a pleasure to be with you. Salwe. Salwete, I should say. Let's get the plural going on.
- [04:44]
B
That's right.
- [04:44]
E
Get the plural right.
- [04:45]
B
Mate. Salve to you.
- [04:47]
E
I know an imperative when I see one. And listen, first things first, can we just. I need to take issue with you on this. Crypto classicist. That's the other guy. That's the guy I'm standing against. There's nothing crypto here. Beard.
- [05:05]
A
Okay. All right, Bill. And you know, we were surprised though that so few people, even in the uk, have got a sense that you really do come with a classical background. So it's crypto in that sense. A hidden classical trend behind you, we think.
- [05:22]
E
Firstly, you're absolutely right. I am steeped in the classics, as I'm sure you are. All 15 books of Niblos, the veins metamorphoses on Sigma 9. I trust you read that in the original. Otherwise, what kind of amateur hour is this? But if I'm going to conquer a planet. I have to read the literature on that world as well. So I just thought it was par for the course to have, you know, I kick back on my starship, the Alboreto, and I like to verse myself in the absolute classic. So that includes Homer, Thucydides, Cicero, and of course, Lovejoy. Top of the pile.
- [06:06]
A
Well, we actually spotted that, you know, minus the. Ben, you were actually reviewing Nolan's Odyssey film the other week in the Spectator. Right, so you're putting your classics to good use.
- [06:24]
E
Look, if you start trying to break the fourth wall, like Lucien with his true story, this whole thing's gonna fall apart. You know, I have no idea what you're talking about, but if there was a particularly astute review of the Odyssey by Christopher Nolan in the Spectator. Yes. I would encourage humans to read it.
- [06:48]
B
What is the nature of the. I was going to ask, what is the nature of the political system on Sigma 9? Bin face. And does it have any relationship with, let's say, ancient Greek, Ancient Athenian radical democracy? What are your democratic credentials for flying in your craft to planet Earth, to the town of Clacton on sea in eastern England and standing for election among us mere mortals?
- [07:20]
E
Well, you've asked a lot of things there, Charlotte. Let's try.
- [07:22]
B
Yeah, I tend to do that.
- [07:24]
E
You want to know the state of things, I see. De rarum natura, Charlotte. Okay.
- [07:28]
B
De rerum natura. Yes.
- [07:30]
E
You know, on Sigma 9, we have a benevolent, you know, one party, one recyclon rule, moi. And it all works out jolly fine. A bit like Sulla, Remember him? I mean, not literally, but he gave his power up after a while. And, you know, I'm considering that, but I'm having too much fun at the moment. And then what I do, though, is when I conquer planets, I play by the rules of that system. Right? You guys got democracy? Well, in a form we can discuss if you do. It's certainly not Athenian democracy, is it, mate? And so I play by your rules. You see, the number of planets in the cosmos using democracy, 1. The number, using it properly, none. So for me, it's like a curio. I always say. It's like when you guys, I'm guessing, less so merely. But I'm going to put this out here. When you stumble upon a branch of wimpy and you think, my God, is that still going? It's seen better days, but I still fancy a bite. That's how I see democracy. So I play by the system. And so you ask, why am I here, you guys, let me be here. What's wrong with that? Celebrate it. Lovely.
- [08:49]
A
But you're saying UK democracy has seen better days, but it's still worth a little bite to keep it going, is that right?
- [09:00]
E
Pretty much. I mean, what I would say is, when you invent something, don't throw away the instruction booklet. It's like ikea. You see, the Greeks built democracy, arguably others did too. I'm sure you know that. And so. Well, some Greeks, not all of them, as we darn well know, but some of them did. But what you guys have is arguably a legitimized oligarchy. That's what the Athenians would say, wouldn't they?
- [09:31]
A
Right, yeah, they'd say Athenians were no fans of elections. Right. They, you know, they thought elections were favored, the privileged really, because they came along and they spoke well and they'd been educated, they'd been taught how to win elections.
- [09:51]
E
Exactly. The establishment, Mary, the establishment.
- [09:54]
A
Exactly. So they thought that it was much better to draw lots for who was going to be in their parliament. Right. So where do you fit yourself actually in that?
- [10:09]
E
I would say I straddle those two poles perfectly in the sense that if I got hold of your Average ancient Athenian, 5th century BC, BCE, whatever you want to say, grabbed him in my time machine and hoicked him to right now, here, and I said, look at this. And he looked at the 34 candidates standing on that stage in Clapton on Sea. Yes. If he looks at those and says, that's the elite, I would disagree with him. So that is a proof in itself that elections are the great leveler. The Athenians were wrong. Cause their version of it, they did everything by referendum. What could possibly go wrong with that?
- [10:57]
A
I still struggle a bit thinking of the electorate of Clacton.
- [11:01]
E
You're telling me.
- [11:03]
A
Have you been there?
- [11:06]
E
I've been there about as much as Nigel Farage put it like that, once or twice, I couldn't possibly comment.
- [11:13]
A
I mean, I do wonder whether some of them will be thinking, no, actually there's a guy here who's making us think about democracy a bit harder. He's making us think, right, just how Athenian are we? And who invented democracy? And what is democracy anyway? I mean. So are you a kind of agent provocateur for thinking about politics?
- [11:37]
E
Not deliberately, but I am very pleased and gratified if that is a pleasurable side effect of my being on Earth. You know, I'm fascinated by it all. You know, I've been on your planet for nine Earth years now. This Is my eighth election. Eighth time lucky it was for nigel. So you never know. Might be for me, too. And each time I learn more about it and. And how humans interact and how the voting systems work, how other voting systems change, Sometimes quite cheekily. And so, you know, it's like tectonic plates or a glacier. It moves fairly slowly. So I can't claim to be an expert. I'm relatively new down here, you know, But I'm enjoying the ride.
- [12:25]
A
And what have you learned then? You say you've learned. You know, you've been in all these elections and you've learned stuff. Like what? Like what have you learned?
- [12:33]
E
I've learned how not to win, for starters. I got that down pat. But beyond that, I've learned, dare I say it, to get poetic for a moment. I've learned about the precious value of one vote. You see, people talk about thousands. I've had over 117,000 votes. But you know what? Sometimes just one, the idea of one actual human going into that little polling booth Getting the stabby pencil and saying, I choose you, it's magic. There's something wonderful you guys have got to remember, Some of your listeners even may live in countries where they can't do that. They can't speak freely. And the fact that in the united kingdom, you can vote for whoever you want. You can stand under whatever banner you want no matter what you look like, no matter how idiotic. I'm not naming names, you know, and it's on that election night, you are on the village hall stage all next to each other, all 5 or 10 or 34. It's the great leveler. And I don't know of another country on earth in any time period where that has occurred. Now, you've got to tell me that is special, right? Yeah.
- [13:54]
A
And when. And when people break those rules, Like I seem to remember that liz truss wasn't terribly kind of comradely when she lost her seat. I think there is something quite nice about that lineup and where everybody has to congratulate the winning candidate and, you know, be a decent bloke or girl, really.
- [14:19]
E
Well, quite. And, you know, you only have to look at the world cup final, which is, as we're recording, it just happened, and the behavior of the argentina players, Brilliant footballers with arguably the goat on their team. And they made a mess of it afterwards with their behavior, and that makes a huge difference. You're absolutely right, Mary. How you. How you lose says more about you than how you win.
- [14:49]
A
What's interesting is, you know, unless you've got just a two horse race. The important thing about democracy is there's always more losers than winners.
- [15:00]
E
Exactly. And indeed in football, I'm enjoying the idea of turning your podcast into a soccer thon. I'm going to try and lean into this. But the fact is that if you're into sport, unless you support that one team or whoever it is that has all the money or the luck at that time, 99% of supporters will experience failure and defeat. And that I think is the magic of it, don't you? It actually says more about. We can link this to the Greeks, why they were so into tragedy because it speaks to your human condition. I mean I'm used to winning in other planets, but down on Earth, if you can't be a good loser, don't bother.
- [15:46]
A
I was thinking not of the Greeks, actually, I was thinking of the Romans.
- [15:51]
E
I bet you act.
- [15:52]
A
And there is as usual, you know, 63 BCE, there is this rather hyped up probably, probably conspiracy led by a guy called Catiline to bring the Roman state down, right. And it is notoriously he is outed by Cicero and you know, in what Cicero thought was his finest hour, what
- [16:20]
E
I always think about Catalan amongst many.
- [16:23]
A
If you really. Yeah, yeah, okay. Amongst many the. What I always think about Catiline because is that he was the world's worst loser. You know, why does he, why does he get up there and say I am going to bring Rome down? It's because he's lost two elections to become consul in Rome, he's lost to Cicero. And what he doesn't know is he doesn't have the bin face morality here. He doesn't, he doesn't know that what is important is to be a good loser. He's so. I think he's not a kind of a principled revolutionary as much as the kind of bad loser that we know we don't want in democracy.
- [17:03]
E
I've never heard this one from a Cambridge professor. That the reason Lucius Sergius Catiline failed because he wasn't enough bin face. Well, I'm going to stick that on a poster big time. But I agree with you, I agree with you that and I've got a solution for this, right. And I think Catiline would appreciate it, which is that when I reform your parliament, which, let's be honest, it needs a bit of a spruce, both literally, it's falling down, it's gonna burn down if you're not careful and politically right, the House of Lords travesty, yes, we can agree on that, even though Mary must only be minutes away from being a baroness, I can see it. Anyway, don't do it, Mar.
- [17:53]
A
I thought that the only way. I have to say this is not meant as an insult. The only way of you getting into Parliament is in the House of Lords. So just be a bit careful, you
- [18:03]
B
know, from camp and face to Lord Ben, face of 6:09.
- [18:07]
E
Hang on. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Steady on, Beard. Firstly, firstly, I pledged to abolish the Lords. All of them. Wiped them out. And then I was a lord. Do you remember? I came down to Earth in the guise of Lord Bucket when you had
- [18:25]
B
a bucket on your head.
- [18:28]
E
Renounced my peerage, mate. I'm the only politician to feel better after kicking the bucket. Eat that. And. Yeah, exactly. So if you. Here, we need to get it on record that Mary is going to turn down the Baroness for the sake of democracy. But anyway, my point is, I'm going to get rid of the Lords and I'm going to replace it with a new House, which takes all the expertise from good losers, because as we've been discussing, that's where you learn the most. A failure is the greatest teacher. So Catiline would fit very snugly into this House. I call it the House of Losers, Right? Can you imagine people who have had their day and then got deemed failures? Sort of your John Majors, your Tim Henman.
- [19:22]
B
I was gonna say, there'll be a wealth of British sports stars.
- [19:26]
E
Exactly.
- [19:26]
B
In the class of losers.
- [19:28]
E
Do you know that the greatest loser in the Omniverse, Jimmy White. Get him in. Six times, he lost a World Final. We watched that on Sigma 9. Incredible. These people, right, they could teach you far more about how to run your country than the clowns you've got in your current House of Lords. Am I wrong?
- [19:50]
B
I couldn't possibly say. It's an intriguing idea. Yes, you can.
- [19:53]
A
The other way of doing it, the other classical way of doing it for the House of Lords, and I don't think this would be so bad, is to draw lots for it, you know, that's what the Athenians would do.
- [20:03]
E
I would do that as well.
- [20:05]
A
But have a raffle. A raffle. To be in the House of Lords.
- [20:09]
E
That'd be great. Like jury service. Why not?
- [20:12]
A
What I think is interesting about that is that when you teach students about Athenian democracy, and you must remember this, they find the idea, at first sight, of drawing lots to be in a position of power very, very puzzling. And they always forget, they absolutely forget what you've just Mentioned that jury service in the UK and in lots of other places is actually the jurors are chosen by lot. We do have a place in our constitution already where lot is what rules the day. And there's no reason not to extend that.
- [20:52]
E
There's a very good Radio 4 series about this. It's called Could An Ancient Athenian Fix Britain? Episode four, Check in on BBC Sounds. I have no idea who made it, but it's bloody good.
- [21:05]
A
I have a feeling it was Bin Face under his other proper name.
- [21:08]
E
No, I don't know what you're talking about.
- [21:10]
B
Bin Face under a pseudonym. It was Bin Face under. No, no, no.
- [21:15]
E
It's disgustingly ugly.
- [21:17]
A
You mean we're not going to be able to persuade you to take your bin off so we can have a check?
- [21:22]
E
Why is it always women who say that? It's confusing, but yes, that's very flattering.
- [21:28]
B
Mary, what's the. Under your pen?
- [21:29]
E
Yeah, but you can't. I'm afraid not, no. It's absolutely disgusting. It wouldn't be good for your. If you weren't filming this. I might show you and then you'd puke. But you are filming it, so I won't.
- [21:43]
A
So all our watches are on the pod. You'll just have to imagine what is under that bin.
- [21:49]
E
Right, exactly. Less is more, merely.
- [21:53]
A
I mean, it's another important point in politics, isn't it? It's not what you look like that counts, it's what the ideas are. And I think that in some ways Bimphase stands for the Bimphase ideas about democracy. Kind of partly cannibalized from the Athenians and the Romans, rather than.
- [22:13]
E
I'm not cannibal, I'm not a lice dragonian. Even though I like their armor in the film version. Don't know where they got those from, but very shiny. Lovely.
- [22:23]
B
It has a kind of family relationship to the accoutrements of Sigma 9, of course, the costume in the film.
- [22:31]
E
Yeah. I mean, we're not quite like that. That was. Yeah. I don't know what their beef was. They only just turned up. Crazy. We can talk about that if you want. By the way, the Odyssey. I've got to go to a preview. I had to go incognito at the back. You can imagine. If I don't sit at the back in a cinema, people start muttering.
- [22:49]
B
But from the perspective of Sigma 9. You enjoyed the film, did you Count?
- [22:55]
E
I did. I thought it was, you know. Hey, look, we're here to enjoy classics on Earth, so anybody making A big screen adaptation. If you don't applaud it, what's the point, eh? And haven't you seen the news? There's like 7,000% increase in the number of copies of the Odyssey that have been sold. The actual poem, which if my maths are right means that they've sold 7,000.
- [23:26]
B
I think they might do a bit better than that.
- [23:28]
E
But I'm going to take issue with a couple of things you guys have said. I listen to your pod, I love it and you guys have critiqued it very well. But one thing I'm going to pick you up on merely said there's no jokes in it. I disagree. There is one joke in it.
- [23:46]
A
What's that?
- [23:48]
E
It's when they're in the cave, right, at the cyclops.
- [23:51]
A
Yeah.
- [23:51]
E
Nothing wrong with a one eyed creature. Get that clear. And it's something like one of Odysseus men said, shall we like reason with it? And Odysseus goes, I think we're past that. And when I was there, all the humans roared with laughter. They loved it. So it's slim pickings, I'll give you that. It is slimming. But it actually goes to show, it goes to show just how much they could have done. Cause we didn't get any more of Odysseus wit, his wiles, his cheekiness, his
- [24:25]
B
loquaciousness, his capacity for lying, his storytelling.
- [24:31]
E
Do you want my theory on that? Yes, I've got a theory. Right. There is an incom. You're not expecting this. There is an incompatibility between the wonders of the original and cinema. Because the number one rule in cinema, which Christopher Nolan clearly believes is show, don't tell. But you can't do justice to Odysseus without a bit of tell.
- [25:03]
B
It's a visual medium and so you can't have all that talking. But unfortunately if you lose all the talking, you lose a lot of Odysseus. Amazing character.
- [25:13]
E
Yes. And I'll give you a good example. Let's stick with the cyclops. Right. At the end of that bit, Christopher Nolan has translated all the cheekiness. What does Odysseus do? You know, he gives himself his wrong name. Utis. We all know. I've done my reading. And then as they're sailing away, he mocks him and says who he really is. Well that's great. Right. And all the other Cyclops, Cyclopses, whatever you say it, they all pop up. Brilliant stuff, right? It's great. But clearly Nolan thought, and I think he's on, he's quoted as saying, I tried it but I couldn't make it work. I think it just would have been too long. So instead you just have Odysseus shooting Polyphemus one more time to enrage him further. And so he's squashed all that mischief and naughtiness into shooting an arrow. And you know, for me, again, just proves the poem's better, isn't it?
- [26:14]
A
Well, it's quite hard to beat Homer, you know, whoever that is, whoever they want.
- [26:21]
E
Do you want open it? Do you want to open that can of worms? Haven't got time.
- [26:25]
B
Maybe not today, but I'm sure there's a. I'm sure there are some excellent working theories on the Homeric question on Sigma 9 because you've had a lot of time to study this question.
- [26:35]
E
We have. The oral tradition is alive and well and that's not a euphemism. We have cafes. Milman Pali would have had a field day on Sigma 9. I'll tell you that for nothing again. I bet you one space credit you won't expect me, expecting me to say Milman Palais in this half hour.
- [27:03]
A
I have to say there is a certain learnedness to your classical background. It kind of oozes out from that bin. You know, you can tell that this is a, a guy who, you know, he knows his classics, he drops the name of Lucian and whatever, you know. Do you recommend that people still study it on Sigma 9? On Sigma 9? Yeah. What you.
- [27:24]
B
Or indeed on. Or indeed on Earth.
- [27:26]
E
Well, let's start with Earth. Mary, you're the ones with the problem. Yeah, I mean, hey look, we read all sorts on Sigma 9. I mean, to be fair, the recyclons are still tucking their way through Lovejoy and there's a lot of meat on that. So, you know, we'll get to Homer. But they're very happy with the box set of Ian McShane. But as for you guys, I am absolutely convinced that human children, human adults would gain an awful lot by getting stuck in to the classics. It's such a shame that that word sounds stuffy these days, because it shouldn't be. And for me there's a logical friction between the way that Classics has got a sort of a very fusty reputation, as if it isn't worth teaching. And yet all those very lucky children who go to the top private schools, they still learn it. So clearly it is something deemed worthy in these elite so called elite institutions. So why shouldn't every kid get the chance? Every, every child should have the chance to do a bit of Latin.
- [28:45]
A
Would you like to put that in your manifesto, Lord? Bin face. I think it would really count. Bin face, Sorry. I think it might really, you know, help the cause, you know, one of you know, you're going to abolish the House of Lords, Build nationalize.
- [28:58]
B
Adele.
- [28:59]
A
Adele. And give every child in the country the opportunity to learn a bit of Latin.
- [29:05]
E
You want me to put that in my manifesto?
- [29:09]
B
Yes.
- [29:09]
E
Yeah. For Clacton, Yeah. Yes, yeah. That's why you're a classics professor and I'm a politician.
- [29:18]
A
I think it's a vote winner, mate. I think it's a real.
- [29:21]
E
I might try it, I mean, depending on, you know, hey, we're talking probably about the difference of one vote. So we've got a. We haven't got a very big sample size. I tell you what, if Ipsos Mori are listening to this and they want to do a poll on whether it would be a good idea to bring back Latin in primary schools, go ahead. Right. Because I do believe in this. And. Yeah, why not? I mean, you know, you've got to be careful, though, because already I'm getting bagged as the elite, the establishment. And so I've got to debunk that first. Right. Otherwise I'll look like exactly the kind of fusty establishment so. And so that certain sections of the press or certain political sections would say. Well, of course he's going to say that, you see.
- [30:15]
B
Yeah. But putting Latin into your manifesto is about the most punk rock, anti establishment move you could make. So I'm strongly there.
- [30:26]
E
Speaks a Guardian journalist.
- [30:28]
B
That's right.
- [30:29]
E
Have you listened to much punk rock, Charlotte? It's not in Latin.
- [30:33]
B
I've seen Gang of Four live. Pin face.
- [30:37]
E
Antichristus sum. Yes, I get it.
- [30:40]
A
Oh, perfect parody material here, aren't we?
- [30:43]
E
You know, absolutely. Well, why do you think I'm here? You're speechless now, aren't you?
- [30:50]
A
I'm speechless, yeah. I am speechless, yeah. You know, it's not. Well, it's not often that you talk to a bin. No.
- [30:55]
B
Or indeed an intergalactic aristocrat. I mean, we're a bit overcome and overwhelmed, to be honest.
- [31:03]
A
I'm still thinking about your manifesto and I'm still thinking about saying, look, every. Every kid ought to have the opportunity of learning a bit of Latin. You've got. You've now got a querulous voter of Clacton here saying, why would you want to learn Latin then?
- [31:20]
E
Bim face.
- [31:21]
A
Why would you want to learn Latin? What would you say?
- [31:23]
E
I just covered that that's why I would struggle to put it in my manifesto. I don't want to have to deal with that, I want to get on with my day. But to follow your thought experiment, if I said every kid should do Latin and somebody said why, I would say simply this. All you've got to do is pop along to a state primary school where they do it. Right. Going to get a bit serious here. I do a bit of being a politician, you know, politicians, you have to go around schools. Right. Glad handing and all the rest of it. I've done a bit of that and I've been to a number of primary and secondary schools around the UK where they do do Latin and classics and the kids love it. They blooming well love it. And I've spoken to them and I say, what do you like about it? They love the words, they love the stories, they love the puzzles, they just, they said it actually ties together all the stuff they learn in their other subjects. And so I know it's a bit counterintuitive that a language that was spoken 2,000 years ago or maybe, you know, 20 minutes ago in the Vatican, you know, basically that could be cutting edge, but from what I've seen, it blooming well works.
- [32:46]
A
There you are, world. You've got an endorsement for Latin classics teaching classics in schools from none other than the brilliantly failing politician Count Binface. And we're just terribly delighted that you said that.
- [33:02]
B
I'm really, really happy that you came onto Instant Classics Binface. I don't think it would be wrong of us to say that. We wish you very well in the upcoming by election of Claxton on Sea, where you will be facing, you know, a very well known joke candidate. And I hope that you lose gracefully and win as many votes as the people of Clacton are willing to give you.
- [33:27]
A
And do you just have one final message for our viewers and listeners to this wonderful podcast?
- [33:35]
E
Absolutely. Well, firstly, can I just say I am very, very gratified for all of that, especially the phrase brilliantly failing. That's another one for the poster. I'm running out of space, but that's very kind of you. I do hope that you will be forced to read out all 34 candidates because that would make me laugh, but otherwise, yes, I'm sure it'll be in the show notes. And as for a final message to your lovely listeners and viewers, I'll give you one in English, which is to say, don't sweat the small stuff, but equally, don't say that you can't sweat at all vital. And secondly, in your favorite language, carpe diem.
- [34:23]
A
Seizing the day. That's what we're going to do now. So, Bim face. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to talk to your Bin. Thank you. Thank you for coming.
- [34:32]
E
Me too. Alia yakta est?
- [34:35]
A
Alia yakta est? The dye has been thrown up in the air. Tara Bin faced. I mean, Wale Bim.
- [34:44]
E
Yes. Wale te Wale.
- [34:49]
B
As ever, we want to know your thoughts and comments, ideas, questions. And so if you have them, please do send them to us@instantclassicspodmail.com or on our social media at Instant Classicspod. Bye.
- [35:07]
A
Bye. Close your eyes.
- [35:15]
C
Exhale.
- [35:16]
A
Feel your body relax and let go of whatever you're carrying today.
- [35:21]
C
Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh, they're so fast.
- [35:29]
A
And breathe.
- [35:31]
B
Sorry.
- [35:31]
C
I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste.
- [35:38]
A
Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order. 1-800-contacts.