Title: Degree! Degree!

acast Time: 1:07:12
Youtube Time: N/A

Original Record Date: December 1, 2019
acast Publication Date: December 6, 2019
Youtube Publication Date: N/A

Please Welcome a Man
Who is hoping he will not be heckled by any hardcore knitters today.

Acronym Modification
Richard Herring’s Launching Sheffield Thursday Podcast

Cool Kids
I was hanging out at the Crucible today, playing snooker against myself – on a full-size board as well. It was terrible. Me 1 says…

Guest Best Known
From his appearances on Nevermind the Fullstops. He was on twice, which is impressive. He was also, of course, the drummer in Oscar the Frog.

Audience

Better or Worse than Last Week: N/A
Like or Unlike Wikipedia: N/A

Member Member Note
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Emergency Questions

If you could take one item from any museum or art gallery – and you’re allowed to take it home with you – in the world, what would you take?

We have a mystery object at the Maurice Dobson Museum, but nobody ever guesses what it is. So I’m going to take that home with me. What it is – I’ll describe it to you – it’s like a, a rectangular – cuboid if you like – wooden truncheon, with a handle on it. Like a truncheon but a square truncheon. And on each side of the four sides ot the truncheon there are a number of black spots. It’s fantastic. And you go, “What’s this then?” [Unclear.] And they go, “It’s a truncheon.” “No it isn’t.” “It’s a game.” “No it isn’t.” And it turns out, what it actually is – and I’m going to reveal the secret – it’s a thing from the 1920’s for railway men to test their eyesight. So they’d look that and go, “Nine spots.” And they go, “Eight spots.” And they go, “Seven spots.” I would take it home with me. And then when people come to my house and you’d have a little bit of fun with them. “Hey, what’s this mystery object?” And it’s not like you’re taking something from another culture; you’re not taking it away, you’re just taking it from the Maurice Dobson Museum, something like that. “Hey, guess the – what could that be?” Eh, you don’t know what that is. Nobody’s ever guessed it. Nobody’s ever guessed it in all the years. They sometimes guess the other one, which is, like, a wooden tuning fork. Just like that. And people guess that because it’s a thing that, again, railway men would put down here when they put brass soap on their buttons so it wouldn’t get on their shirt. They always guess that one, but they never guess that one with the thing. I’m doing the action now.

Have you ever seen a ghost?

No, I’ve never seen a ghost, although you have that dream where some tall person is stood at the foot of your bed. I’ve had that a few times. I used to have that thing called hypnagogia. You know, where you wake up and you think you’re ninety-four feet long? It’s a weird thing. Because when you’re waking up the bits of your brain that control our perspective wake up later on, and when I was a kid I used to be scared. I used to, I used to, “Mum! I’m ninety-four feet long!” And she said, “Well, you’ll be able to get plenty of jobs, won’t you? Won’t need you down the pit.” But then, every so often about once, once a year I’d have a dream there’s a really tall person stood at the foot of my bed, just looking at me. And it’s not a ghost, maybe; it’s just some kind of memory, or it’s some kind of thing, but it’s weird and it’s just before you wake up and you see you’re ninety-four feet long. There’s a figure stood at the foot of your bed. It’s a bit like life in Lancashire, let’s face it. I’d like to see a ghost, I think. Just to see what it would be like. *RH notes that many people who have claimed to have seen a ghost have just woken up or are very tired.* I think it goes back to when you’re little and you mum or dad would be at the foot of your bed, just checking you’re asleep. And so your memory goes back to that, I’m sure. Unless it’s a burglar.

Notes

Audio only.

Recorded at Sheffield City Hall.

At the end of the interview IM reads the poem “The Food Bank in the Primary School”.