Posts Tagged ‘William Shakespeare’
August 5, 2021
Well this is it, listeners. After 14 years and 8 months and many thousands of questions, AMT400 is the last episode of the show. Sob!! But we’re surfing out of here on a wave of your lovely, lovely messages – as well as a British Podcast Award for hanging in there for so damn long – and some excellent questions about such things as:
sky dining – no not sky diving, sky dining
the difference between shepherding and nursing
the unreasonable popularity of Fiji Water
saving Joni Mitchell’s childhood home
destroying William Shakespeare’s final home
Barbie vs Lilli
Anish Kapoor’s expensive sculpture vs Anish Kapoor’s expensive sculpture
Swiss Barbie
the real Sherlock Holmes?!
homing pigeons
and
arsenic girl.
The songs you hear were sent in by MJ Fouldes and Hannah Ventisei. Thanks so much to all of you who sent in lovely messages – and songs! – with your AMT-related emotions and memories. We could only include a tiny fraction of your affection in the episode, but know that we read/listened to everything. And maybe wept over it all a bit, too.
You’ll hear a few more of your AMT memories, plus bonus questions and answers about reheating McDonald’s cheeseburgers, the pleasantness of trans-Atlantic crossings 250 years ago, regretting the person you chose to bequeath your children to, life drawing classes, and ruined birthdays (we’re so sorry, Beth!), in today’s Bumper Bonus Bit of Crap on the App. As it’s a special occasion, you can listen to even if you don’t own the app, by downloading here or clicking on this player:
Thanks to our sponsors:
• Manscaped, a full range of grooming products for your furry parts. Get 20% off plus free shipping with the code ANSWER at Manscaped.com.
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Admin time:
We won’t be taking emails or phonecalls, but this website will remain up for as long as we keep remembering to renew the domain! And episodes 201-400 will sit pretty on the free feed in the pod places. Plus all our other stuff will still be available at answermethisstore.com: episodes 1-200, our Best Of compilations from 2007-2015, and our six special albums – Home Entertainment, Love, Holiday, Sports Day, Jubilee and Christmas.
Stay subscribed, because you never know what the future holds…
Keep in touch!
• Olly Mann is @ollymann on Twitter. His podcasts include The Retrospectors and The Modern Mann, and you can find all of his shows at ollymann.com.
• Helen Zaltzman is @helenzaltzman on Twitter and Instagram. Her podcasts include The Allusionist and Veronica Mars Investigations.
• Martin The Sound Man Austwick is @martinaustwick on Twitter and Instagram. His podcasts include Song By Song, Neutrino Watch and Maddie’s Sound Explorers – and you can hear his songs via palebirdmusic.com.
Good grief! Can this really be it?? THANK YOU for sending questions and feedback, commuting/exercising/falling asleep with us, and letting us be your pod friends.
Helen & Olly
••• AMT400 Child-Friendly Rating: 68%. Low-bawd but several swears. Plus an ad for ball-shavers. •••
Tags:Adele, adrenaline, advertising, Anish Kapoor, arsenic, art, Arthur Conan Doyle, babies, Barbara, Barbara Handler, Barbie, Berlin, birds, Bloody Mary, bottled water, branch of Giraffe, buttons, carbonara, Casino Royale, celebrities, Christo and Jean-Claude, Cloud Gate, cocktails, cookery, Damien Hirst, dolls, drinks, Eels, environment, famous people, farewell, fictional characters, Fiji, Fiji Water, food, Germany, gifts, goodbye, hats, heritage, Heston Blumenthal, historical sites, history, homing pigeons, houses, Ian Fleming, inspiration, James Bond, Joni Mitchell, Ken doll, legacy, Lilli, marketing, Mattel, names, navigation, neologisms, nurses, Orbit, paperclips, pigeons, plaques, presents, product placement, prolapse, questioneer, restaurants, Ruth Handler, Saskatoon, sculptures, Shakespeare, sheep, shepherds, Sherlock Holmes, sites of historical interest, sky dining, stag dos, Stratford-upon-Avon, Switzerland, toothpicks, toys, water, William Shakespeare, Wrapped Reichstag
Posted in PODCASTS | 8 Comments »
November 2, 2017
A questioneer today is in quite the state of consternation after clicking on the link to a friend’s wedding list…and finding a dazzling array of Adult Pleasure Implements. And we’re not talking golf clubs or top-of-the-range espresso machines here. Discover what in Answer Me This! Episode 356, in which we also learn about:
banting
political party conferences
non-fiction novels
the Warrens
NSFW wedding photos (link is SFW)
cheesecake – really a cake?
placenta – really a cake?
Leicester Square – really a square?
haunted pubs – really haunted?
and
the benefits of being an influencer.
And if you work in film and want to discuss a development deal for Candlelight Salad: The Movie, get in touch via the contact details below.
Today’s Bonus Bit of Crap on the App – available for iPadPhones, Android and Windows devices – involves the Cheesecake Factory, and an INCREDIBLE NEW TATER TOT INNOVATION at Denny’s.
Want to hear more from us? There’s the retro AMT episode that lands your feed mid-month – right now you can hear AMT125, in which we learn about why lion tamers use chairs and where witches used to stick their brooms. To get it, subscribe to AMT on your podcatcher of choice. All of our back catalogue is available from answermethisstore.com, along with our special albums.
Thanks to today’s sponsors: first direct, whose online banking services you can find at firstdirect.com; and those stalwarts of podcast support Squarespace. Have a go during the two-week free trial, then get 10% off Squarespace’s website-hosting and -designing services for a whole year with the discount code ‘answer‘.
Send us your QUESTIONS: call the Question Line on 0208 123 5877 or Skype ID answermethis or send us a voice memo or a written question by emailing answermethispodcast@googlemail.com. Be our interfriend at twitter.com/HelenAndOlly and facebook.com/answermethis.
We’ll be back with AMT357 on 7 December 2017, and with a Retro AMT episode on 23 November.
Helen & Olly
••• AMT356 Child-Friendly Rating: 22%. Question about a wedding list of sexual playthings, so probably not an episode to listen to on the school run. •••
Tags:Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock, Alix Fox, Annabelle, Atkins, banting, Bishop of Rhodes, blagging, bullshit, cake, candlelight salad, cash, Charlie Chaplin, cheesecake, conferences, definitions, dessert, desserts, dieting, diets, eating, eponyms, falsehoods, fellatio, films, finance, financial, food, foods, Frederick Banting, free stuff, ghost hunters, ghosts, government, grifting, haunted, haunted houses, haunted pubs, hauntings, horror films, law, lawsuits, legal, legal battles, legal cases, Leicester Square, low carbs, Miss Marple, money, movie rights, movies, NSFW, parks, party conferences, phallic, placenta, political expenses, political parties, politics, pubs, saucy, saving, seaside towns, semantics, sex toys, spirits, squares, supernatural, The Conjuring, Tim Farron, Victorians, Warner Bros, wedding gifts, wedding lists, wedding memes, wedding photos, weddings, William Banting, William Shakespeare, words
Posted in PODCASTS | 2 Comments »
December 24, 2015
This classic episode is available to BUY NOW for just £1.99 at the Answer Me This! Store, through a secure server, without DRM restriction. CLICK HERE to find out more and support our podcast. (This helps keep our most recent episodes free)
Join us for a jaunt through The Best of Answer Me This! 2015, where we revisit such bright spots from the year as:
Paul Simon Says
Buddha, fat and thin
the Stephen King’s IT tattoo
the CKBLT (Chicken Kiev BLT sandwich)
Jurassic Park: The Ballet
Juliet’s balcony
Grumpy Cat
Melanie Griffith’s lion
Nicolas Cage’s octopus
Andre Rieu’s face
highlighter pen(i)s
undead Mike Oldfield
wedding +1 etiquette
Byrd Sister
Greek wine
dominatrix problems
and
olive theft.
And, as every year, there are the Previously Unheard Bits of AMT, plus our favourite: the Melancholy Voicemail Parade.
Haven’t heard the Best Of AMT collections from previous years? Get them at answermethisstore.com/best. All the hits, none of the shits!
Also while you’re at the AMT store, you can buy our classic episodes, albums and apps. By doing so, you’re supporting the show – and obliterating the howling silence, right?
Send in your questions for AMT in 2016: leave voicemails on the Question Line – call 0208 123 5877 or Skype ID answermethis – and send emails to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com. Befriend us online at facebook.com/answermethis and twitter.com/HelenAndOlly.
We’ll return with AMT330 on 14th January 2016. Happy Christmas/New Year/early January to you all, and thanks for listening this year.
Helen & Olly
••• Best of 2015 Child-Friendly Rating: 50%. As in, 50% of the content is child-friendly. The other 50% really isn’t. You know the score by now. •••
Tags:2015, Andre Rieu, Andrew Lloyd Webber, animals, Audrey Hepburn, babies, bacon sandwiches, Bad Blood, ballet, beards, Ben Lashes, best of, Bluetooth, books, Budai, Buddha, Buddhism, Capulets, cats, celebrity animals, celebrity pets, chatrooms, Cheshire, chicken, chicken and egg, chicken kiev, children, class, cock shy, cocks, coconut shy, coconuts, cruises, daddy, dance, death hoaxes, deep sea submersibles, deer, dominatrix, drupes, eggs, Elvis Presley, fairground attractions, feet, Fern Britton, films, folk festivals, food, Friends, friendship, fun, games, genitals, Greek wine, green hair, Grumpy Cat, highlighter pens, history, Hollywood, Hollywood pets, Home Alone, infants, inverse snobbery, Italy, Jeremy Corbyn, Juliet, Juliet's balcony, Jurassic Park, kangaroos, lavender, Lil Bub, lions, literature, love, marriage, memes, Mike Oldfield, money, Moonlight Shadow, morality, morals, movies, mummy, music, musicals, Nandos, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Neil the Lion, Nicolas Cage, not fun, novels, octopus, olive bars, olive theft, olives, parenting, parents, Paul Simon, penises, people being dicks about weddings, pets, poshness, procreation, pub quiz, quinoa, relationships, religion, Romeo and Juliet, sandwiches, sex, Shakespeare, shopping, shops, Simon and Garfunkel, Simon Says, small feet, small penises, snobbery, stealing, Stephen King, Stephen King's It, submersibles, supermarkets, symbols, Tardar Sauce, tattoos, Taylor Swift, theatre, theft, Tippi Hedren, toddlers, TS Eliot, Tubular Bells, Verona, weddings, wild beasts, William Shakespeare
Posted in PODCASTS | 1 Comment »
August 6, 2015
Ever been cured by a snake? No? Well, thought we should ask. Find out why in Answer Me This! Episode 320, as well as stuff about:
red velvet cake
the first romcom
Overboard
BDSM vs podcasting
baby names vs dog names
Ritz cracker apple pie
Frankie and Benny’s
sacred snakes
Much Ado About Nothing
Ghostface Chillah
points on your driving licence
registering your baby
Leavenworth, WA (see the bottom of this post)
the Rod of Asclepius
and
your local Munch.
Plus: Olly remembers his dad’s Martian business plan*, that is still up for grabs if any of you want to do it; Helen has ‘Baby On Board!’ windscreen signs in the crosshairs; and Martin the Sound Man’s parents named him Martin hoping he’d take after one of the nice Martins, rather than Amis or Scorsese.
*If you do decide to give this a whirl – or you have a less doomed idea for a business – build the website using today’s sponsor Squarespace.com. Tinker around during the free two-week trial, then you can have 10% off their website-building and -hosting services for a year if you use the code ‘ANSWER‘. You get a URL and loads of storage thrown in. AND Squarespace manages to make your site look nice on desktop, mobile and tablet, which is far more than most site hosts do (ahem ahem this one).
In today’s Bonus Bit of Crap on the App (available for iThings, Android and Windows devices) is a question from Kate about those metal bars that run around the bottom of bars. Bonus appearance from the town that plays Northern Exposure.
As always, we crave your questions. Leave voicemails on the Question Line – call 0208 123 5877 or Skype ID answermethis – and send emails to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com. And join the virtual cuddle-party at facebook.com/answermethis and twitter.com/HelenAndOlly.
We’ll return on 20th August 2015 with AMT321. Be there. Or our hearts will yearn for you.
Helen & Olly
••• AMT320 Child-Friendly Rating: 34%. It opens with feedback regarding AMT319‘s dominatrix question, which, though heartwarming, may be riper than you feel your children should cope with. Some swears thereafter, but we suspect you’ll already have saved this for post-watershed listening. •••
PS Feast your eyes on LEAVENWORTH! The happiest place on earth (or at the very least, Washington State).
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Tags:Adele, ambulances, Americana, Ancient Greece, Ancient Greeks, apple pie, artificial colourings, artificial foodstuffs, Asclepius, babies, baby names, Bavarian, BDSM, cake, children, crime, criminal charges, dominatrices, dominatrix, drivers, driving, driving licence, etymology, fake, famous Martins, Fetlife, films, food, food colouring, Frankie and Benny's, Ghostface Chillah, Ghostface Killah, goldfish, Goldie Hawn, Greece, Greek gods, Greek myths, Harold Lloyd, healing, hospitals, Hugh Grant, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobyna Ralston, Julia Roberts, Keanu Reeves, kink, Kurt Russell, Leavenworth, logos, Martin Amis, Martin Rossiter, Martin Scorsese, meet-cute, Midsummer Night's Dream, minigolf, movies, Much Ado About Nothing, munch, munches, myth, names, nipples, nippy, Notting HIll, Olly's dad, Overboard, paramedics, parents, pets, Planet Hollywood, play streets, points, Pretty Woman, recipes, red velvet cake, register offices, relationships, Rex, Richard Gere, Ritz crackers, Rod of Asclepius, romantic comedies, romcoms, sex, Shoreditch, silent film, snakes, Snapchat, Squarespace, Stanley Mann, substitute food, symbols, The Great Depression, theme restaurants, themed attractions, themed towns, William Shakespeare, Wu-Tang Clan
Posted in PODCASTS | 6 Comments »
July 22, 2015
Let’s tidy away all our AMT318 business before AMT319 emerges tomorrow. Upon the matter of the origins of ‘Bluetooth’, Erik writes:
I just wanted to point out that the Blue in Harald Blåtand is nothing at all to do with blueberries. In the ancient Nordic dialects of the Germanic language there was no specific word for ‘black’, and in fact all dark colours were referred to as ‘blue’. King Harald had a black tooth which was presumably dead. I leave to you to guess what his breath was like.
While we’re imagining smells, let’s hear from Lisa:
So… Juliet’s balcony… I can in fact tell you something rather interesting. I went to Stratford-upon-Avon Grammar School for Girls (yes, as in Stratford-upon-Avon, the very home of William Shakespeare) and our school was located in a very very old manor house.
In this very very old manor house, the dear bard himself was betrothed in the chapel (which was my Geography room). Even better? ‘The balcony on the outside of the manor is the very balcony that inspired Shakespeare to write the famous balcony scene from Romeo and Juilet.’ Google that shizz if you don’t believe me.
But trust me, this is not as cool as it sounds. Our school grounds were always invaded by Japanese and American tourists who wanted to visit.
That still sounds cooler than my school, but sluicing time on the bowel ward sounds cooler than my school.
Tags:blue, Bluetooth, colours, etymology, Juliet, Juliet's balcony, Romeo and Juliet, tech, Verona, William Shakespeare
Posted in User-generated answers | 1 Comment »
July 9, 2015
Summon up all your capacity for doomed adolescent romance, lean over the parapet and cry, “Wherefore art thou, Answer Me This! Episode 318?” In which we discuss:
the oldest pub in Britain
Juliet’s balcony
Juliet’s boob
Cornish pasties vs calzones
Noel Edmonds on Twitter vs Noel Edmonds’s mullet on Twitter
ye vs þe
Cinderella dresses
chat show drinks
alcohol’s evolution
the Skirrid Mountain Inn
the Matrix phone
The Snip
Sally Jessy Raphael
and
King Bluetooth.
Plus: as a result of today’s questioneer, Olly has cancelled his vasectomy; Helen has no time for ‘ye olde’; and Martin the Sound Man is keeping up with the movements of Tiffany, mutually bonded forever by familiarity with Staffordshire.
In today’s Bonus Bit of Crap on the App (available for iThings, Android and Windows devices) we continue to consider Bluetooth, and wonder when our connected household appliances will start embarrassing us on social media. Oh, they already have? Shurrup, kettle, or you’re going in the bin.
Don’t put your questions in the bin; send them to us. Leave voicemails on the Question Line – call 0208 123 5877 or Skype ID answermethis – and send emails to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com. And join the virtual cuddle-party at facebook.com/answermethis and twitter.com/HelenAndOlly.
if you want to try the early ‘experimental’ phase of AMT, our vintage episodes are available on iTunes, Amazon, and our very own corporate megagiant operation answermethisstore.com, built using today’s sponsor Squarespace.com. Try them out – there’s a free two-week trial, then you can have 10% off their website-building and -hosting services for a year if you use the code ‘ANSWER‘. So do!
We’ll return on 23rd July 2015 with AMT319. Keep polishing your boobs till then.
Helen & Olly
••• AMT318 Child-Friendly Rating: 55%. A few swears. At the end, there is question about vasectomies; if your child hears it, it could necessitate you having The Chat: either the ‘how babies are made’ one, or the ‘Daddy, do you actually wish you’d prevented me from being born?’ one. •••
Tags:Abergavenny, alcohol, Arnold Schwarzenegger, baked goods, behind the scenes, beverages, blue, Bluetooth, calzones, Capulets, celebrities, Cinderella, contraception, Cornish pasties, costumes, daytime TV, Deal or No Deal, Denmark, Disney, Disney Princesses, drinking, drinks, Edward Furlong, Ericsson, etymology, faded celebrities, fairy stories, famous people, fancy dress, fermentation, fertility, genitalia, genitals, Greggs, Greggs the Baker, Hamlet, history, inventions, Italy, Juliet's balcony, liquids, Lorraine Kelly, Matrix phone, medical, Michael Barrymore, Motorola, news, Noel Edmonds, Noel's House Party, nooses, Nottingham, pasties, plays, pubs, radio, Romeo and Juliet, Sally Jessy Raphael, Scandinavia, semen, seminal fluid, showbiz magic, Skirrid Mountain Inn, Snow White, social media, sperm, Squarespace, St Albans, strippers, Sweden, technology, telly, Terminator, Terminator Genisys, The Merchant of Venice, theatre, Tiffany, tourist attractions, tourists, TV, Twitter, vas deferens, vasectomy, Verona, voiceover, William Shakespeare, Winchester, ye, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks
Posted in PODCASTS | 3 Comments »
July 14, 2011
We, you, and everyone else in the world with functioning ears should be celebrating following the joyful news this week that the Black Eyed Peas are cancelling their subscription to What Sample? magazine, hanging up whatever contraption it is that makes their oeuvre so appealing to people who enjoy shit parties, and taking an indefinite leave of absence from generating that infernal racket.
Yes.
But if, for some reason, you start to miss the sound of puerile nonsense, simply fire up Answer Me This! Episode 183:
This classic episode is available to BUY NOW for just 79p at the Answer Me This! Store, through a secure server, without DRM restriction. CLICK HERE to find out more and support our podcast. (This helps keep our most recent episodes free)
No booms, pows or lumps, we promise; just conversation upon the following:
Christmas in July
BBC1’s Coast
Shakespeare in Love
Queen Middleton’s off games excuse
sample groups
substitute swears
baseball
Caroline Quentin
Annabel Chong
Anna Paquin
Neal Street
Canadian cricket
verticals
and
Danny Baker’s Dozen.
Plus: had he not been thwarted by the onset of puberty, THIS could have been Olly; Helen gives Tesco some much-needed advice to raise their game or lose their festive glove market share; and Martin the Sound Man blackmails petrol stations with his bowel movements. Concede to his demands, or face the direst consequences on the forecourt.
This week’s Bonus Bit of Crap on the App (available on iPhone and iPad, or Android) is a question from Simon from Beddington, who has one problematic nipple. But which one? You have a 50% chance of guessing it correctly!
You have a 100% chance of sending us a QUESTION if you properly employ the usual means, which are leaving voicemails on the Question Line (dial 0208 123 5877 or find answermethis on Skype) or emailing to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com. Our new intern Apl.de.Ap looks forward to sifting through them all.
See you next week!
Helen & Olly
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Tags:acting, actors, advertising, Andy Zaltzman, Anna Paquin, auditions, baseball, BBC, BBC1, BBC3, Ben Folds, booty calls, Brad Pitt, Britain, British coastline, British Empire, Bruce Willis, business, business-speak, Canada, casting, celebrisex, celebrities, Charlie Boorman, child stardom, Christmas, cinema, cinema food, Cineworld, clothes, coast, coastal, comparative coastlines, cosmetics, cricket, Eddie Izzard, etymology, euphemisms, Ewan McGregor, excuses, fashion, festive fashion, fiddlesticks, food, former colonies, Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry, homosexuality, hotties, idols, incredible journeys, infidelity, jargon, jumpers, Kate Middleton, knitwear, lame excuses, language, lavatories, loo, make-up, markets, marriage, medical research, movies, Mystic Meg, News of the World, Norfolk, Odeon, Ordnance Survey, petrol stations, pity sex, popcorn, poppycock, Post Office, Prince William, public conveniences, public toilets, pulling, Queen Middleton, research, sample groups, Sarah Lund, sartoria, saucepans, sex, sex with celebrities, Shakespeare in Love, sport, Stephen Fry, Stewart Lee, swearing, telephone numbers, telly, Tesco, The Killing, The Piano, toilet, True Blood, tubbers, TV, urine, verticals, violin, Vue, WC, William Shakespeare, Wills'n'Kate, Wizard of Oz, Woody Allen, World Cup, X Men, Xmas
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