Ernest Shackleton & Walt Whitman

electric pink. And my coat is electric blue because, like our other famous figure, pioneering American poet Walt Whitman, I wanted to sing the body electric. That's a famous line from one of his poems. Yes, two great figures from history who are inspired by nature in totally different ways. Raspberries. I seem to be allergic to this electric vegan for so now that I can't wear the fur, can we please turn the A C off? Oh, don't worry. I have a backup plan that will keep you warm and

make you feel electric. Here. Just grab this for okay, and let's head over to this light socket over here. Oh no, I know where this is going. Eric, please play the theme song. Here go. What do you think you know about the rates from this story? The game is on. To get some energy and buckle up your brain because it's time to play the worst podcast. Because it's time to play book Who Live from Tonga Land or so called So Cow Los Angeles? Welcome to Who Was?

The history quish show that gives contestants the chance to win mega prizes and podcast glory. I'm your announcer, b and I promise I'm not gonna drone on for too long. And here's your host, the man Who's insurance has Insurance. It's Elliot Kalin. Thank you be you can never be too careful. It's and welcome everyone to the Who Was? Podcast. This show it's like Jeopardy, only the surprise guests, silly games, and hot towels for everyone. Book Our contestants were sent

Who Was books about two great figures from history. Now they're here to show off their knowledge in the hope subwating fantastic prizes. Today we're learning about the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton and the poet Walt Whitman. Too pioneering spirits who drew inspiration from the natural world in very different ways. But before we meet them, let's meet our contestants. First up, we've got Ava, Ava, Please introduce yourself. Hi, my name's Ava. I'm ten years old in a mesqui jumper. You're a

ski jumper. Oh my goodness. Now, how do you train for that? When there's not snow on the ground. You can actually ski jump in the summer. You ski jump up on fast state grass. Okay, so it's just some thangular chump. I'll say any kind of ski jumping is difficult. I tried it once. I strapped skis to my feet and I tried jumping, and it's very hard. My skis kept getting tangled and I kept falling over and it

was just difficult. It's hard enough to do a regular jump, let al m to jump of skis on your feet. So I'm very used. Yeah. Yeah, And Elliott, you were on a trampoline with your skis right because you wanted to get an even more air yeah for a maximum jump itch. Yeah. Yeah, it made it very difficult. A lot a lot of luck up, broken skis, bones. Kids, don't try it. Don't try Leave the ski jumping to the professionals. That's right. Well, thank you so much, Ava,

and with us today we also have Lily. Lily, please introduce yourself. Hi, my name is Lily, and UM, me and my family foster kittens. You foster kittens. That's so amazing. Are you currently fostering kittens right now? Um? We actually just gave them back a couple of days ago. Okay, what were the kittens names? And um, every time that you get new foster kittens, do you get to name them? No,

they already come with names. They're normally named with sets of things like bugs or um flowers or condiments or something like these kittens named after condiments like a kitten name mustard, and a kitten named salt and ketchup, and a kitten named a huge handful of butter just a handful of bud. Don't judge me. That's a that can be a condiment. I like that all right. Well, thank you both so much for being here today. Thank you so much for joining us, and thank you to Eric,

our musician, providing that lovely meet the contestants music. So that's who is now let's find out who was. Walt Whitman with four fast facts. Walt Whitman was born in eighteen nineteen and died in eighteen ninety two and lived mostly in Brooklyn, New York. Wal Whitman was an important poet who was one of the early adopters of free verse. Walt Whitman has been celebrated as an l G B. T q I A plus icon based on the themes

and subjects in his writing. He helped an estimated eighty thou and wounded Union soldiers during the Civil War by visiting them and bringing them small gifts or helping them write letters to their families. Now today is very special because not only did Lilian Ever read the who was Walt witt In book, we also asked them to read a poem of all woman's and give us their thoughts about it. The poem is entitled I dreamed in a dream, and our contestants are going to read it for us

right now. I dreamed in a dream. I saw a city invincefult the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth. I dreamed that was the new city of Friends. Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love. It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, and in all their looks and words. It's funny because poems are made of words, but it can be hard to put their meaning into words sometimes. And does this feel like to you? Is it wish? Is it a prophecy? Is it a fantasy?

Is it? Is it a curse? A curse? Is something he's seen or fears or yearns for. What do you think? What do you what do you get from this film? In that way? He liked range. I guess that's true. He does say I dreamed in a dream in the beginning. Okay, good point, good point you picked up on. We would call that the internal evidence of the poem. Do you think this was a good dream or a nightmare? This dream of a city of friends where love was felt everywhere?

Good one? Yeah, yeah, probably a good dream, Probably a good dream. He doesn't say anything in it about like a monster coming in or he looks down and he's just in his underpants. That that would make it more of a nademare That would definitely made more of a nightmare.

So now, Lily, I heard that you were going to change them a couple of word or a word in here, and instead of saying it was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, and you had some different thoughts about that, right, you thought I should read it a little bit differently. Um, My thought

instead of men, it should be people. So it feels like to me when I heard that you had thought about that, I was like, oh the least totally right about this because in this poem, I think when Walt Woman says men of that city, I think he's using like the royal men as if to refer to everyone, right, men, women, children, uh,

everyone who lived in the city, foster kittens, foster kittens. Well, thank you both so much for taking the time to read that poemb and to put some good thought into it, and um for sharing your amazing talents with the Who Was Podcast and being our poetry readers. We really appreciate it. Let's get to it. It's our first game. It's called true or false false false false? Or is a true? It is a true that it was false it was true? Or true true poor false. There's no poetic metaphor here.

It's exactly what it sounds like for this game. Be will read a statement. If you will, then let us know if that statement is true or suspense suspense suspense? What could it be faulse false? That's right, Ava, you were up first, take it away. Being Walt was the valedictorian of his class and gave a graduation speech at his high school that was not surprisingly. I think that's false. You're exactly right. That is false. Walt's family struggled to make ends meet, so we dropped up school at age

eleven and started apprenticing for a group of lawyers. One lawyer got him a library card, where Walt discovered novels and poetry. Whalt read as much as he could, and he felt this was the most important thing that had ever happened to him. While we hear it, who was do not condone dropping out of school at eleven. Stay in school, kids. We do encourage getting a library card. It's free books, people, There's nothing better than that. Okay, the next question is for it lily true or false.

Walt's first job, running a newspaper, showed up all of his talents, from writing to editing and printing to horseback writing. While he made newspaper delivery. I think that's true. You're right, that's true. His work as a printing a print us learning the way newspapers used to be made on a printing press. Taught the young poet as much about writing as it did printing. Unfortunately, the first paper he was

in charge of, The Long Islander, was appropriately named. People waited a long time between publications because Walt just put out issues whenever he felt like. It wasn't a daily, it wasn't a weekly. It was a win. Ever, Lee, the owners of the paper fired him. But pretty impressive. He was able to learn so much about good rating by just being around a printing press. Okay eva, This

next question is for you true or false. Walt Whitman called his style of writing free verse because he felt weird about charging people to buy his books, and he just gave them away. Uh. I think you're right. That's false. They do have a place that books are given away, that's a library, but that's not what this was about. As a library. Go to your library. It's great. It was called free verse because it was free of a traditional structure. Free verse has no rhyme, scheme, no word count.

Each poem just exists its own thing. Man leading thinker of the time, Ralph Waldo Emerson, had put out the challenge for someone to create a new American style of poetry that wasn't just a copy of what the European poets were doing, and Walt Whitman was the first American poet to do this. It was pretty radical for the time. And speaking of a radical, Lily, this laxt question is for you and your radical Walt didn't limit himself to

writing poetry. He also wrote a novel, newspaper articles, and he wrote positive reviews of his own book when everyone else was writing bad reviews of it. Is that true or fault true? That's right, it's true. Most people know Walt wrote newspaper articles in the novel that they may be shocked to learn that he anonymously wrote good reviews of his first book of poetry. But even those positive reviews and the praise of Ralph Waldo Emerson didn't really

help the book sell many copies. Walt believed in his own work, though, and kept writing, and today is still considered one of America's greatest poets. So I guess all those positive book reviews he wrote well deceitful and we would never recommend you doing it were correct, and he was right to do. And that's the end of the game. True true, true, true, powful and now let's hear some of the most beautiful stands of poetry. To my ears producer Jane telling us the scores. Billy, it didn't be.

I've got to tell you that what we have here is a tie two point each. Thank you, Jane. I'll keep us saying. There's lots more game and your presence we hope to retain after this short reframe. Well, well, well, Elliott, Walt Whitman's work was all about not rhyming. What are you doing. I'm getting into this freethinking spirit and breaking the mold by bringing the molds back, and now I'm thinking about molds. Gross, Eric, play us out with some

Brooklyn music. Please, I'm walking here. Welcome back to the Who Was Podcast. When we last left off, Eva had two points and Lily had two points. And now fact to your host, Elliot Galin thank you be. In the last round, we learned all about Walt Whitman, and so now we must venture forth and learn about our other famous figure. For today, Sir Ernest Shackleton with four fast

facts Prospects. Sir Ernest Shackleton was born in eighteen seventy four and died in nineteen twenty two, Ernest Shackleton led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was knighted by King Edward the Seventh for the farthest Antarctic exploration and for climbing Mount Erebus, an active and Arctic volcano. One of his ships, the Endurance, was trapped by pack ice in nineteen fourteen, and its remains weren't discovered until two that's one hundred and eight years later. Look it up.

It's awesome prospects, Lily, Ava, If you could explore anywhere, where would you explore? Because Shackleton was very focused on the Antarctic. He was all about ice. He was all about that ice ice baby. So I'm wondering if you had a chance and an opportunity to explore anywhere, where would it be, Lily. I would go to England. You go to England and explore England? Okay, yeah, what about

England really calls to you? Um? I love English accents, So so each time you hear someone speaking in English accidents, like they're saying, come and explore in England's cool. I

love that? And Eva, what about you? I don't. I don't know where I would explore I think that if I were to explore anywhere, if I physically could, because I'm so scared of this, I would explore the deepest parts of the ocean because more people have been into space than have gone so far into the ocean, and I'm just I'm terrified as to what we might find

down there. It just feels like such an unknown. I totally get that, because similarly, I would like to explore in the back of my refrigerator, because it's like the front stuff, the things in the front, they make it hard to see what's in the back, and who knows what's back there. I don't know even know if my lifetime is gonna in my lifetime, if we're gonna end up back there or not. There's just so much hidden there,

and I don't know what. Every now and then I hear something or smell something, and I'm like, what wonders, What untold things are yet to be discovered in the back of this refrigerator. Yeah, and I mean, now, for the for the second time on this show, Elliott, I'm thinking about mold. Oh no, mold, dude, gross. Well, thank you for all that. I think. I hope everyone, I hope uh Lily, you get to explore England. That eva

you find a place. Who want to explore? Be? Maybe you want to go to the bottom of the sea. And I hope everyone's knighted for all of your explirations except for you Be. I think the power would probably go to your head. Absolutely. So let's move on to our next game, which I hope has nothing in it about mold. It's called Backpack from the Past from the Best I'm a backpack into in some of Ernest Shacklin's personal objects. B and I are going to describe those

objects for a contestants and the listeners at home. Contestants, you tell us what part of his life the object is. From listeners at home, you can also tell us what we won't hear you. We recorded this already and you're talking to your headphones. And because this is our second round, each question is worth two points. Lily, you're up first. Oh wow, it's a large wooden log. Why would this

be significant enough to include an Ernest Shackleton's backpack. Is it a the log he used to stand on at his farm and pretend he was on a ship, or b it's his lucky log that he drew eyes on and treated like a friend when he was stranded after a shipwreck. Um A, yes, the answer is a Ernest. Shackleton was British but raised in Ireland. He came from a big family, but knew even as a young boy that he wanted to be out on the high seas,

exploring and looking for adventure. He left school at the age of sixteen to be an apprentice on a ship and worked his way up through the Thanks alright, this next item is for Eva. WHOA, it's a hot air balloon. Wow, this is one big backpack. Why is this in our backpack from the past? Is it because a Ernest took some of the first aerial photographs of the Antarctic in this hot air balloon? Or be he once tried to

reach the South Pole in a hot air balloon. I'm pretty sure that's you are pretty sure and you're right. The answer is a earnest. First trip to the Antarctic was in nineteen hundred of the English naval officer Robert Falcon Scott on the ship Discovery Good Name. It was on this trip that Shackleton took some of the first aerial photographs of Antarctica. Discovery didn't reach the South Pole, and Shackleton and Scott became bitter rivals, raising each other

to be the first to reach the South Pole. Twist, neither of them were the first. A Norwegian expedition led by Roald Ammonson was the first to get there. Okay, the next object is for Lily. Let's see what's in this backpack. It's a pair of free book be Are you using the backpack from the past as your personal backpack? We told you not to do that. Okay, No, those definitely belonged to Ernest. They are not vegan for Okay, Lily, Are they there because a Ernest gave up exploring for

a few years and became a fashion designer? Or b These boots are made from reindeer skin and Arctic explorers used to keep warm. B That's right. The answer is be. These boots were made for walking in snow. Let joke about a song. Well, today explorers have space age technology to keep them warm. Explorers of Shackleton's time relied on fur sealskin canvas, and woolf to keep them from freezing. They wore glass goggles in the icy wind and camped in tense and small huts. Made of quirk and felt.

I get cold just thinking about it. Okay, the last question is for Ava. Oh my goodness, it's a hello, still away, rude. I have a name. It's Percy Blackborrow. Okay, can you tell us why this Percy Blackborough fellow would be hiding in our backpack from the past? Is it that A he was the stowaway on Shackleton's ship Endurance or B. Tickets to a live taping of the Huah's podcast are super hard to get. I think that's a.

You're correct. The answer is A. I was a stowaway on Shackleton's ship Endurance, and once I was discovered, I took a job helping out the ship's cook. It was an adventure of a lifetime. Were stuck on the ice for ten months, but Shackleton kept us all in good spirits. I got to see penguins, seals, and the Southern Lights. I was stranded on Elephant Island and lost my foot to frostbite. WHOA, you've lost your foot to frostbite. Ah, that's the price of adventure. That's enough out of you, Percy.

Now back in the backpack, Hey, is that a walrus over there? A Walris Geraldine, do you have a plate today? Oh, he's just distracting me so he can run away. Scotto, I'm out of here. Oh great, Now there's a stowaway. Loosen the studio get I hate it when that happens, and I hate that. That was the end of the game from the best. Now let's check with producer Jane to see how our contestants are stilling away these points. B and Elliott. I'm not to blame, but Ava and

Lily's scores are the same. Yes, it's a poem, six points each. Oh my goodness. Wow, Well that is fantastic, and what a great game between these two adventurous contestants. They are adventurous and I should know Ernest, Yes, indeed, and I came hea via the who was app Who was that you want to read somewhere in the past. Thank goodness you're here. We have a of a stowaway problem, and we would love your You mean, Percy, Percy, you're rapscallion.

Oh captain, my captain, good to see your lad. Hey, did you know you just quoted a poem by our other famous figure today, Walter Whitman. Yeah, of course he knows that he may be a stowaway, but he's no philistine. And I've come here today with a task of a somewhat poetic nature. I've got a new ship, and I need a good name, Prick. My other ships had great names, the Aurora, the Endurance, and of course Nimrod. Day, you're laughing again, No, you laughed when I said nim rocks.

There's just again you're laughing. No, sorry, it was something from before, all right. Well as for the nim Rocks, he still laughing at me. It means someone who is a great hunter. Sorry, but that's not what that word really means anymore. If you called someone that word today, it would not be a compliment. I would take this as a compliment if you called me a nimrods them

start all right, all right, that's enough, sir. Ernest Shackleton traveled through time to come and meet you, and all you can do is laugh at him, Elliott, I expected this from you, But be how juvenile? Okay? Sorry, but today nimrod means not smart, a dim wit, a goose, a buffoon, a chowder ahead, a fool. Okay, okay, I think we get the picture. And why did you get all those examples, are you carrying a dictionary around with you or something? Sort of? We just googled other words

for nimrod. Wait what was that word you just said? Googled? Yes? Yes, what does that word mean? Google? It's kind of hard to explain, but it's when you put a bunch of search terms into Yahoo dot com to find the answer to your question. What a beautiful word? I love it? And if you called someone a Google, that wouldn't be an insult. Not exactly excellent. I can't wait for all the adventures I'm about to have on the Google. That's funny. That's what I say most mornings. Not a moment to

lose it. Thank you for helping me name my new ship? And thanks again? Who was happily? Who? Well? That was interesting? It shure was Percy. You're still here, yep? And while I'm here, I may as well make myself useful and don't go anywhere? Who was? As the is one more game left to go, We'll be back after this short break. Eric play us some endurance music please see it's my job to ask Eric to play music. Eric, can you play some in germs music? Please? Okay? How long can

this bit go? Sally, who was there? Sim Marie Curie. You may remember me from winning multiple Nobel prizes, or perhaps from my episode of the Who Worst Podcast where I played myself. I wanted to take a moment to read one of my favorite reviews about the Who Was Podcast. This is from Shaken Bay and it reads loved this Me and my little sister love this show more. Please.

Our faith is Riet Toman. If you want to hear your review right on the air, make sure to subscribe, like and reviewed to the Worst Podcasts in the I Heart Radio up or wherever you give your podcasts revoir or should I stay Abbien do? Welcome back to the Who Was Podcast. I'm a scowaway, Percy Blackborow and I've escaped from the backpack from the past. Now back to your host, Elliott Kaylin. Thank you, Percy, though it's kind

of weird to have you announced the show. Well, be is sitting right there eating a burrito during great for a seat, passa sausa? Okay, and now for our last game, Converge of Greatness. In this multiple choice game, we'll explore how our famous figures connect, overlap, or converge. Choose the best answer for each question be asked to, and because this is the third game, each question as worth three huge points. Ava Europe. First taken Away, Percy. Both Ernest

and Walt lived through big wars. For Walt it was the American Civil War, but Ernest Shackleton was about to set sail on the Endurance on the eve of World War One when he offered to postpone the trip so that his crew could serve in the British Army. What phrase did the King give him in response granting him permission to go on with the trip as planned? A proceed, B miss me with that or see no worries. I think it was proceed. You're right the answers a proceed.

The King felt it was more important for the crew to go ahead with the trip the interns would eventually be trapped. When he could no longer make it through the icy waters before it sank, The crew set up camp on the frozen sea, where they ended up living for months, but amazingly, all of the crew members survived. The next question is for Lily take it Away, Percy.

When Walt Whitman wrote, oh Captain, my captain, he wasn't talking about Ernest Shackleton even though Ernest was a sea captain, who was Walt Whitman talking about a captain kangaroo B Abraham Lincoln or Captain Jack B. That's right, The answer is B. What Whitman was devastated when President Lincoln was assassinated in eighteen sixty five. He shared Lincoln's vision for

in America without slavery and a unified country. Another one of Whitman's famous poems, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed, is also about the death of Abraham Lincoln and later in life Whitman toward giving lectures about the president. Yes, Whitman was an Abraham stand Next question is for ava. Both Shackleton and Whitman are buried in places that have deep significance. For that, Whitman is buried in his beloved city of Camden, New Jersey, where there's even a bridge

named after him. And Shackleton's final resting place is this island A, the Isle of Manhattan, B South Georgia Island or C the I'll see you later. Ah, I think that's right. The answer is B or. Ernest was setting off on yet another adventure after the endurance trip in nineteen twenty one. He suffered a heart attack early on in the trip, then recovered in Brazil. The ships at sail again. For Ernest died from a heart attack at

a whaling station at South Georgia Island. Soon after. His wife Emily decided he should be buried there because quote, he would want to remain in those cold southern lands he had loved so much, how beautiful. Next and final question is for Lily. Final question, here we go. Both Walt and Ernest kept returning to our particular subject over

and over again in their lives. For Ernest this was a geographical location, the Antarctic, but for Whitman, it was a book of poems that he kept returning to and rewrote many times. Was the name of that book? A Leaves of Grass B Poetry for Dummies or ce Hamlet A that's right, the answers. A Leaves of Breast had six editions or publications between eighteen fifty five and eighteen

eighty two. It contained two hundred and ninety three poems that Walt kept revisings throughout his career, like some kind of poetical George Lucas. In two the City of Boston said they would ban it if Walt didn't make some changes to his poems. Walt refused to be censored, and Leaves of Grass was pulled from bookstore shelves in Boston, but that scandal helped sales of the book in Philadelphia,

where it's sold over six thousand copies. Whitman more like win Man because he won that battle and that's the end of the round. The end of that game means it's just about the end of the show. While Jane Tally is up the final scores, I would love to hear from the contestants. What was something you were surprised to learn about Ernest Shackleton or Walt Whitman. Ava what surprised you but either of our famous figures that Ernest Shampo Finch sunk his ship in ice. Yeah, and it's

interesting he used such a beloved figure. Uh, but you know, you don't think of someone who's like, oh, I kind of didn't come my mission and he still got knighted. But the important thing was that everyone on his crew came back um alive and safe, and he wasn't deterred by that. He went on to to do another mission. So that's pretty great. It's like, the most inspiring about Ernest Shackleton is less that he accomplished something great and more that he just kept trying no matter what. Lily,

what about you? What surprised you about Ernics Shackleton or Walt Whitman. Um, I thought that it was really cool that Ernest Shackleton like did plays and took pictures from a parachute while he was still on his missions. That there's more to him than just see Captain King. He had lots and lots of things that he did. He contained multitude, He did contain multitudes. Maybe wal Whitman should been writing about Ernest Shackleton. Yeah, you know what they

should have called his ship, the Walt, the Walt. Yeah, they should have called it the Yeah, the the the S S Walt. That's this is Swalt. Oh yeah, you're right, people, I think it would be called the s Swalt. That's not maybe that's not so great. Well, thank you both for sharing the things that stuck with you about those figures. Now it's time for the big moment. Jane, please announced our winner. May I announced them in the form of

a poem? Yes, please please, Shackleton explored. Whitman wrote poems Lily had twelve points and so did Eva. Oh my gosh, what a beautiful example of free first poetry. Jane, thank you. Yeah, you really set us up for rhymes and then didn't have any because it was still a beautiful poem with a beautiful message, which is that we have a tie on the show today. Amazing. Eva and Lily, you are both winners and you both get ten seconds for shoutouts to thank those who got you to this victory. Lily,

would you go first? Who would you like to shout out to? Um? I'd like to thank my family, the librarians, and my pets. Wonderful, the big three is there known? That's fantastic? And Eva, who would you like to thank my family? My cats? Uh and my daughter? Oh good? All right, we got some love for the dogs there too. Finally, after all this cat talk, it's nice for the dogs

to finally have their day. Our winners and their libraries of choice were receiving a selection of who was books And I'm going to give a shout out of my

own to Intern Zach, Jane Eric and Zach Timpson. He sounds a little bit like intern Zach for being our Percy blackborrow and Chris Ferry for being our Earnest Shackleton, and of course a thank you to be and then the biggest thank you of all to both of our contestants, and then an even bigger biggest thank you of all to you wherever you are for listening, Thanks for hearing these two amazing attestants play an amazing game. Next week, join us again as we find out who Was two

more amazing figures from history. Until then, this is Elliott Leaves of Grasscalin saying We're history. Goodbye. Everybody got a question for any of our famous figures, Send us a voice memo at the Who Was Podcast at gmail dot com. It might just end up on the show. Who Was Podcast is produced by Radio Point, I Heart Media and Penguin Workshop and is based on the best selling who HQ series published by Penguin. This episode was hosted by

Elliott Klin with co host Megan O'Neill as be. It also starred Jane Baker as Producer, Jane, Eric Shackney as Eric, Chris Ferry as Ernest Shackleton, and Zach Timpson as Percy Black Borrow. Executive producers are Richard Corson Alex Bach Elliott Klin, Megan O'Neil, Daniel Powell, and Houston Snyder. Executive producer for Penguin Workshop is Francesco Sadita. Executive producer for iHeart Media is Lindsay Hoffman. This episode was written by Megan O'Neil,

Elliott Calin, and Devin Coleman. It was produced by Bernie Kaminsky and Taylor Kowalski. Our talent producer is Jane Baker. Our theme song and music were composed and performed by Eric Shackney. It was edited and mixed by Kate molden Hower, and it was recorded by Alison Worth. Special thanks are due to Zach Timpson, Charlotte Dienda, and Michael Lewis Howard. Sound services were provided by Great City Posts. Podcast Standard