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Fedora the Explorer · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
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  Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
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  Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
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  Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's fair to say that just about everyone
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  Speaker 1: loves a good adventure story. The risks, the thrills, and
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  Speaker 1: the satisfying conclusions are always the perfect recipe for a
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  Speaker 1: good time, and few adventure formats are as powerful as
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  Speaker 1: a good old fashioned treasure hunt movie. Maybe you're a
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  Speaker 1: fan of the National Treasure films and they're deep dive
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  Speaker 1: into the mysteries of the early days of the United States.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps you grew up on Goonies and their amazing journey
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  Speaker 1: through an underground passageway full of traps and clues and
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  Speaker 1: devilishly difficult puzzles. The list could go on and on,
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  Speaker 1: and most of us would probably nod and smile as
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  Speaker 1: we remember each amazing film. But it's hard to beat
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  Speaker 1: the icon, isn't it So? Unless you're driving or using
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  Speaker 1: a dangerous tool right now, I want you to close
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  Speaker 1: your eyes and imagine a certain world and cast of
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  Speaker 1: characters with me. It's a story set in a once
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  Speaker 1: glorious land that has become lost to time, taking far
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  Speaker 1: too many secrets and treasures with it. It's exotic and
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  Speaker 1: beautiful and full of danger. At the center of the
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  Speaker 1: story is our adventurer, a man who has left his
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  Speaker 1: day job behind for a while in order to find
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  Speaker 1: an item of particular importance. There's the now obligatory female
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  Speaker 1: companion and love interest. Naturally, there's also a bad guy,
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  Speaker 1: because what adventure movie would be complete without one, right,
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  Speaker 1: And then, of course there's the treasure, an object of
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  Speaker 1: immense beauty, crafted of gold by ancient artisans. It has
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  Speaker 1: monetary value, for sure, but that's not what our adventurer
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  Speaker 1: sees in it. No, it has priceless cultural value, and
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  Speaker 1: that's the true prize. This object doesn't belong in the
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  Speaker 1: hands of some rich evildoer. No, it belongs in a
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  Speaker 1: museum or some other place where it can be appreciated
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  Speaker 1: for what it truly is. In one memorable scene in
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  Speaker 1: this movie, our handsome, rugged adventurer is inside an ancient structure,
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  Speaker 1: a temple or a tomb of some kind and has
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  Speaker 1: just taken possession of his prize when his assistant betrays
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  Speaker 1: him and takes it away. You know what I'm talking about, right,
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  Speaker 1: Because betrayal is another one of those key ingredients to
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  Speaker 1: a great adventure movie, and our hero has to work
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  Speaker 1: hard to get that treasure back. And of course, who
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  Speaker 1: could forget the scene where our hero is inside that
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  Speaker 1: chamber all by himself and has to use a beam
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  Speaker 1: of light to pinpoint the exact location of the treasure.
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  Speaker 1: It's tense and brilliant in its simplicity. I love it,
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  Speaker 1: and at the end of the day, we just love
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  Speaker 1: the hero, right, his chiseled good looks, that stubble on
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  Speaker 1: his chin, his tan pants, leather jacket and trademark Fedora hat.
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  Speaker 1: Sure he's got a revolver tucked into his belt, but
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  Speaker 1: that's not getting used all the time. No, he prefers
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  Speaker 1: to punch his way through trouble and use his ingenuity instead.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, adventure films have moved on since then, all
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  Speaker 1: those years ago. Today they're so full of massive CGI
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  Speaker 1: components and big explosions. They usually involve billionaire bad guys
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  Speaker 1: or riddles wrapped in art history symbolism. But there's no
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  Speaker 1: beating a classic, is there That old adventure story starring
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  Speaker 1: our beloved hero called The Secret of the Incas? Wait?
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  Speaker 1: Was that not what you were expecting. It's a real
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  Speaker 1: movie starring a real hunk of a Hollywood a lister,
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  Speaker 1: Charlton Heston pulled on that leather jacket and Fedora for
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  Speaker 1: the Secret of the Inca's way back in nineteen fifty four.
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  Speaker 1: And all those scenes that I described for you are
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  Speaker 1: straight from that movie. Of course, his character is called Harry,
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  Speaker 1: not Henry, he doesn't carry a whip, there are no Nazis,
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  Speaker 1: and it's set in Machu Pichu instead of Egypt. But
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  Speaker 1: it's Indiana Jones through and through nonetheless, Why Because when
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  Speaker 1: Raiders of the Lost Dark was in pre production, many
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  Speaker 1: of the crew watched Secret of the Incas multiple times
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  Speaker 1: for inspiration. Legendary Hollywood costume designer Deborah Nadulman Landis, who
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  Speaker 1: created Indiana Jones' trademark outfit, drew inspiration from that film,
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  Speaker 1: and even more elements found themselves into the writing and
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  Speaker 1: the filming decisions. Don't call it a ripoff, though, think
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  Speaker 1: of it more as an homage, a callback to an
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  Speaker 1: adventure film from three decades earlier that inspired a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of people so deeply that they had to make their
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  Speaker 1: own and frankly, I'm glad they did. I don't think
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  Speaker 1: my childhood or Hollywood itself would have been filled with
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  Speaker 1: such joy and fun without Indiana Jones, the fictional embodiment
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  Speaker 1: of curiosity. William Pennybrooks was a small town boy with
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  Speaker 1: a big vision. Born in the town of much Wenlock,
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  Speaker 1: a small town in Shropshire, England, his father was a
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  Speaker 1: well regarded local physician. As William grew up, he was
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  Speaker 1: inspired to follow the same path, and so when he
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  Speaker 1: came of age, he left home to study medicine in London,
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  Speaker 1: before leaving the country with his brother John to further
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  Speaker 1: their studies at the University of Padua. He was in
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  Speaker 1: Paris in eighteen thirty when he learned that his father
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  Speaker 1: had died, and so returned home for good the next year.
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  Speaker 1: Taking over his father's medical practice, Brooks provided affordable care
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  Speaker 1: to the rural poor, often treating patients free of charge.
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  Speaker 1: He was also a fierce advocate for common sense modern
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  Speaker 1: medical standards like clean drinking water, better conditions for factory workers,
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  Speaker 1: and vaccinations. His bedside manner and willingness to travel long
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  Speaker 1: distances earned him deep respect among farmers, laborers, and the
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  Speaker 1: emerging industrial workforce. A fierce advocate for the well being
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  Speaker 1: of the poor, Brooks believed that physical fitness and structured
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  Speaker 1: learning should be available to all. In eighteen forty one,
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  Speaker 1: he founded the Agricultural Reading Society, Convinced that having access
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  Speaker 1: to free learning would help lift people out of poverty.
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  Speaker 1: He wrote to numerous wealthy individuals for funding, and his
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  Speaker 1: pursuit was rewarded richly in donations of books and enough
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  Speaker 1: money to keep the society running. It provided the community
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  Speaker 1: with a lending library and offered classes in arts, botany,
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  Speaker 1: and music training, among many others. To further his passion
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  Speaker 1: for physical fitness for all, he founded a sporting competition
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  Speaker 1: inspired by the ancients Olympic Games. The first Wenlock Olympics
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  Speaker 1: were held in eighteen fifty and featured numerous sports like running, jumping, throwing, wrestling, cycling, gymnastics,
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  Speaker 1: and rifle shooting. The games also included pageantry, with a
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  Speaker 1: parade of competitors and organizers, complete with bands and flag bears,
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  Speaker 1: which would march through town to the event. Spaces. They
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  Speaker 1: were open to people of all ages and social classes,
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  Speaker 1: a radical concept for Victorian England, whose caste system rigidly
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  Speaker 1: separated the haves and the have nots. Over the coming years,
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  Speaker 1: the Wenlock Games expanded and grew in popularity, with competitors
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  Speaker 1: coming from all over England to compete, and as it grew,
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  Speaker 1: Brooks started corresponding with other fitness reformers across Europe, inviting
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  Speaker 1: athletes from all over to attend. Although numbers remained modest,
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  Speaker 1: the idea of an international competition was seated, and it
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  Speaker 1: was through these letters that Brooks first came upon Baron
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  Speaker 1: Pierre deck Kuberton, who arrived to experience the Games in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen ninety. The Baron was deeply impressed by the event,
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  Speaker 1: as well as by Brooks himself. In subsequent years, the
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  Speaker 1: Frenchman would write of him, mister Brooks has shown that
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  Speaker 1: the Olympic ideal can live again in the modern world.
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  Speaker 1: Following the Games, the men met to feverishly discuss the
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  Speaker 1: role of sporting in nation building and the need for
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  Speaker 1: a universal periodic competition to inspire the mass to take
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  Speaker 1: up physical fitness. In the following years, they would correspond regularly.
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  Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety four, De Kubertan formed the International Olympic
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  Speaker 1: Committee for the purpose of planning and executing the very
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  Speaker 1: first Modern Olympic Games, which were to be held in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen ninety six and were largely patterned after Wenlock's Games.
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  Speaker 1: Athletes would come from all over the world to compete. Tragically,
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  Speaker 1: though Brooks would not live to see his dream made real.
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  Speaker 1: He passed away in December of eighteen ninety five, peacefully
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  Speaker 1: in his home, mere months before the very first modern
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  Speaker 1: Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece, where the ancient
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  Speaker 1: Games had been held in the past. Brooks was buried
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  Speaker 1: in the churchyard at Holy Trinity in Much Wenlock, where
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  Speaker 1: he had spent his life dedicated to the betterment of all.
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  Speaker 1: A Wenlock Olympian Society that he founded still operates today
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  Speaker 1: organizing the Wenlock Olympic Games. Decuberton made sure to give
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  Speaker 1: Brooks his due posthumously, telling the world that the Olympic
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  Speaker 1: Games would not be alive today if an hadn't been
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  Speaker 1: for doctor William Penny Brooks. He was further memorialized in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six for the one hundredth anniversary of the
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  Speaker 1: modern Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Although Brooks died just
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  Speaker 1: months before the inaugural Games, his belief that physical fitness
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  Speaker 1: and free learning should belong to everyone lived on in
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  Speaker 1: every stadium and at each podium. The Wenlock Games continue
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  Speaker 1: to this day, and the International Olympic Flame still burns
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  Speaker 1: and enduring testament to the power of a small town
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  Speaker 1: dream that help shaped our history. I hope you've enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for
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  Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show
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  Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created
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  Speaker 1: by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works.
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  Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is
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  Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can
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  Speaker 1: learn all about it over at Theworldoflore dot com. And
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  Speaker 1: until next time, stay curious.