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Ablaze · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grim & Mild.
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  Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable. And if history
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  Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are
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  Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Train travel has always
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  Speaker 2: carried with it an air of romance and adventure. The
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  Speaker 2: mention recalls stories of Wild West heists and far-flung excursions
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  Speaker 2: into the unknown. But there are few trains that have
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  Speaker 2: captured the imagination of the world quite like the Orient Express.
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  Speaker 2: Since it first departed from Paris' Gare de l'Est on
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  Speaker 2: June 5th of 1883, this legendary railway service has been
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  Speaker 2: synonymous with luxury, intrigue, and perhaps a little touch of murder.
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  Speaker 2: The Orient Express was the brainchild of Belgian engineer and
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  Speaker 2: entrepreneur George Nagelmachers, who had recently visited the United States
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  Speaker 2: and experienced the Pullman sleeping cars firsthand. Impressed by the concept,
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  Speaker 2: Nagelmachers saw the opportunity to bring the concept of luxury
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  Speaker 2: train travel to Europe. And on that October afternoon in 1883,
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  Speaker 2: a crowd of political figures, journalists, and writers gathered to
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  Speaker 2: watch the first train depart Paris for Constantinople. now Istanbul.
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  Speaker 1: The maiden voyage carried 40 passengers, taking them on a
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  Speaker 1: journey across Europe through Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, and Bucharest.
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  Speaker 1: Newspapers dubbed it the Orient Express, although Istanbul was hardly
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  Speaker 1: considered the Orient, even by 1883 standards. But Nagelmachers embraced
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  Speaker 1: the name, seeing the draw in its exoticism. Over the
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  Speaker 1: following decades, the Orient Express earned another nickname, the King
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  Speaker 1: of Trains and the Train of Kings. Its passengers included
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  Speaker 1: an impressive selection of 20th century luminaries from high society
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  Speaker 1: and underworld alike. Kings and thieves, millionaires and refugees, businessmen
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  Speaker 1: and smugglers, all rode its rails, making deals across sumptuous
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  Speaker 1: meals in the dining car. Spies and diplomats rode side
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  Speaker 1: by side, shaping the world as they traveled. The original
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  Speaker 1: route of the Orient Express would operate from 1883 all
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  Speaker 1: the way to 1914 when it was halted with the
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  Speaker 1: start of the First World War, but it continued service
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  Speaker 1: at the war's end in 1919 and was only halted
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  Speaker 1: again for the Second World War. The train operated to
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  Speaker 1: some extent after that, all the way until 2009 when
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  Speaker 1: its services were finally retired. The train's aura of mystery
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  Speaker 1: is inevitably attracted the attention of artists of all stripes.
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  Speaker 1: The most famous literary association, of course, belongs to one
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  Speaker 1: Agatha Christie. You see, in 1929, the Orient Express became
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  Speaker 1: trapped by a blizzard outside of Turkescu in Turkey, and
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  Speaker 1: it remained in place, surrounded by deep snowdrifts, for six days,
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  Speaker 1: marooning all of the people inside and lighting the famed
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  Speaker 1: mystery author's brain alight with what would become her most
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  Speaker 1: successful novel. That 1934 novel was titled Murder on the
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  Speaker 1: Orient Express. Christie drew on her real-life experience and current events,
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  Speaker 1: using the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby
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  Speaker 1: to weave a tale of a kidnapped child, a dangerous fugitive,
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  Speaker 1: and an unlikely murder plot. And in the story, her
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  Speaker 1: iconic detective, Hercule Poirot, boards the train in Syria bound
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  Speaker 1: for London only to find himself investigating the stabbing of
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  Speaker 1: an American passenger and when the train becomes stuck in
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  Speaker 1: a snowdrift. The novel's ingenious resolution made it one of
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  Speaker 1: the most celebrated detective stories ever written, with film and
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  Speaker 1: television adaptations continuing even today. Christie's novel would even make
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  Speaker 1: the Orient Express a household name. And today, that very
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  Speaker 1: name lives on through the Venice-Simplon Orient Express. This service
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  Speaker 1: uses meticulously restored carriages from the 1920s and 30s, many
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  Speaker 1: of which carry remarkable histories of their own. For instance,
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  Speaker 1: Sleeping Car 3309, which was one of the cars famously
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  Speaker 1: marooned on that fateful snowy train ride that Christie herself rode.
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  Speaker 1: These days, though, travelers can book journeys aboard the elite
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  Speaker 1: train with its most popular route running between Paris and Venice. Now,
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  Speaker 1: it'll cost you. Basic rates per individual for the overnight
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  Speaker 1: trip start at around $ 5, 000 per person for a cabin
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  Speaker 1: on one of its cars. And if you want to
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  Speaker 1: take the original route, that's going to cost you even more.
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  Speaker 1: To get from Paris to Istanbul, again, once Constantinople, fares
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  Speaker 1: start at a whopping $ 25, 000 per rider. Unlike its original service,
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  Speaker 1: these prices make the storied train out of reach for
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  Speaker 1: all but the wealthiest patrons. While the original Orient Express
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  Speaker 1: of Nagelmacher's era may be gone, its legacy endures, not
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  Speaker 1: only in the restored original carriages once again crossing Europe,
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  Speaker 1: but in the pages of Christie's fiction and its adaptations,
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  Speaker 1: and also the enduring romantic idea that a train journey
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  Speaker 1: can be more than a matter of getting from one
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  Speaker 1: place to another. It can also be an adventure worthy
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  Speaker 1: of legend. It's one of the most iconic parts of
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  Speaker 1: the Olympic Games, a relay race that takes the flame
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  Speaker 1: across the host country to the city where the Games
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  Speaker 1: will take place. In 1956, that host city was Melbourne
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  Speaker 1: in Australia, and the Torch's route was planned to start
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  Speaker 1: along the eastern coast of Australia, through Sydney and into Melbourne.
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  Speaker 1: It was the first Summer Olympics hosted in the Southern Hemisphere,
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  Speaker 1: and thus it would be held during Australian Summer, which
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  Speaker 1: starts in November. Almost immediately, the torch relay ran into problems.
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  Speaker 1: Torrential rains delayed the runners, and when they weren't stopping
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  Speaker 1: to stay dry, they were slowed by the overwhelming heat
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  Speaker 1: of Australia. Now, the torch was scheduled to reach Sydney
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  Speaker 1: by November 18th, where a massive crowd would gather to
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  Speaker 1: meet cross-country runner Harry Dillon. The mayor of Sydney, Pat Hills,
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  Speaker 1: would take the torch from Dillon, say a few prepared marks,
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  Speaker 1: and then pass it off to the next runner. But
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  Speaker 1: when the morning of the 18th arrived, Mayor Hills was
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  Speaker 1: caught unawares. Someone ran to fetch him, informing him that
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  Speaker 1: the runner had arrived early. Hills hurried to the podium
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  Speaker 1: where he saw the crowd bearing down on him because
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  Speaker 1: they had gathered around the runner as he entered the city,
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  Speaker 1: escorting him to the podium. But the runner wasn't Harry Dillon.
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  Speaker 1: At least Hills didn't think so. He wore slacks and
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  Speaker 1: a button-down shirt. He even had a tie on, a
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  Speaker 1: bizarre uniform for a cross-country runner. But he was so
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  Speaker 1: flustered by the sudden arrival... that he accepted the torch
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  Speaker 1: immediately and then turned to face the enormous crowd. Around
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  Speaker 1: 300,000 people had gathered in Sydney to witness the torch handoff,
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  Speaker 1: and as the mayor started to speak, something didn't feel
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  Speaker 1: quite right, and then someone whispered in his ear, that's
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  Speaker 1: not the Olympic torch. Hills paused to look at the
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  Speaker 1: torch that he had received from the runner. It was
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  Speaker 1: a chair leg that had been painted silver with an
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  Speaker 1: upturned pudding tin on the top, The silver paint was
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  Speaker 1: already rubbing off on his fingers. The flame burned bright,
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  Speaker 1: but from a charred wad of underwear that had been
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  Speaker 1: soaked in kerosene. Quickly realizing what had happened, he looked
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  Speaker 1: for the culprit, but that person had long since vanished.
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  Speaker 1: And then he turned to the crowd, which was growing agitated,
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  Speaker 1: to shrug off the incident. And he said,' That was
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  Speaker 1: a trial run. Our friends from the university think things
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  Speaker 1: like this are funny. It was a hoax by somebody.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you are enjoying the joke.' The crowd of people, again,
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  Speaker 1: 300,000 strong, did not immediately grasp what had happened. Restlessness
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  Speaker 1: surged through the square, and the crowd broke up and dissolved,
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  Speaker 1: some people going back to their lives, while others going
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  Speaker 1: out to find what had happened. Police had to descend
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  Speaker 1: into the crowd to try and preserve the original marathon
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  Speaker 1: path and allow the actual runner to enter. Meanwhile, the
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  Speaker 1: culprit was already on his way back to Sydney University,
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  Speaker 1: and there he was applauded by his peers and his professors.
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  Speaker 1: He was a veterinary student named Barry Larkin. Along with
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  Speaker 1: a group of seven fellow students, they had planned the
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  Speaker 1: prank as a sort of protest to undermine the pomp
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  Speaker 1: and circumstance of the torch relay, since it was a
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  Speaker 1: tradition invented for the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. The
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  Speaker 1: students had felt that it was about time someone made
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  Speaker 1: fun of it for a change. Larkin hadn't originally planned
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  Speaker 1: to even run, hence why he was dressed in slacks
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  Speaker 1: and a tie rather than shorts. His classmates, who were
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  Speaker 1: originally planning to do his leg of the run, hadn't
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  Speaker 1: turned up in time, forcing the group to improvise. But thankfully,
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  Speaker 1: there is a picture of that strange moment. Just one, though,
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  Speaker 1: of a young man, tie-flapping in the wind, running with
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  Speaker 1: a makeshift Olympic flame. It was a prank almost as
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  Speaker 1: legendary as the Olympics themselves, one that has yet to
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  Speaker 1: be surpassed in any Olympic Games. Which presents us with
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  Speaker 1: a very curious question. Who will be the next person
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  Speaker 1: to take up that torch? I hope you enjoyed today's
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  Speaker 1: guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was
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  Speaker 1: created by me, Aaron Manke, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts,
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  Speaker 1: researched and written by the Grim & Mild team, and
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  Speaker 1: produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and
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  Speaker 1: the people who make it over at grimandmild.com slash curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of
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  Speaker 1: Curiosity's hardcover book, available in bookstores and online, as well
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  Speaker 1: as e-book and audiobooks. And if you're looking for an
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  Speaker 1: ad-free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's all the same stories,
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  Speaker 1: but without the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn
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  Speaker 1: more and sign up over at patreon.com slash grim and mild.
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  Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.