1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,200 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Van Allen Plexico of the White Rocket 2 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:06,599 Entertainment Network and you're listening to the Surely You Can't 3 00:00:06,639 --> 00:00:08,039 Be Serious Podcast. 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 2: Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Surely you Can't 5 00:00:20,359 --> 00:00:24,039 Be Serious Podcast Special Edition five Minutes of Fire. We 6 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,280 are here talking about the lyrics of We Didn't Start 7 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,160 the Fire by Billy Joel. We're covering only five minutes 8 00:00:30,199 --> 00:00:32,039 at a time, which is about to link for the song, 9 00:00:32,079 --> 00:00:34,240 so it works out kind of nicely. So please join 10 00:00:34,359 --> 00:00:38,079 us as we dive into some new lyrics today. 11 00:00:38,119 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: All right, guys, so here are the topics that we're 12 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:41,520 going to be covering today. 13 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 2: Princess Grace Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suess. 14 00:00:50,039 --> 00:00:51,759 Speaker 1: Okaye, tell me about Princess Grace. 15 00:00:52,039 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 2: Okay, Princess Grace is Grace Kelly. She was an actress. 16 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:58,799 She had been in multiple movies and then she teamed 17 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,560 up with Alfred Hitchcock and was in dial m for 18 00:01:02,759 --> 00:01:06,280 Murder in nineteen fifty four, Rear Window in nineteen fifty 19 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,040 four as well, and To Catch a Thief in nineteen 20 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:12,439 fifty five. Then, on a kind of detour from going 21 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:14,879 to the cann Film Festival, she was supposed to go 22 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,400 do a modeling gig with the Prince of Monaco named 23 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,879 Prince Rainier, and short time later they were getting engaged. 24 00:01:22,239 --> 00:01:26,480 Interesting at twenty six years of age, she retired from acting, 25 00:01:26,719 --> 00:01:29,239 unbeknownst to herself because she thought she was going to 26 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:32,280 keep going, and married Prince Rainier in one of the 27 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:36,400 biggest ceremonies in the history of royal weddings. Now, the 28 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:41,000 side story on this is Monaco was in this agreement 29 00:01:41,079 --> 00:01:43,760 with France that it would remain independent so long as 30 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,400 there was a monarchy in place, which meant Prince Rainier 31 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,159 had to have heirs. Grace Kelly actually went through a 32 00:01:49,159 --> 00:01:51,719 physical exam to make sure that she could have kids 33 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,959 before they actually got married, and then once they got married, 34 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,840 she did. We had Princess Caroline, Prince Albert, and Princess Stephanie, 35 00:01:58,879 --> 00:02:02,480 and ultimately, in nineteen eighty two, she was driving in 36 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:06,400 a car with Princess Stephanie, she suffered a mild cerebral 37 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,560 hemorrhage which caused her to lose control of the car, 38 00:02:09,599 --> 00:02:13,479 which resulted in more injuries to her, which ultimately led 39 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,120 to her death in nineteen eighty two. All right, tell 40 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:17,520 me about Peyton Place. Okay. 41 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,479 Speaker 1: Peyton Place is a novel written in nineteen fifty six 42 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,680 by Grace Talias hoping I'm saying that right. It's set 43 00:02:23,719 --> 00:02:26,280 in a fictional New England town called Peyton Place. It 44 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:32,280 is a notoriously lascivious book containing themes of incest, sex, lust, murder, 45 00:02:32,319 --> 00:02:36,159 abortion and adultery, all set in this small conservative town. 46 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,319 It sold sixty thousand copies in the first ten days 47 00:02:39,599 --> 00:02:42,039 and was a New York Times bestseller for fifty nine weeks. 48 00:02:42,039 --> 00:02:44,759 It's been adapted into movies, TV shows, and soap operas. 49 00:02:44,879 --> 00:02:48,719 The author Grace Mettelius. She died from cirrhosis of the 50 00:02:48,719 --> 00:02:52,199 liver at age thirty nine. Sandra Bullock was actually slated 51 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:54,759 to portray her in a biopic, but unfortunately it was 52 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:58,439 never made. Very impactful book for the nineteen sixties. Okay, 53 00:02:58,479 --> 00:03:01,840 do tell me about trouble in the Suez. 54 00:03:01,439 --> 00:03:05,159 Speaker 2: All right? So this refers to the Suez Canal crisis. 55 00:03:05,199 --> 00:03:08,680 Now I mentioned Naser, second president of Egypt, in one 56 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:11,599 of our prior episodes. This is when the match HiT's 57 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:14,439 the gasoline, if you will. So the Suez Canal was 58 00:03:14,479 --> 00:03:17,360 owned by a company called the Suez Canal Company, which 59 00:03:17,479 --> 00:03:20,759 that company was mostly owned by the UK and France. 60 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:24,360 During the Cold War, Naser would not pledge allegiance to 61 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,199 either the US or the Soviet Union, which really made 62 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:29,039 the US mad. And so they said, you know what, 63 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:30,479 we're not going to give you the money that we 64 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:32,759 promised to give you since you won't align with anybody. 65 00:03:32,759 --> 00:03:34,199 In the UK said, yeah, we're not going to give 66 00:03:34,199 --> 00:03:36,599 you any money either, and so NASA was like, okay, well, 67 00:03:36,639 --> 00:03:39,159 then we're going to nationalize the Suez Canal, which means 68 00:03:39,199 --> 00:03:41,439 the egypt government is going to take over control of it. 69 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,560 So UK and France are now like, ah, what what No, 70 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,000 and they're freaking out. And so the UK, France and 71 00:03:48,319 --> 00:03:50,960 Israel all team up. They huddle up. They're like, okay, 72 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,439 here's what's going to happen. Israel. You go invade Egypt 73 00:03:54,479 --> 00:03:56,639 and take over the Suez Canal and then we'll come 74 00:03:56,639 --> 00:03:58,919 in as peacemakers and we'll say, okay, well we're going 75 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:00,960 to stay here and make sure that the Suez Canal 76 00:04:01,039 --> 00:04:04,960 isn't causing any trouble anymore. So Israel's like, okay, that's fine, 77 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,080 I mean, really what we're more interested in the Straits 78 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,759 of Tehran because Egypt's been blocking them from eight years, 79 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:11,840 but now that they've nationalized the Suez Canal, we've got 80 00:04:11,919 --> 00:04:14,400 nowhere to go, so yes, we will invade. So on 81 00:04:14,719 --> 00:04:18,920 October twenty ninth, nineteen fifty six, Israel attacks and they 82 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:22,319 are storming the place. I mean, they're taking out everybody. 83 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:25,399 And then their very next day, the UK and France 84 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,199 they issue this statement that they're like, hey, you naughty, 85 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:30,839 naughty boys, Israel and Egypt. You've been very bad and 86 00:04:30,879 --> 00:04:32,639 we're gonna have to come in and take over and 87 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:34,399 make sure things go okay. And then they get a 88 00:04:34,439 --> 00:04:37,759 phone call from Israel and they're like, we're still forty 89 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,759 miles away from the Suez Canal. And at that point, 90 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,160 the whole world realizes that the UK and France were 91 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:48,279 in on this invasion of Egypt, and the world is pissed, 92 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:52,360 including the US, who's like, nobody thought to pick up 93 00:04:52,399 --> 00:04:54,199 the phone and let us know what's going on here, 94 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,040 and so Dwight Eisenhower says to the UK, you know what, 95 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:59,079 I think We're going to sell all of our sterling bonds, 96 00:04:59,079 --> 00:05:01,959 which is going to tank You're British pound. How about 97 00:05:01,959 --> 00:05:04,240 we do that? And they're like Okay, wait, wait, wait, sorry, 98 00:05:04,319 --> 00:05:07,759 and France kind of followed suit, but Israel, who looked 99 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:10,639 like a complete badass, said nope, we're sticking around because 100 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:12,800 they still have both of these trade routes blocked and 101 00:05:12,879 --> 00:05:14,720 we came in and won, so we're going to stay 102 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:16,879 here until something gets figured out. So they stayed there 103 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,399 for four months. Finally an agreement was reached and the 104 00:05:20,399 --> 00:05:22,759 straits of Tehran were opened up for them after an 105 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:26,439 eight year blockade. But this signified the end of the 106 00:05:26,519 --> 00:05:29,839 UK as a world power because established that if they 107 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:33,160 want to do something, they better talk to us first. Okay, guys, 108 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:35,439 that does it for today's episode. Join us next time 109 00:05:35,439 --> 00:05:42,199 for five minutes of fire. Grace Kelly, it's Gary Cooper.