Episode Transcript
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0:00
Picture the scene. It's 1987,
0:02
and the seaside town of Amble in the north of
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England has seen much better days. It's
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cold, tired, and run down.
0:09
So when a wild dolphin appears in the
0:11
harbor, it's the miracle everyone's been
0:13
waiting for. He's like a ray of light. The
0:16
locals in Amble love him and name him
0:18
Freddy. Freddy loves them all back, but
0:21
his favorite playmate is Alan Cooper,
0:23
a committed animal rights activist. Alan
0:25
and the wild dolphin swim together for hundreds
0:28
of magical hours, and a beautiful friendship
0:30
is born. But when Alan is accused
0:32
of taking his friendship with the dolphin too
0:34
far, he finds himself at the center of
0:37
a tabloid scandal that grips Britain and
0:39
ends in one of the most bizarre court cases
0:41
in legal history. You're about to hear
0:43
a clip from the new podcast Hooked on
0:46
Freddy. If you'd like to hear more, search
0:48
for Hooked on Freddy wherever you get your podcasts.
0:59
September the
1:02
28th, 1990. It's a fine day
1:04
in Amble, a small
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coastal town on the tip of
1:09
Northeast England. But
1:11
we're not in the town. We're
1:13
about a quarter of a mile out in
1:16
the North Sea.
1:17
A
1:21
man's in the water, wearing
1:23
a wetsuit with yellow arms, and
1:25
he's just hanging there, alone.
1:28
His
1:30
name is Alan Cooper.
1:34
And at first, yes, he is all alone.
1:36
But then...
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Something dark moves at speed
1:44
under the water. Circles,
1:49
disappears, and
1:53
then resurfaces. Now
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we can see him. It's
1:59
a wild... A bottle
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nose. And he wants
2:03
to play. He twists
2:07
onto his side, inviting Alan
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to take hold of his dorsal fin. He will
2:13
start to dive. Just
2:16
go straight down to about 20 feet. And
2:22
then don't switch the goggles.
2:27
And you'd both explode out the water.
2:32
It was just out of this world,
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you know. I
2:36
was in this time of my life. Something
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special. That's
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what
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I'm 10 hours thinking it was, isn't it? You
2:50
know, if you could bottle that feeling and sell
2:52
it, you'd be a millionaire. Then
3:00
Alan hears something in
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the distance.
3:06
A boat coming towards him.
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He comes close. And
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the people on board are looking at him.
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He tries to ignore them. I carried
3:22
on my swim.
3:24
The boat just stays there. Alan's
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being watched. A
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voice is raised. There's
3:35
something off here. Something
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very off.
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Alan
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stays near him for half an hour,
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just watching. Then
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it leaves. Alan
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hasn't heard what was said, but
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later he'll
3:56
wish he had. before
4:00
and after moment. What
4:03
said on that boat? Will
4:05
make Alan wish he'd walked away
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after his first swim with the dolphin.
4:11
It'll lead to a bitter
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rivalry, a rivalry
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with another man, a
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man who also claims to be a
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lover and protector of animals.
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And it will put these two men
4:26
on a collision
4:28
course. Little
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did I know what was going to develop. I would
4:36
have ended it there and then. It's
4:38
just not worth it, is it?
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Over the next year his face will
4:42
be splashed across tabloid newspapers
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and TV shows. He'll
4:47
be ridiculed and laughed at. He'll
4:50
be abused in the street and
4:53
he'll even receive
4:55
death threats. What
4:58
was
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said on that boat will become a national
5:01
scandal.
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And
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for Alan,
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it will change everything. It
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took an absolute unique experience,
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probably a great experience of my life
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and turned it into one of the worst.
5:14
What happened
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to me, you know, never
5:18
goes away, does it? Would never go away.
5:21
To hear more, search for Hooked on Freddy wherever
5:23
you listen to podcasts. You can listen to
5:25
Hooked on Freddy early and add free on
5:28
Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus on Apple
5:30
Podcasts or the Wondery app.
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