0:24

Welcome to the show. My name is

0:26

Ben Bullen. I am not a lawyer mine.

0:29

You know you're here. Like those lawyer jokes, lawyers

0:32

really get crapped on, don't they. Yeah, they

0:34

get a tough time, especially in the world of comic

0:36

They say, llawyer, what's uh? What

0:39

do you call a hundred lawyers at the bottom of the ocean a

0:41

good start? I also heard one

0:43

that says, what's the difference between a

0:45

dead lawyer and a dead dog in the street?

0:48

There are skid marks in front of the

0:51

dog. So hi to all our lawyer listener

0:53

friends. I'm Noel Brown. This is

0:55

ridiculous history. Um. Before

0:57

we started, are a producer,

0:59

al like said, all right, we're rolling on laser

1:01

wigs. Yeah, I want

1:04

to do a podcast on laser wigs.

1:06

But apparently that's not a thing.

1:08

But lawyer wigs are.

1:12

Yes, lawyer wigs are

1:14

a thing. Growing

1:16

up as a kid, I was always very skeptical

1:18

about this night. I had assumed that

1:21

it was just like a television thing,

1:24

televisual sight gag. So

1:26

what we're talking about is something that may

1:29

be unfamiliar to a lot of people, but

1:31

it's definitely familiar to you. If

1:33

you live in a lot of commonwealth

1:36

countries, you know, and that is that

1:40

in the legal system, especially like

1:42

the UK, I think is the most well known for this in

1:45

the In the legal system, these

1:47

people who are practitioners

1:50

of law, the dark arts,

1:53

the dark arts. Uh,

1:56

their formal courtroom attire

1:58

includes these incredibly

2:01

anachronistic wigs, you

2:04

know that like powdered wigs. Just

2:06

just think George Washington. Yeah,

2:09

it's like they're George Washington wigs,

2:11

like a founding father wig. And it's

2:13

the This goes for uh,

2:16

male as well as female judges,

2:20

embarrassters, right, and

2:22

there's like a hierarchy of like wig

2:24

quality too. We'll get into all that. But this

2:26

is a fascinating world world of

2:29

of of legal whiggery.

2:32

Um. I mean seriously, this is

2:34

pretty comical. But it's also there's a lot of really

2:36

fun stuff to unpack here. So

2:38

why don't we get to unpack him?

2:41

Sure? So,

2:44

you know, tradition is a dangerous and tricky

2:46

thing, and our species loves

2:48

doing stuff just because someone

2:50

else did it earlier. Tradition is a hell of

2:52

a drug. Rick James said that

2:55

I'm pretty sure that was that was Rick James.

2:59

The thing with these wigs

3:01

is that they are thought by

3:03

the proponents of the practice to impart

3:07

and air of formality. You

3:09

know that. The idea is that you go into

3:11

a courtroom and you sit down and

3:14

you see the whigs, and that, coupled

3:16

with the judiciary proceedings,

3:19

make you think, oh wow, this is serious. You

3:21

think someone somewhere down the line misconstrued

3:24

the word formality with hilarity,

3:27

right right, And we're not We're

3:29

not making fun of

3:33

We're not making serious fun, I should

3:35

say, of this practice.

3:37

But you can understand

3:39

how strange this seems to people who

3:42

are not familiar with it. The

3:45

wigs, according to other

3:48

proponents, are an

3:50

emblem of anonymity.

3:53

They distance the wearer from personal

3:56

involvement, and they visually

3:58

draw on the supremacy the law.

4:00

This is according to a guy named Kevin Newton, a

4:03

DC based lawyer who studied law

4:05

at the University of London. And

4:07

they have a name. It's not just called a lawyer

4:09

wig or a laser wig. These

4:12

uh, these headpieces are

4:15

called perukes p

4:17

e r u k so

4:20

punk sounding peruke. I don't

4:22

know why you get peruked up, you know.

4:25

So the

4:27

the rules are pretty specific

4:29

as well, so peruke. But

4:33

a peruke, it's got a name, and it's just I

4:35

guess, I guess that's specifically. Would

4:37

could you use that term outside of the legal

4:40

the courtroom setting for this style

4:42

of wig? Is it referring to the style of wig

4:44

or specifically a wig

4:46

used in legal setting?

4:49

I don't know. Peruke is an

4:51

archaic term for a periwig,

4:54

which is a highly styled wig

4:56

that used to be warned for both by both

4:59

men and women. So in

5:02

this situation, I

5:04

imagine them drawing the line

5:06

at the use of the phrase perrywig. They're

5:09

like, no, we're calling them perukes

5:12

because this is serious. Definitely

5:14

has a more of an air of kind

5:16

of finality to it,

5:19

you know, like it's a much more kind of sharp

5:22

edged word. Cherry wig sounds

5:24

frivolous. It sounds too there's too much

5:26

whimsy in a check

5:29

this out man wigs. If

5:32

a barrister doesn't wear a wig, it's

5:34

considered an insult to the court stop

5:37

the press as a barrister. Yes,

5:40

a barrister, So there are

5:42

barristers, solicitors, and

5:44

judges. Barrister can

5:46

be distinguished from a solicitor

5:49

because they wear a wig and a gown in

5:51

court, and they also work at higher

5:53

levels than solicitors. Their

5:55

main role is to act as advocates

5:58

in legal hearings. So there they

6:00

stand in the court and they plead a case

6:02

on behalf of their clients to the judge,

6:04

who is also perruped up. But like

6:06

I was saying earlier, been uh,

6:09

you know, do you know about the whig archy, the

6:11

higher the hierarchy of wigs, Like it's it's

6:13

a thing. It's really really cool. Oh

6:16

man. So you know, you've got your

6:18

barristers who wear

6:20

these slightly kind of frizzed

6:22

up wigs that are kind of frizzy at

6:24

the crown, and they have horizontal

6:27

curls on the sides and the back like little

6:29

uh like like you know, like your mom's curlers,

6:32

you know that kind of like a little nice tight

6:35

What do you call that? What kind of curl is that?

6:37

Is there a name for it? I would Jerry,

6:40

it's a more of a could

6:42

you say ringlet a ringlet? Yes,

6:45

ringlet exactly. That is

6:47

exactly the word I was fishing for. So yeah, but

6:49

they're like very organized in there. They flow

6:51

down the sides and the back um

6:54

and then they have too long kind of Jedi

6:56

braids of hair that hang down

6:59

below the hair and on the neck uh

7:01

and they sport a looped curl

7:04

at each end, right,

7:06

so it's like that's kind of like a Jedi a Jedi

7:09

braid. These are yeah, these are very

7:11

specific, very specific,

7:14

and you've got different types of lawyers,

7:17

different styles of wigs.

7:19

The best one though, is the judge,

7:21

because the judge has a similar, similarly

7:24

styled wig, but it's way like

7:27

it's like a blown out version

7:29

of the barrister's wig. It's a full wig

7:31

um from a slightly frizzed out

7:34

top and it kind of transitions

7:36

into this tight, horizontal

7:39

array of curls that goes several

7:41

inches down your shoulder. And

7:44

these wigs, all of them, from judge

7:46

to barrister what have you, are

7:48

made of white horse hair um.

7:51

And there's a certain amount

7:53

of gravitas that's associated

7:56

with the yellowing that happens as

7:58

the wig's age, because it in

8:00

parts a certain amount of you

8:02

know, respect, you've got you

8:04

know, you've got that yellow wig. You've been

8:06

at this for a while, Sir ye

8:10

mad nowadays obviously

8:12

wearing one of these is at

8:15

the very best a fashion statement,

8:18

you know, like if our if our super

8:20

producer Alex showed up one day

8:22

and said, you know, I was wearing a barrister's

8:25

wig. This

8:27

is the choice I've made in life. Of

8:30

course we would support him, because we're

8:32

all actually friends, but

8:34

it would be weird because people don't

8:37

typically wear wigs in that

8:39

style. Now people still wear wigs in

8:42

general, but they're very it's very different

8:44

nowadays. And

8:46

once upon a time, wigs

8:49

were considered an

8:51

essential part of being a

8:53

well put together professional, like if

8:55

you if you were a person

8:58

of substance and means, then you wore

9:00

a wig. It was during that time

9:02

culturally when wigs began to appear

9:04

in courtrooms and so

9:06

it was seen as a mark of a bit

9:08

of elitism, a mark of authenticity,

9:11

mark of professionalism, and a mark of success.

9:14

This was in the seventeenth century,

9:16

so only the creme

9:19

de la creme, socially speaking,

9:21

were those powdered wigs that were made of as

9:23

you said, no horse hair. Those were just the

9:25

really dope ones though, like those are the

9:28

the upper echelon of powdered

9:30

wigs. There's a whole array

9:32

of materials that kind

9:34

of stepped down the quality

9:37

ladder. I guess he could say, right, yeah, yeah,

9:39

yeah, there was a goat hair spoiled

9:42

cotton hair stolen from

9:44

the dead. That is true

9:47

of those you want to you want a dead man's

9:51

h scalp, dead man's scalps, tell

9:53

no tales, my friend, And

9:55

that's dark. I don't know what that even means. I

9:58

don't know. I was into it. I could see

10:00

it contextually unless yeah, and like

10:02

a line kind of cut your eyes at me a little

10:04

bit there they cut my eyes? Are you? Is

10:07

that a weird expression? It is? I

10:09

was trying to figure out what, how

10:11

what would that would intain, know, like like

10:13

like a little like a little side side eye. There

10:15

you go. How is it? Okay? I'm just for every

10:18

just you can't see this. I'm just moving my head and

10:20

maintaining eye contact. Well.

10:23

Whether or not the wig trade involved

10:25

cutting of eyes, it also

10:28

involved a practice that remains around

10:31

in the modern day, which is that there were people who

10:33

would grow their hair out and

10:35

then sell it and people buy real

10:38

human hair wigs and all

10:40

joking aside, uh nowadays

10:42

that is a thing. Um there

10:44

is there are human hair wigs that are sold. But the thing that I always

10:47

associate that with is the whole locks of love uh

10:50

scene. I guess where people will

10:52

sell their hair to not sell,

10:54

donate their hair to be made into wigs

10:56

for cancer patients who have lost their

10:58

hair through chemotherapy. I think that's super

11:00

cool. I have a friend, um, who I used to

11:03

do sound with back in the day, like a

11:05

production you know, audio jobs,

11:07

and he had the most luxurious

11:10

head of hair just down his back,

11:12

just like a like a great lion. And

11:14

his mother got sick with cancer and he donated

11:17

all his hair and he had a wig may out of

11:19

his hair to give to his mother,

11:21

and I thought that was just the sweetest Yeah,

11:24

that's beautiful. That's heartbreaking. Yeah, it really

11:26

is. But the reason that this

11:28

is important that he would donate this, or that

11:30

anyone would donate this, is because today

11:33

these kind of wigs are very, very

11:35

expensive. Yeah, yeah,

11:37

this is the This is the top

11:39

ind real human hair, and sometimes

11:41

people rate it by the region of the world where

11:44

this hair originates. But

11:48

this is still what's really weird to me

11:50

about this man. In the seventeen

11:52

century, while you could get a

11:54

human hair wig, it was still

11:57

a couple of steps down below the

11:59

stat a symbol of a horse hair

12:01

wig exactly different different times,

12:04

different strokes, I suppose. But today

12:07

these wigs that are used

12:09

in the English court system,

12:12

they're like a prerequisite, like you have to, like you graduate,

12:14

you get your law degree, you go and buy

12:16

your first wig. But

12:18

like I was saying before, you kind of want to hang

12:20

onto it because you want that air, that

12:23

patina, that that yellow thing

12:25

to happen, so people know that you mean business

12:28

and that you've been in the game for a minute.

12:30

You've been wigging out. You're an o g wigster.

12:33

And uh they they they go

12:35

for from a you know, five bucks

12:37

for like one of these smaller, slightly

12:40

less ornate barrister wig,

12:42

your starter wig, uh to like

12:44

three grand for a judge

12:47

wig, these ones that go you know, all

12:49

the way down the back. Is a significant

12:52

investment. And so maybe one of the

12:54

questions we would ask is we said

12:56

that this was all

12:58

the rage fashion wise, eyes right,

13:02

But why it

13:04

turns out most most

13:06

people overwhelmingly,

13:09

when I say most people, I mean overwhelmingly historians

13:12

blame it on syphilis. Always

13:14

comes back down a syphilis that took a

13:16

turn things

13:20

have indeed taken a turn for the syphilic.

13:23

Uh, corpse whigs wasn't enough the

13:26

corpse whigs that was just like a

13:28

little bit of a slight ummi

13:31

added into the story. But now this

13:33

is becoming this

13:35

part of the show is syphilis centric.

13:39

In the sixteenth century, a

13:42

lot of people in Europe were contracting

13:44

syphilis was also known as the syphiltici.

13:48

Yes, yeah, as you probably know it

13:50

better as the syphiltic. You

13:52

know, so the

13:56

treatment used for syphilis,

13:58

penicillin, wasn't going to be discovered

14:00

until nineteen, so

14:03

people with syphilis didn't have

14:05

a treatment program. Instead, they got rashes,

14:08

blindness, open sores, eventually

14:11

dementia and then hair loss. I

14:15

mean there's market for probably all kinds of like devices

14:17

and cosmetic little accoutrement

14:20

to cover up scars and things like that. You

14:22

know, you think of like half

14:24

masks for faces and stuff that had

14:27

some form of deformity that could

14:29

have resulted from something like syphilis. Oh

14:31

yeah, that's really good point. I didn't think about

14:34

that. I just wonder who like cornered the market

14:36

on you know that kind

14:38

of stuff, cause cosmetic accessories,

14:41

shall we say, I always thought those things

14:43

were cool growing up, you know, seeing

14:45

the seeing the half mask in

14:47

the Phantom of the Opera, for instance, that

14:50

was great. I if I could get away with

14:52

it, I would just wear one of those, but

14:54

it would be a little bit anticlimactic and disappointing,

14:57

you know when I finally took it off. If

14:59

I had a normal face, so

15:01

I can lose a nose, you can lose like a hole, like

15:04

your nose can totally get eating away. Leg

15:06

I just typed in syphilis mask, uh,

15:08

and I guess pretty disturbing

15:11

actually came right up. It's a wire

15:13

frame with a pair of glasses and a

15:15

fake nose, but it looks like clearly this is an

15:17

artifact. Um. And then we've

15:19

got masks, like we're talking about all

15:21

that stuff. But you know, if you

15:23

just had hair loss, a

15:26

wig would be your best friend and

15:28

a crucial one because hair loss

15:31

was very problematic for people

15:33

socialized at this time. So in

15:36

this kind of this continues

15:38

a little bit today. Uh,

15:41

Long hair at the time was super

15:43

in fashion. It was all the rage, and

15:46

because of the prevalence of syphilis, if

15:48

somebody was prematurely balding,

15:51

everyone just sort of thought they

15:54

had syphilis, which

15:56

is is a really tough, uh,

16:00

really tough situation, unfair for

16:02

uh people who are just balding

16:04

naturally. But you know, Larry

16:07

David would take great issue with

16:09

this notion of but

16:11

you know, bald um

16:13

what's the word bald is um? You know, they

16:15

look at a bald person and you immediately assume

16:18

they have syphilis. You know, that's that's problematic

16:20

in the you know you guys, you know Larry David, right,

16:23

Larry David one of the most

16:25

famous baldman and entertainment. I know,

16:27

he makes it. He sort of like carries

16:29

that torch, you know, proudly,

16:32

very proudly. They can't tankerously. No,

16:35

it's weird because even today,

16:37

especially in the entertainment industry, people who

16:39

are prematurely balding are

16:43

are kind of typecast. You know, well, there's it's

16:45

it's seen as like some sort of deficiency

16:48

in your your person

16:50

right, like a for instance, if

16:52

you if you're watching most television

16:55

shows, you're watching action film or something,

16:58

and you eat

17:00

a balding character, the

17:03

chances are overwhelming that they're going to be

17:05

like a lower level sleazy villain. And

17:08

that's completely not true about real people,

17:11

uh real. The

17:14

idea of sleazy villainy knows

17:16

no specific appearance,

17:18

type, or template, but that's

17:21

still better than what

17:23

was happening in the sixteenth century, where someone

17:25

would look at another person who

17:27

had hair loss and then say, oh, they

17:29

have syphilis. Also,

17:32

wigs were a big help for people

17:34

who had another, uh prominent

17:37

hair problem lice. Oh

17:40

yeah, man, my kid got lice once. What's

17:43

really oh yeah. And the thing about even today,

17:46

license seen, it's got this stigma

17:48

that it carries, right where like your kid gets

17:50

lice and people look at you. You're like you're a crappy

17:52

parent, you know, like I did a bad

17:55

job keeping my kid clean or whatever.

17:57

You know. But the thing about license it spreads

17:59

and kids it's they're always you know, touching

18:02

each other and you know, playing and being

18:04

kids and all this stuff. And yeah, well you know, when

18:06

one kid at school gets life, like, it's can

18:08

be assumed like the whole school has lice.

18:11

And so you know, let's just think of this

18:13

period in English history as

18:15

just like a a macro

18:18

cosmic schoolyard where everyone's

18:20

just giving everyone life and

18:23

syphilis. It might you know, it

18:25

did reach the higher realms

18:28

of society. Here's

18:31

an interesting story. Life doesn't discriminate,

18:34

less does it discriminate. Louis

18:37

the fourteen King of France,

18:39

the Son King. He was the king from

18:41

six to seventeen fifteen,

18:44

and he was prematurely balding.

18:46

So he got over

18:48

this by or I guess, compensated

18:50

for this by wearing a wig. And

18:53

yes, historians

18:56

do believe that he contracted syphilis.

18:59

And once he started wearing this wig, it's

19:01

the king of France. He started a trend,

19:04

and the upper class,

19:06

the upper crust of Europe, a lot

19:08

of them started wearing wigs, including Charles

19:11

the Second, who was Louise's

19:13

cousin and was rumored to

19:15

also have contracted syphilis. I'm

19:17

telling you, man, syphilis was out

19:19

of control. Seriously, I

19:21

mean, if the King of France has

19:24

syphilis, then you know it's running

19:26

rampant. I mean it's like he's what I'm saying,

19:29

like syphilis and lice. They don't discriminate

19:31

there, that's not just like reserved for the unwashed

19:33

masses. Freaking the sun king.

19:36

Dude, have you seen this guy? Have

19:38

you seen his hair? Yeah? That's what we're

19:40

getting with this, aren't we Yeah, it's a lot, it's a lot

19:42

of hair. But it's like he kind of set this, uh,

19:45

set this thing up as like a massive

19:47

fashion trend, and then other people

19:50

started doing it because you know, the king

19:52

could have you killed upon a word,

19:54

and if you're hanging out in court all the time, you're

19:57

probably I think there was a little bit

19:59

of sink fishy. You know. It wasn't even

20:01

court though, just right, it was everybody. Yeah,

20:03

it was a court. Came later I kind of read, yeah,

20:05

the court, I guess, I mean

20:07

the the King's court.

20:10

Excuse me, See here we are. We're missing

20:13

a misconstruing courts. It's a

20:15

it's not our fault, it's English. It's my fault.

20:18

No, it's my I take responsib

20:20

I take full responsibility for misconstruing court.

20:22

Just then in the court of the crimson

20:24

King, well, we can't judge

20:27

whether we we can't

20:29

judge whether you should be guilty of that responsibility

20:31

because neither of us has a perup. It's true,

20:33

we can't even present our case.

20:35

It's confusing to alex as

20:38

a who has a gigantic judge.

20:41

Wig God right now, he really really does, and he is looking

20:43

at us quite judgmentally with those

20:45

piercing bespectacled

20:48

eyes at those long it's long

20:50

log. Oh my god, he just kind of tipped them down, and

20:52

I swear to god, I looked into his eyes and I saw

20:55

the void. Man, I saw the abyss went

20:57

back at me. The

21:02

practice of wearing these wigs in like

21:05

legal courts, actual courts

21:07

of law did

21:09

come later, and I believe it was in the

21:12

late eighties or

21:14

so. I think that's right. UM. In this

21:17

article on how stuff works dot

21:19

com plug um, you

21:21

can see a rendering I guess it's

21:23

like a woodcut kind of thing of

21:26

um some attorneys, and

21:28

it looks like one of them has got the wig on

21:31

and he's got some really sick like mutton chops

21:33

too on the sides. But then there's two guys

21:35

behind him that don't have them.

21:38

So I'm wondering if it was like it didn't

21:40

really get codified or become like it was maybe

21:42

like a thing that people did out

21:44

of fashion at first, and then

21:46

over time it became more

21:49

like this is the uniform of the court.

21:52

And something we didn't mention that I came

21:54

up in another article that I that I was reading. UM

21:58

as far as why they still do the US today,

22:01

we talked about the idea how it gave an

22:03

air of anonymity and like sort of like we're

22:05

all equal in the eyes of the law or something.

22:08

But if you thought about the fact that, um, it

22:11

possibly imparted some very

22:13

literal anonymity, almost

22:16

like a disguise so hardened

22:18

criminals, maybe I wouldn't

22:20

know you on the street. That's

22:22

a really interesting point. Yeah,

22:25

I wonder, I wonder if that played or

22:27

how much of a role that played. You know, we

22:30

do know that it persisted after

22:32

wigs fell out of fashion, right right,

22:35

yeah, yeah, And like you know, like you said, it's like totally

22:37

a historical kind of

22:39

like like you know, the English, they're all about

22:41

tradition and the

22:44

English, Like I just know, like

22:46

you know, everyone in England, the English

22:48

and their traditions. Um.

22:51

But you know, it does appear

22:53

on first glance that this is like what that

22:56

is. But they there do seem to be

22:58

some functional reasons behind

23:00

it the whole, like maybe it's like sort of like

23:03

a semi disguise. It also could

23:05

prevent jurors from

23:08

judging you based on your your

23:11

your fashion sense, because all I mean it is

23:13

a fashioning thing. But everyone has

23:15

their own type of Each role has

23:17

a specific type of wig. We're

23:19

not like, these aren't bedazzled. There's no like. You don't

23:22

get special you know, buretts or anything

23:24

in your in your court wig. And it is, as you

23:26

said, part of a uniform. So it further,

23:29

uh, it further removes yes,

23:32

individual or unique identifiers.

23:35

This was interesting to me as well. By

23:39

the early eighteen hundreds,

23:42

only a few types of people

23:44

wore wigs in this in this sense

23:47

those in the legal profession coachman

23:50

and bishops. And bishops

23:53

I think short shortly after eighteen

23:55

thirties or so, bishops finally

23:58

cracked the deal and they were allowed to stop

24:00

wearing wigs. And

24:04

recently, as we record this,

24:06

some of the laws regarding this

24:10

historical tradition changed.

24:12

In two thousand and seven,

24:15

new dress rules did away with barrister

24:17

wigs. Mainly, I think it's contemptible.

24:21

You know, it's like, if we can't depend

24:24

on British lawyers of all

24:26

stripes wearing these ridiculous

24:28

head dresses, what can we depend

24:30

on. That's a good question

24:32

you. I think you will be happy

24:35

to note that wigs

24:37

do remain in use in criminal cases,

24:39

thank god. So maybe

24:42

maybe that's another thing, right, maybe

24:44

that maybe that is another

24:46

plank in the platform or the argument

24:49

that wigs serve a practical

24:51

purpose. They

24:54

are no longer required for family or civil

24:56

court appearances, or

24:58

even while appearing before or the Supreme Court

25:01

in the UK, but in criminal cases you

25:03

gotta wig up. All Over the UK

25:06

and Ireland, judges also continued

25:08

to wear those luxurious

25:10

what do you call it ben ringlets until

25:14

when the practice would discontinue. And

25:17

also English and British colonies

25:19

like Canada UM, who some of

25:21

their provinces abandoned the whig deal you

25:23

know, throughout the nine centuries, or even Jamaica

25:26

which got rid of whigs back in UM

25:29

Lawyers and judges now only wear

25:32

wigs in like kind

25:34

of ceremonies I guess, or more in a

25:36

because I don't know what is a trial left on a ceremony

25:39

in a super official event.

25:42

Yeah, so yeah, that's

25:44

weird. And let's say you're someone

25:46

who's thinking, man, I really want

25:49

to see this practice. I want to see

25:51

history in action, you know what I

25:53

mean? Then your

25:55

odds, uh, your odds maybe best

25:58

in Hong Kong of all places.

26:01

According to a lawyer in Hong Kong

26:03

named Johnny Moke, the symbolic

26:06

aspect of the wig and

26:08

gown is very important to Hong

26:10

Kong, and he said, my

26:12

feeling is that Hong Kong will probably be one

26:14

of the last jurisdictions where

26:16

wig and gown will continue to

26:19

be used. So we might need

26:21

to take a trip. You know, now we've

26:23

finally got a a compelling

26:25

reason to uh tell our tell

26:28

our bosses to send us to Hong Kong.

26:31

You know, I'm down. Alex

26:33

says he has a friend in Hong Kong. We go stay with

26:35

Do they What is their position on wigs?

26:39

He says their apartment is two square feet,

26:42

which means that

26:44

that sounds like plenty of room. Yeah, what

26:46

could go wrong? I don't know, man, We'll have

26:48

a misadventure, a gown and wig

26:51

misadventure. Um

26:53

well, I think that's it for today, right, yeah,

26:55

yep, man, that history was done,

27:00

right? Oh? I guess ridiculous? Was that dumb?

27:02

It's ridiculous, absurd, it's wacky, right,

27:05

it's strage, you know, it's it's strange

27:08

how easily bizarre

27:10

things can become normal. Totally

27:12

British listeners, I'm not dogging your

27:14

system. I just know it's just it's it's wild,

27:17

you know. I guess when I say dumb,

27:19

it's just like it's so easy for some

27:21

little snippets, some little like thing

27:24

to just infiltrate culture, like

27:26

almost accidentally. And it

27:28

makes me, it makes me wonder about the stories

27:31

of other things that are part

27:34

of accepted forms of dress that

27:36

are also kind of ridiculous when you think about it. Neckties,

27:39

neckties, bow ties, bow ties, they're

27:41

not doing anything, you know. Polo

27:44

shirts with two buttons at the top, what's that about.

27:46

I'm wearing one now, I know I was just snip

27:48

balling. Here is if some people could

27:50

see medallions. I guess you

27:53

know, you want to just show a little nip. I

27:56

don't even think that's going to reach a nip. Well

27:59

before were we head into the slippery

28:02

slope of nip slips. It may be time

28:04

for us to call it a day, book

28:06

our tickets to Hong Kong and see wigs

28:08

in action. I'm down, man, let's

28:10

go. Let's go. But before we do that, uh,

28:13

listeners, tell us your wig tails.

28:15

Does anyone have like a wig story or

28:18

have you are you a hardened British criminal

28:21

and you've had to be dressed down by a

28:23

barrister with ringlets. I

28:25

would find it hard to take that person seriously.

28:28

And the barrister, you know, they're standing there

28:30

with that wig and it's supposed to like I

28:32

guess in part some kind of fear strike

28:35

fear into the hearts of criminals. I would just snicker

28:37

the whole time. Yeah, yeah, well, we're

28:39

from very different culture. World's

28:41

apart in terms of head

28:43

covering in the legal system at

28:46

least. Uh. Let's point

28:48

being, send us your tails, send us your wig tails.

28:51

We have Facebook, we have

28:53

you can just search Ridiculous History. I think

28:55

we're the only one. Yeah, you can find us

28:57

on Instagram, all all the all

28:59

the goods uf. We even discussed doing a Pinterest

29:02

account, which we might

29:04

get to. But you can also email

29:07

us directly at ridiculous at

29:09

how stuff works dot com and please

29:11

be sure and tune in for your

29:13

next installment of ridiculous

29:16

headdresses. I mean

29:18

history, that's the name of the show.

29:21

Can we get a law in order? I

29:24

love that sound effect.