The funniest part of this to me is the idea that the mayor of Cambridge had presumably seen the newspaper accounts of the actual Sultan of Zanzibar's visit to England, and thus _knew what he looked like,_ but somehow couldn't tell that an Englishman with shoe polish on his face was not the same man.
If you are interested in other stories about ships of that time you might want to check out the german ship SMS Wolf (1913). It managed to sneek through the english sea blockade in World War 1 and drove around for 451 days without any support.
Just throwing this out there. Carbon/charcoal "blackface" (a-la minstrel show style) and makeup to play a character that happens to be dark skinned are two completely different things.
This has to be the most British thing I've ever heard. Also there's nothing wrong with using makeup in a disguise lol it's not actually blackface which is meant to be obvious... nice vid btw. Do you think maybe some of the sailors were like "oh shit is that Virginia Wolfe in a turban?" and just played along lol.
horrace wanted to impersonate a German platoon commander and lead soldiers in French territory It was before the HMS Dreadnought prank before the Zanzibar Hoax
Hey Plainly Difficult. I've been around since 100 subs, and I'd like to say congrats on your huge growth, It's really great to be a part of your subscriber base. Keep up the good work and i'll keep on watching!
Almost 7k subs, great job! You should do a video about the 1957 Spaghetti-tree hoax from the BBC. I don't know how many people know about it or if it would make an interesting video but the TV segment always makes me laugh.
Awesome video this week as well! I come from Oman which was the ruling monarchy in Zanzibar before the royal families were split, keep up the good work!
Why do you have such an issue with the blackface? If you want to impersonate somebody from an African nation or India, and you aren't already dark skin, you kind of need to darken your skin tone to get the job done. You can't exactly call it racist when that's what was needed to get the job done.
Not much of an issue considering what some of us from countries with darker skinned people do to impersonate or make parodies of white people...i.e. putting too much light foundation or just straight up pouring flour on our faces lmao
It's the unfortunate dictatorship of the politically correctness. A prank like that nowadays would hurt the very sensitive feelings of people (who are obviously not busy). If you have to impersonate a different ethnicity you should use any necessary colour you need to do so. Down with the politically correct which is just a form of socialism in disguise.
It's what happens when a regressive ideology from the US infects the UK too. Last time I checked ""blackface"" (Acting) wasn't an issue in the UK until the 1990's.
Thanks for the suggestion, I will be doing a video on him as he seemed like a proper British eccentric! Hell its mad to think he went to war with a long bow!!
Talking hoaxes, what about when in ww2 the British army used a magician to help fool the rommel so that he was fighting a force far bigger than what was actually there. Would make a great vid
Danielli Bolleli, The guy who does "History on Fire", just liked my tweet of a link to your video... I mean... your content is right up his alley.. and his yours.. a collaboration would be amazing. so I'm gunna try to make that happen.
@@PlainlyDifficult Whilst on the subject; there's a rather notable time a polish chap tried to fool the Russians that he was heir to their throne. It's the method the Russians used to send this would be Tsar home... that'd make for an amusing video ;) .
Now this is how a good prank should be done. No one was hurt, a few egos were bruised and the Royal Navy learned that they needed to work on their security. I mean, who was really at fault here? The people playing a successful prank or the lax security that even allowed the prank to succeed. Perhaps both have an equal share of the blame.
Just a thought mate, but fir the increased traffic, maybe consider doing a video on the true story behind that new movie American Made. Not thinking I'm going to see it myself, but I'm guessing there's quite a story there.
The only hoax I can think of was when The Severn Valley Railway repainted one side of GWR City 4-4-0 no 3717 City Of Truro (Which they were overhauling on behalf of the National Railway Museum) into BR Lined Black (Complete with BR Number Plates) and the resulting pictures got published in a magazine. Its pretty relevent considering the SVR's plans to repaint a Bulleid Light Pacific into Purple in relation to the Queens Jubilee.
In my opinion, it is silly to be offended by someone doing skin darkening for a lark. There are so many real problems in the world. I am called a Jap, Oriental and Yellow devil which I find to be humorous even if they are trying to insult my race. I think you have to want to find things offensive to be insulted by these pranks. Anyway, just my opinion.
How about a brief history of the United States Army Navy game pranks. They range from trolling news stories, small vandalism, infiltration of the others properties and mascot theft.
Strange how just wearing a disguise is somehow offensive now just because it involves “wrong” kind of make up. Way to totally judge people for something they weren’t actually doing, and that wasn’t even taboo until almost a hundred years later.
how about a video on A: the berners street hoax B: the captain of köpenick hoax C: Fort Nepean (considered to be the fort that fired the first official shots of both world wars)
Thanks for the suggestion, sounds like an interesting subject for a strange place video!! I hope you enjoyed this weeks video!! Zepherus did a video on the berners street hoax well worth checking out! ruclips.net/video/e7G5I7AxkjQ/видео.html
"If something has to be made Politically Correct, then that's because it is not Actually Correct." - Lindybeige Time was - within my lifetime even - that Actors and Actresses were applauded for doing their principle trade of pretending to be someone or something they're not... I miss that :( .
You would not believe how easy it is to talk your way into many supposedly "secure" facilities, even nowadays. Actually, especially nowadays. You just need a little forethought and a lot of nerve. Pro tip, though: don't try this anywhere the guards are both armed and likely to actually shoot you.
Somthing similar happend to me when I thought it would be funny to do a back and white minstrel routeen at a local pub as I was fresh out of ideas when my grandad suggested the black and white minstrels I was intrigued and without thinking summoned my troops to practice the routeen .Needless to say it went down like a lead balloon when a Nigerian wedding party turned up .We carried on regardless because we were stupid and perhaps thinking they would see the funny side and we were being (ironic) not racist. It dident go well and my nose still sits on the side of my face like a Picasso.
Applying modern semantics like "politically correct" to this is a bit unfair. What they did then was in a different time and people thought completely differntly. Just because they did this doesn't mean they were racist, misguided and bored, probably but it was unlikely they did it with malicious intent to offend.
the HMS Dreadnought was, sadly, only the most powerful ship in the world for a few years :\ The Bellerophon-class, which could be argued were only marginally improved, started just a year later, and the St Vincent class a year after that. 1909 saw the first of the Colossus class, which made the jump from 12 inch guns to 13.5 inch guns, at which point the HMS Dreadnought was most definitely bottom of the pile of (at least British) dreadnought type ships :\ Naval technology was pretty much in sprint mode the moment the HMS Dreadnought was launched.
I'm guessing pretending to be the king of Britain carried actual punishment? You wouldn't have to go through the trouble of darkening your skin that way.
Yeah, that would be nice. Exactly how else would one disguise themselves as the Emperor of Ethiopia without darkening their face? He pokes fun at them for not recognising a woman in a beard but some part of me thinks that the pranksters may have fallen short if they turned up in their collage clothes and spoke perfect english.
Fuzzy Dunlop no it's not. It's a simple prank, it was not aimed at offending anyone. And I'm *certain* that no one in the world would even think to take offence because of the harmless prank somewhere on the island in the northern hemisphere. Seriously guys, what the fuck? Your PC culture is not PC any more, its simply pathetic and stupid. No African would possibly be offended with this prank -_-
the stopping to say blackface is wrong is kinda dumb. Maybe research the history of blackface, as minstrel shows were one of the early trans-racial comedies, helping to bridge the gap between races and cultures. Its sad to see someone who should maybe know better parroting the PC lines instead of understanding its origin and modern turn.
It’s only offensive if you ascribe to the notion that the world isn’t legitimately to kill or be killed. Also, there were multiple Islamic countries that were VERY close with the National Socialist Party of Germany during the 1930-40s. In case you weren’t aware. Western ideals of freeness and equal opportunities are right, treating certain classes and people goes against that not. Major difference. It’s almost as if giving certain groups advantages above others is not a good idea.
Before even getting to the offensiveness of blackface as a concept, I'm offended by how unconvincing the blackface in the photos actually is! Like, really, they fell for THAT? It just plain looks like face paint.
The method used is level 10 pranking by todays standards and will never be topped. (Security is tighter than a fat guys belt) If you still think its some form of racist, i'd point you to Special force groups who operated in Afghanistan who darkened their skin using coffee to stay in cover during operations.
I mean, people still use Nigerian princes to scam people, so impersonating African royalty is certainly effective.
Bunga bunga.
The other ships sending telegrams saying "bunga bunga" is singlehandedly the funniest thing I've seen today
IT REALLY IS 🤣
The funniest part of this to me is the idea that the mayor of Cambridge had presumably seen the newspaper accounts of the actual Sultan of Zanzibar's visit to England, and thus _knew what he looked like,_ but somehow couldn't tell that an Englishman with shoe polish on his face was not the same man.
More proof that the British have always outpaced us Americans in the field of Gay Old Larks.
Bunga Bunga.
Bunga Bunga!!
Mr Berlusconi, I suppose?
My sides are in orbit
"Death, by Bunga Bunga!"
Bingo Bongo oh oh no no no!
If you are interested in other stories about ships of that time you might want to check out the german ship SMS Wolf (1913). It managed to sneek through the english sea blockade in World War 1 and drove around for 451 days without any support.
Thanks for the suggestion, that sounds really interesting ill have to look it up! Thanks for the comment!!
Please, don't sweat the P.C. This was a great hoax!
Just throwing this out there. Carbon/charcoal "blackface" (a-la minstrel show style) and makeup to play a character that happens to be dark skinned are two completely different things.
It definitely is
How they managed to keep a straight face for the whole tour I truly cannot imagine.
Laudanum.
"Aww f*ck! I can't believe you done this?" - Captain of HMS Dreadnought upon learning of prank
This has to be the most British thing I've ever heard. Also there's nothing wrong with using makeup in a disguise lol it's not actually blackface which is meant to be obvious... nice vid btw.
Do you think maybe some of the sailors were like "oh shit is that Virginia Wolfe in a turban?" and just played along lol.
Thanks for the comment glad you enjoyed the video!!
Early 20th century 4chan pranksters.
4Chan pranking B4Chan was 4Chan XD.
horrace wanted to impersonate a German platoon commander and lead soldiers in French territory
It was before the HMS Dreadnought prank before the Zanzibar Hoax
I mean you know how that would have turned out ignoring to cost and allof the other things
I’ve been watching this repeatedly waiting for Zepherus’ new video on it to come out.
Should we tell him
He is still waiting to this day
"However, the method used, could be considered offensive, by today's standards". No, not offensive, or derogative. Just impersonating, that's all.
Awsome as always mate!
Man I cant believe you have so little subs pff.
RUclips realy si fucking with smaller channels!
Thanks! I really appreciate the support!! Glad you enjoyed the video!
Darkening their skin was wrong? How so?
Hey Plainly Difficult. I've been around since 100 subs, and I'd like to say congrats on your huge growth, It's really great to be a part of your subscriber base. Keep up the good work and i'll keep on watching!
Thanks for the comment and thanks for supporting me right form the start!!
Almost 7k subs, great job! You should do a video about the 1957 Spaghetti-tree hoax from the BBC. I don't know how many people know about it or if it would make an interesting video but the TV segment always makes me laugh.
Thanks for the suggestion Tom! Thanks for the comment and support!!
Awesome video this week as well! I come from Oman which was the ruling monarchy in Zanzibar before the royal families were split, keep up the good work!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for the support!!
"In those days the young officers had a gay time"
XD!
gay used to be used similar to happy
Very true its funny how words meanings change over time!
It's the Navy, after all xD
oh those gays taking our words. Remember in the old days how you could say "We had a homosexual time darling" without it being rude or inapproprilat
Why do you have such an issue with the blackface? If you want to impersonate somebody from an African nation or India, and you aren't already dark skin, you kind of need to darken your skin tone to get the job done. You can't exactly call it racist when that's what was needed to get the job done.
Not much of an issue considering what some of us from countries with darker skinned people do to impersonate or make parodies of white people...i.e. putting too much light foundation or just straight up pouring flour on our faces lmao
Cause he is politically correct. It was evident while watching the video.
It's the unfortunate dictatorship of the politically correctness. A prank like that nowadays would hurt the very sensitive feelings of people (who are obviously not busy). If you have to impersonate a different ethnicity you should use any necessary colour you need to do so. Down with the politically correct which is just a form of socialism in disguise.
It's what happens when a regressive ideology from the US infects the UK too. Last time I checked ""blackface"" (Acting) wasn't an issue in the UK until the 1990's.
@@fwuuton Yes. For that matter Japan has a thing for paler skin than they actually have, albeit due to centuries old cultural reasons.
my weekly vitamins of information.
XD! I hope you liked the video!!
Your weekly vitamins of information are fewer than 3?
Love these videos!
On a war topic - An episode on Mad Jack Churchill could be interesting!
Thanks for the suggestion, I will be doing a video on him as he seemed like a proper British eccentric! Hell its mad to think he went to war with a long bow!!
Talking hoaxes, what about when in ww2 the British army used a magician to help fool the rommel so that he was fighting a force far bigger than what was actually there. Would make a great vid
Oo that sounds interesting thanks for the suggestion and thanks for the comment!
he also camouflaged the suez canal with optical illusions
Danielli Bolleli, The guy who does "History on Fire", just liked my tweet of a link to your video... I mean... your content is right up his alley.. and his yours.. a collaboration would be amazing. so I'm gunna try to make that happen.
Ah nice one thanks for the suggestion man! ill have to get in contact with him!!
It's just a prank, bro. Don't be so offended over silly pranks.
U thought was emperor but am cousin bamboozled again
XD!
@@PlainlyDifficult Whilst on the subject; there's a rather notable time a polish chap tried to fool the Russians that he was heir to their throne.
It's the method the Russians used to send this would be Tsar home... that'd make for an amusing video ;) .
Piltdown Man is the most far reaching hoax I've ever heard of.
How about the giant disguise of Boeing's aircraft plant in Seattle during WW2? Love your videos thank you!
Now this is how a good prank should be done. No one was hurt, a few egos were bruised and the Royal Navy learned that they needed to work on their security. I mean, who was really at fault here? The people playing a successful prank or the lax security that even allowed the prank to succeed. Perhaps both have an equal share of the blame.
Just a thought mate, but fir the increased traffic, maybe consider doing a video on the true story behind that new movie American Made. Not thinking I'm going to see it myself, but I'm guessing there's quite a story there.
may I ask what the intro/outro music is?
Sure its one of my own tracks would you like a copy? Thanks for the comment!
yes, thanks!
Send me a private message with your email and ill send it over to you :D
how can i get in contact with you over email? May i just twitter dm?
The only hoax I can think of was when The Severn Valley Railway repainted one side of GWR City 4-4-0 no 3717 City Of Truro (Which they were overhauling on behalf of the National Railway Museum) into BR Lined Black (Complete with BR Number Plates) and the resulting pictures got published in a magazine.
Its pretty relevent considering the SVR's plans to repaint a Bulleid Light Pacific into Purple in relation to the Queens Jubilee.
In my opinion, it is silly to be offended by someone doing skin darkening for a lark. There are so many real problems in the world. I am called a Jap, Oriental and Yellow devil which I find to be humorous even if they are trying to insult my race. I think you have to want to find things offensive to be insulted by these pranks. Anyway, just my opinion.
hey plainly difficult you should make a video about the eureka stockade
hey Joe I haven't heard of that Ill have to check it out thanks for the suggestion.
Plainly Difficult well it's pretty big thing out here in Australia I can tell you very shot history about if you want
Jazzy Joe it's the closest Australia has come to a civil war was over in 7 minutes then everyone went to the pub
That sounds like a good resolution! I wish all conflicts ended up being settled over a Pint of Beer, Or cider in my case!
Plainly Difficult actually I'm pretty sure all the rebels were either killed during the battle or put in jail after
How about a brief history of the United States Army Navy game pranks. They range from trolling news stories, small vandalism, infiltration of the others properties and mascot theft.
Strange how just wearing a disguise is somehow offensive now just because it involves “wrong” kind of make up. Way to totally judge people for something they weren’t actually doing, and that wasn’t even taboo until almost a hundred years later.
Heard of this. Was looking up wikipedia hoax pages
how about a video on A: the berners street hoax B: the captain of köpenick hoax C: Fort Nepean (considered to be the fort that fired the first official shots of both world wars)
Thanks for the suggestion, sounds like an interesting subject for a strange place video!! I hope you enjoyed this weeks video!!
Zepherus did a video on the berners street hoax well worth checking out!
ruclips.net/video/e7G5I7AxkjQ/видео.html
That was an impressive amount of virtue signaling...
Can you please explain why is darkening the skin wrong?
Fun fact, the submarine Dreadnought sank was captained by the man who sank HMS Hawke
Bunga! BUnga! What a great video, but why bother with the PC apologies?
How to prank the British as an African Royal 101:Step 1,always say Bunga Bunga
XD!!
Good stuff and very entertaining.
3:16 "Abyssinia, in all the old familiar places..." 😆
the april fool's prank in 1974 that made an alaskan volcano look like it was going to blow takes the cake
Trolling before the internet existed, well played.
+Schmitty XD
The Balloon Boy Hoax
Thanks for the suggestion!! I remember when that happened!!
Plainly Difficult Watch Internet Historian's video on it, especially the one on his secondary channel.
Truly, a trolling for the ages!
"If something has to be made Politically Correct, then that's because it is not Actually Correct." - Lindybeige
Time was - within my lifetime even - that Actors and Actresses were applauded for doing their principle trade of pretending to be someone or something they're not... I miss that :( .
You would not believe how easy it is to talk your way into many supposedly "secure" facilities, even nowadays. Actually, especially nowadays. You just need a little forethought and a lot of nerve. Pro tip, though: don't try this anywhere the guards are both armed and likely to actually shoot you.
Somthing similar happend to me when I thought it would be funny to do a back and white minstrel routeen at a local pub as I was fresh out of ideas when my grandad suggested the black and white minstrels I was intrigued and without thinking summoned my troops to practice the routeen .Needless to say it went down like a lead balloon when a Nigerian wedding party turned up .We carried on regardless because we were stupid and perhaps thinking they would see the funny side and we were being (ironic) not racist. It dident go well and my nose still sits on the side of my face like a Picasso.
Applying modern semantics like "politically correct" to this is a bit unfair. What they did then was in a different time and people thought completely differntly. Just because they did this doesn't mean they were racist, misguided and bored, probably but it was unlikely they did it with malicious intent to offend.
Lol our Canadian priminister caused a scandal yesterday when a blackface Halloween picture surfaced bahaha
De Vere - Cole was one of history's true nutters, (I mean that in the best sense).
I'm surprised that they actually got away with the farce. Bunga, Bunga LOL 😁😁😁😁
Can you do a video on the hawk raming
Hello thanks for your comment I've covered the subject slightly on my video on violet jessop,
Thanks
There was the time that a guy tried to sell the Eiffel Tower. That same guy also managed to scam Al Capone himself
Professional prankster? Where do I sign up for that job?
I don't see darkening you skin for a costume, disguise, prank etc as wrong at all. Doing it to mock a race is wrong.
Dear God! 112 years later and I am embarrassed on behalf of the Brit Navy!
How do you manage to 'accidentally' ram one of the largest things in the ocean other than, you know, the ocean?
You mentioned it (dark makeup) was offensive, it would be interesting to know who was offended when this happened
Bunga Bunga
the HMS Dreadnought was, sadly, only the most powerful ship in the world for a few years :\ The Bellerophon-class, which could be argued were only marginally improved, started just a year later, and the St Vincent class a year after that. 1909 saw the first of the Colossus class, which made the jump from 12 inch guns to 13.5 inch guns, at which point the HMS Dreadnought was most definitely bottom of the pile of (at least British) dreadnought type ships :\ Naval technology was pretty much in sprint mode the moment the HMS Dreadnought was launched.
I'm guessing pretending to be the king of Britain carried actual punishment? You wouldn't have to go through the trouble of darkening your skin that way.
I would have thought so! Most things to do with the crown carry harsh punishments!
Screw sleep
XD!
Define "sleep"
Can you say 'blackface' without the virtue signalling next time?
but but how will you know hes a good guy and did nuffing wrong and never engages in wrong think ?
Yeah, that would be nice. Exactly how else would one disguise themselves as the Emperor of Ethiopia without darkening their face? He pokes fun at them for not recognising a woman in a beard but some part of me thinks that the pranksters may have fallen short if they turned up in their collage clothes and spoke perfect english.
Mohammed Kazam That was my reason for thumbs down. I don't need SJWs to give me lessons in beeing a good boy.
as if you guys dont do the same thing
Agreed. The virtue signalling was massively cringe-inducing.
Holy shit the bunga bunga telegrams, I am absolutely chafed.
The Bunga-bungle kinda reminds me of Team Americas derka derka Mohammad jihad
Thanks exactly what I thought!! Thanks for the comment!!
Oh i thought this was about the hoax about the british inventing the dreadnaught
Kinda hoped it was...
XD!!!!
Whats wrong with darkening ones skin in order to convince someone you are a person of a different race ?
patty cannon is interesting idea for a video
“Professional prankster”
>darkening the skin is wrong
why?
>method they used is considered offensive by today's standards
why?
The second one is quite self-explanatory, isn't it?
Yeah, God forbid you try and look like the people you are impersonating.
Fuzzy Dunlop no it's not. It's a simple prank, it was not aimed at offending anyone. And I'm *certain* that no one in the world would even think to take offence because of the harmless prank somewhere on the island in the northern hemisphere. Seriously guys, what the fuck? Your PC culture is not PC any more, its simply pathetic and stupid. No African would possibly be offended with this prank -_-
No it is not.
New episodes every” fursday”! Bunga bloody bunga.
The virtue signaling is not appreciated. It was a joke and we all understand that.
Yeah, it sounds about right for other ships to take the piss years later ;)
Today, these pranksters would be computer hackers.
All at tax payers expense as per usual.
Not even addressed here. Funny that.
1:12 - that's not Cambridge
Great video
Thanks! glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the comment!!
I'g gonna start calling my screw ups bunga-bungles.
the stopping to say blackface is wrong is kinda dumb.
Maybe research the history of blackface, as minstrel shows were one of the early trans-racial comedies, helping to bridge the gap between races and cultures.
Its sad to see someone who should maybe know better parroting the PC lines instead of understanding its origin and modern turn.
what is anglosphere obssesion with darkening ones skin? Theyclearly didnt want to poke fun of africans
Can we loosen the PC bulls... with constant olympics in being offended?
why the fuck is darkening one's skin wrong?
Its got the makings of a great movie
"Haitch Em Ess..." 8-D
Porn poet?? Thats genius
nice
thanks for the comment!
Kowa-bunga bunga meine fruends!
\o_
/\
Not offensive by todays standard at all. Funny then and funny now.
It’s only offensive if you ascribe to the notion that the world isn’t legitimately to kill or be killed. Also, there were multiple Islamic countries that were VERY close with the National Socialist Party of Germany during the 1930-40s. In case you weren’t aware. Western ideals of freeness and equal opportunities are right, treating certain classes and people goes against that not. Major difference. It’s almost as if giving certain groups advantages above others is not a good idea.
Before even getting to the offensiveness of blackface as a concept, I'm offended by how unconvincing the blackface in the photos actually is! Like, really, they fell for THAT? It just plain looks like face paint.
Why is darkening the skin so wrong? Millions of people all over the world do it every summer. These people just did it quicker...
The method used is level 10 pranking by todays standards and will never be topped. (Security is tighter than a fat guys belt)
If you still think its some form of racist, i'd point you to Special force groups who operated in Afghanistan who darkened their skin using coffee to stay in cover during operations.
Would have been a much better video if 20% of the content wasn't you bogging it down with politically correct crap.
Exactly.
So Bunga Bunga is racist?