The Accidental Rush for Anthrax Island
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- Опубликовано: 30 май 2021
- Gruinard Island, in the north-west of Scotland, was where Britain tested its biological weapons. That story's been told many times: but I found something in the archives that I don't think anyone's ever noticed before.
Thanks to the boat crew and voice artists!
Location fixer: Vikki McCraw at Locations 365 www.locations365.co.uk/
SOURCES from the National Archives:
WO 188/2783
WO 188/3169
WO 32/20442
DEFE 55/118
DEFE 68/991, 992, 993
One other stories I found but couldn't fit into the video: the government spent a long time trying to work out the legal ramifications of selling the island back. In the end, they agreed to guarantee the cleanup for 150 years, which to me is the strongest evidence that there's nothing dangerous left there: they wouldn't have taken that risk otherwise!
Filmed safely: www.tomscott.com/safe/
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This is the first of three videos from the west of Scotland! It's good to be back on the road again. Uh, and back on the water, I guess.
Love your vids, keep them coming :)
2 days ago?
time travelling again, i see
Hi
@@fernandosaucedo4182 it was a Scheduled upload.
"I'm not afraid of anthrax because I already live next to a council rubbish dump."
That might be the most Scottish thing I've ever heard.
Glaswegian thing, anyway
scoddish moment
@UCm921JwO-PSPM4jNjelRjgQ quit sad innit mate?
Tell me you're Scottish without saying you're Scottish.
@@H0n3yMonstah I'm scottish
"I am prepared to offer £501 immediately" sounded so much like one of James Veitch's sketches
Only if the island comes with a free toaster...
I immediately thought the same thing! "That sounds like a James V. Line!"
oh my gosh it DOES
Are there rubber ducks on the island?
I will pay 502!
"Doesn't have Anthrax Any More" is the best selling point I've ever heard.
It's nearly as good as advertising splinter-free toilet paper
Would you like to come with me, I am no longer infected.
apples for sale. *Now with 100% less death spikes. Compare to competing brands!
Remondis me of "Vegan Potatos".
Imagine that ad in 2020. People would go crazy!
Tom Scott: makes a video
22 minutes later: the "letters from the public wanting to buy it" part is added to and used as a reference in the Gruinard Island Wikipedia page
Tom Scott videos are definitely a reliable source!
The trick is to not source the video, but to source the sources from the video
@@tsrenis the video is the source in the wikipedia page
@@zuflu not for long, wikipedia has a general expectation/rule to not cite primary sources
@@tsrenis but wouldn't the video, which features images of the original letters, count as documentation of primary sources in this instance?
Tom Scott then: here’s a story
Tom Scott now: but that’s not the real story
a checkmark i see
Ok, checkmark
Tom Scott telling like he’s narrating the whole lore of the world
😂 😂 I thought I was the only one
Hey checkmark.
Government: We are not selling the island for £500 to ANYONE BESIDES THE ORIGINAL OWNER
People: Best I can do right now is £501
what a bargain!
@@TheMrTangamandapio island on sale! Now -0,2% off!
501.50 sir, you're breaking my balls here
I mean I am sure the original owner has multiple descendants, meaning they might try to compete for the island.
501? I don't know, let me get an expert on Scottish islands that were used for chemical warfare tests.
Some of the people writing those letters were DEFINITELY taking the piss.
aah, no i dont think so, I have met people that would write letters like that if they somhow got the idea they were ahead of the curve... incidently also the same people willing to believe the world is flat and nasa withholds all the truths.
Its a type of stubborn personality where one believes to be in the know yet refuse to do any actual work or study.
"I am prepared to offer £501 immediately." DEFINITELY is hahabhsbhahaaha
Tom Scott wants to cancel April Fools day because he's a cancel culture pedaling Marxist Socialist.
@@michaeltolhurst7215 ok
@@michaeltolhurst7215 ok
“April Fools Day is a curse and we should abandon it.” ACCURATE AS ALWAYS!
No
@@Yes_yep_yeah no
I disagree.
There are a lot of good, light hearted jokes that can and do go around.
Example, Hardspace: Shipbreaker by Blackbird Interactive, a spaceship salvage simulator, replaced the sound effects for their tools from heavy laser sounds to someone saying "pew" in a bunch of different ways.
Hilarious and everyone loved it.
Theres also the running joke of the "Retro proto turbo encabulator", pure technobabble as an in-joke for engineers.
Newspapers probably shouldn't run stories that aren't clearly marked at the end, but "April fools is a curse and should be abandoned" is a touch too far.
@@TheMan83554 i think the april fools stuff we should abandon are the one that litterally looked like a real thing
If it's like landfall day, or something that is clearly seen as a joke no matter when did you find it, then it's ok
Whenever Tom Scott does an aside, you know it's something important.
Headline: Tom Scott is the person to call about a surprisingly cheap Scottish island.
Tom Scott Stars In A Reasonably Priced Island
That doesn't have anthrax anymore.
"Doesn't have anthrax anymore" is a wildly suspicious statement to make while advertising any property you have for sale, let alone an island.
Tom’s getting surprised by his videos a lot lately. I like the feeling that we’re both learning
Wholesome
So Tom’s the person to talk to about buying a private Scottish island… that’s what I’m taking from this video.
Better get started on writing him a letter...
@@PorkSodaBassist Make sure to send it as an email and through the postal system, in case one of the two gets lost.
@@PorkSodaBassist I would buy the island for £502 immediately.
@@mileyardgigahertz 504
@@davebathgate 510!
"Totally anthrax free island, just 500 pounds" sounds hella sketchy, like "asbestos free cereal".
Toms "The hidden rules of conversation" video, anyone?
Is your profile pic vegan by any chance?
Is your profile pic certified organic?
Are you Dutch by any chance?
will I get the joke from the responses if I search the video you mentioned by any chance?
@@myname7937 Yes.
Dear Lord Vetinari, it has come to my attention that and island on the river Ankh is up for sale for $500. I understand that the island was once used for experimentation by Unseen University, but that doesn't not concern me as I used to live next to their trash heap for several years, and the worst thing I ever saw there were talking mice. I am therefore prepared to offer you a sum of $501 for the island to take it off your hands.
You've created such a well crafted, respected, and valuable body of work on this platform. Thanks for all your hardwork, I'm glad it hasn't gone unnoticed!
"The press can sometimes gloss over those sorts of details" - Understatement of the year.
Amen to that
I just don’t get how the press could misinterpret this. It’s a simple event that can be summed up in a single sentence, “Government sells Anthrax Island back to the ORIGINAL owners for £500.”
Maybe add in the little blurb, “Per contractual agreement,” to clarify it even more.
I don't trust the press even one Planck length.
@@howardbaxter2514 they wanted to prove how the evil government devalued an entire island originally belonging to others. It was again propoganda, their main objective
"and we're not here to see any of that!" The setup here is delightfully close to what The Tim Traveller does😁
Makes me think those two could do a great collab.
We need that crossover SO much
It's a real mainstay of the going-to-an-obscure-place-to-talk-about-an-unusual-event-that-occurred RUclips niche.
@@HappyBeezerStudios The Tom Traveller?
I'm so glad others know The Tim Traveller
Nice one. I once applied for a teaching position advertised in the government gazette. I was mildly miffed a year later when I found out that the successful applicant was rather less qualified than me. Then I was told " All jobs have to be advertised, even when its a straight internal promotion. They would have been quite annoyed getting an outside application."
i suspect this has brought me nearly as much joy as it did you, thank you for this story
24 years ago when I was a young undergraduate geologist we went there and weren't told about it until we were getting on the coach back to the hotel and we had to step into purple disinfectant and when we asked why we were told "oh that's anthrax Island you've been on all day"
But the island was officially declared safe in 1990, years before you went there..?
@@abraham2626 🙄
Almost certainly that was because of the foot and mouth disease outbreak at the time, not anthrax
@@cyclizine9934 thanks for explaining. that makes my anecdote 12.7% funnier
When "This Island definitely doesn't have anthrax on it!" actually makes you less suspicious.
Well, it's important to specify, just to make sure people don't get any ideas that there's anthrax on it.
Asbestos free cereal vibes
“In times of war, the law falls silent.” I couldn’t have said it better.
TOM: "Overhyped show"
ME, see that it's "Inside Edition": "Yep".
So Tom, you're telling me that I can buy a Scottish island that used to be contaminated with anthrax for 500 pounds? Deal.
AH HA i bid 502 Pounds
I heard Tom say he’s the one selling it.
@@hunterwylie6969 this is also my understanding, 503 pounds it is
@@MrTheoJ i too understand, and up your bid to 504 pounds
@@liammachale7784 I up your bid to 504.50 pounds
"And you're the person to call about a surprisingly cheap Scottish island"
This feels like personal experience. Someone called you about this island, didn't they?
I feel like after that video a few jokers will have the _good idea_ to enact your devilish plan
"I got an email..."
Not yet, but they will now.
@@ragnkja Unless he's planning on a follow-up video that dives into what happens when you allow the internet to contact you.
new Tom Scott videos are always a joy
I live in Frederick Maryland up wind from Fort Detrick where this subject was studied in United States. It’s an interesting part of our history. Nicely presented Tom as always.
The 501 pounds offered is so funny to me, like that 1 pound would sway the British governments decision in who to sell the island too
Actually, in a closed-envelope competitive auction, and there have been plenty of government contracts awarded on exactly that basis over the decades, it very much can.
Guy didn't want to miss their shot.
@@nah1557 Where are you shopping for your Curly Whirly's, as they are 50p each in a shop near me!
@@nah1557 Bargain!
If they really were selling it to the public, there would likely be some rule that they have to accept the highest offer.
“This isn’t the story I expected to tell you“ is how all the best Tom Scott videos start, with the story you expect there to be and you’ve read all about actually being quite different once you look into it.
I like your profile picture
"the only way to see this island is through a chartered flight..so we got one" one of the best lines in his filmography
All the best stories are like that. "We thought this thing was interesting, but once we dug deeper into it it grew from merely interesting to frankly *fascinating*."
"I started writing a story about Anthrax Island, what happened next will shock you!"
Literally only two videos have ever started this way
Just want to say I really appreciate you ensuring your videos are appropriately subtitled!
Legend!
Great video - as a West Highlander it is great to see you sharing stories about the area!
“In times of wars laws fall silent” wow
>Nerd Mode on
Inter arma enim silent leges
yes, and im much more recent times... a vaccine without fda approval. as they sometimes can quantify, needs must.
@@twoseventhree please don’t make this about the US.
@@twoseventhree No one cares about the USA but itself. Meh.
@@jonasdatlas4668 DS9 *and* Latin? Alright!
Can we appreciate how Tom got toghether People who actually spoken in that Accent to read the document?
Can I ask why you capitalised people and accent? Not trying to be rude but it strikes me as odd (and unnecessary, of course). Seen it a few times before.
@@ragnkja maybe the guy is german
@@mishal0404 Interesting, to Germans capatalise nouns?
@@debesys6306 Thank you, that might explain why I see it somewhat frequently.
@@debesys6306 It is not only grammatically correct. It is grammatically required to capitalise all nouns.
Not gonna lie, hearing those voice overs for the letter read outs reminded me of Points Of View from the 80's.
Just seen this is now on fire... :/ such a story, just grabbed my attention on the news.
"Landed on the island and had a walk around, unaware of the dangers". They must have been blind. The signs telling you not to land were so large you could read them from a Royal Navy warship, as it sailed by the island (which is how I saw them).
If they didn’t have very good English they might not have read it, or they might not have paid attention to the sight expecting it to be the name of the island or something.
@@science-recon7392 West German tourists in Britain in the 1980s not being able to read basic English seems unlikely, though not impossible. Perhaps they misunderstood the signs as - "Don't land right here, but 10m to the left of the sign is fine."
@@pesadjo Also sounds like the kind of sign that probably has a great big biohazard or skull symbol on it. Haven't seen it, but willing to bet on it.
@@pesadjo Well, depends, assuming they were 20 years old at the time that would mean that they were born in 1962, received most of their education in the 70's. English was taught very little or not at all in many places in the 70's in mainland Europe. Considering that they would be almost 60 now and I've met 40 something-year-old germans that couldn't speak basic English, I wouldn't say it's impossible.
@@cummerou1 It is highly unlikely that someone with that little English would take a trip to the Scottish islands.
The way you say "doesn't have anthrax anymore" at the end makes it sound like the anthrax was a selling point for the island lmao.
_"Don't trespass on my island, it's guarded by anthrax."_
Advice if you're selling a house: put anthrax in it! People will come flocking to buy it!
For Dark Harvest Commando perhaps
Perfect piece of Tom Scott work.
You're easily one of the best content creators in this platform
The band 'Anthrax' would like to have their island back...
Joey Balladonna will have half, John Bush will have the other half and Scott Ian has to be the diplomatic envoy keeping the whole thing held together.
Feels like a sitcom in the making: ageing 80s thrash metal pioneers attempt to survive on desolate Scottish ex-biological weapons testing island
Petition for the Big 4 to tour on Anthrax island
Ok the Big 4 minus Slayer and Megadeth...
Ok so just Metallica and Anthrax I guess
@@metetural9140 And tale Testament instead of Anthrax!
It'll cost them. Five hundred pounds.
I just love these smaller, human stories that come with bigger historical events, we rarely get to hear these!
Ah yes
thank you for subtitles Tom!
These videos are so good. Really enjoy watching them!
So what I'm getting out of this is, Tom owns the island and we should ask him if we can buy it?
@Jonathan L oooh thats a good deal
@Jonathan L I can beat your offer. £420, several kilograms of traditional British sweets, some natural fertilizer, and an official certificate of ownership of land in Sealand, making the owner a Lord
At this rate the next video will start with "I'm Tom Scott.....is what I'd like to say. But that's not who I am"
The AI is taking over the channel... 👀
Speaking of AI....
@@WanderTheNomad LMAOOO
And I think that would be a great video on linguistics. Tom Scott is legally Thomas, but no one cares. However, in some cultures, it’s currently very hard to imagine people being regularly called by shortened forms of their names (the term is a hypocorism), and especially becoming elected officials, like Tony Blair and Bill Clinton did.
To give an example, Vladimir Putin would have never publicly introduced himself as Vova or Volodya (Vlad is a separate name). In Ukraine, which is more open politically, Putin’s counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky never goes by Volodya either. And neither do his political rivals, to my knowledge.
@@alexo6967 Whereas where I live it can be very difficult to convince someone I don't want to use a nickname. People don't seem to understand that I want them to take half a second to use all three syllables. (I suppose I still don't use my legal name, but I do use the original version of my legal name from before it was incorrectly transliterated into English a few centuries ago.)
The color space and subtle changes are remarkable. Great production value.
Such crisp video quality. Very well done.
Imagine just scrolling on ebay and seeing a fooking Scottish island being sold for £500 today, that would be wild.
I mean, The Spiffing Brit did buy the whole of Scotland for free...even made a video on it!
@Thomas Corbett Oh
Like how that USA guy 2017 was talking about buying Greenland?
@Thomas Corbett The US also purchased alaska
Really? only knew about that orange headed person...
Government: tries to sell the Island back to the original owners for £500
Everyone: Shut up and take my money!
Media: as you can clearly see, the island is for sale for £500
KFC
Currently the entire island is on fire
Having James Vitch voice in there is exactly the level of details "The Greatest Title Sequence I've Ever Seen" video praised. Good work!
"This isn't the story I expected to tell here"
Why have I heard that before
Seems like you've gone full AI-based now.
Hehe monke 🙊
Glad I am not the only one who thought this title sounded a bit AI-ish.
@@justincenter4061 i question every tom Scott title now after that AI video 😂
AI- based and redshirtpilled
Turns out, reality was the real AI all along.
I find your videos calming and stabilising. You are my lithium ❤️
The geographics channel mentioned this briefly thanks for going into more detail
The National Archives are an absolute marvel. You can wander in on the day order a document from any period of history and 40 mins later it'll be in your intray. Incredible system that very few people take advantage of
It's not so great. I write mostly mountain histories in Australia. The night before, I order a stack of records from the Public Record Office of Victoria and spend the next day going through hundreds of dusty letters and documents that have been untouched for 80 years looking for one that gives a reason why an application to build a ski lodge in 1925 was refused. It's a very dull and boring way to spend a day, especially if you don't find what you were looking for.
I volunteered at the National Archives and its an amazing place! The archives themselves are absolutely enormous, three storeys of these gigantic warehouse sized rooms lined with rows and rows and rows of floor to ceiling shelves. I was volunteering with the team of people who's job it is to walk through the archives, manually find each document requested and send it off. Its amazing the range of random stuff they keep there
@@Dave_Sisson At the NA all documents have been digitised so there's members of the librarian race who will look up the passage you need and fetch the correct dusty tome for you.
This is crazy! I heard you on the radio the other day and heard you were in Inverness - I stay just around 30 minutes away from Gruinard and was going to reach out to you about potentially filming something about it in the future. Awesome to see!
Tom Scott is always a step ahead.
Quite interesting! I'd never heard anything about this before. Thank you for sharing.
Tom Scott is my preferred educational RUclipsr. Best nonfiction game on the platform !!
That little rock on the hill at 2:03 reminds me of Korok Seeds from Breath of the Wild.
Tom: I expect to tell an amazing story
Tom at the start of every video: "This isn't the story I expected to tell."
Came back to this video.. I have a slight feeling the going price for the island has just plummeted..
I think Tom Scott's job is really amazing
"April's fools day is a curse and we should abandon it" - could not agree more
I could! More than I do now I mean.
These videos are the highlight of my Mondays... great choice of day to put them out. All the best of your videos start with 'this isn't the story I was going to tell' and this one didn't disappoint. Thanks.
Love this channel so much
This is the kind of video I absolutely love by Tom. We've all (probably) heard about a Scottish island where biological weapons were tested. What this video delves into is the aftermath and the more human side of that rather than the nature of the tests themselves. I don't hear about this sort of thing anywhere else and this is why Tom's YT channel is probably the most valuable channel on the internet. There are very few channels where I will see there's a new upload and then make time out of my day to watch it.
Anthrax island? That was a nice touch Clarice
this isn't the story i expected to tell you, instead what i want to tell is how great raid shadow legends is
An interesting video and thanks for your sensitivity regarding it. I remember the news reports at the time. It still feels strange to think of it as Gruinard Island, not Anthrax Island.
That was an especially nice touch, Clarice.
That guy who wanted to buy the 500 dollar island with a deal of 501 dollars, what a lad
500 pounds, which is about 750 American dollars. Depending on the day.
welcome to the price is right
I'm just impressed that the government honored their promise.
@@ElementofKindness dont see that very often do we.
Funny thing is in India it is custom to give an extra rupee to someone if you ate gifting the person money as a form of good luck. So if you are gifting someone 500 rs you'll give him 501 rs. This is kinda like one for good luck😅
Media: Government selling anthrax Island for £500
Everyone: I'll take you entire stock
You can listen to them free on Spotify stupud.
I'm so used to watching old tom Scott videos I didn't realize how new this one was
Tom, I absolutely love your videos.
Once of the best consistent RUclips creators. Keep up the great work!
Tom Scott's Anthrax Adventure: Worldwide Pandemic 2
Tom Scott: Spreading the Disease
Tom can make any obscure story interesting to hear. No flimflam, long drawn out intros or channel promoting either. 👍
"acting like we own the place"
that was a funny thing.
And so true. It seems to have happened all around the world.
I mean, to be fair, the British did most of the time.
@@science-recon7392 If by did, you're referring to 'acting like they own the place', then yes. God, _yes_ they did.
If you're referring to 'owning the place', then no. They did not.
@bertjesklotepino I live about 10 mins away from gruinard island and yes a lot of people act like they own the place
@@allywiseman3822 My reaction was to what Tom said about the British people.
They always act like they own the place.
All around the world.
For example: Gibraltar, Falkland Islands, Hong Kong.
I mean, the British have always acted like they own the place.
@@bertjesklotepino ur not wrong
Sounds like an amazing tribute/Mix band
Rush and Anthrax combined must be wild
Alternative title: "No, You Can't Buy an Anthrax Free Island for £500"
I remember Anthrax, their best track was called caught in a mosh. Also remember reading up on this place as well.
Today I learned how to pronounce Gruinard Island.. more than 30 years after I learned of it's existence. During my military service in Sweden in 1989 I studied ABC-defence or defence against atomic biologic and chemical weapons. We were told all about the biological experiments on Gruinard and I've told that story plenty of times.. always calling it gru-in-ard. Now I know: "grin-yrd" it is and I have a new twist to add to the story.
You should check out the castle on that island! The staff are very friendly
A spanking! A spanking!
'You can buy April Fool's Day for 500 pounds.'
-Tom Scott, 2021.
Just to be clear: is that with or without Anthrax?
@@trueriver1950 Yes
@@trueriver1950 No
@@trueriver1950 with Anthrax, it's £501 without
Great work to do all the research, wondering how you find the time for that. Much appreciated, love your Videos, keep on the great work.
I really expected an outro with Tom begging to get off this damn bobbing boat.
Note: Read the description. There's quite a strong guarantee there by the British Government.
I cannot believe Tom did a whole video about Anthrax Island without mentioning its greatest attraction: Castle Anthrax!
really impressed the video was crisp clear.
Need more video tom it's always interesting watching you
Oh that's definitely one of the AI generated ones
It's 1:10am and I'm drifting off but Tom just uploaded so I'm losing more sleep. Good video regardless.
Yes, why does Tom always load interesting videos at bed time?
I blame the fact that I will be tired, cranky and inefficient tomorrow on him.
Wonderful story, Tom!
Love the bobbing effect with the camera and the horizon moving around. GreenScreen skills are getting good!
Ever since Tom made that AI Generated title video I think about whether or not the video I’m about to see is real. It’s like my brain checks itself and thinks “is anthrax island real?”
It is very real
Well it is a very important reaction to have towards virtually anything you find on the web.
Yep. I'll view the title of every future Tom Scott video through the lens of AI generated titles. Did the AI come up with it? Did it come up with something similar? Could it even come up with something like this?
2020 was the rare year where you were more likely to catch a deadly disease off of Anthrax Island than on it. (The rest of the UK should be as safe as that isolated island before too long, hopefully.)
I saw "Rush" and "Anthrax" in the title, and my music-loving brain got excited.
Excellent stuff!