Whether everything in life is spelled out for us, or left entirely to chance, there's never a dull moment inside the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Our world is full of the unexplainable.
History is an open book all of these
Amazing tales are right there on display just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the cabinet of curiosities, most people today, no at least the basics of the story of france's king louis, the sixteenth. He was the last king of france and when he died,
I'd the monarchy died with him and, of course he was the grandson of louie, the great also known as the sun king. Even his wife, Marie antoinette was well known with one of the more recognizable names from popular history, but what most people tend to skip over is his childhood. Unlike his grandfather, the sun king, who ascended to the throne at the age of just for
louis. The sixteenth didn't become king until he was nearly twenty, which means he had a lot of time before that to experience life from his less lofty position. One moment in particular stands out as a child. Louie was approached by an astrologer who asked if he could make a prediction when Louie agreed, this astrologer warned the future king to be cautious of the twenty first day of each month. This morning came with no further explanation, but despite that implanted itself, firmly in the boys mine later after taking the throne and seventeen
Seventy four louis organized his responsibilities as king around that childhood fear. He avoided doing any important business on the twenty first of each month. Assuming
if he never set the wheels in motion on those days, there would be nothing to return and harm him. Then again, what
coming down the pipeline with something no one could have predicted.
When the american revolution broke out in seventeen, seventy six Benjamin franklin approached louie for help with defeating the british rule of the american colonies. King Louis agreed and set much support to their cause and, in the end,
It worked, the british were defeated and the french gained a new powerful ally, but it also showed the french citizens that a country could exist without a monarchy.
In seventeen. Eighty nine revolution broke out again this time in france.
hired in part by the americans, the french over through their own king, and set up a republic in its place, which meant that king louis, the sixteenth, had to go. But here's where it gets weird king louis did his best to fight off the revolution, but on june
one eighth of seventeen, ninety one he and his family put on the closing of servants and escaped into the night. While there, sir.
and remained behind dressed as nobles the following day. They were captured and arrested. That would be june twenty first or anyone keeping track
A little over a year later, the new french government issued an official pronouncement that abolished the french monarchy forever the date september. Twenty first seventeen ninety two, it would take another few months before louie met his fate. It's the pie,
most of us know, the best louie was led out into the palace della core, not wearing an enormous crowd, had gathered to watch the execution there in front of the people. He once ruled over Louis gave a brief speech and was then executed by getting the date
seventeen ninety three january, twenty first, of course, that old astronomer told lui to avoid the twenty first of the month and looking back it seems like that was pretty solid advice. The trouble was he couldn't control everything, no one, not even a king.
and stop the march of time
tony had arrived in london to take part in the production of a new hollywood film? It was an adaptation of a popular novel and because of that, Tony really wanted to get a copy of the book for himself to read and study and used as a resource for his own.
performance. Shortly after arriving in the city, he headed out to a local bookstore to see if they had a copy but left empty handed. He checked a few more stores, but each visit resulted in the same outcome. Frustrated tony decided to call it quits and head back to his apartment, so he walked to the nearest subway station leicester square and headed inside
While he waited for the train to arrive, he took a seat on one of the nearby benches. No one was sitting there, but
he sat down. He noticed that somewhat had left a small pile of papers. At one end, his curiosity drove him to pick up the pile and looked through it
which is when he made a fantastic discovery there inside the papers, was a copy of the very same book that he'd been trying and, failing all day to by tony, took that book home and devoured it. It was clearly a well loved copy with handwriting scrawled in pencil throughout the pages, but it allowed him to fully understand the authors vision for his character and gave him the tools he needed to deliver his best as an actor after the fear
and was complete. He left london and took the book with him. Roughly two years later, Tony was in vienna working on the films production when he had a chance to meet the author of that elusive book. The writer george pfeiffer, faint tony for his performance and
help in bringing his novel to life, but
so lamented that he no longer owned a single copy of his own novel.
he listened in surprise as george described loaning his last copy to a good friend, but that friend george added never returned my copy. In fact she told me she lost it in the subway tony smiled and then reached into his bag and pulled out the copy of the book he still carried with him. A cover was still sharp and the title of the book was printed across it. The girl, from petrovskoe george pfeiffer, took the copy and his hands with wide eyes and then opened it up to look at the pages there scribbled in the margins
or his own personal notes, this is it. He exclaimed, smiling wide. Tony tony understanding his place in this wild coincidence. Gladly past ownership of the book back to george
So that's how an author rediscovered his own missy novel lost by random sir
I'm stances. It had returned to him through the most unusual of events and handed
Pretty him by one of hollywood's, most legendary leading men, our
euro. The actor you see wasn't listed in the credits as tony
by the name. All of us know him by today anthony hopkins.
I hope you enjoy today's guided tour of the cabinet of curiosities subscribe for free on apple podcast or law
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Transcript generated on 2022-08-29.