Chair on a pole

Lateral with Tom Scott

Host Tom Scott leads a panel of contestants, including Dan Peake, Libby Watson, and Charlotte McDonnell, through a series of lateral thinkin

Key takeaways

• An Audi advertisement in 2003 used keys from Alfa Romeo, Volvo, Mercedes, and BMW to visually form the Audi rings logo.
• In certain California cities, gig workers are paid to close doors on Waymo driverless taxis so the vehicles can proceed.

Main topics

• Lateral thinking puzzles
• Audi advertising history

Notable quotes

I always frantically wave.

Conclusion

The episode offers a stimulating blend of trivia and teamwork, demonst

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Why did King Louis XIV of France usually eat his meals cold? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. Speaker 2 (0:16) Welcome to Lateral. Before today's episode, we decided to run the show through a consumer insights exercise. We assembled a representative focus group, provided some light refreshments, and asked them to evaluate Lateral across several key performance indicators. Initial feedback was promising. Participants responded positively to the show's core proposition. However, someone recommended pivoting the format toward what they described as a more solution-forward knowledge experience, which... Translated means, could you just tell us the answer immediately? We logged their feedback into the strategic improvement framework before placing it into the recycling. Staying true to their mission statement, our key stakeholders today are, first of all, returning to the show after a little while away. Welcome back the puzzle editor for The Telegraph and quizzy Dan on Twitch, Dan Peake, frantically waving at Speaker 3 (1:07) the camera there. I always frantically wave. And don't worry, I will not be giving any of the answers anywhere near as quickly as Speaker 2 (1:14) the consumers would like. How are Twitch puzzles going for you, Dan? Speaker 3 (1:19) I think we're in a bit of a renaissance, both me and... particularly crosswords at the moment. There's a lot of crosswords in particular. I do some video games, sure, but I also do some crosswords once a week. And I think we're in a really golden period at the minute. The only way you can really learn to do cryptic crosswords, which is sort of what I particularly like doing. Particularly British Speaker 2 (1:41) cryptics. Speaker 3 (1:41) Exactly. It's a very unusual thing. If you've solved an American crossword, that's a very different thing. A quick crossword, which is just definitions, that's different entirely. Cryptic, there's all sorts of wordplay and anagrams. it's impossible to learn on your own. So I highly recommend, obviously watching me, of course, but finding crossword streamers on Twitch or on YouTube or MinuteCryptic, that sort of thing. I highly recommend this sort of thing because you can only learn as a group, I think. So you have to go, ah, this is what this clue means. You have to anagram this or it sounds like this word. So crosswords are going really well at the moment. And I think we're in a lovely sort of golden era Speaker 2 (2:20) of crosswords. Just checking the questions. I've got no wordplay in here. Sorry, Dan. I shall provide some. Do not worry. All right. Well, good luck to you on the show today. You are joined by two new players. From the What's All This Then podcast, I'll start by going to Libby Watson. Welcome to Lateral. Speaker 1 (2:38) Hello. Hi. Hello. This Speaker 2 (2:41) is your first time on, so I have to ask, like, what's the podcast? Speaker 1 (2:45) Oh, well, it's about Britain. And it's mostly, I would say, for Americans who have lots of questions about Britain. Things like, why do you have so much nudity on television there? What's all that about? It's one we did recently on the podcast. Or what's the Weights and Measures Act is another one that we did recently, which sounds very boring. And it was. Speaker 2 (3:07) OK, well, Charlotte MacDonald, the other half of what's all this then. Please tell me you talked about optics and the precision measures in bars. We don't have free pour over here. Speaker 4 (3:19) No, honestly, both me and Libby have been away from the UK for such a long time. That's kind of the core of the podcast. So I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't been gone for too long. I think I do. Speaker 1 (3:33) Optics is the little hole they go through, the little antechamber of vodka. Speaker 4 (3:39) Oh yeah, as Libby was saying, it was very boring. I wasn't listening to what she was talking about. Oh, then sell Speaker 2 (3:45) a different episode of the podcast to us. What's your favourite? Where should people start? Speaker 1 (3:48) Mr. Speaker 2 (3:48) Blobby, Mr. Speaker 1 (3:49) Blobby. We did Mr. Blobby. We Speaker 4 (3:50) did Mr. Blobby. Speaker 2 (3:50) Could Speaker 4 (3:51) you Speaker 2 (3:51) not phrase it like that? We Speaker 4 (3:53) love to do Mr. Blobby. We love doing Mr. Blobby. He was Speaker 2 (3:57) so gentle. He Speaker 4 (3:57) has Speaker 2 (3:57) such Speaker 4 (3:58) lovely pink skin. Speaker 2 (4:00) Well, oh, how do I follow that? Good luck. to both of you on the show today. Let's activate the curiosity vertical and proceed with question one. Thank you to David Forrest for this question. A Brazilian agency created an advert in 2003 prominently displaying the car keys of an Alfa Romeo, a Volvo, a Mercedes, and a BMW. Who was their client? One more time. A Brazilian agency created an advert in 2003 prominently displaying the car keys of an Alfa Romeo, a Volvo, a Mercedes, and a BMW. Who was their client? Speaker 1 (4:41) Ooh, 2003, 2003. What have we got for 2003, Charlotte? Speaker 4 (4:46) Um, don't, well, how old was I? 13? So I'm not going to be remembering much. Speaker 1 (4:51) Right through the... Yeah, me too. Speaker 4 (4:53) Excellent. I do enjoy it Speaker 3 (4:55) when we make Tom uncomfortable. Speaker 1 (4:57) Honestly, Speaker 4 (4:59) it's been a while since I've said my age and someone's been like, you're young. I know, isn't that so refreshing? Speaker 1 (5:04) Remember when we had Caitlin on the podcast, Charlotte, and she said, because of course I was born in the year 2000 and I was just basically hung up right there. I'm talking about Speaker 2 (5:12) you were born in 2000. For a minute I thought you were born in 2003 and my brain did a little bit. No, it's okay. It's okay. Speaker 1 (5:19) uh-huh fine no no no yeah yeah Speaker 3 (5:21) well Speaker 2 (5:21) i was Speaker 3 (5:22) studying for exams that's my age okay well Speaker 1 (5:26) that's not that different probably it's all at the same time yeah yeah cars Speaker 4 (5:30) right it's about cars or it's about keys right oh Speaker 3 (5:35) it could be a key client couldn't it i was i was entirely fixated on the cars it's just loads of keys yeah Speaker 1 (5:40) the client was keys The concept of keys. Speaker 4 (5:45) Have you guys thought about locking your car doors? Or maybe even starting your car? Like, have we got the product for you? Speaker 2 (5:52) Oh, but I do like that as an idea. We stole these car keys. Here are photos of them. Speaker 1 (5:56) Yeah, yeah. Guess the car. Yeah, maybe it's like, everyone's closing their doors with just a bit of string now. And we don't think that's good. We need to bring back keys. Keys, they close your doors. It's just an idea. I don't know if the key advertising board is listening and they want to, you know. pay me a consulting fee. Speaker 3 (6:13) Sponsored by Yale University. Speaker 1 (6:15) Yeah, exactly. Speaker 2 (6:17) We are actually. That took a good three, four seconds to make its way into my head. Oh, I Speaker 3 (6:22) like it when you hear the penny drop with an echo. It's Speaker 2 (6:25) lovely. Speaker 1 (6:26) Yeah, yeah. Something Speaker 4 (6:27) of a puzzle, that one. Yeah. Speaker 1 (6:30) This is how we do our podcast, actually, is someone says something like Yale University. Oh, and I think Yale locks. And then I panic and I go, Charlotte. Do you know they have to get locks in America? Do they have to get locks here? And then we do about 20 minutes on that. Speaker 2 (6:46) That's right. Yeah. The company in question that's being advertised here was not one of the ones I listed. It wasn't Alfa Romeo, Volvo, Mercedes, or BMW. Speaker 4 (6:54) When did they introduce air tags? Like after this? But I'm like, you know, I'm thinking about like, I'm thinking about key rings Speaker 2 (7:02) here. Oh, key rings. Oh. Yeah, keep thinking about key rings. These keys were hung up on a rack. Oh, okay. Hmm. Speaker 1 (7:12) I have an idea, but I don't know that it makes any sense. Oh, Speaker 3 (7:17) you've now got to say it. You have led yourself into saying it. Speaker 1 (7:20) Okay. So what I was thinking was 2003, right? That might have been when the Italian job came out. And which made me think, what if Italian car company, like one of them. Speaker 3 (7:36) Alfa Romeo is Speaker 1 (7:38) Italian, yeah. But what if there was another one and they did a car advert that was like, you're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off and buy a car. Speaker 2 (7:46) I just looked this up. Congratulations. The Italian job was 2003, or at least the remake of it. Yes. Good work. Perfect recall. Completely irrelevant to the question. I wouldn't concentrate on the year at all, but excellent Mark Wahlberg film knowledge, I guess. Speaker 1 (8:03) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Obviously, I'm a huge Mark Wahlberg fan. I go to Wahlburgers every day. The Speaker 2 (8:10) benefits of being an American. They did try to open a Wahlburgers in the UK. I believe it has now closed. Speaker 1 (8:16) Damn. Wait, I need to take this opportunity to check in. What is the beloved burger chain in the UK these days? Speaker 2 (8:22) Oh, difficult. Yeah, a Burger King, Speaker 3 (8:25) sort of. But it's no longer what it was. I do like a good Whopper, though. Speaker 1 (8:32) Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah. I've heard a lot of people talking about Five Guys because you've got it in London now. I Speaker 2 (8:37) like Five Guys as well. Keys, folks. Oh, hello. You've identified key rings. You have identified key rings. You've identified they're being hung up. And I think just before we got distracted by burgers, there was a good suggestion that went out. Ah, I wasn't paying attention, though. Speaker 4 (8:54) I was wondering, is that all of the keys? Because you said it wasn't the company selling... This product, whatever it is, is not one of the ones you mentioned, but was there like one more key that is theirs, Speaker 2 (9:07) perhaps? Four keys on four key rings. Speaker 1 (9:10) Okay. Speaker 2 (9:10) What were the four cars again, Tom? Alfa Romeo, Volvo, Mercedes, BMW. There's got to be something that connects those if those particular four are used. I'm laughing, Dan, because yes, there is kind of a connection here. It's not between the keys. Does anyone know cars? It's absolutely Speaker 1 (9:34) zero idea. I Speaker 2 (9:36) think more about a connection between the four key rings. Speaker 3 (9:39) Audi has four Speaker 2 (9:40) rings. Yes, they do, Dan. Speaker 3 (9:43) So were they somehow using their competitors to advertise Audi in some way? Speaker 2 (9:49) Yes, they were. The four key rings are hung up and overlapping and they make the Audi logo. The concept being that this is the best features of all those four cars combined. Oh, that's good. Those Speaker 1 (10:04) crazy guys. What are they going to do next? Speaker 2 (10:07) Anyone else want to run out and buy an Audi right now based on that? It's not 2003 and I'm not in Brazil. Speaker 1 (10:14) No, absolutely. Oh, my God. All right. This is starting to feel like one of the dreams I have where I have to do my history GCSE again, but I haven't been going to the classes at all. And this is the question that would be on the piece of paper. And I'd be thinking, I'm 35. Why? Why am I doing this? I've got a master's degree. Why is this happening? And then I still wouldn't wake up. Speaker 2 (10:33) We will go to the first of our guest questions. Dan, over to you. Speaker 3 (10:37) Okie doke. Thank you