Can you identify these 54 people?

[@notme222]

After he said Sally Ride there was a moment where my brain went "Stop thinking of the song and focus on the question!" Then about 10 seconds later I got it.

[@AnimeSunglasses]

I was still hung up on "that many people haven't died in or on their way to space yet" Then he said Doris Day and I got it.

[@timothymclean]

If I had been on the panel, when Ceri asked what we know about Sally Ride, I would have said "heavy metal, suicide," and I wonder how Tom would have reacted. Also how the people unfamiliar with Billy Joel would have reacted, because without that context it's a _really_ dark non sequitur.

[@Chelrack]

My mind just didn't want to let go of the idea that it is "all US Presidents" even though I know that there haven''t been 54 Presidents and that a majority died before the given timeframe

[@holgerchristiansen4003]

That was my very first idea as well, but I was able to discard it quickly because of the reasons you mentioned :)

[@pamcakes1234]

This is my exact internal dialogue until he named the 2 events 😂

[@SilverEye91]

I am sooooo glad there are subtitles for this! There was no way I could have ever heard what Hank shouted when he got it.

[@cyrilio]

+

[@Ani]

same ^^

[@Dusty_Ham]

I came to the comments to see what was shouted, I wouldn't have though to turn on the subtitles if you hadn't mentioned it.

[@jayayeonetoo3335]

ditto! also, what a pleasant surprise to see animagician here of all places :D

[@pikekeke]

"Ooohhhh IT'S EHWIWI WI SUH FIRE!!!"

[@darthbob88]

Fun fact about "We Didn't Start the Fire": When Billy Joel forgot the lyrics in his songs in concert, he would look over at his bassist who would mouth the words to himself. When he forgot the words to "We Didn't Start the Fire", he looked over at the bassist who just shook his head to say "You're on your own".

[@frankb2995]

Thought that was Liberty Divitto, the drummer.

[@darthbob88]

@@frankb2995 IDK, maybe. I learned that fact a long time ago.

[@JaccovanSchaik]

Got it as soon as he said "George Santayana" because my mind immediately went "Goodbye!"

[@Elwaves2925]

It was the first mention of Sally Ride for me. That was the first time I'd heard of her.

[@thryduulf]

Exactly the same. I guess you too probably cannot hear North Korea, South Korea without then saying "Marilyn Monroe"?

[@fakjbf3129]

Exactly the same here.

[@Leafsdude_]

I did too, but I'm dense enough to have joked "wouldn't it be funny if it was We Didn't Start The Fire?" and then he said Sally Ride and I was like, "oh damn, it's We Didn't Start The Fire."

[@davidschmidt5507]

I did the exact same lol

[@SilverEye91]

Snow White is 1937, Tom.

[@srhegarty]

Yep. Annoyed me too

[@myladycasagrande863]

It was rereleased multiple times, though, including 1952.

[@fariesz6786]

fake news! Snow White has birds in it and birds came to this planet, suddenly, in 1962

[@srhegarty]

@@_Clivey Tom’s unearned confidence

[@AngryKittens]

Snow White is 1812, SilveryEye91.

[@bernier42]

Appreciate the shout out, as one of the very small part of the audience screaming the answer.

[@user-cc7vx7sw4z]

I got it when he said there were also things on the list. I basically yelled “British politician sex” because for whatever reason that is the first line in the song that came to mind.

[@WyvernYT]

And Billy Joel wrote before we knew about the pig. (If you don't know, don't google that.)

[@valeriebumblebee7607]

I so wish that you were listening to this on headphones- in public. Just randomly shouting 'British politician sex' in a bus.

[@oscarramage95]

The song references something or someone from the 40 years between the year Billy Joel was born, 1949, and 1989, when the song was recorded

[@SirExal]

I was yelling "The only important thing about Sally Ride here is that she rhymes with "Children of Thalidomide!" (Although I was wrong, she rhymes with "Heavy metal suicide.") ...That's depressing, but not as depressing as Fallout Boy rhyming "Metroid" with "George Floyd."

[@UltimatePartyBear]

I would have found it hilarious if none of the guests had known the song. I can just imagine Tom aging 20 years on camera as he realized.

[@DevilboyScooby]

This happened with Down Under by Men at Work 😱😂

[@matthewbowers88]

This is my favourite lateral question!!! And you've had some belters. Taking this one to the pub.

[@CCNYMacGuy]

My first thought was the album cover for Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but I see now that Sir Robert Peel was actually on the cover too. Ahh, well.

[@Sportsfungamer]

I jumped out of my chair out of anger once I got it. Damn you and good work question team

[@21centdregs]

the fall out boy cover isn't that bad, although it certainly could have been done better by better bands. the events not being in chronological order is kinda goofy but definitely not unforgivable.

[@paradoxica424]

regarding unforgivable; it depends on what kind of nerd you are

[@Ramonatho]

Fall out boy went from making Grand Theft Autumn to this crap

[@michaellyden2580]

Is this the first ever Tom Scott/Hank Green crossover?

[@hisashiyarouin]

Hank also played in Disconnected

[@tj4234]

Also half the people on screen have presented Sci Show.

[@laylahassomethingtosay]

Cheesy as it made sound, I cried a little the first time I heard the Fall Out Boy cover. Tbf, I had never realized the original song was in chronological order so I didn't have that to judge it by, but the updated references really drove home the refrain in a way that I was never able to fully comprehend with the original. It's purely generational, but yeah someone's gotta give Fall Out Boy some love💗

[@glutenfreebees]

I got it at the exact same second as hank but paused the video as I realized, so a couple seconds later I unpaused to "AAAAHHTHPEOPLDWEDIDNTSTARTHEFIIREEEE"

[@rexbaumeister7377]

I had absolutely no idea what the list was until Tom said "Harry Truman" and then I instantly knew.

[@T1tty5uck3r]

Same, Truman + Santayana got it for me

[@jamesaditya5254]

I'll be honest, I didn't recognize any of the name OR the title of the song. However, once I played just a bit of the tune I recognized it from the KZbin channel called Cultaholic where one Adam Pacitti does a version of the song dubbed "What Happened to That Wrestler" featuring names from the pro-wrestling scene such as Bam Bam Bigelow and Mean Gene Okerlund. A shorter version of the song is used as an intro for one of their series where they feature a past pro-wrestling event and answer the question "What Happened to That Wrestler" for every talents present in that event.

[@alxk3995]

I was so far off. That would have taken me quite a while to get. 😅

[@davidellis4031]

I think this might be the best question on Lateral yet!

[@pwndnoob4937]

Got it immediately, but I liked the question anyways.

[@DevilboyScooby]

As soon as I heard "Santayana" I got notions, then Sally Ride confirmed the Billy Joel klaxon sounding in my head.

[@holgerchristiansen4003]

Wow, what a great question! I got it after you said that it was easy to remember. And yes, I was yelling at the screen a bit later :D

[@brianfoss571]

Hank: "...Is this a Disney thing?" Me: *"Elvis Presley, DISNEYLAND"*

[@JasonCliftJones]

Initial thought was Order of the Garter, etc given Elizabeth II came to the throne around that time period... Ruled out at 3:45 as people wouldn't be able to list them by heart (and not sure on numbers). 4:14 Sally Ride... Santayana goodbye! We Didn't Start the Fire. 5:14 - Hank even saying it with roughly the right cadence!

[@WyvernYT]

"England's got a new queen..."

[@trainzelda1428]

I'm convinced he was thinking of the song in that moment, but didn't say it because he didn't think it was right

[@sorrynotsorry8224]

Hilltop Hoods has a song called "Fifty in Five" where they cover fifty years of specifically horrible history (wars and such) in 5 minutes. Absolutely brilliant song.

[@vailpcs4040]

I figured it out when Tom said: "its easy to remember"...

[@whophd]

5:20 true correct and that’s when I clicked

[@goldenheart3887]

As soon as Santayana was mentioned I got it and immediately went through the entire song in my head for the sake of checking.

[@Slikx666]

Leaving out the time Matt and Tom were discussing it on a park bench, this has come up twice in relation to Tom. 😆

[@HuffGLaDTem]

I was immediately so convinced that it would be members of the band Santana and I kept that belief all the way until he said Sally Ride

[@geoffroi-le-Hook]

Blown away. What else do I have to say?

[@geisterkaktus]

The timing of this episode coming out is so funny cause I was JUST about to email y'all to demand that inevitable collab :D Now looking forward to the episode where John makes every question about death 💀

[@theoriginaledi]

How to tell when you're a big fan of [name redacted to avoid spoilers]: I knew what it was as soon as he said "a list that a nerd like me... will know by heart". :D

[@AlliyahPerry]

You should post the full things here on KZbin.

[@hiddenlawyer]

I've heard that song so many times in my life (to the point that I am sick of it) and never knew what he was rambling on about. If the entire list in order was in text form or read with no inflection, I still would not have guessed it ahahah

[@wolfelkan8183]

The 35 people named in the Fallout Boy version were never all simultaneously alive. Kurt Cobain died in 1994, before either Tamir Rice or Falcon Heene (aka "Balloon Boy") were born. If Cobain is omitted, the remaining 34 people were all alive for about 6 years, from the Balloon Boy's birth circa 2003 until Michael Jackson's death in 2009. If instead Tamir Rice and Balloon Boy are omitted, the remaining 33 people were all alive for about 4.5 years from Taylor Swift's birth in 1989 until Kurt Cobain's death in 1994.

[@Awsome2464]

I got it as soon as he mentioned Harry Truman

[@unwrittenbook]

As somebody who only listens to the Hildegard von Blingin version of the song…I was so confused for a moment! Because I am used to completely different time events…like in the Middle Ages 😂

[@Sam-lr9oi]

Thinking Sally Ride was the first woman in space is such an American moment

[@digitalk68]

ignorance is bliss, as they say. -Valentina just turned in her grave.-

[@donaldoconner]

@@digitalk68he said “I think”. The only thing he was sure of was that she was a woman in space.

[@Sam-lr9oi]

@@digitalk68 she's actually still alive and a member of the Duma, currently under US sanctions for supporting the war in Ukraine. which tbh I should have preserved your blissful ignorance on that one, I wish we could just remember her positively.

[@digitalk68]

@@Sam-lr9oi that was (surprising for me) ignorance from my side, am i an american now?.. but i agree, let's remember positive of people, that achieved great deeds.

[@DerekHartley]

He even corrected himself.

[@bernier42]

I always assumed Tom and I could be friends IRL. Finding out we’ve both memorized WDSTF settles it.

[@ericbnielsen]

I am very very mad at my self for not getting it sooner. I have been a Billy Joe fan since 1987 and “Fire” is my second favorite song by him.

[@applesushi]

I’ve never screamed so much at a KZbin video. 🤣

[@Jim_Thomas_Draper]

SPOILER BLOCK: We didn't start the fire being of course one of two famous songs that mention Sally Ride. But as Mustang Sally was written when the astronaut was 14, the "Ride, Sally Ride" backing vocals are (I hope) a mere coincidence...

[@harrry4052]

So much concern riding on that "i hope" 😭

[@bernier42]

“Is it a list of the first things in space? First dog? First frog?” Somehow Tom didn’t mention the “Space Monkey”!!

[@blueninja8094]

As soon as Hank said Santayana out loud I got it lol

[@SmickEDibbly]

You could have given me the entire list and I still wouldn't know what the list was

[@steeljawX]

Well, the Fallout Boy's version was fun. It wasn't as good as Billy Joel's original, but after the pandemic, it was something fun at the very least. I'm not saying it's great, it's just fun. Someone else needs to actually do a chronological version picking up from where Billy Joel left off. For some reason, I'm like 89% sure, Fallout Boy didn't include the pandemic in their rendition and I was confused by that. Big major events that have happened through out history and the world shutting down due to a virus apparently is not a big major event to mark history......

[@maxresdefault_]

"why might a list be easy to remember" For some reaspn, thats what did it for me

[@DrorN777]

More Hank and Ceri!

[@Atlessa]

My immediate gut reaction was 'US presidents?' But I immediately realized 54 times even just a single term is already way over 200 years so that idea went out the window right there.

[@Paidraig]

The US is presently 248 years old, so we could have conceivably fit in 60-odd one term presidents, though since we didn't actually have a president for some years after the founding it might be closer to 55 maximum. Either way, though, there have been 46. Probably more importantly, none of the ones from the 1700s were still alive in the 1950s (as far as I know).

[@Atlessa]

@@Paidraig Indeed. And how many of those presidents lived to be over 100 years old? Plus the fact that quite a few of them served two terms, no?

[@randydewing7429]

I can’t believe it took me so long-but as soon as he said that nerds like us would know the list by heart…I think we all understood it by that point. …and when he mentioned Santayana…well, goodbye!

[@abigailcooling6604]

I genuinely thought it was something to do with members of the British Royal Family for a least half of this and probably couldn't have been further away.

[@brisim_gluine7254]

Im at 5.15 and im screaming tom ! There are dozens of us!

[@rexbaumeister7377]

God that ring-light reflection in Tom's eyes keeps freaking me out. What kind of cyber-being have you upgraded yourself to Tom??

[@PeggyKTC]

This was great! That's a song I've heard a million times, but never learned the lyrics other than the chorus, "joe DiMaggio" and for some reason, "children of thalidomide", which is not the funnest lyric.

[@aarondavis5386]

they mentionee george santiana and sally ride... i think i got it... not an arsonist....

[@TallinuTV]

At 5:00 I start thinking, . . . . . “We didn’t start the fire!” Let’s see how close that is… . . Hah! *fistpump* ❤😂

[@jonathan_60503]

My first thought was something awarded annually since around 1900s, with all the winners were alive until '52. Specifically I was thinking one of the Nobel prizes; but a quick check seems to show those as being a bit too late (1901) to have had 54 handed out by 1951. (But let me unpause and see how this plays out)

[@allank8497]

We didn’t start the fire

[@kartihcus]

I am part of that very small portion of the audience it seems

[@ShawnGBR]

My first thought was something to do with royalty. George VI died in 1952, so my initial guess was “grandchildren of Queen Victoria” but this was the first half of the 20th Century and child mortality was more common. But seeing as she had 9 children, 42 grandchildren, and 87 great-grandchildren it was a fair (wrong) guess.

[@jamieaustin8996]

As soon as he said Santayana and Sally Ride I got it

[@Darkkrebs]

Well, if you’re bringing up alternate versions of We Didn’t Start the Fire, I would like to chime in and mention the MCU version from Jimmy Fallon.

[@W1ndTurbine]

4:11 After the Sally ride and Santayana my only guess is people named in We Didn't start the fire

[@W1ndTurbine]

I KNEW IT

[@DerMarkus1982]

After hearing the question worded twice, my mind immediately went to "All the presidents of the United States?"

[@random832]

thank you i've pointed out that the original is in chronological order* and the fall out boy version isn't and nobody seems to care. *roughly - there are a few that are, like, a year off in either direction and someone used that to argue with me that that means the original was no different

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

The Fall Out Boy one is terrible. I have seen a couple amateur musicians do a modern one properly - but generally without good singing.

[@Sam-lr9oi]

@@AnonymousFreakYT the Vox/NPR show Today Explained did a pretty fun one a couple years ago, I can't remember any of it though lol

[@Thermalions]

Yes, but is it just that they don't care about the fall out boy version, as opposed to the order? I know I'm in the former group.

[@Speederzzz]

5:28 my guess is things/people from we didn't start the fire. No clue what actually gets sung about in that song but I know it's a list of things and people Edit: I'm almost just as quick as Hank Green! Feel a bit proud of that

[@Quasihamster]

We didn't start the fire. It was always burning. And burning hottest from 1951 to 1952.

[@adammullarkey4996]

I just checked, and Tom was wrong: Snow White and the 7 Dwarves was released in 1937.

[@Wanttowrite]

I have Geek & Sundry to thank for knowing Sally Ride.

[@TeagueChrystie]

Tom's hair looks awesome.

[@Maedroth]

I would never have gotten it.

[@AndersHenke]

And if you’re into that song, I can highly recommend the recent cover by Hildegard von Blingin here on KZbin. Music: Bardcore (medieval style), Lyric’s: well, matching up with the music. It starts with “Eleanor of Aquitaine, Charles the 6th hath gone insane, Reconquista, Geoffrey Chaucer, Michelangelo…” So it’s not strictly in timely order, but still a jolly good thing! And the video features a pretty good impersonation of Billy Joel’s sunglasses 😉

[@JasonGuySmiley]

Tom has the absolute correct take on that horrific fall out boy version. That was written by someone without anyone in their life who says "no" to them ever ever ever 😂

[@ahreuwu]

Oh, I immediately guessed it but thought there was now way That could've been the answer (haven't read the list, only heard Tom talk wth Matt about it before!)

[@mulgerbill]

Soon as Tom mentioned Santayana and Sally Ride...

[@CinnamonPinch]

Ha, I totally got it this time! Great question!

[@trixter21992251]

I got too hung up in the dates, 26th to 26th, exactly 4 months. I thought there was a clue there.

[@nymalous3428]

My next door neighbor would have got the answer... but he's a musician.

[@jenm1]

fantastic content

[@elisam.r.9960]

I'm still having a chuckle at some of the off topic comments.

[@morgana-orion]

Pretty sure John Egbert and Rose Lalonde were born WAY later actually

[@twodollars4u]

The fourth name clinched it for me.

[@pokedude720]

Re the end comment The Fall Out Boy modern vetsion was great.

[@apostrotastrophe1]

My first thought was Nobel Prize winners, but I think by '51/'52 there wouldn't have quite been 54 total winners in any one given category (and way too many in total). Then I thought perhaps Time Magazine Persons of the Year, but they didn't start publishing Time till I believe the mid to late '20s. I suppose I should listen to more Billy Joel.

[@markusklyver6277]

Isn't the fall out boy version including more recent events?

[@Wick9876]

I got it at 4:31. Thank you Sally Ride.

[@kemasuk]

So you can make a deck of cards with 2 jokers where each card has one person each?

[@chrismechalke4503]

After I heard sally ride all I was thinking was Billy Joel.

[@MrKoolTrix]

🎵 We tried to water it but there's air detected 🎵

[@SylviusTheMad]

Sally Ride was the first AMERICAN woman in space. The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova.

[@thirstyguy4652]

is it 54 counting Richard Nixon twice or has Tom figured that in? running through the lyrics in my head I think Kennedy is in twice too - once as Kennedy and then as JFK

[@cyberfutur5000]

I wonder how long it would have taken without hints

[@dietznuts8106]

currently at 2:46 and at first i thought its all the most influential scientists of the early 1900s in that one pic, the one with Einstein n Curie. then they said that someone mustve been born in the beginning of that time span and theyre all in a list, so im gonna say that theyre all people who received a Nobel prize or will receive a Nobel prize edit: MAN i fckn love we didnt start the fire, dang...

[@druvce]

I LOVE THIS ONE

[@lucbloom]

Peter Pan and Davy Crockett were alive in the 1950s? Wow that generation truly had it all!

[@aarondavis5386]

@@lucbloom peter pan is fictional, and "Davy Crockett" in the song is not a person, it was the code name for a portable nuclear weapon (picture a bazooka firing an a a-bomb)

[@lateralcast]

They're not included in the count of 54: bzotto.medium.com/the-we-didnt-start-the-fire-longevity-infographic-2eb9eb116a26

[@bbwfiona]

Tom has turned into such a silver fox ❤