That Time the World's Most Popular Spectator Sport was Walking

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In this video:
In 1809, Captain Robert Barclay Allardice made a bet with one of his pedestrian rivals, Sir James Webster-Wedderburn, that he could walk 1,000 miles (about 1,609 kilometers) in 1,000 hours. The wager? 1,000 guineas. To get around the major problem of needing to rest, Barclay figured if he walked back to back miles-a mile at the end of one hour and another at the beginning of the next-and repeated this strategy throughout the race, he would be able to rest in approximately 90 minute intervals throughout the near 42 day long race.
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[@TodayIFoundOut]

Ready to learn more obscure and interesting sports facts? Then check out this video and find out about The Curious Case of Ferret Legging: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5DOm4VvjtipepY

[@VCGConstruction]

#bringwalkingback

[@MrBreastGiveMeMoney]

No

[@bareit98]

"Anywhere is walking distance of you have the time." Steven Wright

[@CologneCarter]

Garbled message received - stop - sorted it out - stop - concluded words got lost in cyberspace - stop - message actually reads: "Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time."

[@glass-africa]

Nobody cares, Carter.

[@piranha031091]

Good luck walking to the moon.

[@JimFortune]

piranha031091 Walking distance. The distance to the moon is walking distance if you have the time. The course might not be possible, but the distance is.

[@zergreenone8111]

It is possible to walk to the moon, if you have enough time. You just need to wait until the moon crashes into the earth, a million years from now. The remaining journey is basically trivial.

[@Psychodegu]

At first this just sounded like any one could do it, and I couldn't fathom why Barclay was going to use his method and for go a normal sleeping scheduled, until I realized the real thing that would hinder this activity is not general stamina, but blistering. Which can be avoided by using very frequent brakes, to allow the skin to never reach the fatigue need to blister.

[@raraavis7782]

Psychodegu Oh, that makes sense. I wondered about the weird schedule...

[@AbiGail-ok7fc]

Psychodegu The challenge was not "walk a 1000 miles in a 1000 hours", but walk a mile each hour a 1000 hours in a row. The former is much easier than the latter.

[@Psychodegu]

Oh ok then I just didn't get the video that well then.

[@Psychodegu]

Oh ok then I just didn't get the video that well then.

[@mbncd]

Walking is still (at least as of 20 years ago) a spectator sport. When I was at school, I used to walk laps around the school oval (at primary school) or buildings (at high school). I was strange and plenty of people would watch me (both students and teachers, trying to figure out what I was doing and why) and quite a few tried various things to stop me too. I simply found it calming (the same way some people pace) in an otherwise stressful place and time.

[@terrygrossmann2295]

Comforting to know idiots isn't a new thing and has always existed. Trying to prevent her from completing the walk is complete lunacy.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Silliness about making some monumental issue out of something just... well... goofy is apparently NOT a new thing. :o)

[@svennoren9047]

I'm guessing the culprits were people about to lose large bets.

[@Ebosan87]

I mean she was proof that everything they thought they knew was a lie, so of course they couldn't lose that (probably more important for most than even lost money betting). Idiots have been idiots since the dawn of time, as unfortunate as that sounds.

[@miyo7376]

MAKE WALKING GREAT AGAIN #MWGA

[@Waterlooplein1]

This sounds like something they should make a movie out of.

[@dirkbonesteel]

So the phrase "that is so pedestrian " came from this I guess.Always wondered about that one

[@MephLeo]

My educated guess is that that saying comes from the fact that in many cultures, at many different periods of history, people of the nobility would be carried out on a litter or transported in some fashion as to not need to walk from one place to the other.

[@danieljeffersonkennedy2435]

Love the titles of these videos

[@ShapeshifterOS]

How come I never seem to see the back slash (\) used? What's the point of it even existing? It always seems to be the forward slash (/) that is used.

[@PongoXBongo]

Back slash is used to access data on your own computer ("C:\Games\Pong"). Forward slash is used to access data on other people's computers ("Games . com/Pong"). Existence itself is purpose enough. ;)

[@alexs.5871]

\o/ Its use. You're welcome.

[@DasAntiNaziBroetchen]

@@PongoXBongo What a bunch of bullshit. It all boils down to OS. And on Windows you certainly can use forward slashes as much as you please.

[@plr4plr]

The second I heard the track part I was waiting for the NASCAR reference. I was not disappointed. Great job Simon from a fan of the channel here in the US.

[@chocolateextravaganza1907]

The days before television had real entertainment.

[@josephinhiding3595]

No TV, radio, telephone, internet or computer games either.

[@eugenetswong]

A good thing about TV is that it rescued us from those kinds of activities.

[@Noremaad]

I'm not convinced that they'd be better off having the physical embodiment of hell beamed into their homes every day.

[@drapermovies]

Chocolate Explosion you can watch people walk on TV. It's called athletics.

[@ChrisD4335]

But, I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more just to be a man who walked 1000 miles To fall down at your door

[@GizmoMaltese]

I love this channel for historical tidbits like this

[@coleroyer4789]

most people watching this video don't know a thing about NASCAR

[@MrRoboman333]

I didn't even know that continuous exercise (even if it's only walking) over that long a period of time was even possible. Truly remarkable to achieve that honestly and oh SImon that bald head is fucking super sexy

[@sjakierulez]

I´m pretty sure the Bushmen or a tribe similar could do it without problem.

[@653j521]

The point seemed to be that she had no background in walking long distances and was a woman, not that people who walk long distances all the time couldn't do it.

[@MrRoboman333]

K Kr - Did I ever say that was the point? I was simply commenting on how impressive doing something like that is in and of itself, regardless of the story of the woman in the video.

[@JonatasAdoM]

We actually can achieve greater distances than most animals. While they can speed or run at incredible speeds we are able to maintain a constant walk.

[@zacharythebeau163]

It's not all that impressive of you think about it as cart pushers as Walmart would be pretty closer if not more the average person walks about 3 mph which would put her walking about 8 hours a day for 41 day. Or you know the average labourer for most physical jobs.

[@LSpiro]

Expected to see a video about how a sport grew legs and started walking.

[@pearlybee944]

Oh yeah cause the billions of humans before her hadn't invented walking yet. Christ almighty...

[@LSpiro]

Perhaps my edit makes my original sentence clearer.

[@pearlybee944]

Oh, haha. I see now, I feel like a dozy now :P

[@LePrince1890]

One of the "Sergeant Cribb" mysteries is about Pedestrianism, was called "Wobble to Death". "Wobbling" was the nickname for this sport!

[@jaspr1999]

I wonder what was harder for the women, the walking or the crowds? It seems like the jeering and insults would take its toll more than the distance walked. Women in history to be very proud of!

[@erniemiller1953]

jaspr1999 There was a time when people had thick skins instead of safe spaces.

[@teamcybr8375]

Ernie Miller Damn right

[@erniemiller1953]

The Brennan I'm triggered

[@TheHareidGamer]

Ernie Miller Throwing burning embers, chloroform, trying to drug her food and tripping her has nothing to do with the safe spaces you are refereing to. Safe spaces for opinions and ideas are stupid, but so is name calling and harrassing. Some can take it, others can't, but either way it shouldn't be accepted just because "people used to have thick skin"

[@lucky43113]

K H dont see us crying and throwing a fit if things don't go out way we didn't like Obama but there were no violent protesters or riots

[@ShiningSakura]

thank you for sharing this, it was fun and uplifting!

[@DavidAmrod]

So much information... Gonna have to watch it again.

[@beaconrider]

There was a time when the most popular spectator sport was public executions.

[@command_unit7792]

BRING BACK PUBLIC EXCUTIONS!

[@johnsobery]

I bet they would all like the Proclaimers

[@benharris9175]

This sort of thing is still popular, just a bit faster now. The Tahoe 200 mile footrace just took place, the winner finished in 58 hours, the cut off is 4 days!

[@JEBavido]

When I lived in central Washington state I read an account of a woman and her daughter from that area (many years ago) who took up a nationally offered challenge to walk across America. Though documenting the entire trip and verifying by approved methods that they accomplished the feat, the prize money was denied them on the grounds that there was no way a couple of women could have done it. I myself am from the dinosaur days when women's basketball was weirdly different from men's because it was considered too strenuous for us to play it normally. The offense occupied one half of the court and the defense occupied the other, and we had to stop at the center line and never put a toe over it.

[@guycxz]

Now I finally understand what walk was all about. I have a newfound RE - SPECT for walks now.

[@humility-righteous-giving]

Super find video, thanks!

[@DuluthTW]

You come up with the strangest, yet most interesting topics to report on. I thought this was going to be a little about the movie, "Walk, Don't Run," starring Jim Hutton and Carey Grant. Speaking of Jim Hutton, how about doing an episode about Ellery Queen, the book authors, the TV show, etc. I love the stories they wrote and miss their style in current authors. Thanks!

[@Jamiedunford74]

Get rekt NASCAR.

[@jeromes6058]

Conner Dunford lol

[@videosunrelated1883]

Hope you're not an F1 fan...

[@Jamiedunford74]

VideosUnrelated nope. It's better than NASCAR but it's dumb

[@Jamiedunford74]

Tai David tru

[@JonatasAdoM]

I like it but it's weird to watch. But I bet nothing beats walking....

[@erniemiller1953]

One time I walked 10 miles a day. I gave up after a week and took a bus 70 miles to get back home.

[@dcordin]

The dig at Nascar made me laugh pretty heartily.

[@humility-righteous-giving]

Super fun video, thanks!

[@EqualsThreeable]

I read the title as "That TIme the World's Most Popular Sports Spectator was Walking. (Also, you put a space in place of an apostrophe for the word world's in the title.) So I thought a person who normally watched/commented on sports was walking.

[@skyden24195]

The comparison to NASCAR is very appropriate. Lol.

[@Dogman36]

just imagine the fully sold out stadiums this would demand today

[@NotApplicable1123]

I dig the new background music

[@jsalas171]

Do a video on how the bowling pin got its shape

[@PongoXBongo]

Fun Facts: How the lanes got their width/length? Why three holes in a bowling ball? First perfect game?

[@BugzysEvilDeeds]

Seems like some strange stuff, but then again, I do follow a few hikers on youtube. LOL

[@toddnolastname4485]

I pretty much find watching any sport boring. But at least most of the other sports, something actually happens.

[@lyckl_6609]

Why are there those vertical pink lines on spiral/comp. notebooks and how did it come to be pink

[@PongoXBongo]

Indentation lines? They force a 1-inch margin on the left side of the page, allowing for numbering, section denotation, and general notation. This generally coincides with a 1-intention indentation on the top of the page. As for the pink color, it's probably a subtle feminine color to balance the subtle masculine blue horizontal lines. Or it could be a red, white, and blue thing for indocrinating patriotism from an early age.

[@momcat2223]

This totally MMD! At 3:33, I'm thinking, "OMG - the precursor to NASCAR!" and then...BOOM.

[@isiahrodriguez64]

spectacular video

[@FraktalPriest]

Wow thats so cool, shooting at people "Back off!" Good on her!

[@nikanj]

Were there pedestrian events anything like modern competitive walking where you get disqualified if your feet leave the ground?

[@PongoXBongo]

If _both_ feet leave the ground you're no longer just walking.

[@OnkelJajusBahn]

Wow, I love walking, what interresting time.

[@ke9tv]

1600 km in 1000 hours (~42 days) isn't that impressive by today's hiking standards. Fastest known time for the Appalachian Trail (3523 km) is 45.5 days - and that's a LOT harder than going round and round a track. I'm pretty sure that I could have met the 1000-mile challenge in my youth - even in my 60's, I can do 15-mile days with relative ease on an extended trek with full backpack. (Define 'relative ease' as 'waking up ready to do it again the next day'.) 26's would be a problem, but I think I might be able to train back to that level, even at my age. Oh, for what it's worth, the 45.5 day time was self-supported, meaning that there was a considerable amount of added distance since there was no support crew. The hiker had to walk to towns near the trail to reprovision. Also, the women's record is less than a day longer, and until this year, in fact, it was a woman that held the record from 2011-2015. From what I've seen of such people as Jennifer Pharr Davis and Heather Anderson, I think women may be better equipped for this event than men!

[@maskedduelist1380]

My feet are sore just watching this.

[@retro_jojo3159]

The men were just mad because she was wearing improper footwear for walking. They were just worried for her health and safety. This is #fakenews if I've ever seen it!

some yes didnt want a women to win but alot of them im willing to place my bets they themselves bet alot against her and were gonna lose everything

[@Steaphany]

Can a whole potato explode if baked or microwaved with out the skin vented by a fork ?

[@Brandyalla]

I never pierce the skin (it cooks faster if you don't because the steam builds up inside instead of venting out); I don't recall ever having one explode in either device. Enshelled eggs do, though. Whoo boy. Wreck your microwave, lol

[@Sniffles69]

Lol Barclay was from my hometown

[@sophierobinson2738]

there used to be a walking sport (i think it was called slow walking). they walked really weird, and not at all slow.

[@pearlybee944]

It's called speed walking and it's still around today, as an Olympic sport in fact.

[@eugenetswong]

I can't believe that people were so mean back then. If this was just comedy, then those antagonizers would have been funny, but the fact that they actually tried to poison and trip her... I wish that I could compete in a race like this. It would be an easier endurance test compared to what is out there.

[@keriezy]

The title made me laugh.

[@cerboris521]

People proving women couldn't do the challenge by actively sabotaging her. Times really don't change that much do they. Similar anticates are rife today in all manner of public achievements. I never understood it myself.

[@DasAntiNaziBroetchen]

Ikr? If they couldn't do it, just watch them fail? Why sabotage them? To me this kind of proves that there was actually more to it than "We think Women are frail".

[@steverino6954]

This should be a movie starring Emily Blunt.

[@riceandpotatoes]

Been noticing the video quality/editing improve lately

[@7lllll]

so what was the appeal of watching walking? how did its popularity fade?

[@anagumav2]

So he said he would walk a thousand miles if he could just see you give him 1000 ginnies (?)

[@OctoberRaven]

In this comment section: Crybaby chauvinists whining because someone made a video about a woman accomplishing things.

[@risingstar1309]

Watchin on sept 17th

[@Jackmerius_Tacktheritrix5733]

When? Cro Magnon days?

[@leoquentin2683]

The title is misspelled

[@seankilroy7356]

you should do one on dyslexia

[@TheLadyWrites]

Is there a video on the women of baseball? or The queen of baseball as mentioned in this video?

[@jodiallardice1500]

Robert Barclay allardice is my great great grandfather and I’ll never walk as much as he did

[@samnicholson5051]

Cool. He's my 3rd cousin 6 times removed. That would make us 8th or 9th cousins I think? Not close but closer than most!

[@BunnyKitKat]

Do other languages have an equivalent to the ABC song?

[@iatsd]

BunnyKitKat yes, yes they do. almost all alphabet based languages do. about half of the syllabet languages do.

[@iatsd]

The NightMayor some may have hundreds or thousands of characters, but they will have a limited number of sounds making up their syllabet. after all, the alphabet song doesn't sing every word in the English language, does it now?

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

The NightMayor, if you're really interested, watch an anime called "Shigurui" aka "Shigurui : The Death Frenzy" (I think)... In the third or fourth episodes, there's a child's song, translating to being about carrots and birds and herbs, but it's sung to remember the numbers "ichi = 1, ni = 2, etc... up to 10"... Not exactly an alphabet song, but similar... You can also go to Japanesepod101, and check out lots of children's songs for learning Japanese... Of course, if Chinese is your thing, there's a Chinesepod101, along with a fairly huge collection of other languages, trying to make linguistics fun and accessible for everyone... :o)

[@faizalf119]

In Javanese language the letters were arranged into a poem. Ha Na Ca Ra Ka (There's two emmissaries) Da Ta Sa Wa La (Arguing and fighting each others) Pa Da Ja Ya Nya (Both are equal in might/strength) Ma Ga Ba Tha Nga (This is their corpses/They killed each other and died) The story behind the poem is about Prince Aji Saka's two trusted and loyal right hand men Dora and Sembodo. Aji Saka was the king of Bumi Mejeti. When Prince Ajisaka occupied Medang Kamulan, a neighbouring kingdom, he ordered Dora to return home to retrieve his enchanted weapon. Sembodo who was tasked to guard the weapon refused to take the weapon because Aji Saka already gave him a strict order not to give that weapon to people other than Aji Saka. The two men went into a heated argument that ended up with both fighting each other and ended up killing each other. Aji Saka got worried because it's already weeks after he send his men and decided to return home. He's surprised when he found his men dead. After learning the reason why they fought he mourned the death of his loyal men and said that poem.

[@francisfournier2834]

2:48 pisses me off... capitalize the i...

[@hashbrownz1999]

Dr Fibbles it's not a proper noun or beginning of a sentence and therefore doesn't need capitalization.

[@svennoren9047]

The i in ACTiON is lowercase, even though the rest is uppercase.

[@elsorino]

you guys are right but the capitalized everything else there lmao

[@hashbrownz1999]

pffft well that's what i get for trying to correct somebody. didn't see it. wish i didn't ever cause now i'm upset. :(

[@Solocat1]

Dr Fibbles A triggered loser that thinks he is smart. Yawn.

[@derrickstorm6976]

3:34 How far have we fallen

[@quantum1861]

“Pedestrianism”

[@Zappyguy111]

Ye-Nah, I wouldn't even consider doing it.

[@FirstLast-fr4hb]

Wheres the ginger? 😊

[@indeedken]

You should have brought up peace pilgrim

[@wrlrdqueek]

There just wasn't a lot to do back then, was there.

[@OctaBech]

That she didn't divorce her ninny of a spouse is beyond me.

[@andrewknorpp9415]

isn't the lady on the front the lady from brain scoop?

[@andrewknorpp9415]

whats here name?

[@andrewknorpp9415]

she makes school vids

[@Amy-zb6ph]

I can't walk much anymore because I had masses on the balls of my feet and on the part right before my toes, but I can ride my bike for a really long ways. Not all women are built to be muscular and strong and that's is okay, but some of us descended from strong men from the Marines and so we inherited those genes for strong muscles. Genetics don't much care what gender you are if you have inherited the genes from strong muscles.

[@contingenceBoston]

Sounds like a walk in the park. Of torment.

[@JohnSmith-gp2xq]

walk

[@RickWeberEcon]

The past was stupid....

[@thesnorlaxagenda]

Your titles misspelled

[@TotalSoda]

A*

[@bronzeowl9]

"walking 1000 miles (in a circle over and over again) is hardly an appropriate task for a woman to undertake" correct, but i think maybe it's not appropriate for anyone to do this? lol

[@lesliemoiseauthor]

Wow.

[@RDGoodner]

Hyping a friend's book here: www.amazon.com/Pedestriennes-Americas-Forgotten-Superstars/dp/1457534290/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

[@valdisv4892]

If it was nude walking I could understand

[@MotivationAdonis]

Valdis V lol

[@chris2656]

Valdis V the sunburn after 1000 hours of walking tho

[@JonatasAdoM]

+Chris 1000 night hours.

[@ColonelSanders17]

Movie material.

[@lucky43113]

Do a video on emma gatewood 1st woman to hike the 2,168-mile (3,489 km) Appalachian Trail from Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine solo, and in one season.

[@the-scamp]

No necktie, Simon?

[@florance333]

If you think modern generation is stupid for doing their pointless KZbin challenges, remember that 200 years ago people walked in circles for weeks without stop and others paid to watch them.

[@iskrem596]

mistake in the title

[@gambrinus330116]

'compatriots of MALE PERSUAsION'? wtf does that even mean dude

[@wolfcat1998]

Didn't Stephen King do a story about this? IIRC, it didn't end well.

[@twiistedvisiionz]

Can you make a video on why they butt slap in sports

[@PongoXBongo]

Homoeroticism ;)

[@Daisho32]

Seems like men actually felt threated by a woman walking. Some things never change.

[@pearlybee944]

Seems like feminists getting offended by history and make a non-existent argument as to why it is still around today. Some things never change.

[@teamcybr8375]

Matthew Nason Toasted

[@Uryendel]

Or they bet she didn't gonna make it and want to win their bet, because you know, money, something more important than your shitty bubble.

[@pearlybee944]

That Annoying Redhead Guess we know why people call you "That Annoying Redhead" lmao

[@kannorkallingzvorth9809]

That Annoying Redhead At least you understand that you're annoying lol

[@florance333]

It's a bit stupid that women felt the need to complete such a pointless and physically difficult task to prove we're not inferior to men. I think we should know better than that. If men want to walk in circles - let them do it, meanwhile we'll go out and change the world.

[@szczurek2725]

well, we watch cats on the web, I don't think we have the right to judge.. .. but it's still weird (I personally watch bats)

[@arkisys]

This race is way too specific. why not just walk 1000 miles as fast as possible. It would be so much faster.

[@PongoXBongo]

Then it would be a pure sprint and not a combo sprint-endurance race. Besides, what's the rush?

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

Simon,it appears your lipsynching is way off

[@kennichdendenn]

The topic reminds me of Stephen King...

[@Brandyalla]

Nah, those boys weren't allowed to stop to rest or even slow down. Much more difficult, as enumerated in the story