The Curious Case of Real Life Ornamental Garden Hermits

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In this video:
In modern times if you want to show off extreme wealth, you may purchase expensive sports cars, buy a private jet, wear flashy jewelry, or, as boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been known to do, travel around carrying suitcases filled with sometimes millions of dollars in cash. Such extravagant displays of wealth are a trademark of the boxer with Mayweather reportedly having a standing arrangement with his bank to have huge sums of money in cash periodically delivered to his palatial home with the primary purpose being to facilitate flaunting his fabulous wealth, instead of using a card like mere plebeians.
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Sources:
www.todayifoundout.com/index.p...
www.richmond.gov.uk/media/633...
• The curious phenomenon...
global.oup.com/academic/produ...
www.hermitary.com/lore/ornamen...
writersinspire.org/content/st...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capabil...
books.google.co.uk/books?id=E...
www.thevintagenews.com/2017/0...
www.accademiascienze.va/conten...
www.theguardian.com/world/201...
englishhistoryauthors.blogspo...
www.outsideonline.com/2161236...
www.atlasobscura.com/articles...
www.sciencedaily.com/releases...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painshill
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wod...

[@TodayIFoundOut]

Thanks NordVPN! Get 75% off a 3 year plan and use code BRAINFOOD for an extra month for free here: NordVPN.com/brainfood

[@realityvanguard2052]

gotta change the thumbnail, it's covered up on the bottom right corner by the time thingo. AMATEUR!

[@geetarwanabe]

You get shafted with the VAT added on but not included in the 75% off rate.

[@QuimBeelivingstone]

I hope NordVPN sponsors another video and offers discount again. Its month end, rent is due so I cant afford NordVPN right now but it shows offer is only good for 9 more hours. 😕

[@real_Pinoy]

You Should make video who G Raymond is the person who is on all Credit card Ads

[@inomad1313]

Today I Found Out Is there any evidence of ornamental garden hermit napping? You know. Kidnap an ornamental garden hermit. Hire an artist. Take the hermit and artist to different locations and have the artist draw/paint the hermit at these locations. Then take the hermit back. If not, some rich person back then missed out on a great opportunity to be ahead of their time and play a great practical joke on their friends. It will make me a little sad to find out that this never happened.

[@notafan1139]

Paid to stay inside and read books all day and you don't have to talk to people. Man talk about being born in the wrong generation

[@WeShareTheSameAir]

Word to muvuh. You actin like you ain't a fan of pirate decorum and joint. Man get the flax seed outta hurr.

[@heatherturner2366]

Not a Fan give me music and I'm good

[@WeShareTheSameAir]

@@heatherturner2366 We beat the odds, you and I. Love ya.

[@alienonion4636]

Perfect for an introvert like me.

[@Tiberon098]

IKR, this is what time travel needs to be developed for.

[@Vanished_Mostly]

What stood out to me more than anything here was the name "Lancelot Capability Brown".

[@geoffreypiltz271]

He was nicknamed Capability from his habit of saying after inspecting a site that "it has capabilities", that is potential for development.

[@MrLeafeater]

I've been cultivating myself for this job, for most of my life. Glad to see you cover it.

[@johntaylor9381]

Is anyone else thinking this sounds like a dream job? Just me? Ok.

[@Stoppskylten]

Beats the Mars 4 year projects at least.

[@awakeningtovacuity8372]

Nope, me too.

[@mariaelmeier3927]

I would negotiate on the not cutting nails

[@johntaylor9381]

Maria&Tim Elmeier Same

[@johntaylor9381]

Cristian Pop The not cutting my nails would be the worst part to be sure.

[@capodad2u]

So Simon is basically a modern day hermit, sitting in his man cave dispensing daily bits of knowledge?

[@syd.a.m]

He's got the beard, but we'll need to see his fingernails to be sure.

[@1973Washu]

But he doesn't have to dress up like a druid unless he wants to.

[@Melissa0774]

It's like a performance art project. Some artist should actually do a project like this today, if they haven't already.

[@WobblesandBean]

Aww man, why can't this still be a thing? I totally wanna get paid to live in a hobbit hole and read books!

[@lesliegratton7539]

it is a real thing.

[@Cathowl]

If it's manipulated by a servant it's not an automaton. It's a puppet.

[@pplfthftr7526]

Mr Son why must every comment be about politics! Srcsm.

[@joshyoung1440]

Too bad they didn't make them with steam actuators and primitive automatic sensors. You know they could have. Probably would've just been too loud.

[@oakstrong1]

Replace the books with a game console and Internet connection; chats with random other players online, occasionally receiving visitors bringing food they might impart knowledge about a particular game or genre in their darkened rooms.. That's what a modern day hermit looks like. I have one in the house, I call him "son."

[@Poodleinacan]

Except no one is showing those off.

[@heatherturner2366]

Who wants to bring back ornamental hermits

[@garethbaus5471]

If the pay is good enough I would volunteer as a hermit.

[@timkarlsson1750]

Would be interesting, but I don't think I could afford it.

[@Marco_Onyxheart]

You know what? I want a hobbit hermit hole in the backyard. Sounds like a great literal mancave. Though I'd totally fill it with gaming consoles. Might even be nicely cool during the summer.

[@TeaBurn]

Colin Furze did something similar with his underground backyard bunker.

[@paulaharrisbaca4851]

AHA!!!! Now I know what the homeless crisis in San Francisco, and California in general is all about! It's a form of tourist attraction. 21st century eccentric hermits.

[@WeShareTheSameAir]

Yeee I could picture dem walkin through electric avenue. Smell me, dawg?

[@karlwhalls2915]

It’s not California’s problem- it the entire country. People without a place to live migrate to the West Coast due to the Weather. They end up in CA, which is liveable outdoors year round with only a little travel. Southern States have more severe Weather, less migrants even though the temps are warmer.

[@Stoppskylten]

I thought there were regulations for keeping your lawn trimmed in California. So.. where would that leave your garden hermit?

[@personalRCH]

With the downside they aren't paid enough

[@megnemo6403]

I doubt the used hypodermic needles drug dealers or sewage everywhere was part of garden hermits. In places in California it is illegal to sleep in your car but legal to sleep on the sidewalk. In san fransico it's ok to shoot up, dedicate urinate and sleep on the sidewalk in rows but getting a permit to bust or peddle is somthing you have to appeal to the local government for.

[@m0j0e97]

This is the 2nd time you’ve mentioned the sport of pedestrianism I would love a full video on the subject

[@oakstrong1]

Pedestrianism = old word for people watching. Many people still do it, it's not an extinct entertainment.

[@d4mdcykey]

I've never even heard of this job from that era; very strange yet interesting, Simon warps my brain yet again.

[@adamwelch4336]

So it's like... I'm so rich I pay poor people to walk around my huge garden!

[@Loralanthalas]

May we be blessed to be so wealthy

[@micahphilson]

The Professional Walking fad is one of my favorite stories of that time, you should make a video on it! The huge tournament that ended it was so fun to read!

[@alaapsarkar]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXTKp3SorZaZkM0

[@IlluminatiBG]

What people did for fun before internet? Answer: walking Thanks!

[@micahphilson]

It really is a fun story, my favorite of that time period! I hope they do a video on it!

[@TodayIFoundOut]

@@micahphilson I'm pretty sure we did :).

[@micahphilson]

@@TodayIFoundOut ah, I wasn't sure (and clearly too lazy to use Google), I just remember the first place I learned about it was the Mental Floss magazine.

[@rikkitikkitavi395]

Now I understand 'Stone Temple Pilots' song(wanna live in your) *_HERMIT GARDEN._*

[@amb163]

I would take up a position like this, as long as I could bath every few days, read, and write. A decent bed, shelter, and food would also be necessary. Would anyone else be an ornamental hermit?

[@laurenbee6340]

AM B yea if it fit that criteria

[@Wistful77]

I would love living in a hobbit hole, but I wouldn't decorate with skulls. 😆

[@inomad1313]

I’m guessing that there is no record of ornamental garden hermit napping? You know. Kidnap an ornamental garden hermit. Hire an artist. Take the hermit and artist to different locations and have the artist draw/paint the hermit at these locations. Then take the hermit back. Man. Some rich person back then missed out on a great opportunity to be ahead if their time. I’m a little sad that this never happened.

[@IntrepidFraidyCat]

The Pope and others made themselves a retreat and everyone was fine with it. When Marie Antoinette did the same.....😳

[@zotaninoron3548]

It was more the lavish parties of the noble class while the rest of the people starved that riled everything up. But it is probably just as true that the neighboring countries fearing a peasant revolt of their own began to wage war on France to restore the monarchy that consigned the late Antoinette and her husband to revolution's razor. The idea being you cannot restore the head of a monarchy when the head has no head.

[@AV57]

Versailles?

[@benangel6831]

Theft of a gnome probably carries a stiffer penalty here in Wroclaw (look up in Wikipedia "Wroclaw's Dwarfs")

[@briancox2721]

Walking and ornamental garden hermits was the best entertainment available. Thank god we have the internet now.

[@chuckymcnubbin1518]

Hi Simon, have you done a Today I Found Out vid on how the Christmas tree became the well loved staple of Christmas loungerooms? It's an interesting bit of history.

[@MarshallBuilders]

2 Million subs so close *Great channel keep up the awesome content* ☺

[@aldenheterodyne2833]

Oh my. If I ever find myself being a time traveler, I will be sure to be a hermit witch.

[@interwebtubes]

Interesting article 👍

[@GrubStLodger]

Stephen Duck was in the running for poet laureate, the Grub Street Journal became so irritated with waterfowl puns they banned any mention of him in their paper.

[@DrakoDragonis]

Took a gnome on holiday across the US back in '08. Some of the looks I got off people :P

[@johnnydollar666]

Mechanical Hermit. Now I want one.

[@WeShareTheSameAir]

I ain't believe you, shawty.

[@GiffysChannel]

This has inspired me to make an island of robot gnomes to show off to my elite friends

[@robertwalker-smith2739]

Terry Pratchett included this as a feature of Ramkin Hall in the Discworld novel "Snuff".

[@francoislacombe9071]

A related subject, zoos who displayed Homo Sapiens as they would any other animal species.

[@WeShareTheSameAir]

Y you gotta b all homoflavic? You actin' like owl heads don't spin around when they lovestruck.

[@laurenbee6340]

Francois Lacombe it’s a twilight zone episode one of my favorites

[@TodayIFoundOut]

I think this actually happened. Not sure if I did a video on it yet. Like maybe in Belgium back in the colonial days...

[@swithin13]

Can you please do a story behind the head gear of the judges in a court of law.

[@diGritz1]

So someone got paid for doing what I do for free? I knew I was born in the wrong century.

[@ernestoroybal3682]

This is the coolest thing I've ever heard of.

[@sebaseba6710]

So you're telling me Mayweather has millions just laying about...

[@puyearprod.929]

Yeh

[@anydaynow]

He’s got a huge entourage too though. I doubt anybody’s getting away with that money.

[@UmVtCg]

@@anydaynow Must be easier than robbing a bank

[@meufofobebe544]

I burst out laughing so many times listening to this. I'm going to talk to my husband about having a permanent hermit hut on our property!

[@paraboo8994]

Honestly, next time I need to give my occupation I might just be tempted to put down "ornamental hermit".

[@Ms.gnomer]

Life goals

[@linedwell]

Anyone else that would like to be Simon's hermit? He could bring fellow KZbin superstars to your hovel and poke fun at you whilst you read the next script of TIFO...

[@tncorgi92]

Learned about these in a Tony Robinson documentary.

[@WeShareTheSameAir]

I ain't belive you shawt stackz. You actin' like you don't enjoy pirate-themed mini golf.

[@scottrobbins1714]

And Baldrick and his turnip would know...

[@TheHoagie13]

*Yay! Live Garden Gnomes!!!* I was raised by a bunch of crazy Norwegian-Americans that collects hand carved Wooden Trolls, so I can see the similarities across Europe as a whole...

[@mrpink8951]

I did volunteer work at Painshill Park! xD

[@laura1443]

Oh, honey....he's peeking through the window! 😆 I just can't imagine!

[@gothicanimegirl44]

I wish this was still a thing I would jump on this on the spot

[@yoursotruly]

Having an ornamental hermit on youtube is both fashionable and inexpensive, he will learn all that can be learned and edit out the boring parts when he presents his offerings to you and your guests, Today I Found Out that Simon is my Ornamental Hermit, I'll put some moss on my computer and we're all set! That beard though needs another foot or so.

[@Bluecho4]

You know what would have been an interesting spin on this concept? Go all in on the "Merlin" conceit that one example of garden hermits was going for, and have the hired person live in a two storey building in the garden made to look like a wizard's tower. Instead of being made to look like a grubby vagrant, the hermit would be given fine wizard costume, and be made to act suitably eccentric and mysterious. Bonus points if the person was a trained party magician, that would entertain guests with magic tricks.

[@hanamoon5474]

Why does this concept appeal to me? Well, aside from the bathing and nail clipping ban of some, it sounds wonderful.

[@daisy3690]

ty

[@xpkareem]

I was never informed of this career option by my guidance counselor, where do I sign up?

[@LuluBahamut]

#goals 😍 Talk about a dream job! Paid to read and chill out while rich people feed you - yassss 😂👌💜

[@alienonion4636]

Interesting. I would do it. Are there any of the caves still in existence? Possibly closed up but still there?

[@professorrosenstock5026]

TV was really the best invention ever.

[@cbluebeard]

I would take that opportunity in a heartbeat.

[@TheLoxxxton]

I have just found my calling! A million big ones to not wash and stay indoors reading, hell for that cash I would happily add some capering and gibbering for guests if required!! Where do I sign up??

[@jenniferlawrence2988]

Dang. I'd take that job in a heartbeat. 😂

[@morganjenkins2662]

Career goals

[@ehrldawg]

About 10 years ago,I heard non the radio that employing hermits was on the comeback by wealthy landowners from England. The reason given ,in part, was to help keep trespassers off the property.

[@ArutaretiI]

Spot on, I always go to my local hacker, to share in his wisdom and to get life advice from him

[@karanseraph]

Where can I get this gig?

[@matthewfilter7586]

This might be the most English thing Ive ever heard of.

[@saxyentertainmentwithstans8915]

0.005 seconds: what? 15:38 minutes: WHAAAT?!

[@BruceVial]

Great video but again the music loop keeps sounding like it’s about to go into chop seuy at times

[@quinnzyker6521]

Oh shit everybody!!! THAT GUYS WALKING

[@Pump-King]

I wouldn't think twice if someone made this kind of offering to me

[@JordanMMancini]

Please, if anyone could give me information on the place shown at 2:30 I would love to see and learn more of it

[@danacampbell8331]

My old neighborhood was FULL of ornamental hermits.

[@callabeth258]

:( you didn't say thankyou for watching... I like that bit because you're the only youtuber who sounds sincere every time you say it

[@amandajones661]

TN has the Hermitage. I wonder is that where the name came from?

[@franzfanz]

10:25 Wait, what's he called when he's asleep?

[@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar]

Question. How did people wipe before toilet paper? Does it vary between cultures and time period?

[@RaginKavu]

That walking was once a sport, makes much more sense of that famous whisky brand's name...

[@syndigriner-owens4351]

I would love to see a video on Freddie Oversteegen. A Dutch resistance fighter who seduced Nazis, then killed them.

[@rgerber]

Syndi Griner-Owens what? That sounds interesting upvote that

[@shiddy.]

I'm studying for this career right now

[@mt_baldwin]

I don't think there'd be any problems finding applicants for that job today.

[@danacampbell8331]

There'd be a line around the block with occasional fist fights breaking out.

[@Kit_Bear]

Some were paid £50 a year for life after they did their 7 years. Please note that a domestic servant (Butler) in 1850 got paid around £50 per year so this gives you an idea of how much they got in 1750. It wasn't an easy life, no central heating, no candles usually and most weren't allowed to speak or drink alcohol. Some less fortunate weren't even allowed any books. Most couldn't read back then so it wasn't a loss for them. however, if they did complete their time they would have been set up for life.

[@stevefox3763]

i swear you have covered this already

[@Sssteelo]

If I could do this nowadays I’d have a hidden laptop so I could live how I normally do.

[@justdueit6199]

"Bewegen Sie nicht!"

[@Goon12345]

How is the brainstorming procedure leading to these topics... and how am i actually enjoying them. I dont even want to know.

[@MatchBookNotes]

Do you guys donate portions of your videos to wikipedia?

[@ARIXANDRE]

Simon, I have a question: how do celebrities experience notifications and messages in social media, considering they have millions of followers? Do they receive millions of notifications? Cheers

[@jjc5475]

fuck now i want one.

[@KneeDeepInTheDead81]

Whistley boi!

[@crashinflames]

Hey, you used to push Tunnel Bear, so did Nord knock them off?

[@craigcorson3036]

0:26 Joolery, Simon? Is that how it's spelled in England?

[@lauratukey3584]

i could do that lol hell ill even tend the gardens at night

[@majormana1]

This was before even radio was a thing

[@andyginterblues2961]

There's an old guy who has been living in the building where I'm renting forever. He pretty much never leaves his apartment, where he keeps two dogs plus various other pets. He hardly ever allows the two dogs to leave either, so whenever I can get the guy to take a ride with me downtown, he brings with him the overwhelming odor of unwashed dog. I would love to build the guy a little shack out back where he could sit all day, with those two poor dogs. I would even pay him. There are plenty of hermits by choice in the world these days.

[@theshamanite]

So that's where wizards come from!

[@WeShareTheSameAir]

Nah dem shawtiez come from Jacksonville

[@Jandau85]

So basically, My Little Hobo?

[@ravenpineshomestead]

I would love to be a hermit

[@dantean]

Dear Sirs, Any future attempt shame or embarrass me or my station will be met with a letter from my attorneys. I come from a long line of hermits and consider it an honorable profession, one handed down to me from my father, who inherited the position from HIS father, who's position had been bequeathed to him by his. We are a scabby lot, but proud. Sincerely, Alfred W. Pox Dorcester

[@danacampbell8331]

How did you reproduce?

[@ryanroberts1104]

Now I'm gonna have to go check my HOA rules and see if I'm allowed to have an ornamental hermit...

[@annipsy2185]

oh man...wheres a hermit job when u need one?😒

[@geckoo9190]

So, from retreat shack to hire your own weirdo, i would stay with the first one.

[@danacampbell8331]

I'm actually laughing out loud.

[@ericmiltner3604]

Can we bring this back? Seems like a good line of employment